Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
in reply to: A different kind of pay-to-play hunting #16460
This is really a great topic guys and a very important one! The biggest problem we face here in the upper Midwest right now is that huge tracts of land which have been owned by paper companies for eons are now going out on the open market. These lands were open to public access but now as these companies are going out of business they are liquidating their assets. Now, the obvious question is, why doesn’t the state buy up the land? As we all know, the answer is obvious. The states are broke and cannot afford to buy these lands at the prices private investors are willing to pay. The potential these lands possess being turned into private reserves price the state out of competition. This fall a single chunk of land that I have hunted for years went up for sale. One single property encompassing over 5000 acres that will soon no longer be accessible to the public. Every year the landscape changes and new lines are drawn. It is a scary reality that one day, there won’t be room for any more lines!
in reply to: Hangin' it up for the year. #16437Sounds like an awesome adventure! Looking forward to picking your brain about hunting the southern mountains! My door is always open when you’re interested in hunting the north country!
in reply to: Hangin' it up for the year. #14808I’ll tell you what 1shot. I’ll be giving that some serious thought this year. I travel nationwide for work and I got plenty of free airline tickets, rental cars and hotel stays to make that a very doable late season adventure!!! Not to mention I’m already well equipped for pack style hunting! Hmmmm… I better jump on the weights a bit earlier this year! Next time I’m working down in AZ I’ll let ya know. we may have to get together for a brew or two!
in reply to: Rookie Mistakes #49391Years ago when I hunted with wheelie bows out of trees I was on stand on a beautiful evening in the early season. As it started to get dark a beautiful buck approached on the trail I was set up on. I was so excited that as I reached for my bow I never took my eyes off the deer and knocked my bow off the hanger and down to the ground. Needless to say, I was quite glad no one was around to see that!
in reply to: Scent control? #36260I must agree with the general consensus here. I think it’s a bit arrogant to think that we humans are so smart that we can fool mother nature with chemicals. When I shot wheelie bows I fell for all the gimicks. Scent sprays, carbon suits, detergents and soaps. you name it, I tried it. (ya, they got me pretty good for a while!) when I switched over to traditional, I wanted to sort of “purify” my hunting. I’m a big fan of bowhunting’s history and have quite a library of books about the sport in its infancy. The men that pioneered this sport didn’t have a Walmart shelf full of flashy bottles and packages promising them that they’d make them invisible to wild animals. and to add insult to injury, they didn’t enjoy the populations of animals we enjoy today. And yet, they still suceeded? I mean, had they not, they wouldn’t have become the legends we know them to be today. So, are we complimenting their legacies by replacing good woodsmanship with chemical shortcuts? When done the old-fashioned way, it is truly an uphill and frustrating challenge to harvest an animal with traditional equipment. And yes there are spells that we go thru where we don’t even see game. I haven’t seen a deer since the first week of October. But when the season ends, I feel as though it will have been a sucess because I hunted in a manner that showed respect to the sport and for the animals. And empty freezer or not, that’s good enough for me!
in reply to: Deep Woods Hunt #36231Not only do I love hunting deep in the big woods, but as the season lingers on here in Wisconsin its a necessity! The later in the year it gets the more and more crowded it gets in the “shallow” woods. As soon as the leaves drop, the bird hunters hit the woods and as the rut closes in hunters increase and their stands and baits pop up all over. In order to hunt deer whose patterns haven’t been affected by all this, I have to go pretty deep. But the solitude I find out there is certainly worth the extra effort to get there. I especially enjoy years where the weather has been mild enough to still get in some canoe hunts in the late December season. The scenery is magical! People look at me like I’m nuts when they see me drive thru town near Christmas with a canoe on top of my truck! The payoff of course being nobody follows me!!! We’ll see what this year brings!?!?
in reply to: Longbow Doe #23861Your smile says it all! Truly a harvest to be proud of! congrats!
in reply to: Hunting Pressure in All It's Forms. #23859It’s a shame to say but it”s kinda refreshing to hear that I’m not the only one who has faced these challenges while trying to enjoy my accepted method of hunting. What is truly unfortunate here is that we are on one end of a very wide spectrum. Yes, we go to the woods to enjoy the woods but we also have taken things to a further level. There is a respect for the wild places that we carry with ourselves that others do not and that hurts us. Not only because it “ruins” the way we choose to hunt but because it is disrespectful to the land and the animals. The “any means necessary” crowd grows with every passing year and as the old saying goes, there is saftey in numbers. The larger their group grows the more pressure they can put on game agencies and states to manipulate the laws into their favor. In Wisconsin, X-Bows will become part of the permanent archery landscape next year. and, coupled with legal baiting, I fear that I will be hard-pressed to find a deer in its late summer pattern come September. So what are we to do? IMO, we do what we should do. We go hunting. We continue to be positive representatives of our sport and hope beyond hope that we can make the slightest impact on the preservation of this great sport! If not us… Who?
in reply to: The 2013 Season Bulletin Board #58351Congrats to everybody! The pics are really stacking up and they do not disappoint! Unfortunately, I don’t have anything exciting to post. I just came off my week of vacation that I look forward to all year. My bowhunt vacation! This year it was not to be… Tuesday my mother got very sick and we had to rush her to the hospital. She was diagnosed with sepsis and admitted while they worked to eliminate the infection. While she was in the hospital, I had to stay at their place and take care of my 95 year old grandmother who was up for her fall visit from Chicago. Well as anyone with an elder relative knows, that’s a full time job in itself. So between that and visits to see my mother, vacation fell to the wayside. I am very thankful though that I was home! Mom is doing well and back home now recovering and I’m back to work. Oh well, there’s always late season!
in reply to: Our Own Worst Enemy #58336Situations like this really stir up a wide variety of emotions. We are quick to anger because it is inevitable that there will always be people who are polar opposites of us. It is, in my opinion, our responsibility to always maintain ourselves as stewards of the wild. In word and deed. We have to remain vigilant and respectful or the scales tip out of balance. Dave, great idea going public with a situation like this. If an anti writes about a situation such as this, people get a sour taste. But if a sportsman writes abouts this, it forces people to at least be aware that there is a distinct difference between a hunter and a killer. There are opportunities to represent everyday. It is truly a shame that in this particular case, 2 beautiful animals had to give their lives.
in reply to: Birthday gift in the freezer! #49570Way to go Alex! Happy Birthday indeed!
in reply to: lessons learned #39750Enjoy the moment you are in out there, it will never happen again!
in reply to: What Has Messed With Us!! #39742I’ve often wondered! Ha!
in reply to: No place like home #39738What a beautiful buck! He had to get the heart pumpin’? Can’t wait for details! Congrats!
in reply to: Filled My Buck Tag #39735Congrats neighbor! What a neat looking deer! Good luck to your daughter as well! Mine’s 15 and in her second year. No success yet but some great encounters. I keep reminding her it took me 7 years before I got my first! So far, it’s still working!
-
AuthorPosts
