Smiley's Hunting Stories (2006)
Well, the 2006 hunting season has come to a close. It was a great season for 'firsts' for the Smiley's.
I started the season out with my first bow kill. Will has wanted me to try bow hunting for years, but this was the first year I really had a chance. I only practiced for a couple of weeks before bow season opened, but did fairly well. I ended up shooting a whitetail doe at about 20 yards from a tripod stand the first week of bow season. Now I am really pumped for the 2007 season.
Opening weekend of rifle season we went to a friend's ranch in Junction, TX. The first evening Tyler (8 year old son) shot his first deer. It was a nice sized 6-point buck (large body-size for the Texas Hill Country). Tyler then proceeded to shoot a corsican ram and a hog later in the season. He is only 8, but quite the shooter.
Then, the day after Tyler shot his buck, Dakota (11 year old son) shot his first animal, which was a fox. Later in the season he got his first deer as well, a whitetail doe. Dakota is learning the taxidermy business and mounted his fox. He did a great job and plans to enter it into the 2007 TTAI competition.
Will didn't have any firsts, but other than whitetail deer, he also shot an axis doe, some hogs, and a turkey.
Needless to say, it was an exciting hunting year for us and we have pleny of meat to last us through the year. Please comment and let us know how your season went.
2 comments:
Are there certain types of animals that you're not allowed to hunt? Also, I wonder if there is any kind of protest from animal rights groups that makes it difficult to go hunting/have competitions.
Thanks for asking and participating in my blog. Yes, there are laws in each state/country that dictate what can be hunted and in what manner and timeframe.
The number of animals that can be taken by a hunter depends on the population of the animal within the area, which is managed by the state's conservation department. You can check out this information for Texas at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
In response to your question about animal rights groups, yes there are people who don't agree with hunting and in turn do not agree with taxidermy. We at Smiley's Taxidermy have not had or seen any incidents involving animal activists, but they occur. There is an article by KAIT news in Arkansas about one such incident (Craighead Taxidermist Vandalized by Animal Rights Activists
). I am sure there are other more peaceful protests that occur as well.
Personally, I think everyone is entitled to their opinion. I enjoy the great outdoors and believe most hunters are very respectful of animals and are truly conservationists by abiding by state and federal laws that properly manage animal populations.
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