[Ptaylor]

in reply to: CALIFORNIA DREAMING #43218

Great animals King! Nice work finishing the job. Congrats.

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Not sure what to call this thread #43215

I still have a week and a half out here, so I’ll be looking out for him. And the other guy that can hunt this property will be out here all year and he knows to keep an eye out for him. Until he drops that one antler it will be easy to ID him.

I feel like these moments are as real as it gets, and tough lessons.

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Not sure what to call this thread #43184

So here’s what I found this morning:

Immediately on entering the swamp I found the arrow. The entire arrow with broadhead fell out, leaving nothing stuck in the deer. Because the wound was almost on the very top of the back and it was not bleeding, there was no blood along any trail I followed today. I was able to confidently follow the buck all the way across the swamp (approximately 100 yards). For the majority of the time he was walking, but he did take a couple jumps. However, he did not stop in the swamp to bed down. Then when the trail went into the uplands (oak canopy with dense understory of a shrub I don’t know the name) it was difficult for me to differentiate his tracks from all the other deer since it hasn’t rained for a week. So I followed every deer run leading out of the swamp at that location and into the woods. All of these runs eventually left the property, some were easy to walk on, while others required me to belly crawl. Again, no beds or blood in the upland. The edge of the property is about 300-400 yards from where I started tracking him and in the direction he was going. I do not think the arrow made it into either body cavity (intestines or lungs), so I don’t think he bled internally. And he definitely didn’t much externally. The height of the wound would make it difficult to smear blood on vegetation, but anytime I had to stoop under branches I looked for blood on the underside and never found any. Because he didn’t explode out across the swamp or bed down very shortly (and we didn’t pressure, instead backed off right away) I am thinking he will live (praying & hoping more like it).

I am attaching a picture of the arrow as I found it. As well I am attaching a picture of the definitive identifying feature for poison sumac: black sap. It was a nightmare trying to trail this buck through a tangle of poison sumac in the swamp.

Thanks for all your support guys. I’ve been talking to some of bowhunting friends and they have had similar experiences with shots near the spine that don’t drop them right away.

Preston

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Not sure what to call this thread #42476

Thanks Alex and Don. You’re right the arrow stuck into the bone and did not exit the other side. And he walked off, it wasn’t one of those paralyzing spine shots. I’m amazed it even stuck in and didn’t go through at least some since I am using a heavy arrow with the tuffhead.

An interesting thing was this deer only had 1 antler on his left side, none that I could see on his right, and the tines on the one antler were really short.

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Garbaging for Bears #42083

Etter,

I completely agree with you that bears are predators, and more importantly where I live they are scavengers. By stealing deer kills from cougars, they force the cats to kill more deer.

But, when its not hunting season I’m out looking for bears in the thick jungle of coastal redwoods and shoulder high sword fern. And even in those tight habitats I still manage to get inside 20 yards of a few bears each spring. It is possible. I’m sure you know it is cause you’ve hunted bears far longer than I have.

And really to me its come down to one good quote, “Do we want to shoot bears, or do we want to hunt bears?” D. Thomas (italics added). I get that it takes a lot of physical labor to haul bait out all summer, but its not going to challenge me mentally. I’m chasing the hunt. I’m after the old skills. Following an animal trail to find it is a skill that can be mastered but takes years of practice. Same with spotting game hidden in the brush, or setting up a perfect ambush location, or stalking into stickbow range of wary prey. It just doesn’t get me off to sit over a pile of food brought into the bush.

You know, better than most of us Etter, that all you need to do is find a fall food source and the bears will be there.

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: What a year it's been! #42049

Dude 2 yards is awesome! Sounds like you’re having fun.

This is my first year white-tail hunting and its a blast. I’ve seen two 8 pointers, and almost had a shot at a doe, but she just wouldn’t feed any closer to me and remained a few yards outside my shooting zone.

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: From Spain #40109

Hi Jorge,

Great article you wrote. It was all new information to me and exciting read. I find it fascinating that hunting can be prohibited based on weather patterns. Seems like a gray area though which could cause some issues.

When you hunt the roe deer in the spring are they rutting then?

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Garbaging for Bears #39433

Yes HSUS was a supporter of this proposition. However, there are quite a few hunters and scientists supporting this as well. Many of them from Maine and bear hunters. The focus of this issue was on baiting because that is the most widely used method there, but it would have also prohibited snaring for bears. I think we can all agree shooting a bear in a foot snare is not fair chase.

Our hunting and fishing traditions need to be secured for our grandchildren’s grandchildren, but that does not mean we should allow any form of hunting. We need to clean up our act or we may lose all hunting privileges.

Anyway, this was defeated by Maine voters. Second time in 10 years.

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Adventurous wolf in Grand Canyon NP #38719

That’s great!

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Caught with my pants down… #35056

Thanks for the info Jim. Its really interesting how other countries oversee their wildlife.

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Caught with my pants down… #33870

ausjim wrote: They’re not endangered Preston, it’s just a result of our relatively weak hunting culture. The only socially accepted justification for hunting here is killing feral animals. There’s no hint of game management unfortunately.

What kind of state are the native wildlife in then? Not endangered but not managed. Seems like if they were out of control (either ecologically or socially) then folks would call for management. But they don’t, maybe cause they don’t know, never go in the bush? Or the animals are doing fine without being managed?

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Goin with the flow #32384

David Petersen wrote: At least you have beer, be joyful!

😀

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Caught with my pants down… #32381

Hey great story Jim.

Why can’t you hunt native animals? Are they endangered or is it a social decision?

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Ground Hunnting #26118

Steve,

That’s cool, thanks for the info on how you pulled off drawing so close to a wary white-tail!

preston

[Ptaylor]

in reply to: Garbaging for Bears #25644

dfudala wrote: I’m sorry etter but I gotta chew on this just a little more to help me understand. Maybe your background will help me a bit. In the case of wildlife management… When someone chooses to plant a food plot for the sole purpose of possibly harvesting 1 or 2 deer off it, while their plot has helped the health and survival of who knows how many more, has the plot been an effective management tool? I’m not trying to pick on you, seriously. This is a legitimate question because I have no education in this field and I want to understand the logic? I’m trying to compare it against what seems to me to be a common sense contradiction in thought? I’m probably missing something, I just don’t know what?

The issue I have with food plots is they are usually not native plants. I think, if you’re going to own and caretake a piece of land, then how about doing some habitat improvement, use native plants from your area, which the deer already eat! This year I was having a hell of a time finding acorns. My usual spots had none and there weren’t very many bears in those places. So I had to get out and hike some new country, great, just part of the hunt finding new spots.

Its interesting reading the comment section. Most folks are stuck in their paradigm, whether its anti or pro hunting, some are in the middle. It makes me pause and consider how my views and opinions are stuck… And if you can read the comments without getting drawn in, they are worth a laugh!

[Author]

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