I'm sitting here wondering, if it's so darned easy to shoot big bucks if you're using feeders or food plots, why I didn't get one this year... I go "hunting" as the guest of a friend who is on a lease in the Hill Country of Texas, north of San Antonio. The only permitted method of hunting on the lease is from blinds w/ feeders. There are generally too many people there to allow for spot and stalk type hunting, as wandering around the woods would mess up others' hunts. I spent four weekends up there this year. But, didn't see a buck big enough/old enough to shoot. Let a number of nice bucks walk, as they didn't meet the lease's management strategy.

I did shoot a doe (a nice old fat one that weighed 120 lbs - where the average taken is only about 100) and a nice little wild pig ( he weighed about 35 lbs - perfect for the bbq grill). So, it appears that the new Remmy 7mm-08 works pretty well.

And, frankly, I don't give a rat's rear if some folks don't consider that to be "hunting" (I suspect those folks would have a tough argument with the Game Warden if they tried to do it without a license ).

I enjoy getting away, the peace, tranquility, solitude. Time to sit in the blind and clear your mind. Spending quality time with my son on his weekend as a guest. Listening to the birds drowning out the constant hum of my tinnitus... A chance to unwind. Seeing a billion stars in the night sky rather than the ten or twelve that you can see on a clear night in Houston. Sitting around the campfire after the evening hunt swapping lies about the big one you let walk. Food with crap in it you'd never think of eating at home, that tastes like manna from heaven at deer camp. I thoroughly enjoy every minute of my time out of the city. If a big buck happens to wander past my stand, well, that's just a bonus. If anybody wants to define that as something other than "hunting", well, then it's likely that you're the elitist snob hunter, and I'd contend you're the problem with hunting. Not me.

There are guys here that hunt with dogs. It's something I'd never consider doing, and many would consider that to be "not hunting," but, if it's legal, I'm not going to argue that folks shouldn't be allowed to do it, so long as they keep their dogs on property where they've got a right to hunt. Some folks here shoot deer at extremely long range, to the dismay of some folks here who consider such long shots unethical and "not hunting." But, it's legal, so I am not going to argue against it if the person doing the shooting has the skill set required to do it.

I just don't see how any individual here can take upon themselves the role of Great and Exalted Emperor of all Hunters and gets to say "I don't like that, so it's not hunting." State game authorities define it. Within those parameters, the individuals hunting a particular area have to further refine the definition in order to provide for safe hunting opportunities for the people on that tract. If you don't like the fact that I "hunt" over a feeder, well... Get over yourself.