I love hunting. I hunt everything I can
and as much as I can. My favorite game is probably the white-tailed
deer. Our season here is set up perfectly- we bow hunt in the early
fall (October 1-November 14), so we have a chance to see lots of deer and
enjoy the mild days in the woods. Then, on November 15 gun season opens.
By that date, I am ready to take up the gun and quit "throwing sticks" at
deer. Gun season then runs from November 15-30. For the first
time this past season (Fall of 2001) I didn't hunt any public land.
Don't get me wrong- public land is great; in West Michigan we are blessed
with some great areas and I have had much success on them. The trick
with public land is knowing where to go; you need to know where the deer
want to go once the guns begin going off. Any place on public land
that you can get to easily will not have very good hunting. You need
to get off the beaten path.
Anyway, after November 30 there is usually one week off,
then muzzleloader begins. This season usually starts on a Friday and
runs for 10 days, encompassing two weekends. Then, on the last Saturday of
muzzleloader season, late doe season begins. This seems to be very poor
planning to me. Basically, on this day you can be in the woods with a
shotgun (or rifle) for deer but you only can shoot bucks with a muzzleloader.
I bet a few get taken with the shotgun that day...
I also very much enjoy hunting geese and ducks.
The season is long, and I have been fortunate to have good areas to hunt.
Some friends and I lease some land (the "Lease Land") that has two large
ponds on it. There isn't much for waterfowl on them yet, but we are going
to begin managing them for waterfowl the spring of 2002.
I do a bit of pheasant hunting when I can, and
rabbit hunting all winter when there isn't any late goose hunting.
Turkey Hunting is also a great love of
mine- I tend to do well- I haven't been skunked in 7 years (since I
started). I must give credit to my buddy Chad for teaching much of the
basics and getting me started- he has been doing it much longer than me.
Now I read everything I can about it and love it!
Due to all this time in the woods, I think
I am a pretty good hunter. Rarely do I get skunked- during my deer
season I usually wind up with 5 or more deer (usually including at least
one buck- most often 2). I love it. I have several pictures of
my and my friend's hunting successes on my hunting pics pages.
Here is the hunting picture index. Simply click
on the category that you would like to view- obviously they are graphics heavy,
so they will take a bit to load if you have a dialup connection.
Clay's hunting pics
Other hunting pics
Other hunting pics page 2
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