Letters To The Editor November 2011

GON Has Been a Blessing For a Couple of Newbies   

Dear GON,

I’m new to the hunting world and have begun to introduce my 13-year-old daughter to the sport. Although it can be challenging and somewhat difficult getting started when you’ve not been raised around it, we’ve begun the journey, and GON has been incredibly helpful. I just want to say thank you. Each and every one in your organization has played a part in moving our experience forward.

We’ve been reading the magazine, and I’ve just subscribed. I’ve seen some stickers on trucks, and my daughter wants a couple also. I can’t locate them for sale. How can I get a few? I’d love to find some kind of mentoring program and direct guidance, but this has proven to be hard to find. She’s all set for a youth deer hunt weekend in Tennessee at the end of October, and I can’t tell you who’s more excited. Y’all’s help has made it possible for us to get this far, and I wish you could share our appreciation with all the GON staff!

If anyone else has any pointers for father-daughter newbies, we’d love to hear them.

Kindest regards,

Bill & Alyssa Nye, Lawrenceville

Editor’s Note: Your new GON stickers are on the way.

Watch For Camp Thieves   

Dear GON,

During the off-season, someone went into my camp area outside of Butler in Taylor County and stole my electrical wires (estimated $150), three stoves ($500), all the cast iron they could find, two deer racks, one of which had a broken G2, and some other assorted things. Everybody needs to set their trail cameras up. I got pictures, and now the sheriff has them. I don’t know if it will do any good, but if they are found, I will press charges. These people need to be caught. I doubt they read GON, but a lot of good people do, so be warned.

Daniel Barge, Gainesville

$2,000 Fine Just For Shooting a Cougar? 

Dear GON,

I’m reading the story about the Troup County cougar in the current issue and wondering would it have been OK for Mr. Adams to shoot the cougar if he had conducted a prior DNA test on the animal he intended to shoot? I mean come on.

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service should be ashamed and tax payers mad about money wasted on an investigation of a Georgia boy who probably had never seen a cougar in his life. And they fine him on the basis of the wrong number of X,Y chromosomes or whatever else they look for, none of which even the officials could tell with said animal lying on the tailgate of a Silverado. But they fine Mr. Adams $2,000 and put him on probation and surely cause him embarrassment and humiliation. I’m sure the $2,000 didn’t cover the money and resources wasted to conduct their little investigation and DNA tests.

All hunters have probably made decisions while hunting they wish they could take back, even if it was just as small as shooting a button buck for a doe. I’m sure Mr. Adams would take that shot  back if he could, but he can’t.

Maybe these people conducting their investigation should have been thanking Mr. Adams for the service he did killing the cougar. Thanks.

Stephen Poole, Lula

Turkeys Are A Nuisance   

Dear GON,

I am a deer hunter and have been for 45 of my 60 years. If I’m not deer hunting, I’m thinking about it.

I’m lucky enough to be able to hunt my own property where I have lived for 33 years in the deer mecca of Worth County. My property has changed from sagebrush and scrub oaks into the most beautiful hardwood and pine forest on God’s earth. I’ve got it made, or so I thought.

Five or six years ago, I saw turkey tracks and got excited. It soon turned to frustration. The turkey flock grew and settled into my woods as their roosting site. They are roosting around my deer stands. Every morning and every evening, here they come flapping, cackling, gobbling and breaking limbs and generally destroying the peace and quiet. They are strutting and displaying out my bathroom window, feeding in the yard, spooking my dogs and the deer. A nuisance!

I mentioned this to a WRD biologist, and he looked like a deer in the headlights. He said he’d never heard those two words used together. They’re a nuisance, until they disappear during turkey season. Then I can’t hunt them.

Oh, the biologist asked if I wanted  to get rid of them. I said ‘No, I just wanted to brag a little.’ Seriously, I wish they’d at least stay around for turkey season. Maybe GON readers can offer suggestions about solutions to my problem.

Eddie Munn, Red Rock