Originally Posted by SouthernStrut56

Sorry, but when I see "I hunt over corn" and "Aint that what hunting is" together in a post, I have to speak up to defend my views of what hunting really is.

No, what you said is not what hunting is about at all. Come down to Alabama and LEGALLY hunt a tract of private land surrounded by hunting clubs who feed corn year round and poach and see if you can take 120"-140" bucks every season like we do. That's hunting. Just because you're sitting in the woods playing angry birds on your phone while you wait for a deer to come to some corn doesn't mean you're "in" nature or a so called woodsman. People who hunt over corn and feel like they've done something when they kill a deer lack the skill, patience, humility, respect, experience, and woodsmanship it takes to even come close to what I believe a true hunter is. When you put the time and efforts into preparing the land year after year, and actually follow a deer trail or find a pile of crap and actually do some scouting, then come post something on here about what hunting is. When you really connect with the land you hunt and respect everything in it, your conscious won't allow you to sit over a pile of corn and feel like you've done something when you kill a "trophy", no matter how many deer the neighbors kill over their corn piles. I may catch some flak from a few guys here when I say this, but in my opinion if you don't have the time to pay your dues by doing some simple scouting and instead choose to sit over a corn pile and shoot deer like fish in a barrel, you don't deserve to kill a single deer. I'm a die hard turkey hunter and when I had a lot of time on my hands in school, I legally called in and killed at least 3 turkeys every year while the county poacher bagged 40+ birds year in and year out with his 17 hmr. Last year I got to go maybe 7 times and didn't kill a single bird. Towards the end of the season I could have cowered down and tossed out some bait for em, but I kept on hunting like I was taught to do no matter what happened. Sometimes you get em, sometimes you don't. You enjoy every single minute of what the outdoors has to offer on any given day. You start scouting months in advance to try and choose the best location to give you the best legal shot at a deer. You invite friends and family to come along and enjoy it with you, and guess what, if they kill a trophy buck, you actually feel as good or better than if you had killed it. You sit on the tailgate with a buddy and eat oatmeal cream pies and beanie weenie and swap past hunting stories you'll never forget. Sit around a camp fire and have a beer (or six) while planning the morning hunt and listening to the coyotes act up across the river. You lay in a sleeping bag and think about the very first deer you killed with your dad or granddad's old rifle and how big of a smile they had on their face when you held that deer up proudly. You wake up and give it all you got and hope that stand location is in the exact location to stop the old bruiser in his tracks. If you fail, you've learned something and you start putting together a new plan for next time. Sometimes you get em, sometimes you don't. That's what hunting is all about to me.