Clean Harvests

I always enjoy seeing online forums and features in GON with pictures of hunters with smiling faces holding up deer they have taken.

How strong is the urge to kill a deer? I know that I start to get the itch to bowhunt just after the Fourth of July. But as the season opens, I simply take great joy of just being in a tree stand and enjoying the breaking of day or the setting sun. This first or last hour of the day can be  filled with anticipation as it is typically prime for deer movement. I always feel better walking out of the woods after a hunt than when I walked in. It’s a great time to reflect on things that are going on in my life.

I remember when my sons were growing up and starting to bowhunt. During one season, they reluctantly told me about some people they knew who were night hunting with crossbows. My one son explained that he confronted one and asked him why he do such a thing when there were plenty of deer in our county to legally hunt. He said the pressure to take a buck like his friends had proved too great a temptation for him to handle.

As hunters, we should not let our common sense and ability to abide by our game laws be overtaken by skirting the law and taking deer illegally. GON has a special section in it that brings attention to the efforts that our DNR game wardens take to go after folks who illegally steal our game species.

In May of this year, I found a headline about a deer found to have been shot and duct taped to a chair and wrapped around a street sign in our state. I did not find any information on the result of the investigation, but certainly contemplated on the mind set of those responsible.

The Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division usually takes the opportunity during the deer season to bring attention to poaching and other illegal hunting activities. Most of our DNR game wardens are hunters, and they do their best to focus on making sure that everyone is hunting safely and legally.

Our TIPS pro- gram offers the Ranger Hotline number for violations in progress. The tips remain anonymous, and cash rewards may be offered to those who result in arrests.

As hunters we should be proactive in making sure that our precious resources are properly taken care of. When someone poaches, it robs from those law-abiding hunters. Report those who need to be reported.