Hunters, What is in season...

Del · Aug 9, 2007

...in the northeast US during Christmas?

What would my character be hunting in the early morning on Christmas Eve? What gun would he be using? He doesn't need to shoot anything, but while he is out he finds something in the woods. The only point of the hunt is to get him in the woods. Character is a life long country personality (so I'd suppose if he is in the woods he must be hunting.

)

Feel free to use hunter jargon in your reply.

Thanks.

Horseshoes · Aug 9, 2007

What else will he need to be doing? If he will need a man-stopping weapon, for instance, ya don't want him just carrying birdshot.

Regs are very specific for area and google is your friend. Even one county to the next, one pond to the next, what's allowed can be different. Is the area private, a national refuge, a sanctuary. Are you making up your own county for fictional purposes? Some of the rules are Federal but most are state. Outdoorsy stores carry free hunting regs that calendar the seasons and list other rules. These regs can be very specific (no less than 400 sq. inches of blaze, etc) on weapon, load, hours.

Monkey · Aug 9, 2007

I'm in South Texas, and I know that here, there are certain things you can't hunt unless they are in season...but I'm pretty sure that you can hunt everything else anytime you want.

For instance, javelina aren't a protected species and there is no javelina "season", so javelina are OK to hunt at any time of year with anything you're allowed to carry (we have concealed carry laws where you need a permit for handguns, and anyone who passes a background check can carry a rifle). We have a dove season, though, so you can't hunt dove unless they are in season.

My grandmother just bought a property that borders a wild game hunt thingy, and sometimes gazelle and stuff cross onto her property. These things aren't native, and have no official season, so anyone can hunt them at any time of year with virtually anything they have handy.

Rolling Thunder · Aug 9, 2007

Here, Del:

http://www.butlerwebs.com/hunting/pa.htm

There are links at the bottom of the page for a few neighboring states, too.

Del · Aug 9, 2007

I'm not giving the story a positive location but think upstate New York.

Nobody is getting shot so the gun is irrelevant other than regard to authenticity for a seasoned hunter.

Puma · Aug 9, 2007

Hi Delarege - Try rabbits. Squirrels are another possibility. And for rabbits or squirrels any 22 rifle would work - doesn't have to be anything fancy. You don't want too large a caliber for small animals or you'll tear them apart.

Another option is deer, but in Ohio the only deer hunting as late as Christmas is bow hunting (the black powder season comes a couple days after Christmas.)

There are other reasons a person might go out into the woods on the day before Christmas - possibly to get greenery for decorations (which would be appropriate in upstate New York). Fire kindling wood is another possibility. That's getting pretty late for collecting any kind of nuts. However, give me the chance and I'll be out in the woods on the morning before Christmas just enjoying the woods (although, anymore I'm a little leery because of our high population of deer and the rut which is still going on at that time of the year.) Puma

tjwriter · Aug 9, 2007

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/hunting.html

Hunting regulations and seasons for New York.

Really go to Wildlife section of any state website and it will give you the information you seek.

HoosierCowgirl · Aug 9, 2007

Delarege said:
...in the northeast US during Christmas?

What would my character be hunting in the early morning on Christmas Eve? What gun would he be using? He doesn't need to shoot anything, but while he is out he finds something in the woods. The only point of the hunt is to get him in the woods. Character is a life long country personality (so I'd suppose if he is in the woods he must be hunting. )

Feel free to use hunter jargon in your reply.

Thanks.

If you know what state he's in, you might check with the DNR -- Department of Natural Resources. For instance around here I'd say loosely that it would be some variation of deer season. However, whether it's bow hunter, muzzle loader or shot gun, I don't know.

In our state, if he's a landowner there are some creatures that can be hunted at any time because they are nuisances. I *think* they are coyotes, coons and ground hogs, but coons and ground hogs aren't active in the winter.

He could be doing any number of things in the woods -- checking on a tree stand, sizing up trees for storm damage, checking fences, looking for a meth lab -- possiblities are endless. Could be like my dad and just out for a walk because it's a good time for a walk. With a hunter-orange hat, of course.

Hope that helps

Ann

frimble3 · Aug 11, 2007

HoosierCowgirl;1535792 He could be doing any number of things in the woods -- checking on a tree stand said:
Reading through the posts, I thought of one more thing a man might be doing out in the woods early on Christmas Eve morning. It's not hunting, but depending on your story needs, I offer: when I was a child, my parents put up our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, after the children were in bed. Big exciting surprise on Christmas Day, look what Santa brought! Generally they got the tree a couple of days before, to give it a chance to drip-dry and tidy it up, etc. But if your man-in-the-woods was running late, hadn't done it before, or made a last-minute decision to get a tree, he'd be out first thing on Christmas Eve morning, tree-hunting. No gun, but an ax or a saw.

Del · Aug 11, 2007

he'd be out first thing on Christmas Eve morning, tree-hunting. No gun, but an ax or a saw.

I did that once. We found a nice tree. And then spent the next eight hours getting the car out of the mud. I was not popular that year.

A.M. Wildman · Aug 11, 2007

It's wabbit season. :tongue

Monkey · Aug 11, 2007

Duck Season!

JoniBGoode · Aug 12, 2007

Mistletoe??

Um... I only went duck hunting once in my life, but we didn't walk through the woods for it. Because the ducks don't hang out in the woods...they are on the water.

We got up at 3:30 am to wade through cold, knee-deep water to crouch in mud in a duck blind. At dawn, the ducks fly overhead and land in the pond or lake. At that point, you shoot at them.

According to the NY DNR webiste, the state has open season (meaning no hunting season required) only on porcupine, red squirrel, woodchuck, English sparrow, starling, rock pigeon and mock parakeet. They may be taken anytime without limit. (Maybe this is a regional/generational difference, but in the south, hunting squirrel, small birds and rabbits with a .22 was a kid's pastime. No self-respecting adult "hunter" would do it. Unless they took a kid along.)

A lot depends upon your character's personality. Is he the type of person who might be poaching, i.e. hunting game (deer, bear, pheasant, turkey) out of season? (Does he own the land? Many hunters feel that the government has no authority to tell them what they can or cannot do on their own land.)

For some outdoors types, taking a gun along on a walk in the woods is as natural as carrying a pocket knife. Maybe he carries the gun out of habit, even though he doesn't intend to kill anything? In that case, he might well carry an unloaded gun, with the shells or ammo in his pocket. Maybe he takes the gun as possible protection against encountering an angry bear?

If you really, really need a legal game season, visit or call a sporting goods store in the area and ask. But, from looking at the NY DNR website, it appears that the hunting season in New York ends by December 18, at the latest. BTW, in my experience a lot of serious hunting takes place around dawn and twilight, not so much during the middle of the day.

Here's my best shot (ha,ha): In the wild, mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows in clumps in the tops of trees. Some people do harvest mistletoe by shooting at it with a .22, to sever the clumps from the tree. (Please don't try this at home...it's extremely unsafe. You don't know where that bullet is going to end up.)

For many woodsmen, fresh mistletoe is a Christmas traditon. Plus, it's a really good excuse to be in the woods, which is where they want to be anyway.

Haggis · Aug 12, 2007

Aardvarks.

Del · Aug 12, 2007

JoniBGoode said:
If you really, really need a legal game season, visit or call a sporting goods store in the area and ask. But, from looking at the NY DNR website, it appears that the hunting season in New York ends by December 18, at the latest.

Yeah, that is what I've been seeing.

You mentioned an UNLOADED gun. Is there an ordinance against a loaded weapon in the woods outside of hunting seasons? I suppose there would be some questions if you ran into a ranger.

I don't want to invent a poacher. That would be negative. He isn't a main character, just one of the locals. If I don't elaborate on why he was in the woods I don't think there will be many that bother to question it. We are talking 30 miles beyond B.F.Egypt...deep deep country. They tend to do what they want.

He finds a bear in the woods but the bear is dead. The manner in which the bear died is what has them alarmed. When something has overpowered and mutilated the biggest, meanest thing in the woods (good enough reason to carry a gun I guess) it is time to worry.

Monsters. I love monsters.

Puma · Aug 12, 2007

Hi DeLarege - If you're talking monsters (or Sasquatch) and your character is going to need to use his gun against it, you'd better be thinking of a gun with a large caliber and a reason your character would be out with it. In upstate New York, bear and moose would be the largest animals around. When's the moose rut? That might be justification for carrying a large caliber weapon out into the woods while hunting for greenery or mistletoe or just walking on the day before Christmas. At a minimum, I think you need to have him carrying a 44 or 45 caliber handgun. Puma

Del · Aug 12, 2007

Puma said:
At a minimum, I think you need to have him carrying a 44 or 45 caliber handgun. Puma

I was thinking of something a bit more long range.

But come to think of it, my dad always carried a sidearm when he went hunting. Thanks, I'll add that tidbit.

I don't know guns much. What would you shoot a moose or a bear with? If he is walking in the woods concerned about the bear (no one ever had a problem but you never know with a bear) what would he have with him?

I assume a 10 gauge shotgun at close range (a few feet) would kill about anything that lives in the north east US. I have to stop this thing in it's tracks in the end, climatically, him or me sort of thing, hesitate and you die situation, right on top of my MC...whew. Shotgun work ok? What would be the smallest animal that a shotgun wouldn't stop quickly. (i.e. it would probably just piss off a bull elephant.)

Stacia Kane · Aug 12, 2007

Delarege said:
Yeah, that is what I've been seeing.

You mentioned an UNLOADED gun. Is there an ordinance against a loaded weapon in the woods outside of hunting seasons? I suppose there would be some questions if you ran into a ranger.

I don't want to invent a poacher. That would be negative. He isn't a main character, just one of the locals. If I don't elaborate on why he was in the woods I don't think there will be many that bother to question it. We are talking 30 miles beyond B.F.Egypt...deep deep country. They tend to do what they want.

He finds a bear in the woods but the bear is dead. The manner in which the bear died is what has them alarmed. When something has overpowered and mutilated the biggest, meanest thing in the woods (good enough reason to carry a gun I guess) it is time to worry.

Monsters. I love monsters.

Why not have him following a trail of blood, because livestock have been going missing?

Del · Aug 12, 2007

DecemberQuinn said:
Why not have him following a trail of blood, because livestock have been going missing?

Missing livestock have thus far become large puddles of crimson.

And it's snowing. We have to keep up the mystery.

Puma · Aug 12, 2007

I'm not a hunter, but I sure the heck wouldn't want a shotgun as my protection unless it was loaded with a slug. Just think about all those little pellets up against a large adversary - all they're going to do is piss it off.

Large caliber guns for large game - the first thing in my mind is a 375 Holland and Holland (bolt action rifle) (my husband wants one) - I think you can probably come down to something like a 30-06 or 30-30 which are more common - but the type of bullet and load is important too. For handguns, I'd stick with a 44 mag or a 45. To get better info on any of these, try looking at the Winchester (rifle) or Smith and Wesson websites (I assume there are ones.) Or, visit your local gunstore and ask the same question. But, one of the other things you have to take into consideration is that larger calibers kick and can substantially throw off the shooter's aim. We have a muscular contractor friend with ham arms who about landed on his derriere the first time he shot a 44 mag with factory loads. So, match up the gun to your character (and for God's sake, don't have him put his back up to a tree (my former boss did that and about did in his shoulder)). Puma

Jean Marie · Aug 12, 2007

Seagulls. They're always in season, here in CT. We shoot 'em w/ alka seltzer outta a bazooka, made out of a cardboard roll from an empty thing of Christmas wrapping paper.

Actually, it's deer hunting season in these parts. Don't get me started, since I love Bambi. Anyway, I think they use shotguns around then.

I'll go and look on the DEP site for you.

As it turns out, it's bowhunting in both CT and NY. NY is pretty convoluted since it's such a large state, I guess. It's got several different zones, etc. and rules for each of them. According to density, I'm guessing. You know, number of aardvarks per capita, that kind of thing.

Anyway, it is not allowable to have a sidearm when bowhunting. Very illegal. You'll end up being pursued, like OJ if you have your MC do that. That's according to NY regs.

I hope that was helpful

Parkinsonsd · Aug 13, 2007

You know, the blatantly obvious thing to say is pick a state and look at the Department of Natural Resources for that state. Each state is different. If you want a long range weapon, if that's integral to your story, you're going to have to choose which animal you want to hunt then. In michigan, for example, there are only ccertain places you can hunt deer with a rifle, whereas all over the state you can hunt predators with one.

But, really, go to the DNR website. It'll all be there.

Jean Marie · Aug 13, 2007

DNR also stands for; do not resuscitate.

Ironic, especially when speaking of hunting and murder

JoniBGoode · Aug 13, 2007

Delarege said:
Yeah, that is what I've been seeing.

You mentioned an UNLOADED gun. Is there an ordinance against a loaded weapon in the woods outside of hunting seasons? I suppose there would be some questions if you ran into a ranger.

I don't want to invent a poacher. That would be negative. He isn't a main character, just one of the locals. If I don't elaborate on why he was in the woods I don't think there will be many that bother to question it. We are talking 30 miles beyond B.F.Egypt...deep deep country. They tend to do what they want.

He finds a bear in the woods but the bear is dead. The manner in which the bear died is what has them alarmed. When something has overpowered and mutilated the biggest, meanest thing in the woods (good enough reason to carry a gun I guess) it is time to worry.

Monsters. I love monsters.

Yup, to everything you said. Gun laws vary widely by locality, so pick a county or invent one. If my dad was hunting, he would load the gun as soon as he got to the woods. If he just had a gun along, he would carry the ammo in his pocket until he changed his mind.

In some places, being in the woods with an unloaded gun would be less incriminating to a ranger than having a loaded gun. (In some remote areas, people will "plink", i.e. target-shoot, at tin cans in the woods in the off season. Also not really a safe habit. )

In many rural areas minor transgressions of hunting laws are like jaywalking in the city, or speeding in the suburbs. Not strictly legal, but not really bad. I read a book recently where a character who is poor and hungry is poaching, and I certainly didn't think less of him.

If there have been rumors of a rampant bear, then he might well carry a loaded rifle (and a big one, at that. Not a .22) for defense, just in case. For most large game, hunters I know prefer rifles over shotguns. For one thing, there is a bigger element of skill involved in using a rifle well...and skill is what hunting is (theoretically) about.

For ideas on specific rifles, you can check out the hunting magazines at your nearest Barnes & Noble (if the setting is modern). Here's an article on hunting that includes the immortal quote "there's no such thing as too dead." http://www.huntingmag.com/guns_loads/all_012505/

This article is talking about dropping a 1,500 lb. moose at 1000 yards and recommends a .270 Winchester, a .280 Remington, a.308 Winchester, or a 7 mm SAUM Remington or my father's favorite, a .30-06 (pronounced thirty-ought-six). The type of ammo is as important as the rifle. This article recommends short or long magnums over .277 caliber. Honest, if you go to a local sporting goods store and explain what you want to know and why, they'll probably be thrilled to talk to you.

(By the way, I'm non-violent, but my father was an avid hunter and gun collector who taught all his children to shoot at a young age. So I understand the breed.)

Leva · Aug 13, 2007

I don't know about that part of the country; like others have said, ask someone local or google it.

However, people will hunt varmits* out here in winter if they're after pelts because the pelts are in better condition during winter. And they're generally in season year round HERE but not necessarily in other parts of the country. (Deer, for example, here in AZ, have very short seasons of only a few days and it's very hard to get a deer tag. You have to submit your name to a drawing and the odds of getting drawn are very low. I've tried several times and only had my name drawn once. And didn't get lucky in the hunt, either.)

*Varmits -- mostly coyote, but also fox, mountain lion, bobcat, etc. Hunters will generally set up a blind or find a place to hide and then lure the varmits in by making dying-rabbit noises with a special device, or playing a tape of a dying rabbit screaming. Coyotes in winter look twice the size of coyotes in summer, because their pelts are so much thicker.

(Mountain lions, in my area, are also in season year round but require a tag purchased in advance unless you're protecting your livestock. Check in the area where your hunter is because this can vary a great deal ranging from "no license needed at all" to "OMG, lions are a protected species!" If there's been predator kills with only blood found a hunter would likely conclude that a mountain lion had been at them. I've seen lion scrapes for half grown elk where the lion pulled the elk into the bushes hundreds of yards from the kill site. Lions won't generally come to a varmit call, but hunters who don't have access to tracking dogs may stake out a scrape -- which is a partially consumed, and generally very smelly, carcass that the lion's scratched debris over. The lion will come back to feed again.)

Leva
(Who is currently sitting on the back porch of a very remote cabin and realizing she's all alone and the lion scrape she found was only a quarter of a mile from here last spring.)

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