Hunting!

[gsarchie]

I've been hunting since I was 6 and have never looked back. I've taken deer with muzzleloader, modern rifle and compound bow. Only thing that I'm hunting this year is Taliban, though. My dad owns 700 acres in central Missouri and he just emailed me today to say that he is our at his cabin on the place and has been seeing deer left and right and that he's been practicing with his bow this weekend. I SO wish I was home right now!

[rlditmars]

I've been hunting since I was 6 and have never looked back. I've taken deer with muzzleloader, modern rifle and compound bow. Only thing that I'm hunting this year is Taliban, though. My dad owns 700 acres in central Missouri and he just emailed me today to say that he is our at his cabin on the place and has been seeing deer left and right and that he's been practicing with his bow this weekend. I SO wish I was home right now!

What a great place it sounds like your family has. A cabin on 700 acres is a huge tract. Before I moved to GA, my dad and I used to lease a place in the UP which had a cabin on 280 acres. The cabin was a late 1800s post office that had been dismantled and moved from the town out to into the woods. The sides were made of 12" X 12" square cut hard wood poles cut to length and stacked and mortared together. It had a wood burning stove for heat and propane gas stove and lights with a hand pump well. It was some of my fondest and worse memories. Fondest because my dad took his biggest deer there. Worst because one morning we woke to my Dad having a heart attack and becuase we were out in the woods in the middle of nowhere, about 2.5 hours passed before we got him in the hospital and that was in an ambulance. Thought I was going to lose him.

Get home safe as fast as you can and take your boys out there hunting with you dad. We appreciate you.

[gsarchie]

Thank you. You cabin sounds awesome! Our cabin is a rustic log cabin with a stone foundation and stone fireplace. There are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. We've put in plumbing and electricity, but the only water that we have comes from a cistern so we have to bring our own drinking water (but we also bring a lot of beer!). I was glad to finish the part about your Dad and hear that he didn't pass when he had his heart attack!

[Vasiliki]

Gosh I can't wait to get back into archery! I used to do competitive Recurve back in the day, but I tore a good portion of muscles in my shoulder while I was training for the Winter Games Went to physio and doctors and they said I'd never hold my arm above my head again. That I'd only have about 50% strength that I used to have in that arm. They offered me surgery to fix it, but said that either it would fix it, or it could cause even more damage over time.

So I took 7 years off to let it heal (it would re-tear slightly every few months due to general activity). Got into doing weight lifting and general strength training. I can now do a push-up! And I've been able to lift my arm over my head for the past 4 years.

My other half comes up to me the other day and says: "I'm really wanting to hit the lanes again, babe. Do you want to come with me?" (He did competitive archery the same years I did when we were kids. We were two regions apart! Haha. Too funny). So we go to the lanes and I start talking to the tech in the back. I can't do recurve anymore because my shoulder just can't hold 25lbs in a stationary position. However, I had a theory I could probably do Compound due to the let-off.

So they set me up with a 10lb hold. I struggled the first few shots because it's so different from recurve. Eventually I started to group at 10 yards. Soon I was getting NICE groups. And after about an hour, I was hitting 9-9-10 at ten yards.

I almost cried, because I was so happy. The owner of the lanes even came over to give me pointers, because he said he could see I had such a passion for it.

So we're officially picking me up a nice compound bow this winter, and I'm going to start training again. I asked if we could get a bow that we could increase for later, in case I wanted to get into hunting. The lane owner said they'd hook me up for sure and get me on the right path.

I'm hoping in the next year or two, we can go out hunting. And that will be just beyond words.

I also have our hunting rifles at home, but there's just something different about bows.

[el8ch]

Yessir!

Hunt mostly birds, waterfowl and upland ground birds.

This weekend was our double opener for geese and ducks and the start to a very busy season for me.

Knock em' down fellas... And ladies!

[MrLang]

Hunting is kind of like backpacking for people who don't understand leave no trace ethics.

Got it.

So I guess I like something SIMILAR to hunting minus the loud noises, dead animals, and risk of getting shot.

[Highline Reptiles South]

Ignorant and rude comment from someone that doesn't understand that conservation is a big part of the hunting culture - nor understands where their food actually comes from. Yea - i got it.

Keeping herds from overpopulating is a huge issue in my state. Funny ...an uniformed opinion from Mass**** - shocker...

[el8ch]

Keeping herds from overpopulating is a huge issue in my state.

We have similar problems. Our deer populations have been declining in the past few years due to booming Coyote populations. Our winters have not been as harsh in the past 5 years and with no natural predators hunting is the only way to control the over population of coyotes and to keep a sustainable population of deer.

And to those that may not agree with 'us' hunters here is what I have to say...

I Understand hunting is a hard topic for some people and that many people are against it and that's fine by me. What gets to me is the comments are made and opinions are formed based on a lack of information and a misunderstanding of the full spectrum of what hunting and hunting culture does for communities all over the world.

We harvest animals for the purpose of food and population control, not to go out and kill an animal for the thrill. Often just the comradery and everything that leads up to the moment where you have the opportunity to pull the trigger is enough of a 'thrill'.

Sure there are people that abuse hunting and what it stands for, but that goes for anything. Every industry has some impact on the 'perfect' world we live in. I'm sure you know someone who has left their dog in a car on a hot day. You have probably read about someone not using a T-stat and their reptile dying. How about the processed food industry? Where did the materials for the home you live in come from? I find that it is un-fair for people to judge so quickly and to take a stand against something that would greatly change the world we live in if it were to not exist.

Hunting is not only a right, it is a necessity.

[DooLittle]

Hunting is not only a right, it is a necessity.

[Andybill]

While I am a devout animal and nature lover I also thoroughly enjoy hunting. I wont lie and say that I dont get excited when I have a successful hunt. I love the role of the hunter. I like goin out and working hard for my food, getting dirty. And I love the animalistic nature of it. But I HATE poachers and rule breakers. I HATE people that disrespect wildlife. Worst of all I hate losing an animal that I have wounded, not because I didnt bag it, but because I just killed or harmed an animal for no reason. That actually saddens me... I try my best to be as efficient a hunter as possible out of respect for the animals. But its not a perfect world. I continue to hunt partly because it is necessary to maintain wildlife populations and because its a chance for me to do some quality father/son bonding.