Dynaverse.net
Off Topic => Ten Forward => Topic started by: 762 on May 13, 2004, 02:21:42 pm
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Shooting fish!
Stow the rods, break out the rifles
Spring fish shooting cherished tradition in rural Vermont
Pam Belluck, New York Times
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
St. Albans Bay, Vt. -- The hunter's prey darted into the shadows, just out of reach of Henry Demar's gun.
"Come on, stand up and be counted," Demar muttered. "There was a ripple that came out of the weeds. There's something out there."
Dressed in camouflage, gripping his .357 Magnum, Demar was primed to shoot. But this time, no such luck. With a flick of its tail, his quarry -- a slick, silvery fish -- was gone.
Fish shooting is a sport in Vermont, and every spring, hunters break out their artillery -- high-caliber pistols, shotguns, even AK-47s -- and head to the marshes to exercise their right to bear arms against fish.
It is a controversial pastime, and Vermont's fish and wildlife regulators have repeatedly tried to ban it. They call it unsportsmanlike and dangerous, warning that a bullet striking water can ricochet across the water like a skipping stone.
But fish shooting has survived, a cherished tradition for some Vermont families and a novelty to some young people. Every spring, fixated fish hunters climb into trees overhanging the water or perch on the banks of marshes that lace Lake Champlain, on Vermont's northwest border.
"They call us crazy, I guess, to go sit in a tree and wait for fish to come out," said retired locomotive engineer Dean Paquette, 66, as he struggled to describe the fish-shooting rush. "It's something that once you've done it . . ."
There is art, or at least science, to shooting fish, aficionados say. Most fish hunters do not want to shoot the actual fish, because then "you can't really eat them," Paquette said. "They just kind of shatter."
Instead, said Demar, "you try to shoot just in front of the fish's nose or head." The bullet torpedoes to the marsh bottom and creates "enough concussion that it breaks the fish's air bladder, and it floats to the surface. "
Permitted from March 25 to May 25, and only on Lake Champlain, fish shooting has probably existed for a century.
Virginia used to have several fish-shooting areas, said Alan Weaver, a fish biologist with Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Today, Weaver said, the only place is the Clinch River in remote Scott County, where, six weeks a year, people can shoot bottom-feeders like "quill-back suckers and red-horse suckers." Virginia is the only other state where fish shooting is still legal, Vermont officials said.
In 1969, fish and wildlife officials in New York and Vermont banned fish shooting. But Vermonters were loath to sever the primal link between fish and firearms, so in 1970, the Legislature not only reinstated the sport, it also added fish like carp and shad to the target list, bringing the number to 10.
Since then, there have been several efforts to stop fish shooting, also called fish hunting (since it requires a hunting license) or pickerel shooting (although the main target is northern pike, a pickerel cousin). But they have been stopped by noisy objections from a small but dedicated bunch.
Hunters like Demar, 45, joined recently by his half brother, Calvin Rushford, 56, and Calvin's 9-year-old grandson, Cody, say they make sure that their bullets hit the water no more than 10 feet from where they stand. That way, said Rushford, who like Demaris is a disabled former construction worker, "you'll have no problem because the bullet won't ricochet."
Indeed, state officials say they know of no gunshot injuries from the sport.
State officials also say that fish shooting disturbs nesting birds and that killing spawning females could endanger the northern pike population (although so far there is no evidence it has).
Worst of all, state officials say, many shooters do not retrieve all the fish they kill. They leave behind fish they cannot find or do not want to wade after and fish that exceed the state's five-pike-a-day limit or fall under the 20-inch minimum length for northern pike.
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So...what you are saying is that there is NO reason to move to Vermont....
-
I would move there, but NY is already too cold.
-
Well the fish hunters should be careful about hitting this guy!
-
Bah.. wussies.. using firearms.. real men let that big ole catfish bite 'em on the hand, then drag 'em out of the water and whup up on 'em.
http://www.okienoodling.com/
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/sutton_keith/1336494.html
-
Please, what ever happened to good ol'e fashion TNT? Sheesh? kids.
-
Anyone ever use an old PSM-2 megger? Generates over 500 volts from a crank handle...just toss one wire (about 25' long, with 10' exposed (preferabley the end in the water)) to the left, and one to the right...then start cranking...just a litlle electro-shock therapy
It's good to work in calibration lab..so many interesting things to play with
Mike
P.S. And we're just getting set up to do lasers & fibre optics...cool stuff
-
It's called "Telephoning Catfish" because you can also use an old hand-cranked telephone.
Just don't do it from an aluminium boat.. (don't ask).
-
Quote:
(don't ask).
Thats like saying don't push this button. Did you get zaped in the back side by any chance.
-
Let's just say that I and my cousin, who could not have been the brightest of teenagers decided to try it, after hearing tall tales from our fathers. It was something like what a sausage must feel when it is dropped into a hot skillet..being barefooted didn't help..
Of course, I once talked him into peeing on an electric fence.. and he assures me that was much worse..
-
Noodling... Telephoning... all you guys left out was dynamite or similar explosive devices (black powder in sealed cans with waterproof fuse). Just be careful how much powder you use.
Starting to sound a little like home.
-
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
-
Quote:
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
yeah, the only thing that blocks the wind up there is an occassional stray reindeer between you and the artic circle.
-
So, you've been to North Dakota, eh...a 156 ft between the highest point and lowest...state tree a telephone pole..state bird the mosquito.....
I did a TDY to Cavalier AFS...closer to Canada than the US...it is barren...they won't even turn you in for AWOL for 3 days, 'cause they can still see you running across the landscape
Mike
-
And if you stand on your bumper and stare at the horizon, you can see the back of your own head...
Quote:
So, you've been to North Dakota, eh...a 156 ft between the highest point and lowest...state tree a telephone pole..state bird the mosquito.....
I did a TDY to Cavalier AFS...closer to Canada than the US...it is barren...they won't even turn you in for AWOL for 3 days, 'cause they can still see you running across the landscape
Mike
-
Quote:
Quote:
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
yeah, the only thing that blocks the wind up there is an occassional stray reindeer between you and the artic circle.
I've been to Minnesota in September and that was bad enough.
-
Quote:
Bah.. wussies.. using firearms.. real men let that big ole catfish bite 'em on the hand, then drag 'em out of the water and whup up on 'em.
http://www.okienoodling.com/
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/sutton_keith/1336494.html
Well I couldn't believe this when I saw it in the store today!
-
Shooting fish!
Stow the rods, break out the rifles
Spring fish shooting cherished tradition in rural Vermont
Pam Belluck, New York Times
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
St. Albans Bay, Vt. -- The hunter's prey darted into the shadows, just out of reach of Henry Demar's gun.
"Come on, stand up and be counted," Demar muttered. "There was a ripple that came out of the weeds. There's something out there."
Dressed in camouflage, gripping his .357 Magnum, Demar was primed to shoot. But this time, no such luck. With a flick of its tail, his quarry -- a slick, silvery fish -- was gone.
Fish shooting is a sport in Vermont, and every spring, hunters break out their artillery -- high-caliber pistols, shotguns, even AK-47s -- and head to the marshes to exercise their right to bear arms against fish.
It is a controversial pastime, and Vermont's fish and wildlife regulators have repeatedly tried to ban it. They call it unsportsmanlike and dangerous, warning that a bullet striking water can ricochet across the water like a skipping stone.
But fish shooting has survived, a cherished tradition for some Vermont families and a novelty to some young people. Every spring, fixated fish hunters climb into trees overhanging the water or perch on the banks of marshes that lace Lake Champlain, on Vermont's northwest border.
"They call us crazy, I guess, to go sit in a tree and wait for fish to come out," said retired locomotive engineer Dean Paquette, 66, as he struggled to describe the fish-shooting rush. "It's something that once you've done it . . ."
There is art, or at least science, to shooting fish, aficionados say. Most fish hunters do not want to shoot the actual fish, because then "you can't really eat them," Paquette said. "They just kind of shatter."
Instead, said Demar, "you try to shoot just in front of the fish's nose or head." The bullet torpedoes to the marsh bottom and creates "enough concussion that it breaks the fish's air bladder, and it floats to the surface. "
Permitted from March 25 to May 25, and only on Lake Champlain, fish shooting has probably existed for a century.
Virginia used to have several fish-shooting areas, said Alan Weaver, a fish biologist with Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Today, Weaver said, the only place is the Clinch River in remote Scott County, where, six weeks a year, people can shoot bottom-feeders like "quill-back suckers and red-horse suckers." Virginia is the only other state where fish shooting is still legal, Vermont officials said.
In 1969, fish and wildlife officials in New York and Vermont banned fish shooting. But Vermonters were loath to sever the primal link between fish and firearms, so in 1970, the Legislature not only reinstated the sport, it also added fish like carp and shad to the target list, bringing the number to 10.
Since then, there have been several efforts to stop fish shooting, also called fish hunting (since it requires a hunting license) or pickerel shooting (although the main target is northern pike, a pickerel cousin). But they have been stopped by noisy objections from a small but dedicated bunch.
Hunters like Demar, 45, joined recently by his half brother, Calvin Rushford, 56, and Calvin's 9-year-old grandson, Cody, say they make sure that their bullets hit the water no more than 10 feet from where they stand. That way, said Rushford, who like Demaris is a disabled former construction worker, "you'll have no problem because the bullet won't ricochet."
Indeed, state officials say they know of no gunshot injuries from the sport.
State officials also say that fish shooting disturbs nesting birds and that killing spawning females could endanger the northern pike population (although so far there is no evidence it has).
Worst of all, state officials say, many shooters do not retrieve all the fish they kill. They leave behind fish they cannot find or do not want to wade after and fish that exceed the state's five-pike-a-day limit or fall under the 20-inch minimum length for northern pike.
-
So...what you are saying is that there is NO reason to move to Vermont....
-
I would move there, but NY is already too cold.
-
Well the fish hunters should be careful about hitting this guy!
-
Bah.. wussies.. using firearms.. real men let that big ole catfish bite 'em on the hand, then drag 'em out of the water and whup up on 'em.
http://www.okienoodling.com/
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/sutton_keith/1336494.html
-
Please, what ever happened to good ol'e fashion TNT? Sheesh? kids.
-
Anyone ever use an old PSM-2 megger? Generates over 500 volts from a crank handle...just toss one wire (about 25' long, with 10' exposed (preferabley the end in the water)) to the left, and one to the right...then start cranking...just a litlle electro-shock therapy
It's good to work in calibration lab..so many interesting things to play with
Mike
P.S. And we're just getting set up to do lasers & fibre optics...cool stuff
-
It's called "Telephoning Catfish" because you can also use an old hand-cranked telephone.
Just don't do it from an aluminium boat.. (don't ask).
-
Quote:
(don't ask).
Thats like saying don't push this button. Did you get zaped in the back side by any chance.
-
Let's just say that I and my cousin, who could not have been the brightest of teenagers decided to try it, after hearing tall tales from our fathers. It was something like what a sausage must feel when it is dropped into a hot skillet..being barefooted didn't help..
Of course, I once talked him into peeing on an electric fence.. and he assures me that was much worse..
-
Noodling... Telephoning... all you guys left out was dynamite or similar explosive devices (black powder in sealed cans with waterproof fuse). Just be careful how much powder you use.
Starting to sound a little like home.
-
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
-
Quote:
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
yeah, the only thing that blocks the wind up there is an occassional stray reindeer between you and the artic circle.
-
So, you've been to North Dakota, eh...a 156 ft between the highest point and lowest...state tree a telephone pole..state bird the mosquito.....
I did a TDY to Cavalier AFS...closer to Canada than the US...it is barren...they won't even turn you in for AWOL for 3 days, 'cause they can still see you running across the landscape
Mike
-
And if you stand on your bumper and stare at the horizon, you can see the back of your own head...
Quote:
So, you've been to North Dakota, eh...a 156 ft between the highest point and lowest...state tree a telephone pole..state bird the mosquito.....
I did a TDY to Cavalier AFS...closer to Canada than the US...it is barren...they won't even turn you in for AWOL for 3 days, 'cause they can still see you running across the landscape
Mike
-
Quote:
Quote:
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
yeah, the only thing that blocks the wind up there is an occassional stray reindeer between you and the artic circle.
I've been to Minnesota in September and that was bad enough.
-
Quote:
Bah.. wussies.. using firearms.. real men let that big ole catfish bite 'em on the hand, then drag 'em out of the water and whup up on 'em.
http://www.okienoodling.com/
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/sutton_keith/1336494.html
Well I couldn't believe this when I saw it in the store today!
-
Shooting fish!
Stow the rods, break out the rifles
Spring fish shooting cherished tradition in rural Vermont
Pam Belluck, New York Times
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
St. Albans Bay, Vt. -- The hunter's prey darted into the shadows, just out of reach of Henry Demar's gun.
"Come on, stand up and be counted," Demar muttered. "There was a ripple that came out of the weeds. There's something out there."
Dressed in camouflage, gripping his .357 Magnum, Demar was primed to shoot. But this time, no such luck. With a flick of its tail, his quarry -- a slick, silvery fish -- was gone.
Fish shooting is a sport in Vermont, and every spring, hunters break out their artillery -- high-caliber pistols, shotguns, even AK-47s -- and head to the marshes to exercise their right to bear arms against fish.
It is a controversial pastime, and Vermont's fish and wildlife regulators have repeatedly tried to ban it. They call it unsportsmanlike and dangerous, warning that a bullet striking water can ricochet across the water like a skipping stone.
But fish shooting has survived, a cherished tradition for some Vermont families and a novelty to some young people. Every spring, fixated fish hunters climb into trees overhanging the water or perch on the banks of marshes that lace Lake Champlain, on Vermont's northwest border.
"They call us crazy, I guess, to go sit in a tree and wait for fish to come out," said retired locomotive engineer Dean Paquette, 66, as he struggled to describe the fish-shooting rush. "It's something that once you've done it . . ."
There is art, or at least science, to shooting fish, aficionados say. Most fish hunters do not want to shoot the actual fish, because then "you can't really eat them," Paquette said. "They just kind of shatter."
Instead, said Demar, "you try to shoot just in front of the fish's nose or head." The bullet torpedoes to the marsh bottom and creates "enough concussion that it breaks the fish's air bladder, and it floats to the surface. "
Permitted from March 25 to May 25, and only on Lake Champlain, fish shooting has probably existed for a century.
Virginia used to have several fish-shooting areas, said Alan Weaver, a fish biologist with Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Today, Weaver said, the only place is the Clinch River in remote Scott County, where, six weeks a year, people can shoot bottom-feeders like "quill-back suckers and red-horse suckers." Virginia is the only other state where fish shooting is still legal, Vermont officials said.
In 1969, fish and wildlife officials in New York and Vermont banned fish shooting. But Vermonters were loath to sever the primal link between fish and firearms, so in 1970, the Legislature not only reinstated the sport, it also added fish like carp and shad to the target list, bringing the number to 10.
Since then, there have been several efforts to stop fish shooting, also called fish hunting (since it requires a hunting license) or pickerel shooting (although the main target is northern pike, a pickerel cousin). But they have been stopped by noisy objections from a small but dedicated bunch.
Hunters like Demar, 45, joined recently by his half brother, Calvin Rushford, 56, and Calvin's 9-year-old grandson, Cody, say they make sure that their bullets hit the water no more than 10 feet from where they stand. That way, said Rushford, who like Demaris is a disabled former construction worker, "you'll have no problem because the bullet won't ricochet."
Indeed, state officials say they know of no gunshot injuries from the sport.
State officials also say that fish shooting disturbs nesting birds and that killing spawning females could endanger the northern pike population (although so far there is no evidence it has).
Worst of all, state officials say, many shooters do not retrieve all the fish they kill. They leave behind fish they cannot find or do not want to wade after and fish that exceed the state's five-pike-a-day limit or fall under the 20-inch minimum length for northern pike.
-
So...what you are saying is that there is NO reason to move to Vermont....
-
I would move there, but NY is already too cold.
-
Well the fish hunters should be careful about hitting this guy!
-
Bah.. wussies.. using firearms.. real men let that big ole catfish bite 'em on the hand, then drag 'em out of the water and whup up on 'em.
http://www.okienoodling.com/
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/sutton_keith/1336494.html
-
Please, what ever happened to good ol'e fashion TNT? Sheesh? kids.
-
Anyone ever use an old PSM-2 megger? Generates over 500 volts from a crank handle...just toss one wire (about 25' long, with 10' exposed (preferabley the end in the water)) to the left, and one to the right...then start cranking...just a litlle electro-shock therapy
It's good to work in calibration lab..so many interesting things to play with
Mike
P.S. And we're just getting set up to do lasers & fibre optics...cool stuff
-
It's called "Telephoning Catfish" because you can also use an old hand-cranked telephone.
Just don't do it from an aluminium boat.. (don't ask).
-
Quote:
(don't ask).
Thats like saying don't push this button. Did you get zaped in the back side by any chance.
-
Let's just say that I and my cousin, who could not have been the brightest of teenagers decided to try it, after hearing tall tales from our fathers. It was something like what a sausage must feel when it is dropped into a hot skillet..being barefooted didn't help..
Of course, I once talked him into peeing on an electric fence.. and he assures me that was much worse..
-
Noodling... Telephoning... all you guys left out was dynamite or similar explosive devices (black powder in sealed cans with waterproof fuse). Just be careful how much powder you use.
Starting to sound a little like home.
-
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
-
Quote:
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
yeah, the only thing that blocks the wind up there is an occassional stray reindeer between you and the artic circle.
-
So, you've been to North Dakota, eh...a 156 ft between the highest point and lowest...state tree a telephone pole..state bird the mosquito.....
I did a TDY to Cavalier AFS...closer to Canada than the US...it is barren...they won't even turn you in for AWOL for 3 days, 'cause they can still see you running across the landscape
Mike
-
And if you stand on your bumper and stare at the horizon, you can see the back of your own head...
Quote:
So, you've been to North Dakota, eh...a 156 ft between the highest point and lowest...state tree a telephone pole..state bird the mosquito.....
I did a TDY to Cavalier AFS...closer to Canada than the US...it is barren...they won't even turn you in for AWOL for 3 days, 'cause they can still see you running across the landscape
Mike
-
Quote:
Quote:
Jeez 762, you live on Long Island...try growing up where I did north of Buffalo...or live here in Nebraska..no trees to slow the wind
Mike
yeah, the only thing that blocks the wind up there is an occassional stray reindeer between you and the artic circle.
I've been to Minnesota in September and that was bad enough.
-
Quote:
Bah.. wussies.. using firearms.. real men let that big ole catfish bite 'em on the hand, then drag 'em out of the water and whup up on 'em.
http://www.okienoodling.com/
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/sutton_keith/1336494.html
Well I couldn't believe this when I saw it in the store today!