Why hunt?

Simple....it's fun & exciting! It gets my blood flowing and my body shaking. I'm not saying I love to kill animals, in fact,
I'm always a little sad when I kill a beautiful animal. But I know where our family's meat comes from. We don't buy
our steak from a store and pretend nothing had to die to feed us. My family knows that God put these animals on the
planet for us to eat. If we enjoy hunting to get our meat, great! And we're saving money at the grocery store.

In many places of the United States, deer are over-populated. When there are too many of any animal, too much for the
environment to sustain, the animal suffers and eventually starves to death. Not cool! All states try to control animal
over-population by giving out a certain number of deer, elk, and other tags to hunters. Plus....deer jerky is awesome!

Wild hogs are not supposed to be here. They were brought here from Europe hundreds of years ago. They are the biggest,
toughest, meanest, and hungriest animal in the woods! They eat anything and everything which leaves less for the deer,
quail, turkey, pheasant, cows, horses, and they are very destructive to farmers' fields. Plus....they're great on the smoker!

They are an awesome challenge. Extremely smart and tricky. Be sure to let me know if you ever sneak up on one....it ain't
easy! All of our rancher friends lose calves, chickens, and goats to coyotes. Bobcats are pretty much the same, but I've
never heard of a bobcat taking down a calf. They will kill lots of turkey and quail. Plus.....skinned and tanned, coyote and
bobcat fur looks cool on the wall!

This coyote wouldn't have looked
too great on the wall. A couple
years ago we shot him while he was
munching on one of our chickens.
This has got to be the sickest thing
I've ever seen...mange, it's a
disease that some animals get from
being over-populated.

Prairie dogs cause enormous damage to cattle and horse grazing land. Not only do they eat all the grass, but they also
burrow holes in the ground, just the right hoof size for a cow or horse to step into and break its leg. Farmers and ranchers
in many different states have tried desperately to get rid of prairie dogs. In the past in some areas where the prairie dog
population was huge, poison was spread to kill off the prairie dog towns. This ended up being a disaster! There were lots
of dead prairie dogs, but some grown-ups who came up with this bright idea didn't realize that hawks, eagles, coyotes, fox,
buzzards, bobcat, owls, badgers, and most importantly, the black footed ferrets (which are endangered) eat prairie dogs.
They were all poisoned too! Poison is a bad thing.......shooting prairie dogs is a good thing. Plus......it provides a good and easy
meal for the predators that eat them!