Hunting and Fishing Thread - With Poll

[Mike S.]

Mike, I do occasionally, with my .44 in very close situations. No luck with it though.

Craig

What loads do you use? So far I've only shot Federal American Eagle 240 gr. JHP's (at paper) because I used to be able to get them for $17.99 a box (50) at Dicks. But I have not seen them on sale for many months. I don't think I need a premium bullet for deer in the 120 pound range, but I would bow to experience.

 

[db]

OK, db, time to come clean.

How did the big trip go? Is the secret weapon still secret, and really a weapon?

The biggest fish I have caught in the last week or so actually got mugged by the cricket I was using as bait. Still fun, though.

Craig

Well, I could come up with all kinds of excuses, but....

Out of the 5 day weekend (took Fri and Tues off too), I spent a whopping 2 hours fishing! The balance of the time was used in buying a house, for when I retire at year's end. We found a 1 Bedroom on 5 acres for 30K.

As far as the secret weapon....I caught one 12" largemouth twice in about three minutes! I caught him (her?) tossed him back, and caught him again two casts later. The weapon did not function, as I thought it would. I had hoped it would stay on top of the water longer. I have some fly spray I will use to see if that will help.

If that wasn't bad enough, I was washing out my jerky trays, and got the water too hot, and melted five. Ticked me right off! Now, I'll have to go out and buy the super dehydrater from Cabelas at $400. Darn! :thedeal:

 

[Craig H.]

Mike:

I use pretty much whatever the sporting goods store has in a large bullet size - I'll have to look at home to see what that is right now. I won't take a shot farther than around 30 yards, so IMO the "premium" bullet would not make as much difference as the shooter.

db:

Retiring, huh? My Dad just retired a year or so ago. Memorial Day weekend we were talking, and I said something like "the only thing better than a three day weekend is a four day weekend." He started laughing and said he had both of those beat (being retired and all). Y'all make me sick

Anyhow, sorry about the secret weapon, but maybe the fly dressing will help. You will soon have plenty of time to work on it. Is your new house in the mountains? Man, those PA hills are pretty.

BTW, the Cabelas dehydrator works pretty well.

Craig

 

[Craig H.]

Hi, folks. Thought I would give this thread a bump to see if anyone is interested.

Deer season (archery, anyway) has been open here for a few weeks now. I have seen 2 so far, and took a shot at one with my new crossbow. She jumped the string, and I bagged a nice 2 pointer. The middle of 2 ends (points) of a small log, anyway.

Not believing me when I told them it was a clean miss, my hunting "buddies" went to look where I had shot. They are such thoughtful blokes.

The log, complete with my crossbow bolt and broadhead embedded in it, is now on the wall in a place of honor in our camp. Hilarious.

Anyone else have any stories?

 

[Carl Keller]

I have been concentrating on duck hunting in recent years.

2 of my buddies and myself load up kayaks, yes, KAYAKS, paddle over a mile of open water and a few more miles through channels to the salt marsh where we have GPS coordinates to the salt pond of our choice. We use prior experience and sometimes Terraserver to choose our spot, set up our decoys, pull the boats into the reeds and cover up with burlap camo. No dogs, we fetch 'em.

In over 25 years of hunting, Deer, Bear, Small Game etc. this has to be some of the best times I have ever had.

Paddling out in the ink black night and back when the sun is below the horizon and the kayaks are riding WAY low because of the days catch and wet gear with icy whitecaps washing over the deck is definitely not for the faint of heart though!

Carl-

 

[Craig H.]

Carl:

Sounds fun. What type of ducks do you usually see?

 

[Carl Keller]

Mallards, Teal, Brant by the THOUSANDS (but who wants them?) Hooded Merganser now and then. Sometimes we will see Blacks.

It is hard work, but FUN.

Carl-

 

[Craig H.]

I have heard that, through efforts of groups such as DU, the Mississippi flyway is HUGE now. Do you think our old (Atlantic?) flyway has a chance of making such a rebound?

 

[Carl Keller]

Not sure, but there are plenty where I hunt.

I think the Atlantic flyway is much more sensitive to environmental and pollution issues.

The downfall has never been over hunting. There are less and less people hunting every year and they are not teaching their children to handle guns, respect the environment and responsibly enjoy the outdoors. It has become sanitized and "virtual". They would rather sit on the couch and watch the Discovery channel than actually get out there. Nothing wrong with the Discovery channel, but there is a lot that can be experienced first hand.

I went camping last week with my 8 year old daughter and had GPS coordinates to a Bear cave. We hiked out and the last mile or so was through the brush. When I showed the pictures to the people at work, they were appalled that I would take her on such a trek, but it is something she will remember for a long, long time. There have probably only been 3 or 4 people at that spot in the last 10 years, and I seriously doubt any of them were 8 year old girls.

I am not suggesting we take our children to swim with sharks and handle rattlesnakes, but responsibly enjoying nature first hand via hunting, fishing and hiking off the beaten path is quickly vanishing.

I had 2 guns hanging on my wall when I was 12 years old. One was a 12 gauge shotgun. I got in fights at school, had arguments with siblings, went through breakups with girlfreinds and had teachers I could not stand. Using one of those guns in any of those circumstances never crossed my mind.

Things are different now. Society is seriously whacked. Now we have Columbine and Gangsta's on MTV that shoot 9mm glocks while holding them sideways. Any gun as seen as "bad".



Carl-

 

[Craig H.]

Carl:

There are so many things in your last statement that I would like to comment on, but as I am on my coffee break, I will limit myself. There will be those who think I am nuts...

I have a theory, or maybe it is just a way of looking at things. Man has been trying for years to control the environment. In some ways we have. In the process, we have developed this environment in such a way that we are bombarded by influences to the extent that we have to block out a lot just to function. In a way the boob tube helps us do that - we sit and concentrate on that inanimate object to the exception of almost everything else. Our surroundings create a kind of rhythm, for lack of a better word.

In the outdoors, away from "civilization" the rhythm is different. When I go deer hunting, it takes me a good half hour - 45 minutes to "slow down". This is a fascinating world we live in, if we just take the time to sit and let the rhythm come to us. All of our man-made "noise" tends to hide that fact.

Taking your 8 year old daughter camping, on a "bear hunt" (remember that old kid's song)? Sounds to me like your priorities are aligned correctly. It must be very, very rewarding.

What's my point? Well, I think that our urbanization has a lot to do with the negative things you mentioned. The fact that we are living closer together than we were a century or so ago has actually driven us apart. We tend to value others less. Its sad.

Of course, that's just my opinion.