I only hunt in the wild , I'll never patronize a game farm . I shoot a recurve , a 3 shot 20 gage , and muzzleloader , it doesn't get more sporting than that and I've been skunked more often than not to prove it . Baiting is illegal here , so I don't do that . No such thing as fair chase ? Pfffftttttt !!

Atlas I know, but thx for proving my point, hey I only got two common I deserve more!!!

No you have not questioned anybody hunting method. You will also read where I do agree with you.Please anyone knows what you intend to write and what others get can be two different things. God knows I do not wantget in your mine. Two strong viewpoints those who agree with you, and those who think you are just being atlas.

When I readyour post this is what I read

The only hunting method that matters in mine, listen to me, I know.
I know it states something different, but whenI read it this what I get.
You are kinda of a poet, people are enlighten by your threads.

I am glad you hunt deer, I hope you shoot a big one

I can't believe this thread has gone for 13 pages.....

Bigg'uns are too tough, right Atlas?
Atlas was the one who enlightened me to the dining pleasure that venison
can bring. Until I conversed with him, I wouldn't even eat the stuff.
I still think it's easier to throw a beef steak on the grill and be done with it, but venison can be tasty if you put in the effort. I like it.

Even worse!!! Those are deer that few.......if anyone would ever even know exist in that area without those things. That is becoming an ever increasing topic of off season chatter around gun clubs and hunting camps (at least around here)......."Man, I got some pics of a great buck over by blah blah blah. So when bow season comes it gets hunted like a gauntlet and if he survives the drives during gun season will be relentless. Maybe the guy who took the pics gets him.........maybe he doesn't. The point is that word gets out and the wild eyed possy now has spots x'd all over their maps as to where these bucks might be.

The night was the only refuge that a deer had left............now even that is gone.

Still sound like "fair chase" is the right term??


[quote}Second point if we have such a great advantage why is the success rate 30%(on average) for bowhunters? Looks like the deer win most of the time.[/quote]

Useless stat.........unless you have more data.

Just wait Atlas is not even fired up yet

DATA

Now I took a guess, but I was pretty close.

Surveys during 1998-2001 mailed to 50,000 Wisconsin

gun hunters found that use of bait had little effect on success in

harvesting bucks or antlerless deer (Table 1). Twenty-nine

percent of hunters using bait harvested a buck compared to

26% of hunters who did not use bait. Antlerless harvest

success was the same for hunters using bait (33%) as for

hunters who did not use bait (33%). In contrast, bait usage

appeared to effect success of Wisconsin bow hunters. Of the

more than 4,700 bow hunters who responded to the 2001 bow

hunter survey, 45% of bait users reported killing at least 1 deer

compared to 31% of hunters who did not use bait.

Thats gonna be one salty beer!

More data, Diesel is shooting all the deer in Maryland

In the 2002-03 hunting season, the total archery harvest across North America for whitetails, blacktails, and mule deer was 799,109. Collectively, bowhunters had an average success rate of 23 percent! Maryland bowhunters led the pack this year with an incredible 61-percent success! Florida (55 percent) and Kansas (54 percent) weren't far behind. These figures are simply astonishing when you consider that some state's firearms success rates still don't compete with these figures. Georgia bowhunters took the most deer with an estimated 80,000 whitetails. Pennsylvania bowhunters came in second with 74,051 deer.


Guys what we have to remember is we are the top hunters. It is why we come to site like HNI to learn more and get better, so we all tend to get deer every year. How many guys have a friend who never gets a deer?

more data, how much more do you want

The guess here is that thousands of Michigan hunters will do just that again this fall as the leaves change color, the air grows crisp, the smell of apple cider fills the air, and pigskins fly between the Wolverines and the Buckeyes.
2004 harvest: Approximately 450,000.
Bow harvest: Approximately 125,000.
Muzzleloader harvest: Approximately 43,000.
Firearm harvest: Approximately 265,000.
Special seasons: Approximately 17,000.
Number of licensed deer hunters: 756,000.
Deer hunter success rates: 43 percent.
Number of bowhunters: 318,000.
Bowhunter success rates: 31 percent.
Number of muzzleloader hunters: 208,000.
Muzzleloader success rates: 19 percent.
Number of firearm hunters: 653,000.
Firearm success rates: 33 percent.