Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Best gun for hunting deer in the Sierra

This will make the thread even more interesting:

"How to Hunt Wisconsin Whitetail Deer with a 12 pound Mountain Howitzer Cannon"

http://www.buckstix.com/howitzer.htm

I sure hope does not bring this to the Sierras!!!

That, and the degree of restraint shown by the normally rabid anti-hunting crowd. I'm on the fence on this topic, so I don't have a dog in the fight (ooops - new thread there), but I was looking forward to a good old-fashioned verbal slugfest of extreme positions. Alas, no fireworks. Steve C doesn't have to watch this thread by the minute to bounce out the naughty.

oldbob
Sierra Cement didn't say he was going "sport hunting" he said he was looking for a fresh clean source of meat.
Do you also think everytime you go to the store to pick up a pack of chicken or beef you should have to have a shootout at the OK Coral with the animal you are going to eat?

OK, I just spewed coffee all over my laptop . . .

Okay, I waited long enough for my two cents...whatever they're worth.
I started hunting in the area of So Cal, now known as Valencia. In those days, my buddy and I, both about 11 or 12 would hike through the brush and chase up rabbits to shoot. I had a jacket that would hold game in the back and I would throw the dead rabbits back there behind my rear end. After the hunt, I would take the game home and my mom would MAKE me gut and clean every rabbit I killed. We never wasted the meat and ate every rabbit. I still remember that wonderful feeling of small lead shot against my teeth as I chewed the rabbit stew, fried rabbit, etc.
Soon after, I started hunting Ducks at Buckley ponds near Bishop. I enjoyed Duck hunting more than anything and actually wanted to own a Duck preserve when I grew up. I also hunted Deer, Pheasant, Dove, Chucker and Quail, not only in the Sierra's, but all over So Cal. As the years went by, and coincidently as I met "girls", I didn't hunt as much. I still enjoyed the outdoors and hiking, but started doing more fishing in the Sierra's than hunting.
Somewhere along the line, I started having a hard time killing living creatures, but I still defended hunting then as I do now, since I believe the majority of money that goes towards the conservation of wildlife comes from the pockets of hunters. I cannot stand people who condemn hunting as a blood sport or as something hunters get a "thrill" out of since there is killing involved. Hunting has been a legacy of our American past and I believe that if you actually take it serious, hunt in ethical ways and ALWAYS eat what you kill, there is not a problem. But there are many out there who do not have a compassion for wildlife (yes, you can have a great compassion even if you are a hunter) and are out there to kill, i.e. trophy hunters, people who go on safari to kill animals that cannot be eaten (Big Cats, Elephants.....and yes, those really old animals whose meat is about as tender as my hiking boots.)
My long winded point is that if you are serious about hunting, then learn to hunt in a responsible manner, and learn to care about the wildlife you hunt. That includes not only getting a license, but joining an organization that donates money and time to wildlife, i.e. Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, etc. On top of that, eat what you kill, pick up your trash and respect nature and the other people who visit nature. If you don't eat what you kill, then you are not a hunter, you are just a killer.
I do not hunt anymore and I also practice catch and release when I fish. I can certainly afford to go to the market and purchase meat, including free range, organic and grass fed. If you are going to hunt, then be the responsible person that I can defend to the anti-hunters.
Also, the best gun? Well, that's the gun that can be locked up and put away so your kids and their friends can't take it out and shoot themselves or others. Oh yea, and that comes from a guy who has been shot close range at the age of 12, by a friends father as he was trying to teach us gun safety!

thanks for the nice story, I remember 20 cent gas and listening to the radio
TV was decades out

its 2009

Three posts disappeared from this thread. I thought they were really interesting, so here they are again:

Steve C replied in a topic you have selected as one of your Watched Topics at the site:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=69644#Post69644

I am sure everyone here has an opinion about guns or rifles or hunting. But I'm just not sure what it has to do with Mt. Whitney.

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oldbob replied in a topic you have selected as one of your Watched Topics at the site:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=69651#Post69651

my grandsons are all here, they submit the term

true that

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Sierra Cement replied in a topic you have selected as one of your Watched Topics at the site:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=69652#Post69652



Because I plan to do some hunting in that general area. I won't go to the Whitney Trail or North Fork. There's too many people. I have a better chance of finding deer where people aren't at.

But your question assumes that we only talk about Mt. Whitney on this board. We all know that many other areas are talked about on this board too. Langley always gets mentioned as well as other areas farther north.

There have been many helpful responses from some regular posters here. It's help I very much appreciate. There has also been some good humor thrown in that has brightened my day and I'm sure others have laughed too.

Steve, speaking publically to you directly I'm just glad you didn't delete this thread because you've deleted so many other things on this board that I don't think you should have (and I know others agree with me on this). I won't post anything about hunting, rifles, guns, or anything else on your other board.

Like someone already mentioned above I was expecting some controversy when I posted this.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. Among other things I learned not to call it a gun because it's a rifle. I learned about lead and unleaded ammo. I also learned that hunters are some of the biggest advocates for preserving the environment.

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Well, maybe not that middle one...

I thought that the subject of selective deletion had been resolved. Appartently not.

BTW, some people think Sierra Cement is an AE of mine. It isn't, although I like his/her style.

Thank you, Quillansculpture. I wanted to type something like you said, but you must have read my mind.

Some hunters are stereotyped as "rednecks in overalls with their hat on backwards driving their pickup truck with their loaded rifle in the back on a rack of their cab chewing tobacco while drinking beer plunking off anything that walks, struts or crawls then tying them to the hood of their pickup."

I am a "redneck" from Missouri. A "law abiding" one at that! I hunted on my uncle's farm. Gotta love cornfed deer in northern Missouri.

Lived out here in California since August 1985. I drive a pickup. Don't chew tobacco (used to). I wear my hat on backwards (or is it my head on backwards?). Drink beer, though.

Believe it or not, I hate weapons. Fired many an M16 and other military weapons. I possess a concealed weapons permit.

My wife and I respect nature and all creatures. We don't believe in trophy hunting. If we don't want to eat it, then we won't kill it. Unlike Arnold in the movie Predator "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

My wife and I eat organic foods. We buy organic vegetable and meats at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Raley's in Fresno/Oakhurst. We also grow our own fruits and vegetables.

We live in an area that is abundant with wildlife. Feral pigs, deer, California quail, squirrels, rabbits, and turkey frequent our property.

Hunting was not our way of life before moving from southern California to central California. It is now. I married into a family of hunters.

Amen, brother! I don't personally hunt and never have, but I support others right to do so - responsibly, and preferably far, far away from the trail I'm hiking any given day. It's my opinion that it's the gun component that drives the anti-hunting crowd, not so much the act of hunting itself (PETA purists excepted). Responsible gun ownership is key in maintaining this right and staying on the high road in this never-ending debate.

While I'm not a hunter, I do own firearms for personal protection (I love my Glock 19 - I've owned it now for 17 years and it's still top-notch), but with kids in the house it is imperative to me that they and the ammo are always safely locked away. I won't even clean any of my guns if there's someone else present in the house. Actually, I don't think my 9 year-old daughter has a clue that we own a firearm. I think I'll try to keep it that way.

Also Joe (quilliansculpture), you have GOT to be the only nine-and-half-fingered gunshot and cancer survivor sporting a replacement hip to have ever summitted Whitney! Any other detail to add to the Guinness bio?

When my 1st. wife divorced me, I went from a sports-car/wine drinking/classical music boy to a (company-supplied) Eldorado convertible (radio stuck on country) beer-drinking puppy. Beer stuck.

I'll post again as hunters might know - what did this? August, 9500 ft above Ediza Lake in Ansel Adams.

Bear or mt lion?

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Well, the gunshot was in the garage of the Starlight Motel in Bishop, CA. I was 12 years old or so. The dad (who ran the Motel) of my friend was showing us "gun safety" and how to shoot a 12 gauge. He pulled the trigger and the bird shot ricochetted off the cement floor and into both my legs and his sons legs. I didn't even know I was shot until I went up to the motel room and pulled my jeans off. I got queasy fast. I had 6 pellets in me. I went to the hospital and they said to leave them in. I've always wondered if the lead shot was the reason I sucked at math!
As far as the 9 1/2 fingers. I tell the neighborhood kids that I can help them with fractions when they do math homework. AND, if all I lost to cancer was 1/2 of my thumb......well, I'll take that any day. P.S. Today is the 4 year anniversary of my cancer surgery.

Here's your gun:

That's not a gun.

This is a gun.

h lankford, my guess would be a bear. Some of them learn about the fawns and actively try to spook them out of the spot 'momma' told them to hunker down in. When very young, they have no scent and stay put under a bush or some other cover. The reason I rule out a mountain lion is that they typically cover up their larder to hide it, and come back later to feed some more.........steve

I can see why! A bit of network sleuthing shows you both using the same modem type on the Verizon ISP in Victorville... apparently from both Oceanside & Ridgecrest... a bit spooky...

For classroom instruction purposes only...

I wouldn't suggest deer hunting in the eastern Sierra, it's too high and rugged and there's not very many deer (I would rather enjoy seeing them alive while hiking). The western Sierra is more suitable, try above Fresno (Zone D7) take the #168, there's plenty of places to hunt between Shaver Lake and Lake Thomas Edison and you won't be on any hiking trails. But better yet, with the limited amount of wild life in California, you should try deer hunting in eastern Wyoming around Sundance, you'll stand a better chance of being successful and it will help with their herd management program. I prefer the old west and a 30-30 with open sights.

There was a roadkill buck on the 395 shoulder, somewhere between Independence and Bishop last Sunday. So they are right in the Owens Valley floor, too.

As we went by, a buzzard hopped away from it. The rack of antlers was plainly visible -- not very large, so it wasn't very old.

Happy Re-Birthday!