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Post by sd51555 on Oct 8, 2019 16:59:23 GMT -6
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Post by biglakebass on Oct 8, 2019 17:47:27 GMT -6
Big surprise. Ducks suck. Pheasants suck. Grouse suck.
Squirells? Shoot em off your deck year round while they eat your bird food.
Sad,,,,, we have duck hunted 1 day this year and got 1 woodie. 25 years ago in the same spots we smashed ducks week after week. i cannot blame the DNR. Its just a sad situation.
Is it tiling? Is it because ND has great water for years? I am a duck hunter and nothing I love more to do and really miss it here in MN.
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Post by smsmith on Oct 8, 2019 18:20:22 GMT -6
It seems most kids used to (back when I was a kid anyway) start by small game hunting. I and all of my friends had to prove to our dad's that we were ready to deer hunt. Once Dad knew I was good to go shooting and cleaning squirrels by myself, he figured I had earned my way to deer hunting.
Now, kids start by deer hunting. I saw on facebook some 6 year old kid posing with a buck he shot in a youth hunt over the weekend. Doesn't seem right to me, but I guess that's how shit goes today. Why would a kid take up squirrel or rabbit hunting after having deer hunted?
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Post by Freeborn on Oct 8, 2019 18:46:32 GMT -6
I grew up shooting squirls, rabbits, pegions and carp. Most kids started with a bb gun, then pellet gun then 22. I still have my original marlin 22.
I think kids would miss allot if they didn't spend some time hunting small game.
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Post by smsmith on Oct 8, 2019 18:49:28 GMT -6
I grew up shooting squirls, rabbits, pegions and carp. Most kids started with a bb gun, then pellet gun then 22. I still have my original marlin 22. I think kids would miss allot if they didn't spend some time hunting small game.
I learned a lot about the woods and woodland critters while small game hunting. I'd guess an awful lot of deer hunting kids (and adults) today couldn't tell a pine from a spruce.
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Post by Freeborn on Oct 8, 2019 18:54:11 GMT -6
I grew up shooting squirls, rabbits, pegions and carp. Most kids started with a bb gun, then pellet gun then 22. I still have my original marlin 22. I think kids would miss allot if they didn't spend some time hunting small game.
I learned a lot about the woods and woodland critters while small game hunting. I'd guess an awful lot of deer hunting kids (and adults) today couldn't tell a pine from a spruce. I have very found memories of my brother, uncles, cousins and neighbors hunting small game...it was an innocent time where kids had fun and often dreamed about big adventure.
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Post by Sandbur on Oct 8, 2019 19:11:51 GMT -6
Small game (upland hunting) was just not a big thing when I grew up in northern Minnesota.
You might shoot a squirrel here or there, shoot a partridge when you saw it, but no concentrated effort. It must be a regional thing. Many families did not even eat squirrel.
My grandfather from Kentucky was big on squirrel hunting. My Mom cooked some when he was there.
Ducks and deer were what you hunted.
Geese were seldom killed in my area.
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Post by smsmith on Oct 8, 2019 19:22:31 GMT -6
Small game (upland hunting) was just not a big thing when I grew up in northern Minnesota. You might shoot a squirrel here or there, shoot a partridge when you saw it, but no concentrated effort. It must be a regional thing. Many families did not even eat squirrel. My grandfather from Kentucky was big on squirrel hunting. My Mom cooked some when he was there. Ducks and deer were what you hunted. Geese were seldom killed in my area. I'd guess like many things that regions play a part. My Dad always called waterfowl hunting a rich man's sport. I hunted ducks and geese a few times, but stopped after being unable to find a way to cook them so they were edible. I could probably do better today, but I have zero interest in shooting any waterfowl now. Bunnies, squirrels, pheasants, and grouse when we hunted at the cabin. We also used to shoot a few snowshoe hares in Juneau County. They weren't much for eating either, so we stopped hunting them.
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Post by benmnwi on Oct 8, 2019 20:35:04 GMT -6
Squirrel was the starter species in se mn. In the early 90's we had good grouse and pheasant numbers as well, but I didnt do too well on them until I got a dog at 14. We would hunt rabbits after the pheasant season closed and there was nothing else to do. My dad said ducks taste like mud, so we never hunted them when I was young.
Grouse numbers crashed by the late 90's and pheasants followed suit in the mid 00's. Squirrel and rabbit hunting is still an option if you can get access to land. That's harder to do now that deer hunting is more popular.
I don't think you can get the same skills as a kid if you only sit in a turkey blind or deer blind, so I'm going to try go get my kids started with small game in addition to deer and turkeys. Hopefully it gets them hooked so they can gut and drag my critters for me when I am old.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Oct 8, 2019 20:48:24 GMT -6
I read somewhere that youth archery participation is up ? I know Iowa has a strong youth archery program and obviously the kids like to hunt there and see quality!! If we had a lot of pheasants, ducks and grouse maybe we’d see more kids hunting?
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Post by Sandbur on Oct 9, 2019 3:40:18 GMT -6
Small game (upland hunting) was just not a big thing when I grew up in northern Minnesota. You might shoot a squirrel here or there, shoot a partridge when you saw it, but no concentrated effort. It must be a regional thing. Many families did not even eat squirrel. My grandfather from Kentucky was big on squirrel hunting. My Mom cooked some when he was there. Ducks and deer were what you hunted. Geese were seldom killed in my area. I'd guess like many things that regions play a part. My Dad always called waterfowl hunting a rich man's sport. I hunted ducks and geese a few times, but stopped after being unable to find a way to cook them so they were edible. I could probably do better today, but I have zero interest in shooting any waterfowl now. Bunnies, squirrels, pheasants, and grouse when we hunted at the cabin. We also used to shoot a few snowshoe hares in Juneau County. They weren't much for eating either, so we stopped hunting them. We lived in an area of potholes, creeks, and lakes with wild rice in the last two. Lots of ducks were shot while jump shooting. All you needed was a shotgun and a dog to fetch. Most families had a canoe or wild rice picking boat if not two or three. If you needed decoys, the Holiday gas station had them. Heck we didn’t even talk about squirrel hunting. We didn’t have fox squirrels and as you went a bit further north even greys tended to disappear.
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Post by batman on Oct 9, 2019 7:00:04 GMT -6
Could be as simple as supply and demand. Takes X number of animals on the landscape to satisfy the avg hunter.
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Post by Catscratch on Oct 9, 2019 8:53:52 GMT -6
Leasing land for deer hunting removed a lot of youth from small game hunting (in my general area anyway). Trespassers from Wichita did too. Landowners just found it easier to tell the highpo that nobody had permission and to ticket everyone found on their place. Kids just don't have the access that we had when I was growing up.
Supply and demand is a factor. Quail and chicken numbers are very low and have been for a long time. It's difficult find some of these things to hunt.
I will add that duck hunting is probably more popular than ever for local high school kids. Probably due to good numbers and accessibility to large feed fields that people don't want to deer hunt.
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Post by smsmith on Oct 9, 2019 9:56:20 GMT -6
Leasing land for deer hunting removed a lot of youth from small game hunting (in my general area anyway). Trespassers from Wichita did too. Landowners just found it easier to tell the highpo that nobody had permission and to ticket everyone found on their place. Kids just don't have the access that we had when I was growing up. Supply and demand is a factor. Quail and chicken numbers are very low and have been for a long time. It's difficult find some of these things to hunt. I will add that duck hunting is probably more popular than ever for local high school kids. Probably due to good numbers and accessibility to large feed fields that people don't want to deer hunt. I am sure guys buying land for deer hunting has negatively impacted youth small game hunters too. I know I do my best to stay out of the woods from early September until sometime in December usually. Not sure if in the future I'd allow grandkids to go stumble around small game hunting here or not. Right now, I'd say "no"
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Post by badbrad on Oct 9, 2019 10:06:22 GMT -6
Leasing land for deer hunting removed a lot of youth from small game hunting (in my general area anyway). Trespassers from Wichita did too. Landowners just found it easier to tell the highpo that nobody had permission and to ticket everyone found on their place. Kids just don't have the access that we had when I was growing up. Supply and demand is a factor. Quail and chicken numbers are very low and have been for a long time. It's difficult find some of these things to hunt. I will add that duck hunting is probably more popular than ever for local high school kids. Probably due to good numbers and accessibility to large feed fields that people don't want to deer hunt. I am sure guys buying land for deer hunting has negatively impacted youth small game hunters too. I know I do my best to stay out of the woods from early September until sometime in December usually. Not sure if in the future I'd allow grandkids to go stumble around small game hunting here or not. Right now, I'd say "no" I agree with this 100% that big chunks of land being taken up for deer hunting management has driven down available land.
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