Pass The Ammo

Thanks Guav for sending me this interesting piece published by the National Geographic on the steady decline of hunters. In the last 15 years, the number of hunters has dropped from 14 million to 12 million. It touches on the subject of conservation, Ted “the douche” Turner, Guav’s ancestor ape-man hunters from millions of years ago, and other issues in regards to game management.

The great irony is that many species might not survive at all were it not for hunters trying to kill them. All the wings provided to Norman Saake and his colleagues throughout the country come from hunters, who fold them into prepaid envelopes, record the date and place of harvest, and mail them in. It is but one example of how the nation’s 12.5 million hunters have become essential partners in wildlife management. They have paid more than 700 million dollars for duck stamps, which have added 5.2 million acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System since 1934, when the first stamps were issued. They pay millions of dollars for licenses, tags, and permits each year, which helps finance state game agencies. They contribute more than 250 million dollars annually in excise taxes on guns, ammunition, and other equipment, which largely pays for new public game lands. Hunters in the private sector also play a growing role in conserving wildlife.

Continue Reading Conserving Hunters »

About a week ago, Jonas took himself a nice 9 point whitetail. He was watching a power line clearing one day after work, and out he stepped.

I helped him gut it and bring it home. Unfortunately I didn’t have my Nikon D50, so I wasn’t able to get any good photos.

Ryan and I sat out in the Wolf Lodge tree stand this morning. We got out there at dark 30, sat and watched. It’s late in the season, so we’d both be happy with a doe fawn at this point.

About an hour into it, a big doe steps out good and broadside. She was about 60 yards away when I stopped her, and told Ryan to take the shot. It cleared her back by an inch or so. She ran off, and sounded the alarm. Ryan didn’t calculate the rise in the bullet at that distance, plus the rise in the bullet from shooting down.

I wish I had my digital camera rolling. It woulda been good to ruffle his feathers. Anyways, I’m so “fortunate” that I get to miss a week of hunting season to spend it down in San Diego, Mexifornia. Too bad there wasn’t a season for border jumpers. Maybe there will be if Ron Paul gets elected. So I’ll be down there from this Saturday till the next. We’ll see what happens.

Alas, today ends Elk season and I have nothing to show for it. Been all over the woods and the most we’ve done is spook em and chase em up or down. We’ve hunted Wolf Lodge Creek, Rose Creek, Killarney Creek, Beauty Creek, Blue Creek, Bullion Creek, and countless other places around the panhandle.

Down rose creek, we got skunked by some other hunters. We got up a 3, hiked down the mountain in the dark from Rose Saddle. We sat in the dark till dawn started to break. As we stood up to put on our packs and head down the creek bed, 4 other hunters on 4 wheelers roll up. Park next to us, and head off down the trail we were just planning on taking. Within 20 minutes they pulled out a cow. So that was a disappointment.

Down Killarney Creek, we sat down in the road to take a break. It was about 10 am when a doe tore out of the woods, crossed the forest road, and went back in on the other side. As I was just about to ask Jonas what her hurry might have been, a tired coyote came out of the woods in pursuit of her. He was about 300 yards down the road, and quit chasing her after we sparked his interest. We were sitting still on stumps, and camo’d, so he wasn’t sure what to make of us. As he trotted toward us a few yards, Jonas stood up and laid his sights on the varmint. Shot and it hit too low. The coyote jumped and stepped back a few feet. I told him to aim high, as the rounds for his 30-06 have a 36″ drop in the bullet at 300 yards. So he aimed around the top of the coyotes head and fired again. It hit the ground immediately at his feet, and the coyote ran into the thick. I guess I shoulda been shooting at him too, but I was enjoying watching Jonas take the shot. We’ll get him next time.

Welp, Deer is still open till December 1st, and I’m still holding out for a buck. We’ve had plenty of chances at a doe, but we won’t take one unless we need to. From December 1st through the 9th we’ll have a shot at a spike Elk once more. That’ll be with the inline muzzle loader.

Photo Credit

Sean and Jonas called me at 10:30 in the am, yesterday. They shot a doe and needed help packing it out, plus the use of my truck. So the boss gave me the day off to help em out.

He shot her from around 300 yards with his 300 Ultra Mag. Dropped her while she was still eating, so you can see the food hanging from her mouth.

Let her hang for a minute to drain any extra blood from the chest cavity.

So far the hunting season is off to a bad start. Last year there were only 2 hunting deaths due to carelessness. This year, season has only been open for 2 weeks, and we’re already at 3 deaths.

It’s really irritating to know how many douche bags with guns are out in the woods with me. It also irritates me to know that people refuse to wear blaze orange, cos it “looks gay”. I full heartily disagree. I think pink lipstick with buttless chaps looks gay. But blaze orange cos yer out trying to kill something looks far from gay. I mean, Halle Berry looks good in it . But if you are John Kerry, then you are gay no matter what.

I bring this topic up after I read this article this morning. A 22 year old Bayview man was shot dead, because of a moron in the woods didn’t positively identify his target. Shot the guy at 70 feet through the thicket.

That is so stupid. I hate knowing that there are people like that out in the woods with me. I refuse to be out there without orange. So… that being said, head over to my shop and get yerself a blaze orange vest or some blaze orange caps.

Heath showed me this great way to fish. I’m not sure what other fish this would work, and I don’t know much about gar fish, either.

(photo credit)

Wolves have always been an issue for hunters and ranchers in the Idaho Panhandle. The threat of running into a wolf in the woods is not so great that everybody has, but everyone knows someone who has. So hatred of the wolf has become pretty strong. I think the main reason for the hatred is the fact that we cannot destroy them when we do encounter one. Hunters have had to stand idly by while their best hound dog was torn apart, after a mistake encounter.

There are apparently only three packs in the northern part of the Panhandle. But they have yet to cause any problems. It’s more the lone wolves that get into tangles with hunters and ranchers’ cattle.

There have been a couple groups working toward removing wolves from the protected species list. And it seems that we’ll be able to shoot em only in a tangle come early next year. This is more toward the common sense approach that we’ve been trying for.

I really don’t see why we even reintroduced them back in 1995. What good does a wolf have to offer the ecosystem? Why let wolves reduce the elk count, when a paying hunter can better manage their growth?

Wolves slowly handed to state
Posted: Thursday, Sep 20, 2007 - 11:07:54 pm PDT
By SEAN GARMIRE

Animals to be delisted as early as February 2008

NORTH IDAHO — A plan that could alter the way wolves are managed in Idaho has been reopened for public comment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The proposed plan would grant state and tribal governments flexibility in killing wolves if they are shown to have caused a major decline in elk, deer or moose populations.

The plan would also give citizens on private or public land the legal right to kill a wolf that is in the act of attacking their dog or stock animal.

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So Jonas, myself, and a special guest (whom I’ll anounce in a week) went out fishin fer bass yesterday evening. And we did pretty good. After about an hour of not catching much, besides our guests couple little bluegill. Finally Jonas discovered the lure of choice, when he pulled in the biggest bass at that time. When we all started using them… the fish were large and biting!

I was actually in last place, until I pulled in the nice 3 pounder, and I gracefully finished in first.