Hunting/Shooting, Myths and Misconceptions

I find that as the season progresses into december, I rarely see deer before 10:00. These are undisturbed deer, not being pushed, or even hunted as far as I know.
I still go out under star light, but, the deer let me get pretty much froze solid before making an appearance.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
I find that as the season progresses into december, I rarely see deer before 10:00. These are undisturbed deer, not being pushed, or even hunted as far as I know.
I still go out under star light, but, the deer let me get pretty much froze solid before making an appearance.
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Your 100% correct again J/C:cool:
The deer must conserve energy and their fat reserves in the coldest months. Vitamin D from sunlight is vital to their health and survival and is a major factor in determining their movements... hence the middle of the day activity, especially on a sunny day.
 
Gatehouse said:
I might as well say something...

I dont know if horshur has even ever BEEN to alberta, (but he may have a million times and I just dont' know) but I *DO* know that he knows more about BC deer , and spent more time afield than most of us combined, however, he just isn't the type to blab about it that often....Unlike many of us.

if you wish to debate what he has to say, please do so, as it will be an interstign discussion, but to suggest that horshur has little experience or is ignorant when it comes to deer behaviour is simply not true. He is more qualified than most to discuss deer behaviour in Western Canada.

Hope ths clears up any misconceptions about his 'qualifications"
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Just getting tired of seeing people making generalizations. I know all about it as I used to do it myself. This thread is about misconseptons but it is full of them due to generalization.
 
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This is a fishing deal,but when in jr. high hunter training our instructer told us if we encountered a bear when fishing and it came after us, to simply whip it's snout with the end of your rod. sounds pretty sensible to me.
 
This is a fishing deal,but when in jr. high hunter training our instructer told us if we encountered a bear when fishing and it came after us, to simply whip it's snout with the end of your rod. sounds pretty sensible to me
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Yeah. Better to piss it off and die quick than have it play with you first :D


(seriously - might work on a black, i wouldn't try it on a griz personally.)
 
wpmover said:
This is a fishing deal,but when in jr. high hunter training our instructer told us if we encountered a bear when fishing and it came after us, to simply whip it's snout with the end of your rod. sounds pretty sensible to me.
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Good luck with that :D
 
wpmover said:
This is a fishing deal,but when in jr. high hunter training our instructer told us if we encountered a bear when fishing and it came after us, to simply whip it's snout with the end of your rod. sounds pretty sensible to me.
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Hey, would that teacher have been Steve Danyluk from Gilbert Paterson Junior High?? Because when I took my hunter training, he said the same thing. Even in junior high I thought it was the most idiotic thing I have ever heard.
 
Scott_N said:
Hey, would that teacher have been Steve Danyluk from Gilbert Paterson Junior High?? Because when I took my hunter training, he said the same thing. Even in junior high I thought it was the most idiotic thing I have ever heard.
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I take it you are from Deathbridge as well :)
 
If I remember correctly there was a video clip on a A&E ??? show about predatory black bear attacks.
The guy video taped a black bear that was stalking him, the guy went into a river or lake, was yelling at the bear and smacking it with his fishing rod.
It took about 10 minutes for the bear to leave.
I wish I could remember the name of the show
 
There's little question that a bears nose is sensetive. But, if you have to hit it with anything, I'd prefer something along the lines of a large heavy bullet.
And truth be told, the nose isn't where I'd be hitting that bear with said bullet.
 
Foxer said:
I know most animal biologists are moving away from the 'cold weather' theory and are more apt to suggest that hours of daylight and a few other factors are more likely to be the triggers. And again - you can see where that might lead people to mistake it's about temperature. Years where there's an 'indian summer' you see more sunlight and correspondingly warmer weather. When the storms come and the temperature drops, you also see more cloud cover and darker days, which may be one of the primary catalysts for the rutt happening.

On an interesting side note - several species which exibit seasonal changes also seem to be triggered by light. My birds for example go thru the same 'spring hormone' issues (become noticably more agressive and prone to biting, start 'nesting behaviours', more molts, etc) every year regular as clockwork - and yet the temperature they live in is controlled and pretty constant.

It's also suspected that solunar conditions play some sort of role in the process.
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I know of a couiple of sharptail dancing grounds. I have been sitting in a truck durring November and had them doing their spring mating dances within 15 feet. Next year I will try to get some digital shots of this.

Every year in mid November the shapies gather into flocks of up to 200 plus birds for a few weeks. It happens deep snow or bare prairie . Temperature does not seem to be a determining factor.

What does seem to control this activity is the length of daylight.
 
mjcurry said:
my co worker told me that its unfair to hunt deer with a big gun becasue they have no chance. he said its only fair if they have a 50 50 chance. so i guess he wants me to give the deer a gun too. morons
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thats like saying........give it a chance to survive a smaller wound...:rolleyes: .......
shoot it but not to hard...:rolleyes: ..hope ya kicked him in the nutz
 
my co worker told me that its unfair to hunt deer with a big gun becasue they have no chance.
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Take him out hunting for a few days. Make him find the deer. Give him a camera and tell him he has to take a CLEAR non blurry shot of the animal and only legal animals - and that the picture has to be centered on a vital area.

Ask him after the fact if a telephoto lens would have given him an 'unfair advantage'.

Bet he doesn't get a single pic if you're not helping him find the deer, and probably doesn't get one if you are :D
 
Foxer said:
I know most animal biologists are moving away from the 'cold weather' theory and are more apt to suggest that hours of daylight and a few other factors are more likely to be the triggers. And again - you can see where that might lead people to mistake it's about temperature. Years where there's an 'indian summer' you see more sunlight and correspondingly warmer weather. When the storms come and the temperature drops, you also see more cloud cover and darker days, which may be one of the primary catalysts for the rutt happening.

On an interesting side note - several species which exibit seasonal changes also seem to be triggered by light. My birds for example go thru the same 'spring hormone' issues (become noticably more agressive and prone to biting, start 'nesting behaviours', more molts, etc) every year regular as clockwork - and yet the temperature they live in is controlled and pretty constant.

It's also suspected that solunar conditions play some sort of role in the process.
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Hours of daylight as a trigger is no big revelation. You turn on a light in the winter to keep layers productive. We turn on barn lights at night to start Thoroughbred mares cycling early. I never said that cold started the rut, hell the bucks have nothin to do with it they can breed any day of the year it is the does coming into season and that is controlled by light.
What I have said is that the intensity, the time of day, the duration of active rutting is strongly influenced by weather and that is because of hyperthermia(overheating)
Research of desert mulies in Washington state showed that deer take measures in the summer when temp exceed 20c to avoid overheating and in the winter they must limit activity to avoid hyperthermia at -5c:eek:
A big northern deer would only be more of the same and much activity with heavy hair coat and fat from summer would insure they overheat.
Yesterday it was -15c I was running behind Walker dogs in Tshirt, no hat and sweating like a pig .I think most hunters remove their coat while climbing a hill in the fall;) Deer can't remove their coat so it's pretty easy to do the math isn't it????????
So I say again-----Does start to cycle due to photoperiod------bucks have to cover ground to service the does-----covering ground and breeding is work---working hard in a heavy coat on a warm day causes overheating---measures must be taken when overheated----limiting activity to coolest hours avoids hyperthermia---a cold day when most does are in heat gives bucks the best opportunity to further itself-----hunters need deer moving in order to see them----oldtimers were not really wrong cause the rut is no help if the bucks are runnin at night only.
 
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