Moose Droppings » 2006 » August
NEWS ALERT >> JULY 4th: Skinny Moose Media Launches U.S. Outdoors Today

Maine Bear Hunt

Aug 31, 2006 @ 12:42 am by Moose

Well here I am in Aroostook County Maine on a bear hunt. The season opened Monday and I’m still waiting to punch my tag. My nephew tagged early with an opening morning kill of a 203lb bear. This was his first ever big game kill and I hope to have his photo up here soon.The crew from NC; Rick, Chip and myself had a good opening day with a great hunt even if none of us go to punch a tag.

Rick and Chip punched their tags on Tuesday evening both getting some nice dry sows. Chips tipped the scales by a few more ponds then Rick’s but two really good bears that were hovering near 200lbs live weight.

 

 

I think both of them are hooked on this style of hunting, having a bear 20-30 feet in most cases from your ground blind gives you a huge rush. Most bears in this camp are killed at a distance that is less then what most turkeys are killed at. R&S Guide service does and excellent job on setting up ground blinds and putting you on some bruins up close... 

. 

I’ve had some opportunities, I have seen 3 bears so far, but I’m holding out for a little larger bear. I’m sure as the week goes on I may get a little less picky. It was real windy today so I got to believe that impacted this evenings hunt. Hopefully the weather will be a better the rest of the week.

I’ll update has time and net access allows.

 

Bear Hunting Road Trip

Aug 23, 2006 @ 11:46 pm by Moose

 My niece with her first Big Game animal

I leave North Carolina Friday after work to make the 22 hour trip to Northern Maine to go after another bear.   I have two novice bear hunters treking north with me as well and we look forward to a great hunt.

We are looking forward to a great adventure a trip like this brings, and hopefully the bounty of a few bears to bring back with us. I’ll have my camera with me and hopefully will catch a lot of the trip and be able to share some of the photos out here.

A question I’ve been asked a few times is what does the bear population look like and how will this season be. By all reports Maine and really all of New England is expecting a very good year. Here is excerpts from an article on the bear forecast from New England Fish & Game.

 New England’s 2006 Black Bear Forecast

Things are looking good for New England’s black bear hunters in 2006. Here’s the lowdown on what you can expect when you head for the woods this fall. (August 2006)

By Al Raychard

Based on the most recent harvest reports, bear hunters in New England had a slow season last fall. Although some harvest figures were still preliminary at the time of this writing, in Massachusetts and from Vermont across to Maine, hunters registered 20 to 40 percent fewer bears than in 2004, making 2005 one of the poorest seasons in years.

After several years of record-breaking or near record-breaking harvests in all four states, the obvious question is, why was 2005 so unproductive? Certainly not because the bears aren’t out there. According to biologists, black bear populations are on the rise throughout the region. And with bears showing up in areas where they haven’t been seen in modern times, there is mounting evidence that bears are also increasing their range.

Jennifer Vashon, the Bear Project leader for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, suggests several factors that may have contributed to the lower harvest.

“I can’t say what happened elsewhere,” she said, “but bad weather and poor hunting conditions during the first weeks of the season led to lower hunter success in Maine.”

Weather conditions can have a strong impact on hunter success, especially if bad weather occurs early in the season, Vashon said. Poor hunting conditions were reported across Maine last year.

There was also a bumper mast crop last fall throughout northern New England’s top bear range. Years with big nut and berry crops generally result in high harvests because when food is abundant, bears den late. In Maine and New Hampshire, bear activity on baits during the baiting season — traditionally the most productive hunting period — can be slowed due to the availability of natural foods. In Maine, lower hunter participation means that simply fewer hunters were in the woods to take advantage of the situation.

Another factor may have contributed to the lower-than-normal harvest. A number of Maine guiding operations reported lower hunter participation due to the uncertainty of the referendum to prohibit traditional hunting methods in Maine.

“Many hunters opted to hunt in 2004, but probably didn’t book hunts for 2005,” Vashon says.

Whatever the reason for last fall’s low yield, biologists generally agree on one thing: There will be plenty of bears out there this fall. As usual, weather conditions will play a role, but most managers are predicting that not only will hunter participation be back to normal, but so will the numbers of bears harvested.

There’s also another thing to look forward to. Last winter was one of the driest and mildest on record. There are several reports of bears leaving the dens early this spring, which means they will have more time to put on some weight before the fall seasons.

Bigger bruins is always good news.

 MAINE
Maine is home to more bears than any state in the Lower 48, and more than in some provinces north of the border. Wildlife officials estimate Maine’s bear population at 23,000 animals. According to biologist Vashon of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the harvest levels in recent years have stabilized the bear population in accordance with the department’s management goal.

Between 2000 and 2004, according to Vashon, Maine’s bear harvests have been rather consistent, with a meager 1 percent difference between three of the four years — in 2000, 2001 and 2003 — when the harvest was 3,900 or higher. In 2002, hunters took 3,512 bear, but that was a low mast year, and in 2004, the harvest was 3,123.

At the time of this writing, final harvest figures for 2005 were not available. But in early October of last fall, the harvest for weeks 1 through 4 was estimated at 1,872 to 2,908 bears, using the regression equation first developed in 2002. That equation is based on fifteen years of bear-harvest data collected from registration stations after the first four weeks of the season. The 2005 figure during that period compares to 3,470 taken during the same period in 2004. Even with an additional 305 bears added to the October 2005 figure — which is the average for weeks 5 through 13 in recent years — the 2005 harvest should be between around 2,350 and 3,050, the lowest harvest since 1998, or up to 40 percent fewer than in the past five years. Considering last year’s low harvest, Maine hunters can expect plenty of bear this fall and plenty of opportunities to bag one.

Bigger and more is even better news.

I plan to go after mine with a muzzleloader not quite ready to try to tackle one with a bow yet. I hope to be able to get on here and update everyone on the trip and hopefully to post some great bear photos.

Some Funny Duck Hunting Stories

Aug 22, 2006 @ 10:19 pm by Moose

One of my hunting Partner’s new Pup His wife took this photo

I pretty much enjoy hunting no matter what the game is but I have noticed that there are some groups of hunters that are very serious. For some reason waterfowl hunting attracts a bunch of them. I’m more the “Blue Collar” type hunting and it’s always interesting when I cross paths with the “gentleman duck hunter”.

I can really relate to Bob Cleveland’s article in the Clarion-Ledger

about duck hunting check out these stories he tells;

 When a duck hunter reaches his limit
By Bobby Cleveland
Gannett News Service
As much as I detest duck hunting, it is involved in two of my favorite stories in which I had a role.

I really don’t hate the sport. It has many fine qualities, including camaraderie in a duck blind and the sight of mallards funneling down in a Delta brake.

But even those can’t offset getting wet, walking in mud and freezing my butt off, and when I get a limit of either, my tolerance level gets extremely low, very fast.

TOO MUCH SQUEAKING …

My first experience with motorized decoys came more than a decade ago on a cold morning, in sleet and rain, in a muddy rice field in Arkansas.

Four of us were sitting in grass on a levee in a flooded corner. Out front we had a nice spread of decoys, and in the center were two rotating-wing duck decoys. Another outdoor writer had brought them on a trial basis.

“Newest thing. S’posed to work good,” he said. “Company sent them for us to review.”

The sun rose, no ducks flew and it was much too cold to have no ducks flying. Those two decoys kept spinning, until one tired and began to squeak. It was soon as brutal as fingernails on a chalk board, and we were demanding it be removed when …

“Good Lord, look at the mallards,” someone said. “They’re coming in.”

Must have been 40 or 50 in the first load, with hundreds more circling above them.

But, the first arrivals never dropped in. They got close, flew circles out of gun range, flared and left, taking the rest with them.

“Do you think it was that decoy?” asked the writer. He got his answer loud and clear.

Without a word, the other two guys shot the squeaker. I rose and killed the other.

“Just in case it wanted to whine,” I said.

… TOO MUCH HOIDY-TOIDY

Another winter, I was in a duck blind in the Mississippi Delta with several famous waterfowl journalists. I know they were famous, not because I’d heard of them but because they said so. They were talking hoidy-toidy about all things duck, while I sat shivering in sleet and gale-force winds.

After an hour or so, the only ducks we saw landed out of range but did swim over.

“Somebody spook ‘em,” one guy said.

I volunteered, told them to get ready, stood up and killed three - ducks, not writers - with one shot and a fourth with another, all on the water. A limit of mallards - and hoidy-toidy - is what I had.

“You stupid —-! You dirty —-!” they were yelling, all except my friend Cuz Strickland of Mossy Oak.

“Seems to me, it’s 4-0,” Cuz whispered.

I cased my shotgun, pulled out my flask, toasted the other guys and took a sip.

Brandy, with a smirk chaser … mighty fine.

Bobby Cleveland is an outdoors writer for The Clarion-Ledger, a Gannett newspaper in Jackson, Miss. Contact him at bcleveland@clarionledger.com.

The last story reminds me of a goose hunt I was on a number of years ago. There is a farmer that was having a lot of problems with geese he wanted us to slay some. This farmer lets us hunt pretty regularly on his farm and we wanted to assist him any way we could. There was only two of us that morning but the farmer contacted his neighbor that was a big shot in the local Ducks Unlimited Chapter.

There was about 30 geese sitting on one of the farm ponds the plan was to sneak up on them from below the dam and then pop up on them. We wait till legal shooting time we pop up over the dam and begin laying down a good cover fire on the geese. My buddy and I laid out 7 geese with our 6 shots and scrambling to reload before the flock got out of range. Mr. DU never fired his gun and he looked shocked at what he just witnessed. He left shortly after that and the numerous hunts I’ve been on since then he has never been back that I know of.

Some believe that if you don’t shoot the birds over decoys with the wings cupped and coming to your textbook calling techniques then it’s not a hunt to be proud of. Myself I enjoy those hunts but sometimes your faced with a situation we were facing that morning and a farmer who sees these “feathered goats” tearing up his crops and he just wants them dead. Doing whatever you can that’s legal to kill as many geese as possible is what makes the landowner happy and keeps the invites to hunt the property coming.

 

At least the Poachers are not all that Bright

Aug 21, 2006 @ 10:48 pm by Moose

 Photo Courtesy of NC Wildlife Commission

I came across this article in the Charlotte Observer  by Tom Higgins that highlights some of the more humorous encounters the NC Wildlife Enforcement with some of the dumber poachers in the state.

Working late on a busy opening day last September in Guilford County, Sgt. Cameron Ingram and officers Brent Hodges and Bray McAteer decided to check out one final hunt before heading home.

Several men were in a field at the back of a farm, and most of them deservedly got a ticket for hunting with the aid of live decoys, a strict no-no.

According to Wildlife In North Carolina magazine’s monthly “On Patrol” feature, the hunters had tied white pigeons to logs throughout the field and had placed their blinds nearby.

 

Highly illegal but an uncommon practice I’m sure. Hunting over baited fields, unplugged guns and exceeding the limit are much more common. If you hit the dove fields in a couple of weeks make sure you don’t have a “community pile” of doves but rather each individual should keep their own pile. The last few years the wardens have been cracking down on “community pile” and issuing tickets for exceeding the limit.

 ”The two officers were checking fishermen on Lake Norman when Carlisle received a call from a friend who was scouting the nearby Catawba Game Land for doves to hunt the next morning. The friend reported that a man was sitting in the middle of a field on the game land shooting doves in violation of the law prohibiting Sunday hunting.

“The officers drove to the field and approached the hunter. He was polite and seemed glad to see the officers.

“Carlisle explained the violation to the man, who in turn revealed that he recently had moved to North Carolina from a state where Sunday hunting was allowed and had not thought twice about doing so.

“As Carlisle was writing the ticket, the man said that he had been wondering why no one else had showed up to hunt.”

Uh, might it have been they were at church?

North Carolina is one of a few states that doesn’t allow hunting on Sunday. Currently the state is studying the issue to see if the law should be changed. I must admit that I’m happy with the way things are right now North Carolina has some long seasons. The lack of Sunday hunting also allows for extra days on the front end and the back end of the waterfowl season which has been very beneficial with the way some of the migrations have gone. You have until the end of the month to be heard on the issue if you wish to contact the NC Wildlife Comment. Additionally if you want more information about the Sunday hunting from folks working to get the law changed check out this site.

 ”Arnold was reading through the Shelby Shopper when he saw an ad placed by a man who wanted to sell two mounted deer heads — one of a doe, the other of a buck.

“Arnold called the man and asked about the mounts. The fellow said he had sold the buck, but still had the doe. The officer went to the subject’s house in uniform, thinking the man had figured out by now the sell was illegal.

“Officer Arnold asked for the mount. The man brought it to him and asked, `Will you give me $30 for it?’

“Arnold advised the man it was against the law to sell the mount in North Carolina. The man answered, `I know, but who is going to tell?’

“After the man dropped the price to $25, Arnold advised him that he was going to issue a citation. At this point the man finally looked at the patch on the shoulder of Arnold’s uniform and asked, `Are you the game warden?’ ”

Well, doe — er, duh! Tom

 

Not much you can say about that other then it wouldn’t surprise me to see this guy as a Darwin award recipient sometime in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

North Carolina Elk Update

Aug 18, 2006 @ 01:18 am by Moose

 

 

Although I haven’t made it up there this summer to see the elk it’s good to read the latest report. My last update about the elk there was 10 calves born this spring. The Park had also taken extra steps by capturing and moving some bears out of the valley to give the calves a chance to grow up a bit before the bears returned. Well it appears to have worked because 8 of the 10 have made it and of those 4 of them are females. This is really good news and there is some speculation that some additional calves were born outside of the valley and not included in this count.

One other interesting part of this latest report is an update on the bulls.

The bulls of Cataloochee are still traveling together and with their antlers in full velvet they make quite a sight to see! There are several impressive racks in the group including a couple that are 6×6 and 7×7. Bull #17 looks to have the largest rack with eight points on each side. Bull #4 may have the most unique antlers (3×4), since both have a fairly large palmated formation at the top. Last year Bull #16 was the dominant bull of the Valley, but he has yet to return. It will be interesting to see if he can defend his title.

Unfortunately in 2006 we have documented the loss of one and possibly two adult elk. In March, Bull #25 was found dead near Heintooga Road. In May, Bull #1’s collar was found on a ridge surrounding Cataloochee Valley. The last sighting of him reports him in poor health and although no remains were found near the collar, it is likely that he died.

Link to Story

Mystery Animal killed in Maine

Aug 16, 2006 @ 09:53 pm by Moose

It wasn’t that long ago we had a mystery animal of our own here in North Carolina. ( Original Post    Follow Up )  The Black Bear Blog has the story of the creature that looks like could of come out of a Stephen King novel.

 

The local paper Sun Journal Story on the Creature 

The world leading crypto zoologist, Loren Coleman has a lot of the information on his blog Cryptomundo and well worth reviewing if you have an intrest in this creature.  He has been following this story for some time here is a link to stories about this creature from back in 2005.

Whatever it is it is certainly a weird looking creature. I suspect it’s some type of Coyote-Wolf-Dog hybrid. I’m some what surprised that Maine Wildlife showed no interest in figuring out what it is. Be interesting to see if they come up with an identification. 

No Matter How Bad a Day You’ve Had You can’t Help but Smile

Aug 14, 2006 @ 10:57 pm by Moose

 

Today was kind of a rough one starting off with having to drop my truck off at the repair shop to fix what should have been done last week when they had it at the shop, arriving at work discovering the AC was kaput and it went down hill from there. After a day like that I arrived home and went to the mailbox and it was like Christmas, maybe even better then Christmas, an envelop from the North Carolina Wildlife Commission. My Big Game Report Card (Tags) so I guess the summer is about over and the hunting will begin.

My upcoming season will begin in the northern Maine Bear woods. I leave in less then two weeks for the opening week and when I get back to North Carolina the Resident Goose season will be started. The daily bag limit has been raised to 8 a day, now that makes me smile. I hope to start the season out with a bang.

The best season is about to start… Hunting Season…. So Smile.

 

 

Jim Zumbo Bear Hunting in North Carolina

Aug 11, 2006 @ 01:13 am by Moose

Photo from Outdoor Channel Website Jim with his 420lb NC Black Bear

Jim Zumbo is one of today’s great outdoor writers and celebrities. It’s pretty exciting to see that on his latest hunting adventure on his TV show, Jim Zumbo Outdoors,he is here in the great state of North Carolina. Unless you are a serious bear hunter you may think North Carolina has little to offer to big time hunting, but you’d be wrong. The coastal bruins get so large here that they often tip the scales 500+ lbs .It’s a 2 part show part one airs this week and there is one chance left to catch it and that’s on Sunday morning at 7am on the Outdoor Channel. It’s a great show and you’ll see a different hunting style if you’ve never hunted them here on the coast. Check it Out

North Carolina Waterfowl Hunters now is the Time to be Heard

Aug 09, 2006 @ 11:27 pm by Moose

 

The annual waterfowl meetings for the state have been announced. Here is a great opportunity to get out and ask those questions or voice concerns about waterfowl in North Carolina.

Wildlife Resources Commission to Hear Comments on Proposed Waterfowl Season Rules

RALEIGH, N.C. (Aug. 8, 2006) – The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has scheduled a series of nine public meetings statewide to discuss the upcoming waterfowl hunting seasons.

The Commission will take into account comments from these meetings when establishing the 2006-2007 waterfowl season regulations at its Aug. 30 meeting.

Three meetings will be held each day at the following locations:

Tuesday, Aug. 15 — Manteo, N.C. Aquarium at Roanoke Island; Albemarle, Stanly County Courthouse; and Clyde, Haywood Community College, Room 318.

Wednesday, Aug. 16 — New Bern, Craven County Courthouse; Graham, Alamance County Courthouse; and Morganton, Burke County Courthouse.

Thursday, Aug. 17 — Louisburg, Franklin County Courthouse; Elizabethtown, Bladen County Courthouse; and Yadkinville, Yadkin County Courthouse.

All meetings begin at 7 p.m.

This year’s federal frameworks for waterfowl in the Atlantic Flyway differ slightly from last year. This year, one canvasback per day may be allowed for the entire 60-day season. In addition, two hooded mergansers per day may also be allowed. The hooded merganser bag limit had previously been one per day. Although breeding population estimates for scaup continue to decline, the two-scaup-per-day bag limit may continue for the 2006-2007 season.

Last season marked the first year since 1991 that regular season Canada goose hunting was allowed in the Northeast Hunt Zone, which comprises all or parts of 11 northeastern counties. This experimental season is restricted in that a special permit is needed to harvest one goose per season in this area. For the upcoming season, the Commission may issue 1,000 permits, an increase of 500 permits from last year. In addition, the season length may be expanded from 15 to 30 days, and will run from late December to late January.

Regular season frameworks for waterfowl, as proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, include:

ducks, coots and mergansers – 60 days with no more than three splits between Sept. 23 and Jan. 28. (black and mottled duck season closed until Dec. 1; no season for harlequin ducks.)

special sea ducks – in special sea duck area only, Sept. 23-Jan. 31.

brant – 30 days with no more than two splits between Sept. 23 and Jan. 31.

light geese (snow, blue and Ross’ geese) – 107 days, three splits between Oct. 1 and March 10.

tundra swan – 90 days, no splits between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, permit only.

dark geese (Canada and white-fronted geese) – Resident Population Zone, 70 days between Oct. 1 and Feb. 15, two splits; Southern James Bay Zone, 70 days between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, two splits; and Northeast Hunt Zone, 30 days between Dec. 25 and Jan. 28, permit only.

See the state’s goose hunting zones (pdf - opens to new window).Compensatory days are allowed for Sundays.

Proposed daily bag limits under the federal frameworks include (possession limit would be twice the daily limit, unless otherwise noted):

ducks – six ducks with no more than: one black duck or one mottled duck; four mallards with no more than two hen mallards; four scoters; two wood ducks; two redheads; two scaup; one canvasback; one pintail; and one fulvous tree duck.

snow geese – 15 with no possession limit.

brant – two.

coots – 15.

Proposed bag limits for Canada and white-fronted geese (in aggregate) vary by time and zone:

Statewide (except Dare County special zone), September – eight.

Dare County special zone, September – two.

Resident Zone, regular season after Sept. 30 – five.

Southern James Bay Zone, regular season after Sept. 30 – two.

Northeast Hunt Zone, permit – one per season with permit.

To voice an opinion on how the Wildlife Resources Commission should set waterfowl regulations within these federal frameworks, attend one of the nine public information meetings, or submit written comments by Aug. 22 to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Division of Wildlife Management, 1724 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1724, or call (919) 707-0050.

– The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has scheduled a series of nine public meetings statewide to discuss the upcoming waterfowl hunting seasons.

If You Needed any Encouragement for the Upcoming Season

Aug 08, 2006 @ 10:04 pm by Moose

Outdoor Photographer  Don Jones has a phenomenal photo layout of the 25 Giant Whitetails  on Field & Stream that is well worth checking out.  If this doesn’t get you excited you must be dead. 

A Sight that Makes Your Heart Skip a Beat or Two

Aug 06, 2006 @ 09:53 pm by Moose

Here in the south land leases for hunting are a must. Don’t get me wrong North Carolina has great public lands but it’s frustrating to have absolutely no control over the area and to have people walk in on you.

Saturday I was out checking some stand sites on our newest lease in the piedmont of North Carolina. I’ve yet to kill a mountable buck but I’m hopeful with this newest tract of land. We know this hasn’t been hunted in a number of years so the potential for some nice bucks is really good.

We came up on 6 hen turkeys feeding in the field a good sign but not great because there wasn’t a single poult with them. After seeing them we were excited because if there is one thing we love more then deer hunting its turkey hunting.

Well if that wasn’t a good enough sight we rounded the corner of the field headed towards one of my potential stand sights and my heart about stopped as a nice 8 pointer raised his head up briefly in the field before he went back to eating. Although it’s not a huge buck it is one that if I killed I’d have it mounted. (I can’t believe I forgot my camera)

I’m not much of a trophy hunter I would actually describe myself as a meat hunter. This land seems to have plenty of does so I may hold off and wait for a mountable buck.

Then again I’ve never killed a deer with a bow so the small bucks may not have a clear pass.

Well I now got to scramble to get my stands together to move out there, I hunt mostly out of ladder stands. I was a big fan of the Strongbuilt Basic Ladder Stands however they have discontinued that model. I’m trying a couple of different brands now to see if there is one that I can grow to like as much as the Strongbuilt.

The season is about a month away so I got to get a move on to get them in place. 

How good are ya? Take the Survival Test

Aug 06, 2006 @ 01:02 am by Moose

I was surfing over on the Outdoor Life site (Yup the same great folks that do the magazine we all grew up with) and came across their 8 question survival test. I hunt, former EMT, I love to read stories about Man Vs. Nature Heck I watch the Deadliest Catch so I felt I was ready for this little quiz. I really thought I knew a fair amount but after taking the test I realize there is still a lot I don’t know. I got 5 right (really 6 cause there is one that’s really bad but for me to say any more it might give some of you enough of a hint to out score me.) Take the quiz and see how you do and maybe you’ll learn something that you can use latter.

Next Page »