Be thankful you are a hunter who is living in the USA

My wife and I have been spending a lot of time in Italy, going again in April. We love the place. At a winery just south of Florence, noticed all the dirt was plowed up, looked like hogs in my backyard on the Big Island. Asked about it. "Wild boar. Huge European type. Very dangerous. Everywhere." Asked about hunting them, thinking it would be cool to combine a hunt with all the art, history, food, and wine of Italy. "Sure. You can hunt. But you need a guide because almost all the hunting in Italy is on private property." When we got back to the house we rented, I googled Italian boar hunts and the cheapest I could find was for a 6 day hunt, all expenses including accomodations, gourmet food, personal guide, etc. The price per couple [lots of husbands and wives book these hunts] was 18,900 Euros, or just a bit above $20,000 US. Some of the hunts were 32,000 Euros. Asked another guy about hunting and he shook his head. "Only for the rich."

Here in the Good Ol' USA, we have SO much public land that is open to hunting. Been all over the world and the only other places are Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. When you vote, be it at the federal or the local level, make sure you vote for people who promise to keep public land open to hunting and fishing. A lot of them want to allow mining, oil/gas drilling, and timber and kick sportspeople out, since the miners, drillers, and loggers send more money to the politicians' campaigns than sportspersons do.

Be thankful you are here and be aware that a lot of people in high places want to take away your hunting, fishing, and 2nd amendment rights. Sort of like in Italy and most of Europe.

HATCHET1 said:

Damn hogs..

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You still slammin' oxy? Feb 5 still the Big Circumcision? Trust me on this---all the horrible pain will be gone when you wake up, particularly if St. Peter is there to greet you.

Seriously, having been there, the pain will end and soon Mr. Hatchet will be out and about putting a permanent end to many a hog's snorting and rooting and tooting.

ilovesprig said:

Matty,

I'll be 76 next month....It's not just a number anymore..........................

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I'll be 76 in 4 months. The toughest man I ever knew, Moe Gardner, grew up on a homestead out on the prairie west of Edmonton, Alberta. About 30 years ago, when he was 75, Moe said,"Bruce, people say yer only as old as ya feel." He shook his head. At this point, he had a glass eye, a pig valve in his heart, 2 artificial knees, and a fake hip. The years had been tough on him. "Bruce," he continued, "it sounds nice, makes ya feel good, to say yer only as old as ya feel. But at some point, reality sets in, and yer as old as ya are."

75 for me has not been a breeze, although I can still [thank God] hike 15 miles carrying a pack and a rifle . But Moe's warning is really starting to set in. You younger guys, don't waste a minute. Get out there and hunt and fish and hike now, because at some point yer gonna be as old as ya are..

GUNDOGLOVER49 said:

As I mentioned in another thread, my friend who lives in Payson is going in for similar knife job. She was, as I mentioned a downhill skier. She broke her back twice along with many other bones, all before she was out of her teens. The steroids did terrible damage, but at the time it's what they did. Keep us posted on your progress. Maybe I can give her some encouraging news. I think she goes in around the 20th. She's about a year older than you, 72.

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The pain will end IMMEDIATELY after the surgery and the pain from the surgery itself is minimal. They go in thru your throat to keep from having to cut the large muscle group in the back of your neck. They move the esophagus and trachea off to the side to access the vertebrae. That will cause you to have a hoarse voice for a week or two and you might have slight difficulty swallowing for a bit. But the pain is gone, no more oxy, and you'll take the biggest dump of your career a day later.

Mr. Hatchet will thereafter wear a happy face.

TJD123 said:

and I thought my $100 non res javelina tag was expensive...

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Europe used to be a lot like the USA. Quite a bit of public land hunting, fishing in the streams and rivers for trout and salmon. Over the past 50 years, that has changed dramatically. Virtually no public land hunting anywhere but in Germany, and there you need to go thru about 40 hours of hunter training, not hunter safety, like here. 40 hours of marksmanship, tracking, processing the kill, navigation skills, the whole bit. Then you are allowed to get a hunting permit and a long gun [no handguns in Europe]. But even then, even in the Black Forest which is largely public, the hunting is almost all with guides and dogs. Europeans hunt boar in driven hunts, they hunt grouse in driven hunts, they hunt stag in driven hunts. Many 1000's of Euros for a 2 day hunt. Like to fish? Scotland has superb stream fishing for salmon and ocean run trout. Problem is, the government has given all the fishing rights to private enterprise. A ghillie is given a certain "beat," maybe 3 or 4 miles of stream . It's his [all males] alone. You book with him, you pay to "kill" x number of salmon and trout---no catch and release---slip him between 500 and 1000 pounds sterling [around 700 bucks], and you fish for the morning, keeping 3 or 4 salmon and the same number of trout.

The working man in England can't begin to afford this, but the government there---bless their heart---has a solution. Coarse fish for the workingman. Carp, eels, sunfish, and the like. You can fish all the ponds and little lakes in city parks and keep whatever you want. Sure is generous of their government.

Don't just read this and yawn. We talk about recruiting young people to keep the hunting flame alive, but what is the point if there is no place to hunt? If a politician says that we should open the National Forests or BLM land to mining, oil, and timber, vote them the hell out of office. And if they say that hunting is a relic of the past, vote them the hell out of office. And if they say that fishing is cruel, while they are munching on Costco farm raised tilapia, vote the bastards out of office.

Of course, if you do this, I don't believe there will be any politicians left.

Problem solved.