Hunting with the Badger 2024

[WhistlingBadger]

Warning: This thread might eventually contain pictures of dead animals.
If you are offended, grossed out, or otherwise upset by seeing where meat comes from, please read no further. I don't want to pick a fight with anyone. Some people on here find my hunting adventures interesting, so I enjoy sharing them. If that's your thing, cool, read on. If not, I know hunting isn't for everyone and it won't hurt my feelings if you move on.

A few informational items to get out of the way, especially for my friends who are not familiar with hunting ethics and game laws:
*Yes, it's bad when people kill an animal just for the head and leave the meat to rot. I hate that, too. But that isn't hunting; it's called poaching, and it is illegal in pretty much every country civilized enough to have game laws. (The only exceptions are fur-bearing animals that are generally considered inedible, but I don't plan to hunt any of those) In the USA, game laws are created scientifically for the good of the animal populations and their habitat, and they are strictly enforced. There is no wanton slaughter happening, and no endangered species are being harmed.

*Don't believe everything you see on TV and social media. Most hunters are safe, responsible, and respectful of the animals, the laws, and each other. Like anything else, the idiotic fringe gets all the attention.

*I do most of my hunting with a home-made, wooden long bow. This is hunting the hard way, and it gets me up-close and into the animals' world. Hunting with primitive gear is a wonderful way to stay humble, and it has taught me an immense respect for the animals and their environment. My quarry (antelope, elk, deer and occasional small game) are mind-bogglingly good at what they do, and mostly what they do is avoid predators. Even when I hunt with my rifle, that respect and admiration stay with me. Killing is a necessity, and yes, I enjoy the overall experience of doing it myself. But it is not something I ever do lightly.

*Flowing directly out of the last point: When I kill an animal, I use all of the meat, the hide, the sinew, and if applicable I get some beautiful horns or antlers to adorn the den. I save the bones for my black lab. This year I'm even thinking about saving the intestines to make bow strings. No usable part gets wasted.

OK, on with our story...

 

[Uberhoust]

You got us all wound up, but no story yet.... . I don't hunt anymore, but have lived a year off of wild meat and fish when I lived in Lutsel'ke. Looking forward to the stories.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I drew an antelope license this year, as well as a good elk tag. These licenses are given out by lottery, and I was lucky to draw good ones. There is a special archery season for antelope (AKA pronghorn, speed goats, Antilocapra americana) that opens Thursday, so I went out in the desert today and set up a blind next to a water hole. I've never hunted from a blind before, and I'm not sure how much I enjoy it. But downing North America's fastest land animal (and the world's fastest over anything longer than a quarter mile) with a long bow would be quite an accomplishment, so I'll give it a try.

Here's the water hole. Doesn't look like much, but out here any water source is gold. This is that "wide open spaces" thing you hear about in old western movies. Not much fresh sign, so I don't know if the goats are using this hole or not, but it's the best one I could find so we'll hope for the best.

Ol' Blue, my trusty steed.

An antelope's eye view of my blind. Fun fact: Pronghorn have supernatural eyesight, roughly equivalent to a human with perfect vision and 8x binoculars. So this blind will not fool them, not even a little bit. But they are so confident in their phenomenal eyesight and speed that they quickly adapt to new items in their environment. There's a good bit of ranch and oil activity in this area, and the antelope aren't particularly threatened by equipment, vehicles, hay bales, things like that. So by the time the season opens on Thursday, they will probably have forgotten that my blind exists.

I stuck some brush in it for a couple reasons. The biggest reason is that my longbow sticks out over the roof about a foot, so I brushed in the opening so the goats won't see it when I draw. The brush also shades the openings to keep light out, so it's harder for the animals to see the movement when I draw my bow, and it's a little less miserable when it gets hot.

 

[Fishmanic]

I’m trying to remember that old saying about hunting… I think it goes like this:
“You can give a man and his family a deer and they’ll eat for a year
BUT if you teach a man and his family how to hunt, they’ll eat for the rest of their lives.”

@WhistlingBadger
Here’s wishing you a successful hunting season.
Thanks for sharing your hunting adventures.

 

[gwand]

I grew up hunting, mostly duck and deer. I gave it up in my thirties. No animal deserves a slow death. Even the best shots with bow or gun sometimes cripple before they kill.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

The neighbors show up to say hi. Appropriately, they stopped by as I was driving a few posts to string some barbed wire around my blind. Cows are dumb, but very curious, and they interact with new objects by rubbing against them, knocking them over, and stepping on them. These guys would just love to trample my blind into shreds. So, barbed wire.

This is one of the big reasons I'm not a rancher: I absolutely HATE working with barbed wire. Nasty, wicked, evil stuff.

Here's why I hate this stuff: A piece popped out and whipped me in the face. No harm done, but that was close...an inch or two to the right would have ruined my whole day. Hm, I wonder if I'm up on my tetanus vaccinations...

All done. Tune in this weekend for updates...

 

[Fishmanic]

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I’m trying to remember that old saying about hunting… I think it goes like this:
“You can give a man and his family a deer and they’ll eat for a year
BUT if you teach a man and his family how to hunt, they’ll eat for the rest of their lives.”

@WhistlingBadger
Here’s wishing you a successful hunting season.
Thanks for sharing your hunting adventures.

Give a man a fish, and he'll have dinner. Teach a man to fish, and he'll be late for dinner. True words.

I grew up hunting, mostly duck and deer. I gave it up in my thirties. No animal deserves a slow death. Even the best shots with bow or gun sometimes cripple before they kill.

True. I balance that against the reality that wild animals don't die peacefully in their beds. If I don't kill them, something else will, and I'm probably better than the alternative. Starvation, disease, being pulled down by wolves or strangled by a mountain lion are probably worse ways to die than what I'm inflicting. But yeah, bad shots happen, and I respect where you're coming from. To each his/her own.

 

[MuddyWaters]

"game laws are created scientifically for the good of the animal populations and their habitat"

That is key- I remember in the early 90s I went out to California and saw skinny little deer (starving) the size of a dog limping around Pebble Beach golf course (I was a guest of a guest of a member). The culling that happens allows the population of these animals to thrive, and hunting is a lot better than the kind of culling that's needed when the population gets way out of hand.

You hunt with your long bow? I am AMAZED, man. That takes a lot of strength to pull, much less aim. Hat's off to you, Badger

 

[MuddyWaters]

I drew an antelope license this year, as well as a good elk tag. These licenses are given out by lottery, and I was lucky to draw good ones. There is a special archery season for antelope (AKA pronghorn, speed goats, Antilocapra americana) that opens Thursday, so I went out in the desert today and set up a blind next to a water hole. I've never hunted from a blind before, and I'm not sure how much I enjoy it. But downing North America's fastest land animal (and the world's fastest over anything longer than a quarter mile) with a long bow would be quite an accomplishment, so I'll give it a try.

Here's the water hole. Doesn't look like much, but out here any water source is gold. This is that "wide open spaces" thing you hear about in old western movies. Not much fresh sign, so I don't know if the goats are using this hole or not, but it's the best one I could find so we'll hope for the best.
View attachment 347287

Ol' Blue, my trusty steed.
View attachment 347288

An antelope's eye view of my blind. Fun fact: Pronghorn have supernatural eyesight, roughly equivalent to a human with perfect vision and 8x binoculars. So this blind will not fool them, not even a little bit. But they are so confident in their phenomenal eyesight and speed that they quickly adapt to new items in their environment. There's a good bit of ranch and oil activity in this area, and the antelope aren't particularly threatened by equipment, vehicles, hay bales, things like that. So by the time the season opens on Thursday, they will probably have forgotten that my blind exists.

I stuck some brush in it for a couple reasons. The biggest reason is that my longbow sticks out over the roof about a foot, so I brushed in the opening so the goats won't see it when I draw. The brush also shades the openings to keep light out, so it's harder for the animals to see the movement when I draw my bow, and it's a little less miserable when it gets hot.
View attachment 347289

I was wondering when I saw it how you fit that bow in there LOL. It' interesting, I read a lot of Bernard Cornwell (historical fiction) and he goes deep into the English long bow and what it takes to get good with it. Not easy.

 

[MuddyWaters]

The neighbors show up to say hi. Appropriately, they stopped by as I was driving a few posts to string some barbed wire around my blind. Cows are dumb, but very curious, and they interact with new objects by rubbing against them, knocking them over, and stepping on them. These guys would just love to trample my blind into shreds. So, barbed wire. View attachment 347290

This is one of the big reasons I'm not a rancher: I absolutely HATE working with barbed wire. Nasty, wicked, evil stuff.
View attachment 347291

Here's why I hate this stuff: A piece popped out and whipped me in the face. No harm done, but that was close...an inch or two to the right would have ruined my whole day. Hm, I wonder if I'm up on my tetanus vaccinations...
View attachment 347292

All done. Tune in this weekend for updates...
View attachment 347293

One of the oddest things I've seen is at the Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. They have an entire room dedicated to barbed wire. They had drawers and drawers with different ways folks tie the barbs onto the wire. Very interesting for about 5 - 10 minutes LOL.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I was wondering when I saw it how you fit that bow in there LOL. It' interesting, I read a lot of Bernard Cornwell (historical fiction) and he goes deep into the English long bow and what it takes to get good with it. Not easy.

I love Cornwell. I'm into the Saxon series right now, but I'm looking forward to his take on Agincourt. My bow only pulls about 55 pounds, so I'm not English war-bow tough. That would be total overkill for any normal use anyway, there being a dismal lack of armored French knights around here.

Learning to shoot a longbow out of a blind was kind of like starting all over, though! Took some serious practice.

 

[Uberhoust]

I don't know how much better pronghorn eyesight is compared to caribou but up north in the hunting grounds the indigenous people there would place piles of rocks with horizontal sticks or antlers near arm height along many of the ridge lines to distract from the larger actual blinds. There are thousands of these rock-piles and they do make it difficult to distinguish people standing against the ridge lines, they are kind of like inuksuks but a bit simpler. Don't know if it would help in your case, the cattle would probably just knock them over.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I love Cornwell. I'm into the Saxon series right now, but I'm looking forward to his take on Agincourt. My bow only pulls about 55 pounds, so I'm not English war-bow tough. That would be total overkill for any normal use anyway, there being a dismal lack of armored French knights around here.

Learning to shoot a longbow out of a blind was kind of like starting all over, though! Took some serious practice.

I just finished 1799. Good book but frustrating to read- Keystone Cops of the Revolutionary War.

 

[Colin_T]

Warning: This thread might eventually contain pictures of dead animals.

Where's the road kill you're gonna eat?

If you are offended, grossed out, or otherwise upset by seeing where meat comes from, please read no further. I don't want to pick a fight with anyone. Some people on here find my hunting adventures interesting, so I enjoy sharing them. If that's your thing, cool, read on. If not, I know hunting isn't for everyone and it won't hurt my feelings if you move on.

I know where meat comes from, people walking around get kidnapped by aliens who process them and sell them to Woolworths as lamb and pork chops.

*Don't believe everything you see on TV and social media. Most hunters are safe, responsible, and respectful of the animals, the laws, and each other. Like anything else, the idiotic fringe gets all the attention.

But social media is where I learn everything about the world. Oh social media, have you been leading me astray?