Fun in the NH woods

[Omega47]

I'm starting to get the picture....

[HaMeR]

Glad I didn't offend you Omega!!   Troy said it very well & with a lot less typing!!

Here in the East we can lose our land if we show it to a "buddy" & that "buddy" brings his "buddies". They then tell the farmer that so and so brought them here & said it was OK to bring a friend. You've lost prime ground & most importantly,, their trust.

I don't think everybody you've run into is being mean or hateful. More like protective I'd say.

Again,, Best of Luck!! 

[THO Game Calls]

You keep slamming the hunters here in NH for not telling you were to go hunt.

As I've said before, there are over a million acres of public land to hunt on, about that much unposted private land, and all we've heard you talk about is one place you have been hunting since September, and how no one will tell you any other good places to go hunt.

You keep saying we are all snobs and how everyone in California and Texas is so friendly and willing to take you hunting.    Hmmmmm.....

The picture I'm getting, at least the way I see it, is that you want me to spend my spring and summer scouting, sweating my balls off, getting ate alive by mosquitos and black flies, wearing out my boots, taking time away from my business and my family, to find good spots to hunt while you sit home in the airconditioning with a beer and watch the Red Sox on your big screen TV, and then once I do find a good spot, to draw you a map right to it?

Damn, I guess I am a snob, cause the answer is, "you're kidding me right?"

80% of NH is forested.  If you want to know where to hunt, the first place I would look would be in he woods.   Plenty of them.   All you have to do is look around.




All of the green is public land that you can hunt on.  Hope that helps.



Al

[Omega47]

Whew - now you've gone over the deep end into looney tunes land.   Get a grip.

What I said is that where I lived before, hunting was a social event.  Group of guys (and ladies) got together and hunted birds, dogs, pigs, varmints, whatever to have fun.   Out here, the attitude is 100% the opposite.  Your attitude shows it perfectly.

I never said I was looking for a handout.  What I said was I was expecting people out here to be a little more friendly and to want to go hunting together.    Like you pointed out, it ain't gonna happen, so lets just agree to be different and drop this now before it gets out of hand.

[FinsnFur]

There's a huge terrain difference between the West and East sides of the Mississippi River. Along with it, whether it be in conjunction or not, comes a difference in population.

I think the populations plays a huge role in the so called attitudes. Where there's more people theres more trespassing, violations, thus making land owners more cautious....hence the attitudes.

Land out west is desolate, wide open, un manned, and mostly government owned, naturally everyone can hunt it. Land in the east is 99% privately owned, and extremely hard to come by. Obvious acre prices should tell us that. People on this side of the river are a lot more protective of what they have worked so hard to obtain and maintain. That's something that will never change, we're not surrounded by miles and miles of unowned horizon.

[THO Game Calls]

You are so wrong it's just plain funny.

Deer Hunting in NH is THE social event of the year for many many families.  Many schools up north close down on opening day because no one shows up anyway.  Even the teachers are out hunting.  EVERYONE goes to deer camp for at least a week every year.  Churches, diners, VFW Halls all open at 4 AM on opening day to serve a hunters breakfast.   In Vermont, the two weeks of deer season we have family come in from Virginia and Maryland, California and Florida to hunt.  Our camp sleeps 8 people in bunks, one on the couch and one in the chair.  The palce is ALWAYS full.  So much so that they got a pop up tent trailer to handle the over flow.

Do you belong to a Fish and Game club?  There is a hell of a place to start to make friends who will take you hunting and show you some spots to go.  Might cost youi a couple hundred up front to join, but it's a way in.   Fish and Game has a list of everyone of them in the state because the fish and game clubs are the ones who nominate fish and game commisioners from thier counties.  Ask them and they will give you a list.  If you live near Manchester, I will get you in out club.  Cost you 240 to join and 120 a year after that unless you do 12 hours of work time at the club, then it is 60 bucks.  

Ever called the fish and game?  Ever asked to see the Big Game Harvest Summary?  It is published by law each year.  List all the towns in the state, and what was killed in each town that year.  Turkey, deer, bear, moose.  Any big game taken is reported.  Heck of a place to start.  They even publish on line now at the New Hampshire Fish and Game web site.

Oh, and while you are there looking around, take a look at the NH Fur Beares Report.  Same thing.  Yes, it's for trappers, but if they trap a lot of coyote or fox in a certain town, chances are, you can shoot some there too.

Once you find a town that you think you might have some luck hunting around, call fish and game and ask if there is any public hunting around that town.  They'll tell you.  

Stop asking at gun shops and gun shows.  No one is going to tell you anything there because most of them only get to hunt once or twice a year because during hunting season they are working 12 hour days.  They wont tell you what they hear because if they do, and it gets back to the guy who told them, it hurts their business.   These guys at gun shops are like Priest at confession.  They hear it all but know enough to keep their mouths shut.

Are you a member of the NH Wildlife Federation?  25 bucks a year to join.  You can go to the meetings and meet people.  If you want to be sneaky about it, just mill around.   You'll over hear enough to find a ton of good spots to hunt.   I didn't tell you that though.

Ever been to a Fish and Game hearing?  Doesn't matter if it is about Turkey or Bear or Deer or anything that you dont hunt.  You will learn more in a night at one of those hearings than you will if you spend 10 years hanging out at gun shops and sporting goods stores.  Again, just mill around and keep your mouth shut and your ears open.  Hunters brag about the places they hunt among other hunters all the time.   Sneaky but it works.

You shoot a bow?  Hang around the New Hampton Fish and Game headquarters.  THey have a free archery range there.  You are sure to pick up some info there and make some friends who will show you around.

Now, posted land.  You need to know and understand this completely.  

NH law gives a land owner a property tax break for leaving thier land open, what is called Current Use.  That means they cannot post it.  If they allow hunting on their land, they get another 20% off their property tax bill each year.  This is HUGLY important because NH has no state income or sales tax.  Everything is funded by Property Taxes.  The ONLY people who post their land in NH are out of state people who have moved up here and either don't know any better or have more money than god.   Yeah there are a few loons in the group who think hunters are evil, but most people who post land are not native NH folks.  

Stop telling us how great things are in California and Texas.  None of us care.  If you liked it so much there, go back.   A lot of the people in NH, especially up north have been here for generations.   They have seen what happens when people from out of state come in and try to change things.   If you think they are standoffiish you are right.  But they have good reason to be.  

A couple years ago, the City of Portsmouth elected a woman who came from Mass as a state rep.  She had only lived here in NH for a couple years.  One of her first orders of business was to introduce a bill that would have done away with the right to carry in NH.  They got so many people at the hearings they had to extend them for three days and finally cut them off.  In the end, when it went to committee, even SHE voted agains her own bill because she knew she would never make it home alive if she didn't.

You can hunt and fish year round in NH for 48.50 which includes the habitat fee.  That's about 13 cents a day.  Coyotes are open all year round. Deer season is 30 days, muzzleloader is 11 and bow is three months long.  We have trout, salmon, atlantic salmon, large and small mouth bass, pike, catfish, you name it in our lakes and streams.  This is a sportsmans paradise if there ever was one.  But you have to put in a little leg work too.  

It's time YOU got a grip.  Don't compare us to California or Texas.   You have a ton of opportunities here in NH, but so far, it seems all you have done is whine and complain.   And that's a shame, and a huge waste of your energy that you could be spending finding good places to hunt on your own.

Al

[THO Game Calls]

And again, STOP CALLING THEM DOGS.   They are coyotes, or coydogs if you talk to an old timer.  When you call them DOGS you sound like you have no respect for the game you are hunting.  It may fly out west, but here, you sound like a know it all and people will immediatlly be put off by it.  I said it before, and I will say it again for you. 

If you ask some old timer up here if you can shoot dogs on his land, he's lible to fill you full of bird shot.   People up here like dogs.   Family pets and all you know?   They dont want you shooting thiers or their neighbors dogs.  And no, they DO NOT know what you mean. 

This is equally important if you get in a fish and game club or go to a hearing or are at a gun shop.  We call them coyotes.   You call them dogs, and it puts people off.  HUGE mistake. 

You really need to adapt to NH, and not expect NH to adapt to you because it aint gonna happen.

Al