I could live without the net in my past..no big deal. i m a good hunter cause I did it on my own through trial and error, I shot fingers until 6 years ago and most bowhunters 2day wouldn't know what to do without a release and a 80% letoff on their bow. Learned on recurves...took a couple with trad gear, stepped up to the whitetail II compound(what a bow I thought I had) and then bought a Bear Alaskan II compound. Ordered bows mail order and we all shot 70# and a 30" draw no matter what your real draw length was ah yes, the good ole days. Bows were noisey, 35-50% letoff, and we didn't tune them, or even have such a thing as crackerizing a bow or getting fancy do dads. We just hunted, and you only got one anysex deer tag and no doe tags. Our treestands were homemade and we didn't have safety harnasses. We even had to walk to school and it was uphill both ways. Life was also so simple, that Gramps gave me a pair of coveralls for my birthday each year with the holes cut out of the pockets. He said he bought me something to wear and something to play with. Don't know what he meant. Oh well, I learned on my own with a low pop of deer on primitive equipment and because of that, I know how to get real close to a deer and how to smoke them with ease...and a computer can't teach ya that.

This thread really had nothing to do with you starting to hunt afew years ago and you utilizing this site, but rather the responces I read where others claimed they wish they had it when they started......

I am just saying I have no regrets and have a lot of memories I think back on and laugh. I didn't start hunting to be "successful" at it. I started because I loved to be outside and the idea of one day shooting a "big buck" when i got older with a bow and arrow like the ones that were on the wall at my barber shop.

I loved those mounts there as a kid.

Hey I'm not srguing with you Scott (not at all).....but the timing of the post was uncanny (hence my personalizing it....as you did).

If I didn't set out to be "successful" in bowhunting....I don't think I'd have started. I love flyfishing....and I could do it all day long without catching fish.............................................f or a while.

Full disclosure.....whenI first started out bowhunting....I didn't know WHAT I wanted out of it. I still don't. Honest answer. But "successful" would be right up there in anyhting I set out to endeavor.

And if you don't think I laugh at myself while hunting....ALL you'd had to do was see me, today. I was a MESS! Ground hunting with the longbow.....and I bet I moved 20 times. Most frustrating hunt I've ever been on.

boy you guys gettin hot under the collar or what ? you know you could pick up a phone and argue with each other ?

LOL...I'm not arguing, at all....just giving a point of view.

And I have no problems calling Scott..... We've talked via phone before....and it's probably overdue. I wanna know where the OH bucks are hiding.

Some of the responses were in the thread about you, but this thread was not about you. If I were in your shoes this day in age, I would have done the same thing using the internet. I am just saying I am glad that it was not an option when I was a kid. Not that I would not use it today if I were just starting out.

I didn't run track or play football in school to be successful, I did it because I enjoyed it. I didn't race motocross for 10 years to be successful, I did it because I loved to ride.

If one loves something enough and has the drive and determination they will become successful with out trying to.

No arguing here bud. Just discussing some stuff.....

Me too!

[8D]yeah he was a pretty good "golf dude"

Just to chime in on this subject, I can see both sides of it.

Take your licks and learn the hard way? The good old fashioned way of learning strictly by experience. It really doesn't get much more rewarding than looking back at where you came from and learning it all on your own. Just simply trial and error with nobody but yourself to consult with. During that time .... yeah there will be some shots you'd like to take back. Some stand locations you'll scratch your head about. Overall a lot of things you'll laugh about later. Certainly a lot of value there as far as progressing as a hunter. Things I personally would never take back being a "self taught hunter".

Then there's the other side of it. A wealth of knowledge out there these days. The learning curve can be accelerated by leaps and bounds. If I had access to the stuff out there now when I first started, I wouldn't have done half the stuff I did when I was getting started. But then again ...... I wouldnt' have learned what I learned on my own. That in itself is rewarding. In the end I think it can only be beneficial to gain knowledge by whatever means necessary. Why not? You can become that much of a better hunter in half the time. Are you giving up some of the fun and experience of learning it on your own? Absolutely. That's something hunters starting out will miss out on these days IMO.

THAT is virtuous

Scott, we talked about this before. I've always felt a self taught person in the long run will generally turn out to be the more knowledgable hunter because they viewed and applied everything thru thier own eyes. Having a mentor can make the learning curve shorter, but you end up learning that information with thier bias(good or bad). When I came into my own as a bowhunter and figured out why I hunted and what I wanted to get from it, I had a good bit of conflicting internal issues trying to separate what I learned and wanted to try and what I was taught.

That said I don't find the internet much different that reading a book or magazine except that it is concentrated and real time. It's much faster to learn from here than books because you can interact with others.
I am forever grateful that I had a Dad who taught me what he knew about deer hunting, but a part of me wishes I had been able to take in other views as well while learning. I do feel that as time went on, we both learned many things together and in some cases the student became the teacher.