did you have a bad hunting season?

[arrow30]

just listen to this guy.

[creekwood]

Watched it from beginning to end.  It's kind of refreshing to listen to someone that is not self-promoting and I think a lot of his thoughts are familiar to most of us.  There is a reason for persevering that is deep within us.

[blacktailbob]

If things unexpected come up and prevent me from getting to the woods...that's a bad season. As long as I can spend some time in the woods that's a good season. If I see animals (any) that's better and if I bring home some meat...that's a blessing.

[mgf]

That all sounds very noble...or something but I can be in the woods anytime. In fact my wife and I hung out in the state forest yesterday. When I go hunting it sure is nice to hunt someplace where there's game and I at least feel like there's a fair chance of success. I'm sick of hunting where the hunting is lousy. I'm sure sick of having to purchase a license to do it.

[GCook]

I tried to listen to it.
The reality is though we all have rough season now and then. 
It's worse if you just don't have a gamey environment to hunt.  The reality is there are too many people for the amount of land and game available.   Everyone talks about recruiting new hunters but that's just not reasonable.   
I spend quite a bit of my disposable income on hunting.   I own land in Texas and Missouri.  I lease land in Texas and pay for weekend hunts as well.  Some high fence, some no fence.  I like to hunt and I spent many years hunting places with low game densities.   But three years of public land hunting were good enough.  Traveling three hours to see few deer and only getting one per year with a rifle was fun, but as soon as I could afford a lease I got one.   Several years of mediocre (deer-less) leases and decent leases lead to having more to spend on a couple of great leases.  Fortunately I and two friends pooled our resources and bought a good spot.  I feel bad that folks are being priced out.  But that's not gonna change.

[Killdeer]

Loved the video, he elicited a lot of echoes in my soul. I felt sorry that Tex seemed to miss a lot of the experience due to the pressure (self-imposed) of producing a video. The honest feelings of the hunt, and its disappointments, though, resonated loud and clear.

As for buying a license, that is a burden that I shoulder gladly, not joyfully, but gladly, even though I have not killed much in years. The funds go to biologists who study the wildlife and its habitats, determining the health of the animals and their environs. It also funds the game wardens, who help deter those who would harm the waters and wildlife, and steal the game resources from those who hunt legally. The wildlife management areas in my state are purchased with these funds, as well.

Killdeer

[jhg]

 How can anyone have a bad hunting season? Sure, stuff happens. Things can sometimes frustrate and annoy you.

But, OMG!!!!

1) being able to hunt at all is an incredible gift. 2) Having any land at all that we can access to hunt is an incredible gift. 3) hunting is a past time people. It is recreation. Yes, hunting for many of us is more than what is apparent on the surface- and I champion and applaud  any of you who find a deeper meaning to the activity. However, none of us "have" to hunt to survive or move forward.

I will never understand (or want to hear) anyone in this country complain about the weather, cost of tags, scarce game or anything regarding the choice they made to participate in hunting.

 Good grief. It could be worse. A LOT worse.

[jhg]

[quote author=Killdeer link=topic=178386.msg2993943#msg2993943 date=1646607796...

As for buying a license, that is a burden that I shoulder gladly, not joyfully, but gladly, ...

Killdeer
[/quote]

X to the tenth power Kathryn!

[jhg]

And don't get me started on how people being able to "buy" access to good hunting is a huge reason why hunting sucks for a lot of people. But keep on keeping on. As long as you have the means, keep on heaping your plates.

[John Krause]

This guy is a YouTube wannabe. Check out his fast draw gun video where he shoots  himself in the leg. Pretty sure he was living in his patents’s basement at the time. Unbelievable…….

[John Krause]

I posted and copied the video on You Tube where he shot himself but deleted it quickly as it contained some bad words. You can find it easily. I have no words about this guy.

[mgf]

How can anyone have a bad hunting season? Sure, stuff happens. Things can sometimes frustrate and annoy you.

But, OMG!!!!

1) being able to hunt at all is an incredible gift. 2) Having any land at all that we can access to hunt is an incredible gift. 3) hunting is a past time people. It is recreation. Yes, hunting for many of us is more than what is apparent on the surface- and I champion and applaud  any of you who find a deeper meaning to the activity. However, none of us "have" to hunt to survive or move forward.

I will never understand (or want to hear) anyone in this country complain about the weather, cost of tags, scarce game or anything regarding the choice they made to participate in hunting.

 Good grief. It could be worse. A LOT worse.

I grew up hunting. I guess it's a choice but it can get ingrained and be a hard thing to walk away from. My complaining posts are me trying to quit hunting. My hunting is mostly hunting for a place to hunt.

I haven't purchased a deer tag in several years. I own 4 acres that I live on and deer come through once in a while  up until the leaves fall. I sit out there some to feed the hunting bug.

I've still been purchasing a small game license because my son has been coming up for opening weekend of squirrel season. My company owns a small patch of woods that's good for a weekend or so. Other guys hunt it for deer especially the gun season so I stay out.

We have a WMA close by but dodging other hunters and not seeing game just isn't any fun. It's not even much good for small game. I've never seen a rabbit there (there must be some) and I covered so many miles when I used to squirrel hunt there.

The state just keeps doing whatever they can to cram more hunters onto the place. For example they cited the need to get more hunters in the woods during bow season when they legalized crossbows. They don't need more hunters on the WMA.

For various reasons I'm not in a position to do much traveling to hunt. I used to hunt the national forest in the southern part of the state when I was self employed but now I just can't spend much time down there.

How do you have a bad season? I see countless deer and turkey while I'm driving back and forth to work. The deer keep trying to bounce off my vehicles but I can't hunt them. The last deer actually broadsided my truck at a dead run while I was parked...honest. I saw deer up ahead messing around. I slowed. They still hung around on both sides of the road so I stopped. While I was stopped and sipping on my coffee a doe slammed into the truck just in front of the drivers door and bounced up on the windshield. It was dark and I didn't see her coming from that side...she wasn't in my headlight beam. I just about peed myself. Edit: If I lived in a city and wasn't taunted by seeing 100 deer a week (sometimes more) it might not be so hard to just put it out of my mind.

For the last few years I've concentrated on the fishing and that makes for a happy season rather than a depressing season. I have some pretty good fishing available into October and sometimes later depending on weather. For some reason I got the hunting bug again this year and it isn't any fun at all.

At this point it's only that single weekend chasing squirrels with my son that keeps my buying a combo (hunting/fishing) rather than just fishing. Over the last 25 years I've had a handful of land owners let me hunt squirrels. NOBODY here lets you deer hunt.

And I ordered broadheads yesterday...I wish I could explain that.

I think this is how hunting dies. I realize that some areas are much better but that's not where most people live. I don't have a fix and all I can do is vote with my dollars.

[Killdeer]

I don’t have any acres. I travel 4 hours to the National Forest and camp. I stay for three weeks. I haven’t killed a deer since… well I am an old lady and I don’t do numbers well. I bought a lifetime license to hunt and fish, and a lifetime license for trout. I still have to buy the varied licenses for deer and turkey, and bear, and archery, National Forest stamp, and muzzleloader. In all, it costs me what it did thirty years ago when I had to buy ALL of them.

For about a week, I have friends in camp, so I enjoy providing a cookshack and campfire. Maybe even some food…
As has been said before, just being there is enough!

Count blessings, make a way to do it, unless it becomes a chore. You are blessed with a son to mentor. Enjoy!

Killdeer

[mgf]

I don’t have any acres. I travel 4 hours to the National Forest and camp. I stay for three weeks. I haven’t killed a deer since… well I am an old lady and I don’t do numbers well. I bought a lifetime license to hunt and fish, and a lifetime license for trout. I still have to buy the varied licenses for deer and turkey, and bear, and archery, National Forest stamp, and muzzleloader. In all, it costs me what it did thirty years ago when I had to buy ALL of them.

For about a week, I have friends in camp, so I enjoy providing a cookshack and campfire. Maybe even some food…
As has been said before, just being there is enough!

Count blessings, make a way to do it, unless it becomes a chore. You are blessed with a son to mentor. Enjoy!

Killdeer

The national forest is 31/2 hours for me but I can't stay for three weeks. If I recall, it's only legal to stay for 14 consecutive days and something like 30 days annually?

This section of national forest isn't far from good sized towns and it is NOT a nice place to be on the weekend when the weather is decent. No joke. I don't like leaving my wife in camp (on the weekend) while I hunt and I'm sure not comfortable leaving camp unattended. We've had some real adventures there.

I haven't explored the entire National forest in the state so there might be areas in the forest that aren't as popular. I don't know.

Don't get me wrong. There aren't many hunters during bow season so once you get into the woods you have the place to yourself. It's the areas near the road where you can park that sees the crowds.

When I was self employed I just went during the week. This past fall my wife talked me into a weekend camping trip down there. We got there early Friday morning so we had our pick of spots but I almost headed home then. Everyplace you could pull off the road was covered in broken glass and, worse, people have been hacking up trees...apparently just for fun. Been seeing more and more of this in recent years. Anyway the result is there are large, dead (killed by axe) trees just about everyplace you might be tempted to set up camp waiting to fall on your head.

It took most of the day Friday to find a spot clear of widow makers, clear the trash and get camp most of the way set up. All the spots we used to like to use were just trashed.

Edit: "Just being there" is not enough. I'm going to attempt to require more from state government.

[Killdeer]

21 days.

[mgf]

21 days.

General Camping Rules
Campers may stay up to 14 consecutive days within a 30-day period. Campers may not stay on the Forest in excess of 30 days total in a calendar year.

From https://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/cs/detail/!ut/p/z0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8zijQwgwNHCwN_DI8zPyBcqYKBfkO2oCABZcx5g/?position=Notices.Html&pname=Hoosier%20National%20Forest-%20Recreation&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&ss=110912&pnavid=null&navid=110000000000000&ttype=detail&cid=stelprdb5288194

[mgf]

I don't know if it's different in other states but here it's 14 days. When I lived and hunted in Illinois it was 14 there also.

[Killdeer]

 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GEORGE WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON NATIONAL FORESTS Order Number 12-08-17
Occupancy and Use
Pursuant to the provisions of Title 36, code of Federal Regulations, Section 261.50(a), for the health and safety of the public, and for the protection of resources, the following acts are prohibited on all National Forest lands within the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.
1. Camping for more than 21 days within a 31 day time period. 36 CFR 261.58(a)
Pursuant to 36 CFR, Section 261.50 (e), the following persons are exempt from this Order:
1.
2.
3.
Any Federal, State, or Local Officer, or member of an organized rescue or firefighting force engaged in performance of an official duty.
Anyone with a permit from the Forest Supervisor authorizing the prohibited activity.
Persons using developed campgrounds operated W1der concession may occupy campsites for a period of 28 consecutive days between Labor Day and Memorial Day.


Just lifted from http://www.fs.usda.gov/gwj

Been camping there since 1986.
I am done on this thread.
Killdeer

[trad_bowhunter1965]

I am not bitching at all I am truly bless but last 2021 fire season keep me from hunting was under some forum of evacuation warning or was evacuated from July through October.

[Baylee]

I e hunted nothing but public land my whole life in Louisiana, Mississippi. A lot of those areas have really low deer numbers and almost unbelievable hunting pressure. I hunted Illinois for the first time this year on public land. I’d say if your having trouble finding deer in Illinois you got bigger issues than camera angles lol. Looks to me like he was hunting the same spot the whole season and maybe 8 foot off the ground? Looked like to me he was just making up excuses.