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I've often thought about giving some to the local schools for kids to learn from. I'm always surprised at the number of poeple I meet that had no idea that deer lost their antlers.

Welcome Tyler!

Tink, you gotta come over for our big family Christmas get together later this year. Oh, and it's "just" not "jest".

Agreed Steve. I suppose that for me it is the intent of the hunter prior to the shot that makes it sensless or not sensless. All the factors I listed could come into play given different scenarios. There could always be a "but what if..." thrown in. As I've gotten older I realize that one should use caution before passing judgement on the actions of other hunters. It's real easy to crticize another hunters actions because they are not like yours. But perhaps if you were in his shoes you would have done the same thing. To me the #2 scenario I posted is sensless killing even though it is legal. The #1 scenario I'm on the fence about. Just how bad off was the guy?? Were his kids starving? #3 I'd feel better about if she had attempted to use the meat, but what if she didn't get a tag because she didn't know it would be a problem and was too late to get one. If she attempted to get the meat and was caught she'd be fined and that would escelate her financial problems. I don't feel the intitial question is easy to answer, but one every hunter should ask him/herself.

Well the St. Louis Deer Classic is over and I must say it was my favorite one. I went today for the awards ceremony (just in case) and although I didn't bring home the gold my buck did win a third place ribbon (162&2/8 net) for typical/archery. My 6 year son took the picture with my phone. There were some awesome deer there this year. The typical/archery 1st place went to a 170 inch (net score) bruiser. There were several non-typical bucks that went over 200 inches and the 1st place buck was over 220 inches. I spoke with the "main guy" Hugh and told him to invite Tim Andrus for next year. He hadn't heard of Tim, but he knows about him now! Hugh also mentioned that he had initially published the wrong date which caused a lot of problems. That is why I had the wrong dates initially. He said that 1/4 of the vendors booked couldn't make it because of the mix-up. Next year it should be the third weekend in February.

I believe my next comment has potential for heated debate which is not my intention at all. I urge all posters to refrain from judging the opinions of others. By all means though post yours. Doe-ee, what about hunting coyotes? Most hunters don't eat coyote. Several hunters I know kill them and let them rot because they believe them to be a nuisance?

A thread in the deer hunting room has made me wonder about something. To all the members here at RT what constitutes the sensless killing of an animal to you? Before answering keep these things in mind... 1. Does the legal taking of the animal play a part? 2. How does consuming the animal factor in? 3. Does the type/size of the animal make a difference? 4. Does it make a difference if there are too many or not enough of that particular type of animal? 5. Does the eatability (if that's a word) make a difference? A few examples to ponder: #1 A man is driving and purposfully runs over a trophy deer. He cuts off the antlers and leaves the rest on the roadside. He then sells the antlers to help pay the bills. #2 A man is hunting a trophy moose and legally kills it. He finds it, takes a picture, and decides to let it lay since getting it out would be too much trouble. There are no laws indicating he must remove the moose after the kill. #3 A woman (don't want to discriminate) farmer is losing a lot of her income she relies on to survive because deer are eating her crops. She spots 4 deer eating her crops and shoots all 4 out of season. The deer run into the woods and she makes no attempt to recover them.

That's awesome Kathleen! God is so great! Hope you get the biggest goat on the mountain. No one deserves it more. Sounds like the dancing queen isn't as bad as I thought either. Of course I'm sure he'll have to be extra bad now just to make sure no one thinks that.

Heard a seminar by Pat Reeve today. He was talking about deer hunting out of state. He said it takes about 3 years to get a non-resident tag in Iowa, so that's out. He did say it would be his first choice (the southern portion) for public ground deer hunting. He said that Kansas has a great deal of public land and little hunting pressure in the South Western part of the state. He also said there isn't much timber but that there are some big deer. He indicated tags were not as expensive and easier to get as well (Not sure of the cost). The Kansas DNR sends out information about public hunting grounds if asked. If one likes hunting ditches and ravines this might be an option. Sounded pretty cool to me anyway. Kansas also seems like a fairly central location for a lot of our members. I might go for something like that. Possibly a hog hunt. Have to see when it would be. It's difficult for me to get away during the fall. I'd have to find a substitute teacher for how ever many days I'd be gone.

Sorry to hear that Leo.

Yea, well you better make sure Steve "Buckee" knows that as well.

Started my first one (thanks to RT).

That's great Dakota! Enjoy the good life now.

Hats off to Randy for being a trooper and congrats on the new calf!

I took the wife and kids tonight, the kids had a blast. Each one caught a heafty trout and shot several bucks with the laser rifle game. I also met Pat Reeves and Nicole Jones. Nicole invited my 7 year old to go hunting with her. They were very nice people. (Almost as nice as Tim, Steve, Randy and the rest of our Pro's). I guess it's ok to call them ours? I didn't get to go to any seminars due the kids, so I may be there tomorrow (Saturday). I had a B&C measurer measure my 07 season buck and it came to the exact score (162 & 2/8) as the P&Y scorer got. I was glad to see that.

Bet we'll be seeing a lot more of this type of thing. I'm sorry to hear about it. It's an hour drive from Springfield, but I go to TimBuckTu in Maryville Illinois. http://timbucktu-outdoors.com/ Great shop.

Not sure of your sincerity, but it sounds to me like you need some motivation! THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JANUARY 2009 Nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January (598,000) and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 to 7.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million since the start of the recession in December 2007; about one-half of this decline occurred in the past 3 months. In January, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors. from: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

1.79 West of Mississippt in St. Louis, 1.89 here in IL.

I like the way you think.

Looks great! Nice story you have to go along with it.

I'll look for you Kirk. I'll be there Friday and Sunday. As long as the drying time period has elapsed you can have it measured (just the rack) and entered. My 07 buck was killed on Jan 17th 2008 so I had to wait until this year to enter it.

I checked your profile, no name. Shoot me a PM with your name and I'll ask around for you. I'll be there Friday evening letting my kids attempt to catch a trout and entering my buck.

Sounds good.

Tim, I sure would love to hunt with you or the forum members. Deer, bear, boar, pronghorn, elk, moose would all be of interest to me (not turkey). However, I can say as far as paying an outfitter I'm not interested these days. It basically comes down to money. All I can afford are DIY hunts.

Did some 4 wheeling off route 12 just West of Missoula in Idaho. Some good trails around the white sands camp ground (about an hour from Missoula). It'll be next year (spring 2010) before I get that way again. Unfortunately the Missoula resident that showed me the trails died of a heart attack last fall.