This is a pretty awesome buck reportedly taken with archery equipment in Wisconsin. I can not verify it but it is a heck of a video that Wisconsin Outdoor Fun has posted up.

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Possible record buck taken by bow in Fond du Lac, shot by Jeff Weber of Johnsburg, who just started hunting by bow this year.

The "Old Farts" Larry, Harold, and Rick

I’ve had the opportunity on a number of occasions to join the so called “Old Farts” on their outdoor adventures even though I slightly a bit younger then them. So it was a bit shocking to hear the news that Harold fell from a tree stand today. Not sure of all the details but he fell about 20 feet breaking his pelvis in a couple of places. While this is a serious injury it could of been far worse.

Our thoughts and prayers are with him as he gets ready for surgery and then heals up.

Everyone be careful out there and be safe.

Me and my first Crossbow

In what had to be one of the most ridiculous laws on the book requiring anyone purchasing a crossbow in the state of North Carolina use to be required to obtain a pistol permit first. So last year when crossbows became legal to use during archery season a number of people crossed stateliness to purchase crossbows and avoid the extra expense and hassle of getting a pistol permit.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is advising hunters that a bill removing the requirement to obtain a pistol permit in order to purchase or transfer ownership of a crossbow has been signed into law.
Previously, state law required anyone buying or otherwise receiving a crossbow in North Carolina to have either a pistol permit from their local sheriff’s office or a concealed handgun permit.
Crossbows are a legal method of hunting in North Carolina, permissible anytime bow-and-arrow hunting is allowed. However, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission does not regulate the sale or purchase of firearms and crossbows.

NCWRC

They should do away with Pistol Permits altogether but that’s another conversation.

Damge of field in GSMNP by wild pigs

Residents of Rosedale drive in Elizabeth City NC have seen damage to their properties like a gang of hooligans went through with rotor tillers to their gardens and landscape. It seems they have a feral hog problem and given the rapid rate at which hogs reproduce this could be a huge problem. While residents in states like Texas and Florida have been dealing with issues from feral hogs for a while here in North Carolina it is still a sporadic occurrence.

It’s the second time feral hogs have rooted through an Elizabeth City neighborhood in five months, despite police shooting and killing nine of them last fall. They disappeared until last week, when large hogs were seen boldly walking around outbuildings and on Rosedale Drive.
Feral hogs have been around for years but have avoided roaming within city limits. The neighborhood abuts a swamp that runs along the Pasquotank River on the north side of Elizabeth City near the Albemarle Hospital.
Wildlife officials believe the feral hogs have come in from the rural areas of Camden County on the other side of the river. Feral hogs are excellent swimmers.
“They’ve populated in a bunch of counties across the state,” said Lt. Norman Watts, an enforcement officer for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “I don’t think we’re going to get rid of them, but we can keep them down.”
Feral hogs are prolific, typically breeding twice a year having anywhere from two to 12 piglets, according to an online report by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Virginian – Pilot

Hardly a month goes by where I don’t run into someone or someone email’s me asking about feral hog hunting opportunities but here in North Carolina there certainly is more of a demand then there is supply. I suspect in a few years that may change. While I’d like the opportunity to hunt hogs I’m sure dreading the day they get on to the lands I hunt. They are some of the most destructive critter you’ll ever encounter and except for man there is not much else that is going to take one down never mind control them.
With that said it appears that residents in this community appear ready to allow some bow hunters come in and help knock the population off a bit. So if you are in that area it might be worth some effort to get permission to hunt.

Whitetail deer in Costal North Carolina

The exploding deer population on Bald Head Island is not new nor is the island residents opposition to the most reasonable and cost effective method of using hunting to control the population. The latest plan to control the deer population is to allow NC State University to use the island deer population to experiment with darting does with contraceptives to see if that will work.

Bald Head Island, which conducted six herd culls between 2000 and 2008. The deer population was so excessive in 2000 more than 200 animals were removed from the herd “and the population was still healthy,” Peck said.
Contraceptives in the general deer population have not proven effective, Norville said.
“It would only work in a closed setting, like a pen where animals are tightly controlled,” he said. “In an open system where the deer fully move and go there is no delivery method that is effective enough and proficient enough to deliver a contraceptive to each and every deer, and it is highly expensive.”
The cost is about $500 per animal, Norville said.

Star News

The Urban Archery Program is designed for situations just like this and it is ridiculous that Bald Head Island will spend a lot of money to control deer that could be done for little or no cost. According to Star News the cost of the NC State experiment will be $75,000 a year and they have to commit to 5 years. That’s a lot of money to throw down the drain when bow hunters could easily control the deer population .

Ted Nugent & Cameraman Mitch Moore pled no contest to game violations

Ted Nugent or better known to the hunting community as “Uncle Ted” has entered a plea of no contest to hunting violations in California from a hunt he filmed for his outdoor show “Spirit of the Wild”. According to Appeal Democrat;

Yuba City attorney Jack Kopp, representing Theodore Anthony Nugent, entered the plea to Department of Fish and Game charges of baiting deer and not having a deer tag “countersigned” at the closest possible location, said Deputy District Attorney John Vacek.
Nugent, who did not appear in court, also illegally shot an immature buck on the show but was not charged, according to Fish and Game.
Baiting deer is legal in some states but not in California, said department spokesman Patrick Foy. Baiting supplies are sold at some outdoor stores, he said.
The deer was killed in El Dorado County toward the end of deer hunting season last fall but brought to Yuba County. Two co-defendants, Mitchell Neil Moore and Ross Albert Patterson, live in Yuba County, said Vacek.

While the net has had some rumors about the violations almost from the time they happened it appears California Authorities were unaware until a warden saw the show with the violations when it aired in March. The story goes on to say that Ted Nugent fully cooperated with the investigation.

Hunters are ultimately responsible for their own actions so even though Ted was hunting with two local men that should have known the rules Ted should have also. The area was baited with C’Mere Deer a product that is an attractant sprayed on forage to lure deer into an area. While use of that product is legal in North Carolina and a number of other states California does not allow baiting of deer.
While I certainly don’t support law breaking I really think this was an honest mistake and not a deceitful act. There does not appear to be any effort on Ted’s part to hide what he did, I’m sure he could of edited parts out of his TV Show. He also wrote a letter to a local Archery Shop Owner where he described the hunt noting they used C’Meer Deer. It does seem to suggest it was used in the preseason (“reseason”) and not clear it was used actually during the hunt.

On this early season bowhunt for CA blacktail dee, Ted used his #50 Martin Rytera AlienX bow, GodTip 5575 Nuge arrows, 100 grain Magnus Busscut broadhead, Scott release, Lumenok lighted nocks, Sims LimbSavers, drop away arrow rest, fiber optic sight and accessories, Mossy Oak lightweight Savannag ScentLok clothing. Bushnell optics and flashlight, ThermaCell, Code Blue scents and scent eliminator, Knight and Hale calls, C’Mere Deer during the reseason, Outdoor Edge knives, Glenn’s Deerhandle and numerous Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s

The full story of the hunt in Ted’s own words can be found at Archery News Online.
Famous hunters like Uncle Ted can do a lot to put a positive face on our sport that is often maligned by much of the media. Unfortunately when things like this happen it gives us all a black eye. I hope Ted will at some point address this issue and explain what happened much like he urged Jim Zumbo to do. We all make mistakes and in my view this just appears to be a bit of carelessness on understanding the rules before going hunting.

You can help put a local guy over the top in a video contest that Mathews Bow is sponsoring. Luke Pearson is from eastern NC and put this two minute video together featuring his sister and brother in law. The video “A Mathews Moment” is pretty good and certainly in keeping with Mathews Bow image of supporting traditional values. So if you can go on the site, register and vote for him. He is currently in second place so lets see if we can push him over the top.

Some good questions… one would think I’ve been living in a cave seeing I’ve never even heard of Spook. You guys that get the Pursuit Channel maybe familiar with his show or will be shortly with his show on Mondays at 10pm.

Spook Spann is from neighboring Tennessee and it seems he has been making a name for himself in hunting circles. Here is some of the stuff he has done;

Spook’s success in the whitetail world has been phenomenal. To date, he has harvested 21 Pope & Young whitetails and 7 Boone & Crockett whitetails. His most published success came in 2007 when he harvested the largest whitetail ever shot on video by a bow hunter, a 230” Kansas Monster. Many of his hunting successes were accomplished on his own properties (Big Buck Properties®), including the Kansas Monster. He has harvested over 20 different big game animals around the world. Completing the grand slam of North American wild sheep and harvesting Pope and Young moose, elk, mule deer and bear and successfully harvesting many Boone and Crockett mule deer, desert sheep, marco polo sheep and black bear.

Spook Spann .com

Stickem Archery certainly seems to have made a good choice in who they selected because I suspect Spook will be a household name in the near future. I’ve watched a number of his videos tonight and found them to be pretty good. One of my favorite clips was from his polar bear hunt. Not sure if the current heat wave we are experiencing influenced my choice or if the polar bear seems like the ultimate top of the food chain prey to pursue.

Now for us that don’t have access to the Pursuit Channel Spooks show will be available on Stick’em Archery

Well it looks like it is going to be an exciting show as well as educational. Looks like Stickem Archery got a good spokesman for them as well. Looking for some good things out of Stickem Archery there website is pretty informative so check it out as well.

At least many of us did as the North Carolina lawmakers failed to pass laws to overturn the addition of crossbows as archery equipment, the addition of a second week of muzzle loader season, opening up Sunday’s to hunting on private land and a number of other rules that were delayed. I think it was a good choice by our lawmakers to leave the rule making and wildlife management to the Wildlife Commission. I would also like to thank many of my readers who contacted law makers and urged them to let these bills die and not given into the special interest groups that hired lobbyists to get these rules blocked.
The new regulation digest will come out in August but NCWRC in anticipation of the interest in this did a press release listing all the delayed rules that will go into effect next month.

• Require persons harvesting deer through the Deer Management Assistance Program to use tags provided by the Commission and report their harvests, whether those deer are antlerless or antlered. Allow harvest of deer on DMAP areas under the big game harvest report card and the bonus antlerless deer harvest report card, where applicable.
• Change the description of where bonus antlerless deer harvest report cards may be used from “private lands” to “lands other than those enrolled in the Commission’s Game Land Program” in order to permit the use of these cards on military installations, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands that are NOT game lands.
• Remove the daily bag limit for deer.
• Allow hunters to use archery equipment to harvest deer during the muzzleloading firearms season on game lands.
• Shorten the bow season by one week and open the muzzleloader season one week earlier to create a two week muzzleloader season.
• Deer seasons in the Northwestern deer season will be changed so that the regular gun season is extended through January 1. Deer seasons in the Eastern, Central, and Western deer season structures will remain unchanged.
• Deer seasons on game lands in the Northwestern deer season will be changed so that the regular gun season is extended through January 1. Deer seasons on game lands in the Eastern, Central, and Western deer season structures will remain unchanged.
• Open all private lands in the Eastern, Central, and Northwestern deer seasons to the maximum either-sex deer season.
• Assign all of Moore County to the Eastern deer season.
• Allow falconry on Sundays, except for migratory game birds.
• Allow bow hunting on Sundays on private lands only, except for migratory game birds.
• Allow the use of crossbows anytime bow and arrows are legal weapons.
• Disallow the selling of live foxes and coyotes taken under a depredation permit to controlled hunting preserves.
• Allow a landowner with a valid depredation permit to give away the edible portions of deer to anyone. Require the recipient to retain a copy of the depredation permit.
• Eliminate the requirement that a landholder must get a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit for the taking of migratory birds before getting a Commission permit to do so.

This is great news for all of us who supported these changes but let’s remember there were a number of sportsmen for whatever reason opposed these rules. I hope that we can move on and find our common ground and mend fences because I’m sure there will be attacks on our traditions by anti hunting groups.

Uncle Ted responding to PA News in regards to debate over crossbows there.

I urge you to contact your State Lawmakers to defeat the crossbow bills, the bills to eliminate the second week of muzzleloader season, and the bills to disallow bow hunting on Sundays. All of these were passed by the NCWRC and now special interest groups like the NCBA have sought to thwart the public hearing and the Wildlife Commission process.