RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

Are you saying that hunting inside of 10 ft fences around relatively small farms and then paying 15, 000 dollars after the kill for a record book deer raised in a barn...is the same thing as using high tech bows or scopes for your rifles? This is ridiculous. Yea things have changed with time in hunting, but thats how everything is. To say that growing food plots (which help the overall health of the herd) is unfair...is just plain stupid. Wat does the fps on bows matter anyway? 320 fps is nothing to the 2000+ fps bullets that rifles have always shot. So yes, hunting with my laser range finder and fast new compound while wearing camo clothing, IS FAIR. These deer are far more smarter than"giant rabbits with antlers". So stop belittling this animal which is just as smart, if not smarter about humans, than it was back in the good old days of fair chase.
I'm only 15, and even I think you should grow up.

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

I can see where you make some valid points Atlas butI dont think itsalways the case. I hunt 1,100 acres of property, 500 acres this year is soy. You can put all the corn you want out but the deer that roam our area will walk right by a pile of corn to get to the beans, right now at least. Trying to guess where the deer will come out and feed close enough for a bow shot on any given day is like playing the lottery and hunting 600 acres of woods with a 1 mile long creek running through it makes hunting the woods even more challenging. I will almost always see deer come out to feed in soy but guessing which part of a mile long section of woods any particular night is not easy, its more of a guessing game, even with does. I can see one particular buck come out and feed at the same trail 3 nights in a row, then the next night hes comes out 3/4 of a mile away. I know in some cases you may have a point though but not here.

When the field is planted with corn I cant even see any deer, the little boogers stay in there to bed, eat, take rufuge etc ... early season hunting is tough, very tough with standing corn up where I hunt at least. The only fair chasepaterning I can do is get in a stand in the woods and hope something comes close enough for bow range, or, come out of the woods close enough for me to get a shot at the stand I chose for that day. My best guess is 90% luck, 5% paterning/scouting and 5% skill for me. No corn or any type of baiting helps me except in Dec/Jan, maybe.

And after the first early season blackpowder gun shot, unless its the rut, you wont see deer moving much in daylight. Here is my proof,before opening day of blackpowder I was getting about a 50/50 mix of pictures during the daylight and after dark. After early season opening day I was getting 600 pictures at a timeALL after sunset. I think its fair chase where I hunt.

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

Atlas, do these guys look like they may be interested in a nice bowl of cracked corn, or a mineral lick perhaps?? Do you think you could pick the exact trail they will come out tomorrow night on my 1 mile long stretch of field/woods, close enough for a shot at one you are willing to harvest, maybe, maybe not. Is planting soy or corn making itnot "fair chase" for bow hunting for me?

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

Same with feeders. Just because a feeder goes off doesnt mean the deer come to it. I've sat over a feeder all day and seen bupkis, but the next morning the corn is gone from under that feeder. The bigger mature deer are rarely if ever seen at the feeders. Near them yes, because we put the feeders in the areas known to have deer.

hey turtleshell, pass the bucket, bro, share the wealth! :D

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

I'm considering getting a helicopter and a self-aiming gyroscopic laser sightto pick them off from slightly higher ground! The onlypart that is difficult for me to swallow is that currently I figure venison costs me roughly $60/lb once you figure it all in but with a helicopter I'm going to have shoot several thousand deer to get to that cost per lb.

I figure if I can afford to get this idea off the ground (no pun intended) that it should be considered fair chase! lol.

Good Post Atlasman.

Tom

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

F.R.A.T.

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

I use just about every advanced trick in the modern day hunting book and I still don't have a wall full of monster bucks, or any bucks for that matter, as you would like to make people think. You're definitely painting with a rather wide brush there, Atlas.

I plant food plots, I use scouting cameras, I own and us a rangefinder, I shoot a fast bow, I have silent clothes, I watch the wind and try to control my scent, and I still have a hard time killing mature deer. Just because you do all of the above mentioned things doesn't mean its easy to consistantly shoot mature animals. There are a lot more people who can't do it than can.

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

I agree with you Atlas but this debate is a moot point because everybodies definition of "fair chase" is probably a little different. The responses to this post is proof of this.

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

Mine are only 1200 grams but they are water proof.

I like to know the yardage so I don't wound my game and I tend to get turned around in the bush when its dark oh ya did I mention I have bad eyes so I like to be able to see farther distances with my binos.

RE: I think it's time to stop the "fair chase" charade
 

My first thought was that this guy was an anti who had no realistic understanding of the challenge of deer hunting. Now that I think about it, he's just a bored hunting with nothing to do except stirr the pot. He doesn't have time to shoot his bow or plant his food plot or run to the lease to check his cameras I guess.

Outsmarting a wise old buck is difficult at best, no matter what tool you choose to 'help' you. When it boils down to the cold hard facts, it's just a one-on-one challenge, your setup against the senses of that big buck.

What percentage of hunters can honestly say that any of the methods mentioned(except baiting and high fence)have actually helped them outsmart the big bucks? Consistently?

I'm betting there are few!!!