Deer Hunting?
 

It's almost opening weekend for long gun and handgun here in Illinois and Wisconsin. I'm starting the packing process tonight, any of you other folks planning on spending a few chilly days in trees or ground blinds?
G.

not anymore, my days of getting up @ 430, freeze my arse of in a tree stand are over. I'll stay back at camp and read a good book, besides I never lack for venison in the freezer

Spent this past weekend chasing elk. Don’t much care for the taste of venison. I’ve shot a doe eating in a wheat field and still had a hard time choking it down. Despite a healthy diet of grain.
Elk is a whole other game. Very good. My wife prefers it to beef.

Good luck and be safe.

My deer hunting days are over. The steep grade of Big Pocono State Gamelands took their toll on me a few years back. While warmer and flat here in SC, the deer are large dogs and don’t seem worth the effort. Besides, if I wanted to, I could wait at the corner of my house and tackle one as it comes down the side yard. ;)

Talk about a Kodak moment... :laughin:

Well maybe a lasso would be safer?

I’ve never hunted, but my brother-in-law the logger lives in a very rural area where elk occasionally wander through a field on his property. His idea of hunting: he has a couple of old lounge chairs in his barn loft and an opening in the roof that can be raised with a pulley - he and his buddies take a cooler of beer and a space heater up to the barn and wait for the elk to wander by. So far nothing has gone wrong, but a couple of logger dudes with beer and guns....

Ha! What could go wrong?

spill the beer ?

+1 on hunting these days. Once I hit 65, getting up & out into the cold lost all of its allure. Plus, the only camo I own is a goonie hat. ;)

Like many interests important to the Baby Boomers hunting as a hobby/sport is seeing a precipitous decline as our generation ages. Twenty years ago Michigan issued over 750,000 deer hunting licenses each year. That number has dropped to just over 600,000 and is projected to decline further.

"That group of hunters will continue to decline and then reach a dramatic collapse as age forces them out of the woods almost collectively, with nothing near adequate replacement numbers behind them in younger generations."

The strategy in Montana has been to issue hunting permits to younger kids and allow them to hunt a week before general season opens up. They can get a permit at 11 or 12, and need to be with an adult. It has worked pretty well. Gives them first shot before the animals get too skittish. Lots of landowners here will allow first time hunters to harvest a buck or bull which keeps it interesting for the kids.

Montana's strategy sounds good. Most folks don't know or understand that the largest group of "conservationists" in the USA are the hunters. More money from hunters is used for conservation purposes than from any other source. Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are just two of several that do excellent work.

Hunting will live on in places like Detroit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx-yVqtICOw&t=77s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJFlm6YxMkc

I am fortunate to be able to experience some wonderful habitat up north. The land I hunt has been in my friends family for four generations and borders the 1.5 million acre Chequamegon National Forest. No cell phone, wood stove heat, very active wolf population, bear, cougar etc make for a very rich outdoor experience. YB-2 you are right on about the role of hunters and the conservation movement in North America. Like it or not I fall in that Boomer demographic and am very aware of the clock ticking.
I don't know how many seasons I have left but I do know I have this one!
G.

Yep nice guys, lots of hunting in WY but is come to an end now.

I use a 6.5 284 Creedmoor, good for 1000 yards with ease. With my Huskemaw Optics scope :)

On Sunday night's walk behind my community, I saw nine (9) in less than a mile

Attachment 57167

We’re almost neighbors - I live near Shell Lake just West of you.

Tom

Tom, you are almost directly west of us. Don's land is on the east edge of the Chequamegon. You have some beautiful country up north.

Here is a book recommendation relating to the critical role of the hunter/sportsman in establishing the conservation movement in the United States.

American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation. John F. Reiger
G

I quit deer hunting 17 years ago, both shotgun and bow. For the past 25 years my time has been spent shooting Quail, Pheasants and sometimes chukker. Opening day, Saturday, this year, we walked over 10 miles through muddy corn stubble and cut soybean fields. We didn't see much.

The next day, Sunday, I shot a pheasant and the others shot about 6 or 7 quail. Then Tuesday we shot about 18 quail and then on Wednesday another quail and a pheasant.

The result was over 30 miles of walking over 4 days and a pretty good amount of fine eating.

Think I may have one more antelope hunt in me. Am building a Ruger No.1 in 6.5PRC using a 5R Bartlein barrel. Will be fun even if it never puts a bullet towards an antelope.

Mostly birds for me at this time. I am looking at retirement land on an island and I'm always focused on land I can crossbow hunt, as well as grow most all my vegetables and many fruits. I'm gonna be a busy old guy. There is lots of fishing, crabbing and shrimping around the island too.

Congrats on retirement. You won't have a spare minute if you do it right. :thumbsup:

South Carolina whitetails are not much bigger than greyhounds. But they can have a nice rack.

Bad pics but you will get the idea. Nice 8 point 100 yards from house chasing the doe eating my plants. :(
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Attachment 57225

Just drove thru KS, MO, KY, WVa & MD. ~1500mi and probably 100+ car struck deer (likely a quarter-$$mm+ in auto damages) on or next to the road. Was especially vigilant yesterday a.m. in the dark on Bluegrass Prkwy. Read an estimate that there are more deer in USA today than when the white man first got here. We've cleared land and planted food and removed predators, all to their benefit.

Shot an elk two weeks ago. Much prefer it to venison. Such beautiful animals in beautiful country.

Elk is the best steak I have ever had.
No game flavor.The Venison is always a bit game,even the back strap doesn't compare to Elk meat.

Building a new hunting rifle. Hope to score an elk with it, but won't hold my breath for same. More likely have to settle for a deer or antelope. Ruger No.1 with a 25" Bartlein barrel. Having chambered in 6.5x55. A great round that has been bringing home the meat for over 125yr.
Edit - off the gunsmith today. Found a 2nd block so ordered a 22RF barrel from Bartlein. Will also have it fitted and use as my 22RF rifle for our local 200yd rimfire silhouette & target matches. Put the CF barrel back on for hunting in the fall.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...1&d=1610422198