Big Stick Physics

Category: Hunting

Guardian: Kristi Noem makes a bad call.

April 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

 

Guardian: Noem kills dog

By taking Cricket on a pheasant hunt with older dogs, Noem says, she hoped to calm the young dog down and begin to teach her how to behave. Unfortunately, Cricket ruined the hunt, going “out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life”.

“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, adding that Cricket had proved herself “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.

“At that moment,” Noem says, “I realised I had to put her down.”

Nope.  No sale, sister.

It’s not because my winsome dog Sparky has turned me into a bleeding heart. 

I understand that some dogs are vicious.  Some dogs have to be put down, and as a practical matter, in a rural setting, the owner does the wet work.

Several aspects of Kristi Noem’s account are disturbing. 

As a rising star in conservative circles, she decided to put this account in her book.  Why?  She is trying to send a message that she thinks will be appealing to voters.   

Noem “hated that dog”.  That is an emotional response that shouldn’t be used to justify a killing.  If the dog had to be put-down, it should be related in a clinical and detached manner.

The dog was 14 months old.  Puppy brain lingers until a dog is a few years old.  It may be routine to start training a dog for hunting at such a young age, but many dogs must fail that test.  If that proves the dog will be untrainable for hunting, surely the dog retains some value.  Give the dog away or keep it as a pet.

I am not squeamish or opposed to killing animals. 

I use traditional mouse traps.   I don’t celebrate a mouse with a snapped neck or brag about my trapping prowess.  Mice are free to live in the wood pile or make a nest in the woods.  A mouse invading my home has crossed the line and forfeited the right to live unchallenged.

Deer hunting is a subject about which I’ve posted.  Deer in our area live a blessed life.  They have no predators and freely roam, devouring our landscaping.  I have passed on many deer that were too small or presented only a marginal target.  I only take a clean shot and eat what I kill.  It is exciting to shoot a deer, but it’s adrenaline, not blood lust.  I don’t mount the heads, but do have an antler mount.  I’m not nuts about those photos that hunters take with the deer’s tongue hanging out and the visible blood.

Noem demonstrates bad judgment for not realizing that her story is appalling and for the actions she took with regard to the puppy.

Gun Season Didn’t Work Out, but the Hat Did.

December 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Gun season is over and I got nothing.  There are two bonus days later in December, but I’m not optimistic.  Deer get smarter as the season progresses. 

My second time out, I saw two does, but didn’t have a shot.  My hunting associate that day took a shot at a buck after I’d left.  He hasn’t confirmed this, but it was probably a desperation shot because he wasn’t able to recover the deer.

My third time out wasn’t a serious effort on my part.  I went primarily to hangout with my friend who owns the property.  He is a teacher, so we don’t often get a chance to do a morning hunt.

After gun season last year, I invented this hunting hat from items I had laying around.  The Walmart trapper hat hasn’t been worn for years.  I have a few extra headlamps, and the foam had deteriorated from these headphones.

 

I made it because I had parts laying around, but it was actually handy when I used it this year. 

Sound is important when hunting, but with the leaves down, if I am alert, the deer can be spotted on approach.  Especially if I’m in a tree stand.  Listening to audio books or a podcast helps me remain alert for the hours of sitting still.

When it’s raining, like it was on the third hunt, I put my hood up over the hat.  That holds the hat in place, so when I turn my head to scan, the hat remains in place as my head pivots inside.  This is helps reduce the motion observable by a deer.

Six Deer, no Shots

November 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

 

For the first hunt of the season, it was 48o and raining.  

There is no such thing as bad weather if you are wearing the right stuff.   When talking about a heavy coat or light jacket, we usually aren’t talking about the actual weight of the garment.  My hunting jacket has some heft.  Wearing it almost feels like armor.  It has a tough Gore-Tex shell with a thick liner.  Gun season is after Thanksgiving, so it’s a winter jacket.  I thought it would be overkill for today, but with the rain, it kept me toasty.

For me, the first hunt is always a proof-of-concept test.  Hoping I packed the right equipment, everything works and there are deer in the vicinity.  I really want to see some deer, but don’t need to shoot one on the first outting.

That’s how it worked out. 

When I parked and started kitting up, I heard rustling in the woods.  Could be just the wind in the few leaves that remained, but it sounded like something was moving.  After a couple of minutes, the deer feeder activated.  It sounded like one of those New Year’s Eve noise makers.  The rattling is obnoxious, but it’s a dinner bell for the deer.  It didn’t take long for a big doe to pop out of the woods.

That feeder is set up more for gun season, so I was too far away to take a shot.

I quietly made my way to the deer stand where I took the photo, hoping the doe would wander by.  No luck on that one, but 20 minutes later, a buck came walking along the yard.  The buck didn’t have a nice rack, but was big with plenty of muscle.  Kind of like some of those top-tier female athletes. 

That buck walked right passed, but remained on the lawn, about 5 yards from the tree line.  It didn’t come in close enough to take a shot.

Ten minutes after that, two middling does came along the tree line following the buck.  Still, not a good shot with a crossbow.  Had they come in, they might not have been worth bagging.  It takes just as much time and money to gut and process a little deer, but the yield is much less.  A big deer tends to be smarter and more cautious, and is tougher to hump out of the woods.  The prudent hunter waits for the right shot on a good-sized deer.

After waiting an hour, but not getting any more traffic, I hiked the property.  Two deer were flushed out of deep brush.  It was mid-morning and raining pretty hard, so the deer were hunkering down.  The deer saw me before I saw them, so they bolted with no chance for tracking or shooting.

I don’t need to lug a carcass out of the woods for it to be a great hunt.  Next time, I need to get an earlier start and bring some buck jam or scent to lure them into range.

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