Coyote Control (Part III)

If you read my article Coyote Control you might be interested in the video link that I found on You Tube. It describes the beginning stages of the research project that I wrote about at the Savannah River Site. It shows how the scientist tagged the fawns for the study. You can read the results of the study in my Coyote Control post.

Hunting: Primitive Weapons

There’s nothing I enjoy more than a slow grilled slice of venison backstrap, wrapped in bacon and glazed with sweet honey barbeque sauce. I often think about how lucky we are these days to have all of these ingredients at our finger tips, because not too far back in history figuring out which seasoning we put on our food wasn't the main concern.

On a cool evening in late October, the hoot of an owl echoed through the oak hollow I was hunting and quickly faded as a swift breeze rustled the leaves under my stand. It was as if I wasn’t alone. I started to think about an arrowhead my Dad found earlier in the day. These little treasures are hidden throughout the countryside. They have become harder to find, but occasionally when the land is tilled they can spring from the earth as if they had been planted many years ago. It was definitely evidence that this land had been hunted before. Not for sport, but for survival. I was immediately hit with a shivering chill.

This thought got me interested in hunting with more primitive weapons. My dad had an old re-curve bow that we dusted off and got in shooting condition. Although, much more advanced than what an American Indian would’ve used, it was very primitive to me. We also have an early Virginia flintlock rifle (circa 1770) that I intend to take hunting. Having handled these weapons, I’ve gained a tremendous respect for the challenges that hunters faced years ago. These days my survival might not be in question, but I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that if the clock was turned back I wouldn’t have trouble turning into the whisper of wind that sent chills up my back that day I was hunting. Today’s technology is truly impressive, but sometimes it’s fun to step back and follow in the foot-steps of hunters many years ago.

The area where these arrowheads have been found was probably a dividing line between the Cherokee and Catawba Indians, so I'm unable to say for certain the origin of the arrowheads. Also, many arrowheads were traded from other regions which makes their origin even harder to pinpoint. The ones we've found are made of quartz and chert rock and come in all shapes and sizes. Some were probably used as spear points and others true arrowheads.

The picture at the beginning of the blog shows some of the arrowheads my Dad and I have found. I also added another picture of the arrowheads below. The next picture below shows the early Virginia flintlock rifle along with a powder horn made of cowhorn, hunting pouch, tomahawk, and hunting knife. I've also added a picture of a Catawba pipe head recently purchased that is made to replicate traditional patterns from years ago. The last picture is a British Dragoon flintlock pistol next to a Glock Model 17 9mm. This gives you a visual of how times have changed.

Coyote Control (Part II)

Coyote Control

Watch out because a coyote trapper is in town! I had the opportunity this past weekend to watch what I would call a professional trapper at work. If they were to give trappers a degree, this guy would have his Masters. For the purpose of this blog, I will refer to him as Master Trapper. His main goal was to trap wily coyotes from a friend’s property and he didn’t disappoint. My buddy told a story of a few days before when they noticed Master Trapper abruptly stop his ATV and examine a spot on the pasture fence. My buddy said they stopped and asked him what he was looking at. Master Trapper replied, “coyotes are crossing here.” He spotted a single coyote hair on the fence while traveling 40 mph on his four-wheeler. That’s impressive.

Over the past few years, the coyote has expanded his range and is often seen in places you wouldn’t expect. I read an article this morning on CNN of coyotes in New York City. I wouldn’t have believed that a few years ago. I also have seen them in my backyard, which just a few years ago would’ve been unheard of. According to SCDNR, “populations in South Carolina were established in Pickens and Oconee counties in the late 1970’s by houndsmen, and coupled with natural immigration, have since expanded to include all counties in the State.”

The question that often is asked is “what impact do coyotes have on deer/turkey/predator populations?” Based on my research there are various opinions on this question. The scale goes from those that say that we need to eradicate coyote populations to those that say they have no impact at all. Personally, I don’t think it’s rational to say they have no impact at all. I found an interesting article called, “Coyotes in the East: Are They Impacting Deer?” which was done by the USDA Forest Service. Its research has found that coyotes do have a significant impact on deer fawn populations. In its research they monitored 60 fawns and noted that 44 of these fawns didn’t survive until the fall season. During the research, they were able to attribute 36 of the 44 (60%) fawn deaths to coyote predation. That sounds significant to me. I also found an article at Outdoor Life magazine, which showed a series of pictures in which a coyote caught a fawn. This just gave me a visual of the research done by the USDA Forest Service. As with everything, I feel that the impact depends on the situation, but you can’t ignore that there is an impact.

The next question would be “What does a landowner do?” Let’s face it, the coyote is here to stay, but there a measures that can be done to control them. SCDNR has a good publication that gives a history of the coyote and how they can be controlled. I got to see this done first hand by Master Trapper and it’s something I will not soon forget. Let’s remember that they don’t call them Wily for nothing.

See the rules and regulations regarding trapping predators at SCDNR.

Hunting: Tree Stand Safety

Let me start this story by providing a few statistics on tree stand related accidents. I did a little research and found that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) maintains a statistical information system called the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). This system samples 100 of the approximately 5,300 nationwide emergency hospitals and then formulates a national estimate on different injuries. (See the NEISS link for more detail.) I queried a period of 1/1/2008 to 12/31/2008 and found 127 tree stand related accidents from the sampled population of emergency hospitals. You can actually view the cases and descriptions from the queried results. My point to this is not to provide a shocking estimate of deaths or injuries from tree stand accidents, but to just show that accidents do occur. All hunters that use tree stands more than likely have experienced some sort of close call. The following close call was literally slammed into my memory, and almost put me into the statistical category noted above.

Stepping from my buddy’s truck, the soaking rain from the night before was evident from the water seeping from the ground as I took my first step. This provided some promise for the morning hunt as we figured the deer would be eager to move because they would have hunkered down during the night to weather the storm. A cool misty fog rolled across the field as we started towards our hunting spots. We knew that this hunt would be what I like to call ‘all eyes and no ears’, because the rain had taken the crunch out of the earth’s floor. We came to a split in the path which signaled it was time for us to part. My buddy was headed to a fixed stand looking over a pasture bordered by young pines. I was going to hunt a funnel of hardwoods that extended out from the pasture we just crossed.

Let me interrupt the story for a few important details. We were hunting on my buddy’s property, which I had only hunted a few times before. My buddy was letting me borrow his climbing stand because we were limited on the number of fixed stands we could hunt. I kid with him now that he was a horrible guide because as we got to the split in the path he pointed and said, “Somewhere over there would be good”. I can remember shining my light in the direction he pointed and thinking he was crazy. The hardwood funnel was surrounded by ten foot pines packed so tightly that it would’ve been hard to squeeze a mouse through them and here I am with a cumbersome climbing stand strapped to my back. With no other options, I managed to fight through that mess. Standing on the other side of the pines, I was a bit confused, frustrated, and wet!! Now, let’s get back to the story.

As I entered the funnel area, I found what appeared to be a good tree to climb. I strapped my rifle across my chest and attached the climber to the tree. I started up the tree, trying to be as careful as possible. I usually try to climb about 20 feet or so, but as I got up the tree something didn’t feel right. I eased my weight back into the stand to realize that the tree was angled slightly and I was on the wrong side of the tree. Without much thought, I decided to work myself to the opposite side of the tree. When I made my first move I knew I was in trouble. The upper section of the stand swayed quickly. All in one motion, I let go and grabbed the tree. In a split second my stand was on the ground and I was hanging on. What now and a few expletives swept through my mind. Like a cat, I shimmied down the tree. My heart was racing because I knew I had escaped major injury. My buddy said the clanging of the metal stand as it fell echoed through the woods like a gun blast. It’s no surprise that I saw no deer that morning.

Three key mistakes I made that day:
1. I didn’t have a tree picked out prior to climbing. I was unfamiliar with the area!
2. I was not familiar with the stand I was using.
3. I did not have a safety belt or strap. (Most Important)

One statistic that I would like to know is how often this has happened to other hunters. I can imagine that the number of close calls is significant. I learned that day that safety is most important and a safety belt is a must. At the top of my blog is a custom Google search. Take a minute and type in hunter safety harness into the search field. There are many good options these days. I don’t necessarily have an opinion of which is the best, but I do have an opinion that one is a must!