Wounding losses

Please learn about and practice range (distance) estimation. See earlier post about this, please. Do not shoot at game animals out of range. Simple as that. Wounding losses grow due to poor decisions from out of range shots. The lethality of your shots drops at increasing distance from the muzzle. When you are uncertain, do not shoot. Just that simple. Please learn about internal, external, and terminal ballistics. Read, study, ask questions of knowledgeable persons. Practice on inanimate objects, like clay pigeons, paper targets, and similar items. When practicing in a safe location, this is the time to learn from your mistakes and errors. Do not practice on live game animals, please. I heard yesterday (12/15/2021) a neighbor he had taken a new hunter out, using her father’s hunting rifle. She had never shot that rifle before. Nearing dusk, a small but shootable whitetail buck walked out within a reasonable range, so neighbor promoted her shooting it. Several opportunities to make much better decisions were offered, most of which would have promoted a more pleasant outcome. The deer left, hunters then walked looking for the dead or wounded animal. No credible indication was seen, so it is presumed she missed the animal completely. I do not know details of this series of events, but I am certain a great number of unfortunate choices were made including multiple people. Of course, she may well have completely missed the animal. Sure, that is one of the possibilities. I shutter to think it was simply wounded and will die a slow painful death and feed coyotes and other critters in the woods. I am not an expert shot nor expert professional hunter, however I do spend time at a rifle range practicing with different firearms in preparation for hunting trips. Ammunition and reloading components are both difficult to purchase and quite costly so I fully understand the hesitance to conserve those resources, and minimize the expense of practice. Please understand I fully and passionately support blood sports, and hooks, pellets, and bullets are some of my very favorite things. I do support the ethical and moral taking of game animals, but not the useless wounding losses suffered by oh-so-many afield. I recently watched some YouTube waterfowl videos, and in each and every single one, the people shooting would choose to take unethical shots. In each video, wounded birds flew away, not to be recovered by those slob hunters. It sickens me seeing this behavior demonstrated time and time again, then published on-line for the broad public display of slob and moron. One more painful fact is many uninformed do not know this is horribly wrong, so they go afield with the same actions and results. Be ethical, please choose to do the correct thing when afield. Thanks, I appreciate you reading and considering this.

Christmas 2021

16 December 2021

We hope your 2021 has been kind to you, and Covid-19 with it's numerous variations and changes remains away from you and those of whom you care about.

Kansas rifle deer season was unseasonably warm, reaching over 60 degrees daily.  I prefer more moderate, winter like temperatures when hunting deer here in Kansas, since bacteria and decay are much quicker in elevated temperatures.  I will purchase a very large cooler for the clean up season (antlerless only) so I can quickly electronically check it in with my phone, get the confirmation number, and get her quartered out and on ice within the hour.  Those big coolers allow lots of storage room, so no need to immediately bone it out and package it for cold storage.  Waiting the evening allows more time afield, while safely storing the game.

Heard from an associate a new hunter shot at and "missed" first deer, because point of impact was not verified.  Rifle had never been shot by this person, so first shots were at game animals.  It truly breaks my heart knowing that deer was quite probably wounded, allowed to slowly die or be taken by coyotes.  Practice should be done with paper targets, not living critters.

Watching waterfowl YouTubes last weekend again remind me of the thoughtlessness (sometimes) demonstrated by those persons also.  Multiple birds arrive, shooter knocks one down and wounds more as they are departing.  Those carried pellets in the wounded birds will certainly kill them, but not to be recovered in the game bags of the shooters.  

Please help convince other shooters to practice on targets, not critters.  Do not shoot unless you are 99% certain your quarry will be quickly and mercifully killed with your first, well-placed shot.  Wounding losses are preventable and avoidable, and sportspeople need that moral fiber and ethics to do the right thing.

Please do the right thing, even when nobody is around you to watch.  Animals were not placed upon this earth for indiscriminate target practice.  Learn to shoot well, know and fully understand the ballastics of your chosen firearm and hunting loads.

Thanks, and be safe.  Every single day is Thanksgiving.

Kansashuntered.   

Subtending

Subtending, as Webster refers, is associated with geometry. Also this term is used to describe the use of mental geometry which is helpful in quickly estimating the range of a (known size) distant object. Imagine comparing the size of your shotgun front sight bead or the width of your shotgun muzzle to a bird at a distance. Using a sketch of or a full body decoy, place the full sized “target” at a typical shooting range. Example, if we are planning to shoot puddle ducks over decoys and we wish to ideally shoot from 20 to 30 yards away, set your training decoy at about 25 yards distant (midway in your desired range for this training exercise). Also place a second training decoy at your desired maximum range, so for this example, let us presume 40 yards distant. Mount your shotgun and point it at the (25 yard) training decoy, keeping both of your eyes open as you typically do when actually shooting. Study the size relationship of the front bead / muzzle diameter as compared to the size of the training decoy. Carefully study this size relationship at the 25 yard decoy. Now, swing to the 40 yard decoy and notice how remarkably much smaller the decoy is as compared to the front bead and / or the muzzle diameter. In fact, the distant decoy might easily be completely covered by the muzzle if you chose to do so. Practice back and forth repeatedly, firmly etching those two size relationships in your short term memory. The close bird looks much bigger, so you will easily recall the width when OK to shoot… the more distant bird will require much more lead due to time in flight of the shot string. Simply being more aware of the active distance/ velocity / lead concerns will immediately make you more aware of better shooting habits.

December 2017 Life goes on... The loss of Missy was heavy on my heart for years, and now, the two new canines in my life continue to offer joy daily. Morocco and Jake are both high energy dogs, and the two of them bring daily opportunity for mischief. Their images are on my Flickr account. Search twinriv under people. Deer trip to Republic county Kansas last week with my dear friend, Jim Thompson, was great. Sure, we had opportunities but the demonstrated wallable-hornage big buck got big by not being fool hearty... not standing in open areas and being silly. In fact, Saturday morning driving in, he jumped from the edge of the tractor road and brushed the left front corner of my Explorer bounding away. Jim was following and also enjoyed the view. Since there are so many juveniles on Joe's farm, seeing them was still a pleasant reminder of the hunting experience. On opening morning, a smallish buck slowly walked across an open field towards me, arriving about 15 yards away to bed down. he had a thin body, possibly about 110 - 120 pounds on the hoof, but a single finger diameter spike antler on the left side of his head. He has somehow lost the right side, so he looked a little bit lop sided. Over all, a remarkable success afield. We saw deer, waterfowl, coyotes, and small game. In the early morning, the roosted turkeys and over-eager coyotes would exchange their loud banter...with multiple remote coyotes joining in occasionally. Barred owls would echo their disapproval of the morning noises. A pair of bald eagles frequented the area, following the waterfowl migration buffet. Their weather has been miserable dry lately so the topsoil was a fine powder dust that penetrates everything. The inside of the Explorer will be dirty for a few more trips to the car wash. Every single day is Thanksgiving, and I was blessed to share a weeks worth of them with Jim.

Morocco is four months old and is truly a full time job...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. A new puppy... I am purchasing a chocolate Labrador retriever puppy from DR Kennels in Harrisonville, MO. www.DRlabradors.com Since he is from a litter of five whelped Thursday 12 November 2015, and two were lost, the remaining five have plenty of milk and attention from the mom-dog. Sire was Old School Blue, a chocolate, and the dam is Maize runner Molly, a yellow Lab. Tentatively, the puppy's name will be Morocco School-Runner Moberly, call name "Roc". Photos forthcoming.

It has been one year since my yellow Lab, Missy, died from cancer. I miss her each and every single day. If your canine friend is still with you, cherish each and every day together.