Blog Topics
Number of Youth Hunters Not Enough to Offset Losses
By Central Wisconsin Hub
Hunting in Wisconsin is a $1.4 billion industry, and it is threatened by more than just our culture. A decade ago, chronic wasting disease, a transmissible fatal neurological disease, was discovered in the state's deer population and hunters fled the sport in droves. Hunting license sales plummeted from 875,271 sold in 2000 to 764,058 in 2002, according to DNR data. Sales since have rebounded somewhat, peaking at 847,458 licenses sold in 2008, but they never fully recovered.
State’s Grapple with Cell Phone Legalities in Hunting
By MobileMedia
Minnesota is grappling with the changes cell phones are bringing to deer hunting season, prompting the Department of Natural Resources to keep an eye out for potential problems.
"[Deer] haven't adapted at all, but we keep inventing better, faster tools to harvest deer," said Gary Drotts, DNR wildlife manager in Brainerd, Minn. "[Technological advances] do probably increase the harvest rates some. If so, we have to look at that and decide if we have to change anything."
Science is Out on Whitetail Rut
By Oak Duke
Even some experienced deer hunters in the Northeast and Midwest continue to say "the first week of November" or "always around Veterans Day" is that magical time when whitetails are on their feet in the daytime, going bonkers during the peak of the rut.
But, unfortunately, no matter what cherished formula for the rut we possess, we can't hang our stand on any one date during the deer season as "The Day."
The Granola/Bambi-Killer Divide
By Dan Smith
There is plenty of room for all in our public lands.
Aluminum cans riddled with bullet holes laid scattered on top of shattered glass. Splintered wood from a hulking plywood target spread like spilt cereal across the national-forest floor. Normally I try to pick up trash I see while bowhunting, but this heap would have taken all day to haul out. It was ugly, and I was angry to see it. Eventually my visceral anger receded into disappointment. An abandoned junk pile is definitely non-typical hunter behavior, but I still thought of the damage that the hunting community’s reputation would take from anyone who walked by the make-shift shooting range.
Of special concern to me were the non-hunters who might believe the eyesore indicative of standard practice—a misunderstanding that would breed contempt and amplify the schism between hunter and non-hunter outdoor enthusiasts. But like the belief that all hunters trash the forest, the separation of these two groups is misleading. Our commonalities far outweigh our differences.
To simplify my message, I’m going to clump people into two neatly labeled groups while completely ignoring the complexity that comprises an individual. Labels may be shortcuts to thinking, but in this case, they are necessary for brevity.
So the non-hunter outdoor crew will be “Granolas,” and we hunters will be called “Bambi-Killers.” Both may have a negative connotation, but nothing can take away the power of a word quite as effectively as repetition.
I’ve heard hunters utter the word “Granolas” (or some variation of) with disdain on numerous occasions. Beneath a camo cap, they cast a wary eye toward a hiker clad in bright clothing like a boxer sizing up the competition… then they say something like, “They just shouldn’t be in the woods in the fall,” and might even follow it up with a scornful “tree-huggin’ hippie,” type remark—which is amusing partly because no Granola I’ve ever met, has really taken offense to being called a “hippy” or a “tree-hugger”—It’s like someone calling a hunter a “hunter.”
A Granola might look at a Bambi-Killer and see some ignorant blood-thirsty Neanderthal coming to destroy the natural beauty of public land. They might say “It just seems cruel.” Hunting has been described as “psychotic” and “deranged.” Even though Granolas constantly exalt the virtues of the natural world, they ignore the fact that few daily human activities are more natural than hunting. Hunting helped us migrate out of the caves, evolve and contrive a language. Language eventually led us to create words like “natural.”
These are extreme viewpoints, but whatever your perspective, if you are an outdoorsperson, you probably fit somewhere within the Granola/Bambi-Killer continuum. The adverse emotions are just symptoms of an amnesia infecting both groups coupled with a slight dose of pigheadedness. And of course, I am not the first to say this.
In a press release extolling shared values, Sierra Club’s Jon Schwedler stated, “Sportsmen were some of the first conservationists, and have always been an important part of the Sierra Club. Our founder, John Muir, worked closely with Teddy Roosevelt to protect America’s wild legacy. Now it’s crucial that sportsmen and environmentalists work together more closely so we can help save the forests, plains, lakes, rivers and streams we all enjoy. Working together we can ensure that our nation’s outdoor legacy lives on for future generations of sportsmen.”
Sportsmen put conservation on the map. Both hunters and environmentalists share many of the same goals—though there are plenty points of departure. Wolf reintroduction can get extremely heated, as can the legitimacy of trophy-hunting along with a bastion of other issues. But, generally speaking, both groups love and want to protect our natural places. Period.
I could go into the litany of statistics and anecdotes about how these two philosophies converge, but this would get way too long, and it has been done before. Instead, I just want to call an in-the-field truce. I ask whoever you are, on any part of the continuum, to recognize the right of the other to be there.
Yep, that’s it.
If I happen to be hunting with you, don’t whisper negative comments to me about the brightly clothed hiker you’ve never even spoken to. I don’t want to hear a baseless judgment. If you are out photographing the fall leaves, don’t pass my camouflage-clad self swearing under your breath about the hunter who is raising hell in your woods. I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but the odds are in favor of our values existing solidly on common ground…
Oh ya, and to all those who enjoy the sanctuary of natural places—pick up your trash! I’ll be doing my best to do the same.
Gear of the Year Voting!
By Bowhunt America
It's time to vote for your favorite bowhunting gear... Let manufacturers and fellow bowhunters know what works best for you and why! Fill out the ballot and you will be entered in a drawing to win $100.
