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in reply to: 4 wheelers, Dave Peterson #32398
SDMFer wrote: I don’t care if all you do is stay on the road, ATV’s are not hunting equipment. I take my truck (it’s an ’09 by the way) to any place the road goes thats what I bought it for, if I didn’t want to take it there I’d have bought a Subaru Outback like %75 of Greenies. So, “I don’t want to hurt my truck” is a lame EXCUSE.
Regarding your above comment about using your truck “any place the road goes,” what’s the difference between that and a guy who parks his truck and then takes a Polaris down those same roads where you drive your truck? If you’re both legally using your vehicles, what’s the issue? If as you say, the guy with the ATV is “stay[ing] on the road,” his ATV is no more a piece of hunting equipment than your truck.
I’m curious about this because where I live ATV abuse isn’t really an issue. While I fully understand disdain for those breaking the law (ATV users or otherwise), I suppose I never understood blanket outrage for a piece of equipment or entire user group on account of a segment of that user group violating the law. I grew up in an urban area plagued with gangs and gun violence, but I didn’t grow up hate guns or gun owners in general.
in reply to: Number 1!! And Number 83!! #31375Johnny,
Congrats on turning a bad situation into a recovered animal. We can’t unring the bell, but we can decide how to proceed afterwards. Well done.
Steve,
I’m not sure if hits too far back on deer are a product of fearing the shoulder as much as a result of there being more real estate behind the diaphragm than in front of the lungs—kind of an odds thing. The abdominal area is the largest part of the deer immediately outside the thorax, and animals tend to move forward instead of backward, so it stands to reason that more bad shots would hit there than anywhere else on the animal.
in reply to: Deer hunting REALLY small land tracts? #30460Steve Sr. wrote:
Any one else every have any luck on whitetail in such an urban setting?
God Bless,
Steve Sr.Steve,
Probably half of the deer I’ve killed came from woodlots 5 acres or less in size.
in reply to: The Good, The Bad, and The Really, REALLY UGLY. #27469I’ve been saying for a long time that I think deer hunting in Illinois would be a lot better if the largest buck in the state was a 90-inch 8-pointer.
in reply to: Bug Spray Conundrum #25346donthomas wrote: If they can smell your bug spray, they can smell you. Don
Exactly! 😉
in reply to: Feeders / foodplots / supplemental feed!?!?!? #25266Greatreearcher wrote: I would be willing to be that other states have done the same with similar results, one would just have to reseach!
Again, correlation does not equate to causation.
Greatreearcher wrote: Would you trust a politician to know what is best for our country?
More than I would trust someone to rebuild my truck’s engine simply because they know how to drive a vehicle, treat lung cancer because they answer phones in an oncologist’s office, or make biological decisions concerning wildlife because they bought a hunting license. I suppose that’s the curse of growing older; we eventually come to realize that we don’t know everything.
in reply to: Feeders / foodplots / supplemental feed!?!?!? #25110Greatreearcher wrote:
I would say that your example of Wisconsin is proof enough that baiting could help spread the disease, sounds to me like they containted the problem, in the area.There’s a difference between correlation and causation. One does not equate to the other.
Greatreearcher wrote: I am not saying that bait is the cause of CWD, I am simply saying that if a deer infected with CWD comes to the bait and eats some, then the other deer that come and eat will probably get infected as well!
Biologists have been studying the spread of CWD for more than forty years. To date, they have been unable to prove that hypothesis. Since it would be silly of me to think I know more about wildlife biology and disease transmission than people who are experts in that field, I’ll defer to them in such matters.
in reply to: Feeders / foodplots / supplemental feed!?!?!? #24953Greatreearcher wrote: But I would think that as hunters we would all consider ourselves semi-experts on the quarry we pursuit.
There’s a difference between being able to drive a car, and knowing how to rebuild an engine.
Greatreearcher wrote: As far as the CWD in illinois did you ever think that it could be because of the crowded deer in that part of the state? Please correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t northcentral illinios still crowded, you guys have the “best” deer heard in the states? From what I have read the deer population is out of control. I wouldnt be suprised, how can you control a deer population without a rifle season?
Illinois’ highest whitetail deer population densities are generally found in the west central region, and despite yearly testing, CWD has never been found in that area. The north central part of the state is far from a high-density location, yet that is the only area where CWD has been found.
As far as having the “best” deer herd in the states, that’s more outfitter marketing hype than reality.
Pretty much the only people who think our deer herd is out of control are the Illinois Farm Bureau and our insurance lobby that keeps pushing our DNR for more dead deer every year. As a matter of fact, up until a few years ago there were counties in Illinois where hunters weren’t even allowed to kill does during the early season due to low deer numbers.
Illinois only has an estimated 750k deer. That population level has been consistent for many years. Wisconsin—a state with the same approximate landmass—has roughly twice the number of deer found in Illinois. Michigan’s deer population is higher still.
Prior to the discovery of CWD in WI preceding the 2002 season, baiting for deer was and had been legal for decades. In response to CWD, Wisconsin banned baiting for deer in the CWD area and some surrounding counties. Baiting remains legal elsewhere throughout Wisconsin, yet CWD has never been found outside the southern third of the state.
I’m not saying that baiting does or does not facilitate in the spreading of CWD. As I posted earlier, I don’t know, and I’m not qualified to make that determination.
in reply to: Broadhead Problems #24146Those broadheads have extremely low wind resistance due to small, vented blades. Even if you were shooting large, wide solid heads, my below advice would be the same.
The first thing I would suggest is to strip the fletching off a few or your arrows and bareshaft tune your equipment. With very, very few exceptions, every time I have seen someone having the issues you are experiencing with broadheads, their bow was not properly tuned.
in reply to: Feeders / foodplots / supplemental feed!?!?!? #24141Greatreearcher wrote: I think the only reason we did not get hammered by CWD is becuase we have a steady agricultural system and the deer dont clump together in the winter because they have plenty of food, but when guys do piles in the winter in the middle of the woods, that is bad news!
I’m not a biologigist (nor do I play one on the internet). The theory of CWD spreading by deer feeding on bait piles is speculative at best. Maybe it’s true; maybe it’s not. I don’t know, but we have rampant CWD in northcentral Illinois, and baiting for deer has never been legal in this state.
in reply to: bow quiver #19712I bought one of those Sidewinders several years ago, before they went off the market then came back again. Personally, I didn’t like it. The hard plastic was somewhat uncomfortable, and I’ve never cared for hip quivers while bowhunting.
It does work well for extra arrows when I’m wading the local river for carp, so I do use it for bowfishing from time to time.
in reply to: Like Blind Man Chop Wood! Field Dressing Advise #19637In Wisconsin, hunters must take their animals to a check station. Field dressing is allowed, but that’s about all. This eliminates gutless methods, quartering etc. Up until a few years ago, Illinois had similar regulations.
Accordingly, the only thing I can do with a dead deer in the field is removing the entrails. For this, I prefer a Buck Crosslock knife that was given to me by a good friend. It has a short blade and a separate gut hook that’s the perfect size for whitetail deer (but far too shallow for elk or moose).
For field dressing I start by laying the animal on its side and coring-out the anus. Then I roll the animal onto its back and remove the external reproductive organs. Next, I make a small incision through the skin about an inch above the lower tip of the breastbone. Making the initial cut there prevents accidentally puncturing the stomach. At that point I switch to the gut hook and open the animal from my breastbone incision to the forward portion of the pelvis. Then I pull the anus into the body cavity.
The next thing I do is look for the bladder. Sometimes an animal will empty it as they die, but other times it will be full like a water balloon. If it’s full, I very slowly and carefully remove it by pinching off the tube (I don’t know the anatomical term for the “tube”), cutting it free, and taking it several yards away from the deer before tossing it away.
After that I break through the diaphragm (either with my hand or by use of a knife), reach up and cut the windpipe. Next I gently pull out the internal organs in one piece, starting with the heart, and rolling the entire mess up, out, and toward the hind legs. There is some minor connective tissue along the spine that I cut as I’m rolling out the viscera. The last step is to turn the animal onto its belly and drain the blood.
Done properly, the entire process takes a couple minutes, does not risk rupturing the stomach or other unpleasant organs, and leaves a clean body cavity.
You’ll also notice I made no mention of splitting the pelvis or breastbone. I’ve never seen either of those operations as being necessary, and splitting the pelvis just exposes additional prime meat to drying out.
in reply to: Can someone explain this? #19438Greatreearcher wrote: I thought that my arrow system was and still is to light?
Most bowyers I know recommend going no lighter in arrow weight than 8gpp. You’re right around that mark, so you should be good in that regard.
On another tread, Steve and I were discussing how for decades bows pulling poundage in the forties (forty to forty-nine pounds) were standard for whitetail hunters. Your arrows would be 10 gpp for a bow in the middle of that weight range, which would make them normal weight for that time. Deer aren’t any tougher to penetrate now than they were a generation ago.
If you feel your arrow is too light, then it would probably be a good idea to increase its weight. The last thing you should want is any hint of doubt in your mind at the moment you’re about to drop the string on an animal. Confidence goes a long way in this pastime. Just make sure you don’t substitute doubt about your arrow weight for similar doubt about your accuracy due to a slower, more pronounced arrow trajectory.
in reply to: Can someone explain this? #19376Greatreearcher wrote: My question in all this is, why was my arrow system successful,
For the same reason folks have been shooting through whitetails for decades with similar setups: because it works. 😉
Blame it on the economy. 😉
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