Comments on The Thinking Hunter: Special goose seasons, Excess Whitetail Tags and G...

Good luck with your new blog - The Thinking Hunte...

2008-10-01T13:34:00.000-05:00

Good luck with your new blog - The Thinking Hunter. Saw where Kristine of Hunt Smart Think Safety posted your blog and had to come by and check on you. Would encourage you to support the Outdoor Bloggers Summit. I have been hunting over 20 plus years and enjoy deer hunting and feeding my family and friends. Goodhunting to you this season. :)

Interesting thoughts, and welcome to the blogosphe...

2008-10-01T12:31:00.000-05:00

Interesting thoughts, and welcome to the blogosphere! I guess I haven't been paying attention, so this is my first visit...

I'm not completely sure I'm following your line of reasoning as per extra season hunters and game hogs. A common complaint from the wildlife agencies in many states is that, even with unlimited antlerless deer tags, they can't get hunters to take enough does.

Part of serving a role as steward of the environment is doing some of the necessary, dirty work. Contrary to the whack-em and stack-em mindset, it appears that most hunters are reticent to take on that part of the job... perhaps because our ethics have been so defined by an older mindset(many hunters from my generation were mentored by hunters who remember the scarcity of game throughout the 40s and 50s). We don't take more than we can use, even though wildlife management targets require it.

In short, Sport hunters have generally proven seriously ineffective at managing wildlife populations... whether deer, goose, or wild hogs. This sort of belies the suggestion that the extra seasons and liberal limits encourage "game hog" behavior.

So it does beg the question... can we rely on sport hunters to serve true wildlife management needs?

As far as professional hunters... who's gonna pay for that?

Maybe it is the logical alternative to expecting sport hunters to manage wildlife populations. It's certainly been the response to the wild hog population explosion in Texas and some other states.

But I'm a little concerned when folks start to throw around the idea of hiring professionals to take over the role of wildlife management. What then is the role of sport hunter? In this society where every action seems to require justification, how do we then preserve our sport?

It's quite a conundrum, and I don't pretend to know the answer. Great topic for discussion, though.

Good stuff.

I absolutely love the last sentence of this post. ...

2008-10-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love the last sentence of this post. One of my pet causes is the image of hunting, and I firmly believe what you said in that last sentence. I wish more of the general population would believe it as well.

By the way, I'd second the recommendation for the Outdoor Bloggers Summit. If you have any questions about how to become a part of the group, let me know.

Norcal Cazadora, Thank you for your compliment, an...

2008-09-22T11:07:00.000-05:00

Norcal Cazadora, Thank you for your compliment, and I'll be sure to connect with them.

Chas, If you'll remind me in a week or so I'll send you some information on using hunters to control wildlife populations. I'd send it now but my files are still mess. In essence, however, researchers have uncovered some interesting negatives. glg

I think that going down the "professional hunter" ...

2008-09-20T19:11:00.000-05:00

I think that going down the "professional hunter" route is a dangerous precedent. I would rather see hunters encouraged to donate meat if they are unable to use it themselves or give it to friends.

Nice blog! You should hook up with the Outdoor Blo...

2008-09-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

Nice blog! You should hook up with the Outdoor Bloggers Summit - they're fantastic about publicizing new blogs. They're at http://outdoorbloggerssummit.blogspot.com/.

And: I know how you feel about chores getting in the way of hunting. I'm supposed to be deer hunting right now, but work crashed down on me pretty hard this week.