RE: Give me a break
 

That was indeed an awesome article!

RE: Give me a break
 

I would agree on the Nugent and Eastman comments. While Ted is a bit wacky somtimes he is most often about the meat and if he gets a big one.....Well thats just a King size backstrap on the BBQ.Eastman gets my vote!!!
But let's not turn this into a "Hunter vs Hunter" thing.... Somehow I knew that would come up????Let me just say that 25% are hunters 25% are antis and 50% are indifferent I could careless about what the "Anti's" think and as for the 50% well.... I believe that they would be more in favor of a person that goes out and earns his game meat over a guy that buys his way onto a ranch ,"Hunts" over a pre determined food plot, has all of the work done for him, stays at "Caesar's Palace" and calls that hunting .....It's not!! and except for special circumstances it is LAZY. That's not to say that hunting private property is in anyway wrong or bad!!!!! I also pre cursered the EVOLUTION OF HUNTING argument. Using binoculars is a far cry from planting a food plot that has only two purposes ......Attract and grow deer !! Where is the skill in that????? There is a BIG difference in managing herd numbers and specifically growing deer so that one can "harvest" a "BIG ONE" It's their land and a man should be able to do what he want's. You don't have to live out west to actually HUNT and i'm sure that there are people who use plots that actually,positivly hunt their butts off!!!!!!!! My argument is about these guys / gals that we watch or read about that put in absolutely no time scouting,mapping or preparing for one of their "Hunts" then it's ho hum I got one but he's only a "130 class"and they try to sell us on the fact that , that's the way it should be. That's HUNTING.............. We're supposed to admire these hunting legends???????
What a tough hunt
Sorry I'm ramblin' ( Gotta see the Doc about that)
Bill

RE: Give me a break
 

I agree about it being crap that they focus on the score so much, a trophy deer should be left as a opinion of the hunter and not commercialized through politics and advertising by a score of inches. Most shows are that way because success on large game sells better even if on a huge ranch than what the average joe does or how and where the average joe hunts. In michigan the politics regarding antler size is taking the fun out of hunting for many, myself included, and this is brought on by the promotion of scores and trophies, i dont personally believe in killing any buck but why take away somebodies glory by saying things(or having to hear these comments - in my case) that degrades a "nice" buck or somebodies biggest buck like - you should have let him go another year, or why did you shoot that thing it sure had potential? I just think some of these shows are taking away from the real reasons to be in the woods.

RE: Give me a break
 

Yes I agree, I was watching a show yesterday where the men were wearing pressed long sleeve shirts, and dress pants. They walked around talking with a tri pod attached to their guns. They would spot some sort of exotic deer and look at it through the sites and say, "Nahhh, not big enough". They spent days just walking around looking for the right one, it reminded me of shopping at a super market. "Ahh I really don't like this cut of meat as much as that one". Finally they found a "trophy", one of the men set up his rifle on his tri-pod, taking all the time in the world, and finally squeezed the trigger... he missed! They followed the same animal for a while (obviously not fazed in the slightest!) and once again set up for the shot, finally he brought down the deer.

Summary: It made me want to puke!! That is not hunting! That is shopping.

RE: Give me a break
 

I agree 100% The one show that I used to quite enjoy was "Bushnell's secrets of the hunt" This show appeared to me to be fair chase hunts. I belive the host was Dave Watson, and he seemed to me anyways to actually be hunting. The one episode that stands out in my mind was when he crawled through a creek bed and came up quickly from behind a downed log and put a 12 gauge slug into a huge boar. That was a great shot on camara that made me respect that man. Unfortunatly, I no longer get that show. None of the other ones interest me in the least.

RE: Give me a break
 

I know all to well what you guys are saying.I watched a show one day taken in texas and a guy was in his ground blind with his friend or guide,anyways there were like 20 bucks feeding in this field at once,all ranging from small spikes to big 8's and very large 10's.Any deer anyone would shoot and be proud of.Well anyways low and behold 3 more come into the field,and wouldent you know it,3 more bucks and there monsters.Anyways the guy takes the largest one.
JUst looked to me like it was a dream,i mean comeon,20-25 bucks in the field all at one time.Makes me wonder if there hiding something from us viewers.
Unfortuately they no longer show these hunting shows on my t.v any more,took them off tnn because real men dont watch these shows---lol

RE: Give me a break
 

I agree with you about the resort ranches and the "buying" of your deer. Most of the time they already know exactly which deer they will shoot. I have even heard of the guide shooting it for them!

But please do not include the Lord Fontleroy type who pays for everything to be done for him with the private individual that plants food plots for his own use.

Seven buddies and I are on a 1300 acre piece of property leased from a cattle rancher. No agricultural fields. Just pasture land and woods. We have been planting food plots for the last few years to augment the sparse browse that is available. There are plenty of acorns in the fall, but little the rest of the year. We are not talking multi acre plots with farm tractors, these are 1/4 to 1/2 acre and are tilled and planted with garden type equipment. We start planting in early spring and plant again in summer and fall.

You talk about getting together with your buddies and planning your hunt. Our season starts at the end of last season. We are scouting and observing all year. For a food plot to be productive it requires constant care. We are planning and preparing for our hunt 9 months in advance.

What this has gotten us is more deer, healthier does, and better quality bucks. Everyone is also more in tune with management and being selective in our harvest. Most importantly though is I have learned more about whitetail behavior in the last few years than in 15 prior years because I see how the different seasons affect them.

Believe me, building and tending a good food plot is anything but laziness. It is year round work.

Another note. We do not hunt directly over our food plots. We want them to EAT in our plots not die there.

RE: Give me a break
 

Good points all around. I noticed that alot of the footage is staged or spliced in. You ever noticed when they are tracking a deer and the cameraman is beyond the deer filming them coming to it. Then they acted surprised to find it. What a joke. Plus the camera showing a hunter pulling up on a gobbler when he is in full view and the cameraman is between the hunter and the gobbler. Then you see the next camera angle where he shoots and the cameraman is behind the hunter. Either they have two cameramen or those segments are spliced in. You are right about them not appreciating what they have and the emphasis on trophy deer. I do like some of them though and especially the "Best of the west" on the Men's Channel.

RE: Give me a break
 

i don't know if this was said already but many of these ranches that these guys are hunting are fenced in areas. i watched a show last night where the owner had 4 different "hunting areas" acutally it was just four different areas where they fenced in different animals.

then the next show on the guy passes up a huge 12 point because his guide told him there was a bigger 13 point in the area. !!!!!!! i turned the show off right there.

however their are some great hunting shows out there that i enjoy. where the guys are really "hunting" and are glad no matter how big there animal is

RE: Give me a break
 

Its not a "dream", this is how it is for me just about every time I go out hunting. Seeing 15 bucks in a day is not uncommon. Most of the time I will see atleast 10 different bucks from the time I leave the ranch headquarters until I get to my stand. Just because the deer numbers are high around here, dosent mean that if you shoot one your less of a hunter.


Why would you want to shoot a buck if you knew there was a bigger one in the same area? Especially if you still had several more days left to hunt.



I admit hunting some of the high fenced areas is wrong. But there is a big difference between a 50 acre high fenced lot in a eastern state and a multi-thousand acre high fenced ranch. On the bigger places, the fence never comes into play while the hunter is hunting.


And what is wrong with that??? This is what happens when you hunt on private land that is taken care off and not over hunted.