Thread 2834950

Hunting season is upon the northern hemisphere
>what are you hunting this year?
>any changes in gear?
>any interesting stories from last year?

>>2834950 (OP)
I didn't draw a deer tag this year, so it'll just be Fall and Spring turkey seasons for me this year(July 2025-June 2026 my state's license year) I'll be bringing a Mossberg SA 20g this year instead of my Winchester 12g pump.

>>2834953
are all big game subject to this kind of lottery in the US? I know it varies by state, but overall it seems like a surprisingly fair system. or does it only apply to public land?
in Sweden the forestry companies own huge parts of the land, and landowners decide how the hunt is to be done. land votes. this understandably leads to a lot of tension since they have a majority or near-majority stake in most large hunting teams. this in turn leads to pressure to shoot cows rather than bulls, because the forest companies don't want any moose grazing on their trees
the riksdag had to stop the companies from buying up all land in the late 1800's because that would threaten "the will to defend the country" among the peasantry

>>2835027
>are all big game subject to this kind of lottery in the US
Here in the US it varies by state and species. I'm in California, which for deer, is broken into 5 zones. Zones A, B and D are over the counter tag zones and you can buy them on a first come first served basis until they're gone. In zoned C and X you buy a draw tag, same price as a regular tag, and they draw from the pool until the tag limit is hit. This is the first time I've not gotten a C zone tag. But I will get points that increase my chances of drawing a C zone tag next year. I stick to C zone because my brother in law has private property I can camp and hunt on. He's got 60 acres right next to 300+ acres of timber company land that I also have permission to hunt on. There are probably still OTC tags available, but I haven't done any scouting anywhere else, so I'd be going in completely blind.

Elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn are all draw tags. Black bear is currently an OTC tag. Feral hogs were tags until last year, now they're just a validation($45 for no limit)

I'm not sure about land owner tags. I have heard a little about it and think California may also have a limited number of extra tags that are sold to ranchers or other large land owners. But I haven't looked into it. I think they're more for the guided hunt industry, which is a big industry in my state. It would probably concern me more if I were trying for an Elk tag, which are extremely limited. But deer tags are usually pretty plentiful.

>>2835031
>I stick to C zone because my brother in law has private property I can camp and hunt on
I take it there's no right to roam in the US (or at least California)?
in Sweden you're allowed to camp and pick berries and mushrooms anywhere (except military zones and such). hunting requires a permit, including trapping. if you own land you automatically have permission to hunt on it (duh) but you can sign that right away under an emphyteusis lease. these leases are grouped together into largeish areas. for example, small game tends to be lumped together, and the local small game area is 2000 hectares and the permit is ~40€ per year. I haven't actually gotten paid for my land in the small game area yet, probably because it's a trivial amount. me and the neighbor have been wanting to kill Canada geese in the area for two years, but so far they've flown away just before goose season starts
big game works similarly. if you own land you get paid ~$1/ha for it. the fee in my moose team is $250 per year per member for a 4000 ha area. since I have 13 ha I get $13 back. last year we harvested 46 kg of moose meat (cuts and mince) per member, so it works out to a bit over $5/kg. that also covers overhead (maintenance of the butchering hut, tools etc)
big game (class 1): moose, bear, red deer, fallow deer, bison, muskox, wild sheep, wolf, hog (we only have moose and bear in my area)
small game (class 2-4): everything else, including roe deer
we want to increase the roe population in the small game area, so there's a gentleman's agreement not to shoot any. some industrious members have tracked down and shot lynx to help with this

>>2835040
There's no right to roam when it comes to privately owned land. Some land owners, like the lumber company land, all you need to do is call and ask for permission. If it's someone's personal property with a house, you need written permission from the owner and/or occupant. Any compensation is between you and them. A guide that accesses the lumber company land through an easement road that goes through my brother in laws property usually brings them some meat or something from his hunts a couple times a year.

But there is also public land that anyone can camp, hunt, hike, fish and forage on. There are also state and national parks, you can fish and forage, hike and camp(in designated campgrounds) but not hunt. These parks usually have day use or annual pass fees.

>>2835055
One of the bucks I won't get a shot at this year..

>>2834950 (OP)
i usually go bow hunting for hog but im gonna try for deer when the season hits

>>2835057
handsome feller
>>2835055
are there any kind of associations to bring landowners together to form "välarronderad mark" (well-split land)? that is, land that is as contiguous as possible? if not then it sounds very annoying to hunt on anything but public land unless you know someone who has thousands of hectares. where I hunt the median resident has maybe 40 ha, which is nowhere enough for moose

>>2835040
Actual mindfuck to see my own video posted on here.

>>2834950 (OP)
I didn't win the antlerless deer tag or moose tag this year, so all I can really get is a single buck whitetail. I'm not even sure I want to go out now. I spent all last season not finding a single thing except some wandering does (which I didn't have an antlerless tag for), felt like I wasted my entire time. Saw tons of bucks on my trailcams up until season started, then never again.
Pretty fuckin demoralized and tired of sitting out in the cold and snow. I hunt from a ground blind and my options are limited around me

>>2835040
There is no right to roam but just in california there are over 140,000 square km of public land to hunt on. And thats just counting national forest and BLM land, not even other federal agencies or state land. And national parks, which have no hunting, but do allow fishing and other things

>>2835099
>are there any kind of associations to bring landowners together to form "välarronderad mark" (well-split land)?
None that I'm aware of. Your assessment is correct, public land is what most people hunt, unless they know someone with a good amount of land. I'm very fortunate to have a brother in law that's got land.

>>2835165
>Saw tons of bucks on my trailcams up until season started, then never again.
This has been my exact experience for the last two deer seasons! All tags here in California, aside from junior tags, are for antlered deer. It varies from zone to zone and year to year. Sometimes it's single fork or better but usually double fork or better. I catch them on my trail cameras all year. But as soon as deer season hits, all I see are does!

>>2835198
I found one nice 8 point buck on my trail cam after I stopped for the season. I stopped because as I was roaming the mountain, I slipped and fell on my back onto my pack, fucking it up pretty badly. I had to crawl my ass back up the mountain to get home.
About a week later I checked the cam down where I was going and this nice buck had come by the same fucking day in the evening. He's not huge for out west standards, but for northern maine he was solid.

>>2835172
140,000 km2 is quite a lot. How many hunters do you reckon use that land? Using our team as a yardstick, we have 20 members for 4000 hectares (40 m2) so I'm guessing at least 70,000 hunters? The climate probably means more big game compared to up here. This year's quota is 13 adults for our team, so 300 ha/adult moose.
>Actual mindfuck to see my own video posted on here.
any interesting video is likely to get saved

>>2835219
These two were hanging around until sometime in late July last year. My season last year was 21 Sep - 27 Oct. They were nowhere to be found and neither showed back up on my cameras until December.

>>2835284
These guys decided to walk right through the middle of my camp, just to scare the crap out of me! lol!!

>>2835282
Those are some tasty looking bucks. We have a problem up here since I'm so far north, only the does are territorial. You'll get the doe herds that live in the same spot, but bucks will wander tens or hundreds of miles throughout the season. You can see one on camera one night and he's probably moved a county over by the next.

>>2835287
>when dinner walks up to you

>>2835099
Like everything in the US it depends on the state. Each state government has its own hunting department which usually work with landowners to improve access. In western states with a lot of public land landowners can't make a lot of money charging for access, so they'll either just let people come and go freely or work out an exchange where the department helps with maintenance and/or enforcing rules on their land in exchange for free hunting. In my state (Arizona, which also has well over 100,000 km2 public land) there are several large contiguous private areas knit together by government agreements like this.

In states with mostly private land the department will often buy some land and set it aside for hunting but it tends to be small, crowded, and so tightly controlled that it gets obnoxious, so a lot of people will just lease hunting rights from big landowners. This is part of why hunting from stands/blinds for deer or ducks in so popular in the east-you usually just can't hike very far.

The worst situation is in Texas, since it's a western state with lots of wilderness but no public land. Landowners can do whatever they want, they import a lot of invasive species, kill off all natural predators, and charge insane amounts to hunt their land. The whole ecosystem is getting fucked and only rich people can hunt at all. It's a shame.

best moment last year was probably this antelope jackrabbit I shot near the Santa Rita mountains- I was driving back to town at last light after getting skunked all day when I saw a big grey streak run across the road up ahead and down into a wash. Though it was a coyote, looked wayyy too big for a rabbit. I got out with a monocular but no gun just to look at pretty desert dog and there's the biggest god damn jackrabbit of my entire life running the far side of the wash ~70 yards away. Went back and grabbed the 22 but the scope on there doesn't have great light transmission and I couldn't find it in the twilight so I had to switch back to the monocular, figure out where to aim using some bushes as reference points, and take a blind shot. Saw a little flop motion, hiked over to where it was, and I had put one clean through the heart. Fed 5 people with seconds and leftovers off the quarters alone, grilled the backstraps for myself later.

>>2836394
This is the heart with the bullet hole after butchering. 70 yards isn't an insane distance for a 10/22 obviously but for a fast shot offhand aimed with an optic that isn't attached to the gun I was pretty proud.

>>2836394
there are like a billion jackrabbits in the desert surrounding mt wrightson and they love to run in front of my car

>>2836390
>there are several large contiguous private areas knit together by government agreements like this.
neat
>In states with mostly private land the department will often buy some land
so if I understand this correctly:
>government sells off land
>buys it back later at presumably a much higher price
genius. we actually had such a case where I live where the municipality sold off some property and then bought it back five years later for 3-4 times the price. every city has the same "gay bath house" where the local politicians and developers are all buddy with each other
>Landowners can do whatever they want, they import a lot of invasive species
Stockholm had a case like this with some rich guy implanting fallow deer to his island in the Stockholm archipelago. fallow deer don't swim like moose do, so there's no way they could get there naturally. the guy denies implanting them of course
>>2836396
>70 yards
yeah that sounds right at the limit. I wouldn't be comfortable going further than 50 meters, given how the 10/22 performs at the 100 meter range

Anyone has any experience with wolves? How tough are they? 55 grain hollowpoints out of 17” barrel within 100-150 yards should be good from what I read- y/n?

I have 223 and a 12ga, i hear people shoot them with buckshot also(this is eastern yuropoor btw). Bet even within under 100meters I am way more confident of hitting where im aiming on a moving target with my rifle, since i shoot and hunt with it way more. Asked this on k hunting thread, but I guess no one hunts there, thread seems dead.

>>2835027
norway its landowner based teams in the old school way that we hunt on this side of the river or mountain and you hunt there and its done by landowners teaming up. landovners can give their right away to other relatives, i for instance love being part of it but got next to no interest in being the guy shooting the moose so i handed my stake to my cousin. its not an faggy anti gun/hunting thing i just got enough things going on i dont need hunting season on top of that again. let the ones who enjoy it have it.
state set the limit for how much each team can shoot from moose, elk and bear (latter often being a floating limit if one team shoot one the others cant)

>>2836825
in Sweden wolves are counted as big game (class 1), so a full power cartridge like .308 is legally required. whether this is *actually* required depends on whether you want an angry, injured wolf to attack you

>>2836858
we dont look at calibre in norway but energy at 100m impact and it has to be 2200 joule. 6,5 krag barely makes it but it does.
its kind of a bullshit requirement, dog drivers for instance rarely if ever get a shot fired at a moose and if they do its a "holyfuck its coming at me" from 50m or less, they might as well carry revolvers, lever actions or slugs. the actual shooters often do kills far over 100m, they should be using sniper calibers. dad did a moose from 450m once with 308, it was messy but it was done.
i heard from swededish hunters that they often think norwegian hunting is crazy and american with guys shooting at random on long ranges but the shooting test is so hard once you pass it you actually know how to shoot and the terrain itself is different here, it favours long range shots.

>>2836825
now i read your full post
>eastern europoor
i guess that changes things a bit in the legal department. bear has been killed with 22lr, 223/5,56 is specificly made to kill or incapacitate humans it will do just fine on wolf. expanding bullets is a thing often ignored by larpers for some reason and you said it yourself you are more confident with your rifle so then you use that. for causual around the farm or hiking then the 12 might be a better idea, then you wouldnt fire unless supprised by one coming at you.

>>2836928
>we dont look at calibre in norway but energy at 100m impact and it has to be 2200 joule. 6,5 krag barely makes it but it does.
we have a similar situation in Sweden but with the 'ol 6,5x55 from the union days. the energy requirement has been lowered even more to grandfather in the 6,5 with lead-free bullets
>dad did a moose from 450m once with 308, it was messy but it was done
energy is probably down to just above 1000 J at that distance. sounds like a high risk of not felling the animal on the first shot
9,3x57 and 9,3x62 are popular here also, especially when hunting in dense forests so the bullet isn't affected by shrubs and such
>the terrain itself is different here, it favours long range shots
a friend of mine knows some Sami. we might join them for some long-range hunting up in the mountains

>>2836935
that long range moose, its so typical of my dad to mess up this way, it was my sisters birthday and she was invited along hunting, he felt he had to do a kill with her watching, he did a quite impressive shot non the less it would have been an istant kill on a bull but he hit low because it was a calf or young bull so it wasnt an instant kill, he dragged my by then qurious sister to the moose and gave it the mercy shot. said shot blew out both eyes and sister been reluctant to hunting ever since.
i worked with many swedish hunters, they all seemed to curse at our "långholdsskyttare" long range shooters. dude we train at 200m in the army, thats without scopes. wild reindeer hunting, while the legality of such shots can be questionable, is often shot at 500 to 1000m range, simply because you cant get closer to them.

>>2836939
I withhold judgement on long distance shots until I've spent some time on the local long distance range. a moose is a large target
I have been experimenting a bit with longer shots, and calculating how much the sights need to be moved for any given distance beyond 100 meters up to 300 meters or so. beyond that bullet drop starts becoming non-linear. so far I'm able to land sub-MOA shots up to 200 meters

>>2836944
the g3 7,62/308 we used in my service was 0 point at 30m and 200m. for your kind, it might be more beneficial to go go long&wide then narrow it in.

>>2836946
I zero at 100 meters typically. the way I work out adjustments for other distances is with a small octave script because I'm a huge nerd. the math works out which is nice. were I to do longer distances I'd probably print a little cheat sheet. for now I know that every 100 meters beyond 100 is 9 clicks on the scope

>>2836966
im not a hunter, just from a hunting family and full blown guntist including a few national championship golds im not doxxing more than that.
its not wrong or bad to zero at 100, it might realisticly be where you get most hits. it just lack the close range 0. a typical hunting/military round here (7,62/6,5/5,56) will zero at 30-50m and 200. meaning inbetween that range it will fly relativeliy flat, you dont really have to aim under at 100m you just aim straight on and a heart hit 2cm high is still a kill.

>>2836981
a møøse is a big target so there's little need to quibble over a couple of cm. they don't always stand still either. with birds it's a different matter
Swedish moose hunters must pass a test every year that involves shooting a moving target. specifically two shots on it being stationary and two on it moving. you have to hit all four shots in the series to pass. distance is 80 meters

>>2834950 (OP)
I want to get into duck hunting this season, I literally don't know anything about hunting. I want to go jump shooting first to get a feel for it, plus decoys feel too much like fishing to me, which I hate. What am in for? Any advice? Also, any good spots in Ohio?

I've been excused from the moose hunting team due to my broken fibula. I might still get some meat if I help with the butchering, but I'm not sure if I'm up for it. I might send a friend of mine to take my place during butchering, then give her an appropriate amount of my share of the meat. what do anons here think is a fair amount for a day's work?
>>2837679
make friends with a bird hunter

>>2835031
>black bear
I'm only tagging your comment because you mentioned black bears first. I was going to ask this on another board, but here seems more appropriate... my relatives are quite steamed that black bears are 'in season' again. They claim that it's only for male bravado; so "men can put bear heads on their walls." I argued, briefly, that it was to cull the population, as we do deer, so that the natural eco-balance is better preserved. Which argument has more merit?

>>2838177
That's probably because they live in the city and don't have to deal with the reality of wild animals. If they lived somewhere that their pets, children and possibly even themselves were at risk of large predatory animal encounters, they'd change their tunes. Black bear is a good meat bear and there are LOTS of them. Here in California the population has jumped from ~30k to over 60k in just the past 20 years. Bears are responsible for more fawn deaths than any other source. A managed bear population is essential to a healthy deer population.

trying to tag 2 deer and maybe a turkey this year with a traditional recurve. taken plenty of both with single action firearms and I want to up the difficulty just a little bit more.

getting some arrows in that I've used advanced busch lite rocket science equations to determine will be 99% in the ball park of tuned for my bow. Some practice broadheads that are the same size, weight, shape, and vented as the ones im hunting with. I should be golden

I'm also buying a new gillie suit this year. I have hunting camo and milsurp out the ass. I just have never owned a gillie suit, and that's exactly what will blend in where I'm going to be hunting. There's big mulberry bushes and bundles of poison ivy and grape vines and leaf litter I'll blend right into

>>2838292
>traditional bow
>gillie suit
schizo tech as hell

>>2834950 (OP)
not hunting anything as usual, i grew up with hunting, butchered and dragged out many a moose and roe deer from the forest, i got a keen interest in the guns shooting them and im good at shooting said guns, but for some reason i never felt the need to be the guy shooting the animal? not a belief or faggy moral issue, its just my father hunts so well and im so good at bringing the trailer to pick it up and help dragging out the moose, if i have the time (work sucks) i never really considered being the hunter myself.
he has now stated that this is his last year since he is 70 or something and im concidering changing this. i have officially given away my hunting inheritance right to my cousin but i can still tag along if i want. or i can continue to be the runaround for him, its still hunting culture and meat harvest.
the interesting thing here is the deer population is increasing rapidly, same with bear. bear often get shot off season due to livestock attacks but they might give out a bear pass to a moose/deer hunting team, it has happend in the last years.

>>2838340
ghillie, recurve, and a self climber tree stand on public land

Im pretty confident I'm gonna get something this year. But hopefully no redneck accidentally murders me because of hunting public

>>2838442
>But hopefully no redneck accidentally murders me because of hunting public
why would they do that?

>>2838445
sometimes retards go out opening day and shoot at absolutely everything they see move. god forbid I'm dragging a deer back, or getting out of my stand or something, have my hood off: and some idiot goes "holy shit thats a deer" and sticks an arrow in me. Happens dozens of times a year. My dad famously almost killed a dumbass college kid once opening day of gun season, because he was walking through the woods with a light tan daniel boon hat, and khaki pants. My dad, according to the story never pointed the gun at the kid, but it made him go what the fuck is that is that a deer? Any kind of movement or khaki color can make a dumbass with no patience or trigger control, shoot you. My dad supposedly went over and ripped the dude for being stupid and unaware he was walking through the woods wearing actual animal skins, opening day, and was gonna get himself killed.

stupid stuff always happen, I just want to minimize the chance it'll happen to me. I'm gonna tie some hunter orange arm bands and leg bands I think. Not gonna wear a vest or hat unless I'm in gun season when my state requires it

>>2838447
>light tan
>khaki
"please shoot me" colors
>I'm gonna tie some hunter orange arm bands and leg bands I think
yep. oh and a while back I figured out why orange makes sense: deer are colorblind

Who's going out for dove season tomorrow? I hunted them for the first time last year but I was new to wingshooting and never got very many. Tomorrow afternoon I'm gonna post some decoys up by a cattle tank and see how a year of practice treats me.

>>2838450
colorblind to a certain degree. they can still see blue, yellows, greens, and browns. But certain yellows, certain greens, and especially red and orange are very difficult for them to see. They see blaze orange as a yellow or a brown

turkey actually see color better than we do and have a longer vision than people. To a turkey blaze orange stands out just as much as it does it us, if not more so. Theres still debate as to whether turkey can see some colors on the ultraviolet spectrum. So if youre ever turkey hunting, camo is super super important.

>>2838452
I used to hunt the shit out of dove where I'm going deer hunting this year. I just dont have the time I used to, other wise I would. I'd limit out mourning or collared dove, and absolutely slaughter a whole mess of english house sparrow and starling at the same time as target practice. Fowl hunting is so much fun. pic related is a dove I harvested in my front yard while cleaning my side by side lol. plucked and fried him ten minutes later lol

is bragging OK in here? I managed a maximum score at the local moose range the other day. slöp means standing and running, meaning the target alternates between being stationary and moving. so two of these shots are on a moving target. score is 0 (lung shot, ~30 MOA) up to 5 (heart, 12 MOA), with 5* being even better (7 MOA) but not awarding any extra points
>>2838453
yeah like colorblind people they're not completely incapable of telling colors apart, just not quite as good at it. and yeah, birds tend to have much better eyesight than we do

>>2838452
Well how did it go? I only shot 6 mourning doves but got 13 eurasians, which don't count toward the limit.

>>2837858
update: a prospective team member will be filling in for me. despite me doing zero work, I'll still be getting 40 kg of meat

>>2838457
>mooseslop

>>2838791
Do you eat them?

$400 AR15 or $1000+ dedicated hunting rifle?

>>2839877
what are you planning on hunting?