LAST EDITED ON Aug-26-07 AT 02:26AM (MST)[p] So, Rutnbuck, what do you do during the off season? Nintendo? Cabela's Deer Buster video shooting game? Watch other people kill stuff on the Outdoor channel? Are you like, almost 21? You were rude......
Personnaly, I keep huntin'. I take pictures on the winter range. I hunt sheds in the spring. I watch daily antler growth as soon as it starts. I look at feed growth, water hole use and habitat condition. I am out everyday before sunrise and out every night after work, for as long as it's light enough to see ANYTHING.
I guess I should mention that I live and work in the premier deer and elk zone in California. All the "playing outdoors" has been easy for me, most of my life.
I shoot coyotes all year long and keep a Brittany and a Lab and use them for what they were bred to do.
But, no matter where I am hunting, what I am hunting or who I am hunting with, I'll drop everything if I spot a deer that I can watch for as long as it stays in sight.
There is simply more to deer and elk hunting than just pulling the trigger; any fool can do that. While you are sittin' around waiting for deer season, some of us are out among them, practicing our stalking skills, learning what's going on and ..... just being out among them.
Several years that I have not drawn a tag, I go and camp in my favorite hunting areas anyway, just as I would if I had a tag. The entire experience is the same for me, except for the actual kill and if you can't comprehend that, I feel sorry for what is missing in your life.
And no, I don't like deer meat, so I don't hunt deer simply for meat. I haven't killed a forky since I was 20....and that was a while back. I have six 190+ deer and two 300+ elk and a pickup load of non typicals with more "junk" than you can imagine.
I personnaly think venison was specifically invented by God for jerky. I believe that is how Noah managed to feed his family on the Ark.....(he fed some venison to lions also and they never forgot how much they like it. It was good cat food then and it is obviously still good cat food now.) But that's just my opinion; and the cat's also.
Elk is another matter entirely, just had elk meatballs and rice for dinner tonight. I still have over 200# of elk in the chest freezer.
I sincerly hope you have a good season.
I know I will, even if I don't get a shot at this "hog" I have been chasing for 3 straight years, without a tag..........I drew this year, so he may be in trouble.
I can tell you anything you want to know about where he feeds, waters, beds down morning and afternoon and how many times he gets up to pee in the middle of the day. We have made eye contact several times, both in and out of season. Most recent visit was 2 weeks ago and he is still in velvet.
He has a new cat in his area....or at least she is way bigger than last year....They are using the same waterhole. Hope he dosen't test her. I know I have the edge on any other hunters and I should be the first hunter to see him this season, but I don't trust the lion not to be a lion.
(Want to ask how I know it's a female? Something I learned 'cuz I was "out among 'em". My Brit pees on any other animals' pee above ground and just points pee sites on the ground. No cat spray in the bushes or trees in the area and lots of it on the ground. Free lesson, no charge.)
I have told a hundred lies to other hunters in the area, to keep them from even seeing his tracks....I sweep them away whenever he gets too close to roads and camping sites, or when he uses a specific guzzler in his range.....Probably an argument as to if what I have been doing is even legal or ,
ethical, but it is way, way fun, that's why I do it.
By the way, if I meet a young kid on his first or second hunt, I'll put him right on this buck and I'll sleep just as good as if I were to take him myself...maybe sleep better. Done it before and it feels really, really good.
Am I "Nutso"....? Maybe so. But it wears real well for me.
Now be nice when you reply, as I am old and sensitive to abuse, both oral and written, as they say.
