Bambi Whacking 2022-2023

[44man]

Don't worry...there is a new generation coming. My boys love hunting and fishing more than anything! The oldest is in kindergarten. Both will be in a duck blind in a few weeks. They practice archery with their little bows in our driveway and they each got their lifetime licenses for their third birthdays. My father and grandfather were not hunters, but they did get me outside other ways (e.g. Boy Scouts) and eventually I got into hunting on my own. My little brother got into hunting with me, and about five years ago our dad started joining us on duck hunts, so now it's a family thing for us. The best thing any of us can do is be good ambassadors for the sport by being safe, sharing fun stories and our bounty, and bringing interested young people along for their first hunts. I also make a point of sharing when I come home empty handed, or miss a shot, or slip and fill my waders with water, and all the other stuff that makes hunting a challenging "hunt" and not a guaranteed harvest.

I hope and pray that you are right. Thanks for getting your boys into hunting and fishing!!

Maybe we should all try harder to get more young folks into it

Maybe that’s part of the answer

I know my wife and I take a lotta little kid’s fishing for the first time and as much as we can and fishing seems easier to get kids into than hunting.

I try and get younger kids to hunt and shoot but 9 times out of 10 it’s a no go for one reason or another. Parents most of the time is the reason it’s a no.

But I keep trying

Thanks for responding and thanks for getting the kids involved

 

[gwchem]

One of the problems has got to be population and land access. Too many folks on too few properties.

Back in the seventies you met people looking for places to hunt, and you got to know them. Now, we come around trying to chat and learn who's on what farm, and we get treated like the enemy. Much like the added hunting stress drives bucks nocturnal, the added property stress drove folks to be silent.

 

[gwchem]

And 44man, thanks for teaching the kids!

Mine are just starting to love fishing. Can't wait til I can get my boy in a deer blind (he's only 4 now).

 

[44man]

Don't worry...there is a new generation coming. My boys love hunting and fishing more than anything! The oldest is in kindergarten. Both will be in a duck blind in a few weeks. They practice archery with their little bows in our driveway and they each got their lifetime licenses for their third birthdays. My father and grandfather were not hunters, but they did get me outside other ways (e.g. Boy Scouts) and eventually I got into hunting on my own. My little brother got into hunting with me, and about five years ago our dad started joining us on duck hunts, so now it's a family thing for us. The best thing any of us can do is be good ambassadors for the sport by being safe, sharing fun stories and our bounty, and bringing interested young people along for their first hunts. I also make a point of sharing when I come home empty handed, or miss a shot, or slip and fill my waders with water, and all the other stuff that makes hunting a challenging "hunt" and not a guaranteed harvest.

I hope and pray that you are right. Thanks for getting your boys into hunting and fishing!!

Maybe we should all try harder to get more young folks into it

Maybe that’s part of the answer

I know my wife and I take a lotta little kid’s fishing for the first time and as much as we can and fishing seems easier to get kids into than hunting.

I try and get younger kids to hunt and shoot but 9 times out of 10 it’s a no go for one reason or another

One of the problems has got to be population and land access. Too many folks on too few properties.

Back in the seventies you met people looking for places to hunt, and you got to know them. Now, we come around trying to chat and learn who's on what farm, and we get treated like the enemy. Much like the added hunting stress drives bucks nocturnal, the added property stress drove folks to be silent.

i have mentioned this before, find a farmer and offer to work for free to hunt

I tried that here and other places when I was farming and I got offers for money but the response’s about work were all similar to “ farm work? Ewww why would I want to do that nasty dirty hard shyte, are you crazy”.

Small scale farmers always need someone to do something

But you are right about other land owners. Right next to us here at the farm we were considering buying a 100 acre piece because they needed the money but a builder bought it for 6 times what were we’re in discussions for and of coarse we couldn’t match that. Now a father owns it and his two boys hunt it. I assume one day houses will go in there but luckily they were only able to cut two lots off because they need a wider ROW and we won’t sell it to them lol. But those kind of folks don’t let anyone hunt.

Thanks for your response

 

[44man]

And 44man, thanks for teaching the kids!

Mine are just starting to love fishing. Can't wait til I can get my boy in a deer blind (he's only 4 now).

It’s our pleasure to help kids!!

Thank you for teaching your boy!!

 

[lazarus]

I applaud you for doing outdoor and shooting and hunting things with your kids. I hope they all get into it or at least cherish the time with you.

And it’s not all about the check In station even though I sound that way. It’s about comradery and spending time with like minded people and the love of the outdoors and respecting nature

I hope you have a great rest of deer season

Thanks for responding!

I agree with you. Almost every one of my favorite hunts was hunting with someone else.

 

[Antarctica]

I miss going to check in too. I remember taking the exit off 15 into Thurmont one year on opening day and it was a traffic jam of trucks with deer in the bed. Felt like America should feel. Diesel, blood, beer, smiles, backslaps, handshakes, etc..

 

[44man]

I agree with you. Almost every one of my favorite hunts was hunting with someone else.

Yes sir , it makes it a shared adventure!

 

[44man]

I miss going to check in too. I remember taking the exit off 15 into Thurmont one year on opening day and it was a traffic jam of trucks with deer in the bed. Felt like America should feel. Diesel, blood, beer, smiles, backslaps, handshakes, etc..

That’s a great feeling ain’t it!

 

[gtodave]

My old neighbor used to have a deer hunting tournament each year. It'd be 10 or 15 guys in it each year. There's be an opening night get-together with everyones kills (bow opener), and each buck got celebrated on its own. Last hunt of the year (bow close) there'd be a get together will all the kills that day, and the prize money for the season would be divvied out, along with an extra prize for biggest last-day doe.

That's as close as I got to check-in stations. I didn't start hunting until I was almost 30, and by then the phone-in system was up.

I kinda miss those tourneys and those guys. Now I doubt I personally know 10 hunters that could participate. But that gives me an idea...

 

[lazarus]

My old neighbor used to have a deer hunting tournament each year. It'd be 10 or 15 guys in it each year. There's be an opening night get-together with everyones kills (bow opener), and each buck got celebrated on its own. Last hunt of the year (bow close) there'd be a get together will all the kills that day, and the prize money for the season would be divvied out, along with an extra prize for biggest last-day doe.

That's as close as I got to check-in stations. I didn't start hunting until I was almost 30, and by then the phone-in system was up.

I kinda miss those tourneys and those guys. Now I doubt I personally know 10 hunters that could participate. But that gives me an idea...

I mean you don’t know me. But you know me. :-)

 

[44man]

My old neighbor used to have a deer hunting tournament each year. It'd be 10 or 15 guys in it each year. There's be an opening night get-together with everyones kills (bow opener), and each buck got celebrated on its own. Last hunt of the year (bow close) there'd be a get together will all the kills that day, and the prize money for the season would be divvied out, along with an extra prize for biggest last-day doe.

That's as close as I got to check-in stations. I didn't start hunting until I was almost 30, and by then the phone-in system was up.

I kinda miss those tourneys and those guys. Now I doubt I personally know 10 hunters that could participate. But that gives me an idea...

In my youth I wanted to hunt everywhere , of coarse that impossible but i joined a local hunt club that is now no longer because the land was sold. About 1600 acres and over 50 members. Many too old to hunt but still members. Every year we all placed a few dollars in a pot and the evening of the last day we had a GIANT party. Good food and lots of it, beer, wine, liquor. And every young hunter got a prize no matter what. Then someone won for the biggest buck and biggest doe, longest shot and other things. Everyone who missed a deer got their shirt tails cut off and signed them and they got put up ad decorations.

Good times

 

[gtodave]

Everyone who missed a deer got their shirt tails cut off and signed them and they got put up ad decorations.

Good times

I really like that penalty

 

[44man]

I really like that penalty

Yeah we did too. I had plenty of decorations on those walls lol. It was of coarse not really something mean, more like a right of passage.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Thanks, I guess all older folks things are changing for the worst. I hope I am wrong and more kids and other folks get back into hunting and others outdoor sports

Maybe I am just longing for the old days lol

No not changing for the worst even though we grow older.
Land access is a problem for some others have it in front of them and never use it which is a shame.
The results we get are often determined by what we put into things, not what we can take.
I’ll tell you something I learned from a an older wiser buddy of mine.
I asked him why he didn’t hunt anymore and he told me he was more interested in tending his cows/ feeding horses and what not.
What I figured out,was that Bob had done enough hunting/ taking life.
He was more interested in creating/ cultivating it there on his farm.
His kids were already grown much like mine are now. So I can begin to start to relate only until now.
Hunting fishing / outdoor lifestyle provides so much more than can be learned from books.
When we get in to much of a hurry to be successful at something, like hunting, getting kids on their way in life etc.
One could understand the turtle knows more about crossing the road than the rabbit.
And then , somewhere in the middle when you’ve crossed enough roads, you can see yourself and how things really are, what’s important, what’s not and all of that sort of thing.

 

[44man]

I had our youngest hunter ask me Tuesday when I was gonna shoot a deer. He said he didn’t remember me shooting one in the last couple of years. I told him I shot 4 does 3 years ago. I also told him I would shoot one when I see the one I want and that I shot 4 does 3 years ago and I think that’s correct lol. He said he has heard stories of me slaughtering dozens of deers a year and wanted to know what changed.

I told him I had changed and times have changed. He didn’t understand.

I explained it as best I could

When I grew corn and beans and the deer destroyed 20-30% + of it I stayed mad and yes I slaughtered them, to protect my investment. When I was younger I slaughtered them to half ass show off and half to feed a lotta people. As I grew older I killed a lot of deer because it’s what I did.

Now I get s cut from the guys at the farm and I buy beef and pork from another farmer and an Amish guy so I don’t need to kill a lotta deer, but that I would if I knew someone who was in need.

Or if I saw one I wanted.

I also told him I didn’t kill just to kill anymore.

I have no idea if he understood, and I kinda don’t understand myself.

It’s funny that boy looking at me and listening to me like I used to look at and listen to the old men.

Times change, things change, people change, i change but I don’t like it lol

But I do like sitting outdoors in the quiet enjoying nature and knowing I could shoot any deer that came by and being able to pick and choose which one or none if I so chose.

I guess now I am a tortoise and no longer a hare lol

Shyte, I sound older than I am

 

[budman93]

Don't worry...there is a new generation coming. My boys love hunting and fishing more than anything! The oldest is in kindergarten. Both will be in a duck blind in a few weeks. They practice archery with their little bows in our driveway and they each got their lifetime licenses for their third birthdays. My father and grandfather were not hunters, but they did get me outside other ways (e.g. Boy Scouts) and eventually I got into hunting on my own. My little brother got into hunting with me, and about five years ago our dad started joining us on duck hunts, so now it's a family thing for us. The best thing any of us can do is be good ambassadors for the sport by being safe, sharing fun stories and our bounty, and bringing interested young people along for their first hunts. I also make a point of sharing when I come home empty handed, or miss a shot, or slip and fill my waders with water, and all the other stuff that makes hunting a challenging "hunt" and not a guaranteed harvest.

What state did you get a lifetime hunting license in? I dont believe that is an option in MD or if it is I've never heard of it.

 

[AlBeight]

Yeah we did too. I had plenty of decorations on those walls lol. It was of coarse not really something mean, more like a right of passage.

That’s rough.

 

[Derwood]

What state did you get a lifetime hunting license in? I dont believe that is an option in MD or if it is I've never heard of it.

Virginia. I grew up in MD and still hunt there most of the time, but I'm in Virginia now. I didn't realize MD doesn't offer this. For the 3-year-old kids it was like $300 if I recall, and I think more like $500 for my own. I'm going to buy their fishing lifetimes next!

 

[44man]

A group with over 20 deer in it walked thru the two fields and up by my spot this morning about 6:10. A spike and a small 6 and a three legged doe were in that bunch

That’s a big group even for here but gun season always seems to bunch them up