FanHouse Hunting

A grassroots movement is a powerful force. (See: the Obama campaign, American Revolution and the "Napoleon Dynamite" fanbase). And put the local food crowd in that category, too. Unless, of course, your source of local food is living next door to a Cheetos factory. As the mantra of "know what you eat" catches on, it's great to see the public rediscovering farms just outside the city limits.

But, the local food movement is falling short in one category: meat. The idea of knowing the foostuff's source is important and something us huntin' folk have been appreciating for centuries. Looking at a fine cut of steak is mouthwatering. Seeing the cow's head or a full side of beef is inspiring. As a hunter, butchering a whole deer is a humbling reminder of what it takes to fulfill our gastrointestinal system. Respecting the food source is the most important part of eating well.

My thinking about this was spurred by watching "A Christmas Story" on endless repeat over the last week. You know the final scene in the Chinese restaurant? Not the singing, but instead, the reaction when the peking duck is served with the head still intact. Imagine the same drama playing out today. Our food culture is more sanitized than church camp film festival.

I'm not arguing for a total breakdown of cleanliness. Washing hands and scrubbing kitchen pots are fine, but shrink-wrapped meat is not. Seeing an animal intact is a great start, but compromise is the mark of civility so I'm willing to concede a couple of points. Perhaps leaving the feet on the chicken legs (they're great fried) or a head on the pig will give the average consumer the same reverence for flesh that hunters have when they shoot a deer or boar or goose. Also, those extra parts that we discard make a fine meal, too. I'd say along with eating local, we should start eating whole. So, step one: go buy your hunting license.

The weather outside is frightful. Actually, it's worse than that. It's nastier than the septic tank at a Mexican restaurant. As the first real jolt of winter goes trotting across our fair continent, most of us are agonizing over holiday travel plans. Snow can certainly disrupt flights and drives, but it also poses a dire threat to outdoorsmen.

Hunting seasons are winding down, but there are still the die-hard who look at a cold front in late December as a great last chance to find a trophy or meat for the freezer. For deer hunters stalking a set of tracks in fresh snow is one of life's great thrills. Of course when tracking a deer like Sherlock Holmes it's possible to get disoriented. If the sun starts to sink and you're lost the best thing to do is dig in. Buiid a new home in the snow. And the upside? You don't even need 20% for a down payment. A brand new home for the price of a cold night of sleep. Living in luxury, I say.

So in the distant land of the next page I'll list out three basic snow shelters and how to build them. And there's bonus footage: I dug up a Canadian short film from 1949 showing two First People (that's Canadian for Native American) constructing a bona fide (that's Latin for wowee) igloo.

It's a sad state of affairs when the best spot for hunting Canada geese is on the 18th green of an exclusive country club.

But that's what is happening across the country as once migratory birds set up shop as residents, taking over parks, fairways and athletic fields. Nuisance complaints are skyrocketing from goose droppings killing lawns to children being harassed by mother geese during the nesting season.

Believe the hype people. Geese are one of our biggest threats. North Korea's missles are like flying teddy bears compared to the waddling, honking, pooping masses of geese. In fact, there's a website addressing this serious concern, canadagoosemanagement.com

Check out the company's masterful slogan:

"Dedicated to solving conflicts between Canada geese and people in a cost effective and efficient manner."

It's like Dr. Phil in animal management form.

Here's an idea: hunters want opportunities to shoot waterfowl and golf course members want geese to stop ruining their fairways. Why not give hunters a sunrise tee time to help manage the population? Everyone is a winner. Man, if only there were another spot for a negotiator in Obama's cabinet, I'd nominate myself.

Hunters are rarely sought as a solution to the problem, but they just might be the most effective. Take a click on to the next page for a list of the population control methods so far (most of which have been marginally effective at best).

For a hunter there is nothing worse than being strapped to a desk during the fall. You look out the window and see gray clouds and cold winds rolling in. Everyone else is happy to stay inside, but you know this is prime weather for chasing (white)tail.

So you're stuck in the office. What to do, what to do...I'd suggest feeding your addiction to horn porn. Field and Stream has set up a website of photo galleries to tease any online hunter. Luckily this site is SFW. It's full of user uploaded pictures of deer captured on trail cams. (And there's a million dollar prize if one of the trail cams captures an image of Sasquatch.)

The images even have a seedy, voyeuristic quality about them, hence the pornography reference. Mostly taken at night, the photos are grainy and the deer are unaware, but you get a great look at the animal's rack...the kind of stuff that makes a hunter go weak in the knees. Take a look and try to stay calm.

For those of you unfamiliar with a trail cam, I'll explain what it does on the next page.

November 13th marks the next full moon. For deer hunters, the November full moon combined with a cold front signals the beginning of the rut, the time of year when whitetails reproduce. The rut is prime time for hunting as bucks chase does day and night, letting down their usually defensive guard. This has been the traditional hunting season for thousands of years.

So, you'll hear some hunters refer to this full moon as the "rut moon" or even the "hunter's moon." But they're wrong. The November full moon is actually called the Beaver Moon. Huh? you ask. Well, Native Americans, among other civilizations, named each full moon through the year as a way to mark the changing seasons and as a reminder to plant or harvest crops.

The Beaver Moon was the next-to-last full moon of the year and as an indicator to set traps for beavers before the swamps froze. The pelts were used for warmth and the meat was rife with fat, both necessities for the cold winter.

After the jump I'll list out each month's moon name and the reasoning behind it. These monikers are from the Farmer's Almanac and were consistent among most American Indian tribes along the East Coast and Midwest.

Well, the headline says it all. But take solace that it wasn't a pigeon or rat or any other urban legend animal that seems to (supposedly) make its way into ethnic dishes.

The culprit in this story was the China King of Hamburg, NY. Restaurant sanitation employees caught the staff hacking up a whitetail deer in the kitchen. And the Outdoor Pressroom has the money quote:

It was unknown whether the whitetail originated as roadkill or was taken by a hunter.

And the sanitation officials were quick to point out that the meat's source is irrelevant. ""In general, you can't have a dead animal in a food services establishment." I hope not.

Legally, hunters cannot sell excess meat to restaurants or butchers. This is both a conservation and sanitation measure. Read on and I'll explain.

What a terrible way to start the season. Or to end it. Or to happen at all. Period.

WPBF in northern Florida reported that a 73-year-old man died over the weekend when he tried to remove a loaded muzzleloader rifle from his truck. The gun accidentally discharged, hitting Johnny G. Hurst in the chest. He was pronounced dead on the scene. And what makes it even worse is that his wife and two sons witnessed the accident.

Hunting, as a sport, has to deal with a lot of public relations issues, probably more than any other recreation. For instance we all hear from the bunny huggers that try to shame and guilt us for "slaying bambi." But that stuff is trivial compared to safety issues. No doubt the worst thing to happen in our community is when someone is killed.

So, I'm going to have to be a nagging teacher. A few reminders from the hunter safety handbook are after the jump. Study up. We all have a responsibility to be safe in the woods.

Women might be the saviors of hunting. Or so think the nation's gunmakers. Hunter numbers are tanking faster than the global economy and are looking for a bailout. They're down four percent since the start of the decade and now only five percent of the population identifies themselves as blood sportsmen. (That's about 12.4 million folks.)

Why? Tough to say. Everyone has a theory, but the most credible, I think, are that places to hunt are diminishing as we turn farms and forests into suburbs. And our comfy technology lifestyle means more time in front of computers and online than outdoors. After all, why sit in the freezing cold when you can shoot a deer playing Big Buck Hunter? So, to combat these dire stats, gunmakers have put women In the crosshairs (that's a gold medal winner for bad hunting pun). They're downsizing rifles and shotguns to fit people with smaller frames and they're painting them pink. Yes, pink guns.

So that Thursday announcement didn't pan out.

But the the Friday one certainly will. (At 12:30pm EST, actually!)

That announcement also won't likely carry any new news along for Lowe's Motor Speedway vs. Concord City Council, either, as Speedway Motorsports CEO Bruton Smith is expected to announce a purchase of Bob Bahre's independently owned track in New England -- New Hampshire International Speedway.

On Friday, Smith is expected to announce only the purchase of the track in Loudon, N.H., and not speculate on any plans to move either of its two Nextel Cup Series race dates, multiple sources said.

Smith has previously stated his desire to add a second Cup date to his track in Las Vegas. He also has expressed interest in an earlier date for his second Texas race to avoid a conflict with the opening of white-tail deer hunting season.

Yes, you read that correctly -- to avoid a conflict in Texas with not an open wheel race, a Cowboys game, or a rodeo but rather white-tail deer hunting season.

Think that just threw out every stereotype that the NASCAR bigwigs in Daytona have been trying so hard to abandon? You can bet Brian France is cringing to hear that a track owner is trying to help the fans that don't drink martinis or Perrier -- but rather is making them us a priority.

And to think, just Tuesday, I was questioning Bruton's commitment to the fans. (And well, I probably still would if he moves LMS, but as for now, he's got some points in my book.)

But the real announcement on this issue, apparently, isn't being made Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.