The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: MikeBjerum on October 23, 2014, 08:47:47 AM
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... for the coming year?
Up here in the great white north we are experiencing the changing seasons, and it brings time to think, reflect, dream, and plan. Summer shooting is over, winter leagues have not started, hunting is getting into full swing, and fishing is slow between soft and hard water seasons.
I am looking back at my last year, and years, of recreational and competitive shooting, and hunting, and looking to the future.
What are your hopes and dreams for the coming season and next twelve months in terms of shooting sports?
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sorry. here in the civilized part of the world (no snow) we don't have time to think about such things. you know, with the year round motorcycle riding and such we just take it one day at a time. ;)
deep
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- Make B Class in USPSA and Sharpshooter in IDPA
- Place well (middle of the pack) at a higher-level Precision Rifle match
- Start teaching CCW classes
- Place well (middle of the pack or better) in a Tac Limited at a higher-level 3 Gun Match
- Go hunting for the deer or turkey for the 1st time.
It's surprisingly hard to get into hunting as an adult male. If I were a chick, there's dozens of organizations out there that get women into hunting.
Guys? You either have to know someone who hunts (as opposed to going to the woods, drinks beer and calls it "hunting") and is willing to take you, or shell out $$ (or maybe $$$$$) for a guided hunt.
This is bullcrap. If I want to shoot USPSA, I show up at a match. Ditto with IDPA or any other shooting sport. Hunting? No way. I think right now, it'd be easier for me to become a Mason than it would be to become a hunter. :D
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It just takes time and some money to get into hunting. Time for doing some research on what to do and how to do it and time for in-field experience. Don't expect to get anything your first year or two, but if you do, be happy.
You'll need a little money for some basic gear like the clothing, a call or two, and the right ammo but you don't need to buy everything you see. Most of that crap is just bells and whistles.
There aren't too many places in the world that you have access to free public land to hunt. We're lucky here that we do. Go out and see what happens.
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It's surprisingly hard to get into hunting as an adult male. If I were a chick, there's dozens of organizations out there that get women into hunting.
Guys? You either have to know someone who hunts (as opposed to going to the woods, drinks beer and calls it "hunting") and is willing to take you, or shell out $$ (or maybe $$$$$) for a guided hunt.
I went through the same thing myself. I started off doing small game on my own. Just got a few books from the library and went to it. Just recently I've moved on to deer hunting but haven't been successful yet but I still have loads of fun. I don't have time to hunt all that often but every time I go I learn something new.
One of the cool things here in PA is that game commission has free hunting classes. I took a turkey hunting class and it was almost all adults. That's the next thing on my list.
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Hi;
it has been years since I went out early in the morning to go hunting any type of wildlife. Yearly, I get a hunting licence to support the sport, but mainly lately the PA Game Commission requires a Hunting Licence or $30 permit to use the State Rifle Ranges.
I watched the TV Series "Dead Meat" and was interested in trying out some of those animals - just for the expierence, but have not shot anything yet.
My main focus these days is ammo and accessory buying. Having been involved in "prepping" the past 3 years - after buying some firearms for that - I am just building up my inventory of ammo.
I makes deliveries in this State and I bet that there are more "roadkills" of deer every year than hunters shooting deer. Usually after the 3rd day - all is quite and normal again.
fishing season is worse than Hunting season..
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Learn the habits of your quarry, in this case deer, While you are researching with books get into the woods and LOOK. compare what you are seeing in words with what you are seeing on the ground in the form of prints, turds, scrapes etc. The first year or 2 you hardly need to take a rifle as it is just weight to carry while you learn.
(Take it anyways as you MIGHT get lucky) be quiet, no electronics, learn to SEE, not just look, listen, deer are surprisingly noisy. In woods, you are darned unlikely to spot "a deer", you are more likely to spot a twitching ear or tail and then make out the deer from that. You do not have to wait for "deer season" either in order to practice your skills, the sport of "Deer Stalking involves simply finding deer and sneaking as close as possible.
If you master that the actual kill would be anti climatic if venison weren't so tasty.
As for gear, you don't need much, I've never used or seen used a call, or rattling, for actual hunting you will need Hunter orange (different States require different amounts, here just a hat is enough, other States require a vest) if you will be bow hunting or just stalking out side of hunting season camo is better.
You will want to wash your hunting clothes in unscented detergent . Many people I know then hang them in the smoke of Sweet fern, cedar, apple, or some other aromatic wood or brush , DO NOT use scented soap, shampoo, aftershave, or deodorant, deer have good noses . when you finally see a deer, or are approaching an area you think they are in always keep the wind from them toward you.
That's all that comes to me off the top of my head, and it only applies to lone hunting, there are other concerns if your state allows drives , such as not getting shot by your fellow hunters.
Another word on gear, if you want to still hunt from a stand, get it set up well before deer season so if they do see it they have time to get used to it, make sure it is secure and you have a good view.
One word on scent, many people use Doe urine or some other "attractant", DO NOT PUT THIS ON YOUR CLOTHES. Put it on a piece of rag stuck through your belt or some where else you can get rid of it quick.
In rutting season, if it smells like a doe a buck will try to mount it, even if it is funny looking.
Can't think of anything else right now. Have fun. ;D
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The first year or 2 you hardly need to take a rifle as it is just weight to carry while you learn.
That's what it it like for me right. :) However, yesterday I went out for our early anterless muzzleloader. I did pretty well tracking and stalking a couple of deer. But just my luck, both were bucks. I even got within 10 yards of a real nice one.
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Tom, you wrote:
"One word on scent, many people use Doe urine or some other "attractant", DO NOT PUT THIS ON YOUR CLOTHES. Put it on a piece of rag stuck through your belt or some where else you can get rid of it quick.
In rutting season, if it smells like a doe a buck will try to mount it, even if it is funny looking."
You didn't say "Don't ask me how I know", but I won't anyway ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Wasn't me. ;D Was an acquaintance of mine, and I wasn't there.
(I would have held him down for the buck, he was THAT KIND of acquaintance. He'd give you the shirt off his back, but you would want to strangle him with it. )
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Shoot the 6 guns I have bought this year and have yet too shoot
Been cray busy
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My SIL bagged his second buck after eleven years of trying and thousands of dollars is expenses!
He's gotten a half dozen does and one button but this one was a nice young eight point.
I don't hunt deer anymore. Occasional small game these days. Pretty much a life long tree rat killer...
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I'm taking next Friday off so's I can hunt tree rats all that weekend. Finally gonna do a bit of trap shooting. Haven't shot trap in 20-25 years. Need to burn some ammo in the the Ruger SR762. My eyes and the irons should be good to 150. Gotta buy that optic for it though. Anybody got some same folding money?
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Class B in ICORE and SS in IDPA in both SSR and SSP.
My bucket list includes:
IDPA Indoor Nationals
IDPA BUG
ICORE IRC
Just to be able to go to more matches would be a wonderful thing.
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I plan on doing more shooting next year starting in spring. I barely had my guns out all year.
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I think Jay said that the Area 6 Multigun for 2015 (Universal Shooting Academy, Frostproof, Fla where the World Shoot was held) will be the end of March... you Southern folk, plan a trip to Disney World for the family, and bring your blasters down for a couple of days.... if you are polite, will direct you to the Frost Bite burger joint...
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You will want to wash your hunting clothes in unscented detergent . , DO NOT use scented soap, shampoo, aftershave, or deodorant, deer have good noses .
I agree with everything else you said, but the above comes with a caveat. The only time you really need to be mindful of your scent is if you're in a vast expanse of wilderness. Most deer are around people on a daily basis, whether it be near farmers or in the suburbs, and are accustomed to our smells. Human scent no longer means 'danger', it's just more of a curiosity to them. If you're hunting around inhabited areas like farmland, this isn't really that big of a deal.
I brush my teeth with regular old toothpaste every morning during hunting season. I take a shower with normal soap and shampoo. I have a big ol' dipski in my lipski damn near every second I'm out in the field and I drink coffee in the deer stand as well. I still have deer come within 15-20 yards of me every year without showing the slightest concern for my scent.
Coyotes, on the other hand, are very wary of anything that doesn't smell like their prey or another coyote.
One word on scent, many people use Doe urine or some other "attractant", DO NOT PUT THIS ON YOUR CLOTHES. Put it on a piece of rag stuck through your belt or some where else you can get rid of it quick.
In rutting season, if it smells like a doe a buck will try to mount it, even if it is funny looking.
Can't think of anything else right now. Have fun. ;D
I can attest to this. A few years ago, I was sitting on the ground overlooking a ravine. I had a 6 point buck come up within 5 yards of me and challenge me. He started stomping his hoof, grunting, and rattling his antlers on a tree branch. He was too small to be a legal buck so I couldn't shoot him legally. I stood up and started making a lot of noise and he figured this was a fight he wouldn't win and skittered off.
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One thought lhprop1 triggered, deer are as curious as the proverbial cat. If you are in deer country, go some where where some kind of logging or construction has been going on during the day, some time between when work stops and sun down there will be deer coming around to check it out.
Another thing to research is what do deer in your area eat, up here a nice grove of oaks, or hickory will have deer in season nearly guaranteed.
It doesn't hurt to liberally throw around seed peas or a salt lick in the spring, but you want to make sure it isn't considered "Baiting". Up here, baiting is illegal for deer, so a pile of peas would be illegal, but scattered, with the intention of them growing their own peas is not considered baiting. same way if your garden or orchard are far enough from the house for legal shooting. Although I've known guys who got their deer out the bedroom window with out even putting their slippers on. ;D
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Hopes for the coming year.....hmm.
I need to shoot GSSF. (joined but haven't shot yet)
I'd like to get drawn for SOMETHING to hunt in AZ. (It would save a costly drive to MN)
Win another Glock from the PVA.
Win the lottery.
As far as using various scents hunting, after observing a lot of deer behavior I no longer use doe scent alone. MN doe in the area I hunt got more skittish and wary downwind of the doe scent and it didn't seem to concern the bucks.
Wildlife Research Center's "Active-Scrape" had a very interesting effect on a buck coming in to check one of his scrapes. 1 drop on his scrape had him REALLY concerned that some other pair of dangling gonads had been messing with it.
Using a cover scent to me is pointless. The deer will smell the cover scent, but they're quite capable of smelling literally everything else too. I use scent free clothes wash, scent free body/hair soap, gun oil with a minimal/no odor and UV Killer.
(IMHO the UV Killer is one of the most important - search http://www.atsko.com/ for really good info)
The only thing game can't smell is nothing. So I make that my goal when I'm walking to and sitting in my stand.
Be a no sound, no smell, no movement hole in the woods that emits nothing but 30 cal bullets on command. ;D
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With all that said about scent, I'll say this: When the rut is in peak, all bets are off and everything we're told about scent this or that goes out the window. They have one thing on their mind, consequences be damned.
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With all that said about scent, I'll say this: When the rut is in peak, all bets are off and everything we're told about scent this or that goes out the window. They have one thing on their mind, consequences be damned.
I can second that... The last time I hunted white tail was in the 70's in north central Michigan, rifle season was November 15-30, the height of the rut in most years.
We didn't bath, use doe piss, use calls, rattle or anything. We smoked in our ground blinds (no tree hunting in rifle season then), chewed tobacco, peed and pooped right outside the blind, made noise, wore blaze orange and damn near anything we could do to unintentionally spook the deer population. I was not a die hard deer hunter by any means. Quite the contrary, I could have cared less if I shot a buck! Doe hunting was very rare season by season.
I hunted on my uncles property of about 600-800 acres with all eight of my cousins, my brothers, Pop and Uncle Mike and year after year we all managed to bring down bucks.
All bets are off in the rut. A blind squirrel with a high powered rifle could shoot a buck with little education on the matter.
I don't hunt deer anymore but every time I go to Bass Pro this time of year, guys are spending thousands of dollars on the latest crap they've been convinced to buy. Good for Bass Pro but like fishing lures, some catch more fisherman than fish!
I can buy venison in a nearby town. It's much cheaper and a lot less work..
;)
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I hopes I hit the Mega Millions!
Richard
PS: Yes, I did buy a ticket....more than one in fact!
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It's finally starting to cool off here, and my last day of work before I retire will be the weekend of January 2, 3, and 4. After that, I'm a free man for the rest of my life. I'm really looking forward to it! It's really going to be nice having every day of my life from here on in to be my own.
I'm fully reloaded and stocked up, and I'll be spending a lot of time at the range this Winter. I've got a few things to do around the house, and we haven't really decided if we want to stay here for the long haul, or move back to the Colorado River area. Lake Havasu City, or maybe Ft. Mohave. I love it there, but hate the idea of moving. Perhaps I'll get a stronger desire to do it after I'm off for a while. Anyway, whichever we decide, we'll have all the time in the world to do it.
I'm thinking of joining my clubs High Power Team. I just don't know if I want to commit myself to a regimented shooting schedule again. I really like to just show up when I want, and shoot what I feel like on any given day. Again, we'll see. I hope my retirement doesn't go as fast as my working career seemed to. I remember when we moved to Arizona back in 1991. I was only 39 years old. It seemed like it was only a couple of years ago. As they say, time flies when you're having fun!
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Speaking of the Mega-Millions ($250 of them this Tuesday), just bragging on son #2. He's done a number of commercials for the Ga Lottery and here's two of popular ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRDVJZ2CpV0&list=UUgDDMzjnZzTukHeq5LTmbjQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRDVJZ2CpV0&list=UUgDDMzjnZzTukHeq5LTmbjQ)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ySbEormS0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ySbEormS0)
Yes, dad is proud. I mean it pays his bills. Also if you ever see Cartoon Network's mascots (the letters "C" and "N"), he's the letter "N".
I just hope he keeps getting booked for commercial gigs in the coming new year.
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Also if you ever see Cartoon Network's mascots (the letters "C" and "N"), he's the letter "N".
Wow Alf, Pretty soon he'll be sponsoring his own episode of Sesame Street ! ;D
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Guess my hopes weren't realized! Guess I'll try again Tuesday!
Richard