Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust

[misfitmorgan]

So what do they do with them???

There are groups who hunt and donate the carcass for those in need. But the amounts you have there would need half an army just to gut and hang to chill!! Maybe some of the big zoos could benefit...and be thrilled to have those carcass. Disposal is a whole nuther issue.

We still have some hunters and small hunt clubs here. Thinning out each year as homesites grow. Still a good amount of woods around but, unfortunately replants are mainly pine. International paper has thousands of acres and some is not replanted but claimed for farming...or...

I'm not entirely sure as far as I know they go to different soup kitchens and volunteers process them for those kitchens. Even with the shooting they have programs where they SPAY does. From 2009 to 2019 hunting is down 20%, the pandemic actually got more people hunting they sold almost 250,000 more licenses. The average number of deer taken in the state in a year is 364,000 which is up from the normal average of 200k. Women hunters increased by 35% and ages 10-16 hunters increased by 190% during the pandemic.

It's just not enough though, we have on avg 45 deer per square mile in my county and the ones surrounding us. So my 30 mile trip to work means potentially driving past 1,350 deer...each way.

We also have groups and clubs that hunt and donate to soup kitchens. We have block permits for farmers that allow them to take if I recall right 30 deer per year per farm, that are damaging crops or eating livestock feeds/baled hay. I imagine some the dnr killed carcasses probly make their way to zoos or other processing plants for pet food.

We thankfully have a lot of our normal non-pine trees left here but there are large jack pine trash tree plantations. The most commonly used tree currently is Red Pine. People are moving towards other tree types for replanting or planting to offset harvest or emissions which is great. One guy did a small plantation in black walnut, another guy did oak, etc because land replanted with jack pine is worth dittly and they didnt want to do that to their property for their kids and grandkids. If you want to plant non-trash people are going for black walnut. black cherry, types of oaks, sugar maples, yellow poplar, white ash and hybrid poplars. We also have tons and tons and tons of spruces, firs, and pines that are planted for Christmas tree farms. It is now often pretty common to do mixed tree plantations which look much nicer and restore the value to the land.

 

[Baymule]

Wow, the number of deer in your area is unreal. Astounding. Y’all need some good ol’ southern boys up there to help reduce numbers. Lol

 

[misfitmorgan]

Wow, the number of deer in your area is unreal. Astounding. Y’all need some good ol’ southern boys up there to help reduce numbers. Lol

That is exactly why I refuse to keep my car and have no comp on it. A lot of people come from out of state to hunt, just simply isnt enough. They keep the prices high on all licenses to help reduce the number of hunters because about 150yrs ago the whitetail was hunted to almost complete extinction in southern michigan. They actually had to have a program where they transplanted deer from the north back down to the south to re-populate them. the part they dont look at is that that aggressive hunting was done by market hunters who shipped the meat out of state for human consumption on the east coast and other places until a law was made to stop it 120yrs ago.

The other issue was they also hunted/killed the wolves and cougars to almost extinction in michigan. In 1935 the DNR declared wolves were extinct in lower michigan. We almost lost them altogether though, they were only 6 recorded wolves in the entire state and a few on an island. The DNR kept their stand of no wolves in lower michigan even with game cam evidence. Until finally they DNR tested some scat and proved it to be a grey wolf....in 2019. However in 2004 a trapper killed a grey wolf thinking it was a coyote, a county over from us. So wolves are coming back to lower Michigan which is good. For the cougars there have been sightings and cam game videos since 2008.

 

[Bruce]

We have deer trails all thru our place but just nothing shows up during season so far.

They KNOW!!!! I watch Outdoors With the Morgans on YouTube. They see deer ALL the time .... except during hunting season.

 

[misfitmorgan]

They KNOW!!!! I watch Outdoors With the Morgans on YouTube. They see deer ALL the time .... except during hunting season.

Pretty much how it works out. I swear someone gave them calendars.

 

[misfitmorgan]

They finally came and picked up my car last night at 8pm.

The trailblazer I am suppose to be driving is not driveable atm.....shocking I know. The battery was dead and couldnt jump it. So put a new battery in, it started fine. Next morning I get in and start it and find out I have no power steering....puddle on the ground so open the hood, belt is broken. Go after work and get a new belt, spend 20 minutes putting it on by myself. Start car and smell burning and see smoke. Alternator is shot and seized up. Bought a new alternator last night, spend 40 minutes trying to get the lower bolt off with a wrench, drop the wrench in the engine 6 times, the 7th time I couldnt find it, was pretty much dark out and I was getting eaten by mosquitos. Went to bed. Hopefully today after work it gets sorted out, also bout more steering fluid but not sure what caused it to leak out.

I bought a fishing boat yesterday after work, have to go pick it up on sunday. It is not a gorgeous boat by any means but it is a 14ft bass style boat, with 6 up-rights on it, tags for the year, a nice trailer, an almost new motor, and a brand new garmin fish finder as well as a bunch of other extras the guy is giving us. We are friends with the owner and got the boat for $800. Looking at other prices around here we got a very good deal.

 

[Bruce]

Maybe you could put wheels on the bass boat and drive it to work!

 

[misfitmorgan]

Maybe you could put wheels on the bass boat and drive it to work!

Technically the trailer has wheels..... but no I think I will stick with the trailblazer plan. Today and yesterday I just drove our chevy truck to work.

 

[Baymule]

You are a lot smarter than I am. Working on a car is above my pay grade.
Congratulations on the boat purchase. Y’all will get a lot of enjoyment out of it and hopefully put some fish in the freezer!

 

[misfitmorgan]

You are a lot smarter than I am. Working on a car is above my pay grade.
Congratulations on the boat purchase. Y’all will get a lot of enjoyment out of it and hopefully put some fish in the freezer!

It is above my pay grade as well.....youtube is my friend and teacher

Anything I need to do on any of the cars I just search for "how to...." and there is always a youtube video of how to do it, what tools you need, things to unplug first, etc.

DH sent me a pic of the wrench I lost in the engine and the alternator sitting on top of the engine.....I do love him! So I just need to put the alternator in when I get home and then fight the belt back into place(youtube showed me how) and fill the power steering to check if it is still leaking and from where......hopefully it is good to go then.

I actually found the repair receipts for that thing going back to 2012. Someone dumped a lot of money into it, including new 4x4 assembly, bearings, tie rod ends, rotors, etc.

Thank you Bay I am hoping we can carve out some time to do more fishing. I'm mostly after catfish but am perfectly happy with walleye, or perch or whatever as well. When the salmon run we hope to get a few of those to smoke as well. Could go for some smoked trout too.