Licensing and Safety Course for hunting
Now, I got this all done back in March, so I'm a little hazy on the details. Each state will have it's own set of laws regarding education and licensing, I urge you to check out www.huntinfo.org/ for state-specific requirements.
Here in Florida, I was required to attend a hunters safety course approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC for short. Their website referred me to register for either a two-day class or an online educational portion with exam, and then a short class and range qualification on one day. I chose the online option.
Note on costs: In Florida a lot of the training is done at hunt clubs, outdoors stores, and ranges that may require a usage fee. I think I paid $15, though the online exam was free. Licenses vary by length of term and if you want extra permits for specific management areas, tags for waterfowl/turkey, etc. Prices range from approx. $17/year for just hunting to $100 for a combined hunting/fishing license with all permits included. Florida also has a lifetime license program for around $1000.
The online portion was a breeze, taking about four hours total. I did it in 15-30 minute increments as I had time over a week or so. I printed the exam results (pass) and waited until my class/range time.
The class was decent with about 25 of us outside at Volusia Gun and Hunt Club (awesome new place) but a bit boring as it covered a lot of Florida law regarding legal methods of taking game and the archaic legalese it's all written in. Lucky for us this March day was kind of cool, no insane heat waves early this year. We listened to the lecturers and took a final test which was just plain common sense, then hit the range.
We had three stations to complete by showing we could safely operate different weapons types: A small bolt action .22lr rifle, a very light pull compound bow, and a 20 gauge shotgun. Everybody was respectful of first-timers and we gave them a good amount of time to get comfortable.
After it was all said and done we were told our Hunter Safety numbers would be sent out the following week. Well, I guess they were wrong about mine because it took nearly a month until I had it in my hands.
Easy enough. Now for the South Carolina non-residential I need to present my valid Florida hunting license and pay between $40 and $125 depending on if I want a 3 day, 10 day, or annual license. As I will probably be going up three or four weekends late this year I'm going to pick up an annual license in July. An additional State land permit is required to hunt WMA's, but we will be on a private lease, so it won't be necessary.
My first deer – a story in progress
I'm new to a lot of forms of hunting. If you can believe it, I've never hunted from a stand and up until this year, had not hunted legally (I recommend you get your safety course and licenses done now, during the off season). Sure I've been big into fishing, some basic trapping/snaring, and I'm a decent recreational shooter, but I've never gotten serious about harvesting meat until now.
My father and uncles have wanted me to come up to their lease in South Carolina for a while, where they tree stand hunt for whitetail. Well sure enough this year I am going to pull the trigger and get involved with "normal" hunting. Maybe even put some meat in the non-existent freezer, I suppose we'll have to do another write up when the time comes to buy one.
So saddle up because I'm going to detail step by step my process of getting started in tree stand hunting for whitetail from licensing process to gear selection to my first official deer. Please recognize that this article will be a work in progress until I come back with my first whitetail.
1. Safety Course and Licensing
2. Hunting Clothing - camo and such
3. A good rifle and Scope (Just bought a Savage 110 package - article coming soon)
4. Prep day - work weekend and scouting
5. The first hunt (later this fall)
6. My first deer (only God knows when)
The truth about Vegetarianism
Check out this article from Mother Earth News - The truth about vegetarianism http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-community/the-truth-about-vegetarianism.aspx
When I was a young, punk kid looking for ways to differentiate myself and cry for attention, I hung out with a crowd of people who fancied themselves to be vegetarians and vegans. They were all young PETA supporters that thought themselves educated on the subject of true conservation simply because they read Animal Liberation and had a few pets. Yet these kind folks would wear leather vans sneakers and skateboard (grip tape uses adhesive which can consist of a mixture of hooves, antlers, and fatty acids), and they would still eat at cheap fast food restaurants that utilize "factory farming" vendors for meats, but they would only order veggies.
Being a Southern boy and understanding a bit about meat production I just never understood what good they were really accomplishing. I mean, even if they convinced the country to stop eating meat, monoculture producers and biotech firms like Monsanto would still exist - destroying vast areas with once rich soil and choking off natural habitats which in turn still kills animals! These companies were the true enemy! Not a hunter who is humanely harvesting an antlerless deer because wildlife resource officers have determined that the herd needs selective culling.
What these animal rights "activists" lacked was good, sound science and an understanding of how the biosphere actually works. Its the sum of all things working in a symbiotic manner. Not simply an emotional and "intellectual" attachment to a cute, oh so cuddly puppy coupled with ignorance and selective science.
To quote the article's author, Lierre Keith, "Not eating meat won't solve our planet's problems." He is absolutely correct and makes a great point later by pointing out that sustainable diets are the only way to make it all work. Again let me quote Mr. Keith, "Life isn't possible without death, and no matter what you eat, something has to die to feed you." This guy is spot on.
With the popularity of the recent documentaries, Food, INC., and The truth about food, I would like to think that more of these people would consider sustainable gardening and permaculture as viable options. If nothing else, support small farms that don't use genetically engineered seeds. But time and time again I see these people rally a protest at an outdoor goods store to argue the morals of culling a herd (a scientifically proven method of improving the biosphere), but never do you see these people outside a Texaco screaming about ethanol production.
I used to laugh at the ignorance of it all and considered them to be harmless fools driven by the need to be seen as different, but now its just sad. The obvious lack of data to support that any of their efforts are saving a number of animals is pitiful. The fact that they don't understand that too many animals in an environment is as bad as no environment makes their logic pathetic.
Now, please understand that I do not support factory farming (though admittedly I could be more selective with food vendors), and I definitely do not support animal cruelty or suffrage. But I see that life is an interdependent thing. I support legal, humane kills and selective culling while we are not in an end of days scenario.
Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.
$5 and no tools – Fishing Rod holder for bed rails
Since most newer trucks come with some sort of accessories rail it has become fairly easy to mount all kinds of racks for storage. As I was looking at my truck (Tacoma) and the couple of short bluegill rods I had just laying in the bed I thought it just wouldn't be that difficult to fabricate some sort of rack to get the rods off the deck of the bed and get some organization going. So I headed on down to my local home improvement store and set off on a little adventure where I came up with this quick and easy system.
All you really need (sans a truck with rails) is a pair of 'J' hooks with pre-drilled holes, some washers to fit your rail (caution, may take two per hook depending on the size of the screw heads you find), some screws - about 1 1/2 inch 10/32 will work, and for tool free install - some wingnuts to fit the screws. Full cost was less than $5.
For installation you should put the shank of the screw through the washer(s), then slide the washers "vertically" into the bed rails and place them for length and support of the rods.
Then take the 'J' hook to the screw and run the shank through the pre-drilled holes. Fit the washer onto the leftover portion of the shank and tighten 'er down.
That's it! It should be so ridiculously simple that you can complete the install in the parking lot. As a side note, I recently added a small bungee onto the hook closest to the tailgate to secure the rods on bumpy roads.
If you have any problems or questions e-mail me at TheChristianSurvivalGuide@Gmail.com