Wild stuff (hunting thread)

[Muay Thai]

According to my old passport, I arrived in Kenya on July 5, 1982 after being
recruited by The University of Toronto, Canada to partake in a wildlife
management research program to be conducted in the Athi River Plains,
a 100 sq. mile conservation area. The purpose of the study was to
determine the sustainability of the naturally occurring wildlife contained
within a predetermined, loosely contained area.

(I had previously been selected to a capture and study reptiles in Ecuador
and when that fell through I joined the study in Kenya, which was originally
intended to be a thermoregulation study of black rhinos but that fell through,
which I found out going through customs at the airport in Kenya so it was
then that I found myself relocated to another study on the Athi River Plains.)

Natural occurring wildlife were well suited to the landscape whereas cattle
for instance, brought in by the Europeans in colonial times were not well
suited, had to travel long distances for water, were susceptible to disease,
in short, not a long-term viable way to raise cattle as opposed to the
existing wildlife. This study was to determine the optimal levels / number
of various wildlife with frequent culling used to manage the sustainable level.

We were to live on the ‘rough’, camping, cooking, living within a camp within
the preserve. We were free to explore the area without any preconditions but
if you got into trouble, don’t expect help to arrive anytime soon.

Total wildlife counts were conducted once a month via aerial and land surveys.
Days were spent observing tracking animals, noting eating habits and identifying
flora. Culling was conducted every Thursday night, on jeeps, with a spotlight
and a high-powered rifle. (Professional hunters did the actual killing, I did not.)
We had a list of the various wildlife we were to cull, so many of this, so many of
that. It was not sexy, romantic, or challenging, or sporting in any sense of the
word(s). It was outright hard work, finding and hauling carcasses back to the
abattoir to be butchered, with selected parts sent to a lab for analyzing and
the game meat distributed, given to various small villages in the area in an
effort to prevent poaching.

At that time, we were the only people in all of Kenya that were allowed to legally
to hunt wildlife.

The ‘Big 5’ were rare to nonexistent in the preserve so it was up to us, as humans,
to maintain what we considered or were trying consider the ‘optimal’ levels of
the existing wildlife in the absence of naturally occurring predators.

I will not enter into a debate regarding the pros and cons of game hunting,
the politics or the ethics of big game hunting but will say in some instances,
due to the encroachment of so-called civilization, culling had or has become
necessary for a wide variety of reasons, good and bad. (I was once very
good friends with a man who was a professional hunter in Africa who would
regularly cull entire herds, hundreds of elephants at a time from a helicopter
with a .600 Nitro Express rifle.)

Fotos included; a captive rhino in boma for study, some fotos of the Athi River Plains
where I worked / volunteered, a few fotos of me on the preserve . . . one with a ‘wild’
cheetah called Duma, my camp was a hammock under a tarp, the abattoir floor after
a long night of hunting, sunset over the plains and some required reading.

amazing story bro, keep them coming,respect

 

[alfresco]

I was there for Y2K. Figured if the world was going to crash that would be a great place to start an adventure from trying to get back home. 5 years before i was there 2 tour groups were stopped and robbed and the rule that you needed a guard was put in play. Not sure how well enforced the rule was but i went along with it. My Suzuki Sierra was the only vehicle in the convoy that day. And was mostly just giving the soldier a ride to town so he could go on leave. He had on his disco clothes with his AK-47 being his bling.

Crocks sound way cool. I love wildlife. A gun is always a comfort. I carry one in the US when i hit the wilderness or the streets too actually. Run into some grizzlies on occasion here but they were harmless. Having a gun would have been nice in Kenya when i would wake up at night to hear lions or hyenas a short way from the where i was camped. Or the time the elephants were shaking the Suzuki trying to get into it to get to the food.

Nice.

Funny story about my first night in Selous.

In retrospect not sure it was a very smart thing to do but at the time I gave Mother Nature a shot at me . . . More to follow.

 

[buck]

Nice.

Funny story about my first night in Selous.

In retrospect not sure it was a very smart thing to do but at the time I gave Mother Nature a shot at me . . . More to follow.

Many of my best stories are from times when i wasn't doing the smartest thing. Taking canned salmon into the wilderness and draining it along the trail hoping to be able to lure a grizzly in to actually see one in the wild may not have been smart. But it worked!

 

[alfresco]

I am on the road for a couple of weeks. Will wrap this up with a couple of interesting stories when I get back.

Thank all of you for the ‘likes’.

 

[NGL34]

It's looks like Noah's ark but instead your grand dad killed them all. That's truly an amazing collection there. It's crazy seeing a elephant in the room, literally.

 

[NGL34]

Grandad has my utmost respect ! The bear trophies look truly amazing.
Has he written a book by chance?
I'd love to have the pleasure visiting his trophy room and listen to some of his adventures around the campfire.

As an aside, I am taking my wife bear hunting in 2 weeks. I taught my wife to hunt so I don't have to hunt for my wife. We are using short range crossbows. he arrowed her first bear at 18 yards last year.

Hunting bear with bow and arrors sounds so crazy to me when q mid sized calibers guns might not take them down in one shot. That's awesome you guys have the balls to do this and not get hurt.

 

[Virtuous]

It's looks like Noah's ark but instead your grand dad killed them all. That's truly an amazing collection there. It's crazy seeing a elephant in the room, literally.

That sounds mildly horrible when you put it that way

 

[Dens228]

I've hunted for years. Deer, bear, boar, pheasant, rams...........
A lot of people don't realize that pretty much every game animal hunting season and numbers is tightly controlled. Animals are adaptable and like us humans are capable of having a population outgrow the environments ability to sustain a healthy population. In Illinois there is no season for coyote, you can hunt them year round yet their numbers are through the roof. They have no real predator here other than human. There are areas within the state that loved their parks and the deer until the deer started being stunted and having disease and starvation run through the herds, the powers that be started allowing specific cull hunts based on what the wildlife experts said would be an acceptable number. Yet the PETA type people screamed about that.....I guess it's more ethical to let the deer starve and die and agonizing death from disease.
Too many anti hunting voices are based purely on emotion with no basis in reality and facts.

 

[buck]

I find hunters and anti-hunters look at things from their own perspectives. When i lived in Illinois there were more big fat white tails then when Columbus came to this country with all the corn fields to browse on. And i was known to help lower those totals even out of season. I have spent hundreds of days hunting in my life. But we also know that the duck populations, doves, bear, bison, wolf etc. have been disseminated over the years from hunting, loss of habitat etc. Hunting groups help fund many wildlife populations. But i wouldn't leave it up to the individual hunters, PETA our their reps judgement as to how many of a species we need to have.

 

[mace123]

Surprised this hasn’t been revived but it’s a damn good conversation if willing to keep it civil.

The fact that we’re in the season and meat prices are getting ridiculous, this should be more widely discussed among a community that should see value in quality lean high protein meat.

My unsolicited opinion is that management is important (and a nice doe in her prime is delicious). I believe most experts far more knowledgeable than me on this agree there are ratios that benefit the overall population.

Unless for management purposes, I only kill mature deer. These are animals that will lose their teeth soon and starve slowly or be torn apart and eaten alive by a pack of predators. I think a clean rifle shot is likely the most humane option.

For me, trophies are cool because there’s a sense of pride in the work you put in to bring that home, but I also go by what I joke about being the Pavlov test. If I look at it and my mouth starts to water, I want to kill it.

Typically paws are off my menu, but if it’s a threat to me, my family or the food I want to live a long life, unfortunately it needs to go.

If you’ve ever seen what a small pack of coyotes can do to a large dog left out or a deer that’s not in its prime, it is absolutely brutal.

If you see a mount in my house, I promise you it tasted delicious.

 

[Dens228]

Surprised this hasn’t been revived but it’s a damn good conversation if willing to keep it civil.

The fact that we’re in the season and meat prices are getting ridiculous, this should be more widely discussed among a community that should see value in quality lean high protein meat.

My unsolicited opinion is that management is important (and a nice doe in her prime is delicious). I believe most experts far more knowledgeable than me on this agree there are ratios that benefit the overall population.

Unless for management purposes, I only kill mature deer. These are animals that will lose their teeth soon and starve slowly or be torn apart and eaten alive by a pack of predators. I think a clean rifle shot is likely the most humane option.

For me, trophies are cool because there’s a sense of pride in the work you put in to bring that home, but I also go by what I joke about being the Pavlov test. If I look at it and my mouth starts to water, I want to kill it.

Typically paws are off my menu, but if it’s a threat to me, my family or the food I want to live a long life, unfortunately it needs to go.

If you’ve ever seen what a small pack of coyotes can do to a large dog left out or a deer that’s not in its prime, it is absolutely brutal.

If you see a mount in my house, I promise you it tasted delicious.

Every year for me the first mature doe that walks by is going into my freezer. After that I hold out for a large antlered buck. If I don't get one by second season it's back to a nice fat doe. I always have two doe tags and an either or tag. I limit myself to one doe and one buck or two does.

Regarding coyotes,,,,,,,,,if I get them in my sight they are going down. A few years ago they were so numerous where I hunt that if I field dressed a deer and it was far enough for me to get my truck or three wheeler to get it out of the woods I'd have to put my coat or shirt on the deer so my scent would keep the damn coyotes away. Without that I could be gone 20 minutes and come back to an already gnawed on deer. The other part is the farmers wife raised goats and sheep which the coyotes would kill the young ones.

 

[fisther69]

Been hunting hard this year..had some Utah elk tags but my dad died and don’t want to go this year..just staying in Texas..

I’ve only take 1 whitetail..and a shitload of axis

 

[Dens228]

Been hunting hard this year..had some Utah elk tags but my dad died and don’t want to go this year..just staying in Texas..

I’ve only take 1 whitetail..and a shitload of axis

I went to Oklahoma years ago to hunt axis with my bow. Christ they were hard to get close to.. Instead I shot a couple of the dozens of boars that crossed my path on a daily basis.

 

[fisther69]

I went to Oklahoma years ago to hunt axis with my bow. Christ they were hard to get close to.. Instead I shot a couple of the dozens of boars that crossed my path on a daily basis.

I haven’t hit one closer than 638 yards this year..furthest was a little over 960 yards

Been using a 6.5 prc with 156grain bergers that I’m doing load development on…haven’t stalked a damn thing..just shooting them from the porch or from the top of a hill

Going to switch to my 7mm PRC when I get my barrel spun onto my action

 

[mace123]

Axis meat is so damn good compared to whitetail. Also more meat and no regs as it’s an exotic.

Hogs are fun. Night vision or helicopter hunts are so fun. I know they are a huge problem, but they also make some great lean jerky surprisingly, and a mean jalapeño cheese summer sausage.

 

[Gunsmith]

I haven’t hit one closer than 638 yards this year..furthest was a little over 960 yards

Been using a 6.5 prc with 156grain bergers that I’m doing load development on…haven’t stalked a damn thing..just shooting them from the porch or from the top of a hill

Going to switch to my 7mm PRC when I get my barrel spun onto my action

I'm currently putting together the parts for a 7x300 PRC Ackley improved , building it specifically for the 190g Bergers.
I really like the PRC case design , I think with the 300's capacity and a 28" barrel I should be able to get 3200+ out of the 190's

 

[Virtuous]

Glad to see this thread pop back up. Taking my stepson down to the valley harvest a couple deer here next month, we’ll have that in the freezer all spring.

He’s a kid, but very mature - he understands that cheeseburgers and steak don’t come from a cow tree.

 

[Dens228]

Axis meat is so damn good compared to whitetail. Also more meat and no regs as it’s an exotic.

Hogs are fun. Night vision or helicopter hunts are so fun. I know they are a huge problem, but they also make some great lean jerky surprisingly, and a mean jalapeño cheese summer sausage.

I've hog hunted all over for years although I haven't for years. Used everything from pistol, shotgun, rifle, bow. My favorite is my lever action 45-70 with rear peep site.

 

[fisther69]

I'm currently putting together the parts for a 7x300 PRC Ackley improved , building it specifically for the 190g Bergers.
I really like the PRC case design , I think with the 300's capacity and a 28" barrel I should be able to get 3200+ out of the 190's

I did that for years out of a 27” bartlien..it was part of a load development data salvage for Hornady trying to maximize the 7mm prc so it wasn’t the exact same thing as the 7mm lrm

I usually use a 300 Norma with 215 bergers for everything..but I’m going civilized this year lol

 

[mace123]

I've hog hunted all over for years although I haven't for years. Used everything from pistol, shotgun, rifle, bow. My favorite is my lever action 45-70 with rear peep site.

There’s good reason that design has withstood time. Beautiful marriage of reliability, compact form factor, and ample fire power.

To make a loose analogy, there’s a reason I prefer the inertia system on my bird guns but my bedside 12g is an 18” pump.