The Hunting/Fishing Thread

[Paranoid Android]

I don't know about you guys, but I love to go hunting and fishing. And as everyone knows, hunters and fishers are known as exageraters (is that a word?). So if you love hunting or fishing, tell your tall tales here! Here's a fishing tale...
It was a hot summer day. Me and my friend of the same name were at a park called nob hill. Nob hill has 3 small ponds. My brother had dropped us off at pond one, so we fished there for a while and we had no luck. We walked to pond two and started to cast our lures into the water. On my first cast, BOOM! and there was a big splash. Surprised, I yanked that sucker in. I pulled it out of the water and lo and behold! a 6 pound bass! I cought the bass on a black spinner bait. So now it's your turn, tell us a tall tale about a fish you've caught or a deer you've shot.
And to all you people who are against hunting, just stay out of here.

[stratman]

I did a lot of hunting and fishing when I was a kid, with my dad and brother. My dad died when I was 16, and I never went much after that. My brother and I went deer hunting once after that together, but it just wasn't the same without dad.

My most vivid hunting memory was the last time I went deer hunting. I was with 2 of my friends, we ditched school on the last day of hunting season and headed for the mountains.
One friend and I were perched on a big outcropping of rock on a mountainside, looking down on an ajoining hillside. My second friend, walking up through a draw below, flushed about a half dozen head of deer, who bounded across the hillside below. One was noticeably larger than the rest, and I figured it was the trophy buck I'd always fantasized getting. The range was about 250-300 yards, and I had no binoculars. My rifle was an old 30-40 Krag with open sights. On about the fifth shot, I hit it. The deer spun around and went down. Then it got back up, and just stood there. I shot about three more rounds and missed. Then my friend down in the draw, who was only about 50 yards away from them, put it down with a shot through the heart.
We got to it, and to my horror, I saw that it was a doe. Not only that, a "wet" doe, meaning she was nursing fawns. Her two fawns stood about 50 yards away watching. I felt horrible. My shot had blown off her lower jaw completely, and her tongue hung down her chest like a necktie. My friend who finished her off tagged and dressed her out. We carried her back to the truck.

Later that same afternoon, I was slowly walking through some cedar trees, and I saw a two-point buck standing broadside only about 50 yards away. I pulled down for what would have been an easy shot, and I thought, "what am I doing this for?" I didn't want to kill it. I didn't want to clean it, haul it back to the truck, and I didn't want to eat it. So I put down the rifle and let the buck go on his way.

I've never been deer hunting since.

[Paranoid Android]

whoa man that's rough. I went deer hunting with my dad and my uncle and i shot a doe with a .50 cal. muzzleloader with open sights at about 80 yds. I hit it right in the kill zone and it dropped right to the ground. Thirty minutes later when we went down to get it, it jumped up and jumped over a barbed wire fence and ran into the woods. It was too dark to find it, and I'm almost sure that it died somewhere in the woods. That really hurt my soul.

[greatgig]

I've never been able to bring myself to hunt, but I've been fishing a few times...one time for about eight hours straight.

I came out with two twigs, a piece of rubber, and a nap.

By the way, stratman, I'm sorry to hear you lost your father at such an early age. It's a shame bad things happen to good people, man.

[Vera]

I'm a daughter of a hunter and one of my brothers still is.
I totally agree with you, Rabid Monkey, when you say 'hunters and fishers are known as exageraters'.
I have to admit that I never eat any game, with disappointment of all my family.
In my region, hunting and fishing is strictly regulated, to assure the repopulation of the species.
Here there are many roe-bucks, chamoises and wild boars to catch and just a few birds and hares.
Deers and bears are free, but so few that are still protected.
We have a great park sheltered too.

[stratman]

Sadly, Mule Deer populations around here are being threatened by Chronic Wasting Disease. As I understand, the number of deer hunting licenses bought this season was way down because people don't want to get a diseased deer, even though there is no apparant effect on humans.

Generally, hunting helps keep the population of deer down, otherwise they overgraze the available foliage and starve.
Hunters, fishers and sportsmen in general are the ones who finance most of the fish and game conservation programs.

[Vera]

Here, hunting it's nearly a selection-catch.
Only old and/or sick heads of males are hunted, all ruled by a shooting down-plan.
The worst desease, here is the lead-poisoning.
Unfortunately, there are a few poachers.