Dedicated Hunting Thread - Pictures & Discussion

[topd]

With hunting season approaching, thought I'd start this thread. For deer, ducks, squirrel, hogs,

whatever you hunt for consumption. And/or any thoughts/wisdom to share from the great outdoors... Enjoy.
From the 2009 season...

From the 2011 season

 

[tjameson]

I can't wait to hunt again! I won't be out this season but next year when I move back to AZ I'm going Elk hunting with my wife's father, grandfather, and great uncle...I'm stoked I've only hunted whitetail before in Upstate NY where I used to live. Good luck this season and happy memory's in the making TopD.

 

[topd]

Ha! Thanks. Our anniversary isn't until November, but June and I are vacationing in October

just so I can be back here for the beginning of muzzle-loading season which starts on Oct. 20th

and modern gun season starts mid Nov. I always tell her that our time doesn't take a back

seat to hunting, it's just that she gets to celebrate earlier...

 

[topd]

My oldest son Charles and his first squirrel. '1983'

 

[cgrd]

We go hunting out at my grandparent's old homestead in western Manitoba. They have a 1/4 section, the remaining 3/4s of the section is designated as a wildlife corridor which creates a very favourable habitat for deer. They can go out, eat oats, alfalfa, wheat, corn and then hide out in the bush. The bush is swampy, filled with willow scrub and sloughs interspersed with large stands of poplar. It's a lot of work to get the deer out, but so very worth it.
Here's a monster I got in 2004. Just shy of the provincial record books, I won the "Head Contest" for the region, and got a pretty sweet belt knife for a prize.

This is the deer I got last season. The only one we got during the rifle season. I pushed through a large batch of willow scrub, and spooked a few partridge. I waited about 5 minutes to let things calm down and heard him coming through some scrub. It was probably 30s or so before he stepped out into the open so I had a clear shot, but it seemed like 10 minutes. He saw me just as I pulled the trigger and ran...I thought I had missed until I head that tell tale crash-thump a deer makes when it falls. He was a good sized buck, and had put up a fight during the rut...one of his antlers was busted off!

 

[topd]

Good Gracious! That first photo is a monster. I wish we had deer like that here in S.W. Arkansas, but

no such luck. Our deer don't grow that big but are plentiful.

 

[cgrd]

Bucks that size are pretty rare here too...pretty much my "once in a life time" deer. I'm not complaining, mind you! :P

 

[crpntr1]

Dec 26, 2011...moms shopping, we're killing ducks!! This was the only bird I took that day but it was a nice hunt, can't remember if the boys got any, which means they both took home more than me...

 

[topd]

My son-in-law had never been squirrel hunting before, so during a visit last year I gave him my

Browning and a sack full of #6 shot, and told him to take Bell. I couldn't go because I had just

had surgery. He said he really didn't know what to do, I told him to just look up at where she's

barking. He killed 7.

 

[crpntr1]

My retriever ,Chamois, making her first marked retrieve in 2005

 

[crpntr1]

topd you cant beat a good hunting dog. cham has never lost a bird...shes gonna be hell to replace

 

[shaintiques]

I love hunting, squirrel, deer, duck, turkey, hog you name it I'm out there. Can't wait for Deer season to start. Got a new 7mm08. I'll post pics later of my deer.

 

[topd]

My youngest son 'Sandy Jack' was a sonar technician on the U.S.S. Los Angeles Nuclear

Attack Sub when he was home on leave in 2008. He's out now and the sub is retired. He

works for Samsung in Austin now making computer chips.

 

[topd]

Yes Chris.... a good dog is not replaceable! I have many a good memory being in the woods with Bell

and the little Jack Russell I had before her, Jack.

I never got into duck hunting... Gosh, I have enough expensive hobbies as it is.
(He's just a pup here, but the only photo I could find).

 

[topd]

One of the things I really like about fall is the outdoor cooking. I usually put on a pot of beans

before daylight, and it'll be ready for dinner (northerners call this lunch).
Stoke-up the camp fire

1 to 2 lbs of smoked sausage (like kielbasa)

16oz can of pinto beans

16oz can of white northern beans

16oz can of black beans (rinse these)

1 lg onion, chopped

1 cup water

8oz can tomato sauce

1 tsp chicken bouillon

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp oregano

1 bay leaf
Combine all in a cast-iron dutch oven. Dig a hole about a foot deep, shovel a shallow level of hot

coals in and set the oven on top. Shovel in more coals to top of oven. When you come out of the woods

at noon it'll be ready. I'll give my cornbread recipe later 'cause you gotta have cornbread!
Yes, that's a can opener I'm using to lift the hot lid.

 

[deleon]

Deer season doesn't start down here till 2 months from now, in the mean time it's White Wing & Mourning Dove, then next month Quail starts!! Hog Hunting of course is all year round. Looking to get quite a few of those before Deer starts.

 

[philobeddoe]

I can't wait, shotgun and pistol season starts Nov. 17th here. Muzzleloader is after that, I haven't gotten into archery yet but I think I eventually will.

 

[topd]

Speaking of doves deleon:
"TopD's Dove Stew"
12 - 18 dove breasts

1/2 tube of butter

(2) 10oz cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 large onion, chopped

2 green peppers

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper

2 cups of any good white wine

(1) 8oz can of mushrooms
Put breasts in boiling water until the meat will slip off the bone. Fry the meat in the

dutch oven in butter until slightly brown. Add all the other ingredients and put

in hot coals to simmer all morning.

 

[topd]

philobeddoe, I don't bow-hunt as much as I used to because, well, I have a hard time holding the bow back for very long these days. Have thought about going to a cross bow (it's legal in Arkansas) but just can't bring myself to do it. It just won't be the same. Now I see nothing wrong with a cross bow, it's just not my bag-of-tea. I have been target shooting, trying to build myself up a bit and ignore the arthritis....

Gonna try some this year.
1994

 

[topd]

A friend of mine told me a good way to get in shape for bow-hunting is to leave the log splitter in the shed and

hand split about a quarter cord.... Well, don't know if it's helping but surely is satisfying!