Hunting Sense

Todays post is all about the three R’s, and don’t worry, it’s not about Jethro.

Reading

I’ve been doing some reading lately. More specifically, I’ve been reading a really interesting book titled The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting by Frank Miniter. I was contacted a few weeks back and asked to do a review of the book. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. Who wouldn’t, considering Frank Miniter was a senior editor at Outdoor Life magazine and is the executive editor of American Hunter magazine, that he knows what he is talking about, and that this book deals with the realities of hunting the media fails to report. I’m about a third of the way through it right now and will be doing a full review post on it in the Hunting Sense Books & Videos category as soon as I’m finished reading it.

I will say this right now, though. It is definitely a book I think every one should read.

(more…)

Today marks the opening day of hunting season in many areas, so I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone good luck. And if you want to brag about the one that didn’t get away, remember that I’ll be posting photos sent in to me in a special section for Hometown Heroes.

Friday, while skimming through stations on the car radio, my wife happened to come across a radio talk-show where they were discussing Alberta’s Provincial Hunting Day. Even though the kids were less than thrilled by the prospect of having to listen to it, my wife left it there so we could listen. I have to say I’m more than a little glad that she did, but I believe she is planning on making a post that may explain why. What I want to discuss is something the anti-hunter they spoke with said.

It is widely agreed that hunting is one of the best management tools wildlife departments have at their disposal. Except to anti-hunters, who will find any reason, no matter how skewered, to debunk the fact. And that is exactly what the anti-hunter on the radio talk-show did, so I wasn’t disappointed. What surprised me though is the way she presented her argument against it.

(more…)

As most of you are probably already aware of, Saturday, September 22nd, is National Hunting & Fishing Day in the United States. Maybe something a little less well known, though, is that it’s also Provincial Hunting Day in Alberta, Canada. I’m not sure if any of the other provinces are planning any activities for that day. But after seeing that the concept is something that extends beyond the borders of just one country, it gave me an idea.

Why not an International Hunting Day?

(more…)

We’ve all had them, right? Those hunting trips that would have been best if they had never happened? The ones where every thing that could go wrong did, and then some? Ones that, after the fact, you look back at and say, “Damn, that was a horrible trip, but it sure is funny now.”

Well, those are what I am wanting you to remember right now. Why? Because I think we can do something with them that would be rather fun. You know how movies have a tagline? Something like “RV: One family. Eight wheels. No brakes.” or “Rush Hour: The Fastest Hands In The East Meet The Biggest Mouth In The West.”

(more…)

Hunters in general tend to be an innovative bunch of people. We are constantly either trying, or coming up with, new tactics, ideas, or items to help us in our pursuit of the animals we hunt. To continue being successful, we have to constantly adapt to our game and the particular circumstances of a certain hunting condition.

So, quite often, we find ourselves not only using new products that hit the market, but often times we fabricate what we need ourselves. These could range from hunting blinds to our own scents, and numerous things in-between. I know because I’ve been there and done that myself.

(more…)

Photos of local hunters and their kills in newspapers are probably familiar to those of you who live in smaller towns. Growing up, I remember anxiously waiting for the paper to see pictures of deer harvested and if I knew the hunters who got them. In a way, those hunters who appeared within those black and white, ink-filled pages seemed like hometown hunting heroes.

You can still find them today, but as hunting and hunters become less fashionable, so does the printing of pictures of them and their kills. Especially in larger papers. So this is what I would like to do.

(more…)

Here’s a novelty for all you hunters and beer drinkers out there. Miller High Life cans are going blaze orange this fall, and the 24 and 30 pack boxes are getting a hunting theme makeover.

I’m not against having a beer after a long hunt, but I can already see trouble brewing over this decision. Hunters already fight a bad rap day in and day out, and beer in a blaze orange can is only going to add fuel to the fire on the general publics beliefs that hunters are nothing more than beer drinking, gun toting morons. In fact, if you read the comments left on the above article, it has already started.

(more…)

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

This is the official, unofficial, end to summer. Amazing how fast it goes, isn’t it? Here in the Great White North, you can already feel a crispness in the air and see the leaves slowly beginning to change from green to shades of yellow, red, and orange. All a sure sign that fall is on it’s way, and right behind it, tons of the white stuff.

(more…)

While trying to explain my desire to hunt to non-hunters, there is one sticking point that is hard for them to wrap their mind around.That sticking point is the very final act of the hunt: The actual killing of the animal. And while trying to explain that, I have to admit, my views on it are so hard to explain, I can see where it would be a huge contradiction to anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about.

(more…)

When we think about safety while hunting, what normally comes to mind? Weapon safety? Treestand safety? Both of these springs to mind immediately for me, but there is another that is equally as important. What is it, you ask? Safely venturing into your hunting terrain and making it back out in one piece.

That may not sound like such a huge feat, but it can become one very easily for those who fail to respect Mother Nature and how unforgiving she can be. Sometimes we can forget that, especially when we have hunted in the same woods for years. But no matter how familiar we are with an area, we can’t afford to let our guard down.

(more…)

Yes, I know it isn’t the most original title, but it works, right?

My blogroll is now limited to fifteen links, so I have decided to add this new category and link to it at the bottom of my blogroll. Here I will be making posts adding anyone who isn’t listed and adding other sites I find interesting.

I apologize to those of you who don’t appear on the regular blogroll any longer. I figured the best bet was to do it alphabetically, but I may decide later on to rotate the links out with other ones from time to time. We’ll have to see what happens.

Over the years, I’ve hunted both private and public lands. As more and more of the private land was no longer available for hunting, public land allowing access became much more important. Public hunting land was the always-there-to-fall-back-on option. And then, I started seeing the available public land start to slowly disappear as it was sold off or closed to hunting activities.

The fact that private land is sold off and developed into housing additions, business, or other types of uses that make hunting unavailable is a sad but expected reality as the population grows. The loss of public land for hunting, though, is another thing. It is the one thing that in my mind should be guaranteed to be there. It is what the government should make every effort necessary to insure it never disappears.

(more…)

Hunting is something I have always loved to do and bear hunting is something I have always wanted to do. The closest I have came to getting to hunt bear is looking for them in Arkansas during deer season when bear season was open as well. I think that may be the closest I’ll be able to get to actually going, as far as my wife is concerned.

For a person who is fairly new to hunting, she is very open to the idea and concepts. She encourages me to teach the kids. She even requests a nice supply of venison and moose to be put in the freezer for the winter. But when it comes to hunting bears, that is where she has yet to entertain the notion.

(more…)

What if a city opened areas for the bowhunting of deer, and no hunters came? That is exactly what happened in Clive, Iowa last year, and they want to change that.

It seems that hunting within the city limits of Clive last year, and even though ten applications were picked up, zero hunters participated. It couldn’t have been what city officials, or residents who requested the city manage the deer population, had hoped for. This year, they have made some changes and added additional land to try to increase interest and entice hunters to hunt.

(more…)