Wonderful ending for deer season--

THIS IS NOT A FLAME I know that right now it looks rough, but this is man's way of taking over the natural forest cycle. Deer, grouse, and other forest critters are not at their best in the monolithic old growth forests that are the sacred cow of the EarthFirstMorons. Man, over the past fifty years, has interrupted the natural cycle by preventing forest fires and other natural rejuvinative processes. Deer need browse, and that is exactly what you are fighting through. In a couple of years your deer population (and grouse too) is going to explode, and they are going to be healthy as hell because they have the proper diet and cover. This is not to say that I hate forests, but new growth is essential to the cycle. A healthy mix is the best, when those scrub oak start popping up watch out for all the deer!

Also, my friend, one generally needs the proper license to hunt bear. I'm sure you realize that, but perhaps others don't. And one should never shoot a mother with cubs, in fact, its not legal in my state, and I bet most others. This is not a flame, you indicated no desire to shoot the sow, its just an effort to remind the novice hunters out there to pay close attention to the game regs. I too saw a bear this fall, on my property in Michigan. A huge male, I'm sure he went well over 300 pounds, but I only got a few seconds to look before he was gone. And what a thrill, you are certainly correct about that! Good luck next season, Dave Remy (GSP) and Mauser (GSD) http://www.geocities.com/yosemite/rapids/7061 Earth First! We can hunt the other planets later.

I personally don't find this practice to be very safe. I was taught from the time I could hold a gun not to point it at 'anything' unless you intend to shoot it, and to be sure of your target and beyond before you even pull up your gun. I've heard this type of thing happen too often. I would never take the safety off and pull up on a 'movement' unless I was sure what it was. I'm not trying to tell you that you are wrong in what you are doing, as hunters are taught different ways to do things, and it is a personal preference. But to me it is an unsafe practice. A guy was telling me about a hunt a few weeks ago and said he almost shot a little girl in the woods. He heard a noise and turned around in his stand with his gun up to his shoulder. Granted the little girl (who was just out hiking) should have at least had blaze orange on (common sense during hunting season, but not law if your not hunting), but this guy could have shot her because he 'heard something' This is one way that hunting accidents happen. Please everyone be sure of your target before you shoulder your rifle/shotgun, and don't do it because you heard something or saw some type of movement. I know I'll probably get flamed for this, but I couldn't let this one go.

This is not a flame either.

Although you are correct in many ways about the relationship between many wildlife species and the opening up of a forest. This is particularly true of those species that require 'edge', such as deer and ruffed grouse. About 30-40 years ago in the Pacific Northwest, timber harvest was confined to smaller tracts of 10-20 areas at a time. These sizes of clear cuts were ideal for providing excellent browse for deer and elk. But as clear cuts grew in size into cuts of several hundred acreas at a time, they didn't provide enough security cover in most of the areas so they did not provide the excellent habitat that smaller cuts did.

But, there are areas which have deep snow (such as the coastal areas of S.E. Alaska), where the deer are completely dependent on oldgrowth areas in winter. In those areas without the high canopy, the deer starve to death because they can not get to the excellent browse that exists deep under the snowpack. The result was that they starved to death on the beaches trying to subsist on seaweed.

So it's not just the tree huggers who recognize the value of leaving some old growth, but those of us hunters who recognize the value of it in many areas where wildlife depend upon it.

No flame from me... You are spot-on.

*NO* game tag is so important to 'fill' that it justifies taking the risk of shooting a 'wrong target'.

-jc-