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Cultivate Simple 6: On the Hunt

November 12th, 2012

In this week’s show we discuss hunting and the reasons, skills, and equipment needed to do so effectively and ethically.

Ethical Hunting

According to NRA’s Hunter Code of Ethics

  • I will consider myself an invited guest of the landowner, seeking his permission, and so conducting myself that I may be welcome in the future.
  • I will obey the rules of safe gun handling and will courteously but firmly insist that others who hunt with me do the same.
  • I will obey all game laws and regulations, and will insist that my companions do likewise.
  • I will do my best to acquire those marksmanship and hunting skills, which insure clean, sportsmanlike kills.
  • I will support conservation efforts, which can assure good hunting for the future generations of Americans.
  • I will pass along to younger hunters the attitudes and skills essential to a true outdoor sportsman.

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18 Comments to “Cultivate Simple 6: On the Hunt”
  1. jennifer fisk on November 12, 2012 at 7:33 am

    Good looking hunter but he needs more blaze orange.

    Reply to jennifer fisk's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on November 12, 2012 at 8:57 am

      Thanks Warden. That was actually a target practice day. :)

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

      • jennifer fisk on November 12, 2012 at 9:07 am

        Love target practice. Good luck.

        to jennifer fisk's comment

  2. Mich on November 12, 2012 at 8:40 am

    I usually listen to your podcast with a download from iTunes.
    Just went to download it but todays episode isn’t showing :(

    Reply to Mich's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on November 12, 2012 at 8:58 am

      We had a small server glitch this morning (you know how I keep mentioning that the traffic is melting the server… um-yeah). It is showing up in my iTunes but I see that it is not in the iTunes store. I am going to give it a bit of time to ping again. Thanks for the heads up.

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

  3. Denimflyz on November 12, 2012 at 10:59 am

    Good Luck to you, Mr. Chiots.
    Unfortunatly here in Nebraska, my area is being desimated by a mite disease that affects mostly Whitetails with internal bleeding and very high fever. We have lost an estimated 25% of our Whitetail population, and that is an estimate.
    This year, the permits have really been cut to support the loss. Maybe next year for us.
    Again, good hunting.
    Regards,

    Reply to Denimflyz's comment

  4. Margie Clyde on November 12, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    Love the red plaid Woolrich! My husband wears the same every year for the annual deer hunt…he has the pants, too. I think it looks silly, but he says he never gets wet and can go through the briar patch. I love having our freezer stocked full of venison. Happy hunting!

    Reply to Margie Clyde's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on November 12, 2012 at 12:41 pm

      I wear that jacket all winter and actually own two. Perfect in any situation. I actually have a pair the old style pants from the 50’s that are tight around your calves. I typically wear a pair of Filson wool bibs. Wool is the greatest material in the world as far as I am concerned.

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

  5. tj on November 12, 2012 at 4:51 pm

    …Gosh, Mr Chiots, you could be a poster boy for the NRA with that photo! Cute! :o)

    …My husband just got a large 10 pointer Saturday morning. He hunts on his brother’s property in northern Missouri and there is the threat of the Chronic Wasting Disease in deer in that region, so upon check-in of his buck they extracted a tooth and removed the lymph nodes (on the buck, not my husband:o). Supposedly the disease is not contagious by consuming the venison, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. *gulp* :o\

    …Best Wishes on the hunt!

    …”Hi Susy!” *waving* :o)

    …Blessings

    Reply to tj's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on November 14, 2012 at 8:30 am

      Oh stop… please go on.

      “On the buck, not my husband”… that made us crack up.

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

  6. Melanie in California on November 14, 2012 at 1:40 am

    Mission accomplished with this podcast, you’ve made me see hunting differently from my previous, euwe, ick perspective. Hunting makes perfect sense as described by Mr Chiots and so much better than the hallowed grail of taxidermied, uneaten trophy that I’ve been exposed to through hunter acquaintances.

    I have to say each of your podcasts, and indeed many of the blog posts, make me stop and think, really THINK about things and I end up with a different (better?) point of view.

    Reply to Melanie in California's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on November 14, 2012 at 8:38 am

      Thanks Melanie. That was the point of this podcast. The reason most people are ‘against hunting’ is that they don’t know any hunters and only heard stories from certain organizations about blood thirsty hill-billies that have no regard for animal or human life. And while I have a lot of Tennessee in my genes (and Susy West Virginia), I have the highest respect for the animals that provide meat for my table and for my pets.

      And while I have mixed feelings on taxidermy (in other words, stuff sitting around MY house), I am not against it. Taxidermy can and typically is done after most of the meat has been harvested. You just use the skin over a form. If there is not someone to tan the hides (and there is usually is not) then this would be a waste product and is discarded without use. The head is almost always discarded.

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

      • Melanie in California on November 14, 2012 at 3:00 pm

        It’s your respect for the creature and the process that drew me into listening to the entire podcast. Twice! Too many of my (admittedly few) hunter acquaintances aren’t really in it to feed themselves or even feed others – it’s all about the trophies and the bragging rights. Taxidermy isn’t a bad thing, either, unless it’s the primary reason for the hunt in the first place and not the meat. Thanks to you I now have a better understanding and much higher respect for the difference between throwing lead and ethical hunting.

        But I will always smile at the memory of a young nephew who joined me in a visit to a hunter friend of the family. Bored with adult conversation, the child wandered through the man’s cabin and out into the trophy-filled den. Then he suddenly scampered back to my side where he stayed, glued and very subdued, until time to leave. As we pulled out the driveway he leaned over to me and whispered, “He has a dead zoo in his house”.

        to Melanie in California's comment

  7. Mich on November 14, 2012 at 8:11 am

    It was an interesting podcast this week to listen too for me; hunting in the UK is definately different in its rules and regs.
    It is much harder to get a rifle license here, but once you have one you dont need to get a license to hunt and neither do we have set quota’s and tags.
    Small game such as grey squirrels (the beloved red is protected), rabbits, hares are open season.
    Game birds do have a seasons depending on what species it is.
    Deer can be pretty much shot all year round depending on the season as to whether its bucks or does.
    But some of the guidelines are exactly the same…..if your in doubt never shoot.
    The non native Muntjac can be shot all year round.

    Reply to Mich's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on November 14, 2012 at 8:29 am

      That is interesting Mich. Most of our hunting seasons (I believe) are based off of breeding seasons. By hunting after the breeding season, you ‘guarantee’ the next generation of game. Gun season for deer in Ohio is the last few days of November and the first days of December. This is well after ‘the rut’, when the bucks have mated with the does. This ensures that the big bucks, that everyone is keeping an eye out for, have passed on their genes. This is also the time when the does have weened the fawns and they are starting to naturally separate themselves from them. Most of the hunting season are in the fall and winter for these reasons.

      In a lot of states there are open seasons on certain species that are invasive/nuisance or that threaten the numbers of other species throughout the year.

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

      • Mich on November 14, 2012 at 3:01 pm

        Wow. That is a really small hunting window to bag yourself some venison! We have some Fallow deer but its mainly Roe deer here on the farm. Roe buck seaon is April to end of Oct, doe’s Nov till end on March. The Fallow buck season is different!

        to Mich's comment

      • Mr. Chiots on November 14, 2012 at 4:00 pm

        Ohio is polluted. Last year I got 4 in 5 days. They changed the tags system this year so I can only get 3 total.

        to Mr. Chiots's comment

  8. KimP on November 21, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    There may be a relative shortage of predators where you are, but we have quite an abundance of them here in the West! :)

    Also, I would recommend a hunter knowing the basics of first aid. My husband recognized the symptoms of hypothermia in his buddy when they were packed into the wilderness. They were able to get out before anything more serious came of it, but if he hadn’t have known what was causing his buddy’s problems, the ending could have been much worse.

    For any young hunters, I would highly recommend this NRA program: http://www.nrahq.org/hunting/yhec/index.asp. It’s an in-depth extension of Hunters Ed. wherein kids get the opportunity to become proficient with all kinds of hunting weapons in addition to other areas of knowledge that round out what hunters need to know. It has been invaluable to us, and our girls (13 & 15) are both successful hunters with very good, clean shots.

    As a side note, my husband (meat cutter for 30 years) started teaching them how to cut up deer and elk this year. My oldest said, “Mom, when am I ever going to use this?” But you just never know, do you? So they’re learning and could do it by themselves in a pinch if they needed to.

    Enjoying your podcasts. Thanks. :)

    Reply to KimP's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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