Any other hunters out there?

[DrPizza]

Figured this was going to be a bad year - no free time. Too many projects around the house. But, last night I decided, I'm getting out for at least a few hours today - first time out. Got a late start getting out of the house; finally out the door at 5am to hunt at my son's house. I got there just as he was leaving for work. "Too bad you're late. A six point just crossed the road, heading toward my stand." Gathered my gear, almost a 10 minute walk to the tree stand. As I got to the top and started turning around to sit down, holy shit, probably the same 6 point. 80 seconds of hunting and I was done for the day. Didn't lose the arrow either - went straight through the deer and stuck in the ground. Perfect shot. Son just called, he hunted for 10 minutes after work in the same spot. On his way here with another deer. 10 more tags between my sons and I; Saturday is the opening of rifle/shotgun season.

I was going to title this thread, "looks like I beat my meat..." bill.

 

[olds]

Nice.
I stopped hunting years ago. Never really liked venison. Except for jerky.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Venison is tasty, I dont hunt, but have an uncle and cousin who bowhunt for white tail.

Edit: And I usually do half venison/half beef and make chilli ... perfect amount of fat that way ...

 

[Blackjack200]

I'd like to hunt someday. How does bow hunting work? Does the arrow have to hit the heart? That seems like it would be pretty tough to do.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd like to hunt someday. How does bow hunting work? Does the arrow have to hit the heart? That seems like it would be pretty tough to do.

No, but that makes it fairly easy. If you don't get a quick kill, you need to track the deer, and finish it off, or collect the body.

I don't hunt anymore, and never did get any big game. I wouldn't mind going out for squirrel, dove, and other small stuff, but I haven't made the time for it.

 

[MongGrel]

Just haven't in a long time myself, I have a nice spot down here I could go.

Bow hunting works like firearms hunting, I still have an old Jennings Unistar I used to use.

I've probably hunted more things with bows than guns over time actually.

You made out, nice shot

Just a stock photo but look like mine a lot.

Old bow, they do way a ton but have the arrows cut down and a custom setup overdraw on mine, just don't even do it these days.

 

[brianmanahan]

went my excellent compatriot hunting a couple times but never got anything, and would never be able to deal with the guts if i did get something (without throwing up all over the place)

shoot, i cant even watch someone draw blood out of my arms without getting sick

 

[LevelSea]

I'm in two clubs this year. Never bow hunted, but I'd like to get into it sometime.

 

[highland145]

Skunks aren't good eating?

 

[MongGrel]

Never got brave enough to try that one

http://www.cooks.com/recipe/l621j5wm/baked-skunk.html

 

[lxskllr]

I've never seen a live wild skunk. I'll see them in the road on occasion, or smell them, but I've never seen a live one. I'd love to. They're cool little critters.

 

[MongGrel]

I've never seen a live wild skunk. I'll see them in the road on occasion, or smell them, but I've never seen a live one. I'd love to. They're cool little critters.

They are actually, I've ran into a few pet ones over time in the past that had the glands taken out someone had.

 

[Ferzerp]

Not for 20 years. I didn't like the meat, so it didn't make sense for me to shoot things anymore (deer, squirrel, etc)

 

[pontifex]

I hunt deer, rifle season. I used to eat venison a lot and then kind of stopped. I had stopped hunting for awhile and recently started again like 2 years ago. last year I got a doe and buck. I don't like getting up early or sitting in the cold, but it's nice to be out in nature, nice and quiet, looking at things and animals. My dad is a hunter too and I think I do it more for him than me though.

The rest of my family eat venison so i think if I get any more deer, I'll give it away.

 

[shortylickens]

I stopped hunting a long time ago.
Cant eat a deer by myself and I dont believe in killing anything you wont eat.

Also its a pain slogging thru the countryside chasing down anything worth eating.

 

[kage69]

I was going to head out with a bow, but I screwed up and really aggravated a shoulder injury the other day. Wearing ice as I type this. Probably going to play it safe and just wait for rifle season (shootin recurve).

Found a spot near 2 good trails that overlooks a couple of crab apple trees, and got a good feeling about it. More importantly, I got permission from the landowner to hunt there. Will probably let the weather decide what I take for a deer thumper.

Back when I hunted regularly, my dad and I would return to the landowner and give thanks with the rack and a tenderloin. Came across his favorite Puma for dressing animals recently, quite out of the blue and after me having looked for it since early summer. I'm not a superstitious guy, but it kinda felt like I was ruefully being told something to the effect of "you have boys now, they'll be shootin soon, get crackin"

So yeah, going to christen my new home in VT with some local deer meat soon, much to the wife's chagrin. I'm not the biggest venison fan, but there are ways to prepare it that will cause me to devour it with gusto. Too bad we don't have elk out here

 

[DrPizza]

I'd like to hunt someday. How does bow hunting work? Does the arrow have to hit the heart? That seems like it would be pretty tough to do.

Actually, you don't aim quite for the heart. The lungs are a larger target, and right next to the heart. Miss in one direction a little, and it's the heart. Miss in the other direction, and it's the liver. When I shot the deer, I had to hit slightly high due to the angle, and it came out the bottom; had to picture in my head where the vital organs are. From the noise, it leaped and ran for about 2 seconds. Then, it looked around; no sign of distress or suffering - it stood there for about 10 seconds, got all wobbly, and dropped dead. I have friends who have shot deer with arrows while the deer were grazing. They lifted their heads up, then went back to grazing, and in a few seconds, dropped over dead.

The most important thing for bow hunting is practice practice practice. If you can't hit a 6" saucer sized target on every single shot, you don't belong in the woods. My son can group them in a 3" circle at 40 yards; I can only go out to about 25 yards and be 100% confident in my shot - son had more practice time.

 

[drbrock]

Hunting is a lot of fun. I mostly do muzzleloading but imho bow hunting is the ultimate way to hunt. There is a guy on the joe rogan podcast who shoots 90lb bows. That is insane.

Down here in Florida my sister and brother in law do a lot of hunting with dogs. We actually sell high end vests to protect them. Some people even use them as protection against bears.

Check out top dog cut gear. Pretty basic website but I am not a designer and is generally the best I can do without sinking tons of time into it.

 

[kage69]

I stopped hunting a long time ago.
Cant eat a deer by myself and I dont believe in killing anything you wont eat.

Also its a pain slogging thru the countryside chasing down anything worth eating.

Did they not have freezers and deer stands back then?

 

[DrPizza]

I stopped hunting a long time ago.
Cant eat a deer by myself and I dont believe in killing anything you wont eat.

Also its a pain slogging thru the countryside chasing down anything worth eating.

It was a 10 minute walk to the tree stand... downhill. Dragging a heavy deer uphill through deep grass is anything but easy.

And, I'd think a person could easily eat a deer by themselves. Not all in one sitting, but they invented this thing called a freezer. These two deer - all the back loins and tenderloins are steaks. All the rest is being ground into 95+% lean hamburg. Just waiting til my son gets here, then we'll cut them up.

 

[iwajabitw]

Don't hunt much anymore, too many clubs and pay to hunt land owners.

 

[Ruptga]

I haven't in a while, but my folks always do and usually get 1-4 deer between them. They always pass around the extras to family and friends, too. The jerky's not bad.

 

[shortylickens]

Did they not have freezers and deer stands back then?

Have you ever frozen a side of beef and slowly picked away at it?
The stuff goes bad long before you can gobble it up.

 

[Ruptga]

Have you ever frozen a side of beef and slowly picked away at it?
The stuff goes bad long before you can gobble it up.

Get it processed and vacuum packed, it lasts pretty much forever.

 

[bononos]

Is bow hunting the in-thing right now? When did it start gaining popularity?

To me, the good thing about how hunting is that hunting has to take place at close range. The 600+ yard rifle shots (eg youtube) doesn't make 'hunting' sense and isn't humane since plenty of the shots would probably be off target and wound rather than kill.