Hunter’s arrow finds its mark – JSOnline

By Paul Smith

Deer may be largest ever taken in Milwaukee County

Kim Acker of Waterford was in her deer stand, feeling a bit fortunate to be fastened to the big old oak tree.

Pushed by strong south winds, the mercury had topped 80 degrees on this late September day.

Now, as the sun started to drop toward the horizon on the Franklin farm, the breeze was still strong enough to waggle some of the sturdy oak limbs and buffet nearby rows of corn.

The experienced bowhunter knew the wind direction, though, was perfect for her quest.

A trail camera had detected a big buck using an adjacent trail; Acker would be downwind of the animal if it took the same route this evening.

Acker, 36, assumed her customary position in the stand: She hung her bow within arm’s reach and waited for the wildlife cinema to unfold.

“I don’t do a lot of thinking,” Acker said. “I just like being out in nature, watching everything that goes on.”

The first two hours on stand had yielded little of note. The wind made it nearly impossible to hear footfalls on the trail; the whipping vegetation made it harder to see wildlife.

But nothing could have obscured the image that appeared minutes before 7 p.m.

As Acker shifted her vision to the left, she was met by the living form she had seen on the trail cam.

“I remember thinking it’s the biggest deer I’ve ever seen,” Acker said. “Then I tried to tell myself to not look at the antlers, just focus on the target.”

A West Allis native, Acker didn’t hunt until she met her husband, Kurt, who introduced her to gun deer hunting 15 years ago.

She has taken to hunting like color to the October woods. She especially likes bowhunting for deer.

“I really like being in nature, watching everything from the stand,” Acker said. “The deer are in their natural movements. And you see so many other things.”

Acker has seen a badger, a fisher and a wolf while bowhunting in Wisconsin.

“How often do people in Wisconsin see a badger?” Kim said. “I would have never seen it if I hadn’t started hunting.”

Over the years Kim had taken three bucks, including a 140-class 8-pointer that hangs in the couple’s basement. She can often be found practicing archery in the family’s Waterford yard.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

via Hunter’s arrow finds its mark – JSOnline.

Geauga hunter bags trophy deer on opening weekend | cleveland.com

By D’Arcy Egan, The Plain Dealer

Chris Paradise of Chagrin Falls has spent much of his life in the deer woods, and thought he’d seen the biggest bucks of northern Ohio until last weekend.

“The first time I laid my eyes on this big guy, I knew he was the trophy deer of a lifetime,” said Paradise, vice-president of sales and licensing for Mossy Oak, a camouflage company.

“After my first trail cam photos of him in July, he became almost an obsession.”

Paradise didn’t want to alert the deer that a hunter was on his tail, hanging three of his eight trail cameras in the small area where the buck was hanging out. About 500 trail cam photos later, Paradise could hardly contain himself as Saturday’s opener of Ohio’s archery season arrived.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

via Geauga hunter bags trophy deer on opening weekend | cleveland.com.

Show me the big bucks – Daily Blog – ESPN

Are hunting shows setting up an expectations of 150-inch deer in every wood lot?

By Steve Bowman
ESPNOutdoors.com

Is it just me or does anyone else share in the thought that many of the deer hunting shows on television set up an unrealistic expectation of 150-inch deer in every wood lot?There’s a poll around this site somewhere that will ask you: Does television set up unreal expectations for deer hunting or is it just good entertainment?Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing big deer like anyone else. The bigger the rack, the more interest I have. I want to see how they move through the woods, how their body works. A good well-shot scene of a big buck in the woods is a learning experience, on television or in a deer stand.But I’ve been in the deer woods for a lot of years. And the opportunities to even see a 150-inch deer are few and far between, let alone the opportunity to take one. Yet, for many deer shows, that is the standard. Again, I have no real problem with that except in one way: There is a growing expectation that 150-inch deer are the standard, rather than the exception. Everything else is just a “cull” buck.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

via 2010 Weatherby Deer Camp – Daily Blog – ESPN.

ND vote could ban big game hunting on fenced land – Sify News

Butch and Deb Dick’s lifelong dream was to open a big game hunting preserve and after years of preparation, they expected to welcome the first customers to their southeastern North Dakota ranch this month.

Voters will decide next month whether to shut them down.

Measure No. 2 on the Nov. 2 general election ballot seeks to abolish fenced preserves where people pay to shoot big game such as deer and elk. Supporters of the measure say the practice is unethical because the animals can’t escape. Opponents say it’s free enterprise.

There are thousands of big game breeding operations in the United States. Although it’s not clear how many offer hunting, there’s no federal law banning fenced hunting and a majority of states allow it.

“I think it comes down to property rights,” Butch Dick, 34, said quietly, gazing from a ridge that overlooks his wooded and hilly Dragon Creek Ranch in the surprisingly rugged Sheyenne River Valley 8 miles west of Lisbon. Most of eastern North Dakota is flat farmland.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

via ND vote could ban big game hunting on fenced land.

CNBC Takes Aim at Remington – New American

Written by Bob Adelmann

Monday, 25 October 2010 00:00

Remington 700The CNBC “Remington Under Fire” documentary that premiered October 20 misfired in terms of substantiating allegations that the trigger mechanism on Remington’s highly popular 700 series is unsafe. Instead, the “10-month investigation” essentially rehashed charges, allegations and complaints stretching back into history for years. The timing for the recycling of unsubtantiated charges was curious, considering the proximity of the program’s release to the elections.

The charges center on the trigger mechanism, designed years ago by Mike Walker, that allegedly allows a round to be discharged without the trigger being pressed. The heart-rending story of Gus Barber of Manhattan, Montana, was covered, going back to the unhappy incident in 2000 when nine-year-old Gus was killed when a Remington 700 rifle “inadvertently went off.” Currently there are more than 75 lawsuits pending against the company claiming that the rifle is unsafe.

One of the obvious agendas behind the report was the complaint by CNBC that recalls of the rifle cannot be ordered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the BATFE, or the Justice Department. Consequently the poor consumer has no “protection” against the trigger risk.

The fact that the rifle has been manufactured for years, with more than five million of them being sold not only to private owners but also to the military services, was glossed over. The CPSC’s current lack of authority has been upheld repeatedly by the courts, which is a good thing according to the NRA: “Congress’ wisdom in refusing to give CPSC that power was proven in the 1990s when CPSC staff told the Clinton White House the agency ‘would love to get into the gun regulation business.’”

Remington was aware that the investigation was coming and developed an elegant website at www.remington700.tv refuting much of what CNBC’s charges:  Click Link Below for Full Story!

via CNBC Takes Aim at Remington.