Information If Federal Shutdown Happens.

[ten_scoach]

As all others have said, thank you for the great input. Some of us are starting to feel how this shutdown is becoming personal as you have. My wife drew the Stockton hunt and for now it's on hold. I hope they get this figured out and get people such as yourself back to work.

[MOPanfisher]

Ten_scoach I usually volunteer for the special hunt at Stockton, absolutely one of my favorite weekends of the year. If it gets cancelled I am gonna be seriously bummed.

[ten_scoach]

I have a technical question for you then on the stockton deal...I asked a friend in mdc and he wasnt sure. In the directions it says only the person who drew the hunt is allowed in the hunt area. My wife has never gun hunted before, only bow hunted. For safety, do you think they would let me accompany her as long as I don't touch anything having to do with the hunt (gun, deer, etc)? I bought her one of those deer carts so she could get it out if she shot one. The letter says to contact hunt manager for exceptions. Thanks for the feedback I know it will be up to the hunt manager, just curious what your take on the situation is. Oh yeah, we took a doe archery sunday from the outlet!! Couldn't find the peas and veg plots, but we'll keep looking

[MOPanfisher]

EXCELLENT! The peas are just beginning to show through the cover crops.

I believe that during the Stockton hunt the hunter is given the option of providing their own guide or having one provided for them from the staff of volunteers. Unless it has changed you could most certainly be her "guide", however there are several excellent ones available should you want or need to do something else. You won't need the cart as all you have to do after she shoots a deer is contact the number they will give you and the DRT (Deer Recovery Team) springs into action, we will show up, drag the deer out, load it into a pick-up and take it back to the camp/meeting area along with the notched tag. The hunter/guide can then stay in the blind if they wish and continue to hunt until their tags are filled or they want to leave for the morning/evening. The DRT will happily eithe field dress the deer where it is or do it back at the camp, along with quartering and skinning once it is checked in. The first morning the DRT stay pretty busy, and the staff prefers that the guide/hunter not leave the blind to track or recover the deer the DRT will do that. You would be amazed at the number of deer killed from a blind after we have left it with a deer in the truck. It is a great time and a great hunt. Hope to see you there, I sure hope everything is settled before the hunt time.

[ten_scoach]

Thanks again! This will be my wife's first gun hunt. Sounds like she'll be hard pressed to beat this one! What an opportunity!! Do we place our own blind or are we assigned blinds placed by mdc/corp? Hope to see you there. Are we allowed to scout the weekend before?

[Justin Spencer]

How can I get me a DRT?

[MOPanfisher]

You will "draw" for a blind that is already constructed. and placed. Usually they are busily putting them out about now. There isn't much scouting to do, the blinds and shooting lanes are pre-set to avoid conflicts with other hunters, also part of the reason for the DRT recovering deer. There usually a sight-in day the Saturday before the hunt weekend. Justin, the North Fork is a fair ways away, from my house my response time might be a little slow.

[ten_scoach]

Mo,

I sent you a couple pm's

Thanks for all of your help

[MOPanfisher]

OK , far as I'm concerned this thread is DONE! All areas are re-opened with signs and barricades removed, and its not even lunch time yet.