Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

Podcast on wounding

So a persons POV is 100% "right" for everyone else to follow? Seriously? Where do you want to start? Electronics? Long range hunting? Bullets? Archery? Crossbows? ATV's? E-Bikes? You hunt your way, I will hunt mine.

There is only one POV that is right and hopefully I will meet him some day.
I said it wasn't directed at you specifically, which I meant; it was intended to be a rhetorical counterpoint to something like a free for all. Since you directed a question to me I'm happy to answer.

Yes it is our right and maybe even obligation -- if endowed with some technical knowledge about wildlife, habitat, and hunting methods -- to form opinions and advocate policies around perceived best practices. These take the form of hunting regulations, land use plans, road closures (or not), etc. that are managed by various entities. I comment and engage in regulatory processes associated with those things based on my knowledge and experience.

For example, a few years ago I commented in favor of a measure to disallowing people from selling coordinates to specific animals because I believe that it cheapens the resource, and doesn't account for the value of learning the habitat, game animal, and investment in that process. I'm sure there were people who commented to the contrary. Of course I felt like I was "right" on that topic, or I wouldn't have supported the proposal.

If your point is that there are some things best left up to the individual hunter, I would agree. If your point is that people shouldn't develop informed opinions about the use of hunting technologies, modes of travel, hunting season structure, etc., and convey those as appropriate, then I disagree.
 
So a persons POV is 100% "right" for everyone else to follow? Seriously? Where do you want to start? Electronics? Long range hunting? Bullets? Archery? Crossbows? ATV's? E-Bikes? You hunt your way, I will hunt mine.

There is only one POV that is right and hopefully I will meet him some day.
I agree with you. I have an opinion that is not very popular on this topic.

I'm not a fan of the tag notching requirement. When you say that people automatically assume you're lazy and just want an easy recovery. I guarantee I put more effort into recovery than most. I've tracked an antelope for over 2.5 miles to recover. I walked over 1 mile to recover a duck I winged this winter that kept running. I spent 3 days sun up to sun down to find a buck. Anything I've hit and lost was either barely grazed and would heal or completely unrecoverable. I go back to hunting. If Fish and game needs those hit and lost numbers I'll happily report it and they are welcome to try to recover it.

I have a buddy that notches the second he hits something. I don't care either way. But a few years ago he hit a deer that did not die. We saw it the next weekend. Very sick. And there he was with NO VALID TAG. He wanted to shoot it. I said I won't be party to a fresh killed deer and a tag notched a week ago. This is where I agree with you. My morals say, "You CANNOT kill a deer with no tag." His were opposite. He thought he SHOULD kill that deer. I left him to his own devices.

Again, I guess that's unpopular but I'll hunt my way and you hunt yours.
 
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Primitive weapons just aren't as lethal and much less likely for the hunter to be able to get a quick follow up shot(s) if things go bad. Just a fact.
I agree but is there anything more exciting than standing 30 yards from a bull bugling with drool running down his mouth while you're at full draw?

#Keephammering #runliftshoot
 
I agree but is there anything more exciting than standing 30 yards from a bull bugling with drool running down his mouth while you're at full draw?

#Keephammering #runliftshoot
Over-rated...stalking a herd of bulls on winter range after the rut is also plenty exciting. Not having to worry if you're going to find it after pounding your bull through the lungs with your rifle is also nice.
 
I agree but is there anything more exciting than standing 30 yards from a bull bugling with drool running down his mouth while you're at full draw?

#Keephammering #runliftshoot

don't forget their raging flopping boner

#waituntilyouseeit
 
don't forget their raging flopping boner

#waituntilyouseeit
Definitely can't forget that, a little piss flying through the air...all wallowed up. Antlers clashing together, oh boy I'm getting all fired up thinking about it. Nice weather. Nothing like bow hunting.

bulls on winter range
I think we should give those poor guys a break that time of year, let em rebound on those Wyoming feed lots.
 
Definitely can't forget that, a little piss flying through the air...all wallowed up. Antlers clashing together, oh boy I'm getting all fired up thinking about it. Nice weather. Nothing like bow hunting.


I think we should give those poor guys a break that time of year, let em rebound on those Wyoming feed lots.

I'm not opposed to shooting them bugling...this one bugled about 10 seconds before I shot him.

575.JPG


I don't hunt the feed lots, but high elevation open ridges are pretty sweet...in particular when its about -27 ambient, like it was this day:

DSC00601.JPG
 
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I'm not opposed to shooting them bugling...this one bugled about 10 seconds before I shot him.

575.JPG


I don't hunt the feed lots, but high elevation open ridges are pretty sweet...in particular when its about -27 ambient, like it was this day:

DSC00601.JPG
I Don't agree with Buzz on his views, but I completely respect his position on this issue!

If I had his experience with archery hunting I'd definitely have the same conclusions. He IS NOT WRONG based on his experiences. He cannot be wrong based on what he has personally seen.

That being said, my experiences and history are different. In my world if a hunter wounds something the only way a decision to continue hunting is based off of location of the animal and confirming beyond a doubt the injury imposed is minimal. (Nicked hide.) I've tracked for days to confirm the trauma was minimal. I've passed record book bulls until I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the cow shot at would be fine. Wound or complete miss. If there is a question of survivability, you finish it. I was held to a very very high standard if you continue hunting after a wound. If it was mortally wounded, you found it. PERIOD! if it would be fine you confirmed it. PERIOD! Before you moved on.
 
I’ve seen a lot of bulls dispatched with a well placed arrow. Most don’t go any further than when they are shot with rifle. Experiences vary. I’ve witnessed a lot of long range rifle shooting in the field by other hunters that has flat out made me sick. Experiences vary, wounding sucks and if you hunt long enough you will experience it.
 
Yes it is our right and maybe even obligation -- if endowed with some technical knowledge about wildlife, habitat, and hunting methods -- to form opinions and advocate policies around perceived best practices.
I think we are close in opinion but where I get heartburn is the "validity" of these statements which are usually biased with intended narrative to achieve whatever goal wanted. Nothing is ever "clear cut" in technical opinion.
 
"In a nutshell, the statewide bag limit is four antlered bucks and 10 antlerless deer," said William McKinley, Deer Program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

Or...y'know...they shoot at a lot of deer, period.
And a lot of the deer are in CRPs or crop fields...a dog can find a deer in a standing corn field in just a few minutes, where a hunter and his buddies can look all day if there isn't a blood trail to follow!
 
I haven't had a chance to listen to the podcast yet, but I'm definitely going to! I can say that after our first full year of tracking, I was shocked at the number of calls I received in September...over 80 calls, and over 100 archery calls throughout the hunting season. I kept pretty good records of the calls, and it seems like the most common causes for game loss were taking shots that were too long, mechanical blade failure, and not waiting long enough after the shot to track. Not waiting long enough to track and bumping the wounded animal out of its bed was definitely at the top of the list!! Wyoming had a REALLY hot September, and I completely understand hunters not wanting to wait to start tracking, but once a wounded animal is bumped, they are rarely seen again! We only recovered one deer that had been bumped, and unfortunately, the coyotes made short work of it once it did go down again. He bedded down at about 300 yards, and had ran for almost two more miles after being bumped, greatly increasing the odds of coyotes picking up his trail, and they had a great dinner thanks to a bumped deer. I think if a hunter will wait the suggested time before going after their game, recoveries would improve immensely!!
 
Resurrecting this thread with an observation.

I follow a dozen or so hunting group pages on social media, where members can contribute content. Maybe it is just the algorithms, but my feeds have been really flooded with posts of dead and unrecovered elk found by archery hunters, or are archery hunters asking if "anyone has any blood trailing dogs".

It's a moderately educated intuition - but I think archery season is filthy with wounded and unrecovered animals.
 
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