Jake's Outdoors

Archive for February, 2008

This week, I am featuring Jody’s Blog, The Hunter’s Wife. Jody has a great blog. It is well laid out, easy to read, and very enjoyable. She can tell great stories. Jody keeps us informed about her husband’s successes, as well as important outdoor news and events. I really enjoyed reading about the outdoor show that she and her family recently attended (which her husband helps to organize). Jody has also recently started the trend of opening a Cafe Press store to sell branded merchandise. Be sure to check that out as well! I am sure that most of you already read this blog, but it is a great read, and I enjoy visiting it almost every day.

Jody’s writings also remind me of my own wife. When I married my wife, Cynthia, 13 yeas ago, she had no idea about hunting. In fact, I can remember when we were in college, while we were dating, and I spent a Thanksgiving week at her family’s farm, rather than getting to go home for opening week of hunting season. I moped the whole week, and she just couldn’t understand. She thought I didn’t want to be with her, when in fact I just wanted to be home hunting. I had not missed a whole deer season since I had started hunting at the age of 12! But, she stuck with me, and we were married about a year and a half after that. Now, she understands. In fact, she sees that hunting is just a part of our life. Now, she jumps in and helps me to butcher deer. She is waiting there in the camp when I come back, ready to get the kids coats on and bring them out to see another dead deer. Even though she would never have imagined such a life 15 years ago, she has made it a part of her life. Now, if I could only convince her to take up a rifle, and put a couple more deer in the freezer! On a good note, that farm in Alabama that we visited some 15 years ago, now has a pretty good deer population on it. I have a life time hunting license for Alabama, so I get to hunt down there at least a few days per year. I have been able to put some deer in my in-laws’ freezer over the past few years. They too have accepted a son-in-law that is a bit different, but I think they do enjoy the venison!

It is really amazing to see how all of the women who have married into this family have gone through the same kind of transition. I don’t think any of my sisters-in-law had much exposure to hunting, and certainly not to game processing. But, on the Saturday of Thanksgiving week, we usually end up butchering several deer. I think our record so far is 11 on one day. We are a well oiled machine, with very specific jobs assigned. Everyone has to jump in and help. Of course, my mom is the one who has taught all of the women folk the jobs that they need to do, as she is the most experienced. She has been helping my dad butcher deer since before I can remember. I guess I say all of that to say that good women will do some pretty weird things for the men they love!

So, thanks Jody for the great blog, and I will look forward to getting to read it in the future!

The Seattle Times has an interesting story posted this morning. It seems that hunters are actually being given some leeway to hunt cougars with dogs. We all know how hound hunting has fallen under the ire of anti-hunting organizations. Personally, I currently do not hunt anything with dogs, but I have hunted birds over dogs, as well as rabbits on occasion. It is interesting that hunting those game animals has not fallen under the same criticism that hunting deer, bear and cougars have.

It appears that the number of cougar attacks have gone up in the state, and so lawmakers are reconsidering the idea of banning hunting with dogs. As this article points out, since banning the use of dogs for hunting the cougars, the number of cougars killed has actually gone up. That is a result of some of the other changes that have been made in Washington, such as cheaper tags, and more available tags. However, there have also been a lot more younger cats shot, and a lot more females. You see, when hunters are using dogs to hunt with, they have the ability to examine an animal that is treed, and can decide if it is a good animal to shoot, or not. Now that the number of cougar attacks have increased the lawmakers want to use dog hunting as a tool for chasing “problem animals”. In other words, the hunters had been keeping the animals in control, but when their conservation method was taken away, the number of problem cats increased. Now, the lawmakers want their help, so they are giving the hunters their tool back once again.

Sometimes, those of us who are so far away from the situation may have a harder time trying to figure out what is best. But, then we read an article like this one, and quickly discover what is right. Anytime I see that the Humane Society of United States is opposing the legislation, I know it must be good. So, I am happy to see that hunters in Washington State may have this method of hunting returned to them, both for the sake of the sport, the sake of the health of the cougar population, and the safety of the communities that are troubled by dangerous cats.

The ranchers of this area also came out to support the legislation. These are people whose lively hood and safety are directly impacted by the cougars, and their attacks. One rancher had this to say concerning the statement made by the Humane Society of America representative:

“She sits in an office somewhere, clapping her hands and saying we should leave the cougar alone,” said former Okanogan County Commissioner Ed Thiele, describing livestock predation on his brother-in-law’s ranch. “Let her come out and see what is happening out there in the real world.”

Unfortunately, the problem is that people in the “real world” don’t get to make the rules most of the time. How often is it that legislators in big cities have more control over what happens with wildlife than those who are out there working to make it the best it can be? How often are those same legislators more influenced by big organizations with deep pockets (but no real experience when it comes to dealing with conservation), than they are with those of us with little money to contribute, but who work hard on conservation issues? When animal control becomes a problem for these people, then and only then will they suggest dealing with it in reasonable ways. They don’t care if a rancher’s sheep are destroyed by rogue cats…that one cat is more important to them than all the sheep on the West Coast. They often do not even care if a human is maimed or killed by a rogue animal. Question that? What happened when a tiger killed a man in a zoo recently? There were groups who gathered for a vigil for the tiger! Who thinks of these things?  I am all for showing compassion, but lets have a bit of common sense.  Which is more important?  A human life lost, or a tiger life lost?  I am afraid that in our deluded society, we often think of the animal life as more important than the human.

I am glad to see steps in the right direction for Washington.  It will be interesting to see how many rural counties sign up for the “program” that allows for the hunting of cougars for dogs, at least under certain situations.

OK everyone, if you have not done so yet, you have got to read this post by Tom over at the Black Bear Blog. As I said a couple of days ago, I have been away from the computer for a while, but as I was scanning a few blogs tonight, I came across Tom’s post. He is spot on when it comes to what the Brady Report Card means to 2nd Amendment Rights. But, don’t just read the post, make sure and read the discussion that followed. Tom has done a great job of discussing the subject with a person who is obviously against 2nd Amendment rights. He is using the “what does it hurt” argument…which we all know means that they will never get enough! My kids have a book called If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, for which the premise is that if you give one thing, he’s gonna want something else. Well, if we give them “assault rifles” then they will want all “semi autos”, after which they will want all pistols, then all repeating arms, and finally all of our firearms. We cannot give in on any level!

Keep up the good work over there Tom! I am so excited to see so many outdoorsmen and women taking up the fight against those who would take away rights that have been given to us by our forefathers!