We have an invasive alien insect species here in Virginia, the stink bug. It smells terrible when it is killed, so the animals don't want to eat them since they probably taste as bad as they smell. The naturalists recommend killing them instead of releasing them to the wild, and after a few years of just trying to ignore them and wait for them to go away on their own, I've decided to hunt them.
Now, they are not challenging to hunt. They fly slowly. If I find a random bug or two in the house, I just wait for them to land on something, pick them up, and throw them in the toilet to drown. They do not create a stink this way.
But they amass in droves on my screened porch. So I leave the vacuum cleaner nearby, and any time I want to relax on the porch, I first hunt the resident stink bugs to extinction. To make it more fun, I am keeping a tally. Thursday night I got 105. Tonight, 48 hours later, I got 270. So I'm at 375 for the week.
I put the crevice attachment on the wand, and I've discovered that they don't try to get away if you hunt them from behind, they only fly away if they can see the wand coming. And I've also found that some individual bugs are wilier than others, they are better at escaping. But even those bugs are no match for me, I just wait until they stupidly leave their hiding spots to try to escape through the screen, and get them then.
I think turkeys are still in open season, but I haven't seen any in a while. I heard them the other night, but I'm too busy with my garden right now to focus on hunting them. It will have to be just stink bugs for now.
I am curious to see whether they will, as a species here, realize that they now DO have a predator in their environment. At least if they consider their environment my house or porch, they do. I will continue to track my kill numbers, to see how it progresses through the season.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Getting Excited Again!
Getting Excited Again!
Squirrel and rabbit season has come and gone, and I didn't even have a chance to take a shot at anything. The weather was bad in late February (the end of the open season), I had no interest in hunting during snowstorms in sub-freezing weather. I'm a lightweight, I know. When the weather warmed up a bit, I saw on my calendar that I had a few more days in raccoon and opossum season, but I'm not particularly interested in hunting those animals, and that season closed yesterday.
Of course, now that the season is closed for everything (I think) I'm seeing game all over the place. A squirrel ran right in front of my car as I left the driveway today. I'm going to keep an eye out for squirrels this spring, to see if I can figure out which part of the property has the most of them. Because come June, I'll be able to hunt them again.
But the squirrel sighting is not what has me excited about hunting again, June is a long time from now, and I have a lot to focus on between now and then. No, what got me excited was seeing over a dozen wild turkeys, just strolling the entire back half of the property along the fence line.
There are only 32 days until open season on turkeys. Now, I saw the birds at twilight, from about 6:45pm until dusk. Noting their location in the evening is useful, but not as useful as knowing their morning habits. I think the early part of spring turkey season only allows hunting from dawn to noon. So I need to know where to find these beasts in the morning. I also think you can only take bearded turkeys in the spring, but I counted at least three in the flock, so I'm in business. I have 32 days to read up on all the limits and regulations. And to study the behavior of the wild turkeys in this flock. This has me excited. I will attempt to hunt them with my .22 rifle instead of a shotgun. If it is not fun, I may consider getting a shotgun. I will try some target practice with a turkey cutout to see if I can do it with the rifle.
Squirrel and rabbit season has come and gone, and I didn't even have a chance to take a shot at anything. The weather was bad in late February (the end of the open season), I had no interest in hunting during snowstorms in sub-freezing weather. I'm a lightweight, I know. When the weather warmed up a bit, I saw on my calendar that I had a few more days in raccoon and opossum season, but I'm not particularly interested in hunting those animals, and that season closed yesterday.
Of course, now that the season is closed for everything (I think) I'm seeing game all over the place. A squirrel ran right in front of my car as I left the driveway today. I'm going to keep an eye out for squirrels this spring, to see if I can figure out which part of the property has the most of them. Because come June, I'll be able to hunt them again.
But the squirrel sighting is not what has me excited about hunting again, June is a long time from now, and I have a lot to focus on between now and then. No, what got me excited was seeing over a dozen wild turkeys, just strolling the entire back half of the property along the fence line.
There are only 32 days until open season on turkeys. Now, I saw the birds at twilight, from about 6:45pm until dusk. Noting their location in the evening is useful, but not as useful as knowing their morning habits. I think the early part of spring turkey season only allows hunting from dawn to noon. So I need to know where to find these beasts in the morning. I also think you can only take bearded turkeys in the spring, but I counted at least three in the flock, so I'm in business. I have 32 days to read up on all the limits and regulations. And to study the behavior of the wild turkeys in this flock. This has me excited. I will attempt to hunt them with my .22 rifle instead of a shotgun. If it is not fun, I may consider getting a shotgun. I will try some target practice with a turkey cutout to see if I can do it with the rifle.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Squirrel Hunting Day 2
It was sunny and cold this afternoon, and I was feeling good after a short run, so I decided to do a little squirrel hunting. I started out with target practice, and chose 20 yards as my distance today. I hit the first ten shots in a vertical line, all about 1/2" to the right of center. I figured my rear sight was not quite aligned yet, so I nudged it to the left. Whoops! My next three shots were a full inch to the left, so I nudged it back right again. This time, I was generally hitting the target within a 1/2" to either side of center, so I settled on that for today.
I kept just five shots in the magazine, and started out in the back woods. I didn't see or hear any squirrels, so fairly quickly moved on. I skipped the side woods today, and headed directly to the woods around the pond.
I heard TONS of rustling around in the brush, but every time I got close enough to see what was making all the noise in the dried leaves, it was a bird. I practiced looking and stalking (to the best of my ability in the dry leaves) until I reached my hunting chair. Then I took a break from the stalking, and waited in ambush in comfort.
UNTIL THE SEAT BROKE UNDER ME. That made a big racket. It was an old folding chair, the kind which has the plastic tubing woven as the seat. The plastic tubes just cracked in a line along the edge of the frame. No big deal, I had gotten the chair at the end of the season for $5 a few years ago, I've gotten my money's worth out of it. The frame still seems fine, I may just weave a new seat for it.
So then I sat on the ground for a while. I was wearing black pants and a camo top, so I probably blended in just fine right in the path. Nevertheless, all I heard nearby were birds, so I moved farther down towards where I thought I heard squirrels chirping. From that new location, I was able to sit in upholstered comfort, since my woodland cocktail area has clear shots across the stream to the wooded embankment where I've seen squirrels on the other side. However, I did not see a single squirrel today.
I went in after I had been out hunting just one hour (target practice was earlier). I'm just not feeling it today, all those birds rustling around was very distracting.
I kept just five shots in the magazine, and started out in the back woods. I didn't see or hear any squirrels, so fairly quickly moved on. I skipped the side woods today, and headed directly to the woods around the pond.
I heard TONS of rustling around in the brush, but every time I got close enough to see what was making all the noise in the dried leaves, it was a bird. I practiced looking and stalking (to the best of my ability in the dry leaves) until I reached my hunting chair. Then I took a break from the stalking, and waited in ambush in comfort.
UNTIL THE SEAT BROKE UNDER ME. That made a big racket. It was an old folding chair, the kind which has the plastic tubing woven as the seat. The plastic tubes just cracked in a line along the edge of the frame. No big deal, I had gotten the chair at the end of the season for $5 a few years ago, I've gotten my money's worth out of it. The frame still seems fine, I may just weave a new seat for it.
So then I sat on the ground for a while. I was wearing black pants and a camo top, so I probably blended in just fine right in the path. Nevertheless, all I heard nearby were birds, so I moved farther down towards where I thought I heard squirrels chirping. From that new location, I was able to sit in upholstered comfort, since my woodland cocktail area has clear shots across the stream to the wooded embankment where I've seen squirrels on the other side. However, I did not see a single squirrel today.
I went in after I had been out hunting just one hour (target practice was earlier). I'm just not feeling it today, all those birds rustling around was very distracting.
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