Where are the small game hunters?

Gil Martin · Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:05 am Post subject: Where are the small game hunters?

Today is the opening day for small game season. We do not have pheasants(except for stocked birds), few folks hunt rabbits and I am the only one I know around here who hunts squirrels. This used to be a big day in the Commonwealth. What happened? All the best...
Gil

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Do you guys have Forest Grouse where you are? Those are great fun to hunt and eat.

-DallanC

Gil Martin

Dallan,
We have turkeys are here and they are doing well. Ruffed grouse are more to the north and west. I used to hunt them when I lived in western Pennsylvania. Should say, I missed them most of the time. All the best...
Gil

popgun

Turkeys....small game? One flew by my deer stand at head height yesterday and it was hardly small. I thought I was being buzzed by a stealth fighter!
Nice gobler with a long beard. I hope he spends the night in the same tree when the season opens this spring.

calsibley · Super Member Joined: Jan 28, 2005 Posts: 317

Hello Dallan,

Good morning. We have ruffed grouse here. There's about 6 or 7 different kinds of them, but not all here. They're tasty little critters for sure. Small game to me is rabbit, grouse and woodchuck. That's about it.
Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Spacedone · Member Joined: Nov 04, 2005 Posts: 266 Location: missouri

im a small game hunter for food not sport.

rabbits

squirrels

groundhogs

birds

frogs

without small game as i was growing up we would have starved and now i still eat 50 percent of my food from hunting small game.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Welcome to the site Spacedone.

-DallanC

515034s10ring

It's just not what it used to be and seems like a lost art of skill and time (but not for me). Because guys (not the true hunters) in Michigan just pay for a canned hunt on a stocked farm these days.

7mmREMMAG · Member Joined: Oct 08, 2005 Posts: 37 Location: Georgia

I wish the weather here would decide to stay cold. Very Happy

So i can hunt some tree rats ( man there tasty) im really looking forward to it.. Sniper

7mmREMMAG · Member Joined: Oct 08, 2005 Posts: 37 Location: Georgia

Hi and welcome to the site Spacedone.. Wave

Crackshot

Squirrel, Rabbit, Pheasant, Ground hawg. Use Beagles for Rabbits, with a 22 Ruger MKI pistol most of the time. Use a custom 22 mag Ruger M7722 magnum for Squirrels, Pheasants get the Reminton 1187 12ga, Hawgs get the Bushmaster Varminter 223rem.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

The F&G has been stocking alot of Chukar and Hungarian Partridge in the desert mts out here and they are becomming very popular upland game birds to hunt. They will never replace the declined pheasants but they seem to be more able to survive than the pheasants.

I mourn the lost of Utahs Pheasant hunting... it was unbelievable there until the end of the 80's. Now you would be hard pressed to kill a single bird... I havent even hunted them in 8 years Sad

-DallanC

beezer · Member Joined: Aug 22, 2005 Posts: 75

Mostly here we class red grouse black grouse pheasant grey and red leged partridge snipe and woodcock. as smsll game. anything else is vermin with no close season except waterfowl .

delboy

Spacedone - what in HELL do you shoot frogs with?
Gil - there are no small game hunters anymore, when the bushes grew they couldn't see over the tops of them so gave up and went home (allegedly) Smile

Del.

ripper007 · Member Joined: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 199 Location: Colorado

small game is probly my favorite game to get.
I use a marlin 39A, 22 lever action.

when I lived back home, I hunted small game quit often.

rabbits, sqirl, snakes, armodilos, . allways eat what we shot.

in the younger years of my life. we usto hunt ratcoon's. skunks and a few other little varments.

this was in my high school years. and I prlbely spent more time on the rivers than anywehre else.

allways kept a good 22 rifle, a fishing pole, cast net, and a bow set up for bow-fishing. if I could not catch anything with a fishing pole, I could allways get a fish with my bow-fishing set up. or just shoot a rabbit and cook it up on the fire.
did this all the time back in my younger years. never took any food with me , and allways cooked any food I got over a open fire with a stick.
also made all my fires with two sticks, and no, it was not two matches. lol.
I had a deer skin quiver I hand made my self to hold my arrows and bow, with the two sticks for makeing fires. and on the bottem of the quiver I kept a good supply of cedar bark meshed up like a good big hair ball. this kept my arrow pints in one spot and quiet. I also used this cedar bark for getting my fires started from the two sticks.

its funny how some times marraige changes things. lol. I dont get out to do any of this too much anymore.

oh, I lost my quiver and commanchie recurve bow , some kind thief stold it out of my truck, . must of been a poor lad. they also took my boots .
never did get any of that back. and the old man that usto hand make these bows , retierd.