ORIGINAL: charlie brown
AF Hunter,
I don't think he is talking about just driving around all day until he sees a deer and shoots it.
Take this for example:
You are hunting on some private property that you either own or have permission to.
The area is surrounded by state owned, National Forest, other property which you have permission to hunt, etc. Not all states are all private property and have to be hunted from a treestand. There is a lot of land that is open to anyone who passes by to do as they wish on that property.
You hunt all morning, come up empty handed, and then leave around 8 because you have a committment at noon, and don't want to be late.
As you are driving back to town through, or on the edge of the surrounding property, you see a legal animalsomewhere on that property, but it does not see you. You park the vehicle, get out and make a stalk on the animal and kill it. Its either do or die, you kill it and can still make the appt at noon, or miss the opportunity and go on your marry way.
Or what if you are on your way to your property and see an animal in that same spot?
As long as you are abding by the law in regards to shooting from the road, gun loaded, arrow nocked, etc, what is wrong with it?
Is it jealousy because a person shot a deer opportunistically to feed his 4 kids? How do you know the situation of the person who is hunting. Is it a person who has a walking disability and cannot walk well, so glasses animals from the road in the National Forest? There are many situations that cannot be judged from the outsite, but rather a more detailed evaluation is required.
Also, how do you know the animal will be long gone? That seems pesimistic to me. I thought hunters by nature were optomisitic?
If you know the area, the land, and have required permission, what tresspassing issues are there to deal with.
Later,
Marcial
Chucky B,
1. BT asked a question and I replied with my answer based upon my experience and the laws governing hunting here. I'm sure BT expected different opinions from different people.
2. Here, if a deer can see you slow down to stop or if stopped already, get out of a vehicle, they do not hang around to see what you are up to.
3.
"Is it jealousy because a person shot a deer opportunistically to feed his 4 kids?" Since you addressed this post to me, I will take it as you are asking me. All the land I hunt here is privately owned. If someone got a deer legally I feel happy for them. I have no jealousy of other hunters. However, by stating this, sounds like you have some issues as to the way you hunt. I hunt to put food on the table. If I get a chance at a nice buck, I will take it, but my reasons to be out there are actually threefold:
a. To put food on the table;
b. To spend time outdoors without the worries the outside world for a while;
c. To commune with the Lord.
4. If I were driving along the road and saw a "legal" animal on public land, instead of parking and stalking, I would have to drive around the whole property to see how many other hunters are in there. Then and only then would I make the determination on whether or not to go after this animal. Many states do not require a bow hunter to have blaze orange on, but bow season overlaps with firearm seasons. To go in without knowing who else is out there is IMO reckless and taking an unecessary risk with your own life to get some meat.
5. If your state allows driving around locked and loaded, that is your law. I would not do it as once again there are many factors that you do not have control over that could cause that weapons (in the case of firearms) to accidently go off.
If you'd like to debate this further, lets take to PM's.
BT, back when I hunted public land years ago, I spent many evenings glassing the land from a vantage point along the shoulder of the road to pattern the deer and plan my hunt, but as stated above for safety reasons, never followed one in. I just patterned them then on the day of the hunt arrived on scene well before hunting opened for the day, and then parked as close as I could to the point where I was going to hunt to let other hunters know there was someone fairly nearby. I have expressed on here many times, the ultimate goal of any hunt should be everyone goes home safe at the end.