Ask Fishwhenican about hunting

[Fishwhenican]

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Did you grow up hunting? Have you always lived way out where hunting is, it seems, a necessity?

Have you had to kill a predator that may have been threatening you/family, property etc...?

I am a big fan of pictures...any you would want to post?

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No I haven't hunted all my life. I actually got a pretty late start. I grew up in Columbus Ohio, in the city, Moved to SE WI when I was about 20 and was there for 19 years. I used to think I lived in the country when I was in WI and moved to a little town about 25 miles outside of Milwaukee with only 10,000 people or so. I am WAY more rural than that now. I had no idea places like this existed before I ended up here.

My father did not hunt but my grandfather, on my mother's side, was a big hunter. He grew up in Northern WI and spent a lot of time up in Canada as well. I remember whenever we would visit I always loved to fish with him and listen to his hunting stories. His favorite one was when he get a moose up there in Canada.

I hunted a little bit the last couple of years I was in WI but I really didn't start hunting seriously until I ended up here in Montana. I have been here over 7 years now and have been hunting all of those years pretty seriously. I am very fortunate to have made some very good friends who are very serious hunters and have been very good about teaching me and helping me learn. I also studied magazine articles and books and everything I could to learn more about it as well.

I think calling hunting a necessity is not 100% correct. We could certainly buy food but it is a preference to hunt and eat wild game most of the time.

I have killed predators (coyotes and foxes) but never anything that was attacking. We hunt them for sport and because it helps keep the populations down. The ranchers like that as coyotes can be a problem for them. We hunt them buy setting up and calling them in. We use a call that sounds like a rabbit being attacked. It is kind of like ringing the dinner bell for coyotes. A lot of the time if you call them in they come at a dead run right at you! I had one that I thought was going to end up in my lap for awhile. I threw up my rifle and shot him and when we stepped it off he had put the brakes on 15 yards from me!

Pictures:

Buffalo (Bison) I took with my bow


Me and an Elk I took a couple of years ago
Me and the Elk (not for the squeamish)

Me and a nice whitetail buck I got a few years ago


Wife and her elk from last year


Wife and her Antelope from this year


Wife and her elk from last year packed out and into the back of our Polaris Ranger. We had to quarter this elk and get it about a mile out of the woods to a road. That was fun!
Elk on the truck (not for the squeamish)