I like to hunt.

[AdlerGrosmann]

Hmmm I go hunting just about every weekend on White-tailed deer season..(gun season) down in Dawson, Georgia. I hope these pictures do not offend anyone but they are of my first buck, I shot him on Dec.3rd,2006. Including the half-rack, he came out last but both in the morning. I wonder if anyone else likes to hunt, if so what do you like to hunt?

My first buck an 8point and a Half-rack.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/0026.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/0027.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/0024.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/0028.jpg

Also I shot 3 bobcats in 2006 too..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/0031.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/0032.jpg

Hehe..I used my 270 on them..:lol:

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/Picture016.jpg

They are on my bed..top is a 20 Gauge Shotgun & bottom is my favorite weapon! The 270. Bolt-Action but it is custom built (My grandfather did this for me)

He also put some type of rubber protection on the scope..I got a scope eye the first time I shot the thing!:oops:

[August]

You look to be quite an accomplished hunter for someone so young. Well done.

[AdlerGrosmann]

You look to be quite an accomplished hunter for someone so young. Well done. Thank you! I'm 13 yrs old when I shot him. Now I'm 14 yrs old. I wonder if there are any other young/elder people who like to hunt as I do.

[Letum]

Just rabbits round here. I trake a few for the pot each summer with a .202 or air-rifle.

[Jimbuna]

Nice shots (no pun intended) :up:

I tend to hunt the two legged criminal kind....and only use a gun when they're suspected of carrying firearms themselves ;)

[SUBMAN1]

That's friggen cheating to use an ATV to haul them out! You got to do it the old fasioned way - by hand! :D

-S

[bradclark1]

That's friggen cheating to use an ATV to haul them out! You got to do it the old fasioned way - by hand! :D

-S
The old fashioned way is tying it to the hood of your pickup.

[SUBMAN1]

The old fashioned way is tying it to the hood of your pickup.That is after you dragged it out of the woods by hand! I did that once. Not fun.

-S

[August]

The old fashioned way is tying it to the hood of your pickup.That is after you dragged it out of the woods by hand! I did that once. Not fun.

-S

The only old time people who dragged deer out of the woods by hand are those who didn't have a horse...

[Sailor Steve]

I don't like to hunt, but I love vennison, so...

[SUBMAN1]

The only old time people who dragged deer out of the woods by hand are those who didn't have a horse...Well, I didn't have a horse, and there was no way a truck was getting in where I was.

-S

[STEED]

I have been banned on the grounds flying a B-52 with nukes is far to extreme, why? After all I'm only hunting rouge country's.

[Skybird]

Are Bobcats (=Luchs) so widespread in America? In Germany, they are very rare, and protected. Shooting one would get you into legal trouble.

But I am happy that our wolf population slowly but constantly is rising again after so very long time of no wolves in Germany.

[Jimbuna]

I have been banned on the grounds flying a B-52 with nukes is far to extreme, why? After all I'm only hunting rouge country's.

Ya crazy bugga....it's not about the nukes....but about the carbon emissions :lol:

[SUBMAN1]

Are Bobcats (=Luchs) so widespread in America? In Germany, they are very rare, and protected. Shooting one would get you into legal trouble.

But I am happy that our wolf population slowly but constantly is rising again after so very long time of no wolves in Germany.I think they are rare in Germany simply because the place is so built up. In AMerica, you fly over it and the majority is untouched with not even a single living soul for 100's of miles in any direction. Plenty of places to keep bobcats happy. They are no where near endangered as far as I know. Had one go through a friends yard about a month ago, and for every one you do see, there are at least 100 times when they are near.

To give you an idea, we still have about a yearly catch the cougar party by the police on TV out here, because they wander into the city. Or a catch the bear party. People don't typically appreaciate their pets or even their children being preyed upon. They typically traqualize them and transport them deep into the mountains. There are 30,000 bear in this state alone they estimate.

-S

[XabbaRus]

How dare you...naughty naughty boy. You know you are a menace. <sarcasm off>

Very cool. I trust you at the venison. Very tasty.

I wish in the UK I could go hunting, not that there is much. Saying that I am not ar from the highlands so maybe I'll have a shooting holiday and bag a deer.

[Letum]

How dare you...naughty naughty boy. You know you are a menace. <sarcasm off>

Very cool. I trust you at the venison. Very tasty.

I wish in the UK I could go hunting, not that there is much. Saying that I am not ar from the highlands so maybe I'll have a shooting holiday and bag a deer.


Hope you have a little saved up. Its a good few grand per gun per day for grouse here
in North Yorkshire.

[SUBMAN1]

Hope you have a little saved up. Its a good few grand per gun per day for grouse here
in North Yorkshire.Are you saing it costs you $3K pounds to rent a gun to shoot grouse? Woahh! :o You could buy 4 or 5 rifles and own them for life over here for that!

-S

[AVGWarhawk]

I came very close to hunting. I purchased a 30/30 made by Marlin. I purchased a scope and had it set to 75 yards. I thought to myself, do I really want to shoot a deer? I did not really think so. I sold the rifle. No big deal, I was not brought up in a environment that had hunters around. My brother-in-law did. He got me started on it.

Anyway, as far as dragging them out by hand. My bro-in-law did. His first buck. Dummy forgot to put a sling on his rifle. He had to leave his rifle in the woods to drag out the deer and then return for the rifle. :doh:


Now turkey hunting is something I would like to try.

[Jimbuna]

How dare you...naughty naughty boy. You know you are a menace. <sarcasm off>

Very cool. I trust you at the venison. Very tasty.

I wish in the UK I could go hunting, not that there is much. Saying that I am not ar from the highlands so maybe I'll have a shooting holiday and bag a deer.


Hope you have a little saved up. Its a good few grand per gun per day for grouse here
in North Yorkshire.

Up Northern England way you can get a gun 'under the counter' for £100....go to the local off licence and show it to the sales assistant and they'll give you all the Famous Grouse you can run away with for nothing :lol:

[Hitman]

My father loved hunting but I did not inherit that love:hmm: I learned from him to shoot and sometimes I go out in our property in the mountains of Alicante and kill a rabbit or a red legged partridge, but only to eat them. I like a somehow "ecological" hunting: Only kill what you are actually going to eat yourself. No kill sport for me :nope:

I still have his weapons of choice: A pair of hand-made 12 mm shotguns, with several barrels choices (For ducks, rabbits, etc.) from the renowned AYA (Aguirre y Aranzábal), more or less the spanish version of Purdell & sons

P.S. a paella done with a hunted wild rabbit is awesome, and so is a culined partridge .... yummmmmmmmm :p

[Skybird]

While I can appreciate the part of the hunt that is about finding, tracking, approaching and finally "shooting" a target animal, I can very well live without the act of actually killing the animal itself, as long as I am not close to starvation. I would thus like this way of having a walk in the woods, but I would use a cameragun. So why not becoming a wildlife film maker, while I'm at it. :D

The only animal I ever intentionally shot - with a compound bow :) - was an apparently ill dog prowling around our camp one evening. I did not wish to take the risk that we would get licked or bitten by it when sleeping, and getting infested with something like rabies or so. That was during one of my travels back then, of course.

[SUBMAN1]

I came very close to hunting. I purchased a 30/30 made by Marlin. I purchased a scope and had it set to 75 yards. I thought to myself, do I really want to shoot a deer? I did not really think so. I sold the rifle. No big deal, I was not brought up in a environment that had hunters around. My brother-in-law did. He got me started on it.

Anyway, as far as dragging them out by hand. My bro-in-law did. His first buck. Dummy forgot to put a sling on his rifle. He had to leave his rifle in the woods to drag out the deer and then return for the rifle. :doh:


Now turkey hunting is something I would like to try.I feel about the same. Shot a deer once. Not too keen about doing it again, unless I am very hungry! I can do it to eat, but as a sport, not so much.

-S

[d@rk51d3]

I like a somehow "ecological" hunting: Only kill what you are actually going to eat yourself. No kill sport for me :nope:


That's my theory too. Some for now, some for the freezer.

Mind you, sometimes I could eat a horse.:hmm:



- edit - ........and as WosMan says below, culls can be important too.

[The WosMan]

Nice bucks. I need to get out this year and get a deer. I have some good friends with property on a farm down in southern Ohio and the deer are big down there. There are a lot of deer around where I live but you can't hunt in most cities and the ones that do allow it, the bucks have tiny antlers on them. Not sure why that is since they destroy everyones gardens and fruit trees around here every year so they should have a lot of nutrients to grow antlers. Then those same people b*tch and moan when their property is damaged or they hit a deer and ruin their car or a deer comes flying through someones sliding glass window on the the back of their house and trashes the house while freaking out while trying to escape throwing blood all over the place due to cuts from the glass (that really does happen too).

As soon as the cities either allow licenses for bowhunters or they hire sharpshooters to thin the herds everyone starts crying about the poor cute deer and the deer don't deserve it because we are moving into their habitat. The truth is they are overpopulated because people feed them corn and apples and they have no natural predators other than coyotes which really couldn't kill a full grown adult. Therefore, killing one not only is solving a problem and reduces the risk of CW disease for the overpopulated deer but it also makes my belly happy too when I eat venison roulatte.

[AdlerGrosmann]

I came very close to hunting. I purchased a 30/30 made by Marlin. I purchased a scope and had it set to 75 yards. I thought to myself, do I really want to shoot a deer? I did not really think so. I sold the rifle. No big deal, I was not brought up in a environment that had hunters around. My brother-in-law did. He got me started on it.

Anyway, as far as dragging them out by hand. My bro-in-law did. His first buck. Dummy forgot to put a sling on his rifle. He had to leave his rifle in the woods to drag out the deer and then return for the rifle. :doh:


Now turkey hunting is something I would like to try. Turkey hunting is fun, although they see you very easily. I only turkey hunted once..saw a couple..but they saw me too! :huh: The blink of my eye made him run(They have very good sight) as my dad says. But still it's a good sport/hunt to eat them!

[Tchocky]

I've never taken an interest in hunting, and it doesn't interest me now.
But I can recognise a difficult task, requiring lots of skill.
Congrats Adler Gross :)

[Letum]

Hope you have a little saved up. Its a good few grand per gun per day for grouse here
in North Yorkshire.Are you saing it costs you $3K pounds to rent a gun to shoot grouse? Woahh! :o You could buy 4 or 5 rifles and own them for life over here for that!

-S

How dare you...naughty naughty boy. You know you are a menace. <sarcasm off>

Very cool. I trust you at the venison. Very tasty.

I wish in the UK I could go hunting, not that there is much. Saying that I am not ar from the highlands so maybe I'll have a shooting holiday and bag a deer.

Hope you have a little saved up. Its a good few grand per gun per day for grouse here
in North Yorkshire.
Up Northern England way you can get a gun 'under the counter' for £100....go to the local off licence and show it to the sales assistant and they'll give you all the Famous Grouse you can run away with for nothing :lol:



No, no, no....when I say per gun I don't mean buying weapons!

I mean that when there is a grouse shoot it costs a few grand to join the shoot and
they charge by the gun.

Most people hire a gun loader and they have 2 guns so they can shoot and have the
other gun being loaded at the same time. They have to pay double.

this year there have been 12-24 guns per run and 6 runs a day. Each run being done 2-4 times in the season.

Big money for the land owners.

[Sailor Steve]

Are Bobcats (=Luchs) so widespread in America? In Germany, they are very rare, and protected. Shooting one would get you into legal trouble.

But I am happy that our wolf population slowly but constantly is rising again after so very long time of no wolves in Germany.I think they are rare in Germany simply because the place is so built up. In AMerica, you fly over it and the majority is untouched with not even a single living soul for 100's of miles in any direction. Plenty of places to keep bobcats happy. They are no where near endangered as far as I know. Had one go through a friends yard about a month ago, and for every one you do see, there are at least 100 times when they are near.

To give you an idea, we still have about a yearly catch the cougar party by the police on TV out here, because they wander into the city. Or a catch the bear party. People don't typically appreaciate their pets or even their children being preyed upon. They typically traqualize them and transport them deep into the mountains. There are 30,000 bear in this state alone they estimate.

-S
I have a friend who owns a small horse property just thirty miles outside of Salt Lake City. He keep loaded shotguns handy because of his "kitty problems": cougars come out of the local mountains and bother the barnyard animals.

[SUBMAN1]

Are Bobcats (=Luchs) so widespread in America? In Germany, they are very rare, and protected. Shooting one would get you into legal trouble.

But I am happy that our wolf population slowly but constantly is rising again after so very long time of no wolves in Germany.I think they are rare in Germany simply because the place is so built up. In AMerica, you fly over it and the majority is untouched with not even a single living soul for 100's of miles in any direction. Plenty of places to keep bobcats happy. They are no where near endangered as far as I know. Had one go through a friends yard about a month ago, and for every one you do see, there are at least 100 times when they are near.

To give you an idea, we still have about a yearly catch the cougar party by the police on TV out here, because they wander into the city. Or a catch the bear party. People don't typically appreaciate their pets or even their children being preyed upon. They typically traqualize them and transport them deep into the mountains. There are 30,000 bear in this state alone they estimate.

-S I have a friend who owns a small horse property just thirty miles outside of Salt Lake City. He keep loaded shotguns handy because of his "kitty problems": cougars come out of the local mountains and bother the barnyard animals.You need to! :D

[SUBMAN1]

No, no, no....when I say per gun I don't mean buying weapons!

I mean that when there is a grouse shoot it costs a few grand to join the shoot and
they charge by the gun.

Most people hire a gun loader and they have 2 guns so they can shoot and have the
other gun being loaded at the same time. They have to pay double.

this year there have been 12-24 guns per run and 6 runs a day. Each run being done 2-4 times in the season.

Big money for the land owners.Well that was my point. Here you can take off to a National forest with a hunting license ($17), as much ammo and guns as you can carry, and that is it. $6K to go hunting for a day is just nuts!!! As I was saying, over here, considering you are buying decent guns at $500 a pop, you can have 10 rifles, enough ammo to sink a ship, and an annual hunting permit for that kind of cash! Hold up!!! That is British pounds! Uggh!! Way worse!! That means you can have 20 rifles, enough ammo to sink 2 ships, and a friggen 1 year pass to shoot whatever the hell you want!

Crazy. This is what happens when you have a monopoly on an industry. DId I forget to mention that you will only need to pay $100 for an annual pass next year to do the same thing? You already have 20 rifles, so that's a one time purchase.

-S

[AVGWarhawk]

I came very close to hunting. I purchased a 30/30 made by Marlin. I purchased a scope and had it set to 75 yards. I thought to myself, do I really want to shoot a deer? I did not really think so. I sold the rifle. No big deal, I was not brought up in a environment that had hunters around. My brother-in-law did. He got me started on it.

Anyway, as far as dragging them out by hand. My bro-in-law did. His first buck. Dummy forgot to put a sling on his rifle. He had to leave his rifle in the woods to drag out the deer and then return for the rifle. :doh:


Now turkey hunting is something I would like to try. Turkey hunting is fun, although they see you very easily. I only turkey hunted once..saw a couple..but they saw me too! :huh: The blink of my eye made him run(They have very good sight) as my dad says. But still it's a good sport/hunt to eat them!



I think the turkey provides more of a challenge. Apparently no showering for a day or so. Need to keep quiet. A bit harder to shoot. I would not feel so bad shooting a turkey. I have only seen on wild turkey actually in the wild. I was in the Pocono Mountains. Little bugger when whizzing by the front of my car.


OK, true story time!!!! Gather around! As told by my bro-in-law.

A buddy of his went hunting. He has hunted all his life. Got the guns and the gear! One day as he sat in his deer stand a nice buck stumbled by and was in perfect position for the take down. One shot and the buck dropped like a rock. He came down from the stand and looked at the buck. He noticed the entire side of the buck was void of any hair. It was smooth like processed leather for a jacket. He could not figure out why. As he prepared to drag the buck out he notice a doe a few yards off. She was not moving at all. Upon closer inspection he notice the doe was completely blind. Apparently the doe would make her way by staying close to the buck thus rubbing his fur completely off. He was her guide. That was the last day he every hunted. Sold his guns and gear.

True story!!!!

[Letum]

Well that was my point. [...]

-S

It's not quite that extortinate. It costs the land owners a lot of money to feed the
game, kill of predators, plant food crops, plant and burn back ground cover, set up
shooting hills and have so much open land.

As well as paying 50+ beaters and dogs every day to flush out the birds towards the gun line and then
pay compensation everytime a beater and dog gets shot. :doh:

[kiwi_2005]

I use to hunt alot too, dont do it much now tho, use to hunt wild goats, pigs, rabbits deer you name it i hunted it :) few buddies of mine make a good living of posseum skins at $16 a skin you can make a good income out of 100 traps you could catch 80 to 90 posseums per night easily. Posseum fur is sort after by the italians:lol: send skins of to the local skinner he pays $16 per skin then he ships it of to italy, no guessing how much he gets for the skins.

[August]

OK, true story time!!!! Gather around! As told by my bro-in-law.

A buddy of his went hunting. He has hunted all his life. Got the guns and the gear! One day as he sat in his deer stand a nice buck stumbled by and was in perfect position for the take down. One shot and the buck dropped like a rock. He came down from the stand and looked at the buck. He noticed the entire side of the buck was void of any hair. It was smooth like processed leather for a jacket. He could not figure out why. As he prepared to drag the buck out he notice a doe a few yards off. She was not moving at all. Upon closer inspection he notice the doe was completely blind. Apparently the doe would make her way by staying close to the buck thus rubbing his fur completely off. He was her guide. That was the last day he every hunted. Sold his guns and gear.

True story!!!!

All I want to know is was the Doe's name "Bambi" and did your brothers buddy have a doe tag to make it a set? ;)

[SUBMAN1]

Well that was my point. [...]

-S
It's not quite that extortinate. It costs the land owners a lot of money to feed the
game, kill of predators, plant food crops, plant and burn back ground cover, set up
shooting hills and have so much open land.

As well as paying 50+ beaters and dogs every day to flush out the birds towards the gun line and then
pay compensation everytime a beater and dog gets shot. :doh:Sounds to me like there is no free land left over there - not one square inch. That is the real problem. Over here, there is a vast wilderness of untouched land. There is more land over here that is not owned than I think there is land that is owned.

-S

[Jimbuna]

Well that was my point. [...]

-S
It's not quite that extortinate. It costs the land owners a lot of money to feed the
game, kill of predators, plant food crops, plant and burn back ground cover, set up
shooting hills and have so much open land.

As well as paying 50+ beaters and dogs every day to flush out the birds towards the gun line and then
pay compensation everytime a beater and dog gets shot. :doh:Sounds to me like there is no free land left over there - not one square inch. That is the real problem. Over here, there is a vast wilderness of untouched land. There is more land over here that is not owned than I think there is land that is owned.

-S

Hardly suprising.....stick the UK onto the edge of the US map and we'd not even equate to the size of one of your States :lol:

[Hitman]

Hardly suprising.....stick the UK onto the edge of the US map and we'd not even equate to the size of one of your States :lol:

Well when colonizing the brits certainly founded the first states using the size parameter of the UK :lol: When they became americans they started to think big and created Texas and such :lol:

[Jimbuna]

Hardly suprising.....stick the UK onto the edge of the US map and we'd not even equate to the size of one of your States :lol:

Well when colonizing the brits certainly founded the first states using the size parameter of the UK :lol: When they became americans they started to think big and created Texas and such :lol:

Careful....you'll only set Lehmann off :o

I've almost got him convinced that Texas still belongs to the UK :lol:

[SUBMAN1]

Hardly suprising.....stick the UK onto the edge of the US map and we'd not even equate to the size of one of your States :lol:
Well when colonizing the brits certainly founded the first states using the size parameter of the UK :lol: When they became americans they started to think big and created Texas and such :lol:
Careful....you'll only set Lehmann off :o

I've almost got him convinced that Texas still belongs to the UK :lol:You mean they don't? :p

[Sailor Steve]

Hardly suprising.....stick the UK onto the edge of the US map and we'd not even equate to the size of one of your States :lol:

Well when colonizing the brits certainly founded the first states using the size parameter of the UK :lol: When they became americans they started to think big and created Texas and such :lol:

Careful....you'll only set Lehmann off :o

I've almost got him convinced that Texas still belongs to the UK :lol:
I think the Mexicans might object to that reasoning.:roll:

[Happy Times]

Nice job AdlerGrosmann, very nice! :up:

Are Bobcats (=Luchs) so widespread in America? In Germany, they are very rare, and protected. Shooting one would get you into legal trouble.

But I am happy that our wolf population slowly but constantly is rising again after so very long time of no wolves in Germany.

We get permits for bobcats, wolfs and bears. I really doubt there is room for many wolfs in Germany? With 1000+ bears, 450+ wolfs and 1000+ bobcats we need to control the population. Even though EU is trying to make this country in to some kind of wilderness park for the rest of Europe.

[SUBMAN1]

Nice job AdlerGrosmann, very nice! :up:

Are Bobcats (=Luchs) so widespread in America? In Germany, they are very rare, and protected. Shooting one would get you into legal trouble.

But I am happy that our wolf population slowly but constantly is rising again after so very long time of no wolves in Germany.
We get permits for bobcats, wolfs and bears. I really doubt there is room for many wolfs in Germany? With 1000+ bears, 450+ wolfs and 1000+ bobcats we need to control the population. Even though EU is trying to make this country in to some kind of wilderness park for the rest of Europe.Wolfs are probably the most important predator to keeping a healthy Eco system.

-S

[Happy Times]

Nice job AdlerGrosmann, very nice! :up:

Are Bobcats (=Luchs) so widespread in America? In Germany, they are very rare, and protected. Shooting one would get you into legal trouble.

But I am happy that our wolf population slowly but constantly is rising again after so very long time of no wolves in Germany.
We get permits for bobcats, wolfs and bears. I really doubt there is room for many wolfs in Germany? With 1000+ bears, 450+ wolfs and 1000+ bobcats we need to control the population. Even though EU is trying to make this country in to some kind of wilderness park for the rest of Europe.Wolfs are probably the most important predator to keeping a healthy Eco system.

-S

And live in packs of 2-15 with a 700-900km² territory. They also do surplus killing wich doesnt mix well with cattle and sheep. EU thinks the whole country should be made some kind of national park of EU. We allready have in some form protected some 20% of the countrys area, over 50 000km². Compare that to the size of whole Denmark 43,094 km², Netherlands 41,526 km² or the state of West Virginia 62,809 km².

[SUBMAN1]

And live in packs of 2-15 with a 700-900km² territory. They also do surplus killing wich doesnt mix well with cattle and sheep. EU thinks the whole country should be made some kind of national park of EU. We allready have in some form protected some 20% of the countrys area, over 50 000km². Compare that to the size of whole Denmark 43,094 km², Netherlands 41,526 km² or the state of West Virginia 62,809 km².Well, there is always a small negative to the major positive they bring. It is also not a surplus kill you describe, but one based on ease. Wolves don't kill indiscriminately, they kill to simply eat. Farmers don't like it, but like everything else, what wolves eat is a necessary evil you might say.

-S

PS. Wolves effect many things outside of simply what they eat. Here is an example of the death of various forms of plant life in Yellowstone, with the Aspen tree as the central player. Remove the Wolf, and you also remove the Aspen trees along with many other types of plant life. Sounds strange, doesn't it? Read this article and you will find out why:

Ecology of Fear

The Osgood File (CBS Radio Network): 11/16/05, 6/20/06
XM Satellite Radio: 4/16/06

Heart of America Radio reports on how fear can play a significant role in the ecosystem.



The disappearance of gray wolves from Yellowstone National Park has caused far greater ecological change than scientists previously realized – and it’s all because of the fear that wolves create among smaller animals.


As a professor of forest resources at Oregon State University, Bill Ripple knew very little about wolves. Ripple’s passion was for trees, specifically aspen trees, which color the western United States with their whitish gray bark and golden fall foliage. In 1997, Ripple learned that aspen trees were dying out in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park. Although there were still older, more mature trees in the area, no new aspens were growing up past the seedling stage. Ripple embarked on a journey to find out why aspen trees were disappearing in some parts of the US. By analyzing core samples from mature trees, Ripple determined that no new trees had grown since about 1920.


Why not? Ripple racked his brain trying to think of reasons. He thought it might be climate change, but outside the park boundaries, new aspen trees were cropping up all over. And it wasn’t an aspen-specific tree disease, since cottonwood and willow trees had also been suffering in the park.


Finally, Ripple thought he had his answer. "We looked and saw that the last wolves were killed in the park in the 1920s" – the same year the aspens stopped growing. "That was our 'aha' moment," he says. Ripple knew that wolves eat elk, which in turn eat plants like aspen trees. With no more wolves in the park, he surmised, fewer elk were being killed by wolves, and more were surviving and eating aspen seedlings.
His theory even held up when wolves were reintroduced in the park in the late 90s. For the first time, aspen started regenerating, and Ripple thought it was because wolves were reducing the elk population to a number where the trees could grow. But then he hit a snag: When Ripple looked at historical park data, he found that the elk population had dipped extremely low in the past, yet, aspen were not able to recover during those times. "Back in the 1960s, the national park service brought the elk population down to less than 4,000, but the plants were still not able to grow," says Ripple. "We have probably at least two times that number right now and the plants are growing."


Ripple began camping out and observing the animals in the park and eventually had his second "aha" moment. He realized that the important thing isn’t the number of animals in the park, but their behavior. When wolves roam the park, no matter how many, Ripple says elk and other animals experience fear. They stay in well-covered and wooded areas, where they can easily hide or run away from wolves. But when wolves disappear, so does the fear. Without wolves, animals feel free to roam every last corner of the park, grazing leaves, trees, and seedlings until practically no vegetation remains. And that, he says, is exactly what was causing the aspen trees to disappear.


Ripple calls the phenomenon an example of fear ecology, in which animals' fear of predators plays a significant role in the environment. Although the number of elk in the park is still high overall, the elk have redistributed themselves due to the presence of wolves. Now, Ripple says, they are avoiding streamside areas with little cover from wolves, and gradually, aspen are maturing in these areas.


The idea that fear can play a significant role in the ecosystem is a new scientific concept, but despite some initial skepticism, Ripple’s theory is gaining support. One of the first people Ripple was able to convince was Bob Beschta, a forest resources professor and Ripple’s colleague at Oregon State University. Beschta studies cottonwood trees, which had also stopped growing in the park around 1920, and Ripple approached him with the idea that fear of wolves was to blame. "For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how a few wolves in the park would make all that much difference," Beschta says. "But when we put our data sets together, we keep coming up with the same answer."


In essence, says Beschta, he and Ripple found that the presence of wolves is controlling the entire riverside ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park. Now that they have been reintroduced to the park, willow, aspen, and cottonwood trees are regenerating, and the proliferation of these and other plants are attracting more birds, bears, and beaver. "There's been a whole series of effects that just kind of ripples through the site," Beschta says – all because of a small number of wolves.
http://www.acfnewsource.org/environment/ecology_of_fear.html

[bradclark1]

If predators are killing your stock you kill them. Montana has the same problem. The government reintroduced them from Canada. It's so bad some ranchers were/are contemplating getting out of the business because of the amount of slaughter the wolves do. They are listed as an endangered species so the ranchers can't legally kill them and the growth in numbers are becoming unmanageable. That was the story a few years ago anyway.

[SUBMAN1]

If predators are killing your stock you kill them. Montana has the same problem. The government reintroduced them from Canada. It's so bad some ranchers were/are contemplating getting out of the business because of the amount of slaughter the wolves do. They are listed as an endangered species so the ranchers can't legally kill them and the growth in numbers are becoming unmanageable. That was the story a few years ago anyway.Wolves that kill farmers stock on a regular basis should probably be dealt with. Seems to me that the wolf in this situation is not running on the Eco Fear system described above. He has no fear of the farmer, so maybe they should be reminded... :hmm:

He is killing the livestock because it is easy. Little work. No fear.

-S

[AdlerGrosmann]

As for those deer I shot, I take hunting for a sport. The reason why is my dad, grandfather, and uncle got me into it. I believe there are more protestors/non-hunters then there are hunters. We don't hunt for skin, not just the rack, but for the rack and the food it provides(Thats what I do it for)

..Not to mention I got that 8point on the wall:smug:

-Thanks for the congrats and comments all!

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee287/AdlerGrosmann/0011.jpg

[XabbaRus]

Impressive but though I'm not against hunting, I'd find it weird to look up at bambi every time I went into the room.

Still very good for a youngun.

[Jimbuna]

Impressive but though I'm not against hunting, I'd find it weird to look up at bambi every time I went into the room.

Still very good for a youngun.

Same here :hmm:

[AdlerGrosmann]

Anyone ever eaten a deer or a White-tailed buck? The best part of a buck is the backstrap, it's very good with that sauce "Worscheshier" I don't think thats how you pronounce it though. Sounds like "Wooshershir"...can't get it right. But thats the best sauce for it.

[Jimbuna]

Worcestershire Sauce by Lea and Perrins perhaps :hmm:

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/6094/leaperrinsworcestershirfv1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[AdlerGrosmann]

You're right! I think that's it, it's pretty good too...I put alot on my backstraps:smug:

[Jimbuna]

I like it with tomato juice or in a bowl of broth :lol: