I have also heard the controversy of food plots. Many people feel it is just simply shooting and hardly hunting. For a long time, I agreed with this, and still do to some extent. I enjoy being in a deer' s element, not in a nice cleared open spot waiting for one to show up...maybe its the suspense and the fact that I never know where a deer will show up. Without a doubt, when I focus on one spot, a deer shows up at my back.

This summer I actually decided to plant a small food plot...maybe 10 yards by 10 yards? It was by far the hardest work i had done in a long time...100° and 90% humididy...nearly passed out clearing the area (all was done by hand, no tillers or 4 wheelers or anyting). I had no intention of hunting on it...maybe a couple hundred yards away. I actually put it on a part of our land that never has deer, just to see the impact it would have. I guess what I' m getting at is that not all food plots are planted solely to shoot an " easy" deer (I will also be the first to say that no deer is an easy deer). Maybe no one else wonders about things like I do about deer and the different approaches to hunting?

As to the ethics, I am strictly a bowhunter, I dont take my gun out any more. Why? Two reasons:

1. I dont like shooting at a deer that is 150-200 yards away that has no way of knowing if I am there. Where is the sport? (That is an opinion, I dont look down on gun hunters)

2. I dont feel comfortable shooting a gun to be honest. I am not consistent enough, but that is caused by a lack of practice. it is simply easier for me to sit in my back yard and shoot my bow.

So how I feel about ethics? To each his own. We all think differently, and some people dont like the way others hunt. However, we are all in it for the same thing. Seeing how many posts most people make on this board lets me know that there are many others who are as enthralled by the sport as I am. With all of the anti-hunting sentiments out there today, the last thing we need is to be fighting amongst ourselves about whose method of hunting is the most righteous.