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Deer season is upon us...


RooK

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Well, it's that time of the year again in many parts of the US: modern-gun deer season. I went early this morning and froze my ass off for a couple hours and just saw a buck running over ridge. Yet late this evening I happened to get small antlerless buck basically out my backdoor in a matter of seconds; it'll make some good, tender roast. Hopefully, later this week I'll get something a bit more impressive with antlers. Anyone else had a chance to go out and do some hunting yet?

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Is it exciting to go deer hunting? (especially with mates?)

You get an adrenline rush when trying to take a deer. It's slow going as well if you're trying to get in range and not spook them. Most of the time though you spend hours just wondering the woods enjoying nature.

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How does this work in your part of the world? Is it allowed because it is classed as a sport, or because it is about controlling numbers?

I am genuinely interested, in light of the current debacle in the UK about fox hunting, so please, just the facts folks.

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Gosh, it has been so long since I went deer hunting, but when I did the purpose was to control population. You only could hunt during a certain part of the year. There are time set aside for bow and arrow hunting and rifle hunting. You are limited to only shooting bucks unless you get a special doe license.

There is also an age restriction. I believe I was 12 before I could go hunting, but I could be wrong on that figure. (yes, I did get a buck that year, small 6 point)

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Gosh, it has been so long since I went deer hunting, but when I did the purpose was to control population.  You only could hunt during a certain part of the year.  There are time set aside for bow and arrow hunting and rifle hunting.  You are limited to only shooting bucks unless you get a special doe license.

There is also an age restriction.  I believe I was 12 before I could go hunting, but I could be wrong on that figure.  (yes, I did get a buck that year, small 6 point)

*surprised* !

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Most of the time though you spend hours just wondering the woods enjoying nature.

Hmmm.....that's ironic!!! :whistle:

Annnnyway.....the boss's son here at work is big into hunting and wearing leaf patterned clothing. He's just turned up in a company truck, towing a camoflauged quad bike. In the back of the truck was obviously a dead deer, as some of my colleagues were looking and chatting.

I dunno.........when I want food......I go to the supermarket. :whistle:

DS

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Here in Alabama our season runs like this:

Bow - October 15 - January 31

By Dog or stalk - November 20 - January 15

Stalk Only - January 16 - January 31

I mostly hunt from a stand looking over a rye patch. Alot of boring hours are spent. We can kill one buck and one doe a day throughout most of the state to control the populations. Used to we could only kill one doe a day in a one week period which was set by the Conservation Dept.

I don't know how it is over there but we can also hunt bobcat, fox, Opossum (can't imagine why...nasty critters!), racoon, squirrel, turkey, dove, quail, rabbit and coyote. I haven't hunted all of these animals, mostly deer, though I have hunted squirrel and dove.

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The regulations are different amongst each state, also.

In Wisconsin, you are required to wear bright orange. (I know, so much for camoflauge) and you had ONE license for ONE buck for the 2 weeks of the hunting period.

Remember, things may have changed since I left WI.

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Warden Mac just returned from a deer trip(N-Texas IIRC), they were supposed to be out 7 days i think, but they hit the limit, and had to come home early. He's got some shots maybe he'll post them, but I know he had a blast in his realtree overalls, and cell-phone, sitting in wait.

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I think hunting in the states is mostly conservation related, seeing as seasons/bag limits change depending on wildlife surveys. The money spent on hunting licenses also go right back into the wildlife department funding the conservation services.

Laws are strictly state by state. Here in Kentucky, seasons and bag limits depend on counties which are catagorized into zones. In my county you can take two deer, buck or doe, during the seasons. We have other seasons beyond modern-gun, but they're at different times. You can also obtain another permit to take two additional antlerless deer. They also released Elk here a few years back, so if you see one outside the designated counties they're free to take during deer season. We require blaze orange front, back, and head. Any centerfire handgun or rifle is legal for taking game.

DS, when you go to the supermarket you're paying to let someone else kill an animal for you and feed it growth hormones. Wild meat taste different (better), is leaner, and you gain some sense of accomplishment. Plus, for the price of a deer permit ($25) you can end up with well over $100 worth of quality meat. Even with the small deer I recently took, I have enough meat to fix four roasts and some jerky.

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Oh Blimey!.........just heard a story from a colleague who killed a deer on Saturday night. He shot 'her' from a stand and went over to get her about half an hour later.

Imagine his surprise when he grabbed it by its legs and it started kicking out big time. The doe had been lying there bleeding to death all that time. He managed to wrestle hold of her and slit its throat :(

I've personally killed chickens before, on survival courses. I'd had rabbit too, but it was a frozen [believe it or not] wild rabbit. On one survival course, the Sgt. instructor demonstrated [quite badly] how to kill a rabbit. It wasn't a wild one, but a young black and white rabbit from a pet shop. He started to wring its neck and I saw the poor creature suffer terribly at the hands of this bumbling idiot, who'd only been shown how to do it the once.

After all that, and cooking it over a fire pit, nobody ate it and it was thrown away!!!

I eat meat, could even live without it, but I certainly don't want to see my meal killed in front of me. Where I live, I have that choice!

DS

Edited by Dick Splash
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Hunting rabbits is pretty fun here in Utah. There's so many of them, it's legal to shoot them whenever. Semi-auto .22s and dogs, a real blast. Can't really eat them though.

The deer hunt, I'm a little sketchy on. I've gone a couple of times, and you just sit there for a long time the way the locals do it. The only deer meat I've ever eaten is jerky, and it was pretty nasty. I know you can make steaks and roasts from deer, but no one does around here. Just dog food and jerky.

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Oh Blimey!.........just heard a story from a colleague who killed a deer on Saturday night. He shot 'her' from a stand and went over to get her about half an hour later.

Imagine his surprise when he grabbed it by its legs and it started kicking out big time. The doe had been lying there bleeding to death all that time. He managed to wrestle hold of her and slit its throat :(

Proper bullet placement goes a long ways towards preventing suffering, then again some animals are really tough. That young buck I took yesterday did a couple of hops after I shot only to stop and stare at me with a hole the size of a softball behind his front legs (heart/lung area). I then proceeded to shoot him again and he ran about 25 yards and then fell over. Despite this, the guy helping me skin it commented that he'd never seen a bullet do so much damage and he skins upwards 30 deer each season.

I eat meat, could even live without it, but I certainly don't want to see my meal killed in front of me. Where I live, I have that choice!

Someone made a comment once that if people were required to kill their food, most people these days would be vegitarians. I believe it. Commercial chickens are electrocuted and cows are shot in the head with nail guns. Just because someone else killed it doesn't change the fact that the animal has to be dead before you can eat it.

Hunting rabbits is pretty fun here in Utah.  There's so many of them, it's legal to shoot them whenever.  Semi-auto .22s and dogs, a real blast.  Can't really eat them though.

The deer hunt, I'm a little sketchy on.  I've gone a couple of times, and you just sit there for a long time the way the locals do it.  The only deer meat I've ever eaten is jerky, and it was pretty nasty.  I know you can make steaks and roasts from deer, but no one does around here.  Just dog food and jerky.

If the locals were doing it right, you should be sitting near a major path the deer take between bedding and eating or drinking. I personally prefer to sit a little and stalk a little, no stands for me. Roasts are by far my favorite meal from deer, though I'm not one to turn down steaks. You can also make burgers (better if mixed with store-bought hamburger) and sausage, which is essentially a blend of ground deer meat and spices.

I'm sorry, but I look down on anyone who hunts and doesn't eat their game. Only exceptions to this rule are predators or vermin (coyotes, pararie dogs, etc.). There is no reason to be just wasteful running around shooting stuff, they could even donate the meat to places that fix food for the homeless or to others who enjoy it.

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I love deer hunting in iowa. The only bad thing is you can use rifles to hunt and that makes it so you need more skill. If you would use a rifle providing a line sight that is good you could shoot them a 1/4 mile away. I just got my first buck earlier this fall during youth season most fun ive had in a long time.

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Deer meat is called venison for those of you that don't know.... anywhoo, yeah, there are a LOT of vehicular accidents with deer in the midwest. I remember when I was in the passenger seat with my dad driving on a 3 lane major highway and a deer jumped the fence and ran across the highway without getting hit, now that was something to see...

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To answer Rocky's question.

Deer hunting has become a thing we must do to control the numbers as stated earlier they have multiplied to the point where they cause major damage in many urban areas, hitting cars and tearing up yards and gardens.

But it started as and will remain a part of American culture, our forefathers had to hunt to feed their families and for some I'm sure that's still the case.

Here's something that I found while searching google that I found quite interesting on the subject. http://reason.com/rb/rb112101.shtml

Here's a pic of the biggest Buck ever taken by a hunter in America, right here in my home state of Iowa, by a very young and now famous lad.

http://www.inmetrodetroit.com/Outdoors/Hun.../iowa_buck.jpeg

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Duck season started this past weekend and it wasn't a good weekend. But the thing that matters is that being in the duck blind having fun with family.

Hunting for most hunters is something that helps control populations and a by-product of conservation. Most hunters love the outdoors and protect it. Poachers are people who don't love the outdoors who don't care about nature. They are selfish and don't care about others.

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I'm sorry, but I look down on anyone who hunts and doesn't eat their game.  Only exceptions to this rule are predators or vermin (coyotes, pararie dogs, etc.).  There is no reason to be just wasteful running around shooting stuff, they could even donate the meat to places that fix food for the homeless or to others who enjoy it.

I agree with you, but:

Only exceptions to this rule are predators or vermin (coyotes, pararie dogs, etc.).

That's exactly what the rabbits are here, there's tens of thousands of them. It's basically like killing mice here, just that you've got a .22. They're almost as big of a problem as mice sometimes.

We've got stand hunters mostly, but some of us like stalking and the such. I'm still not a big fan of hunting deer, but it's ok.

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I love venison and have for 30(?) years or so. The first year I was on Okinawa, oine of my Sgt's got sent a care package with venison jerky. It had a really good smoke flavor and melted in my mouth it was soooooooooooo good.

I agree with the guys here, poachers suck. I know that most of the guys that I know that hunt, do so to put food on the table (even plain ground beef here where I live is reaching $2 a pound).

The biggest outdoorsman I admire is none other than rocker Ted Nugent. He owns a rather large spread up in Michigan that is teeming with elk, white tail and IIRC moose. He feeds his family nothing but game. He hunts not only with a rifle, but with his bow and arrow.

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That's exactly what the rabbits are here, there's tens of thousands of them.  It's basically like killing mice here, just that you've got a .22.  They're almost as big of a problem as mice sometimes.

You're forgiven then. :P Australia is having similar problems, people were even whacking them with clubs over there. Still, rabbit is good eating.

The biggest outdoorsman I admire is none other than rocker Ted Nugent.

And he totes a Glock 20 and takes rabbits on the run with it... Definately gained Glocks (and the 10mm) a bit of fame.

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