Any theories?
- Thread starter dwight_Shrute
- Start date
Republic of Alberta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- ,location, location
You are not necessarily going to see lots of game every time you go out. That's why it is called hunting. Could be lots of game around, you just don't know what to look for yet.
Republic of Alberta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- ,location, location
Sorry read first post wrong.
Dangerous talk, Bruce. Next thing you're gonna do is bring up that "common sense" thing again...
As a group, We complain about "predator populations" but always define them as wolves, yotes, cats...never predator birds...why is that? Was the indiscriminate destruction of such animals actually indiscriminate? I shot every rat, weasel, mink, ermin, fox, or racoon I saw as a youngster. Guess what, we always had chickens while our tree-hugger neighbour always lost theirs. We have stuck ourselves into nature's cycle. Now, we are so intricately bound up in it, we are constantly affecting it.
When I was a kid (9-14), I got 2-3 pairs of rabbits a day, that was worth $1.50 a pair at the local butcher shop (without dogs) and several grouse a week, for the table. No coyotes in NS in those days, I lived on a small trap line trapping muskrat, mink, ermin, racoon, and bobcats for spending money. Shot owls, crows, magpies (and other jays) on sight for target practice (no gophers either). Then birds became protected, farmers brought coyotes in to control rabbit populations. By the time I was 18, you couldn't get a brace of rabbits in an entire day of still hunting without using several dogs and farmers were complaining about sheep and cattle losses. By the time I was in my twenties, you were hearing about small children being threatened in their yards by coyotes. And almost no use in trapping anything anymore. Even muskrat populations were down to nothing. I remember getting a doe tag every year and drawing for a buck tag...then it went to bucks only, not sure what it is now, but I know, deer populations are having trouble.
So, how Did that management stuff work out once we protect the predators? Glad to see that coyote bounty last year did so much better than they ever thought it would there. Can't share everything when the only predator that is limited is man.
There are a whole lot of hawks in the area for sure.
Coyotes can damaged turkey , small game population, i noticed in my part of the wood, since iv'e killed many coyotes over the years, there is so many turkeys and grouses, downing 3 or 4 coyotes a year, will take of a lot of pressure on those species in your specific area... JP.
Id say if the pigeons are down hawks are probably a big player. Farmers use a lot of environmentally safe pesticides now, there is literally no lethal dose of roundup. Pesticides before were much worse, they would be absorbed into the creatures body and stay there. Small game didn't consume enough of this pesticide to be harmed by it however hawks and owls who consumed large quantities of these creatures would literally take in all the pesticide those animals had consumed. If ten rabbits had 1mg of the chemical in them each and the hawk ate them he would now have 10mg of pesticide in him. The process is called bio-accumulation and is what led to the fall of the hawk and owl populations.
Exactly what I was going to ask.
