The Everyday Hunter®

Waging War Against Lead Ammo

2012-02-11T09:34:00.005-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, February 11, 2012.)

Game harvested with
lead ammunition does not
pose a health risk.

It’s no secret that gun owners in our society battle to keep gun rights. Since I was in sixth grade, I’ve been aware of attempts to prohibit, control, and even confiscate guns.

It took me a while but I finally realized that the Second Amendment to our U.S. Constitution isn’t there to preserve hunting, and that gun prohibitions will damage not just hunters, but non-hunters too, and yes – even wildlife.

Enemies of guns seek to limit or revoke gun rights by various means. Some jurisdictions have tried to ban all firearms from public housing, a ban that would increase gun violence by creating victim disarmament zones. Does anyone really believe criminals inclined toward violence would obey that law?

Some cities have tried to ban firearms, and so far the U. S. Supreme Court has overturned those bans. Unfortunately, the legal system is painfully slow, and losers relentlessly create new restrictions so the issue will have to be litigated again.

Some enemies of guns see the difficulty of banning guns, so they wage war against ammo by attacking traditional lead bullets.

They argue that unrecovered animals killed by lead shotgun pellets are a threat to scavenging animals. Never mind that most lead pellets have a protective coating of copper to harden the surface for better ballistic performance.

They claim that using traditional lead ammunition poses a danger to raptors such as bald eagles, which may feed on entrails and unrecovered game left in the field. But there is a total lack of scientific evidence that lead ammunition impacts the populations of birds of prey. In fact, raptor populations have significantly increased all across North America, despite the use of lead ammunition since Europeans first settled the New World.

One has even created evidence that wild venison contains toxic lead. In his own personal study, a dermatologist from North Dakota claimed to have collected packages of venison from food pantries and his X-rays showed they contained fragments of lead. North Dakota health officials collectively jerked their knees and ordered state food pantries to destroy all donated venison and to stop accepting further donations, even though no test of meat from any animal killed by a lead bullet has shown lead content.

Turns out the dermatologist apparently has a bias. He’s on the board of the Peregrine Fund – a group that’s against the use of traditional lead ammunition for hunting.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did its own tests in North Dakota, establishing that consuming game harvested with traditional ammunition does not pose a human health risk. In fact, the average lead level in hunters tested was lower than that of non-hunting Americans.

The Iowa Department of Public Health agrees. It has done regular studies over the course of many years, and says, “If lead in venison were a serious health risk, it would likely have surfaced within extensive blood lead testing since 1992 with 500,000 youth under 6 and 25,000 adults having been screened.”
There is no evidence that anyone has ever had a case of elevated lead level due to eating harvested game.

Lead ammo bans are misguided because they actually hurt those they profess to help. They target the financial backbone of the North American model of wildlife conservation – the most successful model in the world.

Most people don’t know that many species have been blessed by funding from hunters using traditional lead ammunition. That’s because manufacturers pay an 11% excise tax on the sale of ammunition. Substitutes for lead will raise costs, and reduce hunter participation. Those who demonize lead ammunition propose nothing to replace that funding.

It’s not just game species that benefit from hunters’ dollars. The recovery of the bald eagle is a truly wonderful conservation success story, thanks to hunters’ taxes. Abundant and healthy prey animal populations have contributed to abundant and healthy populations of raptors.

Lead bullets are safe. They don’t disrupt this elementary relationship between prey and predator, nor do they expose anyone to the danger of lead poisoning. Every proposal to ban them is just another attempt to restrict the use of firearms.

Sure Cures for Cabin Fever

2012-01-28T09:19:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, January 28, 2012.)

Size up the outfitters, ask all
your questions, get references,
and compare services.

It’s the time of year when deer are dropping their antlers, turkeys are following manure spreaders, and Phil, the famous Punxsutawney groundhog, is ready to tell us how much cabin fever season we have left.

This is the time of year sportsmen and women are headed to the wild game feeds and sport shows to bone up on their hunting skills, share the fruits of last season’s hunts (maybe brag a little about them), familiarize themselves with new gear, and dream about their next hunt.

When I was a kid we had the famous Wally Taber come through at this time of the year, and he’d fill the junior high auditorium. He’s probably responsible for more kids dreaming of hunting Alaska and Africa than anyone.

Few schools are venues for that kind of program these days. One reason might be that schools (not necessarily here but for sure elsewhere) often forbid such entertainment because innocents might notice pictures of firearms and hear the word “gun.” (Though I doubt schools forbid mentioning words such as “cocaine,” or “marijuana,” or – well – you make your own list.)

The good news is that if you’re looking for a drug to cure your cabin fever, we have sportsman’s dinners and sport shows. As far as sportsmen’s dinners go, keep your ear to the ground for the local events. If I my calendar was open, I’d attend the one I know about, but there are certainly more than this.

On February 10 the First Church of God (Madison Ave. in Warren, PA) is hosting a dinner/seminar with Wade Nolan. There’s a lot that will make this worth attending. Nolan is best in class for this kind of program, and I guarantee you’ll have a great time.

Beyond that, check out the sports and outdoor shows. If you’ve never been to the big one – the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg – you can’t imagine what you’re missing. It’s in its 57th year, and it’s the largest event of its kind in all of North America. The dates are February 4-12.

Here, you’ll find every piece of new gear, plus seminars by the top hunters and fishermen in America. These are the folks, both men and women, who make the sporting life their profession. You’ve heard their names – Ralph and Vickie, the Wensel brothers, Jim and Eva Shockey, the Lakoskys, Boddington and many more will be at the Harrisburg show this year.

It’s a chance to meet them, probe them with questions, and see what they’re like when they’re not on TV. The website (www.easternsportshow.com) offers all the details, and you can order tickets online for quicker entry into the show.

If you’re thinking about booking a guided hunt, attending this show will be a big help. Interested in hunting New Zealand? Africa? Alberta? Alaska? Colorado? Illinois? You’ll find a ton of outfitters – from everywhere – all in one place. You’ll be able to size them up, ask all your questions, get references, and compare services.

Brainstorm your questions ahead of time – these outfitters want you to ask all of them and are there to give you answers. You don’t need to make a commitment, but take a backpack, collect their brochures, get phone numbers, and gawk at their displays.

Smaller shows well worth attending include the Allegheny Sport Show in Monroeville, PA, February 15-19 (www.sportandtravel.com), and the Erie Sport Show, March 2-4 (www.sportandtravelexpo.com). I’ve been to shows in Hamburg, NY, Bradford, PA, Cleveland, OH, Columbus, OH, and others. Another one nearby is the Central PA Sport Show in Clearfield County (www.centralpaoutdoorshow.com) March 23-25, where local trapper Darin Freeborough is the featured speaker.

These shows are a win-win for everyone. You won’t find many places in the middle of winter with a more festive atmosphere. So whether you attend a sportsman’s dinner or a full-fledged sport show, check them out and make plans to cure your cabin fever.

How Animals Die

2012-01-14T08:21:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, January 14, 2012.)

Wild animals never die under the
palliative care of a physician
while family and friends hold vigil.

If you’ve done much walking in the woods, you’ve found the remains of a dead animal. And you’ve wondered how it died. The truth is there are lots of ways, and none of them are pleasant. Wild animals never die under the palliative care of a physician while family and friends hold vigil.

Everyone who drives or rides in an automobile knows one way animals die. Deer don’t seem to obey those deer crossing signs. I don’t need to describe the aftermath because we all know it’s never a pretty sight. Tens of thousands of deer are killed on Pennsylvania’s roads. No one really knows the totals because many are not reported and some hobble off to die away from sight.

Cars don’t kill just deer. They kill every animal, domestic or wild, that ventures across a paved surface. You’ve seen them, you’ve probably killed at least a few, and you accept untold millions of road kills as a gruesome fact of modern life.

Predators kill animals. You might not know it, but you may have a predator living with you. The most popular pet these days – the common house cat – is also the most widespread predator. Even if your furry friend has been declawed, his cohorts kill millions of small animals and songbirds each year.

Domestic dogs are predators too, though not nearly as bloodthirsty as cats. Wild canines including wolves, foxes and coyotes, inflict deaths far less humane than deaths delivered by hunters or trappers. When a coyote, or pack of coyotes, catches a deer, they begin eating the deer while it’s still alive. Pictures prove it.

Animals also die from disease and malnutrition. When certain animal populations get too high disease can, and does, wipe them out by the hundreds. When food sources are scarce, it can mean difficult weeks during which animals are more vulnerable to disease, predators, and even starvation.

Finally, animals die by accidents, even without collisions with tons of high speed steel. They impale themselves on sticks. They dislocate joints. They drown. They fall. Birds of prey break wings in pursuit of fresh meat, then suffer while some other predator makes fresh meat of them. Animals of the same species even kill each other.

Virtually every way animals die in the natural world is horrible by human standards, even hunters’ standards. It’s a tough world out in the woods.

I recount these descriptions not for shock value, but to make one simple point: only one predator tries to minimize suffering in his prey. Only one predator cares enough for his prey to kill quickly.

That predator is man. Whatever means man uses to capture his prey – whether bullet, arrow, trap, or something else – he judges his success in part by how quick and humane the kill is.

Trappers especially want a quick kill. It’s to the trapper’s advantage to get to the trap as quickly as possible after prime time for catching the animal because he doesn’t want a bigger animal taking his catch.

Surprisingly often, trappers will find their prey lying there comfortably in the trap – maybe even asleep. Modern foot-hold traps are so well-designed that, when the proper size is chosen for the target animal, they rarely break a bone. And it’s a tired old canard that animals frequently chew their legs off. It rarely happens. So, arguments about the cruelty of trapping focus on exceptions more than on the facts of life in the wild.

Like it or not, man is a predator, and consumptive use of wildlife is not somehow less moral for him than it is for other predators. So I lay out these facts to show that man has a unique place among the many hunters in God’s creation. He’s the one predator who cares about suffering, seeks to minimize suffering in his prey, and finds satisfaction in a quick, clean kill.

Next time you find the remains of an animal in the woods and it wasn’t killed by a hunter, know this – no matter what happened, that animal almost certainly suffered before it died. That’s a fact of life in the wild.

Felines, Big Numbers, and Sunday Hunting

2011-12-31T08:54:00.006-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, December 31, 2011.)

What in the world is
“world class” wildlife?

Over the course of a year I gather thoughts that either aren’t worthy of a full column, or disappear via the delete button when I edit for length. Some of them got cut from this column, but here are a few thoughts that remain, strung loosely together.

I heard on the radio that people travel to Kenya to see “world class” wildlife. Huh? What does that mean? Who keeps the list of “world class” wildlife? Are whitetail deer on it? Are wild turkeys on it? Are box turtles on it? What in the world is “world class” wildlife?

Maybe our Pennsylvania critters aren’t thought of as “world class” to a lot of people. On the other hand, could someone on the radio in Kenya be telling people to come to Pennsylvania to see “world class” wildlife?

Wildlife is a resource. Hunters and anti-hunters all agree on that, and they all enjoy wildlife. The disagreement begins when we call wildlife a “renewable” resource, and when we talk about wildlife management giving us a sustained “yield.” The words “renewable” and “yield” mean animals die at the hands of man.

Lots and lots of animals die at the teeth and claws of other animals, and I don’t see people caring about that. That fluffy feline that roams your neighborhood and thinks your garden is his litter box may kill more animals than all the hunters in your neighborhood combined. Add to that the predation by hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes and all the rest of the wild predators, and the order of magnitude is somewhere above holocaust.

A peer-reviewed (a word that’s meant to add credibility) study from the University of Nebraska says feral cat predation on birds produces an annual economic loss of $17 billion. I don’t know how they measure that, but that’s a lotta tweety birds. The report also says kitty cats are responsible for the extinction of 33 bird species worldwide. Regulated hunters, (guys like me, many of my readers, and Theodore Roosevelt), aren’t responsible for any. The score? Cats: 33 species; Licensed Hunters: 0.

The number of birds killed by cats in the U.S. alone could be a billion. Pussycats win again. Yes, cats definitely kill more animals than hunters kill. For them, hunting season is open 24/7/365. No wonder those numbers are ginormous!

Speaking of big numbers, proponents of Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania say that legalizing Sunday hunting would be an economic boon of over $750 million. The beneficiaries include hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses that cater to hunters. They say it will bring badly needed jobs to our state.

Count me a non-believer. Hotels will rent more rooms a couple of weekends a year, but they won’t need more clerks and maids. Restaurants will serve more meals but their existing staffs of cooks and waitresses will be up to the task. And no gas station will hire attendants to pump gas for the influx of hunters for a few extra days of hunting season.

The numbers also say Sunday hunting will stimulate sales of hunting clothing and equipment, but no nimrod buys Sunday hunting garb. They’ll wear and use on Sunday what they wear and use on Saturday. To me, the economic argument supporting Sunday hunting seems overblown.

I don’t believe some of the points on the other side of the Sunday hunting argument either. Some say that farmers and landowners don’t want to be disturbed on Sunday by hunters asking for permission to hunt.

Really? Hunters seldom ask for permission on the day they go hunting. They ask ahead of time, and nothing stops hunters now from asking on Sunday for permission to hunt the following Saturday. I’ve done it. They’ve said “Yes.”

Nor do I take seriously the hue and cry of non-hunters who say they don’t want to be endangered on their Sunday afternoon hikes by hunters in the woods with guns. They have nothing to worry about. Besides, even with legalized Sunday hunting, they’ll still have dozens of Sundays to ramble the forests and fields when the weather is better. Why not give hunters a few?

It's time to tie big numbers and all the rest together. I just heard that Theodore Roosevelt went to Africa on safari during 1909-1910 to collect some world class wildlife, and shot a whopping 4,533 animals during the 365 days he was there. Some of them had to be cats. I'm betting he even hunted on Sunday. And no species became extinct.

That about wraps up my scribbles for 2011. Thank you for reading.

Field Dressing – No Bones About It

2011-12-17T08:57:00.005-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, December 17, 2011.)

I don’t mean to insult anyone,
but the odds are you don’t know
how to field dress a deer.

I’ve never taken a deer to a butcher until this year when I took one to Jim Seder on the Big Four Road not far from my home. I took it to him partly because I didn’t have time to do it myself, partly because the weather was too warm to hang it in my garage, and partly because of what Jim told me a few weeks before the rifle season.

I had run into Jim at Wendy’s Café in Russell, PA, and he said, “Stop by and I’ll show you how NOT to field dress a deer? I’d say 90 per cent of hunters don’t know.” He wasn’t kidding or exaggerating.

At first, I didn’t believe it. 90 per cent? Really? I wouldn’t have believed 50 per cent, because when I grew up my dad taught me. It was fundamental to learning how to hunt.

When I stopped by Jim’s shop I saw what he was talking about. In fairness, some examples might be the work of new hunters who were trying to figure out for the first time what to do. But 90 per cent of the deer aren’t brought in by new hunters. So, I don’t mean to insult anyone, and it was surprising to me, but the odds are you don’t know how to field dress a deer.

Maybe you don’t want to bloody-up your hands and sleeves, or you’re a little squeamish. Maybe you didn’t pay attention in biology class and don’t understand the anatomy of the animal, or you don’t have a sharp knife. (My knife, the Havalon knife, takes that excuse away because it uses replaceable surgical scalpel blades.) Whatever the reason, the vast majority of hunters who turn their deer over to a venison processor apparently don’t know their way around a deer’s innards.

During the half hour I hung around Seder’s shop I saw almost every field dressing mistake hunters can make. Here they are in two categories:

Category #1 – Not doing enough:
1. This is the one I didn’t see, but once in a while a hunter will leave all the guts in. Every butcher has seen this, and most butchers refuse to take a deer that hasn’t been field dressed.

2. Some hunters remove only the abdominal organs (stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys). That leaves everything in front of the diaphragm (heart and lungs), and everything in the pelvis.

3. Some also remove the heart and lungs, but leave everything in the pelvis – the sex organs, the rectum, and the bladder. Do you want the contaminants associated with those organs near the hams of your deer? I don’t.

Category #2 – Doing too much:
1. Some hunters tear out the tenderloins, the small muscles inside the abdomen, on either side of the spine. I’ve heard them called “the fish” – they’re about the size and shape of an ordinary trout. Don’t rip them out with the gutpile – they’re the tenderest and best meat on the deer.

2. Some hunters cut the pelvic bone – what old-timers called the “aitch” bone – with a saw or hatchet. It’s totally unnecessary despite what you read in magazines, and despite what’s included in the fancy field dressing knife set you might find under the Christmas tree. Could it help cool the meat faster? Not really. Plenty of air will get in there to cool the meat if you properly remove the rectum, bladder and sex organs.

3. Some hunters go even further, severing the hip sockets on the hind quarters. Do that and you’ll lose up to 20 per cent of your hams because you’re exposing the meat to bacteria and drying. On the front end, there’s no reason to cut the breastbone either. That will dull your knife and risk an accident. You never need to cut a bone while field dressing.

Make four easy cuts -- no bones about it!
All you need are four cuts, all in soft tissue, all with a knife, and none with a saw or hatchet. You simply pull everything out after you make these easy cuts:
1. Around the vent and sex organs.
2. Belly, from the vent to the breastbone.
3. Diaphragm – left and right sides.
4. Gullet – esophagus and windpipe.

Always remember that proper field dressing leads to great tasting venison. If you want step-by-step instructions, I've written about that at the Havalon website. Check it out at: How To Field Dress Deer Like a Pro.

The Self-Evident Rightness of Hunting

2011-12-02T20:56:00.000-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, December 3, 2011.)

Man is the predator who
wants to minimize suffering.

I saw the fur and stopped. Why was that animal just lying there?

Its fur looked perfect. I stared for a minute or two, then inched closer. Was it breathing? I magnified it through my rifle scope until sure there was no sign of life.

It was a dead raccoon. Without touching it, I made a closer inspection. Was it in a trap? No. Had it been bleeding? No. Was there any sign of a struggle? No. It looked as though it just fell over, dead.

A healthy raccoon preys on worms, grubs, and in season, the occupants of bird nests. This one will do no more of that. Its once bright eyes were crusty – a telltale sign of canine distemper, a cruel worker in Mother Nature’s death squad.

A few days later I discovered another dead raccoon about a quarter mile from the first. This masked marauder had sought comfort inside the base of a hollow tree before expiring. Likely another case of distemper.

Hunters are involved in only a minority of animal deaths, so it’s often a mystery how an animal died. When people see a dead animal it feels like an injustice. Certain animals – like a majestic eagle – get more of our sympathy.

A few weeks ago I captured five images of a mature bald eagle on one of my trail cameras. In every picture he was walking on the ground. That in itself is unusual for an eagle. There was no food source there, nothing for him to scavenge. But in all five photos he was holding a wing as though it was injured. How long can an eagle, a bird unaccustomed to life on the ground, survive with only one good wing? I don’t know. I only know that eagles kill, and eagles die.

Birds of prey live far more dangerously than ground-based predators. They don’t sneak up on a squirrel like a coyote or a bobcat does. An owl or a hawk will dive-bomb that squirrel. As the bushytail scampers for safety, the bird makes a high-speed turn to sink his talons into the squirrel’s backstraps.

Disastrously, in the midst of that split-second flight adjustment, it will sometimes whack a wing against a tree limb. A broken wing will quickly turn a predator into prey.

During deer season hunters are predators whose prey has big brown eyes. Irrationally, many people feel more sympathy for animals with big brown eyes than ones with little brown eyes, but animals with little brown eyes die in far greater numbers. They die every day for other animals to live.

Unlike deer, most of them die unwitnessed, with nary a trace of evidence for people to observe. No one grieves for them. They aren’t even preserved in memory, like a whitetail on the wall. But it’s the way life, and death, works.

When wild animals succumb to disease or predators, they usually suffer. On the other hand, when they die from bullets or arrows, they usually die a quick, merciful death. One difference between man and animals is that man is the predator who wants to minimize suffering.

I don’t say it as an attempt to justify hunting. If you ask a room full of hunters why they hunt, every hunter might have his own justification.

Many hunt to spend time outdoors with friends or family. Others hunt to continue a tradition passed down from fathers and grandfathers. Some enjoy the satisfaction of providing their own meat or the challenge of outwitting a wild animal. Some are hunting for solitude. Why someone hunts is a personal matter.

Many hunt simply because they feel a natural urge to do so, and it doesn’t need to make sense to someone who doesn’t hunt.

The famous naturalist and environmentalist Aldo Leopold said it this way: “The instinct that finds delight in the sight and pursuit of game is bred into the very fiber of the race.” Hunting is a way of life. Hunting needs no defense because the rightness of hunting has always been self-evident for the eagle, for the raccoon, for all hunters. Hunters don’t question it any more than we question the truth that all men are created equal.

Seven Mistakes Your Taxidermist Can’t Fix

2011-11-19T21:12:00.011-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, November 19, 2011.)

Your part is to provide
lifelike raw materials for
your taxidermist to work with.

Have you heard the one about the boy who shot a nice gobbler? His dad was proud and decided to get the big bird mounted. So, he plucked it, collected the feathers in a big pillowcase, and took the pillowcase to the local taxidermist. You can guess the rest of the story.

That’s a mistake none of us would make. Right?

Right. But we might make other mistakes the taxidermist can’t fix. A first-rate mount begins with you. Here’s what to avoid:

1. Going cheap. Some guys shop around for the cheapest taxidermist, unaware that inferior materials might be the reason for the lower price. Other hunters have a buddy who’s a budding taxidermist and will do it for just the cost of materials. Nothing against your buddy, but if he someday turns pro he’ll probably hope you don’t tell people he did it. A veteran taxidermist will get the right size form and put eyes, ears, and antlers into proper relationship.

2. Slitting the throat. That’s just one way your knife can ruin a trophy. Many years ago I saw a newspaper photo of a proud hunter with a high, wide 8-point. You could see, just below the buck’s white throat patch, where the hunter slit the throat to “bleed it out.” Never do that. You’ll cut through hair and the taxidermist can’t fix it without replacing that section of hide. Besides, putting a knife to the throat of a live deer is a good way to get badly injured. Antlers and hooves hurt. If he isn’t dead, shoot him again. Field dressing will let the blood out.

3. Handling carelessly in the field. Treat the animal with respect. If you must drag a deer, drag it on both sides. Otherwise, the animal may look worn on one side. Better yet, drag it on a plastic sled or a tarp. And for goodness sake, drag it with the grain of the hair, not against it. Yes, I’ve seen a hunter drag deer by the back legs, and it ain’t pretty. Remember, deer hair is hollow – it kinks when it bends and it’s easy to break.

4. Being a show-off. Be proud, but don’t get carried away. Get good photos and make a few phone calls, but don’t drive all over town with your buck. If you must haul a deer very far in the back of a pickup, stop somewhere and roll it over to make sure heat isn’t trapped on the bottom. Protect it from the wind – you don’t want to drive airborne road grime into the hair.

5. Leaving the skin on. A deer hide traps heat, and heat stimulates the growth of bacteria. Once bacteria get into the hair follicles the hair will begin to slip and your trophy will be ruined. Warm weather accelerates the process. So, skin him as soon as possible. The meat and the hide will cool more quickly – better for eating and better for mounting.

6. Getting knife crazy. Improper skinning can damage your trophy. At best, it gives the taxidermist extra work. So, don’t make any cuts in the head and neck. Don’t cut up the front of the deer’s neck. Never cut from the outside in; always cut from the inside out. When you separate the head from the carcass leave plenty of skin. Let your taxidermist skin the head. He knows how to do the eyelids, nose and lips.

7. Being ignorant about taxidermy. Actually, this is something your taxidermist can fix – if you stop by his shop before going hunting and ask him how to handle your buck from the field to his shop. He can do a better job if you take his advice.

Taxidermy is an art form that recreates a lifelike appearance. Your part is to provide the taxidermist with lifelike raw material.

Ideally, the relationship between the hunter and the taxidermist is a two-way mutual admiration society. If he admires the raw materials you bring him, you’re more likely to admire the mount he returns to you. And so will others when they see it on your wall.
***
News about hunters’ back tags:
Hunters’ complaints about wearing back tags might end soon. On Tuesday, November 15, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a law repealing the rule. The vote was 46-3. Gov. Corbett says he will sign it. New laws take effect 60 days after his signature. So, this may be the last year Pennsylvania hunters need to display our tags on the middle of our backs.

The Complete OutdoorsWOMAN

2011-11-05T07:32:00.010-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, November 5, 2011.)

Everywhere we shined a light,
we saw a shadow. The bear could be
hiding in any one of them.

“Honey, I just saw a bear!” Dick was calling his wife on the cellphone. “I saw one too,” Audrey replied, “and I shot it!”

That’s how the evening of Friday, October 28 started for Dick and Audrey Zimmerman, Wally Ciukaj, and me. The tracking job in New York’s Chautauqua County began at about 8:00 with Wally taking the lead. Sometimes we saw lots of blood, other times we struggled to find drops the size of a pinhead.

The night was pitch black. As if on cue, coyotes added an eerie ambiance with their yipping and howling on the hillside. After about 400 yards we found Audrey’s arrow, but the trail continued for another 200 yards until it entered a tangle of felled treetops.

Everywhere we shined a light, we saw a shadow. The bear could be hiding in any one of them. Trying to keep his eye on the blood, Wally struggled to climb over the web of twisted limbs. He stood up, shined his flashlight under a log, and whispered. “There he is.” The bear had hidden himself, but had turned to watch his backtrail.

Dick shined his light at the spot, and the bear blinked. It was alive. Suddenly Wally realized he was seven feet from a wounded bear.

Slowly Wally backed away. We had no choice but to mark the spot and return in the morning. A few minutes later we heard a loud moan. Bear hunters recognize it as the “death moan.” We felt confident it was over, but we could barely see anything in the jumble. In the darkness it was impossible to retrieve him, so we made plans to return in the morning.

After a few hours of fitful sleep we awakened to fresh snow. It’s a good thing we had completed the tracking job because the fresh snow obliterated the trail. We met at 7:30 AM, hiked to the spot we left the previous night, and found Audrey’s bear, as we expected, dead.

Now we faced the challenge of getting him out of that mess and up the hill. With four of us there, we completed the task in about an hour.

Audrey Zimmerman is the complete outdoorswoman. Dick says, “If you sent her and any of the female ‘celebrity’ hunters into the woods with bows in their hands and treestands on her backs, my money would be on Audrey to return first with a deer.” I’d say that’s a safe bet. Most male hunters would take a back seat to her.

Audrey is an expert archer who has won many 3D archery tournaments. Currently she is the Archery Shooters Association Shooter of the Year, and the International Bowhunting Organization National Champion, Amateur Women’s Division. She has also won a state championship and several other titles.

Besides all the championships, Audrey is an outstanding hunter with lots of bucks, some turkeys, a couple of coyotes, and now a bear under all those championship belts.

This New York black bear is the third animal she has taken already this season. Next up, a really big buck? I wouldn’t bet against it.

In the Year 1959….

2011-10-22T08:34:00.006-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 22, 2011.)

Not everyone could get a “doe tag,”
and hunters considered an antlerless
deer a mere consolation prize.

I was rooting around in the basement at a local estate sale recently and came across a copy of the Warren Observer dated June 25, 1959. (In the evolution of newspapering, about 30 titles have served Warren County over the years.)

Naturally, I looked for an outdoor column, and I found one. Buried among Hot Stove League reports, wedding announcements, and ads for obscure local businesses including “Sorensen’s Shoe Repair” (I haven’t figured out who that was), I noticed a piece titled “The Pennsylvania Deer.” It might be the most contemporary sounding article in that musty old rag.

No columnist’s name is attached to it. Maybe outdoor columns were different back then. It reads more like a news story than a “where-to” or “how-to” piece, or an opinion column. It concluded, “We offer this as a collection of scientific facts to be considered by all concerned.” It showed that much has changed, but a lot has stayed the same.

It focused on some of the same issues we still talk about today – the damage whitetails do to their habitat, the buck-to-doe ratio in the deer herd, the scarcity of mature bucks, antler development – topics hunters will discuss again and again in this year’s hunting camps.

The column shows that Pennsylvania deer controversies were raging 40 years before Gary Alt, a pariah in the minds of many deer hunters today, took over the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s deer program. Back in 1959, he was just a kid.

For hunters, things were different back in 1959. I was still eagerly anticipating my first foray into the deer woods. Back then antlerless season was just one day. Not everyone could get a “doe tag,” and many hunters who didn’t object to shooting does considered an antlerless deer a mere consolation prize after failing to harvest a buck.

Few kids today look forward to hunting as eagerly as I did, but with our new mentoring program kids now have an opportunity to hunt long before reaching age 12. Archery hunting is much more popular, crossbows are now legal, doe season runs concurrently with buck season, antler point restrictions are in place for adult hunters, and we’re no longer limited to just one deer per year.

Regarding dollars, the column stated the value of a deer was “as much as $181 in business income.” (That number was derived from the economics of deer hunting in two counties.) It added that “When deer are found on private land, as a major share of them are, the cost is one hundred percent covered by the landowner, who provides cover, feed, and suffers the land damage.”

What’s the point? The profits some businesses enjoyed were a cost to the farmers whose crops were raided by deer. The column spoke of the forest not being able to provide enough food for whitetails: “… maturing forests and expanding herds send the animals into farmlands for food.”

Some people today remember that time as the good old days of deer hunting, but the column said “Authorities doubt if we can continue this luxury of a low kill under such circumstances.” I remember a decade later when the PGC issued regular post-season reports of record kills. Apparently deer managers back then wanted to see the kill increase every year, but it still wasn’t enough to keep the deer herd in balance with its habitat.

For deer, it mentioned several biological truths that have been amply proven in more recent research:
“Well fed does will produce an average of two fawns, but if food is scarce the average drops to one or less.”

“The body growth requirements are fulfilled first, and then antler growth.”

“To feed them you must have some balance between the range and herd.”

For me, maybe what was most interesting in that 52 year old newspaper column was that I expected the Pennsylvania Game Commission to be the source of the information. It wasn’t. It came from the U.S. Extension Service, the Pennsylvania State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture – not from the PGC.

Belated Congratulations to Arthur Young

2011-10-08T07:47:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 8, 2011.)

After 135 years, scoring officials finally
put a tape measure on the antlers.

Among America’s deer hunters, a Pennsylvania teenager accomplished a feat neither Daniel Boone nor Davy Crockett – nor other contenders for the title “king of the wild frontier” – are known to have done. Not famed deerslayer Philip Tome, nor John James Audubon, nor Meshach Browning – all legendary contemporaries of Mr. Boone and Mr. Crockett. And Mr. Young.

Not renowned still-hunter Theodore S. VanDyke, nor the other Theodore – the one who became President Roosevelt. By the time these illustrious hunters were born, Arthur Young had already done at age 17 what would distinguish him 135 years later.

Unlike another Art Young, the one of Pope and Young Club archery fame, few have heard of this Arthur Young or know his unique place in deer hunting history. His name is part of the hunting lore of Pennsylvania, and the chronicles of hunting in North America.

Although the wildlife history of the era is sketchy, at least one fact can be judged sure – that in 1830, 17-year old Arthur Young shot a giant whitetail buck that is now and will surely forever be the oldest entry in the Boone and Crockett Club record book. And not just for whitetails, but for every species on the continent.

Born in 1813, Arthur Young became a market hunter living in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania. He is credited with killing some 1500 deer during his lifetime – not an unusual exploit for those days, considering that most meat didn’t come from giant cattle ranches. Market hunting was legal, commonplace, and provided backwoodsmen with a livelihood in those hard-scrabble times.

He shot his now famous 12-point buck in McKean County, PA near Norwich, a rugged area a dozen miles south of Smethport. No one knows what the weather was like on the day of that successful hunt, or exactly what day it was, but a 1965 letter to the Boone and Crockett Club from Young’s great, great grandson C. R. Studholme (now deceased) documented enough facts to authenticate the antlers for scoring.

Fortunately, family members through the years appreciated both their ancestor and the antlers enough to ensure the survival of Arthur’s old rack.

Aside from family annals and the rack itself, two other physical relics survive from that notable hunt – the rifle, and the powderhorn. According to Gordon Whittington of North America Whitetail magazine, the rifle was an early caplock muzzleloader made by Patrick Smith of Buffalo, NY. These historic artifacts have remained in the family for all these years, and reinforce the credibility of Studholme’s letter.

Arthur Young could never make his own claim for a place in the record books because records didn’t exist until long after he died. And neither Young nor anyone at the time could have had any idea what a world-class buck was, as there was no basis for comparison.

To put Young’s remarkable buck into perspective, he shot it only 54 years after the American Revolution and 28 years before Theodore Roosevelt, founder of the Boone & Crockett Club, was born. The nation’s seventh President, Andrew Jackson was in office.

The Boone & Crockett Club wasn’t formed until 1887, and didn’t adopt the record-keeping system used today until 1950.

In 1965, scoring officials finally put a tape measure on the antlers. Young’s typical 12-point tallied 175 4/8 inches. The rack and its history were saved from obscurity after 135 years. Today it ranks as the number ten buck ever recorded in Pennsylvania.

Young passed away in 1878, 87 years before his buck would enter the records. He rests beside his wife Laurinda at Goodwin cemetery in Farmers Valley along route 446 north of Smethport, PA.

Whittington has held the Arthur Young rack in his hands, and tells me he is preparing a fuller account of this buck and its history for the December issue of North American Whitetail.

Although opinions differ on the Boone & Crockett Club and its record system for game animals, the Arthur Young buck gives us an opportunity to thank the organization for two things. It has immortalized a treasured piece of hunting history from a century before the days of modern wildlife conservation. And it secures Arthur Young’s rightful place among America’s earliest hunting legends.

The Pennsylvania Elk Success Story

2011-09-24T08:06:00.010-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, September 24, 2011.)

Don’t miss one of the best wildlife
viewing opportunities anywhere.

Shrill, and guttural. High pitched, and deep. A scream, and a grunt. The bugle of a majestic bull elk contains those contradictions and more, and its reveille call is as wild a sound as anyone will hear in North America.

And yet, it’s as common and regular in Pennsylvania as Sunday drivers at the peak of the leaf viewing season. In fact, any day of the week from mid-September to mid-October, your ears will ring with elk bugles, if you’re in the right place.

No longer associated just with the western wilderness, a healthy herd of elk lives in the Keystone State. Numbering about 800, they’re spread across Elk, Cameron, McKean, Potter, Clinton, Centre and Clearfield counties, and they might be the most accessible wild animals in America.

If you’ve never seen them, you’re missing one of the best wildlife viewing opportunities anywhere in the world. And even if you don’t see elk, just hearing a bugling bull is worth the trip.

But you will see elk. The right place is Benezette, PA south of St. Marys in Elk County. Up Winslow Hill from Benezette is a brand new Elk Visitors Center that should be the hub of your elk excursion.

Operated by the Keystone Elk Country Alliance, it’s a first-class facility where you’re encouraged to have a hands-on experience with antlers, hides, and other elk artifacts. Spend a little time in the souvenir shop full of locally produced gift merchandise. Your dollars will provide funds to support elk habitat.

A panoramic sensory-surround theater tells the story of elk from the first steps of a newborn Pennsylvania elk calf in spring, to an antler-on-antler sparring match in the fall mating season, and the fight to survive winter’s cruelty.

As for seeing elk in their natural habitat, a horse-drawn wagon is one option. But whether or not you ride the wagon, you’ll see elk. Not only that, you may see deer, wild turkeys, even a bear. I’ve seen at least one of those three species every time I’ve been there, and sometimes all three.

Elk are native to Pennsylvania and once lived throughout the state. By the mid-1800s logging and mining camps were steadily reducing elk habitat and market hunters were using elk to feed the loggers and miners. By the 1870s native elk had vanished.

From 1913 to 1926, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) imported 177 elk from Yellowstone Park and other places in an effort to recolonize them. The 20th century saw the herd persevere through ups and downs, with the downs sometimes at fewer than 50 animals.

In the 1970s the PGC committed to keep the remnant animals from disappearing a second time. A grant from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in 1990 enabled the purchase of 1359 acres on Winslow Hill, which became State Game Lands 311.

The health of any species depends on habitat, and this land has been managed to offer premium habitat. It grassy meadows are ideal for birthing and raising elk calves, and during the rut the high population of cows attracts magnificent bulls with antlers as big as you’ll see anywhere.

Since 2001, a limited hunting season has helped minimize crop damage, collisions with cars, and other conflicts with people. Annually, several dozen tags are offered by lottery. The chance to draw a tag is low, but the opportunity to fill a tag is high.

More important than the limited hunt is the unlimited opportunity to witness up close one of the great success stories in modern wildlife management, and you owe it to yourself to go see them. But a few cautions are in order.

First, remember that elk are wild animals so maintain a safe distance, and keep a barrier between you and any elk that’s less than 40 yards away. Second, remember that not all property is public, so respect those who live in the area. And third, drive slowly – there might be a group of elk viewers standing near a parked car just around the bend.

The sights and sounds of Pennsylvania elk are thrilling, and you’ll come away with real appreciation for one of the most majestic animals on earth.

So Just Who Are Those “Pro Staff” Guys?

2011-09-11T15:16:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, September 11, 2011.)

“Pro staff” usually means “promotional
staff,” not “professional staff.”

You’ve probably seen headlines in magazines or on websites that announce something like “Big Game Hunting Tips from Our Pro Staff!”

It seems as though every hunting and fishing company has its pro staff. So, what’s a “pro staff”? Who are those guys (and gals) who brag up the merits of the various outdoor products? What do they get for plugging the benefits of game calls, tree stands, bows and camouflage?

Those are some of the questions the average guy wonders about, but the big question that underlies all the rest is this: Is he a sell-out?

First, the term “pro staff” usually means “promotional staff,” not “professional staff.” Few of them are professional spokespersons. Some of them get paid a little. Most do it without expecting compensation.

Many pro staffers are friends of the guy who owns a product or a small company. I’ve invented a turkey call you’ll hear more about in the future, and already people have asked me if they can be on my pro staff. (Maybe I’m not thinking big enough, but I don’t foresee needing a pro staff, other than just me.)

The idea that pro staffers are sell-outs suggests that they’re making big money on something they don’t believe in. Nonsense. Outside of celebrity hunters, there isn’t much money offered to pro staffers in the hunting world.

So, a person doesn’t need to “sell out” when he’s on a pro staff. He only needs to believe in the product, and be willing to endorse it. He might get a few hundred dollars per year for associating his name with the product, or a few samples at little or no cost. Or a shirt. Does that make him a sell-out? I think not.

Compare what the average pro staffer gets with the money professional endorsers bank outside the hunting industry. Have you ever heard anyone say Tiger Woods sold out to Nike for $105 million? Or Hanes underwear spokesman Michael Jordan for the $40 million he earns in endorsements per year? Probably not. Is Hanes really better than Fruit of the Loom? You decide. They’re probably made in some of the same factories.

No one thinks less of Tiger or MJ for the windfall they get from the brands they promote. We tend to associate those deals with celebrity status. We say it’s “just business.”

In the hunting world the pro staffer doesn’t reap a windfall. He might get a new suit of camo. Maybe he’ll be invited on a hunt. The shirt with a logo on it comes when he spends endless days promoting the product at shows.

One way to tell if someone is a sell-out is not by his public association with a product, but by his private speech and actions. If it’s a lower shelf product, does he disparage the people who buy it? If it’s a top shelf product, does he disparage those who don’t? When not in the public eye, does he treat the product as though it’s worthless? Does he really prefer something different? (Actually, for the sake of comparison, a pro staffer should use competing products.)

The difference between a hunting pro staffer and a professional spokesperson is that a pro staffer gets to talk about what he loves talking about. Good luck getting an underwear guy to talk outside of the commercials about the product he promotes. He won’t. But hunters won’t shut up about hunting and the products they use.

The bottom line goes something like this: Pro staffers usually aren’t sell-outs. Aside from a few high profile people and the occasional bad apple, pro staffers use the products they speak for, with little or nothing promised in return.

Disclaimer: Maybe nobody is asking this question, but the Everyday Hunter proudly serves on the pro staff for Alpen Optics and for the website of Deer & Deer Hunting magazine. He believes in both and recommends both. Neither promise any compensation – no shirt, no contract, no money. Maybe someday. Oh yeah – he’s also the pro staff for his own turkey call, coming soon.

Picture a Scouting Camera in Your Hunting Arsenal

2011-08-27T07:22:00.012-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, August 27, 2011.)

Add a scouting camera to your arsenal,
and you never have to quit hunting
just because a season ends.

Our grandfathers could never have imagined the hunting tools we have today. Back then Grandpa might have placed a piece of thread across a trail to determine roughly when a deer walked by. Today we not only can know exactly when a deer shows up at a certain place. Scouting cameras can show us the deer, and every other animal that passes by.

The period during which we can legally kill a deer is relatively short, especially if we hunt only with a firearm. If you add the archery and the muzzleloader seasons, it’s longer. Add a scouting camera to your arsenal, and you never have to quit hunting just because a season ends.

A few years ago scouting cameras made the transition from film to digital. This technology-driven improvement increased prices, but not by very much. I suspect that a careful analysis would show that the real price actually dropped because digital cameras eliminate the cost of developing film. With digital cameras, you can view photos instantly, without cost.

Another big advancement came just in the last year or so. My previous cameras were bulky and used D-cell batteries, which didn’t last long. Cold weather would usually kill the batteries, and often in warm weather they’d expire before I got back to check them.

Today the cameras I’m using are the Bushnell® Trophy Cam and the Moultrie® Game Spy. They’re very compact and use AA batteries. I buy lithium batteries, which cost more than alkaline batteries but they last much, much longer – so in the long run, lithium batteries are cheaper. They tolerate the cold much better too, and they’re so reliable that I don’t bother to carry extra batteries.

This week when I checked some of my cameras I took my little netbook computer along in a backpack. I pulled the memory card out of one camera, inserted it into the computer, and transferred the photos to the hard drive. It took only a couple of minutes to view almost 400 photos. Parading in front of that camera was a menagerie that included several deer, a raccoon family, a coyote pup, a woodchuck, rabbits, and a possum.

The great thing for hunters is that scouting cameras show you that the deer are alive and well, tell you whether they’re bucks or does, and give you an idea where they’re spending their time. You still have to figure out how, when and where to kill one.

Some hunters think scouting cameras offer an unfair advantage. If you think so, nothing says you have to use that advantage. Just enjoy the wildlife your cameras will show you – maybe in your own backyard!

In the woods, they definitely will show you more deer, and more critters of all kinds. If they don’t, the solution is simple. Move your camera.

Scouting cameras mean we don’t have to be limited to looking for tracks in the snow or mud. They mean we aren’t dependent on finding the saplings rutting bucks have rubbed clean of their bark. They mean we don’t have to be discouraged when all we see is a glimpse of a white flag over the bounding rump of a deer as far away as our eyes can see.

Digital cameras are a lot more expensive than the thread Grandpa used, but so is everything else. Today, the least expensive digital cameras are probably as good as or better than more expensive cameras of a few years ago. If you’ve ever had any interest in using scouting cameras, now is the time to buy. They’re easier than ever to use, they’re extremely reliable, and they take very good quality photos.

Even if they don’t lead you to your next buck, you’ll still get lots of enjoyment viewing the wildlife they capture.

Archery -- For the Kid in You

2011-08-13T10:41:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, August 13, 2011.)

When a bunch of archers get together,
the enthusiasm breaks down
all kinds of barriers.

Most rural kids, when I grew up, were intrigued by the idea of shooting game the way Native Americans did – with a stick and string. But, I never killed a buck that way until I was in my 40s. Even then I didn’t use a traditional bow. I used a modern compound.

Some hunters I know are very proficient with traditional recurves and longbows. Rick Sharp takes a nice buck with his recurve as often as good hunters do with a gun. Reg Darling immerses himself in archery as a mental and spiritual quest. Mike Stimmel crafts his own bow, arrows too, and is a serious student of primitive ways.

All are dedicated and knowledgeable woodsmen, like the traditional archer I met over in Potter County last year at the Eastern Traditional Archery Rendezvous (ETAR). You’ll never meet a more hard-core hunter than Mike Mitten, from Iowa. He’s totally comfortable in true wilderness – even on solo adventures in the most remote places.

When I reconnected with Mike last month at ETAR, he showed me a picture of a buck his brother shot last fall with a primitive bow and an arrow tipped with a hand-knapped stone head. That’s one of the most impressive hunting feats I’ve ever heard of. And it was no ordinary buck – it was an absolute giant even by Midwestern standards.

The Mittens are associated with Gene and Barry Wensel, also known as “Brothers of the Bow” (www.BrothersOfTheBow.com.) The Wensels and the Mittens are among the best hunters anywhere. They’re icons of the archery world, known internationally through their books and DVDs, and have a knack for making you feel like you’re an old friend.

“Old friends.” That’s the atmosphere at ETAR, and anyone with the slightest interest in traditional archery should attend. It’s held annually during the last weekend of July, on the slopes of Ski Denton near Coudersport.

“Traditional archery people love relaxing in the mountains,” says event organizer Joyce Knefley. “Some come in a week early, and before it’s over 8,000 to 10,000 people show up.” That says something about the passion traditional archers have for their pursuit.

ETAR has been running for 22 years, but it’s not the only archery event held at Ski Denton. Joyce and her husband Mike host four archery events, and the next one is the Potter County Bowhunter Festival (PCBF) which will see almost 5,000 visitors August 18-21. (The others are at Sawmill Run ski resort, south of Wellsboro in Tioga County. Details about all events, including cost, are at www.archeryfestivals.com.)

PCBF has less of a focus on traditional archery so you’ll see a predominance of compound bows there. With lots of vendors under big top tents, and a swap meet too, it’s a little like Arlo Guthrie’s 1960s song “Alice’s Restaurant” – you can get anything you want (as long as you want something connected with shooting a bow.)

Whether you go for just a day, or for the weekend, take advantage of instructional seminars, as well as the opportunity to shoot seven 3-D target courses – almost 180 targets. All of them are set up with realistic hunting scenarios to sharpen you for this fall’s hunt. If you want to shoot competitively, enter the Sharp Shooter competition or the King of the Mountain course to win money or prizes.

More than anything else, it’s the people who make an archery festival worth attending. They’re simple, helpful, joyful, and all-around nice folks.

Archers are dedicated to simplicity. Something about a string propelling a pointed stick helps you focus on the essentials of life.

Having problems with eye-dominance? Target panic? Release? Bow tuning? Lots of people at the festival have faced what you face, and are qualified to offer help.

When a bunch of archers together, their enthusiasm breaks down all kinds of barriers and creates a camaraderie seldom found anywhere.

An archery festival is a place where you can revive that kid in you. Why not take a modern kid along and plant the idea of hunting with a stick and string in his or her mind? Let him shoot the kid’s course, plus the popular kid’s balloon shoot. Get him involved in archery at a young age, and it might lead to a lifelong pastime.

Let There Be More Than Light

2011-07-30T16:08:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, July 30, 2011.)

With a few adaptations, you can make
a cheap little flashlight into a
dutiful tool for the everyday hunter.

Back in May during a turkey hunt, a buddy and I were talking about flashlights. Neither of us routinely use a light to find our way in the dark woods because generally we know where we’re going and it’s seldom dark enough to need a light.

Still, a hunter is far better off with a flashlight than without one. We agreed that the most common use for a flashlight is to search for something we drop. And using one to alert other hunters to your presence is a good, safe idea.

A light can also reveal where to cross a fenceline or find solid footing at a stream crossing. And if you get caught deeper into the woods than you planned – or have to stay overnight – you’ll be glad you have a light.

Flashlight users are well aware of a flashlight’s disadvantages. Many flashlights are bulky. Using one can spook game. They get misplaced. They burn batteries. They malfunction. Too often, they fail when you need them most.

Twenty years ago the flashlight most hunters carried was probably the Mini-Mag light. Today it has lots of impressive descendants because lighting technology has come a long way. Modern LED bulbs turn more energy into light and less into heat. They’re easy on batteries, and are almost sure to work long past the time older technology fails.

It seems as though every company with even the smallest niche in the outdoor market has entered the flashlight business. Top end flashlights by Fenix, Streamlight, or Surefire will outlast you. In fact, you’re far more likely to lose it than break it or wear it out.

But for lots of hunting, you don’t need a light costing $70, $80, or more. A basic light will do just fine. You won't want to stake your life on it, but with a few adaptations you can make a cheap little flashlight into a dutiful tool the everyday hunter won’t want to leave behind.

I buy those little 9-bulb LED lights you can get almost anywhere for less than $5.00. Sometimes only six or seven bulbs work, so check to make sure all nine bulbs shine brightly. They run on AAA batteries. (If you can find one that uses AA batteries, all the better. I’ll tell you why later.)

Despite everything being dressed up with camo these days, camo is a disadvantage here. Get a light with a brightly colored barrel so that if you drop it into the leaves you can find it easily.

Then, start wrapping it with duct tape. Four feet adds only an eighth of an inch to the light. Next, neatly wrap some para-cord over the tape – you can get about six feet of it in two layers. Now you have some all-purpose tape and an all-important piece of light-duty rope available when you need it. And, when you need to keep both hands free, you have a soft place to grip it in your teeth.

You’ll still have some space on the barrel of the flashlight. Wrap some 8-pound monofilament fishing line there. It’ll come in handy when you need to tag a deer. Thread a wire or a small split ring through the little hole at the back end of the light, and add a key – the key to your vehicle, your house, your camp, or the locks on your trail cameras.

Besides a key (or two), you might have your own idea about what to add – maybe a small Swiss Army knife or a single blade folder. This won’t be your main knife, but you’ll be glad to have it in a pinch.

Tape, cord, monofilament, key, knife, light… you’ve already wrapped a lot into this little package. And if you can find a slightly larger LED flashlight that uses AA batteries (the most common ones), when you need a couple of semi-fresh batteries for another piece of gear, just swap out the ones in your flashlight.

Finally, losing one of these is no great loss. Just apply the finders-keepers rule – whoever finds it will be a little better off. Then, put another together, and let there be more than light!

The Hunter’s Injury Report

2011-07-16T08:45:00.005-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, July 16, 2011.)

One careless swipe with a
skinning knife turned my left
index finger into a fountain of blood.

Does a hunter have anything in common with a quarterback who gets slammed to the ground by a defensive end?

And with a boxer who gets a serious cut that could cost him the fight?

And with a point guard who goes down with a sprained ankle when he takes a high-pressure shot in a basketball game?

Whether hunters are athletes is debatable, but they're not that kind of athlete. Still, the hunter can get the same injuries superstar athletes get. Knees, wrists, ankles, elbows, ribs - they're all vulnerable when you go hunting.

Years ago, after a freak accident with my truck, Dr. Gottwald told me I had the kind of injury quarterbacks get. How can that be? I'm only a turkey hunter.

As I eased my truck into the woods, the passenger-side wheels hit a drop-off. The truck rolled onto its right side, and slammed me against the door. I couldn't raise my right arm. The x-ray showed a second-degree shoulder separation.

In the heart of Alaska, one careless swipe with a skinning knife under the inch-thick hump skin of a moose turned my left index finger into a fountain of blood. I severed the digital artery and the digital nerve. It was distressing because I was 50 miles from medical attention and the only way out was by a Super Cub bush plane, not due to pick us up for six days.

Twelve years later this knucklehead is still paying the price for burying his knife into his knucklebone. Half of that finger is still numb.

More recently I took a game-ending shot from an awkward position at a hefty spring gobbler and ended up chasing him down. He flopped though the long grass and I nearly flopped too as I caught my heel on a stump and sprained my ankle. Hobbled as I was, I won that foot race with some help from a buddy. Two months later my foot is no longer purple, but the ankle remains tender and stiff.

I've suffered a few other wounds. Bouncing a scope off my forehead earned me three crescent-shaped scars just above and between my eyes. Yes, three. The first time was the worst. I was shooting at a flock of fall turkeys to split them up, and ended up with a face that was scary bloody, plus a sprained knee. Oh yeah - I also remember a flock of little cartoon bluebirds orbiting my head.

At least the next two incidents had an up-side. My bleeding forehead was less important than the eight-point buck and the dandy spring gobbler I took home.

So, in the sporting world it's not only athletes who get separated shoulders, sprained ankles, and bloody cuts.

We hear about accidental shootings and falls from treestands. While the statistical probabilities of those tragedies happening are negligible, they're never low enough to ignore. Every precaution must be taken to make sure life-threatening accidents never happen. Ever.

Despite my track record, I'm not really as hapless as I sound. I know it pays to be careful. Freak accidents happen. Simple mistakes such as stepping into a woodchuck hole can have big consequences.

That knife fight with a stubborn moose hide could have been worse. Under the circumstances it was almost impossible to clean my wound, but I had the foresight to bring an antibiotic to Alaska and I began taking it right away. The penicillin may have prevented a serious infection and perhaps even saved my finger.

Respect knives, guns, the trees you climb, the rocks and stumps you jump over, the streams you cross, the antlers, hooves and spurs of the animals you kill, the trucks and other vehicles you drive, even the ground you walk on. If you don't, any one of them could end what you love doing most.

As we get older we take more seriously the wisdom that boy scouts preach - be prepared.

A 21st Century Walking Varminter

2011-07-02T09:11:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, July 2, 2011.)

“Walking varminter” is one of those
inexact terms some creative gun writer
came up with ages ago.

If you’re under 50, you might be asking, “What’s a walking varminter?”

Well, it’s a rifle, but neither I nor anyone else can define it precisely. If you’re an old-timer, you know one when you see one. And there was a day when you couldn’t do without one.

“Walking varminter” is one of those inexact terms some creative gun writer came up with ages ago. (Those guys weren’t immune to the need to invent catchy marketing names.)

They’re usually bolt actions, mostly because bolt guns generally are as reliable as light switches. Many are not overly expensive, so their owners tend not to fret overmuch about dings in the stock.

Often a walking varminter rides around in a truck, waiting for the driver to spot a field where the woodchucks need thinning. Just as often, it’s a back-door gun whose owner takes it for frequent walks and uses it to eliminate pests and nuisances of the winged, digging, or feral variety – critters from starlings to coyotes.

The most critical trait of a walking varminter is that it must be easy to handle and accurate when fired from an offhand position.

It’s hard to meet that requirement without a scope. A variable is probably best, though the higher powers can be counterproductive when taking quick, offhand shots. And since it will be carried, it needs a sling.

The walking varminter can come in many calibers. The nearly obsolete but still sting-worthy .218 Bee (another marketing name), the old slowpoke .25-20, all the .22 centerfires – almost any cartridge with comfortable recoil can be a walking varminter. In fact, the .22-250, when it was spawned by the .250-300 cartridge, was originally called the “Varminter,” although the .250-3000 was a varminter in its own right.

That generally sets the parameters – calibers from .22 rimfire through the .25 centerfires.

All those caliber numbers can be confusing to anyone unfamiliar with the nuances of cartridge development, but they bring me to my own walking varminter. It’s a little rimfire number smaller than the ubiquitous .22. It’s a .17 HMR (Hornady Rimfire Magnum), which is the new baby sired by the old .22 Rimfire Magnum. As with most kids, he’s faster than his daddy, some 500 feet per second faster.

The rifle I chose as for that cartridge is the Savage Model 93. Mine has a laminated wood thumbhole stock that feels like an extension of my arms. I topped it with a bright Alpen Apex scope in 4-16 power with a 44mm objective lens.

Why go up to 16-power for a pipsqueak of a cartridge? Since the rifle has zero recoil, it reveals to the shooter what happens at bullet’s impact, whether your target is an egg at 50 yards or a woodchuck’s head out there a hundred yards farther.

Unlike most carry guns, mine has a bull barrel. The tiny cartridge doesn’t require lots of steel like the high pressure centerfires, but the heavy barrel adds some steadying weight.

Some gun writers view the .17 HMR as temperamental, and recommend testing a wide variety of ammunition to find the most accurate. So far, my Savage seems to digest any ammo very well. Bullet choices are fly-weight – 17 grains and 20 grains, half the weight of a .22 rimfire bullet. That limits it to 150-yard shots, but on a windless day with a good rest it’s reasonable to ask it to place a bullet accurately at 200 yards.

The light bullet pretty much dissolves inside the target or on impact with anything else. That’s why the .17 HMR is probably the safest cartridge to use where farm animals might be nearby. It’s quiet, and not prone to ricochet.

If you want a walking varminter, you can call nearly any small caliber rifle into active duty. But in today’s world where people are more anxious about firearms than they once were, and you’re not taking long range shots, you can hardly do better than the .17 HMR. It has more ballistic enthusiasm than the .22 rimfire or .22 Magnum, and it’s actually a little safer thanks to the very lightweight bullets. In the 21st century, it’s close to perfect.

Join Your Local Buck Bachelor Group

2011-06-18T08:04:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, June 18, 2011.)

Ever wonder what's going on
in buck bachelor groups?

Spring gobbler season has been over for only a few weeks, and it's already time to begin thinking about the fast approaching fall seasons. Licenses for 2011-2012 are available now, but buying your license is only a small step in preparation.

If you want an opportunity at a mature buck this year, the big step toward that goal is to begin scouting how.

Yes, the heat of the summer is an unpleasant time to be in the woods. Yes, bugs are abundant and ready to eat you alive. Yes, dense foliage makes visibility impossible. And yes, it's hard to evaluate bucks that don't have fully developed headgear. So why bother?

Here's why. Bucks in bachelor groups are now offering you a great opportunity to get to know them. Every wonder what's going on in those bachelor groups?

Bucks are different from does. Does travel in family groups -- mother and her fawns, maybe a sister and her young, perhaps even a grandmother is still included. These females invest their energy into nourishing, teaching, and protecting the young.

Whitetail bucks invest their energy in macho stuff. They hang out with the guys. They do some sparring. They establish a pecking order. And the mature bucks, the ones that know the rut is coming, are sizing up their competition. They have a unique way of doing that. They spread their scent around.

The problem is that until rutting activity becomes more intense, you won't find the traditional evidence of spreading their scent -- you don't find many scrapes. But you can make a bachelor's club bulletin board that bucks will check out -- it's called a licking branch, and it might be the key to your next mature whitetail.

Contrary to what many hunters think, the key to scent communication isn't in the urine that's deposited in scrapes. Urine dissipates quickly. They key is in what's on the licking branch above the scrape.

An article in the August 2011 issue of Deer and Deer Hunting magazine (written by yours truly) cites a Missouri State University study showing that the majority of the buck activity at the scrape involves applying pre-orbital scent to the licking branch. When a buck applies this scent from the scent gland in front of his eyes, he's sending the message, "I'm in the game!"

Even young bucks who aren't yet sure what the game is are instinctively driven to apply their pre-orbital scent to the licking branch.

When other bucks show up at the licking branch, they'll put their noses on the branch and catch a whiff of the other bucks that have been there. Then they'll apply their own scent to that bachelor's club bulletin board, each one leaving his calling card -- his unique identifying scent.

They do this year-round. You can do it too, and join that bachelor group of bucks. The time to begin is now.

Find a licking branch. Deposit a tiny amount of pre-orbital gland lure on it. Set up a trail camera, and watch the bucks get interested. They're asking, "Who's the new guy?"

You don't need to find an established licking branch. You can make your own. Just select a flexible branch no thicker than a pencil about 5 feet off the ground near a deer trail. Soon, bucks will discover it and even though they'll never see you, you'll be a member of the group. You'll get acquainted with them in your trail camera photos.

And, the more mature the buck, the more likely he is to take an interest in the scent you place, because he wants to know who he'll be competing with for breeding rights.

The heat of the summer brings a low-impact scouting opportunity with pre-orbital gland lure. (I get mine from a West Virginia lure maker named Smokey McNicholas.) Because it's not a water-based scent, it has staying power so you don't have to visit the site more often than once every week to 10 days.

If you want to take an inventory of the bucks in your area, join a bachelor group by using pre-orbital gland lure in front of your trail cameras. You might be surprised at the bucks you see.

What I Learned From a 500-Mile Gobbler

2011-06-04T09:04:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, June 4, 2011.)

Tension mounted, but Dad’s whispered
words kept my thinking clear.

20½ pounds. 9-inch beard. 1-inch spurs.

That’s not one of the gobblers I shot this year. That was my first, way back in ’73, and to this day he remains the most memorable for the lessons he taught me. The hunt remains vivid in my memory, and hooked me forever on spring gobbler hunting.

I drove more than 500 miles, arriving home from Boston late at night. I tiptoed into the house and up the stairs. My vigilant parents were lying in bed wide awake, waiting for me to arrive safely home.

Dad had told me on the phone that he had located a gobbler, but as I stood in the doorway to their bedroom he said, “It’s raining. Do you still want to go?”

“That’s why I’ve been driving for the last nine hours.” I wasn’t worried at all that a Dad who would do anything for one of his sons would cancel our hunt.

A few hours of sleep were enough to erase my fatigue. I downed a bowl of Cheerios and dressed in my old woodland camo. When I discovered that the slide on my pump shotgun was broken, Dad handed me his old Ithaca double. We climbed into the International Scout and headed up Cobham Park Road through pelting rain.

By the time we stood on the hillside in the darkness the rain slackened to a drizzle. Two hundred yards downhill a throaty gobble broke the silence. We were novice turkey hunters but knew enough to close the distance, so we descended about a hundred yards to set up.

The root ball of a storm-toppled black cherry offered the perfect backdrop for father and son. I sat almost in Dad’s lap, and once we were comfortable I squeezed some air across the latex reed on my Penn’s Woods diaphragm call. The yelp was realistic enough to trigger an instant gobble.

That old boy spent the next 45 minutes cautiously putting one three-toed foot in front of the other, advancing toward my amateur calling. Tension mounted, but Dad’s whispered words kept my thinking clear. I enticed the gobbler to about 40 yards, and he began circling to our right looking for the hen that existed only in his imagination.

I followed him with the shotgun, so slowly the movement was undetectable. I twisted my torso as far to my right as I could and then inched the buttplate of the shotgun across my chest from my right shoulder to my left. When I realized I needed to take the shot, I was looking down the barrel with my left eye.

From that awkward position, I fired the full choke barrel on the antique shotgun. I remember running toward the flopping gobbler and putting my foot on his head.

Turkey hunting lessons are sometimes tough to learn, but that hunt eliminated several myths I had believed up to that point.

Myth: Gobblers clam up during the rain. Not so. Rain doesn’t bother them a bit. In fact, if it’s a thunderstorm that’s keeping you out of the woods, you’re probably missing some great turkey hunting action.

Myth: Your calls must be perfect to get a gobbler to come. False. I was certainly no expert caller then, and I’m not now. Some real hens are surprisingly awful, and gobblers come to them every day.

Myth: You can’t move when a gobbler is in sight. That’s fiction. Movements are always a calculated risk, but at times you can get away with very, very slow motion. More than once since then I’ve pulled them off successfully.

Myth: Some days you’re better off staying in bed. Usually wrong. Although some things are more important than hunting spring gobblers, rarely is staying in bed one of them.

Myth: Nothing is better than lugging a longbeard over your shoulder. At the top of the hill that day, we met a couple of hard-core turkey hunters who were also after this great bird, and it really felt good to be the one carrying the trophy. But Dad’s point of view was the right one – nothing is better than watching your hunting partner be successful, especially when you’re passing the hunting tradition from father to son.

Three-Time Winner of “Best Newspaper Column"

2011-05-26T09:36:00.017-05:00

Steve Sorensen (left) receives the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association award for Best Newspaper Column from Tom Tatum, President of POWA. The article appeared in the Warren Times Observer on November 27, 2010.

Bedford, PA – For the third time in six years, Outdoor writer Steve Sorensen won “Best Newspaper Column” from the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. The award was presented in Bedford, PA on May 11 at the organization’s annual conference. Previously Sorensen won the same award in 2006 and 2008. The POWA “Excellence in Craft” awards program honors writing, artwork and photography in several categories. Each award is reviewed by a panel of judges, all independent of the POWA.

POWA’s “Best Newspaper Column” award is sponsored by Hunters Sharing the Harvest (www.ShareDeer.org), a statewide charitable venison donation program which provides more than 750,000 meals annually to help feed the hungry.

Sorensen won with a column entitled “The Reason the Sign Says ‘Please Don’t Feed the Bears’,” published in the Warren Times Observer on November 27, 2010. By citing actual examples, the column details how feeding wild bears harms bears and makes them dangerous to humans.

“Of all the awards I’ve won, this is the most gratifying because Pennsylvania has so many daily and weekly newspapers, and so many great outdoor columnists –- the competition is very stiff,” Sorensen said.

POWA is the largest state outdoor writers’ organization in the nation. Sorensen lives in Russell, PA, serves as pastor of Pine Grove Christian Fellowship, speaks frequently at sportsmen’s banquets, and writes for a variety of regional and national magazines. His popular column called “The Everyday Hunter” appears in several newspapers. The award winning column can be read here, and most of Sorensen’s writing can be read at his website, www.EverydayHunter.com.

The Shooting Organization You Never Heard Of

2011-05-21T16:04:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, May 21, 2011.)

The NSSF has a beneficial impact
on every sporting goods
retailer large and small.

Lots of hunters think the National Rifle Association does a lot for them. And it does. As the chief defender of the Second Amendment, no gun rights organization is as large, or as effective. But the Second Amendment is not about hunting. It’s a statement of one of the civil rights recognized by our national founders, and it belongs to all of us. Freedom requires its defense.

But there is an organization supports hunting more forcefully than the NRA. You may not have heard of it. It’s the National Shooting Sports Foundation. For 50 years, the NSSF has been promoting, protecting and preserving the shooting sports. And not just the sport of hunting, but all shooting-related sports.

The NSSF promotes competitive shooting in high schools, collegiate programs and Olympic events. That includes rifle, handgun and shotgun sports. It includes biathlon, steel silhouette shooting, trap shooting and sporting clays.

How many people benefit from target shooting? More than 19 million Americans safely participate in some form of it. And the NSSF helps by promoting safety, supporting shooting ranges, providing educational videos, sponsoring seminars, and introducing new people to the shooting sports.

But the shooting sports are much larger than target shooting. They include hunting. The NSSF knows that hunters are the largest contributors to conservation, and pay the lion’s share for programs that benefit all Americans and all wildlife – not just game species. The American model of game management is by far the most successful in the world. It makes wildlife accessible to everyone, not just the rich. Recognizing that, the NSSF is part of a great network of wildlife conservation organizations.

The NSSF supports virtually every wildlife conservation group, from Ducks Unlimited to the National Wild Turkey Federation to the Izaak Walton League to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. It supports hunter safety through the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA), an organization that meets the needs and represents the interests of 70,000 hunter education instructors who teach hunter safety, ethics, and conservation to about 750,000 students annually across North America.

Through grant funding to state fish and wildlife agencies, the NSSF helps states expand hunting opportunities, keeps current hunters active and recruits new hunters with the goal of preserving the future of America’s hunting heritage.

Beyond that, the NSSF serves as a trade organization for the shooting sports industry. Its biggest event is the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show). The SHOT Show is not only the place where industry professionals gather to talk shop; it’s where everything new to the hunting and shooting world is introduced: firearms, ammunition, archery, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics, camping, and related products and services. The show attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, and has a beneficial impact on every sporting goods retailer large and small.

The NSSF keeps hunters abreast of wildlife and hunting-related issues in every state, tracks legislation, and provides a wealth of research and information. It doesn’t compete with any organization or agency that helps hunters; it complements all of them.

This space permits me only to scratch the surface of what the NSSF does. A quick glance at the website (www.NSSF.org) shows a wealth of information that would take weeks to digest. Check it out. Every hunter and shooter should be familiar with the work that the NSSF does because in the long run, we are its beneficiaries.

Spring Gobbler Goof-Ups

2011-05-08T17:58:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, May 7, 2011.)

A turkey hunter who wriggles and
squirms won’t see many gobblers.

If you’re like most spring gobbler hunters, you’ve probably committed several gobbler goof-ups by now. Before the season is over, how many mistakes will hunters make as they hope to tote home a beard-dragging gobbler? Too many to count, and there are lots of ways to describe them.

The English language is abundant with words for mistakes: blooper, blunder, bobble, boo-boo, botch, bungle, and those are just the b-words! The list goes on with nouns and verbs galore – clunker, fault, flub, foul-up, error, gaffe, misstep, muff, slip up, stumble. They all apply to turkey hunting.

As if we didn’t have enough of our own words, we even borrow from the French, using their phrase faux pas, meaning “false step.” And we’re not finished making up new phrases – “my bad” is a recent innovation.

Whatever we CALL our mistakes, no one is as inventive in ways to MAKE mistakes as spring gobbler hunters. And the longer we hunt spring gobblers, the more ways we find to flub.

After you make your next mistake – and you will – look in the mirror. If you’re like me, odds are you’ll see a stupid turkey hunter looking back at you.

One almost universal mistake is that we call too much. We might not intend to, but we do it anyway. We want to make that perfect call. We get bored. We think we can force something to happen. We think we haven’t called enough. We want to try that call that our buddy said was a killer.

On the other hand, it’s possible to call too little, and allow a pretty little hen to come and take your gobbler away. Unfortunately, only the gobbler knows what’s too much and what’s too little.

Another mistake is that we call too loudly. While there is a place for loud calling, most real hens call softly. Turkeys have exceptional hearing, so always start out quietly. You can always turn up the volume. But call too loudly, and you can’t un-call that. Probably 90% of the sounds a hen turkey makes are soft. So, imitate her.

Sometimes hunters call too soon. When you do, the gobbler may arrive while you’re standing there planning your setup. Or, if you make too many quiet “tree calls” too early in the morning, before the gobbler comes off the roost, he’ll just stand on his limb and wait. Why should he come to the hen if the hen tells him she’s coming to him?

Fidgeting is a big failure. Turkeys have first-class optics, and will see the slightest movement at a long distance. The fact that you can’t see the turkey doesn’t mean the turkey can’t see you. So, a hunter who wriggles and squirms won’t see many gobblers. If you absolutely must adjust to that tree root under your bottom, or stretch a leg that went numb, or scratch your nose, follow this rule – move like a sloth.

Another slip up is to give up, which hunters often do because they assume the gobbler is gone. Just because you haven’t heard the gobbler for a half hour doesn’t mean it’s time to get up and go. A gobbler has all day, and often, he’s just waiting for the hen to make a move. The hunter needs to be more patient than the gobbler.

Hunters hesitant to hunt rainy days are making a mistake. Avoiding thunderstorms is a blunder. Gobblers often give their vocal cords lots of exercise in response to thunder.

Some hunters botch something even before opening day – they overlook patterning their shotguns, fail to do enough scouting, or neglect to practice calling.

We tend to helplessly and unwittingly customize our gaffes, over and over again, to each unique situation. We seem to find almost as many ways to stumble as there are situations in the turkey woods.

What’s the solution to all these mistakes? Yes, we need to learn from them and think of ways we could have changed the outcome. But wild turkeys are wild turkeys – one of the most unpredictable game animals.

We’ll never have all the answers, so the best advice I can give is that no matter what, getting out of bed to hunt turkeys is never a mistake! Keep at it, and success will come.

It’s True – Deer Shed Their Antlers!

2011-04-16T08:24:00.008-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, April 16, 2011.)

Apparently, the antler growing
and shedding cycle stops when
a buck sheds his whole head!

It was a Saturday afternoon in the mid 1970s and I was in New Hampshire with a group that had finished climbing Mount Monadnock. At 3165 feet, it was a suitably unstrenuous ascent for our young adult Sunday school class, which had gathered in a nearby lodge for a snack.

Hanging on the wall of the great room over the fireplace was a mount of a moose head with a wide antler rack. It was impressive, and one young woman (from Kansas City, if I remember correctly) asked, innocently enough, “I wonder how long it takes to grow horns that big.”

Fair question, I thought. And I, in the midst of a bunch of metropolitans, was the one to answer it. “They begin growing those antlers sometime in April, and finish in August. Then they harden. So, it takes 4 to 5 months. The moose carries them through the fall and winter. Then they fall off and he grows a new set the following year.”

I spoke with confidence, but she scoffed, “No way! That’s ridiculous! They could never grow them that fast. And if they fell off, people would find them in the woods!” I was surprised and outnumbered – everyone agreed with her.

I’m not one who knows when I’m beaten, especially when I have the facts. So, I continued on. “People do find them, but not many of them. They’re really just bones, so they’re loaded with calcium, and rodents eat them for the nutritional benefit. That’s why people don’t find more of them.”

Now that I had painted the picture of bones sticking out of an animal’s head and mice devouring them, everyone was absolutely sure I was pulling their collective leg. I couldn’t persuade them otherwise. I’ve often wondered if that Kansas City-slicker – and the other urbanites who sided with her – ever learned that I was telling the truth.

Since then, I’ve found shed moose and caribou antlers in Alaska. Here in Pennsylvania I’ve found whitetail antlers, but not many. (A few times I’ve found a matched pair still attached to the skull. Apparently the antler growing and shedding cycle stops when a buck sheds his whole head!)

The healthier a buck is, generally, the longer he keeps his antlers. When they’re ready to shed, a layer of cells at the boney connection to the buck’s head dissolves and the antler loosens. Sometimes a low hanging limb knocks antlers off. Sometimes they get jarred when the deer jumps a fence or a ditch. Sometimes as the deer feeds it exerts enough stress to cause loosened antlers to fall.

For those interested in finding shed antlers, the window of opportunity is open only briefly. Prime time is after the melting snow reveals them and before the spring green-up hides them from view.

During that time, other critters are also hunting for shed antlers. Porcupines will often drag them back to their dens where their vigorous chewing quickly transforms a deer antler into a calcium supplement. Coyotes and foxes will also occasionally retrieve them and carry them back to a den site where they become playtoys for young pups.

Where to find sheds? They could be anywhere deer live, which makes hunting for them challenging, but not impossible. The likeliest vicinity is where deer have a food source that’s close to their bedding area. Chances are, bucks will shed antlers at the feeding site, or in the bedding area, or along a trail between them.

The real trick is finding the time to look for shed antlers. Springtime hours are precious, with trout season underway and turkey scouting to be done. Plus yard work beckons, and youth baseball and other activities take up most people’s time in the spring. You may not beat the animals to the antlers, but at least the busyness of springtime reduces your human competition.

If you can find the time to go shed hunting and you’re lucky enough to discover a shed antler, you’ve found a great woodland souvenir. You’ll know the buck that shed it has likely made it through the winter, and you might find that buck in your sights next season. But don't bother to tell your city friends -- they'll just think you're pulling their legs.

Benefits of the Youth Turkey Hunt

2011-04-08T07:13:00.010-05:00

by Steve Sorensen (Special to the Warren Times Observer, April 8, 2011.)
Ben Morrison with two mature Pennsylvania and New York gobblers he took on the youth day during the 2010 season. (Photo by Jason Morrison)

If you know a kid who might be
at risk of becoming an indoorsman,
put the youth day on your calendar.

Too many kids are at risk – at risk of becoming indoorsmen.

Video games and cable television can occupy way too much time, leaving no time for kids to rattle around in the woods and splash along the streams. The dangers of modern times – we all know what they are – can incline parents to keep kids connected to the apron strings for too long. And even two-parent households sometimes don’t provide the kind of footloose-in-the-outdoors-upbringing they themselves enjoyed.

We hear lots of warnings about one of the biggest threats kids face these days – involvement in the wrong things. But another threat is indolence – or involvement in nothing. The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s (PGC) Youth Day, which gives kids under 16 a head start in the spring turkey woods, is an answer for both.

The PGC has also created a mentored turkey hunting program for kids under 12. Spring turkey is the perfect hunt for mentoring kids in the art and science of hunting.

What is mentored turkey hunting?
In 2006, the PGC authorized kids younger than 12 to go spring gobbler hunting with a qualified adult, not just as an observer or a tag-along, but as the shooter. It’s an invaluable experience for all the benefits it provides.

I remember when I was younger than 12 – I ached to go hunting, but had to wait. It was one of the most frustrating things I experienced as a kid. Now, kids don’t have to wait – if they have an interested adult willing to take them.

I know what some are thinking. “Isn’t this dangerous?” No. In fact, by introducing kids properly, under a limited scenario where they accept it as a privilege, it may end up making turkey hunting safer in the coming years.

What’s the limitation? The hunting team of adult and child can have only one gun, and the adult must carry it until they set up to call the turkey. That’s when the kid takes over the shotgun under the direct supervision of the adult.

The adult is responsible for instructing the youngster. He can tell him every move to make and nearly every thought to think, so the kid can focus with single purpose. By having this privilege early, complete with moment-by-moment instruction regardless of whether he takes a shot, the kid is less likely to take the kinds of risks later that may result in an accident – and is more likely to fall in love with hunting.

The perfect youth hunt
The youth spring gobbler hunt has many other benefits, too. One is that spring turkey hunting takes place at a time when the weather is less likely to be nasty than it might be in the fall firearms deer season.

Another plus is that spring gobbler hunts can be brief excursions. You can be home by mid-morning if you want, or noonish – legal shooting hours end at noon. So, the child doesn’t have to sacrifice the entire day if he or his family has other plans.

The youth day comes before the general opener, so another benefit is lack of competition from adults. You’re less likely to be calling to a gobbler that someone else is calling, and you’re more likely to find an uneducated gobbler.

Make sure you have a plan before walking into the woods with a novice hunter. Do some scouting. Find a hunting location that’s easy to get to, and doesn’t involve an all-day hike. Go slowly and take it easy.

Ben Morrison takes two!
Thanks to mentored turkey hunting, Jason Morrison’s son Ben is already a veteran in the turkey woods. At age 10, he shot his first gobbler, a jake. Then at age 11 he took a longbeard. Last year on Pennsylvania’s youth day, the father-son team spooked the first gobbler of the morning, but found another, called it in, and 13-year-old Ben scored. The same day was also New York State’s youth day. It was still early, so they headed north and Ben successfully harvested a second gobbler. Not many experienced hunters have taken two mature gobblers in two states on the same day!

To top it all off, Jason is a taxidermist, and he’s almost finished mounting Ben’s gobblers. Will Ben ever forget that day? Not a chance. But better than that, it was a day of father-son bonding that will pay endless dividends.

A lot can happen
Ben’s experience that day brings up another great benefit of spring gobbler hunting – a lot can happen in a short time. If one gobbler beats you, it doesn’t mean the hunt is over. Keep hunting and you have a good chance of finding another to test your skills on.

Besides the hunt, fascinating things happen in the spring woods that will add to the enjoyment. You’ll see melodic songbirds, with thousands of miles under their wings, returning from their time-shares down south. You’ll see shaggy-coated deer trying to gain weight after a spartan winter diet. You might discover a coyote den, a black bear fresh from hibernation, spring flowers poking their heads through the leaf litter, lovelorn porcupines chasing and growling at one another, maybe even a shed deer antler. The spring woods offer much to see and investigate. It’s a great time to be out.

What to tell parents
What do you tell non-hunting parents of a prospective youth hunter? Tell them the truth – that the kid will be within arm’s reach of you at all times and he won’t even touch the gun until it’s time to set up for the shot. Tell them that he’ll get what most kids don’t – one-on-one, hands on experience and training in safety, ethics, responsibility and enjoyment. Tell them that turkey hunting is about much more than turkey hunting. And tell them you’ll bring him home safely, with an experience he’ll treasure for the rest of his life – even if he decides not to become a hunter.

Read up on the rules for mentored hunting – they’re on page 15 of the PA Hunting & Trapping Digest. He’ll need a permit. Beg or borrow some camouflage clothing for him. Take him to the shooting range. You don’t want his first time pulling the trigger to be at a live target, so give him shooting instructions with an appropriate shotgun, and use a paper target to assess his ability to shoot.

If you know a kid who might be at risk of becoming an indoorsman, put the youth day on your calendar – April 23 this year – and plan a spring gobbler hunt. And if his (or her) parents don’t hunt, watch the kid come home and excitedly begin pushing his non-hunting, neutral parents to the side of the good guys.

Turkey Hunting with the Locals

2011-04-08T07:02:00.005-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Special to the Warren Times Observer, April 8, 2011.)

Tim Smith, with his big collection of turkey beards and spurs, and a shotgun that’s ready for the season. (Photo by Steve Sorensen)

Turkeys are so overloaded with anxiety
that they couldn’t be cured of their
neuroses even on Sigmund Freud’s couch.

I’ve heard turkey hunters complain that the how-to lessons they read in magazines are often hard to apply in our neck of the woods. Here, embattled gobblers behave like they’ve had the survival training and experience of an Army Ranger fresh from Fallujah. With that in mind, I asked a few of the better local turkey hunters how they got to the point where they can pretty reliably fill their gobbler tags. Their answers should be helpful as you hit the woods in a few weeks.

Jason Morrison:
When I asked Jason Morrison, taxidermist at Buckhaven Wildlife Art in Sugar Grove, what advice he’d give a new hunter, or any hunter who is going through a dry spell, he replied instantly. “One word – patience. Without it you will call in lots of turkeys that you never realize you’ve called in, but you won’t see them because you’ll be gone. I’ve killed several turkeys after I woke up from a nap, and there’s an important lesson in that. More than a few times I’ve shot gobblers 2 hours after making my last call.”

Jason continued, “Pressured turkeys are often slow to come in, or they come in silently. I believe 50% of the turkeys will come in without gobbling because their lives are constantly threatened. Maybe they’ve been beat up by a boss gobbler, spooked by a bobcat, or hassled by a hunter. They figure out quickly when hunters are after them.”

He’s right. Hunters need to realize that turkeys are so overloaded with anxiety that they couldn’t be cured of their neuroses even on Sigmund Freud’s couch.

I once called in a gobbler that hung up at 70 yards, froze like a statue and clammed up for almost an hour. He never moved a wattle. If I hadn’t been able to see him, I would have thought he was long gone. I seasoned him with patience, and he tasted especially good.

I’ll add one tip to Jason’s advice. When you finally do need to leave a calling position after not hearing the gobbler in a long while, offer a sharp cluck or two and wait another 10 minutes. You’ll be saying, “I’m right here. Where are you?” He just might show up.

Dr. Paul Bialas:
I don’t suppose doctors ordinarily appreciate it when you take extra time to talk turkey at your doctor’s exam, but I asked avid turkey hunter and Warren physician Dr. Paul Bialas what he’d suggest to a hunter who has limited time to hunt. Almost jokingly, Dr. Bialas said, “I’d recommend working hard at getting access to good property where other hunters don’t have permission and where you can get in and out fast.”

Most of us have limited time, so that’s not a joke. It’s common sense advice for any hunter. And I have to admit – it’s common sense I lacked many years ago. I hunted too many places just because they were convenient, even though many other hunters went there for the same reason. Lack of access to good hunting land puts you at a big disadvantage. Whether you hunt on private property, state game lands, or national forest, don’t wait until the week before the season to explore new places.

Finding new places to hunt is part of pre-season scouting. Time put in scouting will usually save time and reduce frustration during the season.

Tim Smith:
Tim Smith of Smith’s Custom Guns in Warren ought to know a thing or two about shooting turkeys – one of his specialties is building turkey guns. I pointed to Tim’s big rack of turkey beards and spurs and asked, “What should a hunter do to make sure his shotgun can produce a collection like that?”

He said, “Every turkey gun should not only be patterned, but the center of the pattern should be at the point of aim. Take your choke into consideration. Today’s chokes give very reliable results. Choose a choke between .660 and .680 – the tighter ones work best with smaller shot such as No. 6, the larger ones with No. 4 or 5.”

Smith also suggests testing some of the great new turkey loads on the market. “You’re looking for a tight pattern that leaves no gaps in a 30-inch circle at 40 yards or more. Hevi-Shot, a high density alloy of tungsten, nickel and iron, produces some of the best patterns and it retains energy for deep penetration. If recoil is a problem, we can do some things to reduce it.”

Bear in mind one caution to Tim’s point. You can lose more turkeys with a 60-yard shotgun than you can a 40-yard shotgun – IF it encourages risky shots at marginal distances. The last thing you want to do is hit a turkey and let him get away. When hunters misjudge distances, or shoot at marginal ranges, they often can’t be sure whether they have missed or wounded the gobbler.

Dick Zimmerman:
An article on turkey hunting wouldn’t be complete without some comments on calling, so I invited Dick Zimmerman of Russell to share some calling advice. Dick has hunted several states, and killed a gobbler in every Pennsylvania spring season since 1971 – until 2009 when his string was broken.

“Lots of people call too much, or call too loudly. A hunter should relax, and let the gobbler come. If the hunter is anxious, his calling can reflect that anxiety. If the gobbler is close, a loud call will sound unnatural. A soft call will encourage him. If he’s gobbling and coming closer, don’t answer every time he gobbles. Talk back only every third or fourth gobble. Resist the urge to call, call, call.”

Dick’s advice is right on target. If you listen to real hens, they seldom call loudly. And calling too often will make the gobbler think the hen wants to come to him. That’s what the gobbler’s instinct says should happen, but the hunter hopes to reverse that instinctive behavior.

I know way more exceptional turkey hunters than I can name – Wally Ciukaj, Rick Sharp, Jake Byler, Ron Farnham and many others – whose advice would cover everything from calling to woodsmanship. Turkey hunters can talk almost endlessly about virtually anything remotely related to turkey hunting: guns, loads, camouflage, decoys, scouting, blinds, calls, and more.

No doubt you know some good turkey hunters I don’t know, but every turkey hunter should tell you to make safety your first aim – it’s infinitely more important than getting a gobbler. And remember, be considerate to your fellow hunters – courtesy goes a long way toward insuring safety in the turkey woods.

All-Day Spring Gobbler Hunting

2011-04-02T07:50:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, April 2, 2011.)

The upside of afternoon hunting is
that legal hunting hours increase
by more than double.

Pennsylvania spring turkey hunters are getting ready for something new – all-day hunting during the last half of the April 30-May 31 season.

As in the past, for the first two weeks hunters may hunt only until noon. Then, from May 16 to May 31, legal hunting hours extend from a half-hour before sunrise all the way to a half-hour after sunset.

How will this affect hunters? Will it mean more hunters buy the second spring gobbler tag? How many more turkeys will we kill? Will it create enforcement issues?

The Board of Game Commissioners, Wildlife Conservation Officers, and hunters will be watching closely to learn the answers to these and other questions.

All-day hunting is common in many other states. And in those states, afternoon hours have posed little or no problem. So why not extend the hours in Pennsylvania?

Hunters from states with afternoon hunting will tell you that hunting turkeys later in the day is more challenging. Gobblers aren’t as vocal then, so they’re harder to locate. Most Pennsylvania hunters see it that way – it won’t be any easier to harvest a late season afternoon bird than a morning bird.

Others, expecting the worst, think afternoon hunting will ruin the spring gobbler season. They say hunters who don’t have calling skills will wait at a roost site and shoot a gobbler on his way home to bed. They say hunters will be willing to shoot gobblers off the roost after dark. They say when a gobbler is hunted in the evening, he’ll be much less responsive in the morning.

My take on it isn’t so pessimistic. Will gobblers be easier to kill in the evening as they make their way to the roost? Probably not. Turkeys often change their roosting spot from night to night, so evenings won’t be any easier to hunt than mornings, when gobblers announce to the world exactly where they are.

Will hunters be more inclined to shoot gobblers off an evening roost? I doubt it – only the ones who are willing to do it in the morning will consider doing it at night.

Look at it this way – in the morning if you shoot a turkey off the roost, at least you have daylight to find him. At night, he’ll be much harder to find. A gobbler might fall to the ground flopping and it won’t be easy to chase him down in the dark, or he might set his wings and glide. Either way, he won’t have to go far to make himself difficult to find.

Of course, on that point I have no idea what I’m talking about. Maybe someone who “hunts” that way will chime in and tell everyone how he does it.

The upside of afternoon hunting is that legal hunting hours increase by more than double. So, hunters won’t feel as pressured to get their hunting time in during the first two weeks. They won’t be as concerned about early season weather. Hunters who used to roost gobblers in the evening will now be taking hunting excursions – if they don’t succeed in the evening at least they’re more likely to know where to go for a sunrise hunt.

Hunters who don’t like early morning wakeups might sleep in more often, reducing competition for hunting areas during the traditional hours. Then they might hunt later into the season.

Beyond that, will hunting tactics change? Not much. In the afternoon turkeys spend most of their time feeding, resting and grooming, so hunters will need to find where these routines take place. Once you find those places, being less mobile and making soft, contented calls will be the norm for successful afternoon hunts. And I suspect that an afternoon gobbler will be no different than a late morning gobbler. If you get one to sound off he probably wants to be with a hen, so your odds of killing him go up.

It’s hard to say whether late season afternoon hunting will contribute significantly to higher success rates. By midseason, many hunters have already harvested their gobblers – or given up – so fewer hunters will be in the woods. But because turkeys are less vocal and less aggressive in the afternoon, I suspect most spring gobblers will continue to be taken in the mornings.

Wild Pigs -- Are They Here?

2011-03-20T00:11:00.008-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, March 19, 2011.)

When pigs feed in an area, they
leave it looking like a plowed field.

I’ve heard reports of feral swine in New York’s nearby Allegany State Park. I’ve also heard rumors of them in the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania, but I doubt those rumors are true. They’re likely due to word-of-mouth confusion between the Allegany State Park and the Allegheny National Forest. (They’re not the same – note that they’re even spelled differently.)

Feral swine, or wild boars (they’re called “boars” regardless of gender), are definitely in Pennsylvania. No one knows specifically where they came from, but they’re probably escapees from fenced hunting operations, or they may have been deliberately released.

They didn’t arrive through normal expansion of territory – if that were true states adjacent to Pennsylvania would have a greater population, and that’s not the case. Some neighboring states have a few, but they’re not spreading across borders. (Interestingly, I haven’t heard anyone accuse the Pennsylvania Game Commission of stocking them, though people continue to falsely allege that the PGC stocked coyotes.)

The fact is that it’s illegal to release any member of the pig family to roam free. Wild boars are wild, for sure, but they’re no friend of wildlife. They’re a non-native, invasive species. They’re extremely destructive to both wildlife and domestic livestock. Their presence is a threat that takes many forms.

As of yet, no feral swine in Pennsylvania has tested positive for any infectious diseases, but they are known to harbor 18 viral diseases (10 can infect people), and 10 bacterial diseases (all are contagious to humans). Some of the diseases can be fatal to wildlife. Feral swine carry numerous parasites that can affect pets and livestock, too.

Besides carrying diseases, feral swine routinely destroy vital wildlife habitat by rooting and wallowing. When pigs feed in an area, they leave it looking like a plowed field, eliminating native plant populations and causing erosion.

Wild boars will compete for food with deer, bears, turkeys and small game, and destroy nesting sites of turtles, turkeys, grouse and songbirds. They will prey on small animals and deer fawns. They are very aggressive and will eat virtually anything.

Adult wild boars usually weigh between 100 and 200 pounds, though they can exceed 400 pounds. They’re very prolific and can breed at 8 months, producing litters of 8 to 12 young. Piglets can begin rooting within a few days of birth. Pigs traveling in groups (called sounders) can number more than 20.

If a feral swine population becomes permanent, it will create additional health and habitat concerns. They will come into conflict with people. They will threaten crops and livestock production. An established population will degrade the forests of Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania, any member of the pig family (suidae) that roams freely on public or private land is considered a feral swine.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in a 2007 case called Seeton vs. PGC, declared feral swine in Pennsylvania to be under the jurisdiction of the Game Commission. However, the PGC (by its authorization under the Game Code) has removed protection almost everywhere in the state. The only exceptions are areas where PGC is making efforts to eradicate them by trapping. Hunting them in those areas is illegal because it’s likely to disperse them, interfering with trapping eradication efforts.

Currently, the only county that has an active trapping program is Bedford in southcentral Pennsylvania. So, outside of Bedford County, if you’re a licensed hunter and you see one during your treks in the woods this spring, don’t hesitate to shoot it. Take the precaution of handling it with latex gloves.

Then report it to the Game Commission regional office within 24 hours. Eradication is the goal, and the more information the PGC has, the more likely we will reach that goal.

UPDATE:
Licensed hunters may now shoot feral swine anywhere in the state, but anyone shooting a wild pig must still report the kill.

PGC Press Release March 23, 2011: GAME COMMISSION LIFTS RESTRICTION ON TAKING FERAL SWINE IN BEDFORD COUNTY

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced he has lifted protection on feral swine in Bedford County and has issued an updated executive order to allow for the incidental taking of feral swine statewide by licensed hunters.

“This decision to lift protection in Bedford County is based on the need to continue to take feral swine in this area, and we have not identified opportunities for trapping in this area,” Roe said. “Should trapping opportunities arise, we will reinstate the restrictions on swine hunting in particular areas of interest since trapping is the most effective way to remove feral swine from the wild and to limit their dispersal into new areas.”

A survey of Game Commission staff completed last year indicated fewer sightings of feral swine compared to the survey completed in 2006. In 2008, five counties were identified to retain protection so that hunters would not interfere with trapping operations that were ongoing. In 2009, restrictions were lifted in four counties leaving only Bedford County where trapping operations were ongoing.

The Game Commission has determined that the eradication of feral swine from Pennsylvania is necessary to prevent further harm to public and private property, threats to native wildlife and disease risks for wildlife and the state’s pork industry. The agency is not seeking to establish a hunting season, but is committed to rid Pennsylvania of this invasive species.

Roe noted that the Game Commission has a “Feral Swine” section on its website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), which can be accessed by putting your cursor on the “Hunt/Trap” tab in the menu bar at the top of the homepage and then click on “Feral Swine” from the drop-down menu listing. The site includes links to the executive order, the current news release regarding feral swine and a brochure.

Licensed hunters, including those who qualify for license and fee exemptions, are eligible to participate in the unlimited incidental taking of feral swine. Hunters may use manually-operated rifles, revolvers or shotguns, as well as muzzleloaders, bows and crossbows. All other methods and devices legal for taking feral swine must be conducted and/or used in compliance with the provisions of Section 2308 of Title 34 (Game and Wildlife Code), which can be viewed on the agency’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) by putting your cursor on the “The Law” tab in the menu bar at the top of the homepage and then click on “Title 34: Game and Wildlife Code.”

Additionally, the agency may issue permits to authorize individuals to engage in feral swine trapping operations, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. Feral swine trapping, by permitted individuals, will only be allowed from the close of the flintlock muzzleloading season in mid-January to the beginning of spring gobbler season, and from the end of spring gobbler season until the beginning of archery deer season.

Any person who kills a feral swine must report it to the Game Commission Region Office that serves the county in which the harvest took place within 24 hours. The swine carcass must then be made available to agency personnel, who will gather samples to monitor for the presence of disease.

Roe encouraged residents who witness feral swine to also contact the Region Office that serves their county. For contact information, as well as list of counties that each region office serves, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), put your cursor on “About Us” in the menu bar at the top of the homepage and click on “Regional Information” in the drop-down menu listing.

Nearly 25 states across the nation have persistent and possibly permanent populations of feral swine established in the wild, and Pennsylvania is one of 16 states where introduction is more recent and may still be countered through decisive eradication efforts.

Feral swine have been declared to be an injurious, non-native, invasive species of concern in Pennsylvania that are suspected to have been introduced into the wilds of this Commonwealth through a variety of means, including both intentional and unintentional releases. Feral swine also have been determined to pose a significant, imminent and unacceptable threat to this Commonwealth’s natural resources, including wildlife and its habitats; the agricultural industry, including crop and livestock production; the forest products industry; and human health and safety.

The Game and Wildlife Code (Title 34) and agency regulations (Title 58) provide broad authority to the Game Commission to regulate activities relating to the protection, preservation and management of all game and wildlife. The agency was declared to have jurisdiction over matters relating to feral swine by the state Supreme Court in Seeton v. PGC. In its decision, handed down on Dec. 27, 2007, the Supreme Court declared feral swine to be “protected mammals,” and, as a consequence, feral swine could only be taken as authorized by the agency.

The Everyday Hunter’s Gobbler Geek Test

2011-03-04T23:49:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, March 5, 2011.)

At a job interview, you stipulate right up front
that any job you take has to be flexible enough
to let you hunt until noon during May.

Gobblers have been sounding off for weeks now, and even though we’re still almost two months from the spring turkey season, opening day will be here before you know it. It will pay to be ready.

To get ready every hunter has his own routines. Yours might be to leave early for work, and stop at key places to listen for gobblers sounding off at sunrise. Or you might take the long way home and drive on country roads, scanning fields for flocks of turkeys that are attracted to the farmer’s manure spreader like bees to clover.

You might be touching bases with property owners to make sure their permission is still good. You’re probably getting into the woods to see what changes the winter has brought, or where loggers have been working, or where turkeys are feeding.

Without a doubt, preparation for spring gobbler season includes daydreaming about the gobblers you have known. It doesn’t matter whether you got the best of them, or they got the best of you. But you think mostly about that second group – so you won’t make the same mistakes next time.

Serious turkey hunters do those things, but maybe you’ve gone beyond all that. If so, you’re probably a gobbler “geek.” Geeks aren’t just nerdy computer guys. Every endeavor has its own geeks – yes, turkey hunting can be an obsession.

Do people think you’re obsessed with turkeys, maybe even a little odd? Maybe they’re right. To help you find out, I’ve devised a little test. If more than two or three of these are true of you, you’re probably a gobbler geek.

1. You use only three or four turkey calls, but you have several dozen, and it’s not nearly enough.

2. You’ve designed and built at least one turkey call – and even if gobblers don’t respond to it, you figure someday one might.

3. In the weeks leading up to turkey season, you’d rather lose your wallet than your diaphragm calls.

4. If your house is on fire, your collection of turkey beards and spurs is the first thing you’d rescue.

5. You relate everything you do to some aspect of turkey hunting. Examples: Shopping for a new truck is like scouting for turkeys. Asking your boss for a raise is like calling in a gobbler. Waiting for your kids to come home at night is like calling in a gobbler that’s “hung up.”

6. Most of the pages saved on your computer are turkey hunting and topo map websites.

7. At a job interview, you stipulate right up front that any job you take has to be flexible enough to let you hunt until noon during May.

8. You think the naked, rubbery, warty, red, white and blue head of a wild turkey gobbler is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen – next to your wife, of course.

9. You don’t understand why your wife doesn’t appreciate the comparison of her beauty to a gobbler’s naked, rubbery, warty, red, white and blue head – and you probably never will.

10. You call spring gobbler season “widow-making season.” So does your wife. She doesn’t mean exactly what you mean – but she means it just as literally, so watch out!

HSUS Responds to the Everyday Hunter

2011-02-19T08:07:00.008-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, February 19, 2011.)

If we’re quibbling over
unsubstantiated numbers, then
the best way to stop is for
the HSUS to quit repeating them.

In response to my January 22 column titled “Poaching Statistics – HSUS Style” I received an email from Elise Traub who manages the anti-poaching program of the Humane Society of the United States. She included the text of a letter from another HSUS official to the editor of the Warren Times Observer. Both women objected to my view. Here’s my reply to Ms. Traub:

Thank you for your response to my January 22 opinion column, and for the courtesy of emailing me the letter of another HSUS official to the Warren Times Observer.

I’m surprised that you would question my thoughts on HSUS poaching statistics without backing up those statistics. The Time magazine article you cite from 2007 says, “Wildlife officials estimate that the number of poached animals matches the amount of game legally taken each year.”

Who are these anonymous “wildlife officials”? Are they game managers? Agency heads? Enforcement officers? Biologists? Might these “wildlife officials” also be members of anti-hunting groups, such as the HSUS? No one knows, but I’ll bet only a small minority of “wildlife officials” would support that statistic.

And since Time magazine did not source the number 100 million poached animals annually, I don’t see how anyone can responsibly promote that number without knowing and reporting how that estimate is reached. The HSUS discredits itself by not doing so.

You say you have seen the statistic cited widely, but I’m suspicious that the only reason the statistic is cited widely is that the HSUS relentlessly trumpets it, and all citations may in fact trace back to the HSUS.

You say Time magazine “received their information from state wildlife agencies.” Did the Pennsylvania Game Commission contribute to it? The number doesn’t reflect the realities in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania, like every state, has hunting laws and regulations that the vast majority of hunters cheerfully obey. Poachers are a tiny minority who disobey laws and resent regulations. Poachers have no more in common with hunters than a bank robber has with a bank’s depositors.

You’re the manager of an anti-poaching program that focuses solely on illegal hunting. I don’t fault you for that, but HSUS efforts to combat poaching would be more credible if it actually supported hunters and hunting. Instead, even though the HSUS recognizes that hunting is a lawful activity, it scorns hunting as “lethal wildlife management.” It actively opposes legal methods of hunting, and often uses the phrase “illegal hunting” while never using the term “ethical hunting” – indeed, it appears to believe hunting is never ethical.

The HSUS blurs the clear line that exists between the illegal abuse of hunting laws and wildlife by poachers, and the active support of hunting laws and wildlife by the largest contingent of conservationists in the world – hunters.

The HSUS official’s letter to the editor does not counter the views I expressed, but clouds the matter by raising issues I did not address. I did not deny that poaching occurs too often. I did not deny that poachers have no regard for the law or for fair chase. I did not deny that poachers put people at risk and are enemies of all citizens. A normal reader might easily be misled into thinking I said something I did not say. The truth is that those are a few of the reasons I, and hunters everywhere, oppose poaching.

The letter actually reinforces my view that the outlandish numbers cited by the HSUS are indeed extrapolated from a few isolated cases. Astonishingly, it suggests that questioning the HSUS claim is “quibbling over numbers.” If we’re quibbling over unsubstantiated numbers, then the best way to stop is for the HSUS to quit repeating them.

Finally, the letter to the editor says “poaching is a serious crime that should concern both the animal protection community and the hunting community. Rather than quibbling over numbers, wouldn’t time be better spent working to combat poaching together?”

Hunters do combat poaching, and we’re thankful that most people oppose it with us. Unfortunately, the HSUS combats poaching, and hunting too. That does not make the HSUS a friend of hunters.

Yearlings -- a Critical Year of Transition

2011-02-05T10:51:00.006-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, February 5, 2011.)

They've graduated from mama’s
tutelage, but yearling bucks
still have much to learn.

“I shot a fat yearling buck – only had nubbins on his head, but he’ll sure be good eatin’.”

We’ve all heard many comments like that, and it’s not wrong to congratulate that hunter. But hunters who’ve said it have made a mistake. It’s not a mistake in shooting what they shot. It’s a mistake in what they called it.

A well-fed buck with nubbins on his head isn’t a yearling. It’s a fawn – less than six months old in the fall deer seasons. You don’t have to call them fawns if you don’t want to – in Maine they call them lambs.

Many hunters believe a yearling is a deer in its first year, but it isn’t. A yearling is a deer that has reached its first birthday – a deer in its second year. If it’s a buck, he might be a spike, he might be a forkhorn, or he might be bigger.

Almost every yearling buck is wearing his first rack, and those are the bucks that antler restrictions are designed to save for another year.

Yearling bucks are the deer that whitetail behavior expert Charlie Alsheimer equates to 13-year old boys. These are the bucks that are for the first time beginning to feel the effects of testosterone in their bodies.

Yearling bucks are the deer that have recently had their mothers’ apron strings severed and have dispersed to new territories from five to 20 miles away. They’re not stupid, but they are inexperienced as they face their first winter in new surroundings without mama. They’re trying to figure out how to survive. They don’t know every tree, every cropfield, every creekbed, every hillside, every thicket like they will in their third year.

The yearling is in a critical year of transition. Graduation from mama’s tutelage doesn’t mean yearling bucks don’t still have much to learn. Newly dispersed into unknown territories, yearlings have entered a new stage of survival school.

But old habits die hard and the yearling continues to seek relationships with does. He’s surprised when adult does avoid him, even drive him off. But, they must do that – they have their own young to care for.

This forces yearlings to get acquainted with other bucks in their neighborhood. They join bachelor groups and begin being sorted in the pecking order.

Those bachelor groups are important to the socialization of bucks. The younger bucks often groom the older bucks, and sometimes get the favor returned. Older bucks learn to tolerate younger bucks, and the interaction often forms a bond.

So, here’s where the bond with older bucks benefits the yearlings. When the rut is over and they regroup as bachelors to pal around with bucks that have a hunting season or two under their belts, they learn new life skills. By soldiering up with bucks that outrank him, the yearling will learn how to make survival decisions on his own.

Before antler restrictions came along, yearling bucks made up most of the deer harvest in Pennsylvania. One reason for that, besides the fact that they were legal game, was the fact that we had few older bucks and yearlings became pinball bucks, bouncing off one hunter or another until a bullet found its mark.

Most are now spared that fate, and live to 2½, 3½, or more.

Next deer season, keep this in mind. When you head out in pursuit of an antlered buck, you’re not hunting inexperienced yearlings. You’re not hoping for a confused, reckless, testosterone-loaded juvenile to present a shot as he dashes by.

You’re now hunting a veteran warrior who knows better how to avoid you than you know how to find him. He’s likely too smart to bump into you accidentally, and if he does he knows how to give you the slip.

Poaching Statistics — HSUS Style

2011-01-22T10:34:00.011-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, January 22, 2011.)

Why would the HSUS say anything
to imply an equivalence
between hunting and poaching?

The radio ad says over 100 million animals are killed by poachers each year. That number comes from the Humane Society of the United States and it can't be true.

Here it is, directly from the HSUS website: "In the United States, wildlife officials estimate that for every animal killed legally by hunters, another is killed illegally, amounting to perhaps more than 100 million wild animals poached each year."

These days, we hear so many big numbers that many people tend to accept them without question. But I have a few questions.

The first one is simple: "Really?"

Think about it.

If the HSUS is correct, and if those 100 million poached animals are averaged equally among the 50 states, Pennsylvania would lose about two million animals to poachers each year.

No one knows exactly how many animals are poached in Pennsylvania, but it's far less than two million. Jerry Feaser, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, says that "on average, about 1,000 individuals are added to Pennsylvania's revocation list for hunting and trapping license privileges annually."

If all 1,000 are poachers, and if each poached 10 animals, that's only a tiny fraction of two million - one half of one percent.

That leaves 1,990,000 unsolved poaching cases in Pennsylvania. I have more confidence in our wildlife conservation officers - and the general public - than that.

My second question - where does the HSUS get its outlandish poaching estimate? Feaser said even he wonders about that.

Answer: I think it comes almost totally from thin air.

Somewhere in the 50 states, there is probably a jurisdiction where a wildlife official believes that as many animals are illegally poached as legally killed. Or maybe it's a limited locale where, in a limited time frame, a busy poaching ring was busted.

It's a simple thing - but a very wrong thing - to extrapolate any such numbers to every jurisdiction in the United States. If it could be true, then there are, on average, roughly 30,000 poached animals in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.

Every hunter, every wildlife conservation officer, anyone who knows anything about it can tell you that doesn't happen - even if you include notorious outlaw 10-year-olds with BB guns (and we have far fewer of them than we've ever had.)

The Humane Society of the United States can't back up its estimate of 100 million poached animals. And they won't try because it's not true. No scientific, legal, mathematical or environmental evidence can show that it's true. No indication of any kind exists that poaching happens on such a massive scale.

My third question - If it's not true, then why does the HSUS say it? The "why" question is always more difficult, but I have an opinion.

When the HSUS says 100 million animals are legally killed each year by licensed hunters and 100 million more are illegally killed by poachers each year, you'll notice an equivalence in the language.

It's intentional.

The equivalence between the numbers can, by the unthinking, be extended to an equivalence between hunting and poaching. The HSUS, an organization that opposes even legal hunting, would like people to think that poachers are hunters and hunters are poachers, even though no equivalence exists between hunting and poaching.

Poaching is not hunting and poachers are not hunters.

Hunters oppose poachers and the actions of poachers are contrary to hunting. Poachers rob hunters and everyone else. Poaching and hunting are totally different. And hunters are happy when poachers get caught.

Why would the HSUS say anything to imply an equivalence between hunting and poaching?

It's because they'd like to end both. Here's the HSUS policy statement against hunting: "As a matter of principle, The HSUS opposes the hunting of any living creature for fun, trophy or sport because of the animal trauma, suffering and death that result."

Isn't it interesting that the HSUS has a policy statement against hunting, but no statement against poaching? To the HSUS, hunting and poaching are the same.

Why do I say that?

Because if they had a policy against poaching, they'd have to differentiate poaching from hunting and they don't want to do that.

I'm like comedian Dennis Miller on this one - "I could be wrong, but I doubt it."

Coyote Migration: One Expert’s Opinion

2011-01-08T10:19:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, January 8, 2011.)

Wow! 25 coyotes –
that’s a lot of howlers!

I recently became an “expert” on coyote migration. It all started when someone asked me, “Why would 25 coyotes be all together on one field, sneaking up on two geese?”

Wow! 25 coyotes – that’s a lot of howlers!

Hard to believe? It was for me. The most I’ve seen together was six, and that was a family of juvenile delinquents beating up on grasshoppers and mice in a hayfield.

If you’re like me, logic would tell you the questioner switched his numbers. So I asked, “Did you say two coyotes and 25 geese?”

“No – 25 coyotes; two geese.” I didn’t want to confess that I didn’t know, nor that I didn’t believe him. So I said, “They must’ve been hungry.”

A while later I bumped into a famous expert, so I put the question to him. “If someone told you he saw 25 coyotes all together in a field, would you believe him?”

“Absolutely,” came the reply. I didn’t want to let go of what little expertness I could fake, but he must have seen “Why?” written on my face. So he continued. “Mass migration. They had depleted the food supply in the area and were moving to a new territory.”

Aaah, yes, it’s so simple! That’s the solution to every problem – form some committees and make a plan. Here’s how it works:
-----
“OK, guys, I’m calling this pack to order. First, the report from the food committee. Rabbits and mice are getting scarce. A late hatch of turkey poults is forecasted because of all the rain last spring, and the doe population is down so the fawn drop will be spotty. We’ve also had reports of more and more bears eating the fawns that should be ours.

“The elder dogs advise that 25 of us muster at sundown at the south pond on Cable Hollow Golf Course. We’ll fill our stomachs on the last two Canada geese there. Don’t be late or you’ll go hungry. Then, say your good-byes. We head out at 21:00 hours.

“Those of you who have been hearing rumors about the bogus trap and transfer programs should listen up – we don’t need no stinkin’ game officials to cage us up and hire truckers to haul us to new areas. We’ll do just fine on our own. Always have.

“So, be ready to go. The relocation committee has charted a course that will send half of us east and the other half south. As soon as the Allegheny Reservoir has frozen over, the eastbound pack has orders to cross into McKean County and spread out there and into Potter. Just follow your noses and your stomachs – they won’t let you down.

“The southbound pack heads to Forest County. Follow the Allegheny. Some will go on to Venango and settle outside Oil City and Franklin.

“We have a month to reach those areas before mating season. Earlier migrations sent some of our kind into those territories in the 1930s, so you’ll find new mates along the way. Those folk have taken some hard knocks, but they’re good critters.

“If you find lots of red foxes and bobcats, spread the word. That means prey populations are high, and we’ll want to take our share. And by the way, let’s exterminate as many reds as we can. Those runts get under my hide – they steal our mice and I hate every last little one of them. If your wileyness can’t outwit their slyness, the penalty will be severe.

“I passed around a flyer warning about taking over red fox dens. Some of the little stinkers are infested with mange, so be careful. It’s a killer, especially in a cold winter.

“Now is a good time to remind everyone about our new strategy against the dog runners. If those traitorous canines get behind you, get ’em tired and get ’em lost. They’re probably owned by the Longs. Remember that name. It’s the key – run straight, and run “Long.” Never circle back.

“If you still think you can make it here, well, there’s a two-legger named Darin whose traps are waiting for you. If you’re lucky you’ll get the guest treatment at Buckhaven Wildlife Art. Then you’ll stand in a corner and never have to worry about your next meal.

“Someone asked if anyone will stay behind. To insure survival we’ve chosen the smartest and toughest volunteers for this assignment. When the food supply rebounds, these brave canines will find newcomers moving in. That means we’ll flourish again. We always do.”
-----
Yep, that’s how it happens. Now you know, and now you’re an expert, too.

Will Market Hunting Make a Comeback?

2010-12-24T11:41:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, December 24, 2010.)

If you think hunting is facing
serious challenges now, wait until
every deer is turned into dollars.

Did you know American sport hunters were the saviors of many species that were headed for extinction almost a hundred years ago? It’s true.

In those days whitetail deer were rare, partly because of market hunting. Wild turkeys were scarce except in isolated pockets. And market hunting forced passenger pigeons into extinction. Sport hunters saw other species also heading for disaster, and we spoke up.

We asked for hunting regulations. We promoted the idea that wildlife populations should be a public resource in every state. That became a core principle of wildlife management, and that’s when wildlife began to thrive.

Today, that principle is being challenged. A September 2010 article in Michigan Farm News outlined an idea to create a “licensed cadre of Elite/Master Hunters to sell wild Michigan venison commercially to restaurants, food distributors, grocery stores, individuals and other outlets.”

Yes, some people are saying that hunters should be permitted to profit by selling the meat they harvest. It’s a thoroughly bad idea because historically, market hunting was not good for wild animal populations.

Sport hunters were the saviors of wildlife because we advocated restricted seasons, bag limits and other regulations. We volunteered to pay special taxes for game conservation. Why would America want to turn away from what spared species from extinction?

Not only does sport hunting conserve healthy wildlife populations, sport hunters are also the drivers in the conservation organizations that spend millions and millions of private dollars annually, investing in wildlife habitat and lobbying for sound wildlife management.

Not only have game animal populations thrived because of sport hunting, but so have all other animals that share the habitat.

Not only has sport hunting created countless opportunities for the common, everyday hunter to enjoy a wholesome pastime, it has also created a thriving economic industry that thousands upon thousands of hunters participate in – even though sport hunters have never asked to make a direct profit from the game they bag.

The hunting industry already offers endless ways for hunters to make a living in the hunting industry. Plenty of hunters invent and market animal calls, treestands, clothing and other products. Hunters are writing books, selling photographs, creating artwork, conducting seminars, developing television programs, promoting sport shows and more.

You say, “Wait a minute, Sorensen – only a few people can do that.” Yes, that’s true – as it’s true in every field – not everyone becomes an entrepreneur.

But suppose we create a class of privileged elite market hunters. Suppose I’m one of them, and I make an agreement with several farmers to kill and sell the deer that are eating their corn. That gives me an enormous advantage over you, the ordinary hunter. My market hunting is taking deer that you might otherwise have an opportunity to hunt.

Anyone reading this like that idea? …. I didn't think so. You might say, “But I don’t live in Michigan.” True again, but an idea that takes hold in one place will spread to others.

Sport hunting is one of the things that still works well across this great nation. Yes, we continually tweak it, but it certainly isn’t broken, so it doesn’t need fixing.

Establishing elite class of hunters will create a new rift in the ranks of hunters, and end up monetizing wild animals in a way that would likely eliminate sport hunting altogether and remove wildlife from public interest.

The people who have come up with this terrible idea label it a “win-win,” but it would end up being a “lose-lose” because government tentacles seldom know their limits. It would be a way for states to sell a new kind of license and give deer a commercial value.

Then, what’s to stop government from taxing you when you harvest a deer? Ultimately, wildlife would become a commodity and market hunting would end up becoming a cost to us all. It would eliminate sport hunting. It would remove wildlife from the public interest. Wildlife would no longer exist for its own sake. It would be regulated to benefit government, and not the interests government should serve.

If you think wildlife and hunting are facing some serious challenges now, wait until every deer is turned into dollars.

How Deer Hunting Has Changed

2010-12-11T09:04:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, December 11, 2010.)

Some of our favorite
hunting areas have become a
specialized kind of shantytown.

I shot my first deer in 1967. It was my fourth year of hunting deer, and I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever fill out a tag.

I remember a few things about that day. I remember patchy snow on the ground. I remember the swish-swish sound my corduroy pants made with every step as I found my way to the tree I planned to stand beside. I filed away a mental note never to wear corduroy pants again while hunting.

An hour or two after daylight my eyes caught movement. Three young bucks were picking their way through the woods. I anxiously waited until they got about 30 yards away, and fired my .222 at one. It dropped, and the two other bucks sprinted away. My buck shed his 5-point rack when he fell to the ground.

Much has changed. Back then, hardly anyone would sit up in a tree or in a ground shanty all day. While on stand, we’d often see other hunters oozing their way through the woods, and those hunters would invariably cause deer to move, guaranteeing that the stand hunters could count on seeing deer.

Most young hunters hadn’t learned still hunting skills, so we’d sit on a log or stand by a tree until we got cold, bored or impatient.

If a hunter didn’t see a buck to shoot, and was lucky enough to draw a doe tag, he’d have an extra day to harvest a doe. Many hunters considered a doe a consolation prize.

Today, many hunters complain about reduced deer populations as though that’s the only change. But the truth is that everything is different. Antlered and antlerless seasons run concurrently. We have new wildlife management units, and our targets are limited by antler restrictions.

Hunters compete with a high black bear population and plenty of coyotes – both of which eat most of their venison during the spring fawning season.

Hunting competes with youth sports programs, video games and heavy doses of “must-see TV” that have brought an urban mentality even to rural areas. All those television sit-coms are so very appealing to youths – they take up nearly every subject except hunting.

The family has changed. Smaller families are spread out farther around the country, and opening day is becoming a less important tradition. More broken families mean that more kids have no dad to take them hunting.

Aging hunters are dying off or their bodies are wearing out faster than youths are taking their place, so on opening day fewer hunters are in the woods.

We’ve succumbed to advertisements, hunting videos and magazines – most of which convince countless hunters that they can’t succeed without treestands or ground blinds. Some of our favorite hunting areas have become a specialized kind of shantytown.

I’m not opposed to hunting from stands and shanties, but with so many stationary hunters it’s possible for a hunter to hunt the entire opening day and not see another hunter. I’ve done it several times. And we need to realize that when hunters sit tight, so do deer.

More land is posted to keep hunters out. Some landowners want to protect their personal hunting paradise, some are nervous about having people with guns on their property, and some think they’re doing deer a favor. Whatever the reasons, it’s harder every year for hunters to find private property open to hunting.

Some changes have made hunting better and safer. We dress in fluorescent orange instead of red Woolrich plaid. We have hunter education classes. We have better gear, better clothing, and better guns, bows and arrows. Most of us use higher quality scopes and binoculars. We have easy access to maps and to better weather forecasts via the Internet. We find ways to control or minimize our human scent. We know more about deer habits.

I’m smart enough now not to warn deer that I’m coming with the swish-swish of my corduroy pants, but that doesn’t mean deer hunting is easier.

I’ve barely scratched the surface, and you probably have your own thoughts about how and why deer hunting has changed. It’s not just that we have fewer deer. Too many things have changed for hunting ever to return to the way it used to be. And I suppose there’s good and bad in that.

The reason the sign says, “Please don’t feed the bears.”

2010-11-27T06:23:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, November 27, 2010.)

When bears are habituated
to humans, problems arise.

Sooner or later, it had to happen. A hunter shot a “friendly” black bear. It happened in the Pocono region of Pennsylvania during the state’s archery bear season, and people are riled up against the hunter. The bear was the leviathan of bears – 879 blubbery pounds of black. And it had a name – the locals called it Bozo.

One reason it has gained so much attention is because it’s the heaviest bear on record. We’ll wait and see if it’s the world record because bears are not ranked by weight. They’re ranked by skull size, and once the required sixty day drying period has passed, the skull can be measured for the Boone & Crockett Club record book.

Often when an animal becomes a candidate for a world record, controversy rises immediately. In this case, some people accuse the hunter of shooting it illegally because the bear was, in the minds of many locals, a tame bear.

It was not a tame bear. Tame bears ride bicycles in circuses. Tame bears wear tutus and entertain crowds in old-time videos involving pro wrestlers. Tame bears are performers, and they’re kept in cages when not doing their act.

Bears that live outside a cage are not tame bears. But some of them are habituated to humans. And when they are, problems arise.

Humans are attracted to bears. Maybe it’s because they appear slow and comical. They often act clownish. But they’re not clowns. And whatever the reasons we like to get close to them, they can bring serious injury or death to people when they lose their natural fear.

I was once approached by a bear while hunting deer in New York’s Allegany State Park. It hung around me for five minutes, as close as seven feet. Bears are common in the park and people camping there sometimes feed bears, so it almost certainly saw me as a source of food. Because that was probably a fed bear, it should be considered a dangerous bear.

People feed bears for their own reasons – perhaps they get enjoyment from it, or maybe a “photo op” and a story to tell their friends. But people who feed bears do them no favor. They are habituating bears to people, and that’s bad for bears. It may end up with an injury or death to somebody. It almost always ends up with the death of the bear.

So, did the hunter do something illegal? No. The bear was fair game. The Pennsylvania Game Commission investigated and found no evidence that the hunter in any way violated any law or regulation.

Did the hunter do something unethical? That’s a matter of opinion, and depends on what he knew about the bear, its habits, and its history. But, zero evidence exists that he did anything unethical.

Although it has important differences, this incident is eerily parallel to another from several years ago in the Katmai National Park on the Alaska Peninsula. A man habituated Alaskan brown bears to himself – in that case exploiting them for his own fame. He gave them names: Mr. Chocolate, Mickey, Aunt Melissa. Tragically, he and his girlfriend were killed and eaten by Mr. Chocolate, or one of his cohorts. Then, in the course of the investigation, the bears had to be killed.

Here’s the parallel. Another man, for the last 15 or more years, fed a bear he named Bozo. Perhaps he didn’t know any better, but habituating wild animals to humans is against the law. Why? Because it creates a safety issue – the bear learns to expect food from humans and might threaten those who don’t feed it.

It’s also unethical. Why? Because it creates an artificial bond between animal and man. It fosters an unnatural dependency. It destroys the animal’s natural fear. And it increases the animal’s vulnerability.

Fingers should not be pointing at the hunter. He is innocent. Sadly, the man who says he “raised” the bear is the one who did wrong. So are others who fed the giant bear. Feeding it was illegal and unethical. Killing it was not the worst that could have happened.

The lesson is that no matter what good we think we do when we feed bears, we harm bears when we habituate them to ourselves. That’s the reason the sign says, “Please don’t feed the bears.”

What Deer Do. Why They Do It.

2010-11-13T07:25:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, November 13, 2010.)

If you think deer are beautiful and
endlessly fascinating, this book
speaks to those twin interests.

Two thousand years ago Solomon wrote, “Of the making of books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). It’s still true today. And it’s as true in the whitetail world as it is in any field. Case in point – one of the nation’s leading authorities on deer behavior and deer hunting has just come out with his seventh outstanding book.

I thought Charles Alsheimer had already done his best work in Strategies for Whitetails (2006), but now he has produced Whitetails: A Photographic Journey Through the Seasons. In two respects, this book is even better.

First, most hunters are aware of what deer are doing during the breeding season and the hunting season, but not so much during the other months of the year. That knowledge is important for the hunter/naturalist, and it’s all in this book both in text and photographic form.

Second, although this book can help hunters, it’s not a book about hunting so it should have a far broader audience. Whether you’re a hunter or not, if you think deer are beautiful and endlessly fascinating (and what nature lover doesn’t?), this book speaks to those twin interests.

Whitetails: A Photographic Journey Through the Seasons capitalizes on two of Charles Alsheimer’s great aptitudes. First, he’s arguably the world’s foremost talent in photographing deer. During more than 30 years of pressing shutter buttons and cataloging hundreds of thousands of images, he has witnessed everything the whitetail deer does in its daily, seasonal, and yearly behavior. Every facet of the whitetail’s world has been captured by Alsheimer’s camera lens and studiously examined.

That brings me to his second aptitude. As Contributing Editor on Whitetail Behavior for Deer and Deer Hunting magazine and host of Deer & Deer Hunting TV, he understands what deer do and why they do it as well as any biologist, hunter, wildlife manager or nature lover anywhere. If you have a question about deer behavior, Alsheimer probably has the answer.

He virtually lives in the world of deer. Whitetails are more than an obsession for him – they’re his life’s work. Every day he’s in a unique position to monitor and research their behavior and provide his readers with an eyewitness account of what deer are doing and why they’re doing it.

The chapters cover each month of the year and begin with April as winter ends and springtime rejuvenation begins. Everything is from the perspective of the deer – fawning season, the secluded months of antler growing, interdependence of doe family groups, interaction with other species, the developing rivalries within bachelor groups, dispersal of young bucks, scent communication, the challenges predators bring, the exhausting activity of courtship and breeding, the rigors of winter – all that happens in the world of whitetails is covered in 190 pages between quality hardback covers.

The book includes over 200 of the sharpest, most revealing photographs possible, plus every chapter ends with a digest of “Vital Information” detailing the important behaviors going on during that month in the life of the whitetail.

After 12 chapters about deer through the months, Alsheimer doesn’t quit. Chapter 13 covers the intriguing topic of antler development, and then he gives a bonus. He turns his attention to you, the nature enthusiast, in Chapter 14. It’s loaded with tips on how to take your own photos and maximize your enjoyment of wildlife through photography.

Get a copy for yourself, your favorite hunter or any wildlife watcher. Order them autographed directly from Charles J. Alsheimer, 4730 County Route #70A, Bath, NY, 14810. Send him $29.99 plus $5.00 shipping and handling, and he’ll turn your order around as fast as he can.

By the way – Alsheimer described this book to me as a “coffee table book,” but I think that description sells it short. Why? Because coffee table books generally get more attention from dustrags than from readers. If this really is a coffee table book, it’s one that will never need dusting.

Once you’ve read it, you’ll dip back into it every month of the year to refresh your knowledge of whitetails, what they’re doing, and why.

A Look At the Havalon Knife

2010-10-30T00:10:00.005-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 30, 2010.)

Is it sharp? You betcha!

When I was a kid watching my Dad draw his knife over a whetstone, I didn’t understand what that elusive quality called “sharpness” was. I wondered if sharpness was something that rubbed off one thing and onto another.

I knew that when something dry rubbed up against something wet, the dry thing would get wet. Was sharpness like wetness? Call me a confused kid.

Now I know what sharpness is, and I know that the work my dad was doing on the whetstone is a dying art. People don’t sharpen knives very often anymore, and when we do few of us can get the razor edge we need for the work we ask a knife to do.

Now I know that the angle of the edge is critical to lasting sharpness. I know that the edge of a truly sharp blade is perfectly smooth. And I know that a leather strop polishes that edge.

The knife that has all the qualities you need, and will always have them, is the Havalon Piranta. Is it sharp? You betcha! You’ll never use a sharper knife, and you’ll never have to sharpen it because the blade is replaceable surgical stainless steel.

You’ve seen lots of advertisements for cutting tools which use that word “surgical.” Usually it means almost nothing, but here it means everything. Why? Because these blades are actual surgical scalpel blades made by Havel’s, a long-time medical supply company. They’re the very same blades surgeons use in operating rooms across the nation. They wouldn’t use them if they weren’t the best.

I recently field dressed a deer with the Havalon Piranta. I barely had to touch the blade to the animal’s skin to start a small incision. I inserted the blade, sharp edge up, and opened the abdominal cavity like it had a zipper.

One of the difficult spots in field dressing is proper removal of what we politely call the “vent.” The elasticity of the tissues in that area make it a challenge to cut through with precision. The Havalon knife is so sharp that it slides right through.

If you use your knife to split the deer’s sternum and open the rib cage (something that’s really unnecessary), that’s a job for a bigger knife with a heavyweight fixed blade. The lightweight Havalon Piranta is a folding knife for cutting jobs, not splitting jobs.

Field dressing deer isn’t the only task that the Havalon Piranta makes easy. It’s perfect for small game. It’s ideal for trappers who completely skin animals from nose tip to tail tip. And it’s a huge asset to taxidermists whose work is close and precise, and who can’t take the time to sharpen a collection of knives. When a blade gets dull and begins to slow the work, they just change it and keep going. In fact, this is the knife my taxidermist, Jason Morrison of Buckhaven Wildlife Art in Sugar Grove, PA, takes hunting.

Who else uses Havalon knives? A buddy told me his Alaskan brown bear guides used them to skin his record book Kodiak bear, and wouldn’t let him touch the bear with the knife he brought.

The blade fastens onto the knife by locking into a keyed slot. Before using the knife, practice removing and replacing the blade a few times to get the hang of it. If you have to change it in the field be especially careful – a little blood will make it slippery.

Of all the models Havalon makes, I like the blaze orange one. It would be hard to lose. The handle comes in various styles of metal or ABS plastic, and it’s ergonomically designed. That means it fits your hand, and there’s just enough of a checkered rubber insert to make your grip sure, even when wet.

With the thousands of knives on the market today, why another? Because the Havalon Piranta is so good, it’s a worthy replacement for most any knife a hunter carries – except the one I watched my Dad draw across that whetstone those many years ago. Sometimes, I carry that one for sentimental reasons.

Order your Havalon knife, including 12 replacement blades, by calling 800-638-4770, or online at www.havalon.com.

Tracy Schmidt’s New "Venison Wisdom" Cookbook

2010-10-16T03:35:00.030-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 16, 2010.)

This cookbook will renew
your appreciation for venison.

Venison fans, grab your forks! Just in time for deer season, a new cookbook is ready to make this year’s deer the best you ever ate. WHAT? You don’t much care for venison? Get ready to change your mind.

Tracy Schmidt has been cooking venison for decades. Despite being married to Dan Schmidt, editor of Deer and Deer Hunting magazine, she has a choice. She brings home her share of the venison, fries it up in a pan (or otherwise produces culinary treats), and never ever lets you forget that venison is as tasty, as healthy, and as nutritious as any meat you can get.

Venison Wisdom is organized into two sections – Tracy’s personal top 100 recipes, plus another 100 she calls “the best of the rest” including over 30 from family, friends and others – a list that reads like the “Who’s Who of Deer Hunters”: Charlie Alsheimer, Mark Drury, Ted Nugent, Bob Robb and many more. Each recipe is keyed to roasts, steaks, chops – whatever type of cut you’re cooking.

The two main sections each contains five chapters so you can focus on what you like best: Herbed, Seasoned & Spiced; Mushroom-Enhanced; Soups & Stews; Sweet & Savory; and Tomato-Based. Tracy offers something for every taste. If you’ve wondered how to use venison in pizza, quesadillas, stir-fry, wraps and more, you’ll find great ideas. And, every recipe uses ordinary ingredients, so you can make a meal on short notice.

One of the interesting features of the book is what I call “venison factoids” at the bottom of nearly every page. They’re fun to read, and describe everything from secrets to the best venison flavor to the important place of venison in man’s history. Plus Dan Schmidt offers a chapter on “Bloodtrailing and Equipment Tips,” essential to recovering the groceries after the shot. And, this book has what every good book needs for easy reference – an index.

The plastic comb binding means the book will rest flat on your counter for easy referencing during use. If you don’t have a good venison cookbook, here’s the one to buy. And if you do, give this one a try – it will renew your appreciation for venison. Order online from Tracy's own website at VenisonWisdom.com, or get it at your local bookstore.

While you’re waiting for it to arrive, you have Tracy’s permission to sample a couple of recipes:

Call It “the Cher” If You Like

2010-10-03T15:04:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 2, 2010.)

Bullets aren’t necessarily
the caliber they say they are.

Way back a hundred years ago, if people had agreed on a standard way of naming cartridges, life would be a whole lot easier for hunters and shooters.

Maybe you know that the .30-06 has its name because it’s a .30-caliber cartridge invented in 1906. Most hunters do. The “aught-six” is a centenarian, still with plenty of vigor.

Did the .25-06 also originate in 1906? No. Remington conceived it in 1969 by squeezing the .30-06 neck down to hold a quarter-inch bullet. Its name is just a hat-tip to its daddy.

So if we neck down a .30-06 case to hold a .28 caliber bullet, would it be called the .28-06? Nope. We’d call it the .280, and it shoots a .284" bullet. The .27 caliber child of the .30-06 is named the .270, and it shoots a .277" bullet. That’s a difference of a mere .007". Make sense yet?

The .30-06 has spawned a whole family of cartridges, and ego sometimes played a role in the name. Colonel Townsend Whelen had the idea of supersizing the aught-six to a .358" bullet, and called it the .35 Whelen. Then there’s the .338-06, which inherited the “-06” surname just as the .25-06 did.

Bullets aren’t necessarily the caliber they say they are. I once thought all .30 caliber bullets were .308" diameter. Then I met the .303 British, a relative slowpoke among most .30 caliber bullets. It measures .311". I don’t know why it’s not called the .31 British.

Another .30 caliber, a military veteran named the .308, also fathered a big family. Its name is its exact diameter. A couple husky kids followed in that lineage, the .338 Federal and the .358 Winchester.

The .243 is a small child of the .308, but it doesn’t shoot a .243" bullet. It shoots a .244" bullet. There’s a young upstart in that family with a metric name, the 7mm-08, but not because it started life in 1908, or 2008. The “-08” is simply a nod to the original bullet diameter of its parent case.

As a soldier the .308 was called the 7.62 NATO to accommodate the European members of the North American Treaty Organization. Europeans use the metric system not only for bullet diameter, but also for the other principle dimension of a cartridge – its case length. Thus, the 6.5 x 55mm is a cartridge with a bullet that’s 6.5mm in diameter, shot from a case measuring 55mm long. Then there’s the 7 x 57mm, almost a twin to its American cousin, the 7mm-08, but a little bigger and a little longer.

The metric system is mainly a European method of naming cartridges, but the 7mm-08 has no European genes. Its brother is the 6.5mm-08, more commonly known as the 260. Born in 1997, it’s a babe in the woods, as rifle cartridges go.

Another European name, the 5.56 x 45mm, is what we Yankees call the .223. It fires a bullet measuring .224", same as the .222, the .225, the .22-250, and several others. It’s another military recruit with the metric name 5.56 NATO. By the way, the 5.56 actually measures 5.7mm. Who knew?

What can make the world of guns and cartridges even more bewildering? Advertising. Yep, the ad men have done their part to baffle shooters.

Along about 1915, Charles Newton was trying to develop a new whiz-bang cartridge shooting a .257" bullet. The idea was for advertising men to brag that it pushed a 100-grain bullet along at a blistering (for the time) 3000 feet per second. It fell short, but succeeded at getting a bullet weighting 87 grains to go that fast, so the new baby was christened the .250-3000.

Then there’s the .222. Some people call it the “three deuces,” but its actual name often stands alone. Kinda like Cher. It has waned in popularity since its introduction at mid century. Kinda like Cher. In fact, for all the sense cartridge names have, if you invent a new one you could call it “the Cher” if you like.

If anything is clear from all this, it isn’t much. And don’t start thinking about magnums. The term “magnum” has no definition, other than, I suppose, “Here’s a bullet that goes a little faster than you might think. Maybe.”

Lucky for you, I’ve run out of space.

Need a Third Hand?

2010-09-18T08:29:00.011-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, September 18, 2010.)

One of the simplest inventions is a bow sling
that doubles as a set of tree hooks.

If he ever turns his mind to inventing a better mousetrap, current mousetrap manufacturers will go broke.

Many times I’ve said that outdoor pursuits produce some of the most resourceful and inventive people. One of those people is Jim Litmer of Third Hand Archery Accessories. Jim hasn’t just come up with an idea or two. He has a whole range of products that will make what you carry lighter, put what you need within easy reach, or make your hunting excursions go little safer and smoother.

Bottom line – he gives you that third hand you often wish you had. No, it’s not a surgical addition. It’s the name of his company – Third Hand Archery Accessories, a line-up of handy tools that make getting a grip on things easier for hunters.

One of the simplest inventions – and one I’ll use regularly – is a bow sling that doubles as a set of tree hooks. Sling it over your shoulder and hook your bowstring to the rubber clip. When on stand, wrap the sling around a tree and hang all your gear (binoculars, rattling antlers, grunt tube, quiver) on the four hooks. As for the rubber bow clip, he also sells it separately, and many 3D archers use it to carry their bow on their belts.

He also offers something he calls a “can’t-fire release.” It’s not actually a release aid, but everyone bow shooter should have one for two reasons.

One – the most damaging thing you can do to your bow is an accidental dry fire. Draw your bow with the can’t-fire release when you don’t want to release an arrow, and eliminate the possibility of dry firing. Two – use it for reps to build the chest, back and shoulder muscles you use for drawing.

But it’s not just for the individual archer. Every archery shop should have several of them to use for checking a customer’s draw length.

Another top product is the 32" x 34" “Rag Bag” – actually a printed target cover that you pack full of worn out clothing and rags. Even though I hesitate to say it’s the “cheapest” – because it isn’t cheaply made – this is one of the least expensive arrow targets you can get. Your wardrobe throw-aways replace the most expensive part. It’s durable enough to outlast any other target cover, and you can replace the rags over and over. The top closes with Velcro.

For gun hunters who hunt from the trees, he’s solved that old problem of getting your rifle or shotgun up into your treestand with his Tree Stand Gun Hoist. Before climbing into your stand, place the muzzle of the gun into a nylon pouch, and fasten the strap to the stock of your gun. It’s secure and keeps debris out of the gun barrel. After you’ve climbed, you simply pull the gun up with its business end safely pointed down at the biggest backstop in the world – the world itself. It would make a great gift for the young hunter who has just completed his hunter’s safety course.

I’ll add a word of advice here. Since you lay your firearm on the ground to get started, a means of protecting the scope from dirt and moisture would be a plus. Maybe the next invention from Third Hand will be an accessory to protect your scope.

For getting your bow into your stand, he has the Tree Stand Bow Holder. It clamps to the side of your climbing stand so your bow can hitch a ride – it stays with you all the way up the tree. When in your stand, it keeps your bow secure, silent, and ready.

If you’re like me, you might look at Third Hand Archery Accessories and say, “I could have thought of that.” But you didn’t. The good news is that all Third Hand products are surprisingly inexpensive, so why reinvent the wheel? You can check out all his American-made products online at www.ThirdHandArchery.com, or call 1-800-339-0232 for a print catalog.

From time to time, every hunter wishes for a third hand. Countless hunters have used Third Hand Archery Accessories with success. You might as well be the next one.

Crossbows -- Not What Some Think

2010-09-04T08:31:00.008-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, September 4, 2010.)

The crossbow isn’t a bow turned horizontal
and adapted to a rifle stock.

Non-hunters might not realize it, but plenty of controversy rages within the community of deer hunters. Some of the hot topics are antler restrictions, herd reduction, wildlife management units, and baiting. But in a state as traditional as Pennsylvania, few topics are as divisive as crossbows in the deer woods.

Not wanting to speak where I have no experience, I’ve refrained from commenting on crossbows. Until recently I had never shot a crossbow, so my thoughts are based on my own limited experience, the experiences of people I know, and common sense.

Hunters offer a variety of reasons why they’re against the use of crossbows. Many crossbow opponents are archery hunters who argue that a crossbow has too great a range. But when I watch the arc of a crossbow arrow in flight, I don’t see how it significantly extends the range of a bow. And the arrow (some prefer the term “bolt”) is subject to the same limits any arrow has. That’s why the great majority of deer shot with a crossbow are well within the range of traditional archery shots.

Some of the most fervent opponents try to associate crossbows more with modern firearms than with archery tackle. That’s why they label them “crossguns,” But the comparison to guns is neither fair nor historically correct. In the history of weapons, crossbows preceded firearms by hundreds of years. Crossbows were widely used more than a thousand years before firearms were invented.

The only similarity is that a crossbow is a shoulder-fired weapon. But the crossbow isn’t a bow turned horizontal and adapted to a rifle stock. If there’s a relationship, the rifle borrowed from the crossbow, not vice versa. It would be more accurate to call a rifle a miniature cannon mounted on a crossbow stock.

Some object to crossbows because they think they’re the ideal poacher’s weapon. Yes, a crossbow’s silence is an asset for the lawbreaker, but a compound bow or traditional bow is silent too. Besides, any weapon that shoots an arrow isn’t an efficient poaching tool. An arrowed deer might involve hours of tracking and increase the odds of getting nabbed.

As I see it, a .22 rimfire makes a far better poacher’s weapon. Aim for the deer’s head and get a bang-flop, then recover the deer as soon as possible after the shot.

Some people say that the crossbow manufacturers are the only ones pushing crossbow use. But, some of the biggest names in vertical bows are manufacturing crossbows – PSE, Horton, Parker and others.

Last season one of my friends, Mark McInturff (originally from Pennsylvania but now living in Ohio), shot his second consecutive wallhanger buck with a crossbow. November 14, 2008 and 2009 were his lucky days. (I know where he’ll be on November 14, 2010.)

Mark is a lifelong hunter and he’s been using a crossbow for perhaps 15 years. Never before has he had an opportunity at anything like these bucks. Does his experience show that the crossbow is unfair? No. What it shows is that they grow ’em big over in the Buckeye State, and that if you hunt long enough sooner or later you’ll tag one. Or two.

Another friend, Tom Pisarchick from Brockway, PA, shot a huge whitetail with a crossbow on public land in the first half hour crossbows were legal in Pennsylvania last fall. It taped 181 gross inches on the Boone & Crockett scale. Isn’t that evidence crossbows are unfair? Not if you know the details.

Pisarchick, who is also a dedicated hunter with a vertical bow, wasn’t choosing the easy way. He scouted that buck all year, had a very good idea where it would be on opening day, and shot it from a ground blind at 20 yards.

The crossbow isn’t the cheater that anti-crossbow hunters think it is. Like regular archery tackle, a crossbow is a single shot. It can’t be fired without movement, or re-fired without lots of movement. Crossbows aren’t taking over the woods because they’re cumbersome to carry and need as much attention to tuning as vertical bows need.

I’m not ready to run out and buy a crossbow yet. For one thing, I like my compound bow. But as I age, if a crossbow keeps me in the October woods for a few more years, I’ll probably someday be hunting with one.

Man -- the Essential Predator

2010-08-20T10:55:00.005-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, August 21, 2010.)

Any common sense discussion of hunting
must recognize that man
historically has been a predator.

It’s normal for a wolf. A way of life for an owl. No fox or hawk or coyote or mountain lion ever questioned whether it was moral to kill any songbird or rodent or turkey or deer.

I got to thinking about the morality of hunting when I recently re-read an article in Sports Illustrated (Nov. 24, 2008) about the decline of hunting. It ended with this sentence: “Wolves do not make moral decisions.... They just hunt.”

Hunting isn’t a moral issue for wolves or any other predator – and there are many of them. Is it for man? I think the answer is yes. For man, hunting is a moral decision. To think about whether hunting is a right moral activity, let’s begin by looking at the past.

We don’t have to go as far back as man’s so-called “hunter-gatherer” stage. Only a few hundred years ago, newly minted Americans began settling in the wilderness of the New World. No one considered hunting to be wrong. It’s what people had always done.

In fact, man has been a very creative predator, inventing countless ways to capture and kill animals for food. Historically he has been nature’s most efficient predator. Animals of all sizes were his prey, from fluffy bunnies to the shaggy bison of the American plains.

Today most of us don’t hunt. That’s a good thing. If all 12 million people in Pennsylvania took up hunting, dramatic changes would be needed in wildlife management policies, or we’d quickly run out of wildlife. But the fact that most people are non-hunters has no bearing on whether hunting is moral or not.

People who argue that hunting is immoral will say all the meat we need is available in hermetically sealed transparent packaging. That’s irrelevant. Meat packers and refrigeration can’t make immoral what has been moral since the beginning of time.

They’ll say hunting is only legal because governments allow it. That’s untrue. Hunting seasons and bag limits exist because hunters saw the need and pushed governments to act. More than a hundred years ago hunters knew that a bourgeoning population of humans would rapidly marginalize wildlife, and that market hunting would surely exterminate it from all but the most remote places. And since that time, wildlife has thrived. All wildlife – not just game animals.

Not a single species has ever been threatened by regulated hunting. Not even the beloved polar bear, poster child of the global warming movement. The fact is polar bear populations are now at an all-time high. Hunting hasn’t hurt them a bit. In fact, it has helped them.

Hunters have done more for wildlife than any government anywhere at any level. Most of the dollars spent on behalf of game animals – on research benefiting all wildlife and on the creation and preservation of habitat – come from hunters.

And not just from the sale of hunting licenses. The money also comes from an 11% Federal excise tax on sporting gear which the Federal government distributes directly to the states for programs that support wildlife and habitat. That wasn’t a tax forced on hunters. It’s a tax hunters insisted on, and a tax wildlife depends on.

The money also flows through an alphabet soup of conservation organizations where hunters love working together for the benefit of wildlife. Hunters have done more for wildlife than any body of legislators, humane society, or anti-hunting organization. Anti-hunters think they're doing wildlife a favor. They’re actually working against the best friends wildlife has ever had.

Any common sense discussion of hunting must recognize that man historically has been a predator. Has been from the beginning. Still is. He’s the essential predator. He’s the predator who knows that he holds the keys to the future of wildlife. He’s the only predator who is thoughtful about the health of his prey species, the needs of his prey species, the future of his prey species, and his impact on species that aren’t his prey.

So, is hunting moral? If doing good is a measure of morality, then hunting is moral. Hunting is normal for a wolf. Hunting is normal, and moral, for man.

Reporting on Whitetails in Pennsylvania

2010-08-07T09:27:00.006-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, August 7, 2010.)

Considering that it’s a scientific treatise,
“Management and Biology of White-Tailed Deer
in Pennsylvania, 2009-2018” is not hard to read.

What’s the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s plan for managing whitetail deer for the next ten years? It has just released a 123-page report on the subject, and there’s plenty in it. My aim here isn’t to provide a synopsis. That would be impossible in 750 words.

My intention is to point out some of the statements I found interesting and that might encourage more people to take a look at the plan.

In several places, the report inserts quotations from long ago. Here’s one from an October 1947 editorial in Pennsylvania Game News magazine that shows biologists have been trying to balance deer populations, wildlife habitat, and public needs for a long time:
“The White-tailed deer is today Pennsylvania’s most striking game animal. At the same time, it is also the Commonwealth’s most complicated game problem.”

We’ve had combined antlered and antlerless deer seasons only since 2001. I thought that was a new idea. I was wrong. Here’s a quote from the state president of the Izaak Walton League addressing the board of game commissioners on May 16, 1930:
“The deer problem in my mind will never be settled until you open the season on both doe and bucks, and have only one season for both and allow no deer to be shot under a certain size. This has been the remedy in other states and has been found to work to the satisfaction of every one.”

Once in a while we hear about an antlered doe. How rare is that? According to the report, about one of every three to four thousand antlered deer is a female.

Did you know that the first chamber of the whitetail’s four-chambered stomach helps it to avoid predators? It enables deer to eat quickly without much chewing, then regurgitate and chew at a later time while safely bedded in cover.

What’s the impact of poor habitat on whitetail reproduction? As little as a 10 percent reduction in food consumption inhibits skeletal growth and fat accumulation, stunting the growth of female fawns and preventing them from breeding. That’s why, after a reduction in the deer herd and the improvement of habitat, biologists are seeing higher body weights, earlier maturation of females, and more fawns per doe.

In two study areas, predators (mostly black bears and coyotes) were the leading cause of fawn mortality. Most predation occurs during the fawn’s first three months.

Most hunters know that yearling bucks disperse from their birth area. Did you know that dispersal happens in spring and fall? And did you know that they travel about 5 miles on average, and distances of more than 20 miles are possible?

Among the people who report watching wildlife in Pennsylvania, 59% are between the ages of 35 and 64, and 22% are 65 or older. That means only 19% are younger than 35. Isn’t wildlife interesting to people in the first half of their lives? Fifty-one percent are male, so the split between men and women is about equal.

How big is the impact of hunters on the economy? In 2001, big game hunters in Pennsylvania spent more than $488 million on food, lodging, transportation, and equipment. That doesn’t include licenses.

I’ve known for a long time that house cats are the biggest predator on songbirds. But did you know that deer can also reduce songbird populations? An Allegheny National Forest study showed that indigo buntings and eastern wood pewees disappeared when deer densities were too high. Why? Because deer browse the vegetation at the level where those birds feed.

Many people who don’t like hunting think a good alternative is trapping and transferring deer to new locations. But a trap and transfer program neither protects individual deer from stress and mortality, nor is it a needed method for restoring deer populations anywhere in the state. It can also introduce diseases to new areas. The good news is that regulated hunting has proven to be the most effective management tool, and the most efficient and least expensive technique for managing deer numbers.

Considering that it’s a scientific treatise, “Management and Biology of White-Tailed Deer in Pennsylvania, 2009-2018” is not hard to read. It covers information on diseases, the rationale for the current wildlife management units, and much more. Whether you agree with the PGC policies or not, you’ll benefit from reading it. You’ll find a link at the Game Commission website and at www.EverydayHunter.com.

NBBC Antler Scoring Event

2010-07-24T06:26:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, July 24, 2010.)

If you have a nice buck,
you’ll soon have an opportunity
to enter it in the NBBC book.

“In your dreams!” That’s where most of us can expect to harvest a Boone & Crockett record book buck. But that doesn’t mean you can’t qualify for another record book – maybe with a buck taken right in your back yard.

The Boone and Crockett Club is the most well known keeper of antler records. Teddy Roosevelt started the organization in 1887, but it wasn’t until 1932 that the club began recognizing outstanding big game trophies from North America. The method of scoring evolved until 1950, when the current scoring system became settled.

Since then, other “books” have come along, including Safari Club, Pope and Young (for archery only), Buckmasters, plus various state and regional record books.

The regional record book for Pennsylvania whitetails is kept by the Northeast Big Buck Club (www.BigBuckClub.com), founded in 1996. It started out entering bucks from Maine, the New England states and New York. A few years ago, it added Pennsylvania.

The NBBC calculates the gross B&C score – but doesn’t deduct for asymmetry, so it gives the buck credit for everything he grew. The NBBC minimum score requirement for typical bucks is 110", and 125" for non-typical. (Archery and muzzleloader minimums are 100", and 115" for non-typical.) The NBBC also has categories for pickups and sheds.

If you have a nice buck (no matter when it was harvested), you’ll soon have an opportunity to enter it in the NBBC book. The Northeast Big Buck Club will hold a scoring session in Warren County. Two official scorers, Brian Kightlinger and Tim Fox of Erie, will spend the day measuring antlers brought in by hunters like you and me.

Show up at Tall Tales Sporting Goods at 8330 Market St. (Route 62 North) in Russell, PA on Saturday, August 14 between 10 AM and 4 PM. Have your best set of antlers in one hand and $25 in the other. (They have a stand to which mounted bucks can be safely attached for scoring.)

Brian and Tim volunteer their services, so the $25 doesn’t go to them. The money supports the NBBC and its awards program. Besides entry into the Club’s official book – it also gets you a 1-year subscription to the NBBC bi-monthly magazine Northeast Big Bucks, as well as a supporting membership patch.

Most deer hunters, for lots of reasons, will never harvest a Boone & Crockett buck. But that’s not because they’re not good enough hunters. They probably don’t have access to property that holds a world-class monster buck, or they might not have enough C-notes to hire a guided whitetail hunt for Midwestern corn-fed giants.

But the truth is that some of the best whitetail hunters consistently kill mature bucks on their own home turf right here in the hills of Pennsylvania. Who cares if they’re not Booners? They’re still great bucks, and have a legitimate shot at making the NBBC book.

The NBBC records program doesn’t diminish the value of bucks that don’t make its minimums. Every hunter has his own trophy standards. Every set of antlers preserves a memory. And, every set of antlers is special.

But if you have an antler rack that might quality for the NBBC record book, take advantage of this opportunity to have it scored.

To see some background on Brian and Tim, and pictures of some of the bucks that they’ve scored, take a look at the website for the Pennsylvania chapter of the NBBC at www.nbbcpa.wikispaces.com.

If you have questions, feel free to email me and I’ll do my best to answer them. Otherwise, show up with your nicest set of antlers. Or, just show up – it’s time to start thinking about the fall hunting seasons anyway, and to start dreaming about your next big buck.

“Gonna Get Him Mounted?”

2010-07-10T11:53:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, July 10, 2010.)

Consider preserving your deer, bear,
bobcat or coyote with a skull mount.

You’ve shot a nice buck. It’s your personal best, and they don’t get much bigger where you hunt. Someone is sure to ask the question you’re already asking yourself, “You gonna get him mounted?”

Is he big enough? Yes, but once you’ve settled the question in your own mind you might need to convince a spouse that the cost won’t break the family budget, and that the mount will look great in the family room.

A whitetail head mount generally costs between $300 and $600. But cost isn’t the first consideration. Low-priced taxidermists usually use inferior materials that will not last.

But cost is a consideration, especially in today’s economy, and, there’s a way to bring it way down by opting for a European mount, or what some people call a dry skull, Texas, desert or Western mount.

You’ve probably seen them in those old TV westerns. The Dodge City saloon surely had one hanging on the wall. Ben Cartwright’s Ponderosa ranch house also had one. Certainly, there’s a place in your house for one – or at least your man-cave.

The lowest cost will be a do-it-yourself job. First, the skull must be clean of skin and as much flesh as you can trim off. If you want to keep the lower jaws, remove the tongue and its adjacent muscles by cutting them out from the bottom.

The next step is to remove the brain. Insert a spade bit into the cranium, scramble the brain, and rinse it out – a step best done outside.

Dermastid beetles are the easiest method to completely deflesh the bone, but most people don’t want the trouble and risks of keeping a colony of bugs that want to eat anything that’s organic. As an alternative, you can freeze it until summer and then put the skull into a plastic bucket with holes drilled in the bottom. Anchor it to an ant hill. The risks here are losing it to a thief, a dog, or a wild animal, or offending neighbors with the smell.

Some people soak the skull in water for an extended period, but it’s stinky and difficult to monitor. Others have buried the skull in the ground, but you’ll end up with dirt and stains in places where they’ll never come out.

The most common method, and one many taxidermists use, is to simmer the skull in a pot of water with sal soda, also known as washing soda or sodium carbonate (not sodium bi-carbonate.)

Sal soda turns all the remaining soft tissue to a jelly-like substance which is easily scraped off. It also begins the degreasing process.

The next step is degreasing. Use a strong grease-cutting dishwashing detergent in water. Keep the solution at about 120 degrees with the skull immersed. It can take days, or in the case of a greasy bear skull or a wild boar skull, maybe weeks.

After degreasing, whiten the skull. Never use bleach. It will leach into the tiny pores where the grease used to be and eventually destroy the bone. Soak it in peroxide. Buy the strong stuff used in beauty shops – what’s called “40-volume,” or 12%. Then rinse well, dry, and spray with a clear coat.

It’s likely that you’ve loosened some teeth. Save them, and after the skull is degreased and dried, glue them back in with Elmer’s white glue or super glue.

You’ll find more details on the Internet, but if a D-I-Y job is not for you, the benefits of using a taxidermist are several. First, they have a much faster turn-around time than a mount using the deer’s skin. Second, the cost is much lower because it requires less time and fewer materials. Third, it’s better to stink up his shop rather than your home.

When hunting season rolls around, consider preserving your deer, bear, bobcat or coyote with a skull mount. It’s becoming a popular way to display your trophy, whether you do it yourself, or take it to the taxidermist.

Do You Have One For the Books?

2010-06-26T08:05:00.006-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, June 26, 2010.)

What if there was a ‘book’ that
recognizes bucks on a regional basis?

I’ve never seen – alive and in the field – a buck that meets the minimum standard for the Boone and Crockett record book. It takes some mighty big bones to reach a cumulative net score of 160 inches (for a typical buck) and 185 (for a non-typical buck), and that’s only for the B & C three-year awards recognition. To make the “All-Time” B & C list, the minimum scores are 170 for typical antlers, and 195 for non-typical.

That doesn’t mean record book bucks don’t live where I hunt. It just depends on what record is being kept. The Pope & Young Club keeps one. It has lower standards for entry because only archery bucks are eligible. Then there’s the Northeast Big Buck Club (www.BigBuckClub.com.) I’ve seen many bucks that qualify for that book. In fact, maybe you have one.

Until recently, the Northeast Big Buck Club admitted bucks from New York, Maine, and the New England states. Now, it includes Pennsylvania. If you’d like to enter a buck in the NBBC, I can tell you how. But first, a few comments on why bucks grow big antlers, what big antlers mean to me (and maybe to most of us.)

Antlers get big because of age, nutrition and genetics.

Age: In states with high hunting pressure, world-class bucks are uncommon because few bucks live to the age of five – generally the earliest age at which bucks can grow their biggest antlers. Heavy hunting pressure means most of our bucks are harvested long before their prime, so they tend to be on the young side.

Nutrition: On poorer soils, bucks don’t eat as well as bucks that benefit from more fertile soils. Nutrition shows up in antlers. Our bucks do well on a little corn and a spotty acorn crop, but Midwestern farm bucks do much better. They eat more, grow faster, and put more of their food resources into antler growth.

Genetics: Most hunters know little about genetic potential in antlers. Genetics are best exhibited where bucks grow to maturity with quality nourishment year ’round, so few bucks reach their potential. However, we do see a few bucks with strong antler genetics.

Many northeast bucks don’t have the “maturity factor” on their side, and they seldom have the “well-fed factor” going for them, so they rarely exhibit their full genetic potential. These factors drag the odds of producing a “world-class” buck way down.

Lots of hunters don’t focus on antlers. I respect that. There is no shame in hunting for meat. But if a hunter wants to be challenged, it’s a greater challenge to harvest a buck well on his way to maturity at three or more years of age, than it is to shoot a tender young buck sporting his first rack. So, I respect hunters who hold out for older bucks, too.

Most hunters enjoy looking at big antlers. They’re unique, and always interesting. To my way of thinking, putting one in a record book doesn’t earn bragging rights because these magnificent animals are God-given as much as they’re trophies of an expert hunter. Besides, someone always has a bigger buck.

Does a big buck ever establish a hunter as an expert? Maybe, but one big buck can be a stroke of luck. When a hunter consistently gets bucks that are bigger than the norm in the area he hunts, he’s definitely a skilled hunter.

So, maybe there ought to be a place that records bucks representative of what is realistic in the area you hunt – nice bucks taken by everyday hunters who have little hope of ever seeing a B & C buck in the wild. What if there was a “book” that recognizes bucks on a regional basis?

That book is produced by the Northeast Big Buck Club. I’m working on an opportunity later this summer when you’ll be able to have your buck taped, and possibly entered in the NBBC program. Check it out at www.BigBuckClub.com. (It takes 110 inches for buck harvested by rifle.)

When that day arrives, don’t come popping your buttons or strutting like a wild gobbler. But if you have a nice buck that others would like to see and you’d like to have measured, watch this space. In the next month or so I’ll provide more details.

If You Want a Bear

2010-06-12T06:48:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, June 12, 2010.)

“We baited and hunted our own stands
for two years before we dared take any clients.”

If you want a bear and you’re willing to travel, I can tell you where to go.

Something about bears has gripped me ever since I was a kid. Maybe it was that story I read where Daniel Boone carved “D. Boon kilt a bar on this tree.” Maybe it relates to that little wooden carving of a bear my missionary aunt sent me from Japan so long ago. Maybe it’s because of that guy who stopped by to show off his Pennsylvania black bear, but failed on his promise to give this kid one of its claws.

I’ve always wanted a bear. Black bears in Pennsylvania seem common any time but hunting season. I’ve seen many, and been within a few feet of them several times. I’ve pursued them in Pennsylvania and Alaska and hunted over bait in Canada. I’ve learned that hunting baited bears is not like shooting fish in a barrel.

Many hunters in the northeast go to Ontario for bears. It’s friendly to American tourists, and loaded with bruins. At least that’s what the numbers say.

Ontario does have lots of bears, but other factors must be considered. Ontario is also a very big province, and it extends far north beyond easy driving distance. It also has the longest border with the lower 48 states, so its southern half is within reach of millions of hunters from highly populated states. It has lots of guides that take aim at American dollars, but it offers only fall hunts.

Hoards of hunters invade Ontario every year for bears. But is that the best place?

My first Canadian hunt was in Ontario. “You must not be a very good bear hunter.” The American customs agent flipped that insult at me as I returned with empty coolers and an unfilled tag.

In no mood to argue, I said, “You’re probably right.” Was that a smirk on his face as he waved me on my way?

That was in 2003. In 2004 and 2008 I returned home from Canada, bearless again and again, so I’ve thought a lot about that comment. I’ve wondered what makes a good bear hunter. I’ve wondered whether I made good choices. I even wondered if my attitude might not be positive enough, or if I sweat some mysterious kind of bear repellent, innocuous to humans but intolerable to bears.

Last month I headed for New Brunswick to hunt with P. R. Guides and Outfitters. With only 17,000 bears (a fraction of what Ontario has), New Brunswick is a province hunters often overlook. But New Brunswick has less than 8% of the land area of Ontario, and the bear population is dense. It shares a border with only one state, Maine. It’s a long drive, but an easy drive. Go there, and you’ll likely come home with a bear.

Pierre Roy and his partner Ron Hachey have been guiding for ten years. Pierre recalled, “In the beginning we were a little afraid of American hunters. We thought they’d easily spot any deficiencies in us. So, we baited and hunted our own stands for two years before we dared take any clients. We began with high standards because we felt we would be judged by hunters who really knew their stuff.”

Ron added, “We learned quickly that most hunters aren’t experts, but we didn’t change our approach or lower our standards.”

Smart thinking. Some guides think guiding for bears is easy money, that success is up to the hunters, and that all they have to do is provide the hunter a bait that has been hit, even if it has been hit only once, or it’s getting hit only at night.

Pierre knew I had been on three previous Canadian hunts and hadn’t taken a shot. “I can’t imagine that happening here. When you come here, you need to know how to shoot – because you will shoot.” That’s what he wanted to prove, and he did.

Two Writer Awards for Sorensen

2010-06-05T17:05:00.006-05:00

Steve Sorensen (left) receives two awards for “The Coffee Break Phantom” from Tom Tatum, President of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. The article appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of North American Whitetail.

Wellsboro, PA – Outdoor writer Steve Sorensen won “Best Magazine Article” at the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association annual conference in Wellsboro, PA on May 22. The POWA “Excellence in Craft” awards program honors writing, artwork and photography in several categories. Each award is reviewed by a panel of judges, all independent of the POWA.

Sorensen won with an article entitled “The Coffee Break Phantom,” published in the Spring 2009 issue of North American Whitetail. The story chronicles Jerry Simkonis’s three year hunt for a buck that ranks number one in the Pennsylvania records for a non-typical whitetail buck taken by bow. It was harvested in Allegheny County, PA on November 2, 2007.

Sorensen’s “The Coffee Break Phantom” also won the Pennsylvania Deer Award, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Deer Association.

POWA is the largest state outdoor writers’ organization in the nation. Sorensen lives in Russell, PA, serves as pastor of Pine Grove Christian Fellowship, speaks frequently at sportsmen’s banquets, and writes for a variety of regional and national magazines. He also writes a popular column called “The Everyday Hunter” that appears in several newspapers. Sorensen’s website is www.EverydayHunter.com.

Getting Restarted in Bowhunting

2010-05-29T15:22:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, May 29, 2010.)

The high price of bows can actually
work to the buyer’s advantage.

Although I’ve bowhunted regularly for the last few years, I haven’t paid enough attention to my equipment and I’ve let my skills decline. So, you might say I’ve decided to get restarted in archery, and that means getting up to speed with new equipment and refining my shooting technique.

It’s easy to be scared off by modern archery gear, even though the aim is the same as the Native American hunters had with primitive gear – to put an arrow through the vitals of the deer. But compound bows are anything but primitive. They’re a creation of modern technology, so they look intimidating. And they’re expensive.

They’re not as intimidating as they look. You don’t need to understand the technology or the mechanics. All you need to know is that the compound bow (some call it a wheel bow) has wheels (or cams) with cables designed for a mechanical advantage. They reduce the effort it takes to pull back the bowstring and hold it, without diminishing the force that launches the arrow. That means a weakling like me can use one.

And yes, modern compound bows are expensive. Part of the reason for that is the race among bow manufacturers to introduce new materials and better designs. But the high price of bows can actually work to the buyer’s advantage. Some hunters always want the latest and greatest, which puts high quality, little-used bows on the market.

Don’t be afraid of buying a used bow. The quality in today’s bows from reputable companies including Bowtech, Hoyt, Mathews and many others make it hard to make a mistake. And don’t be afraid of offending the bow dealers – if someone didn’t buy the used bows, they wouldn’t sell as many new bows.

I bought my latest bow, a Mathews Outback equipped with a sight and an arrow rest, from a friend. Since I didn’t buy it in a store, where would I go for advice on tuning it and learning to shoot it? I decided to join His Way Archers (www.HisWayArchers.com), the Christian Bowhunters of America chapter in Jamestown, NY.

By joining His Way Archers, I learned what I needed to know from helpful bowmen who won’t make me feel foolish. I also got a place to practice on a variety of 3D targets.

Pete Hofert and Andy Johnson, regulars at His Way, counseled me on setting up my used bow. Pete checked my draw length, and advised me to upgrade from aluminum to carbon arrows. He also helped me learn my way around the bow press and the arrow cut-off saw the club owns. He helped me install a better peep sight and adjusted my D-loop, an optional accessory that helps lessen torque on your bowstring and protects your string against premature wear from your release aid.

Knowing almost nothing about selecting carbon arrows, I contacted Carbon Express, a leading arrow manufacturer, to see what they’d recommend. I explained my needs, and they provided a dozen Maxima Hunter arrows, already fletched with vanes.

Let me tell you, if you’re still shooting aluminum arrows, consider arrows made from carbon fibers. They’re straighter, stronger and maybe even quieter. Yes, they’re more expensive, but they also last much longer. And they’re lighter. Which makes them faster. Which makes range estimation more forgiving. Which makes you more accurate.

I still need a few items. I’m using an old release aid that I bought with my first bow way back in the 1980s. Although there’s nothing wrong with it, I’d like to have a new one and use that as a back-up. I also need a quiver I can attach to my bow.

A target is a must-have for the archery hunter. I already had a 3D deer target from McKenzie Targets, plus a “Monster Bag” target. So, I bought an 18-sided Rinehart foam target that I can toss out into the yard at random distances and transport easily.

Finally, before hunting with my bow, I needed some broadheads matched to the carbon arrows. Broadhead technology is also very advanced compared to a few years ago. Although I haven’t yet poked a deer with my new setup, when I do I’ll be using the new F-15 broadheads from Carbon Express. With six cutting edges, they make a huge hole for rapid bleedout.

Practice is essential. Although everyone practices alone, it pays to practice with someone else, too. You can keep an eye on each other’s form and learn from each other’s mistakes.

I’ll be better equipped for this fall’s deer season than I’ve ever been before. If you want to be able to say that, there’s still time to get a bow and go through the short learning curve before the season arrives. Don’t let a bow intimidate you. And, check the used market – you’ll find some great deals.

What does it take to tag a late season gobbler?

2010-05-15T14:59:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, May 15, 2010.)

All that gear won’t do it for you.

When it comes to turkeys and hunters, the turkey usually wins. No, he doesn’t shoot the hunter, but neither does he get shot.

Even though the modern hunter has plenty of advantages, turkey hunting is a low percentage game. We have specialized shotguns today with custom choke tubes and ammunition that will push the ethical limits of a shot to 50, even 60 yards.

We have turkey calls in a variety of styles that make incredibly realistic turkey sounds. We have foolproof camouflage which hides us in plain sight, and decoys to fool the wariest gobbler.

We have access to the best information, with programs on television, videos lessons from expert hunters, scientific research on turkey habits and habitat, magazines dedicated to the sport, and seminars that reveal the secrets of the best hunters.

We have maps, aerial photos, and GPS receivers that help us get to that honey-hole deep in the woods. We have raingear that keeps us dry in a downpour. We have seats that keep us comfortable while the gobbler takes his sweet time approaching our set-up, or not. Usually, despite all the advantages the turkey hunter has, it’s “or not.”

We also have the most specialized hunting gear ever, right down to the knives we carry. Who would have thought this simplest of technologies had so much room for improvement?

Even turkey hunters can get their own multi-tool, which helps minimize the gear we carry. It combines all the essential tools the turkey hunter needs, knife blade, saw blade, ruler, shotgun choke wrench, retractable ruler for measuring the gobbler’s beard and spurs, a pin punch, all in one compact unit wrapped in a sheath that transforms into a safety orange turkey tote with a carrying hook. Avid design (www.AvidDesignCo.com) makes it possible.

Now all we have to do is get that gobbler. The hunter’s big advantage is that the springtime gobbler or “Tom” turkey often announces exactly where he is before morning breaks. That enables the hunter, assuming he has a pretty good idea how far away the turkey is, to approach the turkey under cover of darkness and set up to call the turkey after he flies down from his roost tree at daybreak. Close the distance to 100 yards, or 75 yards, or even closer, and you increase the odds of the turkey coming to your sweet calls.

That’s the classic turkey hunt, but it seldom works out that way. In fact, by the middle of the season the odds have swung dramatically toward the turkey (though they never really were in the hunter’s favor.) If you still have tag today, you’re likely to have it when the season ends.

This year’s unusually warm days in March and April seem to have set the clock way ahead. Normally, our dogwood blossoms show up around May 10, but I saw many in bloom as early as April 24. Spring sprung almost overnight, turning winter’s white to spring’s green.

We’re already in late-season mode. The hens have been bred, many are on the nest, a few have already hatched their poults, and gobblers are transitioning to their summer mood.

Gobblers might spend hours with hens without ever breaking into strut. They just follow the girls around. But they still might respond to calling, so it’s still possible to get one. It will take a lot of persistence and a little serendipity, too.

So, don’t let the rain, the temperatures, the hunting pressure, or the late season challenges stop you. There are plenty of gobblers out there that you can still give a ride in your pickup truck, and transform into mouthwatering table fare. And all that gear you bought won’t help you if you don’t get out there and do it.

Turkey Hunting's Most Dangerous Moment

2010-05-01T08:49:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, May 1, 2010.)

I used to sprint to the turkey after the shot.
I now coach myself to walk.

Adrenaline. It can be dangerous.

Adrenaline (also called epinephrine) is a hormone. It has been called “the fight or flight hormone.” It’s what prevents people from thinking about risk as they face danger. Without adrenaline, we wouldn’t have heroes. Without adrenaline humans would be far less successful, and possibly wouldn’t even survive.

Adrenaline is also what keeps a hunter awake as it trickles into the bloodstream the night before the season opener, and it’s what adds intensity to the moments before the shot.

Under a big dose of adrenaline, we go on autopilot. Think about that as you look forward to calling in and shooting that big tom turkey.

You’re sitting in the woods with a gobbler responding to your sweetest calls. Your adrenal glands sit atop your kidneys and release adrenaline into your bloodstream, boosting your heart rate and breathing rate. Your eyes focus intently. Dilated blood vessels prime your muscles for action.

As the big bird gets closer and closer you focus more and more on him, anticipating where he’ll become visible and when he’ll be in range. Once you see him, nothing else will compete for your attention.

You’ve mentally made a note of which trees he must pass in order to offer a safe and ethical shot. You’re functioning according to as many predetermined factors as you can anticipate.

Of course, this is turkey hunting, and you can’t anticipate everything. You can’t anticipate another hunter stalking your sounds, or closing in on the sounds of the gobbler you’re calling. That’s when turkey hunting accidents tend to happen. The caller’s focus is centered on the turkey while the careless stalker takes a stupid risk.

We don’t usually expect another hunter to stalk us or the turkey we’re calling to. That’s one reason it’s dangerous. We can’t predict it, so we give it little thought.

But another potentially dangerous situation happens virtually every time a turkey hunter pulls the trigger. I’ve done it myself, and I have to remind myself not to do it.

Bang! The turkey goes down, flapping his wings violently and tumbling amidst a whirlwind of feathers. Everything but the turkey is blocked from the hunter’s adrenaline-charged focus. In one fluid motion the hunter rises and runs to the gobbler to make sure it doesn’t get away.

What’s wrong with that scenario? The hunter is still under the influence of adrenaline, and unless he’s shooting a single shot shotgun, he may be running through the woods with a loaded gun. His finger is near the trigger in case a follow-up shot is needed. Heaven forbid that he should stumble and fall in the excitement.

We talk a lot about the potential danger of other hunters stupidly stalking the sounds of a turkey. We caution hunters to be sure of their targets. But rarely do we think much about that most adrenaline-intense moment – the rush to recover the turkey after the shot.

I used to sprint to the turkey after the shot. I now coach myself to walk. After all, if he was in range when I took the shot, if the shotgun properly targeted his head, and if the pellet pattern is dense enough, his head is jelly. He’s down for the count.

Of course, there are no guarantees. If the shot wasn’t lethal, and he somehow gets oriented and gets his head up, that’s the time for a follow-up shot.

I figure it this way. If I’m standing and have walked a few steps toward the bird, he’ll still be in range for that follow-up shot. If I’m running toward the bird, I’m introducing extra risks of falling and an accidental discharge of the shotgun.

Thankfully, I don’t know of any cases where an accident has happened under these circumstances. But it still makes sense after the shot to stay calm and approach the gobbler carefully. If you can’t keep yourself from running toward the gobbler, then I’d recommend shooting a single-shot, or a pump-action, and not chambering a new round until you know you’re going to need it.

Turkey Hunting Haiku

2010-04-17T07:43:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, April 17, 2010.)

Haiku are simple enough for me.

If winter is the season of death, spring is the season of life.

Myriad birds return from warmer climates. Robins, the traditional herald of spring, hop across the yard and cock their heads before pulling stubborn earthworms from the recently frozen sod.

We’ve heard the giant Vs of Canada geese with their northbound honking. While looking for them you might notice turkey vultures scouting the snowless landscape for a hearty meal of winterkill.

The spring peepers chirp endlessly from ponds, puddles and bogs. Those wetlands, dead just weeks ago, release turtles and frogs that somehow survived a long winter mud nap.

Some animals perished through the winter. Others persisted and are now more visible. They’ve abandoned the sheltered spots where they hunkered down to battle the harsh and heartless weather. Gobblers strut for hens. Deer look for safe places to drop their fawns.

As spring advances I’m amazed at the endless variations of green on the hills, a palette more impressive to me than fall’s brilliance. Rain intensifies the colors and liberates the smells while it pulls from the soil essential nutrition for every living thing.

The transformation from winter to spring is dramatic. We’re now living on a different planet. If spring failed to come just once, life as we know it would end.

But it didn’t end. Our northern hemisphere has roared to life. God is offering us another promise. He warms the earth, lifting spirits once more and bringing us another season of poetry.

I’m not much of a poet. If I’m going to read poetry I need poetry I can understand – simple verses, words with clear meanings, an ending that doesn’t make me say “Huh?”

Every once in a while I run across a haiku poem. Haiku are simple enough for me.

Haiku is a Japanese poetic style – brief, and easily expressed in a single breath. I can grasp the mechanics with ease – three lines with up to 17 syllables, often in a 5-7-5 format. The haiku is economical in its use of words to paint a picture without labored explanation. As poetry often does, it focuses on showing, rather than telling.

There aren’t many rules for haiku, and many haiku poets seem to break the few rules they have. Since haiku typically uses a “season word,” I thought it would be a perfect topic for spring. And what does a hunter think of in spring? What else? We’re on the cusp of turkey season.

So, I’ll take a shot at writing my own turkey hunting haiku. It offers nearly limitless concepts to tinker with: feathers, spurs, beards, colors, calls, blood, sounds, smells, tracks, gender, life, death, and on and on.

Here’s one that describes the classic turkey hunt, successful right after morning flydown:
Sunrise gobble sound
Trees waken raining turkeys
Gun speaks, gobbler silent.

You can see the strutting gobbler in this haiku:
Beard dragging puff ball
Every feather stands erect
White crown redneck fowl.

Here’s a haiku about scouting for turkeys:
Heading to the field
Three toes on a muddy trail
I found a strut zone.

Ever wonder about the gobbler’s point of view? You can stop wondering:
Stubborn hen won’t move
I’ll go to her, just this once
Boom. Life is over.

What’s the point of this? Not much more than fun. My haiku might not be good, but why not have fun while we wait for turkey season? It wouldn’t hurt to try your own turkey hunting haiku.

What I learned on April Fool's Day

2010-04-03T04:21:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, April 3, 2010.)

For pure fishing fun, I haven’t found anything
in Pennsylvania that beats steelhead.

“Look down there. That’s why I call this ‘Little Alaska’,” Pete said as he pointed to the stream.

I followed his finger and asked, “What am I looking for? A moose?” Then I saw the fish, so many of them I’d be able to walk across the stream on their backs if they’d hold still. “Wow!”

Pete Alex and I were fishing a Lake Erie tributary, Pete’s honey hole, for steelhead, and we had it almost to ourselves. It was only minutes before I caught one. The first, a hefty hook-jawed male, weighed seven pounds.

Then another, and another.

These fish don’t hit hard, but they fight like heavyweights. They suck in the bait, and once hooked some tail walk, others look for the deepest water they can find. Some run hard again and again. Others race downstream.

“Get out of my way,” I shouted to dozens of other fish as the one I had hooked tried to make his escape. I ran to keep up.

For pure fishing fun, I haven’t found anything in Pennsylvania that beats steelhead.

When conditions are right they’re not hard to catch. An ordinary spinning rod will do. Terminal tackle consisted of a small jig with a float spaced about four feet above the jig. We hooked a minnow through the lips. A tiny split shot about six inches above the jig was enough to sink the line while allowing the jig and the minnow enough freedom to perform for the fish.

On the retrieve, we gave the rod tip a little twitch every few seconds to keep the shiner moving. Fish were waiting to vacuum up the minnow morsels.

After a few hours the fish became lazy, just window-shopping our offerings, and the action slowed down. But we were played out too after playing out 25, maybe 30 nice fish. We finally called it quits.

It was a real privilege to fish with Pete in his secluded steelhead spot. But he also runs a charter on Lake Erie. I’ve fished with him there, too, and I guarantee he’ll be a hard working charter captain for you. Whether you’re looking for walleye, smallmouth, or steelhead, Pete is the guy to call. He’s a reliable, highly professional, very knowledgeable fishing guide who knows Lake Erie as well as anyone.

His charter is called Vision Quest Sport Fishing, and you can find him online at www.DreamSteelie.com. For the best fishing on Lake Erie, give him a call at 814-725-0694.

Pete also has a tournament fishing team called Vision Quest Team. Pete knows every trick, and that’s why they cash in as much as they do. If he’s not catching fish, they can’t be caught.

What did I learn on April Fool’s Day? I learned that I ought to do more fishing.

Buying Binoculars On a Budget

2010-03-19T09:00:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, March 20, 2010.)

As in every personal decision,
you have much to consider.

Repairing a car, woodworking, household chores – we’ve all had times when we’d like to have four hands. For hunters, two hands are usually enough, but four eyes would be nice.

The good news is that having a good pair of binoculars is like having four eyes – our natural peepers for looking near and optical assistance for looking far. But, with so many brands and so much fog to cut through, how does a person decide what to buy? What do hunters need to know when buying binoculars?

Some say that anything below top line is junk. If that’s true, most people will have to be satisfied with junk because few budgets include thousands of dollars for binos. Top end optics are essential in the hands of the professional hunter, the guide, or other specialists in the field. They use the principle that the more you use a set of optics, the better those optics need to be.

That’s the same principle you should use when shopping optics. There’s no shame in not buying the best European brand if you consider your purchase carefully and buy the best you can afford. Here’s a good starting point for choosing binoculars:

1. Decide your price range. Stretch a little, and you’ll be glad you did.
2. Decide what power you want – 7 through 10 is all most of us can hold steady without extra support.
3. Decide what size you want. You won’t use binoculars that are too small to let much light reach your eyes, or so large that they’re cumbersome.
4. Decide where you will use them. If you keep them in the car or look through the kitchen window you won’t need waterproof binos. For outdoor use, waterproof is a must.

Those four issues, price, power, size and waterproofing, are not matters of quality. But once you’ve made those decisions, it’s time to consider the quality issues.

The first quality issue is what the glass prisms inside are made from. Usually we have two choices: BK7 and BaK4. What you want is BaK4 glass. It’s denser, lets more light through, and produces less eyestrain.

Next, consider the lens coatings. Anti-reflective coatings prevent light from being reflected away from its path through the binoculars. But be warned. The term “coated” might mean only one glass surface has a single coating. “Fully coated” means all glass surfaces are coated. “Multi-coated” might mean only one surface has more than one coating. Don’t settle for those. You need every surface coated multiple times.

What you want is “fully multi-coated,” which means that every glass surface, inside and out, is coated multiple times. That’s important when you realize that some binos have 10 or 12 glass surfaces, and each surface reflects about 5 percent of the light striking it.

Now consider the numbers. Compact binos of 8 x 25 have 8-power magnification with a 25 mm objective lens. (The objectives are the lenses at the end of the binoculars opposite your eyes.) 8 x 25 is small, lightweight and handy, but might not serve you well.

Simple math tells you the size of the little round beam of light that will reach your eyes. It’s called the “exit pupil.” Divide the number 25 by 8. Those binoculars will deliver an exit pupil to your iris of just over 3mm, smaller than your iris in low light, so less than you need if you’re going to use them at the edges of darkness.

An 8 x 50 pair of binoculars will give you an exit pupil of more than 6mm, about all that most eyes can use. Every pair of binoculars between the compact 8 x 25 and the full size 8 x 50 will be a compromise of weight, size and optical brightness.

There is more to consider, including rubber armor coverings, a comfortable neck strap, adjustment for distance between your eyes, using with or without eyeglasses, and more. But those are the basics, and enough information to show that buying a pair of binoculars is a personal decision. It has a lot to do with comfort. That’s why Vickie Gardner, Vice President of Alpen Optics says, “When is buying binoculars like buying shoes? Always.”

Like shoes, binoculars come from many companies, and in many sizes, styles and price ranges. As in every personal decision, you have much to consider.

Deer Need Hunters

2010-03-13T12:22:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, March 13, 2010.)

Deer management, for the sake of the deer,
must provide a future for lawful, regulated hunting.

When we call lions “king of beasts” and wolves “top dog,” we’re talking about predators. But when it comes to the hunting world in America, whitetail deer are the reigning kings and hunters are their top predator. So when hunters prey on deer we’re playing a natural and necessary role in wildlife management. That’s because properly managing deer is the key to managing most other forest species.

Hunters seldom discuss deer management today without bringing up the term “quality deer management.” It’s a term we bandy about, often without definition, and with varied concepts about what it is.

The definition the Quality Deer Management Association uses is as good as any: “Quality Deer Management (QDM) is a management philosophy and practice that unites landowners, hunters, and managers in a common goal of producing biologically and socially balanced deer herds within existing environmental, social, and legal constraints.”

That’s a broad definition, but it doesn’t mention one particular word people often use when discussing QDM. The word is “genetics” -- a word they use when talking about antler size, even though the average person knows little about genetics, and even less about the relationship between genetics and antlers. And it sidetracks too many discussions.

Management of a free ranging whitetail deer herd has nothing to do with antler genetics. Why not? Because genetics are virtually impossible to control in a free-ranging herd.

The reason? Breeding ecology is complex. Bucks with the most impressive antlers do not necessarily breed the most does. And females also make a contribution to antler genetics. The doe, according to one deer farmer I know, is responsible for 60% of her buck fawn’s genetic antler potential. We cannot identify the does that carry the best genes for antlers in their male fawns, and those mothers may not be the most prolific breeders or the best mothers anyway.

Simply put, management of a free ranging herd can never match up the “best” bucks with the “best” does. So, when managing free ranging whitetails, genetics is off the agenda.

That’s why the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s new draft proposal of the “Management and Biology of White-Tailed Deer 2009-2018” barely mentions genetics, and only to say it’s not relevant to their efforts.

Here’s the statement: “Given… the complexity of the white-tailed deer’s breeding ecology, and high genetic variation, large scale alteration to Pennsylvania’s deer herd’s genetics is unlikely.”

The confusion comes because quality deer management usually results in deer with larger antlers. That’s because a policy of population control allows the habitat to provide adequate nutrition for bucks and does alike, and because a harvest policy that takes the pressure off the younger bucks will allow them to get older. Antler size is a by-product of these policies, not genetics.

We all like big antlers, and even though big antlers are a way to measure some aspects of deer management, they’re not the goal of deer management. Other goals are far more important.

Deer management is often divisive, when it should unite all interested people around the goals of generating healthy habitat that supports healthy deer. In the modern world deer management should produce a socially balanced and biologically sound herd. It must consider human social needs, and address the various conflicts between deer and people. It must foster environmental health, including forest regeneration and the health of other species. And for the sake of the deer, it must provide a future for lawful, regulated hunting.

That’s a whole lot more than antlers.

While wildlife biologists develop deer management plans the deer debate will continue, but the challenge will be to keep hunters the top predator. Without them all wildlife species, not just deer, are in trouble. It’s ironic, but yes, deer need hunters.

Coyotes Thrive Despite Pressure

2010-02-18T00:15:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, February 20, 2010.)

Hunters have never created
a shortage of canine yodelers.

Two eyes reflected in the headlights. Deer? No. The eyes were too close to the ground as the animal slinked across the road.

Although we have lots of coyotes throughout eastern North America, that’s about the best glimpse most ordinary people get of the eastern coyote. Although coyotes are common, most people haven’t yet had a good look at one.

When I was a kid, coyotes created ambiance for 1960s Rawhide television episodes. As the cattle driving crew gathered around the campfire at night, with the chuckwagon as a backdrop, you’d hear the lonesome song dogs howl. At the time, few people knew they were also colonizing eastern states, including Pennsylvania.

That was proven to me by Wildlife Conservation Officer Dave Titus before he passed away. He showed me the March 1941 issue of Pennsylvania Game News containing a brief account of a group of hunters from Venango County who discovered some coyotes during the 1940 deer season. After deer season they went back out to hunt them, and in January they killed several. A couple of old-timey photos documented the event.

Back then coyotes were rare, living in isolated pockets in Venango, Tioga, and a few other counties. But they were busy breeders, and by the 1970s they had strengthened their foothold in the state.

By the 1980s hunters discovered that pursuing coyotes was challenging, and sportsmen’s clubs began to organize coyote hunting contests. In the first few years not many were killed because hunters hadn’t yet learned how to hunt them. That has all changed.

Today, coyotes are thriving. Nearly every hunter who uses trail cameras gets an occasional photo. Hunters sometimes harvest coyotes while hunting deer, turkeys or woodchucks, and those who deliberately target the predators succeed with a variety of methods. They’re here, they’re plentiful, and they’re a prized animal.

Now, the Mosquito Creek Sportsman’s Association in Clearfield County conducts the largest coyote hunt, but it’s just one of many clubs throughout the state that organize hunts. Last year Mosquito Creek held its 18th annual hunt, and 3800 registered hunters harvested a total of 173 coyotes in 40 counties.

Some contests do not limit the methods used, and contest records reveal that trapping, running with dogs, calling, standing, driving and even tracking can be successful. And it’s common for top hunters to take two, three, or more coyotes.

In the 2008 Mosquito Creek hunt one hunter brought in three in a single day and a total of seven during the three-day event. The heaviest coyotes bring hunters a rewarding payday. The winning animals often weigh more than 50 pounds and can be worth thousands in prize money.

The average non-hunter might think these organized hunts and contests threaten the population of these big predators, but wherever coyotes have existed, hunters and trappers – no matter how successful they have been – have never created a shortage of canine yodelers.

Throughout the history of the United States, coyotes have habitually expanded their range and have proven themselves resilient despite the best efforts of hunters and trappers. Pennsylvanians are demonstrating again that coyotes thrive despite relentless pressure.

An Official State Firearm?

2010-02-06T10:24:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, February 6, 2010.)

If discussing it is waste of time,
then let’s just do it.

Pennsylvania’s official state flower is the mountain laurel. Pretty! Its state bird is the ruffed grouse. Beautiful! Its state animal is the whitetail deer. Graceful! And soon, the Pennsylvania Longrifle might be the Keystone State’s official state firearm. You kidding?

No, I’m not kidding. And it’s a great idea.

Senator Pat Browne of the Lehigh Valley has introduced legislation that would make this historic weapon the only official state firearm in the nation. I say let’s do it.

Critics claim a state firearm will encourage violence. Nonsense. A state firearm will more likely reduce violence by fostering a respect for history.

To those who would object that a state firearm would encourage violence, I suggest they learn just what a longrifle is. With an origin in the 16th century, it helped create and protect our liberties until about 1900 as it fed, clothed, and enriched frontier life.

Practically, its design makes criminal use absurd. With a barrel up to four feet long, it’s neither concealable nor easily operable. With a firing rate of about one shot per minute, anyone using it in any sort of combat today is at a worrisome disadvantage.

Shooting it isn’t as simple as slapping some cartridges into the gun and firing off a volley. Loading involves funneling blackpowder down the barrel, then ramming in a round lead ball wrapped in a swatch of cotton. Then, the rifle needs primed with a finer gunpowder, which is ignited by a spark from a piece of flint. Pull the trigger, the gun goes “Boom,” and belches a cloud of white smoke -- if the powder is dry.

Yep, there’s a reason for that old saying “Keep yer powder dry.” Black gunpowder is especially hygroscopic. That’s a five-dollar word meaning the stuff is thirsty. Wanna shoot again? Repeat all the steps. And hurry up! No, you won’t see any criminal robbing a convenience store with that unwieldy antique.

Artistically, the Pennsylvania Longrifle teaches about craftsmanship in wood and metal. Assembly lines were still centuries away, so every gunmaker (mostly German immigrants) had to be a skilled woodworker and metallurgist. They were the master craftsmen of their day.

Its sleek and elegant stock, often of highly figured curly maple, was finished with brass ornaments. A patchbox was built into the stock, with a decorative brass lid that kept the cotton patches clean, dry and relatively handy.

Historically, the Pennsylvania Longrifle was also a survival tool. As the frontier expanded beyond Pennsylvania’s borders, it was made virtually everywhere along the way. Berks County, PA native Daniel Boone cradled one in his arms as he explored the Kentucky wilderness, which led to the inaccurate appellation “Kentucky Rifle.” Naming the longrifle Pennsylvania’s official state firearm would help correct that misnomer.

It played a vital role in the French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and countless frontier battles up to the twentieth century. And though they’re no longer a combat weapon, a special deer season still offers an opportunity for hunters to use them as our ancestors did.

Any state lawmaker who objects to making the longrifle the state firearm ought to visit the Jacobsburg Historical Society which houses the Pennsylvania Longrifle Museum. Dave Ehrig, President of the Society and a leading expert on antique arms, says “The Pennsylvania Longrifle is intrinsic to the fabric of the history of Pennsylvania. It represents a vision of the founders, an industry, an artform and a people.”

That’s why collectors pay tens of thousands of dollars today for originals in good condition, and why reproductions are meticulously crafted to the standards of the period.

Through what it teaches about art, craftsmanship and history, naming the Pennsylvania Longrifle the state firearm is more likely to reduce crime than increase it. And it will help people understand what they’re seeing when they watch a historic battle reenactment.

The only other objection I’ve heard is that with all the tough issues on the table in our statehouse, a discussion about a state firearm is a waste of time.

I agree, so let’s just do it. Let’s stop ignoring history. Let’s make sure our students and others can better understand the roots of our state and the tools that helped shape Pennsylvania to play a proud and critical role in our nation’s history. Surely it’s more important than a state cookie (chocolate chip) or a state toy (the slinky).

Some Questions About Antler Genetics

2010-01-23T07:48:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, January 23, 2010.)

Genetics are the third component of
antler potential, following age and nutrition.

As a young hunter I was like many others. We read everything we could get our hands on about deer hunting. But some of what we learned was simply not true.

One of those untruths was that our particular subspecies of whitetail deer in Pennsylvania were smallish, compared to whitetails in other states, and they lacked much genetic potential for large antlers.

Actually, that was only partly true. Pennsylvania’s variety of whitetail deer were smallish, but only because they were mostly youngish. And they were youngish because the standard of what was a legal target put the focus on harvesting young bucks.

In those days if a buck had a three-inch spike antler he was legal. With a million hunters targeting any legal buck, most bucks we shot were wearing their first set of antlers.

What has the antler restriction policy accomplished?

“Antler restrictions” changed the minimum standards for defining a legal buck. Now, a buck must have branched antlers, with three points on a side in some areas and four points in others. So for one thing, it has increased the average age of bucks.

For another, it has made getting a buck more difficult. Instead of seeing a flash of antler before shooting, a hunter must count points. Even if it takes just a few seconds, that’s a few seconds the buck can use to escape to live another day – maybe another year.

Once a deer survives one season, he is better equipped to survive another season. As he becomes older, he gets savvier and more difficult to harvest. It takes four or five years for a buck reach full maturity. Only then, and only if he gets adequate nutrition, can he afford to put more resources into growing the headgear he has the potential for.

Has the antler restriction policy improved genetics?

No – it can’t, and it was never intended to. Genetics are the third component of antler potential, following age and nutrition. Having increased the age of our whitetails through antler restrictions, and having reduced the competition for nutrition through herd reduction, we’re now seeing more evidence of the antler genetics Pennsylvania whitetails have always had.

Since antler restrictions were put into place, Boone & Crockett record book whitetails are coming from areas where we’ve never seen them before.

That’s proof enough that Pennsylvania has good antler genetics. But I’m not saying Boone & Crockett is the standard for a successful deer program. A successful program is not defined by producing record book whitetails. Nevertheless large whitetails are coming from places where they’ve never existed in modern times. Forest County has produced its first two B & C bucks in a couple of generations, if not the first ever. Last year another was harvested in Jefferson County on public land.

Good antler genetics has always been here, but for decades most bucks were harvested before they grew up. We’re killing fewer deer now, but our bucks are getting older and exhibiting their genetic potential.

Going way back, the best place to see the evidence for impressive Pennsylvania whitetail antler potential is in photos from “the days of yore” in books like Pennsylvania Deer and Their Horns (Henry W. Shoemaker, 1915, reprinted 2002 by Wennawoods Publishing).

Will Pennsylvania ever become a “trophy state” on par with Iowa, Illinois, or even our neighboring Ohio?

No, and it’s not only because those states manage deer differently than we do here in Pennsylvania. It’s also because those states have very fertile soil compared to most areas of Pennsylvania.

For comparison, sprawling Ohio farms produce almost twice as many bushels of corn per acre than Pennsylvania farms. That means better nutrition for does carrying fawns, for first year fawns, and for adult bucks. One Ohio hunter told me he never sees spikes or four points in Ohio because deer eat better there. And adult bucks not only grow large antlers. They also pack on the weight. He harvested a 313-pound buck last October.

Wildlife management can influence age and nutrition, but no state has implemented a policy to control antler genetics in a wild deer herd.

What did he score?

2010-01-09T18:04:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, January 9, 2010.)

Deer hunting is not about
who hangs the biggest antlers on his wall.

It’s a question often asked about whitetail bucks. Sometimes it’s a good question, and sometimes not so good.

Deer antlers are measured or scored according to several systems. The Boone & Crockett Club uses the most well known system, and scores animals taken by any fair chase means. The Pope & Young Club measures animals taken only with archery equipment. The Safari Club International and Buckmasters, to name a couple of others, also use scoring systems.

With some variations, these organizations measure antlers with a cumulative tally of width, main beam lengths, a series of circumference measurements to gauge mass, and the sum of the tine lengths to produce a total gross score.

Although I appreciate knowing how antler scores are determined, I seldom mention antler measurements in this space. It’s not a means of pointing out the superiority of one animal over another, or one hunter over another.

Trophy status has more to do with how we experience the hunt and the challenge of the hunt than with a high Boone & Crockett score. But the main benefit of scoring is that it’s a fairly objective way to compare one buck with others, and put a picture in the mind’s eye of relative size. But objectivity isn’t everything.

Years ago hunters talked mainly about how many points a buck had, but that doesn’t reveal much. My eight-point might have a width of 10 inches, tines just 2 or 3 inches long, and circumferences under 3 inches. Yours might be 20 inches wide, with tines ranging from 6 to 12 inches, and circumferences of 5 or 6 inches. The difference between the two racks is enormous, so the question “How many points did he have?” is irrelevant.

My buck might have been a 1½ year-old, yours might have 4½ or 5½ years of wisdom and survival experience. (Deer are born during the spring so they’re always at half-years during deer season.)

Which 8-point is the greater trophy? Even knowing their ages doesn’t tell the story. Let’s say you harvested yours in the first hours of opening day from a comfortable tree castle, and the buck was punching a timeclock at a luscious, irresistible food plot. I shot mine in the final hours of the last day, with my boots on the ground, in a raging blizzard, one man battling the elements.

Now, which is the trophy? Knowing some of the details of the hunt might make a difference in how you answer.

Famed Vermont hunter Lanny Benoit, who detests today’s emphasis on antler scores, thinks northeastern deer tracking culture has it right. He told me people in Vermont and Maine don’t ask about antlers. Instead they inquire, “How much did it weigh?” That’s another way of asking “How much food did you get?” There might be something to that.

Certainly, bigger antlers and bigger bodied deer both are products of maturity. Deer must live several years to maximize their antlers or their body size. The truth is that deer are a prey species that survive countless threats to reach that stage.

And maturity correlates to smarter, savvier animals that are harder to harvest, and often more impressive trophies. No one looks at common spike antlers and says “Wow!” Everyone looks at Boone & Crockett antlers and says “Wow!”

Antlers are impressive. Antlers are fascinating. But deer hunting is not about who hangs the biggest antlers on his wall. Indeed, the story about harvesting that yearling buck might be more wow-worthy than a story about a Boone & Crockett giant.

The question “What did he score?” is not so good when it makes antlers a matter of competition. And although the Boone & Crockett Club is probably best known for ranking trophies, that hasn’t been its primary aim since Teddy Roosevelt first founded it. The organization is foremost a conservation organization dedicated to the practices of sound wildlife conservation. Scoring trophies is a way of acknowledging the products of that conservation.

Start hunting next season’s deer now

2009-12-26T09:25:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, December 26, 2009.)

Deer hunting never comes with a guarantee,
but you have the power to make
next season better than last season.

Now is the time to begin hunting next year’s deer.

After the season, with the busyness of the Christmas season and the advent of frigid temperatures and deep snows, many deer hunters begin to relax, hunker down for a long winter, and enjoy the fruits of the just-ended season.

But that’s not the path to success next season. To raise the odds of success next year, it’s wise to begin that hunt now. How do you do that? Several ways.

First, for those who use trail cameras (or who got that first one for Christmas), get them out in the woods as soon as possible. We tend to think of using them in the late summer and fall to begin patterning the bucks we’re after. That doesn’t hurt, but it’s only one use of a trail camera.

Just as retailers take inventory in January in order to assess last year’s sales and take stock of what’s on hand at the start of a year, deer hunters should take inventory at the same time in order to see what made it through the season.

And, the sooner the better. You want to capture images of bucks before they’ve lost their antlers. Some have dropped antlers already, so you have no time to lose.

Get the cameras into places where deer are feeding or traveling. Their movements are more limited in cold weather in order to conserve energy. If you don’t get any images of deer by the first break in the weather, relocate your cameras until you do.

Another post-season strategy is to get into the snowy woods and pick up a track. Look for a good-sized single track -- one that’s likely to be an adult buck or a mature doe. Follow it wherever it goes.

And again, do it now -- the sooner the better. Why? Because the longer you wait the more likely you won’t do it, and the more likely the snows will build up and make the effort difficult.

Reserve an entire day for this exercise -- more if you have the time. Yes, many demands and obligations make this difficult, but even if you can find room in your schedule for just one day in the woods this January, it will pay off. You’ll learn lessons you can use next season, and you’ll get the exercise we all need during the winter months.

All the better if the track you follow is a buck. It will take you places where you wouldn’t have guessed a deer will go. It will give you insight into deer behavior that you won’t get any other way. It will teach you what deer do when a man is on his track. And it will give you confidence that you can successfully follow a deer’s track.

When he’s traveling in a straight line, move right along. If he begins meandering and nipping on the tips of brush, slow down because he’s probably close. Carry a good pair of binoculars and scan the landscape ahead.

Both activities -- trail camera photography and tracking deer -- will give you some good ideas on where to look for shed antlers when the snow melts. That’s another way to take inventory on the bucks that have survived.

After dark is a great time to study whitetail behavior – not in the woods but in the comfort of your favorite reading chair. Turn off the television and pick up one of the many excellent books on deer behavior. Strategies for Whitetails by Charles J. Alsheimer is a great one. The next one I’m going to digest is Whitetail Advantage by Dr. David Samuel.

Now is a great time to pick up the Whitetail Calendar from Krause Publications. Not only does it have some of the best whitetail photography you’ll see anywhere, it also gives you a guide to the phases of the whitetail rut.

By the time fall comes, you’ll have built a databank of information. The main task left will be to find preferred food sources.

Deer hunting never comes with a guarantee, but you have the power to make next season better than last season.

The Word Is “Harvest”

2009-12-12T08:27:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, December 12, 2009.)

I just walked out into the woods, put a leash on them,
and they let me take them home. Right.

Before long, game management agencies across the United States will start releasing 2009 harvest numbers for game animals. Yes, the word is “harvest.”

Anti-hunters object to the word “harvest” for the taking of game. They argue that the word is a euphemism, a substitute word intended to be less offensive. They say “harvest” should be reserved for agricultural crops.

“Farmers harvest corn, and wheat, and soybeans,” they’ll say. “Hunters kill. Hunters murder. Deer are not crops, and hunters aren’t innocently gathering crops.”

In contrast, I’ve heard some hunters say, “Let’s be honest. Let’s be clear. We kill deer, bears, turkeys. No reason to kowtow to the antis with sanitary, politically correct words like harvest.”

Some people advocate the word “take.” I took some deer this year -- I just walked out into the woods, put a leash on them, and they let me take them home. Right.

“Take” is so bland that it fails to recognize the role of the hunter. It might suggest to some the idea of theft, and it overlooks the fact that hunters provide a needed service.

What are other words we could use?

“Kill” doesn’t recognize whether it’s legal or not. Poachers kill, but they’re not hunters; they’re thieves who steal from ethical sportsmen. Conservation officers kill injured animals; they use the word “dispatch.” Poached animals, dispatched animals, and road-killed animals aren’t included in harvest totals. Nor do they have anything to do with bag limits.

Speaking of bag limits, “bag” is somewhat archaic, and might create the mental image of putting an animal into a bag to carry home. “I bagged a deer.” Huh? “Bag” most often refers to a hunter’s daily or seasonal limits.

“Put down” implies euthanasia. Veterinarians do that to old or sick animals under their care. Hunters want healthy animals, and aren’t authorized to euthanize game animals.

Other terms are negative, unnecessarily implying violence to the exclusion of positive benefits of the hunt. Some show disrespect for the animal. Some terms are creative. For example, “I disconnected his pump station,” or, “I let the air out.” Those are euphemisms.

I doubt any words would satisfy everyone, but the word “harvest” is more than a euphemism. It actually means something.

Yes, the word “harvest” is sanitary. It doesn’t remind us that blood is involved, or gut piles, or butchering – same as commercial husbandry. But it does make a distinction between legally killed game and all other kills. It reflects the fact that the harvest is planned to keep game populations at manageable and renewable levels.

The word “harvest” isn’t just a politically correct word, and it shouldn’t confuse anyone. Its usage isn’t limited to agricultural crops. Medical people speak of harvesting healthy organs or tissues for the purpose of transplanting.

In arid regions, people speak of harvesting water -- collecting rainwater for irrigation.
We hear people speak of harvesting renewable energy -- capturing and storing solar, wind and geothermal energy.

Foresters talk about harvesting timber and the need to provide a sustainable yield. We harvest renewable resources. It’s safe to say that every state game management agency uses the term harvest, because game populations are a renewable resource.

Jesus used the word harvest in John 4:35 when he said “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” If Jesus can use the word “harvest” to talk about people’s souls, if doctors can harvest organs, if foresters can harvest trees, then hunters can talk about the annual harvest of game.

I’m for using the word “harvest.” Harvest implies something else that’s positive. Harvest implies thankfulness. I’m thankful for the opportunity to hunt, and to bring in the harvest.

A Deer Camp Debate

2009-11-28T06:39:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, November 28, 2009.)

Far more rifle calibers than can be mentioned here
will be toted on opening day,
and most are well suited to deer hunting.

“What’s the best rifle caliber for Pennsylvania whitetails?” It’s an open question at every deer camp every season, and a debate no one ever wins.

Plenty of calibers are contenders. Without a doubt, the .30-30 has killed more whitetails than any other round. The reasons are many. It started life in the days of black powder, so it has had a long, long career.

It was chambered in rifles that had a huge following -- the Winchester 94 and the Marlin 336 -- short, fast handling lever actions, as well as a variety of inexpensive bolt action rifles. It has made so many comebacks, we could call it the George Foreman of deer calibers. I once looked down on the cartridge, thinking it was slow, inaccurate and ugly. I ended up taking it hunting last year, and it did very well.

Supporters of the .30-06 always make a strong argument for its superiority. A deer killer for more than a hundred years, it benefited from its birth as a military cartridge. Lots of veterans were familiar with it and they passed it down to their children and grandchildren. I’ve taken many deer with a couple of different .30-06 rifles, so I can attest to its effectiveness. It will kill any deer cleanly.

The .30-06 has a distinguished family. Its offspring include the .270, the .280, and the .25-06. All are designed from the .30-06 case, and each has its following. The .270 is certainly the most widely accepted offspring of the .30-06, and was touted by the late Jack O’Connor, shooting editor of Outdoor Life magazine. He left his earthly goods behind more than 30 years ago, but his devotion to the .270 created a lasting following for the cartridge.

Were it not for O’Connor, the .280 might be considered the better cartridge. It will do everything a .270 will do, and more, because it’s available in a greater variety of bullet weights. Speed loving riflemen will argue that the .25-06 will do with velocity all that any bigger bullet will do with weight. Although it’s not widely used, it’s another well-respected member of the .30-06 family.

A distant cousin to the old “ought-six” is the .308 Winchester. The .308 is another military veteran, shorter than the .30-06 but with the same girth. It’s only a slightly weaker performer than the ’06, but still more than enough for whitetails and most other game animals in the United States.

Like the .30-06, the .308 has spawned its own children. At the lighter end of the scale, the .243 Winchester reigns supreme. Low recoil makes it popular among young people getting started in deer hunting, but it will serve a hunter well at any age. With 90 or 100 grain bullets, it delivers plenty of energy to a deer’s vitals. Proof enough for me is the fact that all the deer I’ve shot with a .243 didn’t go far.

Far more rifle calibers than can be mentioned here will be toted on opening day, and most are well suited to deer hunting.

I have my opinion, but rather than talk in terms of the “best,” I’d rather simply state my favorite. It’s another child of the .308 conceived in the late 1950s and born commercially in 1980 -- the .308 cartridge necked down to .284, or 7mm.

It’s called the 7mm-08, and it’s a great compromise between the modest .243 and the popular .308. With bigger bullets, it hits harder than the .243, and almost as hard as the .308. In fact, at ranges beyond 200 yards, the .7mm-08 outperforms the .308 with higher velocity and more punch.

Recoil is mild, especially with lighter bullets, so it’s a good choice for recoil sensitive hunters. It’s a flat shooter, easy to handload, is suitable for any medium sized game, and is at home in dense woods or in the plains.

I could go on to mention more calibers. I’ve said nothing about the .257 Roberts, the .250-3000, the 6.5 x 55, the .300 Savage, anything bigger than .30 caliber, or any of the magnums. But at least I’ve said enough to fuel some arguments at this year’s deer camp. Have at it, but keep ’em friendly.

Never Enough Knives

2009-11-14T09:31:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, November 14, 2009.)

I think there’s a connection
between a keen edge and a sharp mind

A long time ago, my dad told me a small knife is better than a big knife for field dressing a deer. He was right. And, being a budding outdoorsman who thought his dad was the greatest hunter in the world, I asked him if I could have his knife. Maybe I thought having it would make me the hunter that he was.

I reckoned it would suit a six-year-old just fine – it was small, light, and looked kid-sized compared to some of the knives I’d seen. It had a white celluloid handle and was made by the Western Knife Company of Colorado. Dad didn’t give it to me then, but assured me by carving my name in the back of the sheath that it would someday be mine.

Many years later Dad kept his promise. I have better knives, but once in a while for old time’s sake I take his knife deer hunting. It’s a knife that will always be special, even though he almost wore it out by sharpening the blade countless times.

Today I have more knives than I actually use, but I don’t have enough. Hunting knives, pocket knives, fixed blade knives, folding knives, Swiss Army knives and homemade knives. My favorites are the knives that once belonged to someone else.

Besides Dad’s hunting knife, I have an old Ka-Bar “fighting knife” with USN stamped on the tang. It came home with my uncle, a patriot and a World War II Navy veteran. It’s big – 12 inches long – because its user is likely to ask a lot of it.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have a couple of old miniature knives that you wouldn’t ask to do much more than a manicure. They were a gift from a long-gone friend. I also have a handsome W. R. Case knife commemorating the bicentennial anniversary of my home town, a gift from a newer friend. That knife is too beautiful to ask to do anything.

One more knife I’ll mention. Dad once gave me an interesting knife brought home from a friend’s trip to the Far East. It appears to be a home-forged knife with a bone handle, perhaps the leg bone of a dog. It has two folding blades, and both blades feature engraved characters in some language I’ve never been able to identify. I use it only for a conversation piece, and in doing so maybe someday I’ll find out something about it. I just hope the words on the blades don’t say “Death to the infidel!”

Although women use knives, knives are definitely “mantiques,” or collectibles for men. Knives are as simple as tools get – blade and handle married as one. A knife is the original multi-purpose tool, useful for countless tasks.

And whether they’re old and rusty, shiny and artistic, fixed blade or folder, knives often speak if you’re listening.

Sometimes you’ll see a man take a knife out of his pocket and examine it closely, then put it back. That’s one more use for a knife. “What’s that,” you ask? It might have told him a story. Or maybe he used it to focus his thoughts. I think there’s a connection between a keen edge and a sharp mind.

It’s a sad fact of today’s world that a knife in someone’s hand raises suspicion. I’d rather not part be of that world. I’d rather be part of a world where a knife is a sign of trust – especially when you give someone that knife. Give a man a knife and you’re telling him you believe in him.

Somehow, the gift of a knife strengthens a relationship like nothing else can. If you want to cement a relationship with a man, give him a knife. It’s the perfect gift for the man you think has everything, because no man ever has enough knives.

The Fifth Participant

2009-10-31T05:40:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 31, 2009.)

The hunter is part predator, part spectator.

Today is the day. It’s what I think, what I feel, every time I enter the woods in pursuit of whitetail deer. It’s a premonition that the day will bring something special.

I picture an 8-point buck walking into an opening and my arrow disappearing into its chest. But the kill never seems to happen just how I picture it.

No, the kill usually doesn’t happen at all. Every day cannot be a day for death. On most days no buck steps into that fatal shooting lane. No deer presents the correct shot angle. I go home empty handed.

Yet I always believe that today is the day, the day for a new adventure, a new insight, a new opportunity to participate in nature’s drama.

On one October afternoon, loaded with optimism and a quiver of arrows, I headed to my treestand anticipating that day’s unique experience.

At about a hundred yards from my stand I began laying down a scent trail around the perimeter of an abandoned apple orchard. I aimed to intercept the nose of any deer passing through, and direct it to a spot 15 yards from my ladder stand.

I glanced to my right and noticed some scattered feathers near a thicket. Large feathers. A big bird had met its executioner and left its plumage to mark its passing. Closer inspection revealed the feathers of an owl, distinctive because of the rounded tips with softly frayed ends, an adaptation that silences the wings for surprise attacks.

I finished the scent trail, climbed into my stand and turned to look over my shoulder. Dangling from a dead snag, about 20 yards away and six feet high, was more evidence of the demise of the magnificent bird.

The right wing of a barred owl, complete with all its primary feathers, quaked in the gentle breeze. It was dark on top and creamy on the bottom, with distinct chocolate brown bars. I wondered how it got there.

As I waited for a deer to become my own prey, I considered the mystery of this great bird’s ending.

A half dozen industrious squirrels mined the bounty of nuts in a hickory grove adjacent to the apple trees. I enjoyed watching their antics and hearing them scurry in the forest litter. Surely the abundance of squirrels would draw predators to this lively spot.

I pictured the owl, whose wingspan had been nearly 50 inches, perched in the treetop eyeing a squirrel and waiting for it to let down its guard. Two participants, but there must have been a third. What preys on this large airborne predator?

I remembered the coyote I saw pass through a few nights earlier, and imagined him lying in the thicket, watching the same squirrel work its way close enough to become a quick, easy meal.

Oblivious to the coyote, the big barred owl plunged to the earth on silent wings and sank its talons into the careless squirrel’s spine, hardly allowing it time to know it had been attacked.

The assault surprised the coyote and triggered his split second response. He struck, sinking his teeth into the owl’s round head and taking two prizes at once. Before the wing beats subsided, he began reducing the owl to dinner. When finished he carried the squirrel away, satisfied but soon hungry again.

The executioner was executed; the predator had become prey. Scattered feathers and a wing were left for me to discover.

One question remained. How did the wing of the owl get to the top of the six-foot snag? The call of a crow answered my thoughts. Because owls suffer endless harassment from the black scavengers, I surmised that the wing was lifted to this perch to be plundered by a crow, the fourth participant in this drama.

After the crow had stripped the wing of its flesh, he left what remained as a totem – a reminder that every day is indeed a day for death, and that the hunter is part predator, part spectator.

I envy the efficiency of the full time predators, yet I’m glad that my life does not depend on killing something every day.

Yes, today is the day. Today is always the day.

What Stinks?

2009-10-16T11:15:00.006-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 17, 2009.)

Think of the surface of your skin
as a rut zone for bacteria.

What stinks? If you’re a deer hunter, the answer is probably you!

It’s not necessarily body odor. We normally take precautions against body odor in order to avoid being offensive to our own species, and that often means overcoming natural odors with soap, shampoo, underarm deodorant, cologne, lotion, mouthwash and other personal hygiene products.

But those are offensive if we use them when pursuing species with well-developed noses such as whitetail deer. I remember following a hunting partner up a hill many years ago. I could hardly stand his aftershave. No wonder we didn’t see a deer that day.

The truth is that we often sabotage our hunts if we use the same personal preparations as we use before going to the office or out to dinner. Most hunters have too little respect for the sense of smell a deer has. Deer live and die by their noses, so we need to give much more attention to our hunting preparation than we do for social situations.

Few deer hunters realize how many ways we distribute odor in the woods. We cannot enter the woods without leaving part of ourselves there, and deer will notice.

Here’s an example. I wear a watch with a nylon fabric band. It appears to be dusty. What I’m looking at is dead skin cells that my long sleeves channel down my arms where some of them are caught by the fuzzy fabric on my watch band.

What that tells me is that even without a dandruff problem, I’m shedding skin cells all the time, and if I’m out in the woods some of them drop off wherever I walk. When a deer comes by, he’s on alert because he can smell the part of me I’ve left behind.

Many times we’re careless at the gas pump or step in oils on the garage floor where we pick up odors that we deposit in the woods. Besides skin cells, we leave scents in the woods in the form of body oils, personal hygiene products, breath odors and perspiration.

Sweat would be odorless if the bacteria on our skin didn’t find it the ideal environment in which to thrive. And thriving includes propagating. This isn’t an accurate description, but it will help to think of the surface of your skin as a rut zone for bacteria.

The stuff that makes us give off odor is almost endless, so zipping ourselves into one of the expensive and heavily advertised miracle suits can’t possibly eliminate all odor. The best it can do is to help reduce odor.

And that means we need to do more than try to cover our scent. Cover scents can help, but the deer’s nose is able to distinguish that from other odors, so we need to do everything we can to reduce or eliminate human odors.

Showering before a hunt with scent-free anti-bacterial soap will not only eliminate accumulated odor-producing bacteria, but will inhibit its return. It will also wash off dead skin cells and loose hair that otherwise might drop off in the woods, and body oils that we deposit on anything we touch.

Use a personal deodorant that is not only odorless, but also retards the growth of bacteria. Wash hunting clothing frequently in baking soda or a soap that does not add any scent and eliminates the scents that accumulate on it – scents from our own bodies as well as the environment where our clothing is stored.

This season I’m adding a pill called Nullo (www.Nullo.com) to my regimen. It’s a chlorophyll compound that’s advertised to help reduce human odor from the inside, including breath odor. It’s been used successfully in the medical industry. It can’t hurt, and maybe it will help.

Finally, add a little extra insurance against being a walking scent bomb by spraying yourself with an odor-eliminating spray. Then, if you want to invest in scent-locking clothing, go ahead.

The smart hunter understands that we can’t eliminate our scent completely. Whether you try or not, be constantly aware of where you are and where the air currents are taking your scent. That should always be the capstone of your scent control strategy.

If hunting were banned: some ethical questions

2009-10-02T23:03:00.004-05:00

Third in a series of three columns on the economic and environmental impact of banning hunting, and the ethical issues of a ban.
by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, October 3, 2009.)

Banning hunting would not be ethical;
it would be unethical.

Hunting has been legal and ethical since, well, at least since Cain and Abel roamed the Garden of Eden. And before that, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21.) I don’t suppose he used banana skins.

Today we have some political activists who think hunting is unethical. The recently confirmed Cass Sunstein (head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, thinks animals should be able to sue people in a court of law. Maybe he’d sue God himself for providing Adam and Eve with animal skin loincloths. Apparently Sunstein and his ilk don’t think the legal system is jammed up enough.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying animals are never mistreated. But hunting is not mistreatment of animals. All throughout history hunting has been part and parcel of man’s survival.

Exactly when did it become wrong to kill an animal and use his meat for food, or his skin for clothing? I have to say it bugs me that people think we ought to somehow flip a switch and make an activity that has been ethical for eons suddenly immoral.

Show me any group of people who want to legislate against hunting, and I’ll show you political activists with little understanding of what it takes for wildlife to survive and thrive. I’ll show you people who think their feelings are worth more than the hard science behind wildlife management.

Here are some questions for them to think about:

• Is it ethical to replace wildlife management with management by activist political pressure? Should sentimentalists be permitted to trump wildlife scientists?

• Ban hunting, and more meat will have to be produced through modern farming methods – methods that are criticized by many in that same crowd. Is that ethical?

• Ban hunting, and venison donation programs in communities across the nation will end, robbing from people who need nourishing food. Is that ethical?

• Ban hunting, and more people will die in car collisions with deer and in attacks by predators. Who wants to tell the parent of a child killed by a mountain lion that it’s unethical to keep mountain lion populations in check through hunting? Isn’t it unethical not to?

• Usually, whenever regulated hunting is banned, poaching crimes increase. Is it ethical to pursue a policy that will increase poaching crimes?

• Deer favor certain foods, but when stressed, they’ll eat just about anything. Ban hunting, and huge herds of malnourished deer would denude the forests and clog our highways and our farms – even our yards would be overrun. Conflicts with people would increase. Public perception of this beautiful creature would turn from positive to negative. Is that ethical?

• Nature’s anti-extinction strategy for most wildlife species is abundant reproduction – a principle that enables survival despite high mortality rates. Is it ethical to adopt a policy that artificially reduces mortality and increases prey populations beyond the carrying capacity of the land?

• Species thrive when predators remove the surplus. Man has always been a predator. In a civilized world many animals need him to play his natural role of intelligent, self-limiting predator. Is it ethical to remove that natural limit to animal populations?

• Do away with hunting for “politically correct” reasons, and watch animals and their habitat suffer. Where are the ethics in that?

• What about political strategy? Is it ethical to lie to force an activist agenda? It’s not true, for example, that polar bears are in decline. In most of their habitat, polar bear populations are higher than ever. Polar bear hunting has been banned because of a lie.

No one cares more about animals than hunters who work on their behalf. It may seem paradoxical, but hunters are more benefit to wildlife than non-hunters. Ban hunting, and we lose an army of wildlife beneficiaries. Banning hunting would not be ethical; it would be unethical.

Hunting works. Hunting has history on its side. It has ethics on its side. It has the law on its side. Let’s keep it that way.

If hunting were banned: the environmental impact

2009-09-19T06:05:00.001-05:00

Second in a series of three columns on the economic and environmental impact of banning hunting, and the ethical issues of a ban.
by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, September 19, 2009.)

Man is a predator with a
critical niche in wildlife ecology.

Animals are a threat to their environment.

“How could that be?” you ask. “It’s man who destroys the environment.” Yes, that’s the conventional wisdom, but conventional wisdom sometimes fails to tell the whole truth.

When it comes to hunting, man is a great friend to the environment. One man isn’t, however. He’s anti-hunter Cass Sunstein, who was recently confirmed as head (or “czar”) of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Sunstein has extensive authority over federal regulations, including those of the Department of the Interior (which includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and the Department of Agriculture. He is on record saying that hunting should be banned, and in his new position he could seek to eliminate hunting, fishing and trapping on all lands managed by these federal agencies. That wouldn’t be good for the animals that live there.

Sunstein is a radical animal rights activist, not a wildlife biologist or an animal scientist of any kind, yet he thinks he knows what’s best for animals. He’s wrong.

If he got his way in placing animals beyond the bullets and arrows of hunters, it would have tragic environmental consequences and spell trouble for many species.

In my last column I wrote about devastating economic cost of banning hunting. But the economic cost is small compared to the catastrophic impact a ban on hunting would have on our environment. Why? Because animals have always needed predators, and man is the only predator some animals have.

A ban on hunting would create its most severe devastation where animals live closest to man and where large predators do not live. In North America it would probably cause the worst damage wherever whitetail deer live because they are so prolific and usually central to the ecology of habitat.

Without predators deer can literally eat themselves into oblivion. The environment would groan under their weight. Yes, certain infestations eat oaks, rot maples, or blight beeches. But those pests cannot ruin the health of an ecosystem as quickly as deer can. When stressed, deer eat almost everything – and without hunting, they would be very stressed.

An out-of-control deer population inhibits regeneration of the plant species other animals need. Everything from trillium flowers to oak trees are affected, along with the animals that depend on them. Where too many deer live, habitat for every animal suffers.

In a few short years an unchecked population of whitetail deer would cause more animal suffering than a hundred hunting seasons. They would devastate the forest and rob other animals of food and cover.

Nearly every species that shares whitetail habitat from songbirds to Sasquatch (if he exists) would be subject to extreme, prolonged suffering far worse than anything hunters cause. More people would die too, as a result of more car collisions with deer.

Wild pigs are another large species that has no predator but man. They are rapidly expanding their range, and their impact is even worse than that of whitetail deer. They literally plow the soil, destroying the eggs of ground nesting birds and virtually every plant and animal in their path.

A surprising parallel to this exists in Africa. People believe Africa’s elephants are endangered, but in many areas populations are so high that they devastate the habitat. One elephant can destroy 1500 trees per year. A ban on hunting them makes no sense – neither from an economic nor an environmental standpoint. Legal, regulated hunting would make elephants valuable to the human community in their area, but absolute protection allows them to devastate the habitat other animals need.

Man is a predator with a critical niche in wildlife ecology. The evidence is overwhelming – every species that is subject to regulated hunting is thriving.

Animals need predators. Species without predators are sitting ducks for boom and bust cycles that impact every other species. Take away predators and you create an artificial environment. Wild animals are not meant to live in an artificial environment.

Man, as a predator, is capable of assessing the needs of his prey and planning his predation in ways that perpetuate stable, healthy prey populations. So, while hunters enjoy sport, fun and camaraderie of hunting, in the grand scale hunting insures the very survival of wildlife, and its environment, in a modern world.

Next time I’ll touch on the ethical issues that would be at stake if hunting were banned.

If hunting were banned: the economic impact

2009-09-05T08:42:00.007-05:00

First in a series of three columns on the economic and environmental impact of banning hunting, and the ethical issues of a ban.
by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, September 5, 2009.)

Banning hunting is a quick slide down
a slope to many unintended consequences.

Hunting has many dedicated opponents today who would like to see it outlawed.

If this was once a hypothetical issue, it is no longer with President Obama’s appointment of Cass Sunstein head or “czar” of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Just two years ago Sunstein said, “We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”

Fortunately the federal government does not make most hunting regulations. But since federal agencies are notorious for meddling in state affairs, Sunstein’s desire must be taken seriously. Because he’s the top federal regulatory officer, and because he says, “It’s time now,” I look for him to try some kind of action against hunting.

Clearly, the reason state agencies regulate hunting is not to provide “sport and fun.” They’re in the science business, not the entertainment business. They manage wildlife populations for society by licensing hunters to kill surplus game animals, a function that’s both challenging and essential.

Yet the aims of individual hunters differ from those of the game agencies. Hunters do hunt for sport and fun. Would Sunstein rather hire government agents to work as animal eradication officers? If so, he’d have to make dead level sure they don’t enjoy their work.

What would happen if hunting were banned? Two things, and both are big. First, the economic impact would be immediate and devastating. Second, the environment would suffer a tragic blow. The economic impact is the subject for today.

If Cass Sunstein got his way, tens of thousands of jobs would be lost and with them, money that sustains wildlife.

Take a look at the high visibility Cabelas catalog. A quick glance shows that hunters are passionate and willing to spend money. Not only that, enormous entrepreneurial energy exists within the hunting community. Hunters are constantly inventing gadgets to use in their pursuits – marketable ideas that spawn many small businesses.

These products are sold not only in the Cabela’s catalogs, but also in catalogs from Bass Pro Shops, Midway USA, and more than a dozen others, plus local shops nationwide.

If hunting were outlawed, Sidney, Nebraska (headquarters for Cabelas) could become a ghost town. Reverberations would reach more than 30 cities where Cabelas has retail stores. Add in more than 50 cities where Bass Pro Shops has stores. The damage to these communities would be dramatic and serious. Satellite businesses would suffer. Tax revenues would decline. Public services would shrink. Unemployment rolls would swell.

And that’s just the beginning. If hunting were banned, thousands and thousands of families who depend on hunting – from outfitters and guides to local taxidermists – would lose their livelihood.

The economic activity of thousands of photographers, artists, writers, wildlife biologists, forest managers, (the list is endless) would cease. Thousands of small family businesses would close up shop, affecting the economies of towns small and large.

The flow of billions of dollars to state wildlife agencies would be turned off like a faucet, as hunting license revenues diminish to zero. And the pipe leading to the faucet would be drained.

It doesn’t stop there. Pittman-Robertson funds – excise taxes paid by hunters on all sporting rifles, shotguns, ammunition, and archery equipment – would dry up. Those are dollars collected and distributed to the states to pay for the cost of wildlife management.

Animals would feel the effects because that money benefits all wildlife (plants and animals included), not just game species. So banning hunting would hurt the entire food chain, from egrets to eagles.

Not only that, receiving Pittman-Robertson money prevents states from diverting dollars raised for wildlife to other purposes. Without that safeguard, state budgets would be pressured to reduce further the investment in wildlife habitat.

Banning hunting is a quick slide down a slope to many unintended consequences. And I’ve barely scratched the surface of the economic side of the issue. The bottom line is that if hunting were banned people would suffer, and so would animals.

If the hunting economy is ruined, the environment will follow. That’s the subject for my next column.

What People Need To Know About Hunting

2009-08-22T07:50:00.002-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, August 22, 2009.)

Non-hunters who enjoy wildlife
have much to thank hunters for.

The question gets asked in a variety of ways. “Since hunting isn't necessary anymore, isn’t hunting just a way for people to express their cruel, primitive bloodlust?” “There was a time when man had to kill wild animals for protection and for food, but can’t we now just let animals live in peace?” The answer to both questions is “No!”

These questions are not merely hypothetical. Many people truly think that hunters are cruel. Many actually believe that hunting isn’t necessary. And some embrace the idea that animals will live in peace if we stop hunting them. None of that is true.

The truth is this – when wildlife thrives, hunters are usually in the picture. Why? The answer is because man is a predator.

Yes, that answer raises eyebrows. It’s even counter-intuitive. But man is a predator unlike any other. He regulates himself. He considers the impact of his actions. He times his predation for the benefit of the prey species. He improves the habitat that his prey needs. He plans for the future of his prey.

So it’s not true that wildlife do just fine if hunters step out of the picture. And it’s especially not true in an increasingly urbanized society. Modern hunting benefits wildlife. Wherever hunters take an interest, we have more animals and a wider variety of species.

And the idea that animals ever “live in peace” is a sentimental view – and untrue whether they’re hunted or not.

Hunting is not cruel, and hunters generally are not driven by bloodlust. Modern hunters are, in fact, the best friends modern wildlife has. An informed hunter will care deeply about animals, from songbirds, to turtles, to butterflies – you name it. Yes, we can even use the word “love.”

Hunters are not expressing a bloodthirsty Neanderthal urge. When a modern hunter kills a deer, he understands the implications of his actions better than any hunter in history.

Hunting is the front line of game management, and hunters are the primary tool for keeping animals in balance with their habitat. This is accomplished not only through license allocations and scientific measurements of game populations by wildlife management agencies, but through the cooperation of dozens of volunteer conservation organizations dedicated to the health of wildlife habitat.

Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Ruffed Grouse Society, the list is long even before you add the groups that focus on aquatic species, such as Trout Unlimited. All are made up of sportsmen and women who fund research and work for the benefit of wildlife.

When hunters commit their resources to improving wildlife habitat, they don’t isolate the species of interest. Every animal in the habitat benefits.

The sheer number of hunters who support wildlife by donating both their time and money dwarfs the number of non-hunters who do the same. When you see a group of people planting tree seedlings, or cleaning up a waterway, it’s probably a sportsmen’s club.

Hunting pays its own way, because hunters pour billions of dollars into the economy every year. We’re not just keeping gun manufacturers afloat and we’re not just filling state coffers with license dollars.

Few people know that when we buy sporting rifles, shotguns, ammunition, and archery equipment, the price includes an 11% tax that goes to the Pittman-Robertson Fund, which is distributed to the states for the support of wildlife. When the Pittman-Robertson Act was passed in 1937, hunters were its leading champions, so non-hunters who enjoy wildlife have much to thank hunters for.

Hunters are responsible citizens. When a game law violation is reported, it’s usually a hunter who reports it. When help is needed to rescue an animal, hunters are the first on the scene. When a habitat improvement project is undertaken, you can depend on hunters to volunteer. And when blood boils because someone abuses wildlife, the blood is as likely to be in the veins of a hunter as it is a non-hunter.

The bottom line is that hunters do for wildlife much that non-hunters don’t do. What would happen if hunting were banned? Some terrible things – but that’s the subject for another column. Stay tuned.

Antlers Reunited

2009-08-08T08:04:00.015-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, August 8, 2009.)

A jolt of adrenalin pulled Mike to the top of the hill.
As he took the buck’s only antler in his hands,
he realized it was a mirror image of the one
he had found just 50 yards from this spot.

The 2008 deer season had been long and frustrating for Mike Stimmell of Warren, Pennsylvania. Mike is an avid archery hunter who sometimes handicaps himself with a homemade bow and homemade arrows. For practice and for fun, he even chips his points from stone just like the native Americans local to the area once did. In 2006, Mike shot a nice 6-point with his primitive handcrafted gear.

Mike had hunted all or part of 30 days during the 2008 archery season and had taken a shot at only one buck. The 21-yard shot was a long trek for a slow, heavy wooden shaft -- and gave the deer plenty of time to react. The whitetail ducked to load the springs in his legs, and Mike’s arrow sailed over his back. He had blown his only shot opportunity of the archery season.

When rifle season opened, Mike picked up the old Model 70 Winchester that had witnessed many deer seasons in the hands of his dad and his granddad. The veteran .30-06 made lots of memories, and was about to create one more.

On Friday of the snowy first week of the rifle season Mike put several miles on his tired legs. He saw just two deer, making the week’s tally only four. Mike was discouraged and frustrated.

On Saturday he hunted the morning, went home for lunch, and dozed off. A slap on the shoulder from his wife brought him back to reality. “Are you going to sleep, or hunt?” Amy was frustrated too, and chased him out of the house.

Mike headed out to State Game Land #29 near “Heart’s Content.” Shortly after 1:00 PM he parked his truck and headed into the woods. About 300 yards from his truck he discovered a dropped antler, the right side from a nice 8-point rack, lying on top of the knee-deep snow. The buck had been feeding on acorns when he lost it. Mike shrugged, tucked it into his backpack and thought, “It’s a reward that’s better than nothing for such an unproductive season.”

Mike spent the afternoon making a big loop through the bottom of a valley and back up to the starting point. He saw plenty of tracks, droppings and rubbed trees, but not a single deer. Mentally and physically exhausted, he trudged through the deep snow. At about 75 yards from the top of the hill, just before quitting time, he stopped to take a breather.

His eyes picked up movement -- a nice-sized deer along the crest of the hill. When he found it in the scope, a half-rack buck was looking right at him. His mind processed a dozen thoughts in the few seconds he had to make a decision. “He sees me. Is he going to run? Could it be the buck that lost that antler? Or is it another one with a broken rack? Should I shoot? Can I get a shot off?” His final thought was, “Squeeze.”

The buck dropped in his tracks. A jolt of adrenalin pulled Mike to the top of the hill. As he took the buck’s only antler in his hands, he realized it was a

mirror image of the one he had found just 50 yards from this spot. Mike pulled the shed antler out of his pack and it fit like a missing puzzle piece. “Thank you, God!” He might have said it out loud.

This big woods buck had apparently cast the antler at breakfast that morning, and was returning just before dark to help himself to more acorns. The 3½ year old buck field-dressed at 165 pounds. Mike, formerly a high school football running back, struggled to load the deer into his truck. When he finally flopped it into the bed, the other antler popped off, leaving Mike with an antlerless buck.

The 8-point rack had a spread of about 19-inches, as near as Mike could tell. No one has worked so hard to reunite a shed antler with its original owner, and in the process create a truly unique memory for the wall. One more hunt with granddad’s old Model 70 taught Mike that a little extra effort can change your season.

Where Do All the Rabbits Go?

2009-07-25T07:01:00.004-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, July 25, 2009.)

Some hunters must feel like Elmer Fudd chasing that one
"wascally wabbit." They wonder why they see so many all
summer long, and then most are gone come October.

People are saying there are soooo many rabbits this year. Cottontails hop all over the yard, all along the road, and many end up as road kill. Believe it or not, someone wrote a field guide to road kill. (It’s satirical.) But you don’t need a field guide to identify flattened rabbits – the cottony tail is a dead giveaway.

All puns aside, we do have lots of rabbits this year. We do every year. Rabbits are extremely prolific. We think of them being born in spring, but even at the end of July I’m still seeing lots of them that weren’t born much before yesterday. And more will be born before summer’s end. Looking like tiny adults, they sit munching on greens at the salad bars that are perilously close to nearly every road.

For many hunters of my generation, rabbits were their first game animals. I remember as a high schooler rushing home at the end of the day and traipsing back up to Warren Area High School to hunt rabbits. I’d walk across the football team’s practice field with my beagle and my Ithaca pump shotgun, wave at Coach Shea, then hunt near the cross-country track above the school. (Don’t try that today.)

My beagle was on the slow side, so she didn’t put much pressure on the rabbits. Often a rabbit would take her out of earshot, but soon I’d hear the dog’s full cry and she’d always bring it back around. Sometimes I waited 5 minutes after shooting before her nose unraveled the trail of the dead bunny and she found her way back to me.

For many reasons, people don’t hunt rabbits as much as previous generations did. Keeping a dog is expensive today. It’s hard to find time for training. Many more activities compete for the attention of today’s youth. The schedules of modern two-income households make caring for the dog more challenging. And fewer places are available to hunt with a dog.

Some hunters who do pursue rabbits must feel like Elmer Fudd chasing that one "wascally wabbit." They wonder why they see so many all spring and summer long, and then most are gone come October. The reason is simple. Rabbits are under threat from the moment they are born.

Domestic cats and dogs take a share of them before or soon after they leave the nest. Crows, when they discover a nest, harass a mother rabbit endlessly. She’s no match for even one relentless crow, and usually the ruckus a crow creates draws more crows. We tend to think of crows as scavengers rather than predators, but whenever a crow discovers a nest, it’s unlikely any baby bunnies will survive.

If the young survive the nest, life doesn’t get any easier. The adage about safety in numbers doesn’t hold true for rabbits, because those high spring and summer populations actually insure that dumb bunnies will be caught and eaten every day. Rabbits are a fast-food store for hungry foxes, coyotes, owls and hawks – a McDonald’s for carnivores.

When rabbits live near residential areas more of them manage to avoid the predators that feast on their tasty, tender meat. But there, rabbits bump into one more unsympathetic foe – vengeful vegetable gardeners who don’t care that rabbits are cute and cuddly.

I live in a spot that used to be great rabbit hunting. The rabbits are still around and I see them every day. So does my little wiener dog Remy, who quivers with excitement at the sight of br’er rabbit.

But these rabbits aren’t the ones we used to hunt. Those are long gone. The houses have been here for more than 20 years, but two years is a long time for a rabbit to live.

Watching rabbits nibble clover might make us think they live in a world where peace guides the planets and love steers the stars, but don’t be deceived. Even in adulthood, bunnies are the bottom of the food chain. They live in a vicious world, and they’re extremely vulnerable 365 days a year.

Their numbers will continue to dwindle each day until spring, when a high fertility rate will be their main insurance policy against extinction.

Lots To Do in This Oily Playground

2009-07-11T06:47:00.001-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, July 11, 2009.)

My usual scribbles are about hunting,
shooting and a tiny bit of fishing, but
that's not all we have to do around here.

If I lived in Alaska it would be odd if I’d never paid Denali a visit. If I lived in South Dakota, people would raise eyebrows if I’d never seen Mount Rushmore. If I lived in Arizona and had never witnessed the Grand Canyon, people would wonder what I was waiting for.

But I live in northwest Pennsylvania, and it’s a minor embarrassment to admit that I haven’t yet visited some of the attractions here. Lots of us haven’t. I suppose that is odd. I’m not surprised people would raise eyebrows. And I don’t know what I’m waiting for.

My usual scribbles are about hunting, shooting and a tiny bit of fishing, but that's not all we have to do around here – especially remembering the fact that northwest Pennsylvania is where the oil industry got its start.

It was 150 years ago (August 27, 1859) that Colonel Edwin Drake drilled a well near Titusville, PA and “discovered” oil only 69½ feet deep. Today, even with the environmentalist movement’s hatred of all things oil, that event is properly a source of pride for the people of Titusville and the region.

The truth is, however, that Drake wasn’t the first to bring oil to the earth’s surface. Two years earlier, a successful 49-foot well was dug by hand in Ontario, and it produced 150 gallons per hour using a hand pump. In 100 B.C. the Chinese had a rudimentary oil and gas industry. They actually drilled wells and even had a distribution network through bamboo pipelines. And, going back as far as 4000 years, petroleum products were in use by the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Persians and others.

Here in North America, natives of the “new world” had also discovered oil, and commonly used it. With oil in some places less than 50 feet from the surface, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it sometimes actually seeped from the ground. American Indians (always the pragmatists) gathered it and found uses for it.

So, thousands of years before the gasoline engine, civilizations found many and varied uses for petroleum from waterproofing to lubricants to medicinal purposes – even mortar for masonry.

What made northwest Pennsylvania the birthplace of the oil industry? More than anything else, it was the readiness of entrepreneurs to exploit petroleum. So, Drake wasn’t the first to discover oil – rather, he drilled the first successful commercial oil well. And that fact brings us to today.

This summer is the peak of activities celebrating our region’s oil heritage. In preparation for this event, President George W. Bush in 2004 signed a bill designating Pennsylvania's oil region as a National Heritage Area. The Oil Region Alliance was formed to plan and promote the 150th anniversary of Drake’s success.

Events have been going on all year, but plenty more are on tap. Here are just a few upcoming that will help cultivate an appreciation for the region’s key place in oil history:

July 17-18, Dramatic production: Melba, The Toast of Pithole (Oil City)
July 23-26, Oil Heritage Festival (Oil City)
July 24-25, Queen Cutlery Collector’s Knife Show (Titusville)
August 26, Oil Man’s BBQ & Bluegrass Band (Cross Creek Resort, Titusville)
August 29, Taste of the Oil Region Brewfest (Titusville)
October 22, Lecture: Edwin Drake, a Reintroduction (Venango Campus of Clarion University, Oil City)

If you go online to www.oilregion.org and www.oil150.com, you’ll find plenty more to do in our oily playground. Or, call 1-800-483-6264 for more information about events.

Me? I might start at the old oil boomtown of Pithole, which accelerated from zero to a thriving city of 15,000 in nine months, complete with plenty of unsavory fortune-seekers (including John Wilkes Booth.) It’s now nothing but a ghost town, having died as quickly as it was born, but what a place to let your imagination off its leash!

And, since this is an outdoor column, I can’t fail to mention the Allegheny River Bass Tournament on September 13. The Allegheny is an underappreciated smallmouth fishery. This might be your opportunity to discover it – and maybe, if you’re a fortune-seeking type, win the $1000 cash prize.

Headline: "Everyday Hunter Tortures Fly!"

2009-06-27T07:51:00.003-05:00

by Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, June 27, 2009.)

No president in history has so aptly combined
the hunting prowess of Teddy Roosevelt with
the buck-stops-here attitude of Harry Truman.

A recent news story from Cleveland reported that residents witnessed a black bear wander through their neighborhood. TV news is, of course, about pictures. But by the time the cameras arrived the bear had run away.

So, someone created a simulation for TV viewers, dramatizing how the bear “escaped.” A guy crouched behind a bear-shaped cardboard cutout and stumbled into a patch of woods.

Picture it: here’s a guy using a cardboard prop to illustrate a wildlife mystery: how the bear ran away. Yep. I get it now. It’s so much easier to understand. A bear. It ran. It ran away.

Does that strike anyone else as funny? How about pathetic? I pity media-enlightened Americans who get treated to “news stories” where there really isn’t any story.

Another case in point: President Obama recently took a little hunting trip, literally an armchair expedition, and slapped a fly that landed on his hand during an on-camera interview.

What surprised me most was how everyone was so impressed. “That was a big one,” reporters marveled. Certainly no previous President had the skills to act swiftly and prevail decisively against an invader while discussing the important issues of the day!

That’s right! No president in history so aptly combines the hunting prowess of Teddy Roosevelt with the buck-stops-here attitude of Harry Truman. Obama’s new mantra: “The bug stops here!”

I figured this incident would result in air time for PETA (not People Eating Tasty Animals, but the other one – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.) I was right. They revived the story (but not the fly) when they sent the President a deathless bug catcher contraption.

You can purchase the humane device on the PETA website. A gripping copy blurb makes it a must-have for every animal lover: “Are you the kind of person who wouldn’t hurt a fly? Is your motto ‘live and let live,’ …. Simply place Katcha Bug over the bug and slowly slide its plastic trapdoor shut. The bug will step onto the trapdoor as it closes, and you can carry Katcha Bug outside, where all you need to do is slide the trap door open, allowing the bug to walk away. ...you won’t have to get too close for comfort.”

That might convince PETA sympathizers, but it raises too many questions for me. What do you do if the fly avoids a nice flat runway and hides in a flower arrangement? Or gets behind the curtains? Or even lands on (heaven forbid) the back of a President’s hand?

You do what I do. You consider the Katcha Bug a waste of money, even if it costs only $8.00. Why? Because lots of people catch flies in their hands, not by slapping them, but by swiping at them while closing the hand. I could show the President myself (or show PETA, for that matter) how to do it. In fact, most any 10-year old boy could show and tell.

If you’re a PETA-type, you then open the window, relax your hand, and release the pesky fly to go annoy a cabinet secretary or bother a bureaucrat hidden in the bowels of Washington. Then wash your hands.

Or, if you’re not a PETA-type, you can stun the fly by dashing it against the floor. Then squash it in a tissue and waterboard it (just to be sure no one revives it) by flushing it down the toilet.

I can see the headline now: “Everyday Hunter Tortures Fly!”

I was thinking about PETA one evening while grilling a couple of burgers in my back yard. A Cooper’s Hawk flew by and nabbed a young robin. I wondered if PETA would think that was ethical.

The answer was clear to all the angry robins scolding the hawk: they thought it wasn’t.

I didn’t get the license plate of that raptor. Nor could I point to this murderous Cooper’s Hawk with its unregistered claws in a police line-up. But I briefly considered reporting the meanie to PETA.

Then I thought, maybe it’s better that I just forget the whole thing, or PETA might come after me for waterboarding a fly.

Bears — Don’t Make Them Dangerous

2009-06-13T07:31:00.006-05:00

Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, June 13, 2009.)

Papa Bear doesn’t care
if Baby Bear gets any porridge at all.

It’s summertime… and the livin’ is easy for black bears. They’re showing up in residential areas, on campgrounds, at restaurant dumpsters, and lots of other places that aren’t their natural habitat.

Bears are ruled by their stomachs. They’re a slave to an easy meal, more so if that meal is the high carbohydrate fare they find wherever man has left his leftovers. What you throw away will attract black bears like a sumo wrestler to a smorgasbord.

We who live near black bear habitat need to understand a few things. First, bears can be dangerous. That should go without saying, but it never hurts to start with the obvious.

Second, when you see bears in residential areas, they are there for a reason. They show up where the food is. They pack on the pounds all summer so that they can survive in hibernation during the winter.

Third, out in the woods, Mama Bear and her little ones must compete with Papa Bear for food. And Papa bear isn’t the doting Papa of Goldilocks fame. He doesn’t care if Baby Bear gets any porridge at all.

So, it’s no wonder Mama thinks residential areas make good digs for her and the little ones. While you might see a male bear pass through town from time to time, you’ll see young bears and sows with cubs more often because they tend to go where Papa Bear won’t threaten them.

Getting close to people is bad for bears. Why? Because the most dangerous bears are bears that are habituated to people. It’s not natural for them to be familiar with us.

It’s not natural because bears are best served when they’re not being served by man. They’re best served when they get no encouragement to hang around people. They don’t need your help and in fact, your “help” will harm them. It’s a prescription for disaster.

The lives of wild animals change constantly – especially their diets. Squirrels stockpile food against scarcity in the cold months, deer transition to eating sticks, and bears go into hibernation – all because nature provides slim pickings in the winter.

On the other hand, people don’t hibernate. Our diets change little through the seasons. We generally don’t use our outdoor grills in winter and we don’t eat marshmallow peeps in July. (Unless you’re like me and toast leftovers over a campfire!)

I’ve had one encounter with a dangerous bear. A couple of years ago I was hunting deer in New York’s Allegany State Park. A big bear, probably accustomed to campground feeding, approached me to within seven feet. He was totally unafraid. I got lots of photos.

After I went home I reviewed a book by Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance. He said that black bears seldom show aggression when attacking. They display no warning. They approach slowly, during the day. They partly circle a victim, and then rush in, “trying to knock the intended prey down and inflicting injuries with jaws or paws and claws.”

If that bear had aggressive intention, he hid it. He displayed no warning. He approached slowly, during the day. He partly circled me. Fortunately he didn’t rush me.

Knowing what I now know, I have to wonder, “Was that bear sizing me up?” I can’t be sure, but I know for sure I was at risk. Why? Because bears that are accustomed to people are dangerous bears. Yes, I had a gun, a muzzleloader, but it was leaning against a tree four feet away. He had me if he decided to take me.

Here’s the truth: bears that have repeated encounters with people are being made into dangerous bears. They’re the bears that are not afraid of us. They’re the bears that expect something from us. When it’s a mother with cubs, she might expect trouble. If she does, she will defend them to the death.

So when you feed bears, you’re making them dangerous. They may have to be trapped and moved (almost impossible with a mother and cubs). They may get hit by cars. Or, the behavior they’re learning may ultimately get them euthanized. You may be signing their death warrant. That’s why people say, “A fed bear is a dead bear.”

Bears aren’t supposed to be friendly to you, and you aren’t supposed to be friendly to them. Don’t feed them birdseed, or hotdogs, or even your marshmallow peeps. They might like you for it, but it’s bad for bears to like you.

A Landlubber Discovers Lake Erie

2009-05-30T04:27:00.014-05:00

Steve Sorensen
(Originally published in the Warren Times Observer, May 30, 2009.)

Our haul tripled what other charters
out of Port Clinton, Ohio took that day.

I’m not particularly aquatic. You might call me a landlubber, a terrestrial. What I’m trying to say is I seldom go fishing.

But once in a while I can’t resist the opportunity to put a line in the water, so I’ve spent a few days aboard fishing charters. The first was off the coast of Cape Cod with a commercial cod fisherman.

We were using large, shiny, triangular jigs, bobbing them up and down off the bottom of the ocean. The day started out slowly. Someone asked the question, “How will we know when we get a bite?” The fisherman answered, “You’ll know, believe me, you’ll know.”

We didn’t know. The hits were so soft that none of us realized when we had a fish on. Bringing them to the surface was like reeling in an old sneaker. Things got interesting when we netted a few strange-looking bottom-dwelling creatures. Interesting, but not very exciting.

My next trip was to North Carolina’s Outer Banks where we joined with another vacationing family on a charter boat. I don’t remember what we caught, maybe because I didn’t catch anything. While others were boating some kind of small, silvery fish less than a foot long, I failed to hook any.

The hook I was using was terminally rusty, its business-end as blunt as a pirate’s peg leg. So, I asked the first mate if he would tie on a sharper hook. He touched the well-rounded point and jerked his finger away. “Ouch! You better be careful with that!” he cried. I didn’t get a fish and, it might be worth mentioning, he didn’t get a tip.

I’ve also fished Alaska. In the mid-90s my family hired a charter to fish for silver salmon in the Resurrection Bay off the Kenai Peninsula. The captain (I think this guy actually was a pirate) wanted to leave the marina without bait, figuring we’d somehow catch our bait and then start fishing for salmon. I persuaded him to send “Cutter” (his first mate, and a kid I wanted far away from my daughter) to buy some bait.

It didn’t matter much. He wouldn’t go anywhere near other boats that were catching salmon. Instead, he kept his boat in the deepest water. Even though his paying customers wanted salmon, Ahab was after sharks. Trying to build our enthusiasm, he claimed to have hooked a huge shark a few days earlier that dragged his tub all over the bay.

We caught a few small flounder, plus two or three little sand sharks that he insisted would become man-eaters if he didn’t kill them. And we saw some incredible scenery. That was the extent of this adventure. I’d caution against hiring this charter if I could remember its name, but it’s probably no longer in business anyway.

My next fishing trip was on Lake Erie in July 2006. I highly recommend Captain Pete Alex of Vision Quest Fishing Charters (www.dreamsteelie.com).

That day Lake Erie was whipped into whitecaps by high winds and rain. Still, we managed to catch some “eyes,” plus a few bonus smallmouth bass. Pete Alex can’t control the weather, but this very professional, highly knowledgeable fishing guide knows Lake Erie as well as anyone, and he proved he’ll work hard for you.

Then last week I went to the west end of Lake Erie on a trip for walleyes, and met another reliable charter captain, John Tucholski of J. T. Sport Fishing Charters (www.lake-erie-walleye-fishing.com). A light wind is needed for good drift fishing, and despite the calm weather John knew how to find the breezes.

John spent a little extra time until we limited out on tasty walleyes (including a 29½" Ohio state citation fish caught by my friend Jim Brys.) Our haul tripled what other charters out of Port Clinton, Ohio took that day. We landed with 130 pounds of fish to be filleted, and the fish cutter said the next biggest box of fish had been only 40 pounds.

It took this landlubber some years to find his way to Lake Erie. If you’re hunting for a great fishing charter, take my advice: you don’t have to go far from home.