Small game season opens today..take a kid hunting

[TheSollyLama]

Finally. Here in CO small game opens today. Upland bird is still off in mid-november but all other small game is legal as of midnight. Gonna be out this week for sure while the weather is still warm.

Take a kid with you. Small game is perfect for youngsters since it requires less stealth (little kids bore sitting in a deer stand for hours) and you can take small bore weapons that don't scare the hell out of children with the muzzle blast.

My 7 year old daughter is more excited for the season than I am. Nothing better than the time spent in the woods with your kid. Teach them about nature, the outdoors, safety, and make them part of the world- not just a spectator.

Another retired Army guy I hunt with have an entire weekend planned for our kids. While other kids don't wouldn't know there was an outdoors if there wasnt a HALO character chasing aliens in it- ours will be breathing that fresh air, and spending time with their dads.

[Gimpdiggity]

I don't hunt, but I'm guessing small game is like anything small??

Coons, squirrells, rabbits??

Or am I mistaken?

[Exodus]

I dint think coons are high on the list of things people hunt.... hahha... I guess there are coon hounds, but it seems odd. Do people eat them or just use them for their skins? Maybe they still do it in the south... hahaha

I think waterfowl are on the list too.

[TheSollyLama]

Small game includes everything from squirrel to rabbit and upland birds like pheasant.

Everything but the obviously large game- deer family (pronghorn, white tail, mule deer, elk, moose and the like) and large predator like bear and mountain lion.

Waterfowl is considered small game, but has it's own license and seasons along with goose. The same goes for turkey which has a spring and fall season with seperate licenses.

In most states coyote is a year round, no limit season. They're a real problem in almost every state. So it's nice to be able to hunt during nice weather.

Most hunting seasons are in cooler temps and waterfowling is best when the weather sucks the most. It's something you either love or not. Hunting is usually physically demanding, time consuming, and more often than not- comes to nothing but a day in the outdoors without a shot fired.

I totally see how people would think it's boring. I just love it. Always have. Been hunting all my life although the military made me go for long stretches without being able to.

For one, I am a gun nut. I own a dozen or more firearms. Most of which are for hunting, although I do own some handguns too.

It's like bikes....I can rattle off no end of minutae about motorcycles. Hunting is the same to me. It's something I memorize stats, mods, gadgets and gear. But in contrast to that go fast side of life that makes me love sportbikes- is the peace and quiet and solitude of hunting. It's the polar opposite of that wrist twitching, foot tapping, throwing your body around that defines sport biking.

To me, sometimes I NEED the rush of hitting the twisties with Pantera wailing on my iPod, tail sliding an inch from a sheer rock face.
Othertimes I NEED that slow, silent, deliberate mindset of hunting.

Both are (to me) a rewarding skill to invest time, effort, and face it- money- into.

It's also a tradition I have an affinity for. My 7 year old daughter can't wait to go rabbit hunting this Sunday with her dad. She doesn't get to carry a gun yet, but she loves going and playing the pointer. My dog sucks at hunting despite being a pure blood weimarener born to hunt. But he likes going too. I lost game but hey, if it makes them happy- just the time spent together with my kid and my pooch is worth it.

I wouldn't trade that time for all the twisties in the world.

[Rascus]

Man, i haven't been hunting for years.

My first experience was my dad taking me out on small game day. Got a pheasant within the first few hours.

[ledtrip]

mmmmmmm pheasant.....

[Rascus]

In fact that same day, first day hunting were at the bottom of this small hill and we see this HUGE turkey sitting on a tree stump, he stands up and spreads his wings...when BAMMMMMMMMMMMMM poacher shoots him in the back with a shotgun. We hear the pellets flying around us and the turkey's running down the hill.

As soon as the poacher sees us he high tails it out of there. By the time we get to the turkey he's dead. We find a game warden and he tells us to keep it, doesn't want it to go to waste.

It ended up being a good 18lb turkey.

[CajunMike]

i will be out next weekend trying to get some squirrels in the freezer, love it when this time of the year comes around

[TheSollyLama]

I used to visit my grandparents on their PA farm yearly, and I'd grab a .22lr rifle and just spend the day shooting rabbits and squirrels, which my grandmother cooked up. I was a little kid but I'd take the tractor out into the orchard and pick off rabbits all afternoon.
My dad went hunting with me once I think back in NH. He had hunted when he was younger but wasn't in the kind of health to wander the woods much anymore.
My brother was an avid shooter, VP of the Fish and Game club in town for awhile. But he wasn't a big hunter. Mostly a trap shooter.

We all fished, and that's my dad's big thing. But I've always liked guns more than fishing reels. So I hunt.

but personally- if I could never eat store bought meat again....never eat cow or farm raised pork again....I would love it. I could absolutely live on wild game meat for food. I love wild game, that's what meat should be.

When people say something has a 'gamey' flavor...I go nuts.

That's not gamey- that's MEAT. Real, lean, wild meat. It's what meat SHOULD taste like.
What people think is 'normal' meat like cow is FAT. Blubber. Sure, it's tasty blubber, but it's not meat.
I get a chubby thinking about venison backstraps marinaded in some home made BBQ, then roasting on the grill. Sarge, THAT is eating......