Deer Hunting

[W1IA]

I was wondering how many AM'rs are also hunters? I spoke with Buddly (WD8BIL) yesterday too see how his season was going and he reported a nice 120lb doe already in the freezer. Black powder starts this coming Saturday and I will be hunting my families farm in Lee, NH.

Brent

[KA2DZT]

Brent

Don't get lost in the woods.  We're not sending out any search parties.

I have lots of deer including bucks walking around the QTH all the time.  I stopped hunting in 1969.

Fred

[KC4ALF]

Here's one. I hunt Black powder mostly. Last one I got was with a .62 Cal. French Fusil de Chasse, Flintlock of course

[W1IA]

Here's one. I hunt Black powder mostly. Last one I got was with a .62 Cal. French Fusil de Chasse, Flintlock of course

Nice gun...I use a .50 cal Thompson Omega. It will be black powder till Nov. 10 I think, then regular gun. My primary shooter is a 12 gauge Browning BPS rifled bore slug gun. Also scoped with a Leopold....a bit overkill on the scope but my eyes are getting worse....with 385 grain gold partition sabots I get 3 inch groups at 100 yards. I hunt WMA area M in southern NH and its slug and black powder only.

[WB2EMS]

Thompson Omega here or 20 ga ultra slug NEF. But I mostly kill them with my cars. 

[W8EJO]

I hunt in No. Mich. & SC.

BAR in 30.06.

[w1vtp]

This "crowbar" is a Hopkins & Allen under hammer 45 cal ball and patch.  It got me two deer.  It takes 70 grains of FFFG - a sweet gun.  Yup - no forearm hence my term crowber. Really basic.
Al

[KA0HCP]

I hunt in No. Mich. & SC.

BAR in 30.06.

Oh, you like to see the deer dance a little before he goes down!

[KA2QFX]

"Hunting deer is cruel and evil. People should get their meat from the supermarket where no animals are harmed."

LOL!!!

That's an actual quote from some (anti...) tree hugger type.

My preference is a .300 Weatherby Magnum. 

[The Slab Bacon]

But I mostly kill them with my cars. 

Ah, yes..............."Steak on the grill"     

[W1IA]

Thompson Omega here or 20 ga ultra slug NEF. But I mostly kill them with my cars. 

I hit a large doe in S.C. with the 18 wheeler I was driving. Very sad...simply cause I didn't have time to cut out some tenderloins or backstraps for the grill. I'm not proud....if its still warm and not completely torn up its free steak!

What is sad is the tough laws on guns and hunting in Mass. The deer hug the border towns between NH and Mass that is separated by RT 495...a major highway that manages to collect many roadkills. Deer aren't completely stupid they go to where there is no hunting pressure. I can see them over the Mass border flipping me the bird. 

[KB2WIG]

You bloodthirsty, terrible people who hunt. You should be ashamed of yourselves. God made all creatures, great and small. You should atune for your transgressions. You should get rid of the deer meat. But, its too late for the deer.

 I will be happy to help you get right with the Lord. Send the venison, post paid, to me. You may also fedex it, don't use ups.   If you like, 'jerk' some of it; that will save on the postage. You can also cut the heart (across the grain), wrap it in bacon and send that also. (the bacon keeps away certain heath hens).

KLC

 PS I don't need the liver.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Used to hunt but its Been a while.  I'd love to get my boys off their butts so they could take the hunters safety course up here and we'd all go out. 

Back straps with taters & onions, mmm-mm good. 

Though if your in the woods and hungry, 4-5 grey squirrels fill a pan nicely and make up a good gravy (just the haunches though, not much meat anywhere else IMHO).  Kinda like chicken thighs (in shape, taste much better).  Just need a .22 LR for those and the season is very long here in NH.

Now that the Canadian Goose are open, I'd like to try one of them. They are practically flying Rats now, I don't think I'd need a gun, just walk up and nail the bugger with a bat!

[W1IA]

     Today was a scouting day on the farm and setting up my blind. What perfect fall weather as I drove too the back fields of the farm. I still wish I could build a home on or around the farm. Having grown up in such beautiful country make me feel privileged and thankful. Quite a few miles of the north river flow through the many acres and we had the typical Yankee swimming hole with the swing rope over the river.
     After a hot summer day bailing hay all the men would head to the river for the typical skinny dip as the ladies peaked over the banking...of course the ladies suffered the same fate. The family on my mom's side is so large my grandfather built a recreation hall at the bottom of the hill called the cow palace.
     Our fourth of July celebration lasted two full days and a month prior we would kill off a fat meat steer for the festivities. As my mom side is full blooded Germans the mass consumption of beer was always part of the fun including live bands and lots of horse shoes.
     Yup, I can swim in the memories of growing up on the farm and still surprised I survived it with my cousins. Did you ever ride a bike over a river on an 8 by 8 timber that had a 40 foot span with a 30 ft drop to one foot of water below? Jump into a hay pile from 3 stories up in the barn. Have you tried cow skiing in the winter...its quite simple, after a good foot of snow grab the tail of a large Hereford and give it a boot in the ass and hang on.  
     I spoke to my uncle Buzzy Reinhold today and reflected on just that. Buzzy owns the farm now as my grandfather past away a few years ago at ripe age of 103. When I grew up there it was a dairy farm. My uncle planted grapes over 18 years ago and the Flag Hill Winery came to be. Also he changed the laws in the state and got a distillery license. The family brand "General John Stark Vodka"
      The best is of course the memories of hunting with my dad. No time ever spent has made such a warm and lasting impression.

[W1IA]

Used to hunt but its Been a while.  I'd love to get my boys off their butts so they could take the hunters safety course up here and we'd all go out. 

Back straps with taters & onions, mmm-mm good. 

Though if your in the woods and hungry, 4-5 grey squirrels fill a pan nicely and make up a good gravy (just the haunches though, not much meat anywhere else IMHO).  Kinda like chicken thighs (in shape, taste much better).  Just need a .22 LR for those and the season is very long here in NH.

Now that the Canadian Goose are open, I'd like to try one of them. They are practically flying Rats now, I don't think I'd need a gun, just walk up and nail the bugger with a bat!

It imperative Ed to get your boys out in the field and memories that will last forever...not too mention the steaks The dam geese are still protected?? Why? The dam thing pollute public water supplies do too over population and poor habitat management. They are nuisance.

[Steve - K4HX]

Kind of a big gun for little white-tails. Or are you hunting moose?

My preference is a .300 Weatherby Magnum.

[DMOD]

Pearson compound bow with 31" graphite arrows for the early season, 12 Guage saboted slug for reglar season, and Thompson Center "Hawken" 50 cal  muzzleloader with saboted coppers for late season.

Only deer I have seen so far is on the side of the road as in "roadkill." 

Phil - AC0OB

[WD8BIL]

Hi Guys,

Early bow season - Horton Summit Crossbow aka. freezer filler
Next - Bear Kodiak 55# Recurve w/ Easton 2018 30" tipped with 125gr Bear Razors
Gun season - Mossberg 500 in 20ga smoothbore
Black Powder - TC Hawkins in 50 cal. loading 100g FF pushing 365gr mini-ball

[k4kyv]

I wish they would open the season here to 24/7/365, and hunt those artificially re-introduced pests to extinction, along with their annoying, disease-bearing ticks. Then I could grow a vegetable garden and farmers wouldn't have 25% of their crops eaten up, and we wouldn't have to worry about collisions as they stand on the side of the road waiting to commit suicide by jumping in front of the first car that passes by.

And they are lobbying to re-introduce elk to this part of the country!

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Reintroduction of game animals, without the reintroduction of the controlling predators was pretty dumb.  Nature needs balance, having deer with out wolves or mountain lions to keep them in check naturally is the same sort of human meddling that brought us killer bee's and gypsy moths. 

[W1IA]

Reintroduction of game animals, without the reintroduction of the controlling predators was pretty dumb.  Nature needs balance, having deer with out wolves or mountain lions to keep them in check naturally is the same sort of human meddling that brought us killer bee's and gypsy moths. 

Sadly the coyote population has done a fine job in killing off fawn and also killing people pets. Rabies from coyote is another major problem.

There isn't as many people hunting as there used too be, but the state of NH still manages to sell out of extra doe tags for my area. Last years harvest was down over 38% due to a hard winter kill in 2009 and additional coyote population.

[k4kyv]

I  can't wait till the re-introduce elk. Those things will be the equivalent of a bulldozer in the veg garden, and colliding with one on the highway would be about equivalent to T-boning an army tank.

We have coyotes here, but the wildlife agency says they prey mostly on smaller animals. Wolves and bobcats are long gone. I had never heard of coyotes attacking a human until the Taylor Mitchell tragedy up in Nova Scotia.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

coyotes will tackle larger animials if they are weak from disease or starvation and they are hungry enough.  The coyotes here in NH are a nuisance to hunters, and do take peoples pets, like cats and smaller dogs.  They do avoid larger dogs (maybe they mistake them for wolves?).   A few people get bit once in a while in NH, and the season for coyote is one of the longest, with night hunting permitted too. Still they are a cautious and clever predator and not the easiest to hunt.

[W1RKW]

A few years ago a woman was attacked by a coyote in a Micky-D's parking lot off of I-95 in Branford.

Our environmental protection dept. insists that wolves do not exist in CT.  I beg to differ.  A couple of years ago, early in the morning, I was hiking into an isolated beach area to do some striper fishing and a couple hundred yards from me in a marsh area I saw a wolf chase down a doe.  The doe escaped through bramble and brush but the amazing thing was this wolf was gaining on the doe before the doe jumped and darted off into the brush.  I've never witnessed the speed like this of any canine.  If it wasn't for the bramble and brush the doe would've been breakfast. The canine was a big and lean animal unlike a coyote.

Just today the news is reporting that the same state enviro dept. has identified a mountain lion sighting in a neighboring town, the same state agency that insisted the mtn. lions do not exist in CT.

[WB2EMS]

The coyotes are doing a job on the fawns down here in central NY as well. When I walk out back I often come across chewed up fawn pelts or bones. And the cats are definitely nervous and sometimes show some signs of wear and tear from scuffling with something.

At night, I can often hear 3 separate packs of coyotes calling around the homestead. They run through my yard and out to the field beyond, I can see their tracks in the snow, a pack of 6-8.

A neighbor stuffed his car in the snowbank about a half mile away from his house in the woods and walked home. He got harried by a group of coyotes on the trip back to his house, said it was rather unpleasant - he kept throwing rocks and sticks at them to drive them off.

They are hard to hunt though. I rarely get eyeballs on them, even at night with calls. I keep working on it though.

Our coyotes are on the large side, and the University has been doing genetic studies on them. The assumption was they were breeding with wild dogs, yielding coy dogs, but they've discovered they are cross breeding with wolves which is why they are larger than the western versions.

My YL saw  wolf the other night on her motorcycle. Bigger and darker than the coyotes, and moved different - less spooky than the coyotes are.

We've got bears attacking my friends chicken coop, another eating fawns, and I hit one with a car when it ran across a highway at dusk. He got up after a couple of minutes and ran off. I still have a tuft of the fur from the car.  Several folks have  spotted mountain lions, including a dirt biking buddy of mine within a mile of here.

With the lack of hunters, it's turning into a jungle out there!