butch-hunter

[butch-hunter]

First goose hunt scheduled for next week!!!!

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This is the first bass I've ever caught- a gorgeous little smallmouth. Going back to where I last caught this guy on Friday with a new game plan. Too small to keep so he went back into the lake.

[butch-hunter]

Just in time for quarantine!!!

[butch-hunter]

I get quite frustrated when I see people angrily sharing videos of predators hunting their prey. For instance, in one of my hunting groups, a bunch of guys angry reacted to a video of some coyotes eating a deer. Very graphic video. Nasty stuff- death by coyote is far, far worse than death by gunshot because it involves possibly hours of being totally sentient while being straight up eaten alive. Not a pleasant video by any means. But there was no reason to be so antagonistic toward the coyotes. They have to eat. A coyote killing a deer for food is no morally different from a bird eating and therefore killing a worm for food, or a deer eating and therefore killing some grass that is currently alive. On the one hand, people who hunt generally dislike predators because predators eat the things that they want to go out and hunt down and kill and eat. Predators are competition, and emotions about them reflect that. But to go so far as to act like there's something inherently wrong with a coyote just trying to get its dinner is so stupid. Likewise, that video of an eagle being untangled by bystanders from an octopus that was going to kill it is so ridiculous to me. Firstly, the eagle had attempted to eat the octopus- it was losing a fight that it started. Secondly, why is the eagle's life more important than the ability of the octopus to eat and thereby continue living? Does an octopus just not deserve food? Why??? Because eagles are cool? Certainly it has nothing to do with intelligence- im no biologist but I would bet good money that the average octopus is smarter than the average eagle. It is honestly astonishing. And don't even get me started on how people talk about Grizzly bears hunting.

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Today, just like last year, I got extremely lost and it tacked a 1.5 mile addition onto my day of hiking, with a lot of that hike being up pretty steep hills. Got so hot from hiking around that I had to take my head/face cover off. It was really frustrating but also a bit liberating and exciting as a city kid to figure out how to read a map and my place on it in order to get myself out. I learned a good deal today too. I am getting used to the feeling of just waiting around, which is half the battle. My new hunting boots (a gift from my mom) allow me to stand in very wet mud without getting my feet wet and keep my feet pretty warm even with poor quality socks on.

Today I also felt extremely embraced by the community of people who hunt here as well. From two hunting companions who made an active effort to include me in their conversation when I sat at their table during the pre hunting meeting, to the old man who offered on his own to spray my car windows in the morning to defrost them faster, to the guy at the pre hunt meeting who gave me directions to the parking lot I wanted to start in, to the guy in front of my hotel today with a freshly killed buck sitting on the back of his truck who told me he also learned himself 20 years ago and wished me well, everyone was welcoming and kind and full of nothing but best luck wishes and commendations for getting after it for the second year in a row. It does get discouraging to not have gotten a deer yet. But I have one more day of this season tomorrow to get it done and I am feeling hopeful. The greatest achievement of the year so far is that I feel like a hunter in the woods- a novice hunter, and a confused hunter, but no longer someone pretending to be a hunter.

[butch-hunter]

I forget how much I love just being in the woods until I'm back in the woods

[butch-hunter]

A Perfect 10

Steve Rinella and his brothers often refer to a “purity scale” regarding their hunting experiences. The scale incorporates many factors others have attempted to quantify, but this is ultimately impossible because the factors are so individual to each person and situation.

My buck this fall, a nice little forky, was the first time I achieved a “ten” on my own personal purity scale.

Keep reading

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Santa Montica, CA | October 2017

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Illinois Special 2019 Deer, Turkey Hunt for Hunters with Disabilities Posted on: 09/06/19

APPLY by:  Oct. 18

The Illinois DNR will host a three-day deer and turkey hunting opportunity for hunters with disabilities Nov. 14, 15 and 16 at Rock Cut State Park in Winnebago County. A total of only 20 hunting blind sites will be available for the event this year due to ongoing work on the Rock Cut State Park Road Improvement Project, which will prevent the safe access to and use of an additional 20 blind sites normally open for the hunt. For the 2019 event, a total of…

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git ‘er done

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It shipped! I should be able to get after squirrels in a few weeks.

Just bought a squirrel hunting gun on ye olde internet. Now to wait for it to ship!

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Special California Dove Hunting Opportunities Available for 2019 Season Posted on: 08/19/19

California’s dove hunting season is rapidly approaching, and the CDFW is now accepting applications for dove hunts throughout the state on both public land and private ranches. Hunters are reminded that nonlead ammunition is now required for hunting doves and taking wildlife anywhere in California with a firearm. The first half of the split dove season will be open statewide from Sept. 1-15, 2019. The second half will be open statewide from… READ MORE

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Just bought a squirrel hunting gun on ye olde internet. Now to wait for it to ship!

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Missouri Angler Breaks 32-year Hybrid Bass Record Posted on: 06/10/19

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announces that Cesar Rodriguez of Carthage is now the state record-holder for hybrid striped bass after catching a 21-pound, 11-ounce fish at Lake of the Ozarks May 19. Rodriguez used the pole-and-line method. Though the fish breaks Missouri’s previous hybrid striped bass record of a 20-pound, 8-ounce fish, set in 1986 at the Lake of the Ozarks, Rodriguez wasn’t… READ MORE

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Just found out I was granted an either sex deer tag for a state park near the one I hunted last year! Hopefully I can get some scouting trips in and set up a stand early 💪💪💪💪

[butch-hunter]

Probably gonna try my hand at squirrel hunting this year. Step one: buy a .22 rifle to shoot the literal thousands of rounds of .22lr ammo I have in my house.