Category Archives: 2010

April 29, 2010

Them: “What do you do in your spare time?” Me: “I hunt.”

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Technology helps quite a bit in imagining the hunting community being very large. Of course, it’s big enough for the folks that are a part of it to spend an estimated $80 billion this year for goods and services that allow them to partake in it.

But the community of hunters often seems small to me when I’m introduced to new people in a professional setting. I travel quite a bit and I’m fortunate that I get to meet a lot of people during those trips. It’s something I enjoy. But earmarking $1 for each hunter I’ve encountered while traveling for business during my decade-plus professional career, wouldn’t get you enough money to buy ammo for next duck season.

This little girl already has her lifetime hunting license! (I like including photos and decided to include the cute kid for this post!)


That scares me.

I’m both proud and thankful that I have never backed down to the backdrop of politically correctness and have never had an issue sharing with people who ask that hunting is my favorite past time. Once in a while that draws a puzzled or fretted brow, but by and large most folks are somewhat fascinated by learning more about hunting as a sport. (Note: My colleagues often give the ol’ “Here we go” look when the “What do you do in your spare time?” question is posed on trips. They know what’s coming.).

My fear is not rooted in sharing my gospel. Rather, it’s concern about the continued lack of hunters in our young generation. That reality brings with it very few good things. Those of you who might look at that fact as an opportunity to improve your chances of success afield should instead wonder if it provides greater risk to the elimination of your opportunity to hunt at all.

Budgets will shrink. Support will be reduced and the sheer strength in numbers that we’re still afforded as outdoorsmen for having a voice, is being weakened by the day.

If you hunt, and you enjoy it, don’t be afraid to share why to all who you encounter. And if you can, find the time to introduce someone new to the sport we all share and love. Imagine, if you will, how many new hunters we could introduce to this amazing sport if we all committed to introducing two new kids this year. And another two next year … it would be a wonderful thing for the sport, and for the kids you’re showing it to.

1 Comment | posted in 2010, General Tales, Uncategorized

April 4, 2010

Close is good enough on this day

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These hunters had been after it for the better part of six hours when Brody, the 10-year-old hunter of honor, revealed his game plan for trying to get his grandpa to get him a turkey gun for his 11th birthday in a few weeks. He said he couldn’t wait to go turkey hunting again.

This day’s hunt was a success!

Brody was the hunter. And I was his mentor, which is a nice way to say that all the pressure was on me to make sure he had fun during the Fort Bragg QDMA Annual Youth Turkey Hunt. The hunt, it its third year, is a great program that pairs the kids of military soldiers with turkey hunters to hunt Fort Bragg’s 251 square miles during North Carolina’s Youth Day.

Brody shows his shooting form!

Each hunter and mentor are teamed with a chaperone who is familiar with Fort Bragg’s terrain – a sort of human version of a GPS that proved quite useful.

The morning got started with all teams meeting for a safety / informational session at 4 a.m. This meant a 12:30 a.m. wake up call for my hunting buddy Chris and me to make sure we were on base in time. Upon talking with a couple mentors who had scouted the area Brody would be hunting, it sounded as though our chances of communicating with Tom Turkey were pretty high. So too was the pressure for me to give Brodie some good turkey-hunting memories.

We were able to hear a few gobbles off the roost shortly after first light. Sadly, they were all several hundred yards from our initial setup. We needed to move quickly.

Three setups and two hours later, we started a series of calls off the edge of a narrow LZ (that’s “landing zone” in Fort Bragg speak!). Two minutes into the set, a gobble some 100 yards away sets the woods to life. One problem, though. It was 180 degrees from where we were facing. We quickly swiveled around. Two more gobbles indicated the bird was coming our way, and coming in a hurry.

I caught a glimpse of the bird – check that, two birds – crossing an opening 50 yards or so away. The first of the two Toms crested the small ridge ahead of us – some 25 yards away – and was looking for a hen. Our decoy was roughly 20 yards behind is at this point and I was hoping his eyes would catch the decoy before they caught us.

Pictured here is the group of youth hunters who participated in Fort Bragg's Annual Youth Turkey Hunt

The lead bird moved to within 20 yards of our spread. The second bird was not quite as interested in spending a lot of time looking for this hen. He was starting to feel a little antsy and decided to walk the opposite direction. It was time for the shot. It didn’t happen, and that’s okay.

Amidst the excitement of the turkeys coming so close, Brody froze! He admitted later that he couldn’t have truly froze because he was “shaking really bad.” It was an adrenaline rush for all of us, but especially for Brody. His first turkey hunt and he had two long beards within range! I felt the pressure come off my back a little bit.

Following a fantastic lunch for the group of hunters, we headed back to the woods for a few hours of trying to get a turkey to answer us. We decided to call it a day after a few more hours.

With 13 hunters bagging three turkeys, the Youth Day at Fort Bragg was considered a success.

Brody said he wants to go turkey hunting again ... soon!

The bag total wasn’t the lone indicator for it being a good day. Also part of the measurement were the smiles and laughs presented by the young hunters throughout the day.

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For the record: In addition to the Youth Hunt, Fort Bragg QDMA facilitates a Wounded Warrior turkey hunt the second Saturday of the general season. The organization also sets up deer hunts for youth and Wounded Warriors each fall. It’s able to do each of these with the support of a lot of donors and volunteers. While this was my first time participating, I look forward to helping again.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in 2010, Gun Hunting, Uncategorized

March 24, 2010

The ponderings of baiting and food plots

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I have a lot of things in common with my local friends here in North Carolina. My dialect is not one of them! In fact, navigating through a southern dialect takes a while to learn when you grew up a skipped rock away from the Canadian border. That’s partly why I didn’t understand a hunting buddy when he told me years ago that he was hunting deer “over a corn pile.”

The other reason I didn’t quite follow him was due to my ignorance about feeding deer – and hunting over it. Where I learned to hunt, baiting deer didn’t happen. In fact, it was strictly forbidden.

This, is a heckuva corn pile!

I read an interesting article this week from outdoors writer Oak Duke (who happens to reside in the same town your faithful blogger is from). Duke considers the seemingly hypocratic actions of many states that do not allow baiting, but will allow food plots. It’s not that Duke is advocating baiting, but he points out that the reason cited by most states for not allowing baiting seems to present a clear reason why those same states should be against food plots.

It’s an interesting point.

The article points out that in NY state, the following verbiage is posted in stores where deer feed is sold: “It is illegal to feed wild white-tailed deer in New York State. The Department of Environmental Conservation has imposed a prohibition on the feeding of wild white-tailed deer in order to prevent the introduction or spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. Any feed for domestic livestock or wildlife sold on this premises is not intended for use in feeding or attracting white-tailed deer.”

Basically, the reason you can’t bait is attributed to keeping them from concentrating in one area for extended periods of time. Um, isn’t that the primary reason for food plots?

I’ve yet to see clear evidence that a food plot, or feeding deer, can lead to CWD in free-ranging deer. There seems to be nothing that is conclusive, in my opinion.

I’m not against baiting. Does it provide a bit of an edge in the hunter’s chase? Yes, it does. But many states rely on the success of hunters to properly manage the deer herd. I don’t see how that can hurt. I do, though, think that states are being a bit hypocritical in their actions around the subject. Make a decision – then live by it.

For the record, there are currently 28 states that prohibit baiting, 14 that allow it and 8 which have some conditions that allow baiting under certain conditions.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in 2010, General Tales

March 8, 2010

20 Years Is Too Long to Wait!

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By Bob Chavez
AHT Guest Contributor

I never had anything against hunters or hunting, I just didn’t grow up in the environment, although living in Western New York since the age of 11 certainly presented plenty of opportunity. I remember well how empty my high school was on opening days of deer season in the fall and secretly wishing I could be part of that. It’s taken me 20 years since that day, but I proudly say I am now part of the hunting community.

I’ll save readers the political rhetoric but the bottom line for me was this: I was growing tired and weary of people around me appearing to be so helpless. While there’s nothing wrong with relying on others for help, too many people these days don’t do things for themselves when they’re perfectly capable. So a few years back, I took up gardening to provide some of my own food. And it didn’t take long for me to want to provide my own meat.

Bob Chavez waited 20 years to try hunting, and needed an extra 17 hunts before he connected on his first deer in 2009.

Props are due at this point to my wife, Amy. When we met and were dating, I was not a hunter. But when I told her of my interest, she was fully supportive and remains so to this day. She even applied loving pressure when she’d remind me that the freezer downstairs remained empty. The freezer we bought specifically for venison!

The 2009 season was coming at me with great anticipation. Blessed with gracious friends like Curt, Andy, Pat and Bubba, they taught me so much. How to scout for sign, where to put my stand, what to do before and after the shot. Curt even sold me my first shotgun, a Remington 1100 20-gauge. Armed with arms and knowledge, I was amped!

Long story short, the bow season came and went. I had a few chances but wasn’t able to connect. My best opportunity came while hunting some land outside of the parcel I’d leased from a local farmer. As darkness drew close, Curt flushed a herd my direction and I had a doe in my bow site. 10 yards away. Perfect. Until I stood up. I brushed my bow against a branch I didn’t see and that’s all it took to send that doe running.

Gun season arrived and I was growing anxious but I consoled myself by knowing the gun season was more forgiving. It didn’t help that bow season was abnormally warm and I was able to witness plenty of other wildlife. Fox. Coyote. Turkey. Fantastic stuff, and it reminded me plenty of why I loved the outdoors so much to begin with.

By now, I’d tried everything. Morning hunts. Mid-day hunts. Evening hunts. I’d seen plenty and had been out 17 times but still was empty-handed. The rut was over, too. Then, the morning of Dec. 7 dawned. It dawned before I was ready and I overslept. Guh. Frustrated, I decided to head out anyway. I didn’t get to my stand until 8 a.m. but by 8:30, I was singing a different tune.

Barely in my stand for 15 minutes, I saw it. Forty yards to the left, sauntering through some thick cover and heading to a lane in directly in front. I froze, then waited. When I thought it disappeared for good, I grunted anyway and a few seconds later, I saw it again. Walking right toward me, up the path I’d taken to get to my stand. A large tree stood in front of me, big enough to shield me. And when the deer kept walking and went behind the tree, that’s when I clicked my safety and rested the Remington on the shooting rail.

Closer. Closer. My heart is pounding and my nose itches, but I don’t dare scratch it. Closer. Closer. I can’t miss from here. No excuse. It’s no farther than 15 yards away now! I pull the trigger, shooting nearly straight down. I didn’t have a broadside so I went for the chest. Immediately after the shot, I see the deer limping off to my left, its right front leg sticking out. Stunned, obviously. But the deer’s movement gave me a broadside and I plugged it with a perfect shot right in the vitals and I stood there in near disbelief as I watched it from my stand, pile up no more than 20 yards away.

Silence. But I wanted to scream. My first deer! I stood and stared to make sure it was all real and once I gathered my senses, the first person I called was my wife. No answer, but she got an amusing voicemail where I sounded like a child who scored his first candy bar. I called Andy, then Bubba, then Curt. Andy lived nearby and came over to help me dress what turned out to be a button buck, and it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. But I dressed it and took it to a processor.

I’ve eaten venison before, but never had I eaten meat harvested by my own hands. It’s a special feeling, looking back at all the work and preparation it took to finally live that moment. Patience and persistence paid off for me and I am absolutely loving life today, knowing that I am part of the hunting community. It took me 20 years of my adult life to join and sometimes I kick myself for waiting so long because I’ve got a lot of knowledge to catch up on. But like the 17 trips into the woods before getting my first deer, it was worth the wait and I am ready for the 2010 season to begin. I just wish it were tomorrow!
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Bob Chavez, 40, is a veteran journalist living near Rochester, N.Y., who has loved the outdoors as a camper and hiker since his youth. He became a hunter, “officially,” in 2010 by harvesting his first deer, much to the delight of his wife and 9-year-old stepson. Until next season, he’s hunting for the best venison recipies available.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in 2010, General Tales, Guest Contributors