# As Spring starts to Spring.



## Rick O'Shay (Dec 3, 2014)

Good morning all. I was sitting here drinking my coffee considering that spring is right around the corner for a lot of us. I have a few questions and comments on our hunting practices. As love is starting to be in the air for a lot of game may be we should let nature take its course and not hunt stuff that we enjoy hunting and let the numbers recoup. But on the flip side if you have invasive species that are in your area focus all of your hunting on them and thin their numbers. In my area we have tree squirrels that are considered invasive but I may still hunt them a bit I will personally let them be for the most part and let them do their thing. But the starlings and English sparrows will get most of my attention. ( Even though they are safe do to my skill level ). If you are in a area where crows are legal to hunt year around it is a great time to thin their numbers to save the song bird nests full of eggs.

My question to you all, is do you consider this type of thing when you go out hunting ?

I am not here to judge because I don't know what is considered invasive or game in your area. So keep posting the stories and pictures of successful hunts even if you don't get your quarry.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Good questions, Dan! Pest species here, like rats or grey squirrels, I will take year round. Our climate is mild enough that I suspect breeding is very early, if not year round. As you so correctly point out, it is good to leave game alone during the breeding season so that we may continue to enjoy the hunt in the future.

Cheers .... Charles


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## bigron (Nov 29, 2012)

sounds like a good idea to me ,but there again i lost my thirst for killing sometime ago,i respect anybody else who still hunts,i just don't do it anymore


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## ghost0311/8541 (Jan 6, 2013)

I think that's why most DNR have there rule books set up the way they do when I was younger I done a lot of poaching to more than I should have hunted in the times of the day I shouldn't have and now that Iam older wish I had not done some of the stuff I did yes I do think about it.


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

I always went by Fish and Game regs with the exception of OHIO "song bird" classifications...Fish and Game's studies are pretty much spot on as to when it's best to hunt (and not to hunt) so that there's enough for all. Ohio had at least when I lived there some silly classifications of quail and dove as "song birds" and legally you could not hunt them but they were very prevalent. You could legally hunt them a quarter mile away in Kentucky though, so what the heck. So I hunted them and enjoyed the feast anyway...it had nothing to do with numbers, just a soccer mom's classification error.


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## Nicholson (Sep 25, 2012)

As Susi said, you can't go wrong following the fish and game regulations. They have years of data stored up and if the regs are followed there should be an abundance of game for you in the future


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## zippo (Jul 9, 2014)

Pigeons are not invasive, but they do cause damage so i shoot them without any consideration to their numbers, If i shoot 50 then 51 new pigeon will come the day after. In addition to pigeons i hunt crows, starlings, mynas, sparrows, red-ring parrots and some speicies of doves all year long and i dont care about their numbers . Here all dove speicies but the native doves can be hunted all year long, euroasian doves and laughing doves are two large dove speicies that i hunt, Laughing doves are so common here so i just dont care if i shoot a lot, but euroasain dove i shoot max of 5 per day (there is no bag limit i just decide to do so) so i wont damage the community here.. Chukars, quail, grouse, partridge and porcupine are the ones that we are worried about their numbers so restricted rules apply to them.. also we got a huge problem with chukar and porcupine poachers...


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## Rick O'Shay (Dec 3, 2014)

Zippo, are the porcupines over there similar to ours here in the US? Here they are in high numbers in my area. They are not considered game or invasive they can be hunted year around. I personally only shoot them if I am out with my dogs ( more of dog defense mentality) other wise I leave them be. I do hear they are good eating though and want to try them.

To bad the Chuckar numbers are low they are a very fine game bird. We have a few in my area of the state but I don't hunt them cause I had to put my bird dog down and the Jack Russell's would flush them way to soon. I consider chucker the elk of the upland game. You have to hike you ass off up hill to get a shot then they will fly over your head down hill so you can chase them down them right back up....They are fun to hunt.


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## youcanthide (Jun 16, 2013)

Any game birds are now out of season as are the wildfowl. I refuse to shoot rabbits during spring and summer, much preferring to leave them be for the hawk come the season. Only shoot pigeons and corvids really. Also gonna try for a Canada goose with the catty.


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## zippo (Jul 9, 2014)

Dan Hoopes said:


> Zippo, are the porcupines over there similar to ours here in the US? Here they are in high numbers in my area. They are not considered game or invasive they can be hunted year around. I personally only shoot them if I am out with my dogs ( more of dog defense mentality) other wise I leave them be. I do hear they are good eating though and want to try them.
> 
> To bad the Chuckar numbers are low they are a very fine game bird. We have a few in my area of the state but I don't hunt them cause I had to put my bird dog down and the Jack Russell's would flush them way to soon. I consider chucker the elk of the upland game. You have to hike you *** off up hill to get a shot then they will fly over your head down hill so you can chase them down them right back up....They are fun to hunt.


The porcupines we got here are indian porcupines, very aggresive animal. They are being overhunted so this is why they are very protected, chukar numbers are not down, but they are droping every year, its still not a hazzard to the community but they are protecting them as well, here we dont have to go high to hunt them, they are everywhere, in my backyard i see them.


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