• Adventure, Conservation-Oriented, Sacred Moments
• Full Accommodations, Meals Included, Max Comfort
• Professional Hunter Guide is Part of Package
• Exciting, Relatively Low Cost

By Forrest Fisher

When Jack Coad and Anne O’Leary made a plan to hunt Africa, they planned the hunt of their lifetime.  They discovered that South Africa offered more than 30 species of animals and that some study of which animals to hunt would be needed.   Among the most common animals to hunt are Plains Game animals such as Impala, Wildebeest, Kudu, Gemsbok, Zebra, Eland and many others.

Hunting in South Africa is exciting, an adventure, it is about understanding nature and conservation.  There are wonders in the natural world of Africa that are breathtaking and extraordinary, these elements help hunters to develop a new perception of all things wild when you hunt in Africa. This is especially true for archery hunters.

It is often about observing wild animals that have the power to feast on you and your guide, face to face, while with archery gear in hand.  Animals such as the Cape Buffalo.

Choosing the right place to hunt and the right guide may appear to be complicated, but after conversation with other hunters that have travelled there, decision making is lessened to a manageable numbers of safari facilities.

Jack and Anne chose to hunt with Numzaan Safaris in Thabazimbi, a village in the Limpopo Province South Africa, located about a 3-1/2 hour drive northwest from Johannesburg.  There are multiple airlines that service this area and your travel from the airport is part of the Safari fee.  Upon arrival they met their “PH” or professional hunter (guide), Brent Van As, who advised their every move for safety and effective hunting of several species.

Hunting with a trained guide and effective gear in South Africa hunting may present an opportunity for the reverence of a perfect shot.

The hunter may accept the challenge to make that shot.  It is a sacred moment.  It is awe-inspiring.  It requires mental focus and an understanding with perceptive sense of the role that the hunter takes when hunting in Africa.  It is a role quite different from the role of hunter nearly anywhere else.  It is a role where indigenous natives applaud your success because you will share with them in your bounty, but also a role unpopular to some in the western world.  The locals keenly understand that you part of natural resource management.  They welcome you.

A prerequisite is that hunter skill in the gear of choice is necessary.  Bow, arrows, broadheads, release, sights, counterbalance, and the aim of the hunter in brief duress for the moment of brief encounter.  Your skill must be dominant.

Your understanding can be reduced to a simple few things:  arrow flight and distance to target.  You must recognize and understand the limits and boundaries of your shooting skills, like hunters everywhere, but many fail to recognize this transitional crossroad for taking a shot.

Bow hunts in Africa with many outfitters are usually a minimum of 10 days in stay and run during the African winter that occurs from July through September.

In Africa, accepting that you have the right gear, have developed adequate skill and you are healthy enough to embrace the excitement of the hunt and potential sharing of the harvest, know that you will have a trained and skilled guide.  A guide that has meandered the African wilderness and networks of animal trails that identify preferred hunting areas.

One look at the night sky to see tens of thousands of stars in the unspoiled air of Africa is enough, all by itself, to wish for a quick return to Africa.

The night sky tells a tale of purified and simple living.  Hunters in Africa form an important arm of required balance to keep poachers in check.  Hunter funding pays for poacher policing, without hunters that pay for this privilege to share in the harvest, the capacity for nature to support wild animal populations would have already been compromised.

Winter temperatures in Africa vary between the low 40’s to about a high of 70 in mid-afternoon, but it is sunny most of the time, so use of sunscreen is common.

Africa needs hunters.  African villagers and wild game species needs hunters.

As you explore this need, you realize there is a renewed sense of community.  You better understand the vulnerable community of African wild animals and the necessary role of hunters.  Hunters in Africa are a precious commodity subject to maltreatment from others without understanding of the rescue mission that they perform.

When you accept the challenge to hunt in Africa, and then after you have gone on the hunt and you return, it is only then that you realize how important it has been for you to form this new kinship with nature and our Creator.  A kinship that is vulnerable to confrontation.

Therefore it is important to realize that hunting in Africa requires moral courage and a new understanding that, in fact, as a hunter in Africa, you are a gift.  You are bound to respect, bound to scientific management of the species you harvest and share, bound to support the costly licensing procedure, bound to the reciprocity of the timeless bond with nature and the wilds that is shared by all hunters who respect their hunting moments as sacred.

To learn more about hunting and what it costs, what you should pack and how far in advance to plan, visit this website: http://www.numzaan.com/.  One thing that is surprising is that you will learn it is far less costly to hunt Africa than it is the Rocky Mountains in western United States or up north in Alaska.  I was surprised at this, but it accentuates the need for hunters to visit Africa.

If you have additional questions, you might email their guide, Brent Van As, directly, at brent@numzaan.com.  

For it is you and I that must understand there is reciprocal balance and you and I are part of that delicate scale.

• Possums are Marsupial’s
• Possums Play Dead to Live
• Possums have More Teeth than Any Other Mammal

By Jill J. Easton

Possums are weird.  These 70-million-year-old survivors from the time of dinosaurs have none of the normal qualifications for survival.  They are slow and empty-headed, their main trick is to play dead.  Almost nothing will eat possum, especially one that looks and acts long-dead.  But more about that later.

Possums are not one of the major predators of ground-nesting birds, but they will eat eggs, chicks and anything else that comes within their limited hunting range.  Next to hogs they are probably the largest producer of hungry offspring.

First the Facts

The Virginia Opossum, Didelphis Virginiana is the only marsupial found in the United States.  Marsupials are mammals that raise their young in pouches that provide protection and milk to the babies.  Other marsupials are animals like the kangaroo and koala, both found in Australia.

Possums have to have been designed from spare parts.  An adult’s head looks too big for its body, the back feet should belong to a monkey and the tail to a giant rat.  The opossum has 50 teeth, more than any North American land mammal, and a lower body temperature as well.  Its hairless tail is prehensile to grasp branches and is also used for balance.  Contrary to folklore, only young possums hang upside down by their tails.  The opossum has opposable thumbs on its hind feet which they use for holding on to branches.  Possums also have one of the smallest brains for their body size of any mammal, this makes them hard to kill.

In the past 100 years, possums have hugely extended their range.  They originally were animals of the south, but now possums have been found so far north that they are commonly found with their tails and ear tips frozen off.

Possum Sex Isn’t Simple

For many years, country folks thought female possums had sex through their noses.  When mama grinner was ready to give birth, she supposedly sneezed the babies into her pouch.  This isn’t exactly what happens.

The true story is a male possum has a bifurcated, or split, penis.  It is Y shaped with two separate sperm delivery heads.  Country naturalists assumed that since the male had a double it had to go into a double opening.  The only visible place on a female possum that was double was her nose.

The reality is just as odd.  The female possum actually has two separate sets of baby-producing equipment that branch out internally to match up with the two-pronged penis.  So mom produces two different sets of babies at birth.

And Then They Are Born

Marsupials birth their babies after a gestation period shorter than some first dates.  The babies are pushed out of the womb 11 to 14 days after the eggs are fertilized.  The preemie-possums are smaller than dried peas and twenty or more can fit on a teaspoon.

To survive, the tiny, blind, naked infants have to make a perilous journey under the mother’s tail, fight through the hair on her belly and squirm into her pouch.  Many fall off and die along the way.  Imagine climbing Mount Everest by wiggling along on your stomach with no clothes and not able to see or hear.  The possums who survive the epic journey still have to fight for milk since the teats in the mom’s pouch can only support 13 of the 20 plus babies that are usually born.

A week after their journey into the pouch the babies have tripled in size, at about 70 days their eyes open and a few weeks later the pouch reaches overflow stage.  Now the young opossums each weigh about an ounce and are the size of a deer mouse.  After being crowed out the babies climb up mom’s back and ride with their tiny prehensile tails wrapped around her fur.  For the next month mom teaches them to find food by digging grubs and worms and consuming almost anything vaguely edible, animal or vegetable.  After about a hundred days the young possums wander off to lead their own, mostly solitary, lives.

Now Let’s See, To Survive, They Die?

Opossums have one of the least practical modern survival mechanisms in the animal world; they play dead.  This might have worked well when being threatened by a velociraptor 70 million years ago, but it fails miserably when used against a pickup truck.

Possums do something similar to fainting.  The possum assumes the ‘grinner position’ flat on its side with lips pulled back to expose clenched teeth, often a foam of saliva drips out of the mouth.  On the other end a foul-smelling fluid leaks out the anal glands.  This discourages canines and other meat eating animals, but it makes possum’s easy targets for buzzards, eagles and bird predators who relish a temporarily immobile animal.

Some grinners can be prodded, turned over and even carried away without reacting.  Sometimes it takes as long as four hours for the animal to return to normal.  The awakening process begins with slight twitching of its ears.

Part 2 – Next Week – Trapping, How Not to Catch a Possum

• Coyotes are Adaptable
• Coyotes are Omnivores – they eat Animals and Plants
• Coyote Screams are Scary 
• How to Protect your Property from Coyotes

By Jill J. Easton

The banshee keening crescendo turned into high pitched screams.  The cacophony made our visitors from New Orleans run to lock the doors and draw the blinds.  The sounds were as dangerous as shrieking hurricane winds, but worse, had an otherworld edge.

We smiled at the city folk knowing that it was just the sound of a pair from our local coyote pack telling the rest of their extended family they found our carcass dump.  Evidently the family took them up on it, because the next morning only a few bones and heads were left.

Coyotes

Are they vicious killers of domestic cattle, chickens and goats?

Are they the eaters of pets and valued game species like turkeys and quail?

Are they partners in controlling pests like rats and rabbits?

Or are they the ultimate survivor, a useful omnivore that fills an important niche in the natural landscape across the continent?

Correct answer:  All the above.

The next important question:  How many are too much?  Cause the only way to totally wipe coyotes out of your land is to fence the perimeter one foot down and eight feet high.

The Good

For many of us, if it weren’t for coyotes, we would probably be up to our ears in rabbits, mice and rats.  This is one of the reasons coyotes are often found on working farms and ranches.  Coyotes can also be spotted along roads at night, cleaning up road-killed carcasses.  They even eat carrion when nothing else is available.

Coyotes help keep nature’s fruit basket stocked.  They do a wonderful job spreading the seeds of plums, persimmons, blackberries in their scat.  They also help spread soft mast crops and nuts.

Another important part of the coyote’s summer diet is insects.  They relish grasshoppers, for example.  Coyotes doing strange jumping dances in brushy fields are chasing the big bugs around and 80% to 90% of their scat in high ‘hopper areas can consist of grasshopper bits.

The Bad

The problem with coyotes is, they don’t just eat bugs and seeds.  Although these canines are classified as predators, they eat almost anything plant or animal.  Stone County Arkansas resident, Elmer Staggs, had five newborn calves killed by coyotes in one season on his mountainside pasture.  Chickens, goats and young hogs that aren’t put up at night also suffer from coyote predation.

Coyotes feed on other highly valued wild animals.  Eggs of ground nesting birds like turkey and quail are an important part of their spring diet.  Young fawns are another favorite meal.

Anything a coyote can put in their mouth that is vaguely edible, will become part of his poop.  Corn from food plots or row crops, peanuts and other crops like cantaloupe make meals for a hungry coyote pack.

Interesting Coyote Tidbits

• Coyotes are copraphagic, which means they eat poop, especially cat poop, which provides trace minerals and nutrients that they don’t get from their own food and makes them resistant to diseases.  Wildlife biologists at Texas Tech did a blind taste test on scat for coyotes and other animals.  They put 10 different kinds of droppings in squares and counted the number of footprints in each square.  Cat droppings won paws down.
• Coyotes have selective digestion. In tough times, such as during a snowy winter, they digest much more of the animals they eat than when food is more plentiful.
• In bad times, coyotes limit the number of pups that are born in the spring.  Instead of 6-8, they have only one or two offspring.

Next Week: Coyote migrations can help define coyote control methods.

• Coyote Male-Female Pairs Bond for Life
• Cold, Gray-Green Eyes Glow Yellow at Night
• Coyotes are Smart and Fast, Can Run 30 mph

By Jill J. Easton

Coyote Migrations

Originally these canines lived only in the northern and western United States.  s the plains were settled and farmed, they gradually moved across the country following civilization, but it was not until the 1940’s that coyotes were regularly spotted in the south.

Today the coyote, Canis latrans, is found across America.  They prefer brushy or wooded areas close to farming or livestock operations, but many live in and around our largest cities (More than 100 animals are radio collared in downtown Chicago.)

Colors vary, but generally they are reddish gray with a buff belly; at a distance, some people mistake a coyote for a big fox.  They have cold, gray-green eyes that don’t seem to reflect light in the daytime, and glow yellow at night.  Coyotes can cross-breed with domestic dogs, and the resulting offspring are frequently fertile.

Coyotes hunt in male-female pairs that bond for life.  They can run faster than 30 miles per hour, have excellent vision, smell and hearing, and are one of the most adaptable animals on the planet.  It takes four to eight square miles to support each coyote pair.

Packs are made up of the alpha pair, their young of the year, and sometimes a few offspring from the previous year’s litter.  A successful foraging song dog contacts pack members when lots of food is located.  On a windless night, coyote howls can be heard for several miles.

Controlling Coyotes

Whether you love them or hate them, short of a nuclear holocaust, coyotes are not going away.  Only a disease epidemic or mass poisonings could decimate their numbers.  However, when they become a problem they can be controlled.

“Prey controls the predator, and man can manipulate the system,” said Thurman Boothe, Arkansas Director of Wildlife Services for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).  “The natural environment will fill a niche, but management can reduce the numbers.”

Some of the ways to control coyotes when populations get out of balance include hunting (either with dogs or by calling) and trapping.

When coyotes overpopulate an area, they sometimes lose their fear of people and can eventually become dangerous to pets and even people.  If a coyote comes at you, wave your arms, yell and take stamping steps toward the animal.  Do not turn your back or run.  A coyote understands this as fear and will be much more likely to attack.

Back to the problems with coyotes killing calves in the Ozarks:  the coyotes became so fearless they stopped running from people.

“Several summers ago I heard the most awful squalling from down the road,” said great-grandmother Alma Staggs.  “A cow and calf had gotten on opposite sides of the fence, and when I came up several coyotes were near and locked in on the calf.  I yelled, but the coyotes didn’t run.  I got help real quick and we got the calf back on the right side of the fence.  Those coyotes had bad intentions.”

The Staggs decided it was time to take care of the coyote problem.  “First, we stopped burying dead cows in the pasture,” said Alma’s son Ron, who raises the cattle.  “Then we started killing coyotes as we saw them.”

The Staggs removal effort was aided by local trappers who caught additional animals.  In total, we trapped 35 coyotes on their land and on the adjoining national forest.  The next year the coyotes that were trapped were healthier and didn’t have the mange that plagued many of the animals during the first trapping year.

Since then, the Staggs’ have had no problem with coyote predation on cattle, but each year trappers continue to take out a dozen-or-more coyotes and each year the coyotes look better and weigh more.

Lower fur prices mean coyote trapping is no longer an important control.  Fox and coyote hunting with dogs and with calling devices removes a certain number of animals, but it is far from controlling their numbers.

“There is no question that the numbers have increased since the last predator control program in the late 1960’s,” said Booth.  “They are too good at what they do.  Bounties are not effective.  Perhaps it’s time to put predator control (poisoning) on the table again.  It would certainly do a lot to help wild turkey numbers bounce back.”

So there it is, an animal that is superbly equipped for what he does, smarter than we are in his environment and hard to control.  With the tools that are currently available, we aren’t going to beat him.  But on a cold, clear night, when you hear what sounds like a thousand coyotes lighting up the sunset with their song, maybe a part of you will be a little glad they are still out there.

Next Week: About Trapping Coyote

Catching Raccoons

• Cute, Dangerous, Carries Many Diseases
• #1 Eater of Ground Nesting Birds (Turkey, etc.)
• Consider Calling a Licensed Professional

By Jill J Easton

Don’t let that cute mask, button eyes and cute stripped tail fool you.  Far too often, having raccoons for neighbors can become a terrible nuisance.   These animals are smart and they use their paws, teeth and innate ingenuity to break into any food source that isn’t locked up or chained down.  They destroy attics, scream intensely while mating (often under a house) and carry enough diseases to fill a hospital.

Raccoons Consume Ground Bird Eggs

In the wild they are the #1 eater of ground nesting bird eggs.  As a turkey hunter, I find this particular behavior a terrible character flaw.  The worst part of the whole coon problem is that right now they have almost no value as fur, so trappers and coon hunters aren’t willing to do the work it takes to put coon hides in their fur sheds.

Here is a quick biology lesson: the raccoon population in many locations is in the early stages of what some environmentalists call a “trophic cascade.”  This is the third consecutive year of rock-bottom coon prices, so very few trappers will spend any time catching coons.  As a result, these animals are multiplying faster than their food sources.  Over the next few years, coon populations will reach epidemic proportions and therefore there will be many more coons raiding garbage cans, eating bird eggs and pilfering around your property.  Finally, there will be a massive raccoon die-off.

Raccoons Carry Many Diseases

Hungry, over-populated coons will come down with a variety of diseases.  Rabies and distemper are two diseases that are most dangerous for domestic animals and people.

The good news is, it isn’t that hard to solve your coon problem, at least on a local basis.  There is a recently-designed trap that makes catching these masked bandits quite simple.  These traps go under the general name of dog proof traps, or DPs, and there are dozens of brands.  The best part is they are 99% safe around domestic animals.

The Duke DP is the one my husband Jim and I use, so we’ll use it as the example here.  As mentioned, though, there are many other brands and they all do the same job.  Each design has differences, but they all are designed to catch raccoons by a front foot.

The Duke DP is made of a piece of pipe about the size of the smallest Red Bull can with one end closed off.  The coon sticks a front paw into the pipe, which is baited with fish, hot dog, dog food, marshmallows, or anything else that smells like food to a coon, which is almost everything.  When the raccoon pulls on a bar inside the trap, it releases a spring which pins the animal’s foot inside the trap.  Because the coon can’t reach its paw, there is no chance for it to chew off its foot and escape.

These traps are small, simple to use, easy to set and they catch coons very efficiently.  One important caveat, though: what we are talking about here is a lethal solution. These traps will catch your problem coons, but they’re alive and they must, repeat MUST, be killed.  So you might want to leave this job to a professional.  It is biologically unsound to relocate coons because of the strong possibility of spreading disease.  It is, in fact, illegal in many states to transport and release captured animals.

Also, if coons are carried off and released, two other undesirable things may happen.  Since coon populations are high elsewhere and not just in your back yard, you’ll be dumping them into already occupied and overcrowded territory.  In addition, catching coons in a DP trap educates them to avoid such traps in the future, and if you release them away from your property, they’ll likely become a nuisance to someone else – and they’ll be harder to capture a second time.  And if you release them too close to your own property, they’ll be back on your bird feeder in very short order.  So remember, it’s not a catch-and-release operation.

Setting a Dog Proof Trap (DP)

The first step in setting a dog proof trap is to put bait in the bottom of the pipe, or use a piece of hot dog and stick it on the trigger.  Many types of bait will attract raccoons, but something with a fishy smell works best.  The cheapest cans of Jack Mackerel or sardines will draw coons from great distances.  If you are setting a lot of traps it is more economical to soak cheap dog food with fish oil and use that.  Since there is a good possibility that a cat may be attracted by the fishy smell, marshmallows are preferable when felines are nearby.  The long pliers in the picture are handy for locating the bait below the trap bar and for setting the trap as well.

Next, put the barrel of the trap across your leg and use the pliers to push down the bar as shown, then push the latch over the bar, set it into the trigger notch, and your trap is set.  The trap base is shoved into the ground to stabilize the trap, and you’re all set.  The final step is to either drive a stake into the ground to anchor the trap chain, or wire it to a tree or log.  Be careful where you set your traps, though, because a coon with a foot in a DP becomes a furry engine of destruction and will scar, mangle or completely destroy anything within reach.  In other words, catch them in the yard, not on the patio.

The best way to kill a trapped raccoon is with a small-caliber rifle or pistol, such as a .22 caliber round.  Draw an imaginary X between the ears and eyes.  Shoot a .22 bullet into that spot and you should have a dead raccoon with little fur damage.  To get the animal out of the trap, push down on the bar like you did to set it and upend the trap.  The coon’s paw should slide out and you are ready to make a reset. `

This is a simple, elegant solution for those ring-tailed raiders.  All it takes is equipment, bait and patience.  Not only will you be taking over an important job in the wild food chain, you will be helping to prevent raccoons from dying a slow miserable death from starvation or disease.

Remember to check your state trapping laws for proper licensing and firearm discharge.

The Hog Epidemic is Here Now!

• Invasive Species, Out of Control
• Existing Wildlife Threatened – Forage Issue
• One SOW Yields 200 newborns in One year!

By Jill J. Easton

For landowners in an ever-increasing area of the country, hogs are a horribly expensive pest.  Their rooting makes land untillable, requiring thousands of dollars in leveling and reworking, and the pigs also eat and destroy billions of dollars of crops each year.  The hogs also compete directly with native wildlife for available food such as acorns, berries, and other forms of hard and soft mast.

Texas estimates the state has more than 2.6 million wild hogs and the number is increasing rapidly.  One rancher in Oklahoma, using an airplane, killed 1,500 hogs on his land two years ago.  He still sees hundreds of hogs each time he flies.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture (APHIS) spent 51.77 percent of its 2015-16 Arkansas animal damage control budget on feral swine, working with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission which is trapping the animals.  So far the pigs are still winning.

Last spring in Arkansas, I saw a big group of hogs that easily numbered 200 and included everything from bread-box sized squealers to giant sows that weighed upwards of 250 pounds.  People in the neighborhood were shooting two or three pigs per day and Arkansas isn’t considered one of the states with a bad hog problem.

Another pig problem is that most of the wild swine are not the domesticated hogs you see at the state fair.  These are either the descendants of Russian boar stock turned loose by guides and outfitters, or they are domesticated animals that have reverted to wild characteristics.  In a few generations they develop the longer legs, hairy body and the tusks of wild pigs.  If hunted, they also quickly turn nocturnal, making them more difficult to shoot.  Wild pigs grow large – 400-pounders, while not common, are far from rare – and their size makes them even more destructive to the environment.  When cornered, they can also be dangerous to dogs or people.

Led by Tennessee, many states have put strict controls, or made it illegal, to shoot wild hogs, especially on public land. The reasoning is two-fold: if it’s not legal to hunt them, it becomes less attractive for hunters to illegally release them; and hunting also disrupts hog feeding and movement patterns, making them much harder to trap.

Regardless of the reasoning, the no-hunting regulation leaves landowners with basically only one option – trapping.  Fortunately, this method of control can produce results if done diligently and correctly.  Pen traps can catch 20 or more pigs at one time and can be bought or built using heavy duty wire or welded pen sections that can be moved from place to place following the pig’s movements.  The traps are baited with various substances, one of the favorites being corn mixed with Kool Aid or beer and allowed to ferment for a few days.  When the hogs enter the trap and begin to eat, their movements trigger a guillotine door that falls and contains them.  Most state regulations require that there is an opening on the top of the trap so turkeys, deer and bears can escape.

State wildlife agencies have started their own trapping programs and are growing more sophisticated with their trapping methods as the hogs continue to increase and/or get wise to the old trapping methods.  Some states are now using remotely operated pen traps: A camera is set up pointing at the trap.  The camera sends motion operated pictures to a cell phone when animals show up.  When most or all, of the hogs are in the trap, the gate is closed by a signal through the cell phone.

Snaring hogs is also a possibility, but even multiple snares in a location don’t collect enough animals to keep pig numbers in check.  It will, however, work in specific instances where only one or two hogs (usually older bores who live alone except for breeding) are causing the problem.

The next problem is deciding what to do with the hogs once they are in the trap.  If they are not taken care of within a few hours they will find a way to get out either by climbing the panels, rooting under or breaking down the enclosure.  The problem is once they are dead, then what?  Wild hogs, especially those under 200 pounds are surprisingly good to eat.  Big tusked boars smell horrible and I have been told they taste like they smell.  Stick to the sows and smaller males for food.  Wild pig meat is lean, makes great sausage and pork roast.  Make sure to cook it thoroughly since there is a danger of trichinosis in wild swine.

If there is a permanent pig problem, a carcass dump is the best answer.  Make sure it is in an area far away from houses and livestock.  The dead animals will make you very popular with buzzards and coyotes.

The key to hog control, as any wildlife biologist dealing with the problem will tell you, is diligence.  It’s not something you can do for a while and then slack off.  It’s an ongoing thing, because the hogs don’t quit breeding.  Remember that year-old grandmother sow with the 200 offspring?  They’re ALL like that.

Next week we will talk about how to solve raccoon problems.

• Shoot When Your Target is in Range
• Respect for Opening Day 
• Can Deer See Colors?

By Joe Forma

Editor Note: This is a touching story of a Dad’s exciting e-message to his son, sharing the fun he found hunting with a friend and his family on one special opening day of big game firearms season this fall of 2016 in New York State.  There are honest lessons here for all hunters.  Joe Forma is retired as a well-respected New York State Supreme Court Judge, he loves the outdoors, he is a family man and an award winning outdoor photographer.  He is 74 years young.

Hi Andy,

Congrats on your big doe in Penfield!  I was sad you could not do our annual opening day hunt in the swamp with Angelo, but then I got invited to hunt with my old friend, Roger, down at Bliss, New York.  I usually don’t hunt where the landowners family will hunt on Opening Day, but Roger said it was ok and he had lots of room on his property Open Day was just perfect weather-wise and with a strong south wind, I could go way up to the northwest corner, well away from Roger and his family.

Jason got a spike at the start hour and Roger got a doe for meat.  I didn’t see a deer until 9:00 a.m. and that was just the butt end of a big one.  Likely a buck, but I couldn’t see the head, so I didn’t shoot.

Per my old own rule I always stay in a spot if I see deer for one more hour.  At 9:30, three does came thru and almost ran me over.  Don’t know what spooked them, but not a rut crazed buck as I hoped.

About 10:30, three more toward me, but does came up the old lead doe must have spotted me at 75 yards and they spooked. I was in complete tree leaf camo save my blaze orange hat and hidden in a blow down – they say deer don’t see red/orange? I reversed the hat to camo immediately.

I was happy seeing some deer and then at 11:05, I saw another coming up the hill in my direction. I quickly saw it was a buck, got ready and when I had a clear opening around 70 yards out, the .280 Remington barked and the buck ran about 80 yards and folded.

Though he was coming nonchalantly straight at me, I always shoot as soon as I get the open shot. I don’t wait, been there.

The 7-Point went down near Roger’s west boundary, so after I gutted it.  He came up in this ATV with Jason and they got the buck down to the house.  It couldn’t be more perfect.  No sooner we got the buck in the Tahoe for the ride home, the wind, rain and sleet hit.

I so appreciate Roger’s hospitality in sharing his fine property with me for deer and turkey hunting.  It was a most memorable opener, especially for an older hunter.

Dad

• More Than a Sunrise Greeting!
• Sacred Skills for Focus 
• Natural “Learn How”

By Forrest Fisher

For learning new things about something that men are typically very good at, like hunting – when the outdoor ladies commit, they are ALL IN.  Especially when they want to be involved in ALL of the sport: aiming, shooting, reloading, hunting, cooking – it’s a long list!

It turns out – social media shows us proof with pictures and videos that women are so very good in the outdoors.  Going out on a limb here, dedicated women may be more logical and a bit more evolutionary to the task at hand than some of the men I know.  I did say “some.” Not trying to throw stones, but there’s lots of proof.

Women adjust, if only where they sit in the woods or how they hold their hunting implement of choice, and they seem to know how to make changes that can form their cornerstone for future activities.  They know about adaptability.  They know what it means to dedicate their efforts and they understand how to be comfortable and happy while exercising obligations to themselves with a vision for success.  They seem happy trying to get there and to stay responsible to achieve their purpose.

Maybe that’s it, they define the challenge and their purpose better than guys.  Maybe they read instructions better than guys – or at least maybe they read them completely.

I for one, admire these traits that I have witnessed when shooting, fishing, cooking or simply looking at new outdoor gear with women.  They ask questions outside of my perspective, especially good questions too, as they seek to validate spending their cash.  They are fundamental to seeking good answers for a solution to their question and their curiosity.  Is this a maternal instinct that men don’t have?  End of story?  Maybe not.

Especially on this item, they understand safety.  Above all, it seems once women learn, they do not forget.

Enter Vanessa Toews, an energetic young lady from postal delivery service life near Winnipeg, Canada.  Last year she set out on a mission to learn all about hunting and then wanted to go try it.

In her own words, “If I wanted to continue eating meat, I needed to see it through – beginning to end.  I needed to appreciate exactly what went into a life being taken in order to sustain mine.  I spent hours in the bush and online reading.  I did turn to experienced friends for advice and help, but I learned about details.  So many times I wanted to give up when hunting. Sitting in the cold, alone with my thoughts.  Which if you know me, can be a scary place (lol)!”

Vanessa continues, “Then last Friday I was finally given the opportunity, and with ammo that I reloaded myself, I took the shot.  Words can’t describe the experience!  I can’t thank friends and family enough for the support and also the ‘holy cow, I just shot a buck and have no idea what to do now’ phone call.”

She adds, “So there I was with my first buck, my first deer, on my first shot at a deer with ammo that I had loaded myself – a bit spooky all by itself, and I was speechless.  Just filling my freezer with organic, healthy meat from nature’s wilds for the first time.  I just felt so vital and sort of reborn in nature.  I now know why people hunt.  Wow.”  Waiting a moment and adding, she says, “You learn appreciation for the animal life cycle and ecology and survival and the heritage of our ancestors.”

For many in our modern society today, this might always be uncharted terrain.  Many may never wish to accept the challenge to learn of the extraordinary details that hunters incur for their own subsistence by choice.

Successful hunters, men and women, learn to understand their own limitations.  They accumulate unmatched insight to overcome weather and comfort, and manage other obstacles that can limit their success.   Their control of the many variables allows those that hunt to understand the age-old heritage of harvest from the woods.

So I asked Vanessa what about tomorrow, next time, next year, try it again?  She answers honestly, “I love what I do and I work hard for it.  I’m the kind of person that enjoys learning the in’s and out’s.  It’s hard to grasp concepts without knowing the fine details of how it all works.  The best part about that is, there is always something more to learn!  I’ve always been that way.”

Vanessa admits to knowing herself, “I’m very hands on and appreciate finishing a task, big or small, on my own doing.  Now some may call me stubborn (she laughed), but there’s something to be said about fully immersing yourself and feeling the rewards of accomplishing the said task.”

Providing more details, “That deer was a perfect example.  There were many times where I thought it would never happen and that maybe I just wasn’t cut out for hunting.  I can’t even count the number of times I shouldered my gun when a doe would walk in, just so that when the time did come it would be second nature.  Hunting is buck only in my hunting area, as deer populations are low.  I actually have my own property that I decided to scout and pattern the deer movements on.  I passed up on an opportunity to take a spiker last year simply for that reason. That it’s my property and I would rather see the populations flourish. “

She humbly adds, “On reloading, I had worked up a load for a Nosler 180 gr ballistic tip.  CCI primers, with 54.5 grains of Hodgdon 4350.  I found this to shoot the best grouping out of my Savage 30-06.  I currently have a variety of loads for the 150 gr Nosler partition with IMR 4895, but didn’t feel comfortable shooting at a deer with ammo that I haven’t tested yet.  The 180 gr was slight overkill, but reliable.  Even after mentally preparing myself for a buck, when that guy did walk in at around 60 yards and I shouldered that gun, without him even flinching, it hit me.  And I promised myself, if given the opportunity I would take it.  Words can’t begin to explain the emotions you experience in that situation.”

The big question: “Would I do it again?  The answer is yes!  As sad as it is to take a life from the woods by myself, I would much rather do that than buy meat from a store.  It’s the ultimate in cruelty free, in my opinion, and when you work that hard for your food – well, you appreciate eating it that much more!”

On Facebook, when I last checked the posting of the deer that Vanessa Toews took home, over 400 people had liked or provided comments of congratulations or thoughts.  To me, that’s amazing.  That’s progress.

When women who are successful in the outdoors share their secrets, they contribute to the growing new culture of women, and men, who consider joining the ranks of the outdoor hunter next year.  The trails for lessons to success in the woods remain hard work that many have struggled to find.

There is a wealth of wisdom to be found in learning to be a hunter.  The number of lady hunters and shooters is on the rise.  Respect them, learn from them.

• Summit Climbing Stand – Model: Explorer SD (Closed Front)
• Possible Fall HAZARD

Details: Summit Treestands LLC, Recalls Explorer SD Closed Front Climbing Stands Due to Fall Hazard

Recall Summary

Name of Product:  Summit Treestands, LLC 2016 Model Year Explorer SD Closed Front Climbing Stands.

Hazard: Weld may break during use leading to potential fall hazard. 

Remedy:  Customers, Retailers and Distributors are directed to return the affected product to the manufacturer for replacement.
Consumer Contact:  For additional information, contact Summit Treestands, LLC at 800-353-0634 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CST Monday through Friday, or visit the website at www.summitstands.com.  Consumers can also write to the company at Summit Treestands, LLC, 715 Summit Drive, Decatur, AL 35601. 

Recall Details 

Units: 269.

Description:  Summit Treestands, LLC 2016 Model Year Explorer SD Closed Front Climbing Stands sold between August 12, 2016 and August 27, 2016.  The product is shown below.

Incidents/Injuries: There are no reported claims of injuries or incidents during use. 

Sold at: Nationwide at sporting goods stores.  The product was sold between August 12, 2016 and August 27, 2016.  The retail price is $359.99.

Importer/Distributor: Summit Treestands, LLC 

Manufactured in: USA

About U.S. CPSC:  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction.  Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals – contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

About U. S. CPSC: Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC’s Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter@USCPSC or by subscribing to CPSC’s free e-mail newsletters.

CPSC Consumer Information Hotline:

Contact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:

800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)

Times: 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime

Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.

• Understanding Trapping, a Series – PART 1
• Predators and Prey
• Community Safety
• Trapper Heritage Dwindling 

By Jill J Easton

The sad truth is that just like hungry hunters the world over, wild predators like eggs. Ground nesting birds – quail, pheasants, grouse, turkeys – and their eggs,  are extremely vulnerable until a few weeks after the eggs have hatched and the babies can fly to escape.

Raccoons, skunks, possums, armadillos, foxes, hogs, coyotes and more, all relish a good meal of eggs or poults. The bigger predators don’t mind eating the hens either.  Martin, fisher and bobcats are opportunistic feeders that will eat eggs if they happen across them, but they aren’t actively searching for eggs in spring.  Unfortunately, most of the apex wild predators like wolves and cougars that once served as a control on these smaller egg-and-bird-eating mammals have been wiped out.  Humans with traps are the only remaining defense to keep us from being overrun by egg-eating varmints.

Although a few egg-eaters get shot by hunters, the huge majority of these animals removed from the ecosystem are taken by trappers.  However, before you give trappers a hearty cheer and go back to your own problems, we are going to have a short lesson in economics in the modern world.  Things have recently changed, and the fur market, in a word, stinks.

Until three years ago, most of the fur that was trapped in the United States was sold to China, Russia and Greece.  China and Russia had a growing middle class that could afford luxuries like fur coats.  These countries have become economically unstable and the people who were joining the middle class and buying luxury items can no longer afford them.

A few months ago, I sold some quality XXL coon skins at the North American Fur Auction in Canada.  Three years ago, similar skins averaged $22, this year most went for less than $2, and two went for a quarter each.  Being a fur trapper just doesn’t pay anymore.  Fur prices were far better in 1951 than they are today.  Even worse for the past three years raccoon hides have been just about unsellable.

There are some of us who will continue to trap and wait for prices to rise again when the world economic situation improves, but thousands of trappers have hung up their traps and probably won’t take them down again.  In the modern world, trapping is an aging man’s sport with a lot of enemies.  When it’s impossible to even make gas money, the long hours, stolen traps, bitter discussions with anti’s and hard work get discouraging fast.

This leaves most landowners, hunting lease members and public land hunters in a dire pickle.  If you haven’t seen it already, soon you will notice declines in huntable wildlife, especially turkeys, ducks and quail, as raccoon and skunk numbers explode and hogs continue to proliferate.  This problem will also affect deer, but it will be caused by a bigger predator, the coyote.

As a good steward of the land you have two choices: either pay someone to take out surplus egg-eating predators, or learn to do your own trapping.  For generations, landowners have paid for beaver control, but coons, foxes, bobcats and coyotes have generally been valuable enough to cover the trapper’s expenses. All the landowner had to do was grant the trapper(s) permission to trap, without having to pay anything for the service they were getting.

That’s no longer the case.  Fur trapping, for the short-term future, is DEAD for all intents and purposes.  Things will improve down the road somewhere as the world economy gets back on its feet, but for the next few years at least, landowners and hunting clubs will have to do their own predator control.  They will need to hire somebody to do it or live with the undesirable consequences.

For the next few weeks we are going to work through each of the animals that are most dangerous to huntable wildlife, talk a bit about their life cycles and give the basics of how to trap them.

Watch for our trapping story series to continue next week – we will start with wild pigs.

• Friends, Food Plots, Trail Cams are Key
• Keep it Simple Archery Strategy 
• Share Knowledge – Think with Confidence

By Forrest Fisher

Is there anything better that sharing a day in the archery woods with great friends and coming away with two very healthy 8-point bucks?  Tough to beat.

That’s how it was for Ryan Van Lew and Paul Murray on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, two team members with Hunters Creek Outdoors.  Never heard of that group?  They’re making Western New York famous by sharing what they learn and helping to mentor age groups that start with kids at Rushford Conservation Club.  These guys are opening the eyes of local sportsmen about how to attract and grow big bucks wherever you hunt.

This group works together, then they hunt simple and smart. They usually opt to pass on young healthy deer. The key to their hunting area?  Healthy food plots.

They kill their weeds each year, disc or rototill, then plant and nurture their food plots by balancing soil Ph, fertilizing and copiously planting inexpensive Ag Seed varieties.  All that together with some help from Mother Nature for moisture, and they attract and grow local deer herds into healthy giant venison on the hoof like never before.

Add the use of trail cams and strategic placement of safe, elevated, metal hunting stands and in some areas, use of ground blinds, and you have the ingredients necessary for good friends that love to hunt and harvest big deer.

Check out this Hunters Creek Outdoors video that offers a detailed prelude to this passionate group of friends that love the outdoors:  https://youtu.be/keGBY0qjKzE.

They have a Facebook page too. THEY WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND food plots, trail cams, bow gear, arrows, broadheads, scent control, camo and variations, target practice, friendship, fun and advanced learning through their shared knowledge.

When common folks share what they know, they become uncommonly successful.  In a group, they are an unbeatable team.  Feel free to tag along on their daily Facebook adventures as they report progress or adversity right through each hunting season: (https://www.facebook.com/HuntersCreekOutdoorsTeam/?pnref=story).  Follow them all year to learn

more about everything you might like to know in the outdoors.

On the day of the double deer take, the always thoughtful and jovial Van Lew shared, “Saturday’s are for the boys!  What a day it was to be a bow hunter. When the light switch kicks on during the rut.”  How exciting it is when the exposure cycle of the moon, the temperature, time of year and friends all come together in sync with sunrise and sunset where you hunt, and then the deer show up.  You can imagine.

As you follow these folks, you can feel the game-changing moments when they happen, this group has that going on.  Yet every one of these folks is humble and passionate about their success.  What better way to share and help others?

Just one week before, Van Lew made his annual trek to Ohio with some of these same friends.  Success begets successful hunters and Van Lew used his tight-flying arrows with Spitfire broadheads to drop another whitetail giant there too.

About his Ohio buck, Van Lew recollects and shares while his buddy was snapping a photo, “To sit behind this buck is an honor, watching him come up the hillside, to grunting him back to offer me the shot and then watching him fall.  For some of you who don’t hunt, the feeling is surreal.  You can’t talk, you can’t breathe, and your heart is pounding.  It’s a feeling that never gets old. Truly blessed to have had such a great hunt this morning and be able to share the excitement with the best hunting buddies a guy could ask for. Then to see my dad’s big grin on his face when I walked out of the woods today made it that much better.”  Fun?  Unforgettable?  Do it again?  Almighty YES.

Van Lew prefers to use Remington Scent Shield for his only exterior scent control.  Stuff works. The whole team uses the same.

-Super Moon Last Night: Rut Happens in 6-10 days

-Use an Effective Scent 

-Keep a Grunt Call and Bleat Call Handy

By Forrest Fisher

All year long, hunters talk with each other about their great experiences in the woods, especially with observing whitetail deer. During the peak of the rut, observing deer is the most fun, as deer ignore almost everything else except the opposite sex.

Bucks will fight each other for does that have come into estrus, bucks will follow does step-for-step all day long, bucks will usually ignore anything else going on in the woods – or on the roadways – at this time.

For hunters, some of the best outdoor experiences occur during the rutting period, the hot deer hunting time that is set to begin this week in the northeast, or about a week after the super-moon that occurred last night (11/13/2016).

The bucks have been ready to mate for several weeks, but biologists tell us that the majority of female deer (does) are usually not ready to mate until 6 to 10 days after the full moon in November.  That puts prime time rutting activity to begin this coming weekend and it should last for about a two weeks.  Get ready for action!!

Hunters can help themselves at this time by using attraction scents, since deer have a very keen sense of smell.  If you’re new to the scent for deer world, note that deer can detect human presence very easily too.  That is one reason why it is not a good idea to use scented fragrance soap for your morning shower on the days you go hunting.  Use scent-free soap, there are plenty of brands in the outdoor stores.

To enhance the potential for attracting deer to your stand location, add a scent bottle placed at eye level to a tree near your stand.  There are various scent wick dispersant containers on the market, whatever type you choose, fill it with a scent that is likely to attract a lovesick buck.  For this next week or so, that “hot” scent will be “Doe-In-Heat” or “Doe-In-Estrus” fragrance.  There are dozens of manufacturers, I have used Kishel’s, Tink’s 69, Code Blue and many others.  Kishel’s works well for me (http://store.kishelscents.com/products/deer-urine-plus/doe-in-estrus-plus-deer-urine/).

Ideally, your pre-season scouting trips should have helped you locate a ground scrape where mister big buck is announcing his daily presence to a following harem of does.  If your stand is nearby, the scent wick container should be in a position that will allow wind drift to spread the desired smell over the area.  That will convince any passing bucks also checking the scrape that a hot doe is nearby and your hunting adventure could be about to begin.

Many hunters also drag a scent rag for their trips into and out of the woods, and right across an active deer trail.  This is a very simple piece of braided string about six-feet long with a small rag tied to one end and flavored with – you guessed it – “Doe-in-Heat” scent.  The other end is looped around your boot.

If you are in a tree stand, you will be able to see much more than from a ground location.  Use care if you are well above the forest floor.  I have watched deer with their nose to the ground walk right to my tree stand and never look up, thanks to the drag rag.  It’s not always that easy, but it has happened exactly that way more than once.  A drag rag adds to good hunting strategy, but don’t apply too much scent.  Just lightly wet the rag.   When you reach your stand, remove the rag 20 feet from your stand and hang it in a small tree or bush.

The doe-in-heat scent will help attract bucks that are in a search for a hot doe.  It is a great experience to see.  When you see the big guy and it appears he will not come your way by his own nature, use a grunt call and bleat call to lure him closer to your position.  I like the Quaker Boy Brawler call (https://www.quakerboy.com/product/brawler-buck-call/) first, it has a deep tone and is adjustable, wait 3-4 seconds and then flip over the Quaker Boy Bleat.

Remain as motionless as possible.  Big bucks seem to notice everything, even hunters in trees.  Use a face cover, as many hunters agree it is the hunters face with blinking eyes and breathe vapor trail on cold mornings that can spook a buck.

When all the sounds and scents worked for you in the manner intended, that’s where a well placed stand and good shooter accuracy now comes in handy.  As that big buck enters your range, your heart may seem to beat like a drum and if you didn’t know better, you might think the deer can hear it.  If possible, talk yourself into a state of calm, it is easier to shoot more accurately that way.  Experience helps with this, but even veteran hunters have to wrestle with their emotions, the shakes and cold sweats too, when a big buck approaches.  Especially during archery season.

The rest of the adventure and the storytelling that will remain in your mind for all time begins at that moment.

Get out there this season and enjoy our free America and the great outdoors we support with our hunting license fees.  Effective wildlife conservation in the outdoors begins with hunting.  Thanks for understanding that and for continuing to be an effective member of the hunter participation audience.

Remember, not everybody can be a hunter!

-Avoid Sending the “Squirm Message”

-Simplify On-Stand Longevity

-New Technology is Key

By Matt McMorris

As the sun begins to set on another November hunt, I feel myself squirming with discomfort.  The cold has begun to nip at my fingers, creep into my toes and then move throughout my body, making what was supposed to be an otherwise amazing hunting experience miserable.  Deer movement is at prime during the last few moments of daylight, but unfortunately, so is mine.

The crisp air wears me down and tests my resolve to wait out the trophy animal I’m hopeful will make its way into the food plot at any moment.  No matter what game we are after, when the cold sets in we get uncomfortable.  Once that happens, our chances for success diminish as our need for movement to increase blood flow and a desire to head back to the warmth of a fire overtake us.  Perhaps I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold, but despite the fact that most animal movement increases as temperatures drop, I enjoy hunting that much less.  I often leave too early or avoid going altogether.

Several months ago, as I made my way through the aisles of an outdoor trade show, I noticed a gentleman with his boot-clad foot in a bucket of dry ice.  Though I didn’t know at the time that dry ice can reach temperatures colder than minus 109 degrees Fahrenheit (yes, minus), I knew that it was still extremely cold. With a normal boot or even a typical hunting boot designed for cold weather, anyone’s foot would get cold in such conditions before too long.  What made this unique?

This was no ordinary boot in the bucket of dry ice. This guy’s boot was covered with an ArcticShield boot insulator.  As I observed, the gentleman testing the insulators stated that his foot was actually quite comfortable.  I was intrigued.  Was there really a technology that could help me stay warm in my Midwest environment without having to layer so many clothes that I feel and look like a camouflaged Michelin man who can’t draw a bow or aim a rifle?

I began to do my research.  It says on the ArcticShield website that their Retain Technology – as confirmed by an independent laboratory, captures roughly 90 percent of one’s body heat.  It made me feel better to know a third-party had examined the product and confirmed the company’s claims.  Then, I began to wonder, if I wear their boot covers in a tree stand, would they would be noisy when shifting my feet around.

With an outer shell and lining of polyester, the ArcticShield boot insulators are designed to not only keep feet warm, but also to be quiet in the stand.  My own testing has borne this out.  And every hunter understands how important quiet clothing is when hunting deer.  Here is a product that is well thought out, slips over your boots and keeps your feet warm.  Even better, for the hunter seeking total body warmth and comfort, ArcticShield makes an entire lineup of clothing from jackets and pants to hats and gloves. They can literally keep you covered in warmth from head to toe.

When the weather changes this season, I’ll be prepared.  I’m going to use the ArcticShield Heat Echo Light system early in the cool weather and switch to the Classic Elite system when it really gets cold.  All of the ArcticShield quality lines of clothing are designed to be comfortable, lightweight and without bulk. What’s better is that when the weather drops and the big boys start to move, I know (this year) I’ll be able to sit in my stand longer, remain more alert and keep as still as possible because I will finally be warm.

Their website, www.arcticshieldoutdoor.com is informative and easy to use. If you struggle to stay warm for your cold weather hunts, this is one brand you need to check out.