Remember this: People tend to eat all the gummy bears out of a bag.
As I have said in previous posts: Lets take a closer inspection of this...........
Once again this website is a tool to get people to think a little deeper about the sport of hunting, habitats, wildlife, and hunter behaviour.
I have since read a book from the 1700-1800's. In this book which I can not recall the name was a description of South Carolina before Lord Ashley's immigrants moved in. I read that one group came to South Carolina and the comment was the 'sky was darkened by turkey in such a number to astound a man'. Not exact words but I remembered this phaseology because I was curious to the fact that there were that many turkey. I wanted to live back then even if dysentary was the conversation of the day.
That's dedication. Can you imagine though hunting in a time where there was more game than you could shake your stick at? As I reflect on this passage from a book from my memory I thought upon the turkey herd near me. There is probably about 20 in number that I know of because the herd collects in March through May to breed and nest. Twenty turkey are not enough to darken the sky. Maybe over one of my eyes on a cloudy day?
Usually when I am alone with my time out afield hunting I have the clearest mind and great thought on conundrums that sometimes do not seem so obvious to others. Not that it makes me special but when you live in a time where social media has covered every known topic getting a different slant on things is like finding gold or a coal encrusted diamond.
My world of hunting is very small but my oberservations are big. I don't choose to be a world traveling hunter because of the bad impressions that other hunters having pursued that endeavor have afflicted me with but that is for a later topic.
As one can see the above is a very beautifully well mounted Mountain Goat. When reflecting on the internet and the menagerie of trophy photos (which are endless) how do we as hunter know when we are acutally overhunting? Where do we go to for that knowledge and is it really correct or false security? If it is evident by what we as hunters observe on our outdoor excursions would it not be a relevant topic to address based on observations afield?
I, as a woman who hunts and a woodswoman, feel at times I am undervalued for my perspective, my observations, my opinions, and feedback but yet I feel compelled for the greater good of wild game, the enjoyment of hunters of all genders, and the general state of ecosystmes and habitat to stick my finger in the murky water of this quest and stir vigorously.
On occasion I have been told to say nothing that would make hunting look bad but with a conscious about the broad health of hunting how can I sit in silence and not say a word? Would it be more valueable if it came from a man or maybe more believeable if I were a hunting show personality with the backing of a big sports channel?
I say chuck it. I am putting it out there for the universe to deliver unto the masses regardless of who steals it or passes it on. The greater good I say.
The reason that I asked myself this question this evening was because of deer and birds. Mostly birds.
I can remember back in the 90's I could drive down the road to my house and there would be coveys of quail bursting from the bush to fly elsewhere. Since th 90's I have only seen one quail and it was a pharoah quail. Over 22 years I have only seen that one. I have travelled other places and no quail insight not even on the land managed areas of the DNR. Very troubling to me especially when there are governmental agencies that disperse funds to land owners to grow habitat for non-existant birds.
South Carolina was known for quail hunting. Since the introduction of wasteful fox pens that are eventually used as coyote pens to train dogs and spread disease, domesticated animals such as dogs and cats, other competitive wildlife, the quail have as the old phrase states "gone to the birds".
Even if you have a quail population the domesticated or wild animals eat the eggs.
Quail are known as the "Prince of Game Birds" but their slow decline in the state of South Carolina makes them look like the pauper. I googled, back in 2007 the DNR accomodated 1100 people but in 2011 they would only accomodate 35 people because there was no interest in the quail seminars they were hosting.
As a link to check just for my state I researched the Quail Forever website on the outdoorhub.com page: Click this link after reading my full commentary.
http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2012-quail-nesting-habitat-conditions-report/
Even looking up your state it will give you the general conditions on quail nesting habitats because if the eggs can't survive to hatch you will have no quail. If quail have their breeding season with accompanying conditions that would be tuff on the hunter getting his birds. I noticed the key word at the beginning of the commentary was 'hope' which basically points out the helplessness of any control of the outcome of quail hatchling survival.
Just for my state this was what the Quail Forever posted:
"South Carolina’s virtual lack of a 2011 winter, combined with moderate harvest levels, has resulted in high quail carryover on managed properties, reports Billy Dukes, Small Game Project Supervisor for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. One of the mildest winters on record resulted in an early nesting season for many bird species, including quail. These early hatches will help to spread out an already protracted nesting season and may lead to greater instances of re-nesting. South Carolina’s spring was essentially normal, with a few timely rains that improved growing conditions. That said, all counties except Barnwell are now in drought status, which will likely decrease hatchability of nests and lower chick survival.
Since South Carolina added counties to those eligible for the state’s CRP SAFE practice, acreage has increased from less than 100 acres to more than 1,000 acres. South Carolina’s SAFE practice is essentially a short-term set aside program in which landowners are allowed to convert whole crop fields to native warm season grasses and forbs for the duration of their contract."
As a point this is what I am talking about.
I looked in the SC Market Bulletin. This is a newspaper put out by the state to sale things statewide. I looked under Poultry to find ads for Bobwhite quail. This is the prices for quail hatchlings:
1 w/o $0.55; 8 w/o $2; 10 w/o $2.50; 12 w/o $3.00 then there was another ad for eggs.
If one was interested in Pharoah quail they run $0.50-$2.50 for 50 eggs so there is not much different in price for Bobwhite quail.
Don't even get me started on Pheasants.
At this price I could see it worth making an initative to raise and return Bobwhite quail populations back to the fields but where is the interest from hunters? Or the population at large that wants to conserve, conserve, conserve?
Yes you can increase acreage, get land owners to allocate tracts for habitat but its useless if there are no quail. Why do they not let the land owner raise the quail as close to wild as possible then turn them free? As a rule to help quail be less stressed from hunting do not have a hunting season for X amount of time. This would be followed by research for the number in the populations to see if it works? I haven't delved down into this dark hole yet but I am sure it would be interesting. If only other hunters would question this same thing.
I walked afield one morning hunting for dove. Doves are known to stay in the woods in the evening to breed but come out to eat hard in the morning. I only saw five dove sitting on a powerline. You can't shoot at them on the power line. Only five I saw and none in a freshly combined cornfield. I was pretty put out not because I couldn't shoot anything but because there was no dove population other than five renegade birds. I stood with my gun as a V of Canadian Goose flew over. At that point I didn't even want to shoot at them.
On the other hand I noticed as the weather got cooler here and tossing out black sunflower seeds in the woods, I had about 20 lite down by the stand I was in to eat and drink. Of course I like that sound they make when they take off like a torpedo.
I also noticed this with wood duck in my habitat area. For five consecutive hunting season I have herd the blast of guns behind the area I hunt but each year its less and less because the hunters aren't really concerned with skipping that area for a hunting season for life to take its toll but have decimated it to no duck. They shot all of the duck out that area. The last season I heard the guns there was whooping and hollering back there clear through the woods. I feel that was disregard for replenishment. Here I am building a habitat and a breeding ground. There they are tearing it all down around me to nothing. Usually duck come when its cold but the weather is too warm. If you as a hunter observe the change in the weather you will realize the conditions in the past were more conducive to migrations of waterfowl but as the weather has become indifferent to its past the migratory birds do not move to areas they use to visit. Breeding grounds are becoming desolate gameless areas.
On to the topic of online trophy photos as a working model or example. I was scrolling down a feed on a social site I peruse. Every post on that stream was a dead animal with a hunter smiling away. That part didn't bother me but when I started to count the different species up and realized they were no longer in the number of live specimens I became concerned. If you are a hunter with trophy photos sit down with pencil and pen then do a hash mark for the number of each different animals type and do a count by the end of your time on social media that night. Think about that and do it for a week.
My question here was how does anyone know exactly how many of these animals are killed in a season if there is no system for turning them in? I know there are tagging systems for the 'ones that count' but what about the game that are killed by hunters anonymously on a Saturday evening but go un-noted while hanging outside at the barn?
I can go into the woods and shoot five deer but never tell a soul that I did it. How do these five deer figure into the population count the DNR reports as a flourishing deer population for the year of xxxx. I could take out a herd and no one would know. If that is the case what effect would that have on a deer population and its report on the yearly report?
I have heard farmers brag about shooting deer off their farm land when really they are only allowed to shoot over the head and scare away. The unfortunate thing about this was the farmer just let the body lay without getting the meat so it was a waste of life. When hunting season comes the deer have been long since killed and gone. It takes some time for new deer to migrate in. Sometimes the deer migrate in because of lack of habitat elsewhere or the pressures of over and unscruplous hunting.
This year I have observed very disturbing things on behalf of hunters. I have seen a drive hunt based off a public paved road around a community of house where they weren't concerned in what direction they were shooting. I have seen hunters try and chase the deer out the woods with an ATV. I have found bodies in the woods where the horns only were sawed off and the intact skeleton lay in the oak leaves.
This is my concern and it should be others. Its different when its publically managed lands but what about the individual with the responsibility for managing his own corner of the world or his behaviour?
I have observed a lot of hunters that talk about and bemoan the fact they are 'conserving' but are they really? Do hunters really dig down deep for the information to follow a sound personal stream of thought on the very sport they profess to love?
How far as my initial question of knowing when we over hunt I feel that the hunting community only relies on the governmental agencies that post the report for game population numbers but really could be taking note of what they observe in the field.
If a hunter notices something afield that he could report it would be more eyes on the ground to help those agencies that are left to be responsible for collecting the data and information for public consumption.
My hope is that instead of the sport of hunting being about the photo-op or the gross arrogance of those that profess they are doing good for hunting be diverted at least by those that are more concerned with the infrastructure of hunting, habitats, and the wild game replenishment when management only maintains a number in populations that is barely doable for hunting.
As hunters and huntresses we should be better informed on what effects the lives of game animals. If we do not have adequate game animal numbers we have nothing to hunt.
Written by and photography: W Harley Bloodworth
~ Courtesy of the AOFH~
