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Posts Tagged ‘hunting’

Go to the magazine section of your favorite book store or supermarket, and check out any periodical pertaining to the challenging sport of bowhunting. There is a good chance you will find an article discussing the pros and cons of technological advancements in bow and arrow design, material, and manufacture as well as in the myriad accessories offered to make bowhunting “easier”.

If the magazine caters to the majority of bowhunters, the article’s author will most likely extol the virtues of the latest and greatest in compound bow technology, such as percentage of let-off, cam shape, cable material, riser material and shape, carbon arrows, fletching vanes, feet per second, etc. Don’t forget the sure-fire bowhunting success gadgetry like electronic aiming devices, electronic rangefinders, bowstring release triggers, etc. On the other hand, if the periodical is devoted to the more traditional side of the sport; i.e., hunting with recurve bows, long bows, self bows, Indian flat bows, wood arrows with feather fletching, then the opposing view will probably be proffered.

I tend to lean toward the more traditional bowhunting tackle; I shoot a Black Widow recurve and a Howard Hill longbow. I use a bow quiver on the recurve and a leather back quiver with the longbow. I prefer to hunt with home-made cedar arrows with feathers that I burn to size and shape and glue-on Zwickey or Wolverine broadheads. I twist up my own bowstrings. I don’t use a sight (can’t judge distance that well, anyway), which forces me to get pretty close before I feel comfortable making an instinctive shot. I prefer wool to fleece (own both), plaid to camo (own both), hunting into the wind to cover scents. However, I am not what some technophiles would call an elitist. I have my old-fashioned streak, but I have no problem sharing a camp fire or a tent with a fella and his high tech, “wheelie” bow. I just believe that if a guy or gal decides to chase game with a bow, all that matters is that he or she practices with whichever type of equipment he/she prefers, learns his/her effective range, and doesn’t try to shoot beyond it.

So, why am I writing this article about technology versus tradition? Well, as a traditionalist when it comes to bow and arrow, I gotta’ tell you, when it comes to safety and survival, give me the high tech stuff anytime! There was a time when I figured all I needed was a topo map and my trusty compass; did fine with them for quite a few years. That’s probably because I am blessed with a pretty decent sense of direction and because I hunted in the same area for several years. BUT…..

About ten years ago, my buddy and I decided to check out an area in the Cascades of Washington with which we were not so familiar. As bowhunters often tend to do, we got out of the truck and immediately split up (two guys make three times the racket a single bowhunter makes). After entering the forest to the west of the road and walking a couple hundred yards, I found and followed a game trail southward in what I thought was a parallel with the logging road we drove in on. I pussyfooted through the area for about three hours, covering probably only a couple of miles, and then I decided to head back to the truck in order to meet up with my buddy at the agreed-upon time. I still don’t know what possessed me, but instead of simply back-tracking the way I had come, I decided to head east toward the logging road with the intention of crossing it and hunting the other side of the road back to the truck. What I didn’t know was the trail I had been hunting did not parallel the road exactly; it was actually on about a 45 degree angle southwest to it. Anyway, I slowly headed in the direction of the road expecting to reach it in a few hundred yards; I didn’t. So, I shrugged and climbed the next ridge – still no road. I trudged down to the valley and up the next ridge – still no road. Now I was a bit concerned; so, I opened my pack to get out my topo – not in there; not in my pockets. I had left it on the dashboard of my friend’s truck! I hate it when that happens! I broke out my compass. I was, actually, heading east…well, more like southeast, but where in the world was that darned road? Should I go back the way I had come? By now I was even starting to doubt my compass and my sense of direction. I started to whistle and yell in hopes that my buddy or someone who knew where the heck he was would hear and come to guide me out of the forest. No response. After I calmed down a little, I decided to continue on the way I was going. After another hour of climbing over downed trees and four or five more ridges, I finally found the road. I turned north on it, but I came to a fork I didn’t remember. Not knowing which way to turn at the fork, I just prayed that I was on the main road, turned around and walked the five miles back to camp. My friend showed up in camp about an hour later intending to get our two other friends to go looking for me. I was pretty embarrassed to say the least.

I swore that wasn’t going to happen to me again. Before the next bowhunting season my family and I moved to Colorado. My sweet wife also bought me a Garmin GPS (global positioning system) from Cabela’s for Christmas. And boy, did that come in handy a few years ago! I was hunting for the first time on the Uncompaghre Plateau in western Colorado. It had been raining like crazy for much of the trip. While I was in the forest (very thick stands of aspen and spruce) a few miles from camp, it not only started raining again, it became socked in with fog. I got pretty nervous because I could barely see where I was going. Fortunately, in my pack was my GPS, into which I had entered a way point for our camp site the minute we arrived earlier that week. I was able to walk through thick woods, dense fog, and torrential rain directly to camp. Sure, I still keep a topo of any area I hunt in my pocket and the compass in my pack as backup, but will I ever venture into the woods again without my GPS? Not likely! It is as much a part of my survival gear as the first aid kit and fire starters in my pack.

I plan to purchase a pair of the Garmin Rhino combination GPS/walkie-talkies now that my son will start hunting with me next season. No reason he should have to worry about getting lost.

Turkey hunting is challenging, exciting and in some cases becomes addictive. Turkey’s senses are extremely keen – even your heart pounding can make the turkey vanish like a puff of smoke.

Basic help in turkey hunting

Before you can hunt a wild turkey, you have got to find them. The easiest way to do this is by locating the general areas of the turkey’s habitat.

• Get a good map of the area you plan to hunt.

• Wave or use a locator call like an owl hooter or crow call or even a turkey call to try to get a response. When you hear a gobbler, mark the locator map.

• Scout for the best location on foot. Check for signs of the bird’s scratches, droppings of feathers. This information can help you locate some areas. Check along mud holes, creek banks, pastures, log roads, fencerows etc. as many trips as possible.

• Never try to get too close to the turkey. A turkey’s eyes, ears and awareness are many times better than yours.

• Choose a tree that is wider than your shoulders. This will protect you from other hunters that might come behind you and mistakenly assume that you are a real turkey.

• Camouflage is almost a must to avoid being seen. Wild turkeys have such keen vision. Many turkey hunters usually wear camo suit, cap, facemask, gloves, vest with many pockets to carry calls and maybe a snack. Also do not forget to wear dark colored socks so that when you sit down, they would not show you. But the main thing to remember: your movement is more important; regardless of how well you are camouflage. It doesn’t make you completely visible. Even though you are camouflage, you are still an unnatural form in the woods. Movement is the greatest enemy of the turkey hunter. A turkey can detect you 10 times faster than you sense the turkey.

• The best shotgun and ammunition for turkey hunting is the combination that delivers a dense, hard-hitting pattern at 40-45 yards. Practice with a target that portrays a turkey’s vital head and neck area. These parts are the ones that you should be shooting. You should have at least 8-10 pellets in the vital area at 40 yards.

• Do not hide so well that you cannot see what is happening. Blinds are useful for the turkey hunter, but when constructed so well that vision is obstructed, it is no longer a blind, and it is a hiding place, as beneficial to the turkey as it is to you.

• Cease from using gobbler calls. Although this call can sometimes be productive, it is also very dangerous. In areas where many hunters are located, you can attract hunters to you rather than turkeys.

• Never wear any red, white or blue clothes. These are the colors of the gobbler’s head – the main target of a turkey hunter.

• If another hunter is working a bird, do not mess everything up by trying to call the bird to you or spooking the bird. This is very unsportsmanlike. The true and experienced hunters do not do that kind of thing.

Fall was the preferred time to hunt wild turkeys by most of the famous old time turkey hunters and is still favored by many traditionalists. These turkey hunting experts liked it best because it was a lot more difficult and therefore more rewarding to call in an old turkey in the fall rather than the spring.

Gobblers in the late summer, fall and winter become very solitary animals with very little interest in females. They do, however, gobble in the fall and there have been a few mornings in October and November that you would think that it was spring with the huge number of gobblers around. On rare occasions, gobblers will even come in strutting and gobbling just like it was spring. More likely though, you won’t even notice a fall turkey reacting to your calls. He will just appear silently, looking for companionship with another long beard but not really caring whether he finds it or not. This is a real fall gobbler.

The fall season has regained its popularity recently with the ever-increasing numbers of turkeys. Over 40 states now host fall turkey seasons and more and more hunters are discovering the excitement of hunting in the fall. Turkey hunting is a pleasurable and enjoyable sport people are starting to like.

This sport requires seperate permits for hunters during the fall, along with the applications for spring hunting permits. Turkey hunters are allowed only to take only one wild turkey of either sex during that fall season each day.

Turkeys are usually found in open, mixed hardwood and pine forests. Others are scattered in brush land. Others prefer to roost in trees larger than the surrounding vegetation and will often choose place to stay on sites facing slopes where they can shelter from the existing strong wind. They will use open fields and meadows as feeding and boasting sites and wooded areas are roosting sites. If few or no roosting sites are available, the turkey may leave the place and not use it.

Basic Turkey Characteristics

Turkeys’ ears are also placed on both sides of their heads. And because they have no outer ear to develop the sound in one direction, they hear sounds all the way around them. Sounds received by only one ear can help the turkey find out which direction the sound comes out but not any indication of distance. Turkeys turn around to be more alert.

With a highly developed sense of smell, they can determine the direction of danger by scent and wind direction. The clever beasts generally flee away from the danger, not toward it. Besides their sense of smell, they rely heavily on both their eyes and ears to determine the direction of danger before they run away from it.