Enjoying the Fall

January 28, 2009 by admin

By Doug Leier

I’ve realized there will only be one 2008 pheasant season, deer opener, one 16 1/2- day deer season and so on.

I’m looking at my time outdoors with bit broader focus, not dwelling on a missed shot at a buck or doe in years, or coming up empty after trudging through a cattail-choked slough trying to flush another deer or late November rooster. Each fall is different and every second outdoors is a bonus, whether or not I’m successful in bringing home game.

Most of my friends and other hunters agree that outdoors television has influenced our outlook as to what a successful hunt is. Personally, I’d rather spend my time outdoors than in front of the TV watching other people outdoors. But there’s a huge audience for hunting and fishing shows, as evidenced by viewers and advertising, and you can bet the last piece of deer sausage in the fry pan that without those ads and viewers, dozens of shows and multiple cable channels wouldn’t be around.

But those shows are packed full of kill shots on big buck deer and trophy bull elk, sometimes taken at a game farms – not always, but sometimes. Like any marketing strategy, your thoughts are often formed by what is watched, read and heard over time. Let’s be honest . How many of these outdoor shows have you seen a show where the hunters come home empty handed?

Think back over the past few weeks. You’ve had the deer rifle opener, better than a month of pheasant hunting, and other opportunities from ducks and geese to doves and grouse. We’re fortunate to live in a state where spending time on the other side of the window is an easy decision, and the debate is often more along the lines of what game to pursue rather than if there will be any opportunity.

My friends from other states look on North Dakota with envy, not only for our varied game species but also because many landowners allowing access to private land hunts, either through permission or enrolling their land in the PLOTS program.

Sure, if you look hard enough you can find problems. There’s bag limits of outdoor issues to turn a hunter sour, if he or she looks hard enough at things like weather, access and competition, but any seasoned hunter knows it comes with the territory.

On the other hand, if your day of hunting is disappointing in terms of deer seen, perhaps you were instead witnessed a soaring bald eagle, or a surprised skunk harmlessly meander its way across the prairie in front of you as you returned home empty handed.

No TV show can replicate those kinds of experiences, like the day my son and I spent much of a post-card-perfect fall afternoon investigating a newly constructed beaver dam and pond on what started out as a hunting trip.

My point is to shed the mental image that only a trophy buck or a limit of roosters with nary a missed shot can put a smile on your face. Do me a favor as November begins to fade toward December: if you’re finished up deer hunting and don’t plan on a late-season pheasant hunt, take one last trip out anyway and bring the shot gun. There’s plenty of success to be found.

While 40 years ago hunters made sausage to make a deer last longer, today it’s common for some hunters to get more than one deer each. In the past few years many of these hunters have donated a deer to the Sportsmen Against Hunger program, which gets the meat to food pantries.

Because of the discovery of lead particles in venison donated by gun hunters last fall, SAH is limiting its donations to bow-killed deer only for this year. As such, the program is in great need of bow hunters who are willing to donate a deer. For more information, check out the link on the Game and Fish Department’s website at gf.nd.gov.