Don't Take Chances With Ice

A phone call came in an hour ago. A friend, bored out of his skull with doing little other than house chores for the past couple of weeks, took off to go ice fishing. He went to a small lake here in northern Michigan, got about 20 feet from shore, and the ice let go.

He plunged into five feet of water, sucked air for a few seconds, tried to climb out and broke through again. He kept breaking ice as he headed for shore, and finally made it. He had trouble fumbling the button to unlock his car, but eventually got in and turned on the heater. He lost several pieces of fishing tackle but can return in the spring and recover most of it providing someone doesn't beat him to it.

The above anecdote about the embarrassed ice fisherman points out something very important: it may be January, and we may have had plenty of cold days and nights behind us, but we've also had about 100 inches of snow. Heavy snow on top of ice acts as an insulation and prevents solid freezing. It may hold you up for two or three trips to the car, but again, it might not.

Never take chances with first- or last-ice.

People go through the ice every year. Some, like the guy above, was lucky. He went through in water shallow enough that he didn't go in over his head. He said he's never been so cold, and has never had such a gut-wrenching feeling as when the ice suddenly gave away and he plunged through. He got lucky because another 20 feet farther out, the water was over his head.

I seem to have developed some notoriety among ice fishermen. They tell me there is two inches of solid ice, and I still won't trust it. I usually wait until there is five or six inches of ice, and by then, I've missed the first-ice bite. But, at age 70, I'm still able to decide when and when not to try the ice. I'd rather be safe than dead after making a major mistake.

I've got through the ice on three occasions, and all were many years ago. Once was while running my trap line as a kid. I was trapping a deep ditch, and was walking the ice when I plunged through over my head, and when my feet hit bottom, I pushed hard and came back out the same hole I went through. I was near shore, caught hold of a tree root and pulled myself out.

Another time i was fishing a pond, and got too close to some pilings near the dam, and the ice gave way. I cut my leg on the way down but was able to grab a piling and hang on. A buddy came to lend a hand with a rope, and he pulled me to safety. Wet, had a nasty gash on my leg, but I was still alive.

Once while fishing near Standish on Wigwam Bay I headed out to fish. The wind was blowing hard from offshore, and I checked the ice where it was attached to shore. It looked do so I went out, caught two or three walleyes, and as the wind picked up, I looked toward shore. There was now an open lead between the ice shelf and shore. I grabbed my gear, ran for shore, and was facing a 10-foot-wide lead of open water. I knew the ice was going out and heading for Canada so I backed up, got a running jump, and cleared five or six feet before splashing down near shore in three feet of water.

Was I a slow learner?

No, I don't think so but I'm a firm believer in my sense of danger Everyone else who ignored my warning shout that the ice was going out went for a ride. They were picked up nearly a mile off shore, but when the Coasties come to get stranded anglers, they only take the people. Their catch, fishing tackle, snowmobile or whatever stays where it is. They don't haul gear.

So what is the status of ice conditions in northern Michigan? It's about the same as it usually is about now. There is some safe ice, and there is a lot of slushy ice, and when slushy ice is crossed, it can give way at any time. Thick snow from two weeks ago, when mixed with lake water coming up out of ice holes, leads to weak ice and the risk of falling through.

As a rule, and this is not carved in stone, but usually shallow lakes freeze solid faster. Barring heavy snow, a few really cold nights and days, can set up fairly safe ice conditions. Again, as a rule, deep lakes may freeze near shore but have unsafe ice 200-300 yards off shore over deep water. Big lakes, such as Big Glen, Crystal, and Higgins lakes are slow to develop safe ice. The same holds true for the ice on Lake Michigan and both arms of Grand Traverse Bay. Saginaw Bay ice can take quite long to form if the wind blow strongly for a few days.

Lakes that set down in a valley often freeze quickly because the valley is colder. Lakes with an abundance of underwater springs, wood pilings, and slab wood on bottom (such as Manistee Lake at Manistee), often have very unsafe ice. Such a lake as this, with the Big Manistee River entering the lake at the northeast end and the Little Manistee River entering at the southeast end, have currents running through the lake. Pilings and old slab docks from the timber era means the ice doesn't freeze at a uniform rate.

Ask questions and look the situation over before venturing out.

Develop good sources of information wherever you fish. Just because there is a distinct trail through the snow on the ice doesn't mean the ice is safe. Always carry a spud to check the ice every five or 10 feet, and if it starts to move or feel soft, back up, spread your legs out, and get off while you can.

Ice fishermen should always fish with a buddy, and they should wear a life jacket and carry a lengthy piece of heavy rope. A couple of big 10-penny nails can be used to grip like a dagger and stab into the ice to help pull yourself out. If you can manage to reach safe ice, roll away from the ice hole to safer ice.

In the end, every ice fisherman is responsible for their own actions and safety. If they fall through and perish, it is a very sad event, but those who go through and lose their life, were looking for trouble when they found it. Sadly, people drown every winter, and the only way to avoid becoming a winter statistic, is to use common sense.

If you have a gut feeling that the ice isn't safe (even if other people are on the ice) don't go. It's better to be thought spineless than to plunge through and drown. There aren't enough fish in any of the lakes around here that will cause me to tempt fate.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Favorites For Big Game

MISSOULA, Mont.— Although the venerable .30-06 and .270 remain among the favorites, Boone and Crockett Club big-game records show that hunters with a .300 Magnum are taking more North American trophies than any other caliber.

Surprisingly, the second-most-popular trophy-taker isn’t a firearm—it’s a bow. Boone and Crockett compiled the data from its records book entries from 2007 through 2009. This three-year period of big-game trophies, fair-chase hunting and success in conservation and game management will be celebrated at the Club’s 27th triennial Big Game Awards, June 24-26, 2010, at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nev. Free attractions include a public exhibition of top-ranking North American big-game trophies in 36 categories taken since 2007, plus a variety of seminars and exhibits.

For more info about the event, visit <www.biggameawards.com> .

“Trophy entries have increased 400 percent over the past 30 years, which not only means wild, free-ranging, trophy-class specimens are more plentiful now than ever before, it also means we’re getting larger samples and better snapshots of today’s culture of hunter-conservationists,” said Tony Schoonen, B&C chief of staff.

Here are the most commonly used calibers (Note: Records do not distinguish specific variations, i.e. .300 Win. Mag, .300 WSM, .300 Wby. Mag., .300 Ultra Mag, etc.) across all Boone and Crockett categories over the past three years, along with percentages of trophy entries credited to each: .300 Magnum—18 percent, Bow/crossbow—16 percent. .270—12 percent, .30-06—11 percent, 7mm Magnum—11 percent, Muzzleloader/shotgun—10 percent, 6mm—3 percent. .338 Magnum—3 percent, .257—2 percent, .30-30—2 percent, .308—2 percent, .375 Magnum—2 percent and Other—8 percent.

The .300 Magnum appears among the top three calibers in 11 of the following 15 species recognized in Boone and Crockett trophy records. A bow/crossbow appears in 7 of these 15. Species are arranged by frequency of records book entries 2007-09.

Most popular rifle calibers and shotguns (including bows) by species include:

Whitetail deer—1.) Bow/crossbow, 2.) Muzzleloader/shotgun, 3.) .270

Black bear—1.) bow/crossbow, 2.) .300 Magnum, 3.) .30-06

Pronghorn—1.) .300 Magnum, 2.) .270, 3.) 7mm Magnum

Sheep (bighorn, Dall’s, desert, Stone’s)—1.) .300 Magnum, 2.) 7mm Magnum, 3.) .270

Mule deer—1.) .300 Magnum, 2.) 7mm Magnum, 3.).270

Elk (American, Roosevelt’s, Tule)—1.) .300 Magnum, 2.) bow/crossbow, 3.) tie: .30-06, 7mm Magnum

Moose (Alaska-Yukon, Canada, Shiras)—1.) .300 Magnum, 2. ) tie: 7mm Magnum, .338 Magnum

Caribou (barren ground, central Canada barren ground, mountain, Quebec-Labrador, woodland)—1.) .300 Magnum, 2.) .270, 3.) .30-06

Blacktail deer (Columbia, Sitka)—1.) .30-06, 2.) tie: 7mm Magnum,.300 Magnum

Coues’ whitetail deer—1.) 7mm Magnum, 2.) .270, 3.) .300 Magnum

Cougar—1.) bow/crossbow, 2.) .30-30, 3.) 6mm

Rocky Mountain goat—1.) tie: .270, .300 Magnum, 3.) tie: 7mm Magnum, .30-06, bow/crossbow, muzzleloader/shotgun

Brown bear/grizzly—1.) .375 Magnum, 2.) .338 Magnum, 3.) .300 Magnum

Muskox—1.) Bow/crossbow, 2.) .300 Magnum, 3.) tie: 6mm, .375 Magnum

Bison—1.) .338 Magnum, 2.) tie: 7mm Magnum, bow/crossbow

Boone & Crockett Club history

The Boone and Crockett Club system of scoring big-game trophies originated in 1906 as means of recording details on species thought to be disappearing due to rampant habitat loss and unregulated hunting. Science-based conservation efforts, led and funded by license-buying hunters, brought those species from vanishing to flourishing.

Boone and Crockett records remain a classic gauge of habitat and management programs. In addition to its prestigious history and tradition, Boone and Crockett scoring is strongly associated with the highest tenets of fair chase and hunting ethics.

For more about the Club’s 27th Big Game Awards, visit <www.biggameawards.com> .

Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes guardianship and visionary management of big game and associated wildlife in North America. The Club maintains the highest standards of fair-chase sportsmanship and habitat stewardship. Member accomplishments include protecting Yellowstone and establishing Glacier and Denali national parks, founding the National Forest Service, National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey Acts, creating the Federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern game laws. The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Mont. For details, visit <www.boone-crockett.org> .

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Some Late Rutting Thoughts

There are as many theories about deer movements during the rut as there are deer roaming this state. The secret to a good fib is to keep a bit of truth in it, and that seems to be the primary ingredient in the many guesses I hear about when whitetails should begin their rut.

Take for instance the hot-button theory on when the rut occurs. Some would have you believe that it will occur on or about the time of the second full moon period after the autumnal equinox, which is the first day of fall.

Believe that, and some years the rut will not occur until late November. That wouldn't work in northern states. On the other hand some hunters believe the rut starts in early October, and that would have many fawns being born in late April or early May.

The answer to the true rutting period falls somewhere between these two periods.

The rut, or so many hunting folks tell me, doesn't begin until about Nov. 15. The rut was basically over at that time several years ago. Some people would have us believe the rut starts with the first frost or cold snap, which often comes in late September. If that were true, fawns would be born in late winter snow storms, providing them with a certain death.

The whole thing about the rut is that many people believe what their grand-pappy told them or what Uncle Abner said 50 years ago. More old wives tales exist about the rut than anything else.

The primary rut ended sometime around Nov. 10-15 this year although some bucks were chasing does two weeks later. The second estrus was underway in late November and early December, but it didn't amount to much. Only late-blooming doe fawns were coming into estrus at that time of year, and there was a bit of rutting action but most bucks I saw were hungry and sticking close to food sites, such as standing corn fields.

Bucks will breed does as long as their antlers are hard and she is ready.

That doesn't mean if Mr. Big Buck was peacefully eating, and some young maiden in estrus showed up, that he won't bird-dog her through the brush until she stood for him. He'd breed her, and resume eating, and perhaps breed her again, but the secondary rut doesn't mean much. There often is too much snow by the time the second rut starts.

The primary rut in Michigan, and in my area, usually kicks off about Oct. 25 and runs through Nov. 10. That's an average, and it can change by a day or two either way from year to year. It can start a few days earlier in the U.P., and a few days later in southern counties.

Watching deer is one thing I do a lot of, and what all deer hunters should do, and when bucks begin chasing does and checking their scrapes, the pre-rut has begun. When the bucks are tending does, nose to the ground, grunting and ignoring the scrapes, the rut has begun. When bucks look at does, and begin feeding, the rut is basically over. It's all pretty simple.

Before any of you jump my frame on this issue, and say you saw a buck breed a doe in early December, allow me to state that there are exceptions to every rule. Sure, it happens but not this year.

We are talking about a basic breeding season. Granted, some bucks will breed estrus does in February and some will breed does in early October, but those are exceptions to the rule. Most of the serious rutting activity in Michigan runs from Oct. 25-Nov. 10.

A buck can breed whenever his antlers are hard, and once his antlers fall off, he is done breeding for this season. If someone says they saw a buck with raw, bleeding pedicles breed a doe, I'd suspect this person doesn't know much about deer.

No degrees in wildlife biology for me.

I have no degree in wildlife biology but have studied whitetail behavior for many years. I know what happens here, why it happens, when it occurs, and the same basic patterns hold true from one year to the next, and there is very little variation from one year to the next.

Having said that, most hunters saw very little breeding activity this fall. It seemed to be suppressed, and there wasn't nearly as much rubbing on trees and scrape making this year as in the past. Good active scrapes were at a minimum, and I think that hurt hunting success.

Studying whitetails is almost as much fun as hunting them. The more knowledge a hunter gains about the animal he hunts, the better success he will have. It's just important for deer hunters to keep their thoughts somewhere along these lines, and forget most of what you heard from your Pappy and Gran'pappy.

For the most part, they didn't know much about deer and their breeding activities, and simply parroted what they heard from others. I still find it odd that many of the myths about deer have survived as long as they have because I still silly stuff now that I heard 50 years ago.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Go It Alone.

Loners are perhaps the most successful anglers and hunters of all. Their decisions are made by a committee of one, and their decisions were almost always correct, which cannot be said for many sportsmen who fish or hunt with other people.

Most outdoorsmen are, by their very nature, gregarious. Anglers and hunters can't help it that they are groupies of the highest order; where you find one, he or she will probably be accompanied by some friends or relatives.

It's easy to make an argument about going it alone. I fished and hunted across North America for a dozen years before my wife and I got married. Caribou hunting trips to northern Quebec for a magazine article would always find me being the only English-speaking dude in camp.

Try being a solitary sportsmen. It's OK to be selfish occasionally.

One year I took another hunter with me. He wanted to shoot the biggest caribou we saw, and I let him. Do I begrudge him for shooting it? Of course not, but had I been alone, there would have been no decision to make. I would have taken that animal.

Trips to Florida for spawning largemouth bass were made alone. I stalked deer and elk on do-it-yourself western trips, and spent weeks on end alone in the northern wilderness. My many black bear hunts would mean baiting and hunting by myself. I could offer many other examples if space permitted but it would be senseless to do so.

The bottom line is I was a loner for many years. Not so much by choice as by necessity. There just wasn't enough money for two people, and barely enough for me.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy other people's company; it's just that in many cases, and especially when fishing or hunting, I enjoyed my own company too much to share it with others. It didn't bother me to be alone. I was happy when the only person's opinions I had to consider were my own.

 Oh, there's no doubt I was selfish. I didn't have to consult others when deciding what to do. I made up my mind to do something, and it was done. Consider it this way.

You and I are trout fishing, and we both know the best fishing water is downstream.

I may, because I'm a nice guy, let you fish downstream. Am I happy about it? Well, sure, if I'm in a giving mood. However, nagging at the back of my mind is the thought that I'd rather be fishing downstream myself.

I'm a giver and a helper.

Anyone who knows me well understands what makes me tick. I'm a giver, a helper, a person who will go out of my way to help someone else. I enjoy doing so because it makes me feel good.

Be that as it may, there are many reasons for being a loner. Robert Ruark in his wonderful book "The Old Man & The Boy" wrote it very well in one story. He wrote that one boy is all boy; two boys is half a boy; and three boys is no boy at all.

It meant that the more people around us when we hunt or fish the less successful either of us may be. It also means when faced with the decision of whether to fish or hunt here or there, we must decide who goes upstream or down, who hunts which woodlot, and it also is a determining factor on how efficient we are when forced to consider the feelings and thoughts of other people.

Ringneck pheasants are among the spookiest of game birds. One man with a dog makes no noise unless he constantly screams at the pooch. If the dog is well trained, and responds to hand signals, the dog and hunter make little noise.

They can move close to pheasants before the bird knows they are being hunted. There are no human conversations, no slamming of car doors or the constant hollering that occurs on so many bird hunts. Dogs don't aways hunt right and people sometimes head for the wrong place so someone is always hollering and making noise to get their attention.

Such problems don't affect people who fish or hunt alone.

Solitary anglers choose which flies to use, and if they don't produce, no one is to blame but us. A deer hunter who scouts by himself, chooses which tree is best suited to waylay a nice buck, and he is a person who probably shoots a buck every year.

I've found that solitary anglers and hunters are usually far more successful than those folks who cart their neighbors along. Two people make twice the noise, lay down twice as much scent, and often complicate each others' efforts. And sadly, they often argue and squabble over unimportant things.

The solitary sportsman considers only his own thoughts, acts on personal decisions, and seldom is masochistic enough to kick his own backside when he does something wrong. We make our way through the outdoor world by making every decision that must be made, and we learn to enjoy our time afield with a deeper passion.

The loner is often a happy person. He or she is confident in their ability to do things right, and strangely enough, when success occurs, we know it came because of our personal knowledge and hard work.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Winter Trespass Problems

A friend told me today about an experience he'd had yesterday. He was heading back to hunt rabbits on his land, and spotted a snowmobile coming toward him down a wooded trail.

He stopped, the snowmobiler stopped, and he asked the guy what he was doing on private property. The gent, apparently not too swift on the uptake, said "snowmobiling."

"Don't you know it's illegal to trespass on private property?" he asked.

"Yep," came the reply.

No respect for posted property.

"Aren't you smart enough to learn to stay off private land, especially if you don't have permission?"

"Apparently not!"

The trespasser had turned off his engine, removed his helmet, and was a white-haired man that my friend estimated to be in his 60's. The trespasser was old enough to know better.

"I was planning to hunt that area you just road through," the hunter said.

"Oh, rabbit hunting, I'll bet."

A magnificent grasp of the obvious.

He said it was difficult to believe the guy was acting so weird. He asked if the snowmobiler had permission to be on the land, and the guy admitted he did not.

The hunter considered taking the snowmobile key and escorting the man to the landowner's house, and thought better of turning the situation into a confrontational situation.

The snowmobiler acted as it he wasn't terribly upset about spoiling the man's hunt or trespassing. The clown asked my friend if he owned the land, and he replied he did, and so the man wondered what the problem was.

"The problem," the hunter told the snowmobiler, "is that you've just illegally driven your sled across the area where I planned to hunt. Are you just being stupid or is this hunter harassment?"

"I not trying to harass anyone," he said. "I'm just out snowmobiling. I live down near Grand Rapids."

"How would you feel if some idiot drove a snowmobile across your land?"

"Wouldn't bother me a bit."

My friend sensed the man was either incredibly ignorant of the law or trying to push the situation into something nasty. The man seemed to have no remorse for breaking the law, and his actions seemed to indicate that he was prepared to defend his right to trespass on someone elses land.

My friend wanted to go hunting and didn't want to deal with the problem any further.

Get booted off the land.

"Get off my land and don't come back," he told the trespasser, who gave him a long sullen look. He nodded his head once in agreement, pulled on his helmet, and took off.

He crossed the woods trail onto more land owned by the same man that owned the land. This guy was either a man with absolutely no qualms about trespassing, was ignorant of all laws, or more likely, didn't care one way or the other.

Most snowmobilers I know are nice people. Me, I could care less for the things, but do not begrudge their use by law-abiding people. This man was a trespasser who clearly felt he could go wherever he wanted to go without asking permission.

It's such behavior that has made more and more northern people post their land against trespass. The landowner takes pride in his land, and doesn't want people running over it without first asking permission. He's tired of picking up litter left behind by snowmobilers, and weekly clears the area of beer and whiskey bottles and makes sure fires started in a remote part of his land by partying sledders is completely out. He tacks up more "No Trespassing" signs, but none of his actions does any good.

One trespass incident from 30 years ago.

Such people eventually run afoul of someone who acts and doesn't bother talking to trespassers. This friend, who isn't a violent man, recalled an incident years before when trespassers on snowmobiles kept running across his yard, ruining his newly seeded lawn and shrubs.

It went on for four nights, with him yelling at the trespassers, and on the fifth night he yanked the last snowmobiler in line off his sled by his face mask, and hung a stiff right jab on the guy's nose.

That settled the issue more than 30 years ago, and the snowmobilers stayed off his property. He admits now that it was a rash act, and one he wouldn't do again, but northern landowners have had a belly full of people trespassing to hunt or snowmobile.

No one wants a problem, and especially my friend, but he also doesn't want to see his land misused by trespassers. This problem is not getting any better; it's only getting worse in the north country.

It's time for those who would trespass to learn to respect the rights of others. If they could ever learn that trespass is a criminal misdemeanor and punishable by law, perhaps they would grow up and run their sleds in area where the trails are groomed specifically for riders.

That would solve most of the winter trespass problems. Will that day ever come? It's not likely to happen any time soon.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tragic Hunting Accidents

Years ago, while hunting snowshoe hares with a group of hunting friends, I was shot in the left hand and wrist by the only stranger in our group. A dozen or so birdshot were dug out of my hide, and my life has gone on.

But not as it had before. The man who accidentally shot me was kept two football fields away from everyone else after that. The accident cast something of a pall over the balance of my hunt.

I wasn't serious wounded, but no one was about to laugh it off. It could have been a killing shot. And, to this day, it bothers me to hunt with someone I don't know.

Politicians draw attention to hunting accidents.

Then, sometime after that, I heard about Dick Cheney's shooting  another man, and it gave me a flashback to my day, which was not enjoyable for me. The first thing that came to mind when one public figure shoots another one a Texas ranch hunt was "something very similar happened to me," and the flashbacks return.

And that Texas case, the victim was initially blamed for sneaking up on the shooter without warning him of his presence. That is pure political spin or a load of crap.

Blaze orange hats can prevent becoming a statistic.

The ranch owner also blamed the victim, and for two days it was spin city in Texas and Washington, DC. Folks, I spent 20-some years involved with Hunter Education training, and I've been a part of the teaching and training process for nearly 20,000 adults and children 12 years and older.

Such accidents indicate the need for Hunter Education training.

How, I ask, are Hunter Education instructors supposed to react when one high-level politician shoots another at close range? The spin doctors covered up the hunting accident for a day, and then applied their own brand of stupidity to it by blaming the victim, and eventually more of the story came out because of media pressure.

It was apparent that the spinmeisters had no clue about hunting, hunter safety or ethical hunting procedures. They were dumb and clueless.

Hunters are taught many things while taking a Hunter Education training class. Chief among them is to always know where the muzzle is pointing. Another is to always, without fail, properly identify the target before shooting. Another is to identify everything beyond the target to ensure that nothing else -- a barn, building, car, cow, human, truck or whatever -- is in the line of fire.

That's not what happened in Texas, and any hunter worthy of the name should be properly upset by the actions of the ranch owner and Dick Cheney. Not only was Cheney clearly and legally at fault, soon after the accident the cover-up began.

It took some time for Cheney to speak out and assume full responsibility for shooting his "friend." If that's how he treats his friends, no one would ever want to be his enemy.

A need for common sense, personal responsibility, and how to safely handle firearms.

Don't try to rattle my cage on this one. This has nothing to with being Republican or Democrat. It has everything to do with a distinct lack of common sense, any semblance of rational and sound judgment, and a personal responsibility for safe handling of a loaded firearm.

It's been said that Cheney has hunted for a dozen years or so. That's like saying a person with a medical (or any other) degree is intelligent. All those years of training only means the person spent a large number of years in a warm classroom and passed his state boards, or in Cheney's case, bought a hunting license. It doesn't mean he has the intelligence or the necessary skills to safely handle a firearm.

It makes me wonder: Did he ever take any Hunter Education training? Did someone extend him the courtesy of looking the other way in terms of a previous hunting license or Hunter Education training card which is usually required to buy a hunting license?

Causes of most hunting accidents.

The vast majority of hunting accidents occur for one of a very few reasons: the shooter was incredibly stupid; carried the firearm with the safety off and a finger on the trigger; didn't identify the target and everything beyond it before shooting; had no knowledge of proper hunter safety methods; was under the influence; or the victim was incredibly unlucky to be in the right place at the wrong time. One other situation -- line-of-sight accidents -- occur when a person is in the line of sight of the shooter but cannot be seen. All but the last one may apply in the Texas shooting.

All of those (and perhaps several other) factors were allegedly played out in the Texas sagebrush prior to the hunting accident some years ago. The facts remain that Cheney pulled the trigger without identifying his target or anything else nearby. He also made the ultimate mistake (along with the ranch owner) of trying to shuffle the blame over onto the unfortunate victim.

The U.S. printing presses that make money hasn't made enough thousand-dollar bills for me to set foot within shotgun range of someone so incredibly stupid. One wonders if they were wearing Hunter Orange clothing (there are rumors they were); one also wonders if more than one beer was consumed as has been questioned by the media, and one wonders if the two men were actually friends.

Chuck Lunn, a trusted friend, (right) with a snowshoe hare.

Folks, if you or I shot someone, there would have been no one-day delay is posting the news. There are allegations that Cheney didn't have a game bird stamp required to hunt quail. Was this man ever issued a ticket or did he spend time in court answering charges of illegal hunting?

There is an old saying: People should never analyze the ingredients of two things: bologna and politics. Time will tell whether politics prevailed, and this sorry breach of hunting safety and ethical hunting practices will be overlooked or cast aside for political reasons or will this become just a footnote in the history books.

Summarizing how I became an accidental shooting victim.

My involvement in being shot was simply going in to search for a lost hunter who was firing the standard three-shot distress signal. I spotted him walking around in circles, shooting in all directions and raised my hand as I yelled at him, and he shot in my direction. Fortunately, most of the No. 6 shot hit my coat and blaze orange coat but some on the shot went through a brown Jersey glove and into my hand and wrist.

This happened a number of years ago, and there was no trip to the hospital. I poured alcohol on my knife and the holes in my skin, and I removed the pellets myself. The wounds were bandaged by me, and we hunted the next day although everyone stayed a long distance from the lost shooter. They physical wounds healed nicely but the mental problems are still pretty raw.

He asked several times when we were going hunting again. It's funny how that person was never invited on another hunt with me.

I dislike hunting with strangers, and whenever I'm on a hunt with someone I know and trust, and another person decides to join at the last minute, I often excuse myself from going along. If it's impossible to remove myself from such a situation, my guts get tied up in knots.

I, perhaps like Cheney's friend, have no desire to be around an idiot with a firearm again. Sadly, each year, some hunter will accidently kill another hunter. Sure, it may have been an accident. Qualified Hunter Education training could have helped prevent such injuries or death.

And, it also removes the personal anxiety and uneasiness associated with hunting with a stranger. There still remains the odd flashback to that day when I fell to the ground, rolled over in the snow, and looked down at a bloody hand and wrist. Writing about it helps a bit, but it's not something that is easy to push into the past and forget about it.

Careless strangers and firearms, like mixing gasoline with an open flame, can lead someone into an injury or death. Been there and done that with a firearm injury, and want no part of mixing a hunt with people who may or may not have had adequate and qualified Hunter Education training. I'd rather hunt alone that go through such an experience again.Years ago, while hunting snowshoe hares with a group of hunting friends, I was shot in the left hand and wrist by the only stranger in our group. A dozen or so birdshot were dug out of my hide, and my life has gone on.

But not as it had before. The man who accidentally shot me was kept two football fields away from everyone else after that. The accident cast something of a pall over the balance of my hunt.

I wasn't serious wounded, but no one was about to laugh it off. It could have been a killing shot. And, to this day, it bothers me to hunt with someone I don't know.

Politicians draw attention to hunting accidents.

Then, sometime after that, I heard about Dick Cheney's shooting  another man, and it gave me a flashback to my day, which was not enjoyable for me. The first thing that came to mind when one public figure shoots another one a Texas ranch hunt was "something very similar happened to me," and the flashbacks return.

And that Texas case, the victim was initially blamed for sneaking up on the shooter without warning him of his presence. That is pure political spin or a load of crap.

Blaze orange hats can prevent becoming a statistic.

The ranch owner also blamed the victim, and for two days it was spin city in Texas and Washington, DC. Folks, I spent 20-some years involved with Hunter Education training, and I've been a part of the teaching and training process for nearly 20,000 adults and children 12 years and older.

Such accidents indicate the need for Hunter Education training.

How, I ask, are Hunter Education instructors supposed to react when one high-level politician shoots another at close range? The spin doctors covered up the hunting accident for a day, and then applied their own brand of stupidity to it by blaming the victim, and eventually more of the story came out because of media pressure.

It was apparent that the spinmeisters had no clue about hunting, hunter safety or ethical hunting procedures. They were dumb and clueless.

Hunters are taught many things while taking a Hunter Education training class. Chief among them is to always know where the muzzle is pointing. Another is to always, without fail, properly identify the target before shooting. Another is to identify everything beyond the target to ensure that nothing else -- a barn, building, car, cow, human, truck or whatever -- is in the line of fire.

That's not what happened in Texas, and any hunter worthy of the name should be properly upset by the actions of the ranch owner and Dick Cheney. Not only was Cheney clearly and legally at fault, soon after the accident the cover-up began.

It took some time for Cheney to speak out and assume full responsibility for shooting his "friend." If that's how he treats his friends, no one would ever want to be his enemy.

A need for common sense, personal responsibility, and how to safely handle firearms.

Don't try to rattle my cage on this one. This has nothing to with being Republican or Democrat. It has everything to do with a distinct lack of common sense, any semblance of rational and sound judgment, and a personal responsibility for safe handling of a loaded firearm.

It's been said that Cheney has hunted for a dozen years or so. That's like saying a person with a medical (or any other) degree is intelligent. All those years of training only means the person spent a large number of years in a warm classroom and passed his state boards, or in Cheney's case, bought a hunting license. It doesn't mean he has the intelligence or the necessary skills to safely handle a firearm.

It makes me wonder: Did he ever take any Hunter Education training? Did someone extend him the courtesy of looking the other way in terms of a previous hunting license or Hunter Education training card which is usually required to buy a hunting license?

Causes of most hunting accidents.

The vast majority of hunting accidents occur for one of a very few reasons: the shooter was incredibly stupid; carried the firearm with the safety off and a finger on the trigger; didn't identify the target and everything beyond it before shooting; had no knowledge of proper hunter safety methods; was under the influence; or the victim was incredibly unlucky to be in the right place at the wrong time. One other situation -- line-of-sight accidents -- occur when a person is in the line of sight of the shooter but cannot be seen. All but the last one may apply in the Texas shooting.

All of those (and perhaps several other) factors were allegedly played out in the Texas sagebrush prior to the hunting accident some years ago. The facts remain that Cheney pulled the trigger without identifying his target or anything else nearby. He also made the ultimate mistake (along with the ranch owner) of trying to shuffle the blame over onto the unfortunate victim.

The U.S. printing presses that make money hasn't made enough thousand-dollar bills for me to set foot within shotgun range of someone so incredibly stupid. One wonders if they were wearing Hunter Orange clothing (there are rumors they were); one also wonders if more than one beer was consumed as has been questioned by the media, and one wonders if the two men were actually friends.

Chuck Lunn, a trusted friend, (right) with a snowshoe hare.

Folks, if you or I shot someone, there would have been no one-day delay is posting the news. There are allegations that Cheney didn't have a game bird stamp required to hunt quail. Was this man ever issued a ticket or did he spend time in court answering charges of illegal hunting?

There is an old saying: People should never analyze the ingredients of two things: bologna and politics. Time will tell whether politics prevailed, and this sorry breach of hunting safety and ethical hunting practices will be overlooked or cast aside for political reasons or will this become just a footnote in the history books.

Summarizing how I became an accidental shooting victim.

My involvement in being shot was simply going in to search for a lost hunter who was firing the standard three-shot distress signal. I spotted him walking around in circles, shooting in all directions and raised my hand as I yelled at him, and he shot in my direction. Fortunately, most of the No. 6 shot hit my coat and blaze orange coat but some on the shot went through a brown Jersey glove and into my hand and wrist.

This happened a number of years ago, and there was no trip to the hospital. I poured alcohol on my knife and the holes in my skin, and I removed the pellets myself. The wounds were bandaged by me, and we hunted the next day although everyone stayed a long distance from the lost shooter. They physical wounds healed nicely but the mental problems are still pretty raw.

He asked several times when we were going hunting again. It's funny how that person was never invited on another hunt with me.

I dislike hunting with strangers, and whenever I'm on a hunt with someone I know and trust, and another person decides to join at the last minute, I often excuse myself from going along. If it's impossible to remove myself from such a situation, my guts get tied up in knots.

I, perhaps like Cheney's friend, have no desire to be around an idiot with a firearm again. Sadly, each year, some hunter will accidently kill another hunter. Sure, it may have been an accident. Qualified Hunter Education training could have helped prevent such injuries or death.

And, it also removes the personal anxiety and uneasiness associated with hunting with a stranger. There still remains the odd flashback to that day when I fell to the ground, rolled over in the snow, and looked down at a bloody hand and wrist. Writing about it helps a bit, but it's not something that is easy to push into the past and forget about it.

Careless strangers and firearms, like mixing gasoline with an open flame, can lead someone into an injury or death. Been there and done that with a firearm injury, and want no part of mixing a hunt with people who may or may not have had adequate and qualified Hunter Education training. I'd rather hunt alone that go through such an experience again.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Some Reasons Why I Hunt.

"When you are fed up with the troublesome present, take your gun, whistle for your dogs, go out to the mountain." -- Jose Ortega Y Gassett, Spanish philosopher and author of Meditations On Hunting.

The Spanish philosopher had it pretty much figured out right. He lived through war-torn Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, and those hunting thoughts probably offered him some solace while the whole world went crazy as Hitler and Mussolini ranted and caused untold suffering and death for millions of people.

Hunters still live in somewhat troubled times, and we face problems more immediate than having to listen to political hype and mind-bending thoughts of coping with complex social issues such as the ongoing political spin that has replaced news these days. We hunters face a world of increasing numbers, decreasing acres of available land for sporting use, a global need for fuel and the wrath of uninformed anti-hunter's. Michigan's residents live in a nearly bankrupt state, and politicians all seem intent to turn its citizens into people as financially and morally bankrupt as they are.

For many people, there is a very real fear of losing a job (for those that still have one). For others, trying to find a job and the high cost of medicine is a major troubling issue. For some, finding enough food to eat or staying cool in summer or warm in the winter is a never-ending problem. And then there is the fate of our armed forces trying to keep peace in areas that have never really known peace. I support our troops and hope you do, too.

 The chance to legally hunt is a part of our American heritage.

Each year, I deliberately confront myself with the question of why I hunt, and the problems that hunters face. I ask myself: Do I hunt for the meat, which is invariably delicious, to pit desk-weary skills against a wild animal, or do I hunt solely for the kill?

Few hunters I know feel a driving need to personally address such personal questions. Many wander through life turning their back on delicate, psyche-probing questions in favor of immediate gratification with a bow or firearm by killing a wild animal.

For many, the quick kill -- to hell with hunting for a week or two -- is more in tune with today's fast-paced society and is favored by some sportsmen. But, is the quick-kill right or proper? Not for me, it isn't.

That's a question best answered by each individual only after intense soul-searching and addressing the question of why they hunt. We must learn, as human predators of wild animals and birds, to look deep within ourselves to determine just what hunting is and what it means to each of us.

I can't answer those questions for you, and refuse to have you speak for me. Our reasons for hunting may vary, but only the more intelligent and far-thinking of us, will ever know and understand our personal motives.

Man’s social functions of family, home and work place greater demands on people today, and more so than ever before. Peers, whether we like it or not, can force many hunters into the world of the quick kill. Because of business and family commitments, for instance, many hunters don't really have much time to hunt.

Hunting must be managed for the greatest good of the resource, its habitat and its people.

The Department of Natural Resources caters, albeit indirectly and probably unintentionally, to that sort of hunter attitude. It has managed deer, in large part and for many year, for the sake of quantity rather than quality while making a determined effort to keep whitetail deer within reasonable bounds of their environment, food supply and social needs. Deer management has changed, in that this state has many areas that could support more deer. Their management policies in the past several years has been all wrong, and part of the problem is that biologists seldom get out of thw office and into the field to talk to sportsmen.

So, why you hunt or why I hunt is an age-old question that cannot be answered simply with a bland statement that “we like venison" or "we enjoy a few days with the boys.” The meaning is far more deeply rooted. It is buried deep within our ancestry, and goes back to a time when hunting was accepted by those who wanted to eat and when hunting was something everyone did as a matter of necessity.

Today’s sportsmen seldom hunt for food (I do because my family thrives on a wild fish and game diet); instead, perhaps it's a prehistoric feeling or need in each of us to relive our ancestry by hunting for food, for pleasure and for the kill.

The pleasure of today’s hunt is an intangible thing; it's a mix of cool air, sunrises, snow, wood smoke, a hint of winter, being with friends, hunting alone, being outsmarted by a wise old buck, and the kill, although the latter is anticlimactic in most cases.

These are just a few of the reasons why I hunt, but the strongest of all is to pit my skills against those of a wild animal I deeply respect. Yes, I kill deer (I hate the current buzzword "harvest" because we're not harvesting a corn field); we're talking about killing deer and other game animals and birds each year. Although that animal or bird dies by my hand, it gives and sustains my life and that of my family.

My respect for animals, birds and fish is never-ending.

I live through the animals I hunt. I learn about survival because of them. I learn to think more like the predatory animal I've become. I respect each animal and bird's life as much as my own.

Hunting should never be confused solely with killing. One can hunt without killing, although I'm not sure why anyone would choose to do so. We can hunt without ever firing a shot, but we can't be a complete hunter without killing an animal because all predators kill other animals so they may live.

Ortega said it best, and I thoroughly agree with his time-honored statement: "I don't hunt to kill; I kill to have hunted."

How about you?

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors