That is the question Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine is exploring this month and next and one that has been on my mind as of late as well. The topic comes up often in deer camps, message forums, about anywhere hunters gather.
North Carolina allows baiting or supplemental feeding of deer and hunters use a variety of items as bait but corn is probably the most popular item. The topic of baiting is real hot right now in the counties that have bear seasons because it is illegal to take a bear over bait unless it is being pursued by hunting dogs. Having sat in the Big Game Committee Meetings at NCWRC I can tell you there does not appear to be any commissioner that wants to touch the deer baiting rules.
I urge you to go read the article in Deer & Deer Hunting they have a pretty good synopsis of the corn debate and I won’t try to rewrite it. Hunters need to decide for themselves whether they’ll hunt over baits or not much like many of the other choices we make when it comes to hunting.
I use corn for a number of different reasons and sometimes the property dictates the use. One place I hunt we use corn to supplement because the landowner doesn’t want us planting food plots so we set up a number of feeders on the property. Another place we hunt we use corn to keep the deer on the property because surrounding properties use corn as well. Then another place I hunt the landowner wants some deer killed because of destruction of vegetation but because of safety concerns there is limited hunting spots on the property. Corn helps position those deer so we can safely remove them and they don’t end up getting killed under a depredation program where the meat more than likely will not be used.
I’ve heard a number of people say this and my experience seems to support it that big bucks will not hit a bait pile usually during daylight hours. My experience has been smaller bucks, does and fawns seem to be the ones that utilize along with a variety of other critters including turkeys.
I don’t have an issue with the use of baits in areas where legal. Though I do think if that is the only way you feel you can hunt that you are severely limiting your options.
This trout was caught in Michigan earlier this month in the Manistee River.
Grand Rapids area resident Tom Healy caught the 41-pound, 7.25 ounce monster on a crankbait while fishing with Tim Roller’s charter service. Michigan DNR fisheries biologists Mark Tonello and Todd Kalish weighed the fish after leveling the certified scales and determined the weight. It is the new record hold for Michigan. Upon the second weighing with the scales leveled, the weight was determined to be 1 pound, .75 ounces heavier than originally determined. The fish was 43.75 inches long.
Go check out Michigan Fly Fishing Club Blog for the details. Wow what a fish.
As the state budget crisis continues more things have to give and that appears to be the store on the first floor of the NCWRC building in Raleigh. I was over that way yesterday and saw the signs that everything was marked down to 50% off. Certainly the sign of the times these days it seems.
I believe the store was a bit obscure to the general public given it was on the first floor and most of the public entered the building on the second floor. The store had a good selection of books and resources about wildlife and the environment here in the state as well as more artistic items and of course hats and t-shirts.
The impact of the closing I suspect to the average person will be unnoticed but I’ll admit I’ll miss the opportunity to see all those resources together in one spot. The store closes for good on Wednesday at 4pm so if you want to visit it you better hurry.
As feral hogs get a foothold in many parts of North Carolina how to slow them down should be paramount as we look to prevent their enviable expansion. One can look at a state like Texas and all the problems they have because of feral hogs.
While hogs in Texas are certainly a much bigger problem than they are here if we are not careful in a number of years we may be where Texas is today. North Carolina like Texas allows supplemental feeding of whitetail deer and thus feral hogs. Supplemental feed for hogs just makes life easier for them and encourages them to expand.
I came across an interesting Texas Ag article about a recent study to use fencing to block hogs from supplemental feed but allowing deer access.
However, a new study conducted at the Welder Wildlife Foundation near Sinton showed that is it possible to design fencing that allows deer access to feeders while excluding feral hogs, said Dr. Billy Higginbotham, AgriLife Extension fisheries and wildlife specialist.
In Texas alone, feral hogs cause $52 million of damage to crops and pastures annually, he said. “And that does not include damage to wildlife food plots, wildlife feeds and feeders, or to recreational areas like parks, golf courses and landscapes.”
To curtail the damage, landowners hunt and trap feral hogs, he said. But at the same time, Texas hunters and landowners put out approximately 300 million pounds of shelled corn annually, primarily for white-tailed deer, spending an estimated $50 million. Feral hogs crash the party by raiding the feeding sites and eating the corn, often preventing deer and other wildlife from visiting at all.
The party crashing does more than just deny supplemental feed to white-tailed deer and other wildlife. Better-fed feral hog sows are more likely to produce more piglets per litter, and those piglets have a higher survival rate, Higginbotham said.
Fencing seemed the answer to the problem, he said, but how high was high enough to stop hogs and low enough to admit deer?
To answer this question Higginbotham devised a cooperative study with Dr. Tyler Campbell, wildlife biologist and station leader at the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services-National Wildlife Research Center near Kingsville.
Higginbotham and Campbell enclosed deer-feeder sites with fences of three heights – 20 inches, 28 inches and 34 inches. All fences used six 16-foot long panels, staked with steel T-posts and arranged in a circular pattern around feeders. During July and August, remote sensing cameras, which are tripped by motion, were used to record deer and feral hog traffic. The cameras recorded traffic before the fencing was erected and then for two weeks after in late July and early August.
Before the fencing, the automatic cameras recorded 5.3, 3.1 and 4.7 hog visits per hour for sites No. 1 (34-inch fence), No. 2 (28-inch fence) and No. 3 (20-inch fence), respectively. Deer visits per hour were 0.8, 1.4 and 0.1 respectively for sites 1, 2 and 3.
Once the fencing was installed, all three heights limited feral-hog access, but the two highest fences excluded them completely. To a small degree, the 34-inch fencing and the 28-inch fencing limited some deer access as well, but the overall effect on deer traffic was minimal as they could easily jump the fences, Higginbotham said.
With the fencing, hog visits per hour were reduced to 0.0, 0.0 and 1.8 for sites 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Deer visits per hour were negligibly reduced to 0.66 from 0.8 for the 34-inch fencing, but actually doubled for the 24-inch fencing and more than quadrupled for the 20-inch fencing, he said.
Why the increase of deer visits for the two lower height fencing?
Higginbotham posits that deer started visiting the feeders once “the neighborhood improved” as the hogs were excluded.“We don’t know for sure but that’s a good bet,” he said.
Because of these results, Higginbotham and Campbell are recommending 28-inch fencing.“The 28-inch high panels worked as well as the 34-inch high panels at excluding hogs,” Higginbotham said. “Therefore, 60-inch wide panels can be purchased and ripped lengthwise down the middle to create a least-cost exclosure.”
The cost of the panels and T-posts was $115 for the 20-inch high fencing, $170 for the 28-inch, and $187 for the 34-inch, he said.
Bandera County Courier
Areas in North Carolina where hogs currently are hunters and landowners should take steps to prevent or at least slow down their expansion across the state.
Photo by Arednecklady
One of the benefits of the internet is being able to develop friendships with folks all over. This weekend a group of us that talk hunting on the world wide web all the time got together for a BBQ and some outdoor fun.
The threat of rain seemed to dampen spirits a bit but once we all got there things improved. The rain held off so we had a spectacular day sighting in rifles, shooting skeet, and swapping lies. Some of these guys I hadn’t seen in a while so it was great to see them.
One of the touching moments was when we remembered a good friend 340 Mag that for many years had driven down from Wisconsin to attend the get together. Dale lost his battle with cancer about 6 weeks ago.
The food was spectacular and the stories were great. With another hunting season upon us I guess we’ll have to try hard to outdo the stories we heard from seasons past.
Saturday is National Hunting and Fishing Day and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has a number of events planned across the state. Check out all the events and even though the weather is calling for rain I’m sure some of these will still go on. People in other states should check the National Hunting and Fishing website for links to local events in their state.
I’ll not be attending any of those events but I’m planning to get together with a number of hunters from across the state. Whatever you have planned to do this weekend take some time to think about the positive things our sports offer. Tell someone else how great our sport is and invite them to join you on a future trip. The future of our sport rest squarely on our shoulders so do what you can to introduce someone new to it.
Rumored to be a New State Record Book Buck
Rumors and this photo are circling around the net indicating that a state record may have been taken in Stokes County. The NC Sportsman Magazine reports that a story about this buck will be in the next issue. This is what was reported on NC Hunt & Fish;
The deer that was killed was a non typical velvet deer the green score was 145 7/8. My good friend killed this deer a day after I saw it with him. It was around a 25 yd shot and about 150 yard recovery. Its an awesome and should beat the previous record that stands with nc bow hunters which I believe is 132. After 60 days it will be scored again by 3 more certified scorers. So I think the most it will lose is 5 in beating the previous record by 8 in.. If left anything out just let me know. Oh yeah it was his first bow kill!!!
I guess I’ll have to sit by my mailbox and wait to read the full story in NC Sportsman.
What is probably a sign of what is to come a small herd of pigs has taken a likening to a Guilford County School’s playground. Stokesdale Elementary school has had to cancel outside recess at the school until animal control can rid the playground of pigs. It is unclear if these are pigs that have escaped from someone or if they are feral pigs.
Feral pig populations across North Carolina and really the southern United States is exploding and growing virtual unchecked. Pigs are very prolific and will multiply quickly as well as very adaptable and hard to eradicate once they become established. Many hunters will look on the pig as a blessing because of the added hunting opportunities it provides however once established many of these hunters and landowners will see the pigs as a curse as they destroy the land and many native species. Hogs should be viewed as an invasive species and dealt with as such.
National Geographic / Bull Shark
A late night swim ended tragically when Robert Snead of Pennsylvania disappeared leaving a lot of questions until days later when his body was found by an early morning walker after it washed up on the beach at Kill Devil Hill. An autopsy has determined the cause of death was from shark bites.
Shark bites killed Snead, the regional medical examiner’s office in Greenville, N.C., said Friday.
Snead suffered extensive injuries and there is no question that a shark attack caused his death, an autopsy assistant at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University said.
“Living tissues look different when they receive an injury, versus tissues that are already dead,” she said.
Officials had not determined what type of shark might have attacked Snead, who was on vacation with his family when he went for a swim sometime after 9 p.m. off Corolla, about 30 miles north of Kill Devil Hills.
His family reported him missing about 12:45 a.m. Sunday. Red flags had been posted Saturday warning people to stay out of the water because of dangerous surf.
It is likely Snead was attacked near the area where he went swimming, said Lt. Jason Banks of the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office, and the current carried his body south.
Virginia Pilot
While the specie of shark suspected in the attack has not been identified as of yet the Bull Shark in my opinion would be my prime suspect. While attacks are still pretty rare it seems a few attacks a year are reported in North Carolina waters with fatal attacks being even rarer. The last fatal attack in North Carolina waters prior to this one was in 2001.
Florida Museum of Natural History
National Geographic Info on Bull Sharks
Updates When Additional Information is Available.
Stopped at Bass Pro and glad to see they got some motorized shopping carts to help me haul my loot around the store.
