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That Time Of Year Again

Right Wing Wacko

By Right Wing Wacko
in Northwest

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bigeddy

+bigeddy

Posted
Posted
Quote : "It's my land, too, and in a civilized society the people causing the harm should be the ones taking the necessary precautions, not the victims."

 

What harm has been dumped on you?

 

And your a victim of what? Being cautious? Taking measures that may save your life? When you drive or ride in a car, You wear a seatbelt, you pay attention to your surrondings, you know and understand the traffic laws, you look for possible trouble ahead of time, right? When you go hiking, you take food, water and fire with you, right? You have a safety kit in your car with you, right?

 

Quote : "I find it disturbing that I'm expected to know where, when and how hunting takes place"

 

And I can tell you right now, in Oregon firearm Mule Deer season usually starts the last weekend of September or the first weekend of October and runs about 10 days, that Blacktail season starts the same weekend and runs through about the first weekend of Novemeber with a few different Elk Seasons scattered all the way from August to December, depending on location in the state. Sliver slingers get a head start somewhere in the first of August and off and on through November, depending on which part of the state your in and the chunk chuckers get their time in there somewhere also. EVERY YEAR.

 

And I would be willing to bet your chance of getting assulted by muggers or theives while on the trail are a lot higher then getting into trouble with a hunter.

What harm? - At the least I'm prevented from using the public land comfortably. At the worst being shot. Plus, there are the external harms of all the litter and other damage that seem to go along with hunting season.

 

I appreciate your examples of personal precautions when driving and hiking, but I find the experience of being around guns to be very different. I have used rifles in very controlled conditions (target practice and biathlons) which doesn't bother me. The problem is the unpredictability in the woods of not knowing who's there, how skilled they are, and where they are pointing those weapons. Geocaching isn't worth it when hunters are around.

 

When is hunting season? Well, you said: "... usually starts... runs about 10 days... runs through about the first weekend... with a few different Elk Seasons scattered all the way... get a head start somewhere in... depending on which part of the state your in... in there somewhere also." The defense rests.

 

Relative danger - No doubt there are many other trail (and street) dangers that are more likely than being shot at by a hunter. That does not make the human-caused ones acceptable.

 

Have a good--and safe--time out there this weekend. Regards.

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niskibum

+niskibum

Posted
Posted
There is a big difference between handicapped hunters that hunt legaly from their truck or atv and those slobs that are two lazy to get out of their rig.  It is poaching in most states (I hear rumors that it is legal to shoot from your vehicle in WA now) and those who do it have no honor and questionable values.  I put them in the same class as those who fill other peoples tags (like their moms and their wives etc) and spotlighters.  I can take pride in everything I harvest, because I do it the right way.

 

Here is the quote NomadRaven.

 

Mainly I was upset with the idea of people doing this. I have been accused of having my husband shoot my deer but that isn't the case. I guess you might say I was just getting more and more angry at what I was reading. Knowing that my family doesn't do these things. We are very responsible hunters.

If you notice I said like and etc, and that comes from personal experience. Of all the hunters I know (and that is a lot) very few of them are women. Of all the female hunters I know, not a single one of them has ever filled their husbands or their fathers or their brothers tags. Of all the poachers I know (and unfortunately there are quite a few) the vast majority of them are men that fill other peoples tags. Sorry if that's not PC enough for you, but that is the reality of things. It is mostly a guy thing, it has always been mostly a guy thing, and it probably always be mostly a guy thing. Don't blame the guys, it's just that most women aren't that interested. You might even consider it a compliment that I didn't include women in my list of poachers.

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5

+5

Posted
Posted (edited)
I've been trying to follow this thread but I have some questions.

 

Who is Red??? Is Red a dog or is Red a good hunting buddy??

 

Help, please.

I don't know about Red, but my hunting camp nick-name is Redd (Red Eyed Devil Deer). Good story, but I'll be darned if I'll tell it here... :lol:

 

By the way, I took my nine year old daughter with me hunting, she loved it. Well except for the whole field dressing thing...I did get her to hold a leg out of the way. Now hunting only caches for a few more days, until Elk season!

Edited by 5
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GeoRoo

+GeoRoo

Posted
Posted
Ok, I have held back long enough.  I was shot at the first weekend of hunting  season several years ago and it really pissed me off.  I was mountain biking on an established trail wearing a bright yellow jacket.  After confronting the trigger happy individual, I learned he didn't realize that a trail was running very near his location and he was just "so excited to be out hunting again".  I am not against hunting, I will have to agree with Bull Moose that there should be some kind of compentency training though.  Peace, Nolenator

I haven't been checking on this thread for a few days and see it's still staying relatively civil. Nolenator, were you shot "at" or happened to be riding by when he shot? If he shot at you as game then I hope you called a Sheriff and had his gun confiscated and his hunting license removed. Anyone willfully shooting someone while hunting will never be able to get a hunting license in their lifetime and has no business being in the woods. The laws are very specific and for a good reason. Accidents do happen, but when you factor in how many men and women that hunt it's a very low percentage. You were very lucky. To answer the muzzleloader question. They are very primitive guns compared to modern day rifles. Effective range is normally less than 100 yards. You use open sights and no scope is allowed in our state. You have one shot and that's it. Most shots will be under 50 yards, so you are up close and personal with the game. The chance of shooting someone is much lower, but it's still there too. There's really no need to be frightened about going in the woods. Be aware of hunting and when the major seasons open. That's the general deer and general elk season in WA. Don't wear deer colored clothing. With the rapid growth of geocaching it's good a post like this is being discussed. The fact that many times caches are in areas that require bushwacking or crawling around in the bushes requires us to be more cautious. It won't keep me out of the woods though.

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nolenator

nolenator

Posted
Posted

You know, I don't remember him admitting he was shooting at me. Likely he knew if he admitted that he would loose his license for good. The guy was sincere in his apology when confronted though. Needless to say, we took the quickest way back to the car and went home. Peace, Nolenator

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bigeddy

+bigeddy

Posted
Posted (edited)

Well, we came across some elk hunters yesterday less than a half-mile from a cache. We were about 2 miles from the trailhead. They came in on horseback. They seemed cold, bored and unfriendly. No one else around. The cache is on a fairly open ridge so we were easily seen. The previous 6 entries on the trail sign-in sheet indicated chukar hunters. I guess we're outnumbered, at least in this location! We saw some elk far below on reservation land--smart elk.

Edited by bigeddy
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GeoRoo

+GeoRoo

Posted
Posted

I see my post along with another has "disappeared" I don't believe I was disrespectfull or condesending. I pointed out the facts to a nonhunter. Maybe some don't feel this is appropriate for a geocaching site, but I think if you are in the woods you need to know about hunting and how to deal with it.

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bigeddy

+bigeddy

Posted
Posted

And it's not just big game season. In most rural areas people may be firing at creatures any time of the year. See this article about jackrabbit hunting in Central Oregon. These are the "sportsmen" to beware of, not so much the experienced hunters. While out hiking near roads I've seen a few dead jackrabbits and hawks that were clearly not hit by a car.

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niskibum

+niskibum

Posted
Posted

I really have to question how much research that reported did for his article. Sounds like about zero. I remember the jackrabbit infestation of central and southern Idaho back in the eighties when they had to do drives to kill off the pests. They populate so quickly and so rapidly that those in the drives used clubs not guns to kill them, since there were so many that they couldn't run away. There were literally piles of rabbits on top of rabbits!

 

I noticed that the reporter mentioned wildlife biologists, but never quoted any, and didn't give any sources for his information. Sounds like a bunch of assumptions to me. Nor did he say that he reported the incident with the ODFW. Did he check to see if there was some cleanup of the area by officials, and maybe there was some disease in the area they were trying to control?

 

I read these things with a grain of salt, especially when there aren't any officials or studies quoted. For all anybody can tell from reading the article this is just a bunch of opinions spouted by some anti-gun person. If you notice, every time he talks about anyone with guns he uses highly insulting words. Not professional at all. IMOHO, this guy is a hack that hasn't done his homework. Jackrabbits (common name, not scientific) are far from innocuous, they are highly destructive, and the goverment has even had to use ddt at times to control them.

 

The real tragedy here is that people like this have such a public voice without having to have any credibility. Proof of our biased liberal media.

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bigeddy

+bigeddy

Posted
Posted
IMOHO, this guy is a hack that hasn't done his homework. Jackrabbits (common name, not scientific) are far from innocuous, they are highly destructive, and the goverment has even had to use ddt at times to control them.

 

The real tragedy here is that people like this have such a public voice without having to have any credibility. Proof of our biased liberal media.

Jim is a respected Northwest naturalist and birder. He has been a pumice miner and a logger and is an avid aviation enthusiast. The guy spends a lot of time outdoors and his views are worth listening to even if you do not agree with them.

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NomadRaven

+NomadRaven

Posted
Posted (edited)
Proof of our biased liberal media.

 

Haha, no. Anybody can put up a website, call it a newspaper, and have a public voice these days.

 

Really, though, are the "liberal" jabs necessary?

 

It really comes down to this: whether you like it or not, there's bad apples in any hobby or activity. There's even geocaching pirates. :lostsignal: There's bound to be at least one moron with a gun out there. I'm sorry, but all it takes is one. The risk of getting accidentally shot might be negligible, but it's there.

Edited by NomadRaven
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niskibum

+niskibum

Posted
Posted
Jim is a respected Northwest naturalist and birder. He has been a pumice miner and a logger and is an avid aviation enthusiast. The guy spends a lot of time outdoors and his views are worth listening to even if you do not agree with them.

None of that makes him an expert on jackrabbits or a wildlife biologists. That nut that got ate by a Grizzley the other year was a respected naturalist by some as well, but I don't think his views were worth squat, and neither did the bears.

 

Anyone who think jackrabbits are innocuous does not know what they are talking about. Period. Ask any farmer that has had to deal with them. Furthermore, any reporter who expresses their personal views as as fact without being objective and without having consulted any experts is a hack. Real reporters don't resort to name calling in their articles as this guy did every time he mentioned hunters. I am a bit more choosey when picking whose views are worth listening to.

 

NomadRaven, sorry but I tend to see these things as black and white. Anti-gun, anti-hunter, liberal. Pro-gun, pro-hunting, conservative. There may be some liberals that are pro-gun, but the majority aren't. Our media is definetly one sided about this. When is that last time you heard about a gun being used in a crime? Now when is the last time you heard about even one of the approx 1.3 million times a gun is used to prevent a crime by lawful citizens in the U.S. every year?

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NomadRaven

+NomadRaven

Posted
Posted
When is that last time you heard about a gun being used in a crime? Now when is the last time you heard about even one of the approx 1.3 million times a gun is used to prevent a crime by lawful citizens in the U.S. every year?

 

I can't think of the last time I heard a happy ending on the news, whether it dealt with guns or not.

 

I'm a bit confused, though. Aren't handguns more likely to be used in self-defense or in committing a crime, while rifles are used for hunting?

 

I'm not sure that an anti-hunting stance really has much to do with gun control groups who want assault weapons or concealed handguns banned or regulated. One seems motivated by concern for animal rights, the other seems motivated by concern for human safety. Sure, the two groups overlap to some degree, but it's a sweeping generalization to say that all liberals are interested in gun control and want to eliminate hunting.

 

I know a lot of conservatives who actually are for gun control, don't own a rifle, and don't hunt. Can't say that I know any liberals who own a gun or hunt, but I don't talk politics with anybody I want to get along with. :lostsignal: Life's just not black and white, at least not from here.

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