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Old September 16th, 2012, 12:25 PM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Bow Hunters

Tis the season and if it is where you live and walk your dog I think I will post this alert, based on a conversation today. It seems some people think bow hunters are using the old fashioned bow and arrow you may have played with as a kid or tried out in gym class or summer camp.

Some folks may indeed be hunting with these. A relative is a champion competitive archer and devoted hunter and he does. But more likely the bow hunter is using a compound bow or a crossbow. These latter are much more deadly, have a greater range and the hunter does not have to be nearly as close to you as he would with the old type. This greater distance might come into play if you and your dog, or the deer, were walking across the edge of a bean field or a harvested corn field. Both places where deer and hunter might be.

Today someone pooh poohed the likliehood of being shot by a bow hunter.
Bow hunting is legal on Sunday where I am. Anybody is free to assess risk themselves and act as they deem fit but acting on eroneous information is foolish. If you knew this, great. If not please take heed. Wear a reflective vest and or hat. I wear a hat as well since I'm quite grey and I look like the backside of a deer. If you don't want to take these simple, easy precautions for your own safety please, at least, don't make a target of yourself by wearing a white hat. I put a bell on my dog and some put vests on them too.
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Old September 16th, 2012, 06:10 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Thanks for the reminder, Longblades.

We wear blaze orange and put blaze orange vests on the dogs if we're in the woods when any season is open. It just makes sense to be safe. And during the gun deer season we stay out of the woods entirely--there's a huge influx of hunters to the public land around here and it's just not wise to be out there with dogs.
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Old September 16th, 2012, 07:43 PM
Etown_Chick Etown_Chick is offline
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Good point. Those things are not silent as well as deadly.
I walk in city parks, mostly, but sometimes go on Crown land.
Thanks for the reminder.
It's also duck season here, and there's nothing like shot falling out of the sky and landing on your head...sigh.
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Old September 17th, 2012, 06:57 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Originally Posted by Etown_Chick View Post
Good point. Those things are not silent as well as deadly.
I walk in city parks, mostly, but sometimes go on Crown land.
Thanks for the reminder.
It's also duck season here, and there's nothing like shot falling out of the sky and landing on your head...sigh.
This also a very good point, thanks. You might be surprized to learn, In ONtario anyway, that it is legal to shoot across a trail. I learned this when a load of shot went across the trail, mostly down on the trail, just ahead of me one day. It's the craziest rule ever. They can't shoot ON the trail and they can't shoot FROM the trail but they can shoot across the trail.

In my case it was the Trans Canada Trail. Big enough to drive a truck down, which is done for trail maintenance. And therein lies a key; if the roadway, trail is open to everyday vehicular traffic they can't shoot across it. Snowmobiles, dirt bikes, ATVS don't count as vehicular traffic. Let alone people on bicycles or horses or walking their dog.

And, everyplace I used the word "can't" please substitute "aren't supposed to."

In our experience the man who owned the land on one side of the trail shot across to different ownership on the other side. He did NOT have permission to hunt on the other side, he simply did not realize how far his shot was travelling. He is my neighour. Due to heavy scrub bush on his land I never even saw him that day.
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Old September 17th, 2012, 04:14 PM
Etown_Chick Etown_Chick is offline
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Longblades that's terrifying! That's why I stopped deer hunting - I didn't want to die.
Too many nuts and people who don't know how far their shot/arrows go out there. To me, there's no excuse. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it! Safeway sells BBQ chickens, no one's going to starve.
I was out duck hunting from a hay bale blind. We watched another group come onto the property and set up just across teh slough from us. I don't think they had any idea we were there. I stood up so they could see us, but they shot directly towards us anyway. Shot was, literally, falling on our heads. Needless to say, we left.
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Old October 10th, 2012, 08:42 PM
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erykah1310 erykah1310 is offline
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Some of the hunter warning posts I have been seeing lately both on forums and facebook really have me thinking "What is going on with hunters" We're hunters and it is NOTHING like is described. Perhaps because we hunt on private property? I don't know.
Either way, as a hunter I cant wrap my head around these hunters that have been described as of lately

As for cross bow... I totally MUST try one of those one day
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Old October 11th, 2012, 06:52 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Originally Posted by erykah1310 View Post
Some of the hunter warning posts I have been seeing lately both on forums and facebook really have me thinking "What is going on with hunters" We're hunters and it is NOTHING like is described. Perhaps because we hunt on private property? I don't know.
Either way, as a hunter I cant wrap my head around these hunters that have been described as of lately

As for cross bow... I totally MUST try one of those one day
That's because you are a good hunter. My OH was always a safety minded and cautious hunter. It wasn't till he became a Conservation Officer that he fully realized the danger. Hunters are like anyone else and have no special claim to integrity or intelligence. Just as someone, for sure, for sure, is driving like an idiot on the 4 lane, limited access highway every time I'm on it, so too are hunters. It just takes that one who thinks he/she is above the rules.

After hearing about some poor safety and gun handling infractions our own friends have made while out hunting I'm so glad my OH no longer hunts.

Private property is no guarantee of safety from hunters. I met a guy after coyotes this winter. He was on private property that I have permission to walk my dog on. He did not know who owned the property so obviously he did not have the required written permission, at all, let along with him. He had no safety colours on. There is no closed season on coyotes.

Another one was a young guy out for turkey with his compound bow. A week ahead of opening. I played dumb and said I thought the season hadn't opened yet (I KNEW it hadn't opened yet) and he informed me this was his third week out. In other words this guy brazenly told me he'd been hunting turkey for 3 weeks pre-season opening. Plus, he was on private land he claimed his father owned. His father owned the adjacent land but not where I found him. Several of us dog walkers and horse back riders have permission to use this piece of private property. This guy may have as well but no property owner can give anyone the right to hunt out of season.

I sell insurance and here is a risk assessment chart I learned. It might help people make decisions. Hope it comes out right.

.............................Chance of Happening
.............................Low...........Medium. .............High

Consequences..........Minor.........Serious...............Cata strophic

So, say we are talking about the chance you get a ding in the side of your car. Chances of that happening are high, but damage is minor. Most of us grit our teeth, don't have these fixed and may try to avoid them by parking far away from other cars.

Say we are talking about the chances of your house burning down. Chances of that really are low, you can check the statistics. But it could be catastrophic. You could lose your house, all your possessions and you could be very, very badly injured. We handle this by putting smoke detectors on every floor, not storing flamable junk, having an escape plan, not smoking in bed AND we buy house insurance, which is fairly cheap since the chance the insurance company will have to pay out is low.

I assess the risk of being shot by a hunter the same as the risk of my house burning down. Low chance of it happening but could be catastrophic if it did.

I try to make myself visible to hunters to lessen the risk. I could stay home but hunting season for deer and turkeys with bow goes from Sept. to the end of Dec. Maybe I could drive to a nearby Provincial Park (one of the ones that does not allow hunting), that would be the same one I do use in gun season for deer, the same one where I always find shotgun shells along the trails. And the same one friends live next to, the friends who keep finding arrows in their back yard.
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Old October 11th, 2012, 02:55 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Longblades View Post
Tis the season and if it is where you live and walk your dog I think I will post this alert, based on a conversation today. It seems some people think bow hunters are using the old fashioned bow and arrow you may have played with as a kid or tried out in gym class or summer camp.

Some folks may indeed be hunting with these. A relative is a champion competitive archer and devoted hunter and he does. But more likely the bow hunter is using a compound bow or a crossbow. These latter are much more deadly, have a greater range and the hunter does not have to be nearly as close to you as he would with the old type. This greater distance might come into play if you and your dog, or the deer, were walking across the edge of a bean field or a harvested corn field. Both places where deer and hunter might be.

Today someone pooh poohed the likliehood of being shot by a bow hunter.
Bow hunting is legal on Sunday where I am. Anybody is free to assess risk themselves and act as they deem fit but acting on eroneous information is foolish. If you knew this, great. If not please take heed. Wear a reflective vest and or hat. I wear a hat as well since I'm quite grey and I look like the backside of a deer. If you don't want to take these simple, easy precautions for your own safety please, at least, don't make a target of yourself by wearing a white hat. I put a bell on my dog and some put vests on them too.
A woman was in her back yard and had on white gloves and a hunter shot and killed the woman. I think this happen in Maine. I hunter was found not to be guilty! I wear a white hat when I walk in the woods . I better buy a new hat.
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Old October 11th, 2012, 04:16 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Any time a hunting season is open we bring out the blaze orange wardrobe...
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"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
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