Business as usual at the DNR

The word on the street is a 9 day January season is a reality. Obviously, nobody listens to the people who hunt these animals or look at the data from the previous years. Why should they? Money seems to speak for itself. When insurance companies wine and dine politicians for the sake of increasing their profits, who really needs to listen to the very people you are supposed to work for? Insurance companies seem to be all about caring for their clients. You don’t think so? Watch their TV commercials and you’ll see! You know, the soft music in the background, the children running and smiling and the parents feeling all warm and fuzzy because they feel “safe” that they’re insured. That is until they have to actually use their insurance, then it’s the 48 hour run-around!

“Would you like some cheese with that wine sir”? “Sure that sounds great pal”! “Hey, a little cheese goes really well with my $100.00 bottle of wine. What’s that, a box of goodies? Sure, my wife likes that stuff too! Ya know Joe, you’re right, we don’t really need that many deer here in IL.” “Heck, you can take the whole darn herd for another box of that stuff over there”.

Sound familiar? It should, because it seems to be happening here again in IL.

Lincoln would be proud.

Maine Bear Monitoring 2009

Non Typical Hunter’s east coast prostaffer, Gino DeFeudis, sent this today from his home state of Massachusetts. It’s a synopsis of how the state of Maine biologists check on the well being of their bear population. I think you’ll find this very interesting!

http://www.crownofmaine.com/paulcyr/stories/bear-monitoring-2009/

I’m seeing some wicked looking holes!

Back on this taxidermy issue, I started asking the customers about their choice of weapons when I noticed large holes protruding from the carcasses of their deer. In the last several years, there has been many choices of broadheads for the avid hunter to choose from, so I was interested. I’ve tried different brands of broadheads in the last couple of decades but have always opted for the Muzzy’s when it came time for the hunt. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m one of those guys who doesn’t switch equipment too often, so If I switch, it’s for a good reason. In fact, I was laughed at by my friends for years because I shot with my Oneida bow (you know that bow that weighed a ton, with huge limbs and made a loud “slap” when I shot it), but it did the trick. I loved that old bow and it shot in a way that no other bow did until I had the opportunity to shoot a Mathews DXT. Then I switched!

I started testing this broadhead from Muzzy called the Phantom…anyone out there in cyber land use them? They look nasty and I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of these. They also leave one heck of a hole! I’m testing the Phantom and their 4 blade 125 grain broadhead this year. So far, I’m in love with both of them. I may even try using them during turkey season.

One nice thing I see already is the fact that you can remove the “bleeder blade” from the Phantom and reduce the weight from a 125 grain to a 105 grain broadhead. You can do the same for their other Phantom broadheads of different weights. That could be beneficial when hunting multiple species in the field. FYI, these broadheads will split bone with ease!

If anyone is interested in reading more about Muzzy’s Phantom or their 4 blade broadheads, visit them at: http://www.muzzy.com