Hunting: What do you hunt and what do you use?

[born2hunt65]

What do you use to hunt with and what kind of game do you hunt?
I enjoy hunting deer, rabbits, pats, and bear (when I get a tag). I hope to get into duck and goose hunting in the future. In the area I live in the norm is bait piles for deer as well as bear.
I have a Hoyt Raider bow I use in archery season and a Remington 7400 30-06 for rifle season. I am currently using a 180 grain bullet. I have my trusty ole 12 gauge I use for the rabbits and birds.

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If it's brown it's down. If it flies it dies.

[David G Duncan]

Born,

My wife is out of town for the week, but if she were here I know she would like to respond to this posting.

She has been hunting for the past 10 years. She started out on deer hunting using a borrowed 30-30, but immediately switched to one of my 30-06 rifles, because it had a scope.

She is only 5' and 105# so I give her a lot credit for her spunk. The first three deer she took over a period of about five years were with one shot using a 220 gr. bullet. I know I probably should have equipped her with 180 gr. bullets to reduce the recoil, but I wanted to give her a lot of brush bucking ability.

She has killed several deer with her PSE Infinity bow set at about 37#, and she seems to enjoy bow hunting most of all.

She had her picture posted on the 2000 Turkeys page showing her first turkey.

Now this fall she will be hunting for a black bear. The only condition that she has made is that I have to also be present when she is hunting for the bear. Which is fine and I understand her concern, besides this way I get to share in the thrill of the moment.

Do you hunt bear all alone?

May be you can give her some encouragement to do some of her own posting on the huntress site. She reads most of the posting, but does not have the nerve to reply, yet.

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Trapper Dave

[born2hunt65]

Dave I would love to have your wife post here, the more the merrier. Tell her theres nothing to be nervous about. I too was a little leary when I first started posting but everyone is so kool here I'm not leary anymore.
To answer your question yes I hunt bear by myself. I help my husband run baits for his guide service. At first I was nervous but after helping for the last several years the bears do not bother me. I spose if it were not for the fact that I got to know about bears helping bait I too would want someone with me. Anyway wish your wife good luck on her bear hunt, BORN

[David G Duncan]

Born,

May be you can give us some pointers on the art of baiting bears, so I can get June in the best spot possible to take a nice bear on her first hunt.

This will be our first attempt and all thou I am confident that we have located several good locations with fresh bear sign, I am still uncertain on the proper way to go about the baiting.

I am going on some advise I got from some Wisconsin bear hunters, but I am not real sure they have the same laws in Wisconsin regarding baiting. For one thing I know that they can not use deep fat frier grease.

I got the idea that it might be a bad idea to place too much bait at a site at one time. But I am not sure what amount is too much. Especially if several bears might be visiting the site. Also, it seems to me that placing the bait early in the morning might be the best time of day, since I want to get them coming to the bait during day light.

Any suggestions would truly be appreciated. And yes I will try to get June involved in posting on this forum.

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Trapper Dave

I have hunted with hounds, firearms and archery. I like it all! Each way of hunting brings a unique and new way to enjoy what the outdoors provides. Game I have hunted....rabbits, black bear, whitetails, fox and coyote. I am going to try my skills with caribou at the end of August and plains game in RSA next year. Have not had time to try birds.

Most of the time I hunt alone. Still looking for that special hunting partner. I took my black bear alone. It was a very exciting hunt as he was fighting a sow with three cubs. I think he was trying to breed her, she was not interested. But what a ruckus! I hope to get my first deer this year.

For deer I prefer to bowhunt. I use a Golden Eagle Sparrow Hawk. It is set at 50 lbs. I just bought a dozen Redline carbon arrows. I really like them. I will bless a caribou with them (I hope!). I have a Remington 1100, a Mauser Springfield 30.06 which will go with me for caribou in case they are too far away.

I also like to trap and varmint hunt. I fish when I can. My favorite varmint is the woodchuck. Excellent hunting.

I have a good crop of rabbit this year. Winter hunting should be real good for me this year.

I look forward to all of the hunting seasons here in Michigan. No bear tag this year, probably no elk either. But I always try.



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Every day spent outdoors is the best day of my life.

[JAM]

I hunt partridge, bear (when I get a tag!), deer, rabbits, etc. I especially enjoy archery, but have quite a few guns, too. I have lots of bows - a Golden Eagle Evolution, a Matthews Ultramax, a Proline,
a Martin longbow, and my favorite - a Black Widow recurve. I also have a T/C Contender w/3030 & .410/45 Colt barrels, a Winchester 1100 Ranger 20 ga., a Browning BPS 20 ga., a Marlin 3030, a Marlin 45/70 gov't, some others. I just love hunting and shopping for hunting stuff!

[Salmonsmoker]

In our deer camp(normally 6 to 8 people) , my wife is by far the best hunter. She usually gets the first deer, and always gets the most deer. (She tells me that I have to go into the swamp and then become a tree and move only when the tree moves. I can't set still that long.)

Somehow, she is able to "talk" to the deer. I have seen her call a deer up to within 15 feet before shooting it (archery).

Two years ago, her cousin - a lifer in the Army and an excellent shot - shot a deer at about 35 yds with a 12 gage. He knew he could not have missed - but somehow he must have because there was no indication that he had hit the deer. Well....He is an excellent shot - but not a very good tracker. My wife found his deer in about half an hour.

As for field dressing the game, She is the one who teaches the newcomers how to do it properly (after each kill, she does a short ceremony to honor the life she has just taken, then gets the body-cavity opened up as soon as possible to let the meat cool out - using extreme caution to not contaminate the meat with any body-cavity stuff.)

Over the past several years, she has taken deer with a bow, 12 ga shotgun, 30-06 rifle, .50 cal muzzle loader, and her .357 mag pistol.

This last spring, she also got a 22 lb tom with an 11 inch beard - called him in over about a 2 hour time span.

We also rabbit hunt during the winter - and do a lot of fishing when there is no hunting season on.

In all of these activities - she is by far the best hunter. My specialty is cooking game. I invite each of you to visit the "Wild-game cooking" forum and share your thoughts - cooking techniques - and post your recipies to the book. It is my firm belief that taking the game animal is only part of the hunt. Cooking it and serving it to family and friends is the rest of the hunt - also the part that allows one to remember the times afild and to prepare for the next season.

Stop by the cooking fourm.

Salmonsmoker