daverichey January 3rd, 2010

A friend told me today about an experience he'd had yesterday. He was heading back to hunt rabbits on his land, and spotted a snowmobile coming toward him down a wooded trail.

He stopped, the snowmobiler stopped, and he asked the guy what he was doing on private property. The gent, apparently not too swift on the uptake, said "snowmobiling."

"Don't you know it's illegal to trespass on private property?" he asked.

"Yep," came the reply.

No respect for posted property.

"Aren't you smart enough to learn to stay off private land, especially if you don't have permission?"

"Apparently not!"

The trespasser had turned off his engine, removed his helmet, and was a white-haired man that my friend estimated to be in his 60's. The trespasser was old enough to know better.

"I was planning to hunt that area you just road through," the hunter said.

"Oh, rabbit hunting, I'll bet."

A magnificent grasp of the obvious.

He said it was difficult to believe the guy was acting so weird. He asked if the snowmobiler had permission to be on the land, and the guy admitted he did not.

The hunter considered taking the snowmobile key and escorting the man to the landowner's house, and thought better of turning the situation into a confrontational situation.

The snowmobiler acted as it he wasn't terribly upset about spoiling the man's hunt or trespassing. The clown asked my friend if he owned the land, and he replied he did, and so the man wondered what the problem was.

"The problem," the hunter told the snowmobiler, "is that you've just illegally driven your sled across the area where I planned to hunt. Are you just being stupid or is this hunter harassment?"

"I not trying to harass anyone," he said. "I'm just out snowmobiling. I live down near Grand Rapids."

"How would you feel if some idiot drove a snowmobile across your land?"

"Wouldn't bother me a bit."

My friend sensed the man was either incredibly ignorant of the law or trying to push the situation into something nasty. The man seemed to have no remorse for breaking the law, and his actions seemed to indicate that he was prepared to defend his right to trespass on someone elses land.

My friend wanted to go hunting and didn't want to deal with the problem any further.

Get booted off the land.

"Get off my land and don't come back," he told the trespasser, who gave him a long sullen look. He nodded his head once in agreement, pulled on his helmet, and took off.

He crossed the woods trail onto more land owned by the same man that owned the land. This guy was either a man with absolutely no qualms about trespassing, was ignorant of all laws, or more likely, didn't care one way or the other.

Most snowmobilers I know are nice people. Me, I could care less for the things, but do not begrudge their use by law-abiding people. This man was a trespasser who clearly felt he could go wherever he wanted to go without asking permission.

It's such behavior that has made more and more northern people post their land against trespass. The landowner takes pride in his land, and doesn't want people running over it without first asking permission. He's tired of picking up litter left behind by snowmobilers, and weekly clears the area of beer and whiskey bottles and makes sure fires started in a remote part of his land by partying sledders is completely out. He tacks up more "No Trespassing" signs, but none of his actions does any good.

One trespass incident from 30 years ago.

Such people eventually run afoul of someone who acts and doesn't bother talking to trespassers. This friend, who isn't a violent man, recalled an incident years before when trespassers on snowmobiles kept running across his yard, ruining his newly seeded lawn and shrubs.

It went on for four nights, with him yelling at the trespassers, and on the fifth night he yanked the last snowmobiler in line off his sled by his face mask, and hung a stiff right jab on the guy's nose.

That settled the issue more than 30 years ago, and the snowmobilers stayed off his property. He admits now that it was a rash act, and one he wouldn't do again, but northern landowners have had a belly full of people trespassing to hunt or snowmobile.

No one wants a problem, and especially my friend, but he also doesn't want to see his land misused by trespassers. This problem is not getting any better; it's only getting worse in the north country.

It's time for those who would trespass to learn to respect the rights of others. If they could ever learn that trespass is a criminal misdemeanor and punishable by law, perhaps they would grow up and run their sleds in area where the trails are groomed specifically for riders.

That would solve most of the winter trespass problems. Will that day ever come? It's not likely to happen any time soon.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: dave richey, example, hunt, hunting, land, law, legal, Michigan, outdoors, permission. property, respect, rights, trespass, winter

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daverichey January 2nd, 2010

Years ago, while hunting snowshoe hares with a group of hunting friends, I was shot in the left hand and wrist by the only stranger in our group. A dozen or so birdshot were dug out of my hide, and my life has gone on.

But not as it had before. The man who accidentally shot me was kept two football fields away from everyone else after that. The accident cast something of a pall over the balance of my hunt.

I wasn’t serious wounded, but no one was about to laugh it off. It could have been a killing shot. And, to this day, it bothers me to hunt with someone I don’t know.

Politicians draw attention to hunting accidents.

Then, sometime after that, I heard about Dick Cheney’s shooting another man, and it gave me a flashback to my day, which was not enjoyable for me. The first thing that came to mind when one public figure shoots another one a Texas ranch hunt was “something very similar happened to me,” and the flashbacks return.

And that Texas case, the victim was initially blamed for sneaking up on the shooter without warning him of his presence. That is pure political spin or a load of crap.

Blaze orange hats can prevent becoming a statistic.

The ranch owner also blamed the victim, and for two days it was spin city in Texas and Washington, DC. Folks, I spent 20-some years involved with Hunter Education training, and I’ve been a part of the teaching and training process for nearly 20,000 adults and children 12 years and older.

Such accidents indicate the need for Hunter Education training.

How, I ask, are Hunter Education instructors supposed to react when one high-level politician shoots another at close range? The spin doctors covered up the hunting accident for a day, and then applied their own brand of stupidity to it by blaming the victim, and eventually more of the story came out because of media pressure.

It was apparent that the spinmeisters had no clue about hunting, hunter safety or ethical hunting procedures. They were dumb and clueless.

Hunters are taught many things while taking a Hunter Education training class. Chief among them is to always know where the muzzle is pointing. Another is to always, without fail, properly identify the target before shooting. Another is to identify everything beyond the target to ensure that nothing else — a barn, building, car, cow, human, truck or whatever — is in the line of fire.

That’s not what happened in Texas, and any hunter worthy of the name should be properly upset by the actions of the ranch owner and Dick Cheney. Not only was Cheney clearly and legally at fault, soon after the accident the cover-up began.

It took some time for Cheney to speak out and assume full responsibility for shooting his “friend.” If that’s how he treats his friends, no one would ever want to be his enemy.

A need for common sense, personal responsibility, and how to safely handle firearms.

Don’t try to rattle my cage on this one. This has nothing to with being Republican or Democrat. It has everything to do with a distinct lack of common sense, any semblance of rational and sound judgment, and a personal responsibility for safe handling of a loaded firearm.

It’s been said that Cheney has hunted for a dozen years or so. That’s like saying a person with a medical (or any other) degree is intelligent. All those years of training only means the person spent a large number of years in a warm classroom and passed his state boards, or in Cheney’s case, bought a hunting license. It doesn’t mean he has the intelligence or the necessary skills to safely handle a firearm.

It makes me wonder: Did he ever take any Hunter Education training? Did someone extend him the courtesy of looking the other way in terms of a previous hunting license or Hunter Education training card which is usually required to buy a hunting license?

Causes of most hunting accidents.

The vast majority of hunting accidents occur for one of a very few reasons: the shooter was incredibly stupid; carried the firearm with the safety off and a finger on the trigger; didn’t identify the target and everything beyond it before shooting; had no knowledge of proper hunter safety methods; was under the influence; or the victim was incredibly unlucky to be in the right place at the wrong time. One other situation — line-of-sight accidents — occur when a person is in the line of sight of the shooter but cannot be seen. All but the last one may apply in the Texas shooting.

All of those (and perhaps several other) factors were allegedly played out in the Texas sagebrush prior to the hunting accident some years ago. The facts remain that Cheney pulled the trigger without identifying his target or anything else nearby. He also made the ultimate mistake (along with the ranch owner) of trying to shuffle the blame over onto the unfortunate victim.

The U.S. printing presses that make money hasn’t made enough thousand-dollar bills for me to set foot within shotgun range of someone so incredibly stupid. One wonders if they were wearing Hunter Orange clothing (there are rumors they were); one also wonders if more than one beer was consumed as has been questioned by the media, and one wonders if the two men were actually friends.

Chuck Lunn, a trusted friend, (right) with a snowshoe hare.

Folks, if you or I shot someone, there would have been no one-day delay is posting the news. There are allegations that Cheney didn’t have a game bird stamp required to hunt quail. Was this man ever issued a ticket or did he spend time in court answering charges of illegal hunting?

There is an old saying: People should never analyze the ingredients of two things: bologna and politics. Time will tell whether politics prevailed, and this sorry breach of hunting safety and ethical hunting practices will be overlooked or cast aside for political reasons or will this become just a footnote in the history books.

Summarizing how I became an accidental shooting victim.

My involvement in being shot was simply going in to search for a lost hunter who was firing the standard three-shot distress signal. I spotted him walking around in circles, shooting in all directions and raised my hand as I yelled at him, and he shot in my direction. Fortunately, most of the No. 6 shot hit my coat and blaze orange coat but some on the shot went through a brown Jersey glove and into my hand and wrist.

This happened a number of years ago, and there was no trip to the hospital. I poured alcohol on my knife and the holes in my skin, and I removed the pellets myself. The wounds were bandaged by me, and we hunted the next day although everyone stayed a long distance from the lost shooter. They physical wounds healed nicely but the mental problems are still pretty raw.

He asked several times when we were going hunting again. It’s funny how that person was never invited on another hunt with me.

I dislike hunting with strangers, and whenever I’m on a hunt with someone I know and trust, and another person decides to join at the last minute, I often excuse myself from going along. If it’s impossible to remove myself from such a situation, my guts get tied up in knots.

I, perhaps like Cheney’s friend, have no desire to be around an idiot with a firearm again. Sadly, each year, some hunter will accidently kill another hunter. Sure, it may have been an accident. Qualified Hunter Education training could have helped prevent such injuries or death.

And, it also removes the personal anxiety and uneasiness associated with hunting with a stranger. There still remains the odd flashback to that day when I fell to the ground, rolled over in the snow, and looked down at a bloody hand and wrist. Writing about it helps a bit, but it’s not something that is easy to push into the past and forget about it.

Careless strangers and firearms, like mixing gasoline with an open flame, can lead someone into an injury or death. Been there and done that with a firearm injury, and want no part of mixing a hunt with people who may or may not have had adequate and qualified Hunter Education training. I’d rather hunt alone that go through such an experience again.Years ago, while hunting snowshoe hares with a group of hunting friends, I was shot in the left hand and wrist by the only stranger in our group. A dozen or so birdshot were dug out of my hide, and my life has gone on.

But not as it had before. The man who accidentally shot me was kept two football fields away from everyone else after that. The accident cast something of a pall over the balance of my hunt.

I wasn’t serious wounded, but no one was about to laugh it off. It could have been a killing shot. And, to this day, it bothers me to hunt with someone I don’t know.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: accidents, careless, common sense, dave richey, death, ethics, hunt, hunting, injury, Michigan, outdoors, shooting, shot, think, tragic

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daverichey November 1st, 2009

A friend leased some hunting land years ago, put up some tree stands and ground blinds. As soon as people who knew him learned he had some decent property, his list of newest best friends grew overnight.

Two came to hunt from another part of the state where deer were few, and seeing any buck was great cause for celebration. He did all the work, built blinds, did the preseason scouting and they just came to shoot deer.

He assumed they were hunters. That assumption led him to believe they knew when and where to shoot a deer. That assumption was incorrect.

Running shots at bucks are risky

Each one hunted the first weekend with my buddy. At the end of two days, four deer — two bucks and two does — had been wounded and lost. They didn’t have Game Trackers on their bows, and all four deer eventually fed the neighborhood coyotes.

They came the next weekend, and my friend presented each with a Game Tracker unit and helped them install it on their bow. You guessed it: they shot and lost four more deer because they wouldn’t tie the string behind the broadhead so they could easily recover wounded animals.

“No more,” he screamed. “You’ve lost eight deer in four days of hunting over a two-week period. Either learn when and where to shoot or don’t bother to come back. And … you won’t hunt one more day here without using a Game Tracker.”

The following weekend he explained the facts of life to them again. He told them that where they once hunted, and where they seldom saw a deer, was a thing of the past. If they were to hunt more than this one last day with him, they would know when and where to shoot deer.

Take only high-percentage shots.

He explained the necessity of taking only high percentage shots, and never taking low percentage opportunities. He told them the only shots they could take were standing broadside or standing quartering-away shots at 20 yards of less. There would be no exceptions to these new rules.

Any deer hit anywhere else would buy them a one-way ticket off his hunting land. And, he stressed, friends or not, he was done messing with them. They would do it right or they wouldn’t do it at all.

He used a deer target and positioned it at all different angles. He offered them broadside, quartering-away, quartering-toward, dead-on and dead-away shots. He made them shoot countless arrows at the target when it was properly positioned, and they finally realized what they had been doing wrong.

They had been flinging arrows in hopes that a lucky hit would kill the deer. No doubt the first eight “lucky” hits killed the deer but none were recovered even after several hours of blood trailing long after dark.

They soon became excellent shots, and knowing which shots to take and when to take them came next. He had to teach them how and when to draw, and he didn’t want them shooting at moving deer.

“A deer that is feeding is occupied,” he said. “Watch that animal and any other nearby deer, and make your draw slow and noiselessly. Take careful aim at the heart-lung area, and don’t shoot at anything else. Neck, frontal or rear shots are strictly forbidden. Quartering-away bow shots are the best of all.”

He told them that patience is a virtue, especially when trying to arrow a deer. Wait until the deer offers you the ideal shot. Often deer will move around and never offer a shot, so he told them not to shoot. You be the judge of when to shoot: don’t let the deer decide for you.

Quartering-away bow shots like this are the best bow shots of all.

“You control when you shoot,” he preached. “Don’t raise the bow until a deer turns sideways or offers a quartering-away shot. If the deer is within range, but other deer have their heads up and are looking around, wait.

“Don’t be in a big rush to shoot. Cherish the moment. Make it last. Drag out the final outcome as long as possible. When you decide to shoot, make certain the buck is properly positioned within range. Check to make sure no other deer have their heads up or are looking in your direction.

“You’ll know when the right moment comes. Pick a spot, come to full draw, aim at that precise spot, and make a smooth release. Don’t lift your head up until the Game Tracker line starts going out after arrow impact.”

That night both of them shot bucks. Nothing big, but bucks nonetheless. They waited, and true enough, when the right time arrived for a shot and the deer were perfectly positioned, they eased back to full draw and killed their bucks.

Everything in life must be learned, and proper hunting methods are no different. Do it right or don’t do it.

Learning periods like this are very important. Beginning bow hunters have the urge to shoot something, and they invariably take shots that offer little hope of recovering the wounded animal.

Bow hunters must perfect the art of patience. Don’t try to rush things. If and when the time is right to shoot, the deer will be motionless and looking away or at another deer, and you’ll have plenty of time to shoot. Learn how to wait, and if a deer doesn’t offer a good shot that day, let the animal go and try again the next day.

Shooting and wounding deer is stupid. Practice constantly, and know when to draw, how to aim and where to shoot. Refine each of these skills. They are not difficult to learn, and once hunters understand these principles, shooting a buck become much easier.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: animal, choice, dave richey, friends, hunting, Michigan, outdoors, responsible, waste, wise, wound

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daverichey October 26th, 2009

Gone, at least from Michigan, are some birds that sportsmen once hunted. Hunters did not drive these game birds away nor did we kill them off, but humans and their continuing intrusion into the birds’ backyards did the job, quickly and most effectively.

I remember 35 years ago on a hill-top between Lake City and  Marion, along highway M-66, watching the prairie chicken drumming grounds within easy view of the highway.

Prairie chickens were the first to disappear

The drumming grounds is where prairie chickens once gathered in the spring, and the males would puff up and  their air sacs, and they would make a distinctive booming noise. The cocks would dance for the hens, and little did I know as I watched and photographed the primitive prairie chicken mating dance from a small tent, that one day in less than 10 years they would all be gone forever.

Prairie chickens are now extinct, as they have been for 30 years or more. The areas where these open prairie birds would dance in the early spring dawn, would soon be gone as well. Sadly, one dancing ground has been paved over and several businesses cover the area.

A man I know used to have a lek (dancing ground) near his home on M-66. He said the fault wasn’t the result of over-hunting. as they were protected, but of dwindling habitat loss and aerial predation.

“Once hawks and owls became Federally protected from harm,” he said, “the days of listening to the thunder of drumming prairie chickens quickly became numbered. We still saw a few in 1975, but I believe they were declared extinct by 1977 or 1978.”

He said the noisy spring birds were easy prey for late-cruising owls and early rising hawks. The birds would dance out in the open, and an ambitious aerial predator found easy pickings. He said that as soon as the chickens were gone, the hawks and owls foraged heavily on what pheasants remained in the area until they too had quickly disappeared.

Ringneck not as prevalent as in the past

Where once ringneck pheasants were common, and throughout much of the middle and southern counties, their days were also numbered. He occasionally hears a crowing rooster pheasant, but no longer hunts the few that remain on his farm.

Another bird is finding it hard to hang on to small pockets of its native cover. As more people move in, and carve up old fields for lots to sell for home building, more and more of the natural cover of the sharptail has disappeared.

Sharptails hanging on but losing ground

The last time I hunted sharptails was nearly 20 years ago in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula near Pickford. Two of us walked in behind a staunch pointer, holding steady on point, snuffling a nose filled with the heady scent of sharptails.

The birds flushed, and I took a bird flying to the right, swung through it, and with touched off a shot. To my surprise, two birds fell with just the single shot.

Sharptails are slowly losing their wide-open habitat, and when flushed now, they often cackle and soar for one-half to three-quarters of a mile, clucking as they glide to a landing. Try to catch up with them, and they will flush again, well out of shotgun range, and it’s easy to walk miles trying to catch up with spooked sharpies.

Bobwhite quail fun to hunt but are low in numbers

The bobwhite quail seems to be hanging on in some southern counties. Their habitat also is shrinking at an alarming rate as more and more land is used for home foundations, buildings, paved parking lots, and other areas that are no longer capable of producing good wild bird nesting cover.

I’ve shot but one quail in this state although I delight in hunting those quail-birds in Alabama and Georgia. Our birds continue to fight for the weakest of toe-holds. Cold winters with lots of snow, ice-covered spring fields and fence rows, and poor food supplies can lead to a season closure on these gallant little game birds.

And, it’s easy for those bird hunters who have never hunted quail –the gentleman’s game bird — to take too many from a covey rise. Those who know better will take just one or two birds from a covey. A covey rise is one of the greatest experiences in the life of an ardent bird hunter.

Grouse & woodcock numbers remain fairly stable

Many Michigan hunters lament what they perceive to be an ever-decreasing number of ruffed grouse and woodcock. The birds are still here, and grouse are now positioned in their upward cycle and woodcock numbers are making a slow come-back.

The fact is these game birds are still here in huntable numbers but they are becoming increasing difficult to find. Many birds, like deer, have learned the better food sources are on private land rather than state land. The old axiom about finding the proper food supply and you’ll find the birds still applies in many locations.

I know where grouse hold and the tag alder runs where woodcock leave chalky-colored droppings behind. My idea of hunting them means limiting myself to one killing shot per year. It’s fairly easy to do with only one good shooting eye, and besides, if the bird isn’t killed, chances are we can play at being the hunter and hunted another day, often with very similar results.

That pleases me very much.

Some Game Birds Have Disappeared: Others Holding Their Own ((tag: Dave Richey, Michigan, Outdoors, buildings, extinct, hunting, land, prairie chicken, sharptails, grouse, shotgunning, woodcock))

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Tags: buildings, dave richey, extinct, grouse, hunting, land, Michigan, outdoors, prairie chicken, sharptails, shotgunning, woodcock

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daverichey October 25th, 2009

It's sometimes odd how my blogs come about. Sometimes they are planned long in advance, months before they are posted.

Other times a note from a reader is what triggers the thought for a different kind of blog. Sometimes they just pop into my head while reading the morning paper over coffee.

This topic, if all of us live long enough, will be one  we shall all face. A reader wrote: When do you know the urge to hunt has withered and blown away?

When the flame of fishing or hunting anticipation disappears

It seems a simple question with an equally simple answer. Live long enough, and the answer shall become obvious.

The urge to hunt may leave  any of us at any time although at age 70, I'm happy to admit it hasn't clawed its way into any of my urges and driven me away from fishing and hunting.

Age can play an important role in when this question jumps on a person. A disability or serious health problem can slow or stop any one. The natural attrition of hunters is due, in large part to age, feebleness, illness or some major injury that may make hunting just too difficult or painful to pursue as we grow older.

The average person, based on hundreds of conversations with other sportsmen, can begin to lose his/her urge to hunt anytime after the age of 55 years, and for some, even earlier. For many, they just get lazy and decide not to go out anymore.

Health slowly eats away at a formerly active hunter, and more time is spent dreaming of the old days and not looking forward to future field trips. Often the hunter, growing older, may develop a heart or lung problem that makes it far more difficult to muster up enough energy to hunt regularly.

We all need fishing & hunting buddies

Some sportsmen may lay the blame on not having someone to hunt with, and I'm indeed fortunate with my eye problems, that Kay is not only my best hunting buddy but my wife, and a person who enjoys bow hunting as I do. Some folks are not so lucky, and I know some older hunters who have taken young sportsmen hunting for years, but the youngsters forgot about who originally brought 'em to the dance. Now that is a sorry thought and rude behavior by a younger person.

The urge to stay home comes with the normal aches and pains of aging. Many say they no longer like to eat venison, the woods are too crowded, too many small deer…whatever.

There are usually a variety of reasons. Some folks fear falling from a tree stand, and pin their reluctance to hunt to a fear of falling. Some say they don't see or hear as well as 10 years ago but that happens to almost everyone.

As this progresses, hunters begin making excuses for not wanting to go hunting. Reasons include but are not limited to:

A list of possible excuses

I haven't had time to sight in my rifle. I've found that my shotgun doesn't shoot as well as it once did (which means the hunter is really missing more often). Got me a hitch in my git-a-long. I had forgotten that this hill seems a lot steeper that it once was. I've been huffing and puffing for two years. Don't want to die and miss out on future hunts. The sun is too bright, not bright enough, and the  snow is getting deeper in the woods. etc. Makes it too difficult to get around, and I'm afraid of falling. Gas is too expensive. Doesn't bother them to go bowling, golfing or doing something else. Hunting just isn't as important to me as it was 20 years ago.

I've heard all of these excuses, and countless others, but the fact is the person is too ill, too lame or too lazy to exert the energy to go hunting. It's not the hunting that is at issue here. It is the attitude of the sportsman.

The fact is that hunting can be hard work, but those who stay in decent physical shape won't find it much different. The loss of a close hunting buddy often takes the hunting fire out of the belly of the sportsman who is left behind. Perhaps that is the time to find and teach a younger hunter.

Share your outdoor knowledge with others

Sharing the wealth of a lifetime of fishing or hunting with a youngster can keep us young and more in touch with the seasons and the fish we hope to catch and the game we hunt.

We all grow old and we all grow tired, but hunting at one's own pace is available to all sportsmen. Take your time, remember those past hunts when the fire burned bright and hot in us, and when we couldn't wait to get into the field.

Sometimes, a little kindling in the form of watching a young hunter develop their personal memories, is all it takes to renew our personal interest in hunting.

It may be the start needed to rekindle the hunting flames of yesteryear.

Fanning The Flames Of Personal Outdoor Adventures  ((tag: Dave Richey, Michigan, Outdoors, experiences,fanning,  fishing, flames, hunting, lifetime, rekindle, sharing, work. youngsters

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Tags: dave richey, experiences, fanning, fishing, flames, hunting, lifetime, Michigan, outdoors, rekindle, sharing, work. youngsters

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