Department of Natural Resources wildlife officials today announced the 2008 bear drawing results will be posted on the DNR Web site, www.michigan.gov/dnrdrawings, Monday, June 30. All hunters who applied online will need to check their drawing results online. Applicants who did not apply online will be mailed a notification postcard.

This year, leftover bear licenses are available in the Bergland and Baraga bear management units in the western Upper Peninsula. Available license quantities for these units will be posted on the DNR Web site at the same time. Unsuccessful resident applicants may purchase one leftover license online or from any license agent on a first-come, first-served basis for a one-week period beginning July 7 at 10 a.m. (EDT). Any licenses that remain as of July 14 at 10 a.m. (EDT) also will be made available for purchase by residents who did not apply for a bear license. These licenses will be sold until the quota is met. Bear preference points will be reset to zero for hunters who purchase a leftover bear license. It is unlawful to purchase more than one bear hunting license.

Wildlife officials said the 2% cap on nonresident licenses per hunt unit was met in the drawing, so the leftover licenses may be purchased by residents only. For more information on availability of leftover licenses including hunt units and periods with leftovers, visit the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr.

 Wild hogs are causing great damage to natural wildlife habitat, privately managed food plots that are put for deer and turkey, farm ponds and livestock water holes.  The frequency of wild hogs in agricultural areas has damaged sugarcane, rice, corn and even cotton from walking in the fields. In some areas they damage fences which cause livestock to escape. They also compete with other wildlife for food resources which results in preying on young domestic animals and wildlife. These Wild Hogs carry diseases that can affect pets, wildlife, livestock and people. 

   The estimated Feral Hog population in the United States is over 4 million and still growing.  So what can we do about this? Are you going to be the person who has hogs or the person whos getting rid of them? Trapping and hunting are the most popular methods of reducing the hog population. Although you’ll never get rid of them for good, this may eventually keep the population controled. The best time for trapping is from October to March. The reproductive maturity is as early as 6 months old having litters of up to a dozen piglets, sometimes more. Sows have litters one or two times a year. Sometimes in the south a gator or snake will snatch a piglet, but the sow is a good protector. Most states have declared open season on wild pigs year-round with no limit on the number that can be bagged. 

Texas - Need a license but theres no bag limit or season. Van Zandt County, Texas, has put a bounty on the heads of wild hogs. The county pays $7 for each matched pair of ears from feral hogs. In one month, the county wrote checks for 568 pairs.

Tennessee -  Allows hunters to kill as many wild pigs of either sex as they wish on private land, with the owner’s permission.

Louisiana - No license on private land. No bag limit. No season.

The Missouri Department of Conservation pleads with hunters on its Web site: “If you encounter a feral hog while hunting deer or other game, shoot it on sight.”

Arkansas - Public land - open hunting season - subject to methods allowed for hunting season AND Private land - year round - with owners permission

Georgia - PRIVATE LANDS: No closed season; no limit. No hunting over bait, from a vehicle, or at night with a light over 6 volts. A resident Hunting License is required to hunt feral hogs for all resident hunters 16 years old or older, except when hunting on land owned by them or their immediate family (blood or dependent relationship) residing in the same household.

I would like to tell everyone about Bucknut Apparel. They make some of the best t-shirts and hats out there so if u would go check them out at www.bucknutapparel.com 

If you follow all these steps we guarantee you will have a more successful season.

I hunt to be alone, and have my time. I hunt to see all the wildlife. I
hunt because it is fun. It’s not all about the kill. It’s not going to bed
when you get home at 3 a.m. after a Saturday night with friends because
there’s no way you’re gonna miss being in the stand/blind for daybreak
Sunday morning. It’s sitting there not moving, having the wind blowing
against you. It’s anticipating whatever living creature you can hide from
and quietly watch, and elude them. Hunting is sitting around with fellow hunters in the off season or the night after a hunt and trading stories, giving each other tips, throwing a
few I told you so’s in where necessary. Hunting is looking at your phone
after you walk out of the woods and seeing a missed call from a fellow
hunter and knowing that he or she has a story that they’re dieing to tell
you. Hunting is sending or receiving a text message that simply says,
“Deer down!” or “5 Point on the Ground!”

Hunting, no matter what you hunt for, or where you live, or the day the
season starts, is a yearlong sport. You start scouting for you location 5
months before opening day. You spend paycheck after paycheck, on the
latest gear, the newest scent covers. You prepare for months. You get your
bows/guns sighted in, and perfecting you form. You spend hours every night
shooting to make sue your in tip top shape for when Mr. Big comes in. you
spend every waking hour dreaming of the woods/ponds. In the off-season you
talk of hunting seasons past. Weeks before opening day you get your gear
washed, and put those clean clothes in a tub of pine cones, and dirt. you
put your stand up, and pay attention to the newest rubs, and scrapes.

Hunting is amazing. Even if you don’t fill your tags, or bag your limit
for the day. Every hunt you bring something back. A story. A lesson.
Pride. Respect. Next time you get home after a hunt, think about what you
saw and learned. Were you too noisy? How can you fix that next time? Did
you get out too late? Did you get busted? Why? You learn something every
hunt, every year. It’s the mistakes we learn from that make us better
hunters. Don’t get discouraged because you haven’t gotten anything yet
this season, because you did, you only have to realize that you came back
with…

Happy Hunting!!

–
Ryan Cunningham
Domka OUTDOORS Pro Staff

 Please don’t poach you must always respect wildlife and hunt legally. The following is a article pertaining to this topic.

DES MOINES, Iowa - Two South Carolina men pleaded guilty to poaching deer today and were fined $2,137, ordered to pay $24,000 in liquidated damages and forfeited more than $5,000 worth of equipment.  Liquidated damages in Iowa are based on the value of the deer racks.

Michael Sillanpaa, Jr., 38, of Summerville, S.C., and David Gordon, 38, of Goose Creek, S.C., were arrested for poaching deer after Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conservation officers executed a search warrant at 1 a.m., Nov. 10, at a Des Moines area hotel.  Officers also searched a local residence and their vehicle. The DNR seized two shotguns, two crossbows, a rifle and other equipment as well as the deer.

“We never would have known about this if it was not for a concerned citizen who picked up the phone and called in a tip,” said DNR Conservation Officer Brandon Bergquist.

Sillanpaa and Gordon came to Iowa in late October, bought a small game license and paid the habitat fee so, if questioned they would have a reason to be out in the woods. 

Officers immediately began surveillance of the men, even viewing them purchase a $1,060 crossbow from a local sporting goods store.  Officers followed as Sillanpaa and Gordon spent their time driving all day through Big Creek State Park and Springbrook State Park, until they found something they wanted to kill, said Conservation Officer Jeff Swearngin. 

The men killed both deer by shooting crossbows from their vehicle during the day then returned at night to cut off the head.  The men shot two buck deer; one scoring 148 and the other scoring 135. Game wardens in South Carolina seized three shoulder mounts and two sets of antlers from Iowa poached deer and shipped them back to Iowa.  According to South Carolina wardens, Sillanpaa has a history of poaching in South Carolina. 

“These guys were so good at poaching that without the tip, we would never have known about it,” Swearngin said.  They had been poaching deer in Iowa since at least 1998. 

Deer poaching is occurring all over Iowa from about middle October through January and is at epic levels, said Bergquist.  “Iowa’s trophy buck resource draws the best poachers from all over the country,” he said.  “Taking these guys out is nice, but there are hundreds more out there just like them.”

Swearngin and Bergquist were assisted by Iowa conservation officers Craig Lonneman, Craig Cutts, Allen Crouse, Jason Sandholt, Craig Roberg and Mike Ryan.  Federal Agent Justin Mayes also assisted with the case.

Article from myoutdoorstv.com

Before we begin discussing how deer see, I think it is important to explain the basics of vision. Vision occurs when light enters the eye and is absorbed by specialized cell located in the back of the eye. These cells respond to the light and send a signal to the brain which is translated into sight. The color perceived by the brain is determined by the wavelength of light reflected. Simply, objects do not actually have color; they simply reflect light of a particular wavelength that our brain perceives as color. The spectrum of color ranges from ultraviolet on the short end of the spectrum to infrared on the long end of the spectrum. Humans can see the range of colors between, but not including, these two extremes.

One of the major misconceptions about deer vision is that they can’t see color. In fact, deer can some colors, including yellow and blue. There are two receptors in the eye that take images to the brain. They are called rods and cones. Photo-pigments are unique proteins that undergo a chemical reaction when exposed to light and are designed to pick up light and relay color to the brain. These photo-pigments are located on the cones and determine color. Humans are trichromats. We have three receptors which are red, green, and blue. Deer on the other hand are dichromats. They have two receptors which include blue and green/yellow wavelengths only. Deer cannot see red or orange. So, hunters relax. Simply wearing orange during gun season has no effect on whether the deer can see you or not. Pattern on the other hand is important. Stay away from solid unbroken garments, especially those of light color. Deer do see better in the UV spectrum. UV light is the type of light that causes your clothes to “glow” is certain light. The connection with hunting is that many of the products that we use to wash our clothes with contain color brighteners and UV enhancers. While this information does seem a bit alarming, just think about how long hunters have been harvesting deer without this recent development. One might be a little more careful about what products they are using, but there are many other factors that determine a good hunt.

Deer see better than humans in the dark. This is because rods are the primary receptors for seeing things in low light. Rods in deer outnumber cones 20 to 1. In full sunlight the only receptors that assist in deer vision are the cones. During dawn and dusk there is a transition period in the cones and rods with both functioning until darkness. Deer see best when the rods take over completely. During night vision the rods take much longer to recover if they are suddenly blasted by a bright light source. This might explain the term deer in the headlights. Overall, deer vision is a very interesting topic to discuss, but while hunting it is important that you as hunters don’t just focus on this aspect of the animal. It is important that you focus on all senses of the animal to obtain an optimal hunting experience. Written By: Erin Domka

If you want to produce the biggest bucks that your property can offer you must give the deer what they need. The best way to do this is by making mineral sites through out your property. How do you know what one to use? If you ask us we will tell you we use Lucky Buck, but you may like other ones better. The most important thing to look for is one with low sodium content. Though deer love salt it doesn’t help them in antler growth. Once you find the one you want to use start putting it out, but you must use it year round. If you choose to use Lucky Buck you will need one bucket a month from April to the end of July. Then one bucket the rest of the year, so you’ll need about five buckets a year per spot. We go through about 20 buckets a year on all of our properties. Written By: David Domka

As most hunters already know you should only take mature bucks. Most hunters who have their own land already have a management plan, but little of them realize that they have no idea what they are doing. A lot of hunters think if they do not kill any does that they are doing the herd good, but they are allowing the buck to doe ratio to get out of control. You want your buck to doe ratio to be as close to 1 to 1 as possible. All the hunters that we talk to say that they wish they could take 150 inch class bucks. There is no reason to wish because most of them will never take a buck that big and it is their own fault. You can’t go into the woods every year and take the first buck that you see, you must wait for a mature buck. This might mean that you won’t get a buck at all this year. In order to take a big buck you must let the young bucks grow. There are also those hunters that think if they don’t shoot the young bucks they are going to pass into neighboring property and in the end some else is going to shoot them anyway. What to do? If you really want to get a large buck you must pass on the younger ones, also talk to your neighbors. They may be only shooting young bucks because they know if they don’t you will. You should only be taking bucks that are 4 ½ years old or older. How do you know if a buck is 4 years old or older? First you can’t look at its antler size, you must look at the body size. Old bucks look as if they are front heavy (meaning they are all neck and shoulders) and have short legs with very muscular bodies. Finally, you must remember in order to take a large buck, pass on those young ones and take more does. Written By: David Domka