2010 February | Hunting Outdoors | Tips & Discussion on Deer, Turkey, & Elk Hunting

NWTF Its That Time of Year

Late winter brings makes for a dull time of year for most hunters, me included. I surf the net looking for places to hunt in the upcoming season. This map that shows the different species of the wild turkey and where they live. Doing this helps decide where to start looking for property to hunt on.

Several organizations are also preparing to have annual banquets to raise money for there cause. The “NWTF” National Wild Turkey Federation has been doing this for years. I am a firm supporter of the NWTF. They do alot for conservation and habitat for wild turkeys.

They are boasting they have helped increase the national turkey population from 1.5 million birds to more than 7 million. The NWTF website offers tons of information to review for anyone wanting to increase their knowledge of the wild turkey.

The ultimate goal of avid turkey hunters is to complete the Grand Slam of turkey hunting , which means harvesting all 5 species of wild turkeys. Chasing the Grand Slam starts in Florida with the Osceola moves north and east going after the Eastern which is typically the largest species of the five. The Rio Grande starts its population in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The Merriam turkey is sparsely spread through the Rocky Mountains. The last of the five North American Grand Slam is the Gould which is located in Mexico in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Use this time of year to do your research for your upcoming hunting season and remember the NWTF is stating the wild turkey population is at an all time high so you should be able to find a good place to hunt this spring.

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QDMA “What is it about”

QDMA, Quality Deer Management Association is becoming more popular every year. Hunters in most states have heard of this organization. What is it all about?

Today, in the hunting world men,women and children have a growing desire to harvest larger more mature deer in there hunting areas. This organization helps the hunter to understand what the deer need in there home range to grow larger racks. The number one thing QDMA is stressing to everyone is to let the young bucks grow to their trophy potential. This, I can attest to has been hard for a lot of hunting groups that are doing the trophy management, because there neighbors across the fence are still shooting small bucks.

The state in which I spend most of my deer hunting season is Missouri. Our state has been implementing the 4 point rule for several years in the northern counties, and now they have been migrating the 4 point rule to the south. I agree completely with what they are doing, however some trigger happy hunters will still shoot deer that do not qualify for the 4 point rule. What will they do with the illegally shot deer?

While researching the QDMA I found a map that shows how much of the country is participating in the QDMA. They have banquets throughout the year to help generate money for the different programs they offer to there members. At the banquets they have raffles, play games and even live auctions for merchandise Like guns, hunting knives, that are donated by individuals and business in the area.

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Hunting Ethics – Legal or Illegal

I ran across this article related to hunting that was rather disturbing to me. It told how a man illegally shot a Roosevelt Elk inside Olympic National Park while elk hunting. This incident immediately made me think of the hunter education that I and any hunter that buy a hunting license in the United States should have if their birthday falls after the guidelines that each state has set or their laws.

Each State has its own guide lines to become Hunter Education Certified. All 50 states do require some degree of hunter certification and an ID number is assigned to Hunter certified student. I have been well educated in this class, having four sons that hunt as well as myself. I sat through this hunter education certification class several times understand more each time why the States require this certification.

There are many things that you are trained in, from handling a firearm to processing the game for you to eat. Another area in which you are taught is ‘Ethics’. Everyone has their own way of think of what is right and what is wrong in their own eyes. Ethics can be something like, “should I shoot that dove off an electric line” or putting bait out and turkey hunting over it. Shooting a dove off a line is not illegal in my state but it is unethical to shoot a game bird sitting on a wire. However baiting turkeys is completely illegal because they will come to a bait all day long every day.

The hunter in the listed article has abused the law as well as hunting ethics for all hunters by illegally killing an Elk in a National Park where hunting is not allowed.

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