Same as every year, hoping not to get shot while mountain biking.

Ran across a bow hunter last week on a local trail.

Not hunting. When the animals can shoot back I'll consider it a sport.

Wearing bright orange and hoping to not get winged by a stray bullet.

Bowhunting whitetails in East Central IL! First time hunting in probably 25 years, so I am incredibly excited. Season opens next weekend.

This.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I've been out several times for early elk archery. Alas, my freezer is still empty.

To those non-hunters here making snarky comments on this thread, properly dressed and butchered wild game is absolutely the best meat one can eat.

Delicious, naturally lean, free-range, grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, non-GMO, etc.

And, that wild deer or elk lived a far better life than a feed lot cow, pig, or chicken.

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"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."

So you're a vegan?

Bright Orange does shit for shooting in Chicago

That sounds great , I have never done any bow hunting.

Bright orange perfectly matches the Aspen trees in CO in Oct. It’s perfect camo at the time of year hunters are out.

You are correct sir.

Wildlife has to be managed.

And the wonderful catch and release program.

I am hoping to go exterminate lots of wolves.



We have way too many "unnecessary species" on this planet.

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Grass fed/free range only here. Granddaughter of a rancher and butcher shop owner. Meat came from the side of beef in the freezer, not the grocery store. I don't eat game.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Fruitarian

Some good points.

Serious question: you're not concerned about consuming meat from an elk with contagious CWD (chronic wasting disease) ?

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CWD has not been detected in the areas that I hunt. It has been found in some Idaho hunt units, and I'd have to think twice about harvesting game from those areas. The state of Idaho, for all its other problems, actually does an excellent job at wildlife (game) management.

https://idfg.idaho.gov/

[ETA: now bracing for your inevitable comment about Idaho and wolves...]

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"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."

I'll be fishing on October 1st if the weather is nice. That's kind of like hunting.

So far the forecast looks unseasonably warm.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Umm, not entirely.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...-wolves-to-be-killed
https://www.npr.org/...-90-of-states-wolves

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My edit beat your post (and foretold it perfectly).

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"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."

Why are Idahoans so excited about killing so many wolves? It puzzles me a lot. Do they eat them?

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I might go over to the range this weekend and make some clay pigeons into dust. The wife has picked it up remarkably quickly.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Gun deer in New Hampshire.

More deer where I live (Massachusetts). But finding a place to hunt can be hard; when you do, it’s tight quarters; and whole state is shotgun only.

I prefer to be able to walk for miles without bumping into people if I want, and/or set up for a long-ish shooting alley with the .308 if that’s what feels right that day. Those elements of the experience make it feel like it did growing up hunting with my dad and brothers, and is more important to me than bringing home a deer at the end of the day.

Wolves kill cows/other livestock. This isn't difficult.

No, it's not right but that's why they do it.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

The data says, "not exactly".
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/...ock-death-180953605/


And there is lots more FWS data indicating the wolf predation on livestock is "negligible".
https://wolfwatcher.org/...ckReport-Feb2019.pdf


I wonder if folks actually kill wolves for primarily emotional reasons?

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Fine, they feel that the wolves kill livestock and that’s good enough for them.

I didn’t say they are smart.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

December 12, 2014???? Got anything more recent?

We used to go shoot coyotes out in the pastures in Kansas during calving season. They'd go after the baby calves and sheep.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I'll be out hiking for 6 weeks on the Buckeye trail so be careful. I'll be wearing a blaze orange vest and have an orange backpack. While part of this being the woods, but mostly because have this trail is hiking country roads and it helps the drivers see me. They are more dangerous than the hikers.

Wife wants to sit with me for gun deer for her first time, so we're looking for a weekend to do a little familiarity session at the range and see which rig she feels most comfortable with. In the meantime, even though we've upped the rate at which we're eating thru the freezer stocks of last year's deer and fish, we may only need one deer to top things off. Fairly robust venison donation system in WI and lots of folks finding it harder to make ends meet so we might use a tag or two to help out that way.

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Carl Matson

I'm sorry, are you saying that the article is out of date, because now we have hundreds of thousands of wolves in the usa?

Nope, they are being decimated at an even higher rate today.

So much for "man's best friend."
Us wonderful humans are clearly 'fair weather' friends at best ...
but usually we are much, much worse ...

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CWD has become pretty common in my area. Which is why I stopped hunting. Wife wouldn't let the kids eat the deer meat and I wasn't going to eat a whole deer myself over the course of a year. So I threw in the towel. I wish they had better proof that it isn't able to be transmitted to humans.

CWD among livestock (or the equivalent for them: BSE) is contagious and has definitely been transmitted to humans. Not sure about deer.

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I love the whole Fall thing:

Cooler temps and leaves turning

Deer moving. I can sit in a hunting blind in our woods all morning and not shoot a single thing and count it a morning well spent.

Leaves turning in the N GA mountains. Great motorcycling. Great Camping. Great Fly Fishing

New Fall Beer offerings; College Football; Professional Football

That first wood fire of the season in the wood stove!

/r

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Steve

I am now 56 and have not been hunting since I was in my late teens and used to hunt waterfowl with my late father. Seem to have trouble just getting out to go fishing. Still have my small game license though! Some times my patients bring me meat as I am a GP in a rural area.

good luck.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I've got the first week of rifle off; I'll probably head to northern NH (Colebrook). But it'll depend on the weather and what's going on between work and the home.

I hope to beat last year's total time spent in the woods (~17 hours, and a lot of that was Thanksgiving and the day after).

I haven't even checked game cameras (down here or up north), haven't done squat with the food plot. I need to finish up some things and get scouting.
- Jeff

So nowhere in the southern part of the state. Where abouts you get to up this way? (Not looking for specifics, just curious).
- Jeff

Usually White Mountain Natl Forest. Will grab a cheap hotel room in Lincoln area for a few nights, make that home base.

Lincoln, NH is a nice town. I spent several nights there at the Notch Hostel when hiking the Appalachian trail. There was a lady in town who would drive hikers around so they could hike a few days with a light pack and stay in town.

Doing at a lot more by myself as my weekend warrior buddies are out hunting. We are fortunate to adjoin to both WMA land and a large private plot that gets leased out. Deer are the main game and it’s well known for turkey. Like Hawley said, we have some great spots up here, but most of the people I know head down to private land around the GA/AL border due to the overcrowding of public areas. There must have been 200+ cars lining the highway to scope their spots at the start of Sept. Despite the WMA land being a few thousand acres, it has to be a bit hairy out there with so many people. I can’t recall anyone being mistaken for game though.

My husband has gone hunting for the weekend. They're hunting deer along the German-Polish border. I dont understand how hunting can be an enjoyable hobby but I keep that to myself. The only thing I really hate is when my father in law has deer antlers mounted and sent to our house. Our basement is full of them now and it's so tacky.

You need a schloss with a great room to hang the antlers obviously

That sounds great, I normally go for deer the Ga/NC/SC area private land.
Next month will be nice a little cooler and the foliage will start to change.

I have all my tags (elk, moose, whitetail, mule deer, black bear), but haven't had a chance to get out yet. Which isn't really true, because I can literally walk out my back door to hunt. I have had a few too many things on my to-do list after a busy summer to make hunting a priority. Plus, it is still quite warm here, I prefer to wait for it to cool down quite a bit more. Snow also helps bring most of the animals down out of the mountains and closer to my yard.

Elk season here ends Oct 20. Moose doesn't switch from bow-only to rifle until Oct 15. And whitetail are open until Dec 20 here (bow only for all of Dec). I still have lots of time in my season. I might have to invest in a crossbow pretty soon, as my torn rotator cuff is making it difficult to use my bow.

I also have a chance to go to Saskatchewan for whitetail in November. Could be fun, but could also be brutally cold.

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Starting from scratch...

That’s right. Aren’t you up in the Hiawassee area? One of my most memorable rides was a night ride doing Bear Creek, Pinhoti 1-3. Between P1 and P2 I could see I was approaching riders in the distance. I didn’t see it was 2 dogs with a mounted lights and 3 guys with rifles until I was right up on them. Didn’t help that I was a bit stoned. I’m never paranoid, but I noped the hell out of there real quick, praying they didn’t shoot me in the back thinking I was going to turn them in for illegal hunting.

Illegal hunting is poaching. Poaching is disgusting. Wildlife is difficult enough to manage, wrecks opportunities for the majority who follow the rules.
Most states have easy ways to report these morons, though sadly they seem to usually be part of a "catch and release" merry go round.

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

Same - wearing lots of orange

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

.. my hunt is over for the season

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RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"

Was just up that way this weekend (I have a place in Bethlehem).

Never thought of hunting in the WMNF; that's gotta be some big woods and tough hunting. Presume you have a spot you know pretty well? What have been able to get outta there?
- Jeff

Yup, it is 100% not the place to go if you want high percentage chances of seeing/bagging deer.

I’ve done 7 or 8 seasons up there over the years, only taken 2 bucks out, couple years where I just saw does from way off, and several years where I didn’t see a thing. The ones I got, one was a small 4 pointer, one was a bigger 8 point that was the most gamey-tasting venison I’ve ever had. Definitely not grazing on apples and corn.

It’s big and empty, for sure. It reminds me of where I first started hunting in northern Wisconsin, in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. There weren’t many deer there either, at least compared to southern WI where we went as I got older.

But I like the solitude and room to roam, and I’ve found a couple spots in WMNF that I like.

When I want to actually get deer, I hunt on Martha’s Vineyard with some of my wife’s family. Can’t throw a stick without hitting a deer down there.

Crazy hunting story from Montana today.

https://twitter.com/...DLX25u0o-76cpY558O_g

Update:

https://twitter.com/...DLX25u0o-76cpY558O_g

Flathead county is investigating it. I was hoping it was a lie to own the libs.
https://twitter.com/...zd4EO5_X_dps2XagfXaw

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/...nking-baby-wolf.html

It’s important to know what you’re shooting.

I had a horrifically unsuccessful duck opener, not much flying, whatever was around got blown out by a cold front a couple days before hand and nothing fresh was blown in. Whatever ducks were around were very call shy, and pretty decoy shy as well.

Probably won't chase ducks for a while now, maybe get after some pheasants, would really like to get some good dog work, only shoot to reward the dogs for working hard.

Finally pulled a doe tag for deer season, will be good to restock on some deer sausage.

As far as CWD, there is no known record of transmission from a cervid to a human, it is an entirely different prion than what is seen in BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis/Mad cow) or Scrapie the version found in sheep.

As of right now the CDC's only recommendation is to not eat the organs that harbor the prions (brain, eyes, spleen etc) of animals that have CWD.

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Yeah, I am super excited. I bow hunted as a kid but haven't had a chance for a long time. Seen some decent looking dear on the land I'm going to be hunting on. Luckily we don't have any documented CWD in this part of the state, fingers crossed it stays that way for a while.

She seems like a real winner.

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Anyone here hunting (or fishing):
1) not too far from home.
2) And getting more dollars worth of food- than you are spending on gear, gas and permits?

What are you going for?

When I lived in Northern California- shell fish, mushrooms and berries where great deals on a cost + time + calories basis.

I know that moose are a great thing for those who live near the boreal forest.

But what else?

They make a big deal out of the Moose hunt here in Maine. I think it costs a small fortune for most people to get one though.

Where there are a lot of moose and only a few hunters (like Alaska and Canada)- hunting probably make sense.

The number of hunter's versus moose in ME is probably not conducive to affordability. There are probably 50 million people within a 7 hour drive of ME. Some of them will pay big money for permits guides and gear.


AZ has the stupidest hunters on Earth. But there is a sh#t ton of them.

In general - I am not sure that my time and money is well spent pursuing obvious fish and game.

But less obvious stuff?

I considered getting into fishing at one point, until I found out that most of the desirable fish you aren't suppose to eat any more than 1 a month or so because of the pollutants in the lakes and streams up here. Mainly mercury, IIRC.