Last September I jumped at an invite to Ocala for a Sunday afternoon dove hunt. Even cut off my bowhunt to participate. The weekend before the guys smoked the brown bombers. On my trip, the dove fields were largely dry. Figures. Florida dove hunting is a fickle affair, even on private lands. But, because I love it so much, I’m gonna give the people money for millet so I can return next year. FWC runs several dove fields throughout the… Read More »
The post Proposed Changes to Li...
I’ve created a monster. A real threat to my ground venison supply. It’s all being earmarked for meatballs for Carolyn. I swear, cooking venison meatballs is what I do three nights a week now. If her supply dwindles, she calls. She texts or leaves notes. She no longer glances at me like a loving wife to a caring husband…just the guy who cooks meatballs. While my meatball subs are semi-famous around town, they require a lot of time. Carolyn wanted… Read More »
The post...
In the mid-90’s, the standard of turkey shotgun shell excellence produced 4-7 pellets in a turkey head target at 40 yards. Seriously, if you’re able to get your hands on an old Field & Stream or Petersen’s Hunting, that’s what you’ll find in the Guns & Loads seminars. The fancy guy in camp would show with duplex loads of #4’s and #6’s, but Full chokes, screwed into the same ol’ shotgun used for busting quail or running bucks, if it… R...
“On Tuesday, Dick’s said that it would strip firearms and other hunting products from 125 of its stores and replace the merchandise with batting cages, ski apparel and other sports gear. If the switch is successful, as it was at 10 stores where it was tested starting in the fall, it will be expanded, the company said. ” – New York Times, 3/12/19. While hunters and gun enthusiasts take to social media to excoriate the recent decision by Dick’s Sporting Goods to&#...
“Hunters of free-ranging whitetails cannot manage genetics through selective harvest and produce measurable genetic change. Period. Since we can’t control breeding in free-ranging deer, we can’t shape genetics. But put the deer in a pen and explicitly control who breeds who for several generations and, yes, results will be measurable, and they can be quite amazing. Because of this fact, many hunters assume the same can be done in the wild. Hunters are hard-headed (I know because ...
Of the hunting changes debated and approved at the February FWC Commission meeting, the new deer harvest reporting system excites me the most. Yes, pretty dorky, I’ll concede. My earnest hope is that other hunters embrace this new feature in deer management and provide accurate information. When shaping policy, there’s a simple, unflinchingly rigid maxim as it pertains to data collection: Garbage in, garbage out. Simply, if you’re not inputting solid information into the system...