Anybody Do Any Hunting?

[Texas CTD]

Surely somebody on here hunts.  

 

Post up your kills. (or about your kills)

 

 

I killed a handful of dove last year. (bad year) I got two deer; a doe, and a small 8 point buck.

I also got a handful of ducks, (season ends on Sunday) and a handful of squirrels. I've noticed an increase in the population of woodcocks, but I didn't get a chance to hunt them.

 

 

[joecool911]

I deer and elk hunt with a bow. Bear, cougar with a rifle. I'd love to do some hunting in Texas. Hogs, predators.

[hex0rz]

Yea, I've posted up on here after getting some kills..

 

Last hunting season I got a good 4x4 buck. Tanned his hide out. Made a european skull mount.

 

Couple seasons ago I got myself a cow elk.

 

Between out of staters and wolves, its getting a little hard now. Gonna have to go really south for any good hunting...

 

We go in the forest every year for something, sometimes I get something, sometimes I don't. Were gonna raise a beef this year hopefully.

 

1st year in ID I got myself a black bear. I've still gotta get the hide done up though. Took the claws and going to make a necklace for the wife. Took the cow elk ivories and made earrings for her, too.

 

I mainly do rifle, but have tried bow a few times. I've got a climbing stand I need to put to use, so hopefully when money is hopefully a little more abundant I'll be picking up a bow.

[Wild and Free]

White tail Deer "Can't stand the smell of Muley meat"  only when I need some extra meat until the next steer is ready for the freezer,I hunt some pheasants only when friends get together, and coyotes are my favorite thing of all to hunt. Having grown up on a 7K acre farm in the middle and along the Missouri river breaks we had tons of both White tail and Mule deer on our land and intermingled together in some areas, I have shot my fair share of nice bucks with huge racks when I was young and realized as I got older I got no real satisfaction out of it and still have yet to find a recipe to make the antlers edible. I like a nice easy green grass/grain fed white tail doe any day.

 

Other than coyotes and other fur bearers I only hunt what I eat. I and my wife are not much for the taste of elk, has kind of a sweet taste, not bad but doesn't tickle our buds............Moose on the other hand is awesome, I have been trying to get a Moose tag the last couple of years, here in ND Moose and Elk are a once in a lifetime draw lottery style.

 

I have never tried antelope but most around here say it is way better than any deer. We have such an up and down population of antelope the seasons are never set the last 2-3 years the population has been low and so there was no season for them, when there is it is land owner first then a limited amount of tags in certain areas only. We are on the northern part of their territory head south a couple hundred miles from me to  SD / Wyo. and they are like ants on the land scape.

 

We have a healthy population of Bobcats and Mountain lions across the state but do not feel the need to shoot one unless one had it in for my own personal critters.

 

My someday hunt is to bag a pile of hogs in Texas, one of my best friends from high school lives south of Ft worth and has connections to lots of good hunting land down there. He come back home every couple years for a weeks worth of pheasant hunting and brings back friends from TX and it is funny to see their faces when they all see the size of our deer here and especially our Mule deer, they mistake them for elk. Sounds like the deer down south are about the size of our dogs up here. They are huge dove hunters in TX as you pointed out and they are always amazed at how big our doves are compared to down south too.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Wild and Free

[dorkweed]

Big time upland and water fowler here.  I've posted pix here in the past of my "exploits"!!!

[MnTom]

I haven't hunted much in the last few years except for grouse. If my wife or son get a deer that is fine, but I don't much care if I ever shoot one or not. Wife and kids have been on a bunch of moose licenses so I get to help once they get one down (Indian laws). I have also helped some of my in-laws on moose hunts too.

[rancherman]

I sat  with  a neighbor last winter and called in a  nice  bobcat.       He  weighed  about  32#

 

during  deer season,   I  pretty much  hide  in  our  fallout shelter..     (and  drive around looking for trespassers  who insist on never closing a  gate)

Coon, white tail,  turkey,  coyote,  muley,    bobcat  (in that order)   is   what's lurking   around outside my  house.     I'm  a little  too  far east for  antelope.  A  teen  about  40 miles  from here   shot and killed  a  lion  during  deer season... (self defense)   We  do  have  slim pickings on  pheasant.... seems like  when  there are lots of  turkeys  around,  they  destroy pheasant nests.  (coons too)    

I  really  would prefer to   'call' in  the  critter..    Nothing   excites  me  more than  seeing  a  yote   trotting  over the hill towards me!

This  winter  has  seen pretty good  fur,     last  2 or 3 years   has been pretty  nasty/mangy/half dead  starved  yotes!    They been bringing  20-40$

 

I'm  with   WF...    give me  a  nice  fat  young doe!    Last year we had terrible  blue tongue disease  game and parks  estimated  75% kill......and   I've been  dodging  bones  out in our  pastures  ever since...  But,    I haven't put venison  in the freezer  for  a long time now...  but that don't mean   my  cars/pickups   haven't been  successful at  'thinning the  herd'.. :banghead:

[hex0rz]

I've been really hitting on the idea of making myself some good clothing out of fur. Watched a guy make some REAALLY nice mittens out of coyote fur. Good grief, they went up to his elbows!

[MnTom]

Way back in about 1978 I had a pair of moose hide mittens made out of a moose that I participated in hunting. They had fleece in them for a liner and they were the best wearing and warmest mittens I have ever had. I wish I still had them.

[dorkweed]

I haven't hunted much in the last few years except for grouse. If my wife or son get a deer that is fine, but I don't much care if I ever shoot one or not. Wife and kids have been on a bunch of moose licenses so I get to help once they get one down (Indian laws). I have also helped some of my in-laws on moose hunts too.

 

[Mopar1973Man]

I use to be a big Grouse hunter back in the day but now after totalling up all the license, fuel, food, ammo, etc. I can buy a mess load of chicken from the store case lot style for much much less.

[Killer223]

here in AZ you only get one deer a year, and no doe's, antelope are so hard to get drawn for it's a waste of time even putting in, oh yeah its alotery draw system here in AZ also. you can get a over the counter deer for BOW, but if you fill that tag you cant (if drawn for rifle) shoot one.  Elk are getting harder and harder to get drawn for, the outs of staters from Taxas and Cali have just about ruined the draw for us local folks. as the tag price is about 5 times the local price. I've been on two Buffalo hunts, no desire to ever hunt those again. 3 days packing him out 5 miles was not my idea of fun. even if the meet was good.  here you can get White tail or Muley. but our white tails are tinny compared to back east. here a BIG white tail might weigh in at 75 lb. where a nice muley will be 150-225.  we do have good coyote, bobcat, mountain lion, prairie dogs.  yada yada yada. hunting here in AZ she have changed. i miss the old days, i've landed a hand full of deer, a few elk. countless quail, dove, coyotes, prairie dogs, a duck or three.

 

The last Elk is one i've been watching all year, if i get drawn bull, he's mine.

 

I should add i'm not poking at Texans or Californians, just stating some facts. i have several friends that live in both places.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Killer223

[Texas CTD]

I use to be a big Grouse hunter back in the day but now after totalling up all the license, fuel, food, ammo, etc. I can buy a mess load of chicken from the store case lot style for much much less.

 

 

I don't understand putting a ton of money into a hunting trip. I mean, sure if you're rich, and you like hunting, spend the money to make a successful hunt. Now I love hunting, but if it cost me more than the meat is worth, I probably wouldn't hunt. I buy the license and maybe a few bags of corn, and some doe estrous, and that's it.

[joecool911]

I don't understand putting a ton of money into a hunting trip. I mean, sure if you're rich, and you like hunting, spend the money to make a successful hunt. Now I love hunting, but if it cost me more than the meat is worth, I probably wouldn't hunt. I buy the license and maybe a few bags of corn, and some doe estrous, and that's it.

That's like saying don't put so much money into a cummins. Just go out and buy a yugo. We put a lot of time into hunting. It's time well spent. But no question you could buy store bought cheaper. But you gotta do something besides work. The camping, commerodity is important too.

[rancherman]

I  run  on my own land,  with  land-owners'  permit.     I'd  like to see   game and  parks  give  the  actual  land owners  first   'stab'   at   getting  quarry  (the  ones  that  have been  eating  their   crops  all year, besides  paying  taxes  on the land  under their hooves..)   before  opening it up to   'outsiders'..  (the one's  that  turn  hunting into a  stampede/running of the  bulls)          Give  us  the  first full weekend,     then  open the  flood gates!

 

 

how many  use  'high hide'  type  shooting  stations?    They look like   Vietnam  prison camp  guard towers

[hex0rz]

You can't put a price on wild game, IMHO..

 

If I spent $1000 to kill an elk, by golly, thats what I'll do! I've had many hunting trips come up with nothing! Thats 400-600 in the hole for an empty freezer!

 

But the time out in the forest experiencing something so very few do, priceless!

[joecool911]

I run on my own land, with land-owners' permit. I'd like to see game and parks give the actual land owners first 'stab' at getting quarry (the ones that have been eating their crops all year, besides paying taxes on the land under their hooves..) before opening it up to 'outsiders'.. (the one's that turn hunting into a stampede/running of the bulls) Give us the first full weekend, then open the flood gates!

how many use 'high hide' type shooting stations? They look like Vietnam prison camp guard towers

The classic argument between ranchers and common folk. Here in Oregon land owners get preference tags. X number per Y acres. That tries to address the landowner issue. Here we have worse issues. Wolves are federally protected and ranchers are not allowed to shoot a wolf even if he sees it eating livestock.

[scummins]

Cool website for all you hunters to check out!

 

www.biggamelogic.com

 

i use it to track deer activity on the land i hunt! also connects you with other people into hunting! check it out.

[dorkweed]

I've been going to NoDak since '99.  I've gotten to know quite a few farmers/ranchers out there.  We're on a first name basis with many, although we often call them Mr. and Mrs SoAndSo.  The land that I have access to hunt has been gotten by knocking on doors and forming a personal relationship with the owners.  The simple fact of us knocking on a new door and giving "local" references about our courtesy and respect goes a long way up there.

 

We try to pick up all spent hulls, close all gates, and not make ruts in fields or lanes.  We'll also offer some of our "kill" (cleaned of course) to them, but usually they prefer a "bottle" of some sort.  One of my Buds I go to NoDak with lives in KY……………he'll usually bring up 4-5 bottles of select bourbon to give to land owners as "gifts" for letting us hunt their property.  Them bottles go a long way in helping them remember us year after year.

[rancherman]

Hey,  'weed!    you are the model of the  respectful,  courteous   hunter,  the  type  I'd let  go   anytime!     I wish you could   preach/teach this  to  all!