I am fellow Ohion, as is Mondoman who started this thread. I have sat here and read alot of the gun hunting threads and just kept my mouth shut and have never replied. Until now. I feel that I have as much of a right to an opinion as anyone else does. Before I start, let me be emphatic about something. I am not trying to be an idiot and not trying to throw gas on the fire. I will take my time and try to choose my words very carefully, but also try and get the point of frustration that I feelacross.But alot of you guys that are jumping all over him are from differnt states, and the gun seasons may be carried out differently where you are, so you can't really understand the authors feelings, or others on here who sided with him. Believe me,the methods of gun hunting vary in different parts of the state of Ohio,so I know that they doin different parts of our country.
First off, I think maybe the way the author worded it is what caused the backlash. I know that when he started out by saying " I hate gun season", he put the first nail in his coffinhimself when it comes tomany of the members here whoboth gun hunt and bowhunt. I think the point that he was trying to convey was that he was really bummed out because he had hunted so hard for that paticular buck with hisbow, for so long, and then his neighbor barely walks out of his house and kills it with a gun.I understand what he meant. He spent alot of time and energy trying to get that buck. Sorry, but you can't argue that the effort level by the neighbor was any where nearhis. As stated, the neighbor had a right to shoot that buck also, but I understand his frustration,and let me explain why. Maybe you can understand a little more.
I live in NW Ohio, In Van Wert County, and have all my life. I am 44 now and have been hunting since I was old enough to walk out in the woods with my dad. After college I really became a hardcore bowhunter, just like alot of you. I have been very successful. It has been about 20 years now since I haven't filled my allotted archery tag ( or tags, depending on the DNR). I have killed several nice bucks also, but to me, every deer is a trophy because of the way that I hunt and the time and dedication thatI put into it.
We live in an area of the statethat is flat!! I mean FLAT!!No rolling hills here boys. It is flat, small woodlots, creeks and fencerows all located on small family owned farms. You may have permission to bowhunt a 5- 10 acre woods, and less that 250 yards away there may be another section or 2 that has other guys hunting it. We don't have 200-300 acre hardwood stands here. It isn't like it is in Southern Ohio. I am fortunate to have some small sections that only my buddy and I have permission to bowhunt ( more on that later). We work hard at our hunting. Lots of off season scouting, hanging stands, and then lots of hours on stand when the season comes in. It is great, and we love it!! Then thansgiving weekend comes and goes, and the following monday morning, everything changes.
Let me say one thing before I stsrt. I am in no way exxagerating what I will write. If you don't live here and see what happens during the next week, don't you dare sit at your compter and tell me that I am wrong.If you go and check out every post that I have ever written on this forum, you will never find one time that I was disrespectful or confrontational with anyoneon this site. Ever! But this is one time that I will stand my ground, and not let anyone heresay that I am lying, because I have witnessed the garbage that comes with slug law in this section of the state for way too manyyears that I care to remember. And I guarentee you that if you came here and interviewed the true sportsmenhunters in about a 4 county area here , everyone single one of them will attest to what happens here, and they all hate it equally.
I will say from the get go, that not all the shotgunners here are outlaws, but I will bet that 70-80% of them are.They are known as Heater Hunters, Road Warriors, Truck Hunters, Orange Army etc. etc.,along with some names that the mods would never let slip by!!
Ihave no problem whatsoever withthe guys who actuallygetout with a gun, in the woodsand actually hunt. It is the rest of them that ruin it. The truck cab boys. There is nothing sporting whatsoever about surrounding asmall woods with 5 0r 6 guys on every side, then sending another 4 or 5 through and then mowing down about every deer that runs out. And if one would happento slip through, well the guys behind them on the 4 wheelersor in the trucks ( last year one bunch was using kids on dirt bikes) will will run them down or turn them back. No Hunting signs and No Tresspassing signs mean nothing during this week. There are groups here that are known byspecific names that will start in one section, and then run every sections for miles, running through every woodsin their way, posted or not. You will see 5 deer run into a section, then 10 come out, then the next section the become 18 etc. Then the shooting starts. Kill what you can, throw them in the back of the trucks, hit the next section. And it goes on and on and on all day long. I work with a guy whoused to be a part of one of the most well known and notoriousgangs in our area.( I would love to list their full names, but I could proably get in trouble)He finally got appalled by the stuff that he tookpart in and went back to hunting alone. He told alot of us the stuff that these guys do.Keep in mind we have one game warden for the whole county. Theywould get a deer in a posted section, call in a bogus tresspassing report at the other end of the county, then when they heard him resond on the scanner, well, do their thing. All kinds of stuff like that. Take out little kids and use their tags. Actually leave deerlay that they killed because they weren't big enough. This happens alot. My uncle owns a small, about4 acre woods. I am the only one that can hunt it.3years ago a friend who live out near it called meand said that 2 truckoads of guyswent in it and he heard shooting and saw them throw at least three deer in the one truck. I went back there right away and found three places where dead deer hadbeen dragged out. What was worse was that they left a fawn laying behind. And it wasn't because they couldn't find it. There was at least 5 sets of bootprints where they stood around it and a couple of cigarrette butts beside it.
I could go on and on and on. but frankly my bloodpressure is high enough now.
So, let me be the first to add. " I HATE GUN LAW!!!! I don't hate the fact that they are hunting with guns. I have very good friends who hunt bow and gun. As amatter of fact, Monday after work I will be butchering a deer thatone of my best friends shot with a shotgun yesterday, andthis past wed. I butchered a reall nice 9 pt. that my daughters boyfriend shot with his muzzleloader on tues. But you know what. Theyactually sat out in the woods and shot deer that weren't run miles and miles. I was the first one to congratulate them and I am the guy butchering their deer.
But for theoutlaws around here who takepart in the fiasco every year,trust me, you couldn't have a deeper hate for anyone as I do for these guys. They have taken such a great thing and have made a ridicule of it. I can't count the times that Ihave had landowners tell me they would love to let me bowhunt their ground, but because of what they have experienced during gun season, they have shut off hunting completely.
I know a guy that moved here from Indiana a few years back. He loved slug hunting in Indiana and couldn't wait for his first slug season here. I kid you not, by noon on the second day, he said he would never slug hunt here again. He sat in his wifes grandpas woods, which had no hunting signs about every 30 yards on every side of the woods. He had 4 different groups run the woods while he was in it. Then one group came back the following day. He told the one group to get out, and the one guy told him he was awful mouthy when he was outgunned that much, and those signs don't mean s**t to them.Real nice,
Like I said. I can understand the original thought of this thread. I know alot of you guys love to gun hunt. Probably most of you are true sportsmen and do it the right way. Man, gun or bow, I can't stress to you enough that I have no problem with you at all. You kill a world record buck or a small doe, and you do it fair chase, I will be the first one to shake your hand, help drag your deer out and I 'll even butcher it for you. Get you deer the way I talked about earlier, well, I won't say any more.
Like I said before, I have never intended to disrespect, confront or put down anyone here. I know that sometimes things are written by an author one way, and it is taken a whole different way by the reader. That is why my wife hates e-mail and text messaging. I think that is the case here. The guys was trying to say that he worked real hard trying to reach certain goal, and the someone else just too the easy way to that goal. I get it. It happens here every year. These idiots poach bucks that guys have been hunting legally all year. That is very very frustrating as a sportsmen.Do you undertsand what I mean?
My Grandma was a full blooded Blackfeet indian, and she a real cool little plaque about not judging another member of the tribe until you have walked his path in his moccosins. So to me,I guess it is hard for someone to jump all over someone about what he feels due to his situation when you don't undertsnd it. Ican't undertsand the frustration that an die hard elk bowhunter feels during gun season in Colorado because I don't live it. He can't understand why I can hate the stuff that happens during gun season here if he has never seen it.
I can totally undertand what thethread starter was feeling and what he meant by it. Trust me, there are many, many, many bowhunters and guys who hunt the right way with their gun that know exactly what he feels.
Hopefully I made some sense. Like I said before, I am not trying to start a fight. But I know what I see year after year, every year, up here in my little hunting world during the Ohio gun season. And I will never, ever back down to anyone who argues the validity of what Ihave written or supports the stuff that I wrote about ( and honestly I haven't even scratched the surface,trust me).
I will say now, that I love this forum. I havemade some great forum friends here(I found out last year taht Greg E andI are long lost siamese twins who were seperated at birth and put in Predator Fall Brown diapers!!,) have had alot of laughs and have learned alot, and hopefully have also gave somegood insight and lessons myself. I try to be a good guy, a straight shooter, and stand up for my beliefs. I always try to see the other side and accept as much as my consience will alow. But there are just somethings thata man must standhis ground on, and this post brought one of those points to mind. I will not apologize for hating the the crap that I see and hear during the Ohio gun season. Never will, no matternow much anyone hates me for it.
Sorry it was so long, I didn't mean for it to be. I guess that big mug of coffee kicked in. Hope I didn't make any enimies. Not my intention. If you met me, I guarentee you I would treat you with respect, and if you did the same, we would be buddies and I would have you laughing till your sides ached, I am known for that. I won't get caught up in a mud slinging thread, so if you want to try that, don't even bother, Won't work. Ihave stated my opinion on what I have seen firsthand, so you will never be able to sway me on that subject.
Take care guys.