What hunting rifle would you all recommend for a youth hunter or a very small-framed person? I have 5 boys, and they are counting the days until they can begin hunting with me as well. My wife also would like to hunt with me, but she’s very tiny. My Howa .308 is too heavy and large for them...
Lots of hunters feel that it is humane to put down an injured animal if you see it. This is taught from the very beginning in hunter’s education classes. I’m not required to anything about this deer, but I am interested in doing what is humane. The tension on this is my question about meat...
I came here with a simple question about meat safety. I also shared about my internal debate about whether the most ethical approach, if I see this animal again, would be to put it out of its misery or let it try to survive. I'm grateful for the wonderful input that many people on this forum...
Thank you again for your comments. I appreciate your thorough analysis and tips. I've already had one badly infected animal this year, so my wife is quite nervous about losing meat again. On my side, we've been building a house this year, so my hunting time has been drastically limited and I'd...
There are plenty of reasons, even in a theoretical situation, that this may not be the thing to do. Just off the top of my head, valid reasons in a theoretical situation would be:
- It is private property. A landowner may be willing to let someone retrieve an animal that ran across the property...
Hey everyone, I’m back with a question on meat safety on a wounded animal. My neighbor shot a buck with his bow, and it hit high. He asked for permission to track it on our property, and he said he was not able to recover it. One week later, I saw the buck is alive and appears to be showing...
I officially have a replacement tag in my hands. I spoke with our area wildlife biologist here in NW Montana, and he was extremely understanding and helpful. He asked me to the FWP headquarters with the meat, head, hide (whatever I had in my possession) to surrender in exchange for a new tag. I...
That must’ve been heartbreaking. This was just a doe on an easy hunt and I’m already so frustrated. I cannot imagine the disappointment on a big hunt like that.
I definitely thought about that. Unfortunately, unless it’s on private property, I believe this is now illegal here in Montana where I live. (Not trying to start an argument, just trying to help us all avoid trouble.) For sure, the head on spinal column must be left at the kill site or taken to...
I think sometimes it’s harder to give up your first “success” in hunting. When I was younger, my first duck success was also with Mergansers, and I was determined to make a feast out of them. That experience taught me not to shoot any of those again unless I’m starving. Haha.
Haha, I love the Little House on the Prairie reference. My kids are reading the books and started watching the old TV series. We just moved into an old log cabin in the mountains this year, and my kids are just ecstatic that “it’s just like Laura Ingalls.”
Thanks so much for your input. I hunt for meat (family of 5 kids), so I really hate to waste anything. But your comment helped me remember that wasting a game animal is not as bad as seeing my family infected with something.
I was able to talk to one of our wildlife biologists here in...
Hey everyone, I have a meat safety question. I got a small doe tonight with my B tag. When I got up to it, I found that the deer had previously been attacked, probably by a coyote. The entire butt area was mutilated, brown, dried up meat (oozing in spots) and it was pretty stinky. I would...
Hey friends, looking for a bit of advice. I got a fairly nice buck this year and intended to euro mount it. Unfortunately, a friend died right around that time and my wife also had a baby. With all of that stress, I never got around to prepping the head to do a euro mount. I just stuffed it in a...
Hi there,
I’m selling my KUIU Icon Pro 7200 bag, tall frame, L/XL suspension. It comes with a KUIU rain cover as well. Asking $390. It’s in very good condition with years of life left in it. I also just washed the whole pack with scent-neutralizing and UV minimizing detergent for hunting...
Thanks again for all the input everyone. I ended up going with Barnes Vor-tx TTSX (and I went with 168 grains because that’s the best I can find in my area right now). I’ll try them out this season.
So shopping around my area, I can find Barnes VOR-TX 168 grain TTSX. Do you think that it’s a bad idea? Should I wait for lower grains to be available?