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Post by petev on Feb 4, 2009 9:19:03 GMT -5
On the old board I really enjoyed the reports and pictures of small game hunting, such as coon hunting, and squirrels. Is there not enough interest among members to have a compartment for small game?
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Post by ozark on Feb 4, 2009 9:49:29 GMT -5
I also enjoyed the small game section. In fact, nearly all of us started on such things as squirrel and rabbits. I think lack of interest is decided on numbers and when new threads and posts are lacking a section is considered weak and perhaps unworthy of keeping. It may be unfortunate but it is a game of numbers. The smokeless Savage section looks great for any potential advertiser. For example: If this particular thread begins to balloon and many members chime in and ask for the small game section to be put back up it will go back up. It would then stay up if it got participation. Ozark.
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Post by edge on Feb 4, 2009 11:29:15 GMT -5
What we want to do is to have forums with a lot of action We combined the two archery forums in hopes they would become more active, but they are still pretty slow. Even the DEER hunting forum does not have great activity, and the Big Game forum is basically dead with only ONE thread! Personally I would probably prefer just one hunting forum where you can read about all kinds of hunting. Kind of "1 stop shopping" Any thoughts?? edge.
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Post by raf on Feb 4, 2009 12:02:08 GMT -5
I think some of those forums are slow this time of year because they're out of season so to speak. Before you make any drastic changes, give it some time. Deer hunting is pretty much over in some places. Around here since the beginning of December.
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Post by ozark on Feb 4, 2009 13:37:50 GMT -5
I agree with edge. Most of my lifetime my hunting has just been an outdoor adventure. Call it a dukes mixture. If I happened onto bees watering I would look for their home. If I seen where coon left footprints in the mud I mentally marked the spot for a night hunt. If I was after squirrel and happened upon a patch of ginseng I would switch to digging roots. If I got hungry I would start a fire and roast a squirrel and always carried salt for just such a purpose. I most often had success. It might not be the deer I went after but something equally as interesting. Just my way of doing it. Ozark.
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Post by petev on Feb 4, 2009 15:42:12 GMT -5
One idea is to have a big game forum and a small game. Deer and big game would be combined, and small game would take in varmints as well. So you would then have 2 forums instead of 3, and have small game included. Or maybe just replace varmints with small game.
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Post by wilmsmeyer on Feb 4, 2009 19:04:25 GMT -5
I like petev's idea.
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Post by edge on Feb 4, 2009 19:56:08 GMT -5
I have a request in to ProBoards that might make everyone happy if they have a solution.
I will let you know what their reply is when I get it.
edge.
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Post by ozark on Feb 4, 2009 20:35:30 GMT -5
I am not aware of what rules and requirements the ProBoards have and therefore do not understand all about what the various needs are. I don't think that the Administraters have total authority on what can be offered. It is probable that the forum must meet certain standards and requirements dictated by ProBoards. As it stands now, I think it behoves all of us to keep the threads and posts active and used. I know everyone has multiple interests and many interesting stories to submit. Sometimes I feel like a blabber mouth from posting so often and much. But I like to share my experiences and for the forum it may be a good thing. Ozark
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Post by whyohe on Feb 4, 2009 21:17:33 GMT -5
i think right now we have enough sections to cover most IMO. small game post can be covered under varment or possibly change to small game and varment. and may be throw turkey there.
i like that deer is seperate cause that is what most of us do, but some of us do like to hunt elk, bear and such and do require a bit of different tatics. not so many hunt bigger game that deer here so what ever admins think of combining the 2 im fine with.
i agree season kind of dictates what is posted here. so the deer and hunting boards will be slow. the back porch and savage boards along with hunting accesories will be most active threw the summer.
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Post by edge on Feb 4, 2009 21:23:45 GMT -5
ozark, I did not mean to be cryptic What I am trying to get from ProBoards is a "BUTTON" the will show "Posts since last visit" That way you won't need to visit each forum to see the new posts. edge.
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Post by ozark on Feb 4, 2009 22:11:24 GMT -5
Sounds great edge. Hope it happens Ozark
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Post by petev on Feb 4, 2009 23:43:29 GMT -5
Ditto, that sounds real great!
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Post by tar12 on Feb 21, 2009 1:14:41 GMT -5
I did not realize you guys liked the coon and squirrel hunting stories so much!We are hunting the hide of that black mouth cur right now! I will start taking the camera again!I have a story to tell you now about that cur dog.We had a warm spell here a little while back.We loaded ole Boog up and headed out.First 3 drops he treed 3 lay ups.On the 4th drop my son got to experience first hand up close and personal what it is like to be dead center of a coon/dog fight!Ole Boog caught one on the ground not 15 feet from where he was turned loose.My phone rings as I am parking the truck,"Dad'!He caught one on the ground!What do you want me to do?Dont shoot!!!!!!You may hit the dog!I will be right there.When I got there that dog and coon were going round and round in some very thick underbrush and standing water.Pretty soon all was quite.Dang it! The coon gave that dog the slip in there.So I started walking the dog in a circle around the water.I got about 2/3 of the way around and the dog picked up on where that coon bailed on him and it was on again!He ran him for about 300 yds and treed him by the creek.He was really talking to him! Thats why I love this stuff!
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Post by petev on Feb 21, 2009 1:38:52 GMT -5
It is pretty amazing, these coon hunting stories. Mainly because I haven't done it yet. My buddy drove from N.Y.State to Kentucky (I think) and bought a blue tick, and I've heard of some of the squabbles that dog has had with coons since they started hunting him. I only moved up to upstate N.Y. 11 years ago, and what I thought there was to hunting and fishing is only about 1/10 of what there was to know. Anyway, ice fishing has been great lately, and we have a little over a week to grouse season still, and I have the latest bird dog, an American Water Spaniel that I now love to hunt over. So, yes Tar the pictures of treeing walkers and kids well equiped to bring down the coons, bring it on. Pete
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Post by tar12 on Feb 21, 2009 9:36:41 GMT -5
Pete, If I had my way,I would retire right now and get busy on expanding the kennels! ;D I have hunted dogs since early in my childhood.There is nothing more enjoyable to me.Before I met my wife, I was heavily involved in competition hunting coonhounds.I traveled a lot across this country and met a lot of great people.I actually earned part of my living handling dogs for people.One of my most memorable hunts found me handling one of my own dogs,a little walker gyp named Katy.She was out of River Bend Flag.A top reproducing hound of his day.Katy was a late starter,so late in fact,I seriously considered culling her.I am so glad I did not!She turned out to be the best dog I ever owned.On this particular hunt we had a young guide leading the cast.He took us down a gravel country road and just stopped right in the middle of the road and said get your dogs boys.We got the dogs lined up and got ready to cut them loose.Katy was really wired.I knew there was a coon very close to us by the way she was acting!The guide said cut them loose.The couplers snapped and the other 3 dogs took off at a dead run away from us.Katy took a hard right towards open farm ground.Not a tree in sight! In seconds I struck Katy for first strike points.One of the guys with us started laughing and said "buddy'your dog is running a deer or yote.I just smiled at him and said she does not run deer.With in seconds of telling him that,Katy let out that long locating bawl of hers and I treed her.They all started laughing then.The guide said there are no trees out there.I said well buddy,she does not tree in the ground.Lets go to my dog and score that tree!Upon arrival to where Katy was, all of the laughing came to abrupt halt.Katy was treed on a telephone pole!And she had the coon!I was LMAO then! I walked up to Katy and put the leash on her and stepped back to wait for the time to run out on the "tree".Katy was a HARD,HARD,TREE DOG.She made that coon nervous and he started to move around up there.All of a sudden your here a sharp crack and the coon hit the ground smoldering!It made the hair on the back of neck stand up!That crazy coon grounded him self and got smoked!I looked at those guys and with as straight as a face as I could muster I told them not to ever doubt this dog again as she could produce coon out of thin air! We all had a good laugh then! ;D
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Post by ozark on Feb 21, 2009 10:13:10 GMT -5
I sit in the bank (as a security guard) and while looking out the front glass two hounds trotted up the sidewalk across the street. One, a blue tick, stepped off the sidewalk and crossed the street without checking traffic. Behind him a young walker female 6 months old stopped and looked both ways before crossing the street. She was obviously no dummy and I inquired about who owned her. I found I could own her for twenty bucks and get her papers for an extra ten. I took the leap and registered her as Boyds Windsong. Windy wasn't trained but showed interest only in coon. Never had trouble with trash running. She won many trophies and hunts for me and in a couple of years was known as the one hard to beat in competition. She had one fault however. When other dogs in the cast begin chasing trash Windy would come to me and not hunt as long as other dogs were getting minus points. One night she earned 800 points and was 600 plus points ahead when time run out. So easy to call. Beautiful voice and overall the best registered coonhound I ever followed. Ozark
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Post by tar12 on Feb 21, 2009 22:32:16 GMT -5
Ben, I went to try out a 8 month old walker gyp one night.I was told she was a started dog and could burn a track up.I like a fast track dog, so off I went.We pulled up to the timber and cut her loose.She struck and it was on!It did not take her long to make that deer travel 2 miles!LOL! She ran and treed a coon that night, along with everything else that had laid a track down! I liked how she put that coon up,so I bought her for $100.Some of the best money I ever spent! She had to be "Hard" broke off of all "off" game.But man was it worth it!I done a lot of winning with her,but she to would "tell" on the other dogs if they were running trash by coming into me.Tragically, her life was cut short by a fence at 3 yrs old.I took that one hard.She had struck down in a creek bottom and was flat moving it out and then total silence.I knew immediately something was wrong.I pulled out the tracker and started narrowing in on her location. I was to late as she had somehow hung her self on a fence.To this day, I am not sure how she done it.I lost another nice young dog.I knew it was only a matter of time before this fool dog was going to get injured or killed as she like to climb.We had to get a ladder one night and go rescue her as she had climbed a big river maple and could not get back down.I tried and tried to break her of climbing ,but there is only so much you can do at the tree with a dog as you risk doing more damage than good.On this night she struck in the river bottom and pretty soon she let out long bawl locate of hers that I loved so much and then started treeing her heart out!I told my son that she must be looking at that coon as she was very intense! We started down there and about half way there,there was a moment of silence followed by a yelp,then all was silent.We ran down there and my son spotted her first.She had fallen out of the tree and impaled herself on a piece of drift wood.It was a gruesome scene.I hurried up and lifted her off of it and wrapped her up in my hunting coat.She was alive,but I did not know for how long.We made a mad dash back to the truck.She died en route to the vet.
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Post by ET on Feb 21, 2009 23:33:07 GMT -5
Reading about others and their adventures with their hunting dog brought back a memory of a hunt with my dog who passed away last year. I had him when he was 4-months old and began just using basic training techniques for find and fetch. As we progressed into duck hunting I soon discovered he had a fear for going alone into cattails in the marsh for a downed duck retrieval. For two years I had to don my chest waders with Shadow following behind me as I made these retrievals. Okay he is not a perfect retriever and this is something I may have to live with. Then on the 3rd or 4th hunting season an interesting event took place that even surprised me. I had just shot a hen mallard that ended up in the water feet up. Shadow immediately took after this bird and got hold of it to bring it back. As he started back the hen was not dead and became conscious. Shadow not having what is called a hard mouth (real hard bite or grip) the duck wiggled free and with wings flapping quickly headed straight into the grass that I will now call cattails to hide. Shadow watched the duck disappear and then when he looked back at me I automatically yelled fetch. When I did this I thought to myself what are you saying knowing that this was not going to happen. Well I just was getting ready to go after the downed bird when I saw Shadow disappear into the cattails in pursuit of this duck. At first I couldn’t believe what was happening and momentarily was wondering if this was not a dream. For the next 4-5minutes I was mesmerized as I could see the location of Shadow and the duck by the ripples seen at the tips of the cattails when they moved. The chase was on with me wondering what the outcome was going to be. As time progressed the distance between the rippling cattails began to shrink as Shadow closed in on the duck. Then finally there was only one ripple seen headed in my direction. To my utter amazement there was the duck in Shadows mouth as he emerged from the cattails. Well talk about being elated and a feeling of pride with what just transpired is an understatement. When Shadow made it to shore I immediately dispatched the wounded duck and really showered him with praise and a treat. We then sat down with a tired Shadow resting his head in my lap for the next ½ hour or so. During this time a few ducks flew by in shooting range but didn’t respond while my hunting buddy was resting up from the strenuous chase by peacefully resting his head in my lap. This was just a precious moment for me that I was not going to disturb it for an extra duck or two. During this time I also reviewed with what just happened. No matter what I did with Shadow I could not get him to overcome a fear but a series of events that unfolded in this incident that just occurred and his natural hunting instincts did just that. Afterwards Shadow took his place beside me and I managed to shoot another duck for him to retrieve but this time on the water. I only brought home 2-ducks that day but my biggest prize was a memory that will always be cherished. After that day Shadow no longer feared chasing a duck in tall marsh grass and during his career only lost 2 out of at least a hundred ducks that I suspected entangled themselves underwater. Below is a picture of my buddy coming out of the cattails. The one time I brought a camera along with hopes of catching a retrieve turns out the event is one that was lost. This location is where that wonderful event occurred of Shadow loosing his fear. It was our favorite spot for mallards and wood ducks. Ed
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Post by jims on Feb 21, 2009 23:34:50 GMT -5
It is difficult when one loses a good dog.
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Post by tar12 on Feb 22, 2009 0:50:31 GMT -5
Ed, Thats a great story! To dog men, those little moments are the most precious of all!
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Post by ET on Feb 22, 2009 8:04:17 GMT -5
Ed, Thats a great story! To dog men, those little moments are the most precious of all! Tar12 I can’t agree with you more about those special hunts with a dog especially when that close bond develops/exists between a hunter and dog. From reading your posts I can see you also have experienced such a bond and where a dog will give it’s all for the hunt. I was saddened to hear of the loss of one of your dogs. I don’t know how I would have handled such a loss and situation. The one consolation for a hunting dog is that the dog even though a pet has a chance to live/experience its natural instinct and explore the wild instead of just being kept at home. Shadow was good at home but when he knew we were going hunting he would not respond to anyone but with me displaying such excitement that even got me worked up at times hoping for a great day hunting. Many fond memories of our adventures with ducks and pheasants will live on for a lifetime. Ed
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