ORIGINAL: BigJ12
Well I have a completely different take on what makes a "good hunter"
To me, if
all you do is shoot deer with a bow then you arenot even close to being a "good hunter", you're just a"part time" hunter or a "bow hunter". Nothing wrong with that, but you will never qualify as a "good hunter" to me.In my eyesa"good hunter" possessesskills and is adaptwith all types of weapons and hunts may types of quary. He/she is equally skilled with a bow as with a rifle, handgun, shot gun or muzzleloader. He/she can wing shoot as well as spot shoot. He/she can call in geese or ducks or coyotes.
Some of you guys are too narrow minded. I know this is a bow hunting forum but the the topic is about what makes a "good hunter" not a "good bow hunter" and I'm giving my opinion.I don't care if you kill P&Y bucks every year while letting the smaller bucks pass or just kill does only. If you can't/don't upland bird hunt or call in a drake to your decoys or take a hog with your pistol or kill a fast movingquail that just busted out of it's coveyor a dove at full speed with your 20ga or any other combination of weapon/quary your not even close to a "good hunter" your just some guy with a bow. Skilled with a bowyes, but very one dimensional.
I'm not trying to be an a$$ here justtrying to get some of you to think outside the box. Sometimes thingsneed to be put into perspective
BigJ, I totally understand where you are going with this. Like I said in my original post, being "good" will vary widely, it's all really a matter of opinion.
Personally, I have shot deer with bows, rifles, shotguns, andhandguns... running, standing, near & far. I've also called in and killed turkeys, killed coyotes, doves, and even takenmy limit of grouse in one day without a dog (back when we had enough that you could actually hunt them). We don't have hogs around here, and I don't really have any duck or goose hunting available where I hunt, but I would like to do that some day also. Does this really make me a good hunter?? Not really, at least not in my own eyes. I consider myself to be pretty much average I guess. But I do think that I have more of a passion for it thanmost of the folks I know. Like I said, it's really all an opinion, because being "good" varies big time.
Good post though, with some very valid points. Although I will disagree somewhat with the "part time hunter" theoryif all you choose to do is bowhunt. That for most is probably a choice that has evolved over time, and usually after going through most of the other types of hunting, and deciding that bowhunting is THE challenge they prefer.
Talondale, great post also.
