Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Hunting Season

>>..I think the general 
> public has no idea when hunting seasons are...they go into areas to >
mountain bike and hike and ride.

It's our responsibility to find out. I do wish the leaflets were easier
to decipher though. I just ask for one at the hunting desk at Walmart,
but since I live in Georgia, 4 miles from TN (right where 2 counties
meet) and about 15 miles from Alabama, I need to monitor several states
and counties. The "zone C, zone D" stuff is difficult. 

Fortunately all I have to do is pick out a 14 yr. old kid in my class who
talks *really*country and wears lots of camo and rebel flags and say,
"hey J.D. where's huntin' closed this weekend?" He's a goldmine of
huntin' knowledge. I love my young hunters. They are  some of the last of
the non-Nintendo crowd...someone I can talk trails, weather...just
outdoor stuff. And they have great dialogue.  

Last week I asked J.D. if he'd gotten one yet. He snorted disgustedly and
said, (imagine INCREDIBLY country accent) "Nawp. But yesterdy ah wuz
sittin' in ma stand and thu wind wuz blowin' me back and forth. Yu could
hyer thu pine beetles eatin the tree. Ah wuz afraid it'd fall on me, and
this buck walked out about twenny yards frum me. Ah wuz usin that civil
war rifle with a $400 dollar scope and ah looked through it and didn see
nuthin' but FAWG!  Then when ah DID shoot it was like Osam Bin Lawdin
blowed up in ma face! (it's blackpowder season).  Ah missed him but ah
blowed a few feathers off'em.  Wait till rifle season gits here." 

My only real problem with the "real" hunters is that they seem to be so
paranoid that they'll lose their hunting rights that they don't want
anyone else to use the WMA for the rest of the year.  It seems to me that
we're natural allies since they don't need it during the off season and
we do lots of volunteer work keeping trails open which they can use, and
really keeping the deer desensitized to human presence.  I guess after
seeing some of the attitudes of others on here I can see where they get
their paranoia.  If we're going to blame "real" hunters for crazies with
guns, then we can't complain if they blame us "real equestrians" for
every drunk with a saddlebag full of beer that litters the trails (and we
have our share of those!)  

I don't always wear blaze-orange this time of year, but I do avoid
wearing a white shirt or helmet.  A person's eyes can play tricks on them
easily in the heavy woods around here and a white helmet doing what it
does when you post (bounding motion) could easily resemble a white tail's
butt bounding off through the woods. I don't worry about someone like my
young hunters at school who have been raised to hunt from birth and can
tell you the tiniest details of what the deer they were looking at did
and how it slowly came into range. I only worry about the business man
with no experience who went out and bought and expensive rifle and
thought he'd "try out hunting" this weekend.

Angie McGhee
TN /GA /AL


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