[Shooting more than one buck]

Its illegal how dare you.  Give me a break.  The fine for using somebody else s tag is less than a speeding ticket.  How many of you (  I would never do it it is illegal) dorks have went over the speed limit.......

 

So the fine isn't enough of a deterrent? I personally don't know what the fine is for shooting bucks I don't have tags for, I just figured that I wouldn't do it because it is illegal.

 

Finding yourself 5 MPH over the speed limit is a lot different than pulling the trigger one more time...

[frustration with dec]

http://m.sharpie.com/enus/pages/ultra-fine-point-marker.aspx

They come with every tag. You didn't get one?

[frustration with dec]

The internet version didn't seem to recognize my buck tag #.

P.s. the actual tags suck. The ink fades fast and you can't write on them clearly.

[Shooting more than one buck]

A- it's illegal

B- it's greedy

There was a guy a couple of years ago that shot a nice 3 year old during gun season, then shot a mature 8, and couldn't help himself when a spike came out too. I still regret not calling him in.

[DIY Skull Boiler]

Looks just like the bucket that a Buck Boiler is made out of

 

Yes, probably comes from the same mold...

[DIY Skull Boiler]

The bucket I use is a 5 gallon feed bucket I bought at TSC. Any bucket will probably work, but this one is a little shorter and squattier than a standard 5, which probably helps maintain temps.

 

[Interesting!]

I told you Curmudgeon...! Here's a question: at what point does shooting an animal behind a fence become "cruelty to animals"? If I took money from someone in exchange for letting them shoot one of my Holsteins for sport, would that be a whole lot better than a Michael Vick scenario? People have been jailed for animal cruelty after shooting dogs and/or cats even though the actual kill was quick and humane.

[thinking of updating my muzzleloader]

Loving the Savage smokeless...

[What is it?]

Fisher

[Garth Brooks]

My wife wants to go. Apparently there are 4 shows in 2 days? Sounds a little commercialized.

[Interesting!]

Being the resident predatorphile, I need to point a couple of things. Pheasants are not native. They did not evolve in this part of the world. The stocked birds have no savvy whatsoever. Blaming predators for killing these "chickens" is like blaming the Johnstown flood on a leaky toilet in Altoona.

 

As far as canned hunts, I have some Dorset sheep I want to liquidate. They can be quite sporting in their pasture. No hunting license is needed. They are polled Dorsets so no headgear. Sorry.

 

 

 

Geez- don't post that on here- someone is bound to take you up on your offer!

[Interesting!]

"Hunting" farm animals is like hiring a prostitute in Vegas; sure you "bagged" one but are you really proud enough to tell your friends about it?

[Interesting!]

That's because pheasants are from China just like everything else that looks great at first but doesn't last long.

[Gassing before hunting?]

OK Grow, no legal shortcuts

[Why can't some just....]

Yes, but the label of "hunter" sure doesn't make us all the same or buddies. There are certainly some that call themselves "hunters" that the rest of us would be better off without.

[Gassing before hunting?]

Anyone ever hear the phrase "10% of hunters kill 90% of the deer" or "90% of the big bucks" ? There's a reason and it's all in the details, just like any successful endeavor. There are no shortcuts to success.

[Address for aging teeth?]

I've used them a bunch of times- yes, it takes a while but they always get back in the estimated time. There is also Matson's Lab.

[Piebald]

What town was that buck shot? I have one on trail can north of Cato. I wouldn't raise or lower my standards for a piebald.

[DIY Skull Boiler]

What do you think would happen if you put the Dawn in the water when you're boiling it? I also heard someone say they have boiled it in water and dishwasher liquid... any experience with that kind of thing?

 

 

Pretty much nothing. I've put heavy duty degreaser in when I've boiled them and it doesn't make a difference. The only thing I found was the grease migrated from the forehead to most of the rest of the skull. The only thing I've found that works so far is Zep citrus degreaser (Home Depot) at a 1:3 ratio (or stronger) with water in a bucket and let it soak for a few weeks. Supposedly, dawn will work the same way, but again- it needs to soak for weeks.

 

 

You may think you don't need to because initially the skull will look nice, but give it a few months and you'll have grease start coming through on the forehead like this (wet looking areas between the eyes):

 

 

 

The problem is the skull isn't solid bone, it has a somewhat hollow core in a lot of areas, and fat will be in the bone marrow in those places. Even when beetles are used the skulls have to be degreased.

[Boar Hunting in Hancock]

 

Just what i thought...No knowledgeable answer because there is none and fact is fact!

How about i show you what states think about CWD as a problem..  Talk about double standards!

 

 

 

February 25, 2013 5:30 am  •  Kevin Woster Journal staff

(1) Comments

 

A relocation plan aimed at reducing the elk herd in Wind Cave National Park and building elk numbers nearby has some critics worried about the spread of chronic wasting disease.

Wildlife officials at Wind Cave and adjoining Custer State Park are cooperating on a plan to use helicopters in early March to push hundreds of elk out of Wind Cave, where they have outgrown available habitat. The plan is to reduce the number of elk in Wind Cave and bolster the elk population in the adjoining national forest and Custer State Park, where the elk herd has dropped.

It is considered a win-win plan by those involved, but it worries critics who include former state Game, Fish & Parks Department wildlife specialist John Wrede of Rapid City. And chronic wasting disease is at the heart of that worry.

Wind Cave has been in a troubled area for the fatal brain disorder affecting elk and deer since a CWD-infected captive elk herd on private land adjoining the park had to be destroyed in the 1990s.

CWD apparently spread from that captive herd into wild elk in the park, causing a problem there that, based on limited data, appears to produce higher rates of infection in elk than elsewhere in the Black Hills.

"When considering just elk, the prevalence rate in and immediately around Wind Cave is far greater than anyplace else in South Dakota," Wrede said. "In fact, you could put Wind Cave directly in the center of what could easily be referred to as an endemic area, where managers and epidemiologists should be trying to figure out how to keep the area from growing larger."

Forcing hundreds of elk out of the park seems to work against such containment, Wrede said.

Wind Cave wildlife officials argue that a drive is unlikely to cause a significant increase in CWD elsewhere in the Black Hills. They also point out that the elk herd in Wind Cave is thriving in spite of CWD, to the point where the reduction plan was needed.

And the higher rates of CWD in the park's elk herd should be kept in perspective, said park biological science technician Duane Weber and natural resource manager Greg Schroeder.

They admit that the numbers of infected elk appear startling, based on limited survey results. Out of 140 elk tested in the park since 1998, 45 have tested CWD positive. 

But there's a catch. Those were not random tests. They were tests on elk that were either dead or sick, unlike the more random testing done elsewhere in the Black Hills by GF&P, primarily from elk shot by hunters.

Those test results, based on 15 years of sampling, indicate a CWD infection rate throughout the Hills in deer and elk of slightly less than 1 percent. But comparing the two types of tests isn't fair, Weber said.

"The animals we test are either sick and we suspect chronic wasting and we shoot them, or they've already died and we test them," Weber said. "So it's way higher. Comparing our tests to the state's results is apples and elephants."

It's difficult to know what a more random testing system would show, since Wind Cave doesn't allow hunting within park boundaries.

"In a nutshell, we don't have a very good handle on what our prevalence is, whether it's higher or lower overall," Weber said.

The closest study Wind Cave has to the more random state surveys was a 3-year mortality study based on elk fitted with tracking collars. It indicated that 3 percent of the collared elk that died were CWD infected. For perspective, that was the same rate as those determined to have been killed by mountain lions in the park.

Hunter mortality on those collared elk was 6 to 7 percent, on animals that migrated outside the park during the hunting season, Weber said.

Weber and Schroeder said it should also be noted that Wind Cave elk have been moving in and out of the park for years. Portions of the herd have moved over low spots in fences to reach federal or private forest for calving season, Weber said.

Recent upgrades give Wind Cave officials more control over when and where elk leave and return to the park.

Wrede is pretty sure the Wind Cave rates are higher, regardless of variations in testing protocol. The CWD problem in the Black Hills pretty clearly began with the captive elk herd near Wind Cave and spread into the wild elk in the park and then beyond, he said.

"There may be a better than fair probability that, at least in the case of elk, animals historically testing positive for CWD had origins in Wind Cave National Park," Wrede said.

The issue isn't lost on John Kanta, GF&P regional wildlife manager in Rapid City. He noted that elk have migrated in and out of Wind Cave for years but also said the helicopter drive will get into parts of the population that tended not to leave the park. And now they will.

"We're certainly going to be pushing some animals into areas where they haven't been before, from a place where there has been a higher prevalence of the disease," Kanta said."That's certainly a concern that we've discussed among the staff."

Even so, Kanta doubts the CWD impacts outside the park will be dramatic. And he said the upside of redistributing elk will benefit Wind Cave wildlife and habitat management and hunters and wildlife watchers outside the park.

Building the herd in Custer State Park, where limited elk hunting is typically allowed, and on U.S. Forest Service land nearby will benefit elk hunters and elk watchers, Kanta said.

Weber said the positive side of the plan is big.

"We don't know exactly what's going to happen when these elk go out," he said. "But we think the benefit of this project far outweigh any detriments we might see.

 

 

So, in this article it is claimed that the wild elk were infected by escapees from a nearby game farm?

[Boar Hunting in Hancock]

Again..My Point>>>They have been here how many freakin years?  They will multiply how fast?  Everything they claim that CAN<COULD<WOULD happen the pigs themselves have PROVEN them wrong. Kinda like they are trying to use a little thing called CWD which has proven all science and every person that tries to use it for their agenda, sound like a dipstick.

 

Years and time are all the proof ya need and both have had plenty enough to prove that neither are a problem. Period!

Kind of like claiming that deer farmers had nothing to do with the spread of the aforementioned CWD or that no deer was ever transported across state lines without the proper health testing, permits, and paperwork...

[DIY Skull Boiler]

I put them in looking like this:

 

 

(This was in the original buck boiler before it burned out)

 

 

After 3-4 hours the head will look like this...  Note the skin has split across the bridge of the nose. At this point I walk over to the dumpster and give it a good shake. The bottom jaw and everything from the split forward usually falls off. I then whip out my trusty leatherman and pop the flesh and skin off the forehead. It usually takes less than 5 minutes to get 95% of the soft material off. I also do a water change at this point.

 

 

After another 2 hours or so (time can be different depending on all the variables I listed in a previous post) the head will come out looking like this. I use a pressure washer to get any last little bits off. If the deer is 3 years old or younger you will probably need to glue the nose bones (upper mandible) back in. The last step is degreasing, which I think I've finally figured out...

 

[DIY Skull Boiler]

I throw them in skin and all. Make sure you wrap plastic around the bases up to the brow tines as tightly as possible. Keeps the bark in and the greasy scuzz from sticking to the antlers.

[Boar Hunting in Hancock]

Virgil- not much different than hunting behind a fence.

[DIY Skull Boiler]

I made this exact setup.  It took a lot longer than 6 hours and I had to whiten the skull with hair bleach for 12 hours after, but the end result looks great.  Thanks for sharing the idea.  

 

As far as time goes- a lot depends on your water start temperature, ambient temperature (I made an insulated shell for mine), cook temperature, and how much flesh is removed ahead of time. I've found some skulls come out nice and white and some don't, even if everything was done the same way. Also plan on degreasing the skull. You won't notice it at first but after a few months the forehead area of the skull will start to get a oily look. I've been using Zep citrus degreaser from Home Depot at a 1 to 3 ratio with water. I let the skulls soak in this solution for several weeks at room temperature.