# Skunked today, plus rant



## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Well today I did not see a deer(and very few tracks in the snow) in the vicinity ofTappan Lake that usually has lots of both! 
After removing my firing cap, effectively unloading my M/L, at quitting time(Sunset), I walk back to my truck and start taking off my hunting clothes. It's a good 20-30 minutes after shooting time and I hear somewhere off in the distance, several volleys of gunfire(not the single shot of a M/L unloading(would be late for that as well!) This, and occasionally seeing discarded carcasses on the side of rural roads with the backstraps(and sometimes the hind quarters) removed, really disgusts me. In my opinion, both of these practices are forms of poaching and could, in part, account for my lack of success. I know times are tough but there is no excuse for blatant disregard for our game laws!


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

unemployment in rural areas is prolly twice what it is in the big cities along with longer commutes. con condoning the poaching,but it is what it is. when i hunted the salt fork area the good old boys in the area used m1 and 30/30's. i also heard dogs and shooting on occaisions.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

This is a 2 day shotgun season. Muzz. season starts Jan 8. Sorry you didn't get a deer. 3 buddies shot deer yesterday and I'm looking at 5 out the kitchen window so they are still around. Poachers suck for sure, not sure how to stop them. Good luck if you're out today.


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

I dislike poachers my self but man I think it stinks that shooting hours isn't a half an hour after sunset. 

I could see like it was noon.


PS... If this a thread with a rant here is one for you..

I have hunted urban for years well the past few years there have been some guy's hunting up the creak..."bow hunters" I am also one but I don't miss it is called practice. practice practice and taking quality shots.... I have wounded 2 in the 20 years of hunting. ( I've been lucky) After thanksgiving I found a 10pt fresh kill. I called them they came and got it. There have been several wounded. And Friday I was scouting and found another deer dead in the creak by my stand and the coyotes have been running ramp-it around my stands due to the carcass. I meet up with one of the hunters that hunt the place up the creak. He said that the other 2 hunters have wounded lots of deer and never found them. I know of 2 spikes killed 2 button bucks 3 wounded doe's one nice buck wounded. plus the one I found on the hill side. Those are the ones I know about. They also have killed over 10 deer between them. They have ruined the hunting at my honey hole. All the 130 class deer that I have pasted on were for nothing. They hunt over pounds and pounds of corn and blocks. on 10 acres. and the kicker is they don't even hunt on that land. They hunt on land that I have permission to hunt. Next year it will be different for them..

Guys (bow hunters) always complain about gun hunters wounding deer. I hear more about bow hunters wounding deer than gun hunters.

There's my rant I seen one deer and it was on running... all yesterday


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## Bonemann (Jan 28, 2008)

Poaching does stink but if it is done to put food on the table, I feel a little different about it. Many people are hurting during this bad economic time and it's no excuse to break the law but people will do what they have to do to get by.
It affects me way more when I come across a carcass with the head gone or the skull capped. (But that's just me).

(About the hunting time ending at sunset) Some years back I read an article explaining that the majority of gun hunting accidents happened after sunset and also after the third shot had been fired so the state adopted those two rules for everyones overall safety. (Don't know if it's true but it does make some sense).


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## Saws21 (Jul 1, 2008)

Regarding the hunting hours.... You can gun hunt a half hour before sunrise, when its dark, but you can't hunt half hour after? Seems strange to me.


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## Bulldawg (Dec 3, 2007)

These are the exact words from the ODNR website on hunting hours during the deer season :

Deer Hunting Hours 

Archery season hours are 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset. 

Deer Gun Season, Youth Deer Gun Season, the Early Muzzleloader Season, and Statewide Muzzleloader Season hours for deer hunting are 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

bobk said:


> This is a 2 day shotgun season. Muzz. season starts Jan 8.


Yeah, thanks. As far as "shotgun season" this weekend, I'd be willing to bet that more than half of the hunters out this weekend are not carrying shotguns. Todays muzzle loaders are much more efficient for taking deer, in my opinion, and safer in that it requires you to wait to take a better shot since you only have one.
Abt the economy forcing people to push the quitting time, I'd bet those are not the ones doing it. Those people who need the meat to survive do not wait for the gun seasons.


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

Yep your right I know some locals out east that don't poach during gun season but before and after they do it a lot... I don't agree with it at all even to put food on the table. I understand it But can not condone it... Nor do I call the law on it either... To me it is just stories. I only go out there during gun season..

As for what I said earlier about hunting hours.. On cloudy day in a valley, I get the hours but with the snow on the ground and sun shining I could hunt safely till sun set. No question about it. and the deer move during that last half an hour. It is frustrating and makes me want to bow hunt instead of gun this weekend....


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## saugeyesam (Apr 20, 2004)

I feel you guys on finding dead deer. So far since the opening of gun week I have found three deer one of which was a nice buck I believe I posted pics of it somewhere on here. The other two I found one was a doe and the other I believe was a buck because the head was gone and so was the hide back to just behind the shoulders. Then it was slit back to the hind quarters and the back straps were removed leaving the rest of the carcass to go to waste. All three deer have been found right along the property line of my place and the land directly behind me. The man who owns it lives out of state and people roam at will there and have even wondered onto my property. Two of the deer I found were gut shot almost exactly in the same spot so it's either a coincident or it's the same guy who is either a lousy shot or his gun needs it's zero checked. Either way it really burns my arse!


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## Saws21 (Jul 1, 2008)

wildman said:


> Yep your right I know some locals out east that don't poach during gun season but before and after they do it a lot... I don't agree with it at all even to put food on the table. I understand it But can not condone it... Nor do I call the law on it either... To me it is just stories. I only go out there during gun season..
> 
> As for what I said earlier about hunting hours.. On cloudy day in a valley, I get the hours but with the snow on the ground and sun shining I could hunt safely till sun set. No question about it. and the deer move during that last half an hour. It is frustrating and makes me want to bow hunt instead of gun this weekend....



Even if you decide to bow hunt during gun season you still cannot hunt a half hour after sunset.

I know how the law states, but even during bow season it gets really overcast and appears "darker" than it actually is, but you still have the right to hunt till the quitting time, but yet during gun season, you can hunt half hour before sunrise when its dark but can't hunt half hour after when its dark? My thinking is,,,, whats the diff? Dark is Dark.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

How can you be positive it was someone poaching? Years ago I saw 2 guys out at the grand river shooting at trees at sunset. Guess they didn't feel like emptying out their shotgun like normal people do.


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

Saws21 said:


> *Even if you decide to bow hunt during gun season you still cannot hunt a half hour after sunset.*
> 
> I know how the law states, but even during bow season it gets really overcast and appears "darker" than it actually is, but you still have the right to hunt till the quitting time, but yet during gun season, you can hunt half hour before sunrise when its dark but can't hunt half hour after when its dark? My thinking is,,,, whats the diff? Dark is Dark.


Didn't know that Never hunted bow during gun. Never will. same guys up the creak bow hunting during gun with no orange and hunting late...

ezbite If you are asking me how I know? They tell me when we hunt with them... I have hunted with the locals for 15 yr's... great guys other than that.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

wildman said:


> Didn't know that Never hunted bow during gun. Never will. same guys up the creak bow hunting during gun with no orange and hunting late...
> 
> ezbite If you are asking me how I know? They tell me when we hunt with them... I have hunted with the locals for 15 yr's... great guys other than that.


well if their telling you their poaching, guess their poaching. i was just saying all shots you hear at dusk cant all be poachers. ive seen guys shoot at trees, stumps and rocks out of frustration from not seeing deer.


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## Redear (Apr 11, 2004)

My son took me down to Buckeye Pheasant farm on Saturday we had more fun then deer hunting LOL.
Matt said the deer count at his place was way down this year about half of what they shoot the week of gun season.He found out a farmer in the area has been shooting deer with nuance tags and took out 100 deer this fall,said there eating all his crops an hunters can't take enough to help.How did he get that many tags???? he's in Tappen Dam area.
Fred


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Redear said:


> My son took me down to Buckeye Pheasant farm on Saturday we had more fun then deer hunting LOL.
> Matt said the deer count at his place was way down this year about half of what they shoot the week of gun season.He found out a farmer in the area has been shooting deer with nuance tags and took out 100 deer this fall,said there eating all his crops an hunters can't take enough to help.How did he get that many tags???? he's in Tappen Dam area.
> Fred


Well, I heard farmers can get 5 tags at a time. If they use the tags(shoot five deer), and can convince the DNR they still have "crop damage"(which I understand is not too hard to do!), they can get five more, and so on it goes. They can use any kind of firearm, and can jack light them at night as well to fill their tags.
This was told to me by a farmer in my neighborhood who farms prob. close to 2000 acres all told and he is a "deer hunter" but won't use the tags since he is not convinced that groundhogs don't do most of the "crop damage" he has experienced!!


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