Muley669

It does need to be discussed further. At what point has the gadget aquisition gone to far? At what point does the horn porn negatively effect hunting? I talked about in the big game forum a switch to my open site 30/30 this year. I spent the better part of a day getting into position on an elk herd, even belly crawling to get in close to the herd. They walked all around me and I was right in with them. Never found the legal bull, but it was an awsome hunt. There was a joy in the simplicity of the hunt. I wore woolies and a flannel shirt with an orange vest, and man I felt alive crawling in there. No scope, no camo, no scents, nothing. We have gone too far. If you set up a trail cam and have a big buck go by, then hunt that buck and kill him, you relied on video equipment to harvest that deer. You can candy coat it all you want to but the truth is the truth. It's sickening some of the practices alleged hunters will undertake for the pursuit of a "trophy" buck. It's not just deer either, the "Spider Bull" episode from last year was equally repulsive. If you have money, you too can buy an auction tag and be given special hunting privalages. Lets not worry about the common folks, as that tag money goes toward conservation. Let me say this and hear me out: Most members on this board DO NOT have the financial resources to keep pace with the direction hunting is going.

Muley669

Got your attention though didn't I? If you don't know the intent of this thread, then you don't know me very well. There are a few on here who know my MO, and this thread has gone exactly where it was intended to go.

doetrain

Much food for thought spread like seed in a field in most of these post and responses for sure. But Muley your tone and manner of expressing yourself ruined any chance of your question or desire for another Forum less focused on what we enjoy hunting being taken serious and geting profitable input overall. Passion about what you enjoy is good but mocking anothers different passion is not a good thing. I likewise being new to the sport find all the commercial excesses a bit disapointing but hey this is Capitalism and a free marketplace world in which we in America live in right? Respecting others who differ with us is a lost art but a needful one for us all.

7.62NATO

Isn't that how chicks often times start their conversations? By NOT saying what they intend to say or mean and instead try to manipulate a conversation in a certain direction? You must be a chick. A VERY LARGE chick.

I've actually liked a lot of what you've said later in this thread, you just had a dumbassed way of getting to it.

LKNCHOPPERS

Seriously, who cares what you think, it's your opinion and it is worthless to me. You come in here blasting people for hunting whitetails and tell them your way is more challenging. I hope you don't hunt any whitetails again, maybe someone who is more appreciative will get to harvest the big ones you would have easily taken due to your superior hunting skills.

Take what you see on TV with a grain of salt, most whitetail hunters do not use all that stuff or get to control the land they hunt.

jrbsr

Actually it belongs in the ( Enhancement Request/ Wish List )
Forum, that I am moving it to.

jrbsr

browningbolt

3 months on the mountain most of us on this forum actually have to work for a living.

iSnipe

x2 on that!

iSnipe

Champlain Islander

I believe he was working for a living on most of those 3 months. Getting back to the original point of the thread, Muley said a few things that got everyone talking. All he was asking for was a separate mule deer forum which wouldn't cause much of what has gone on. The fact that he made some statements about the whitetail crowd that could be a bit confrontational created the situation that we have now. Hunting deer out west is certainly different than back east, the south or in the mid west. Hunting is hunting and every region has its own idiosyncrasies. Part of what he was talking about is one of the single most important things that affect the whitetail deer hunter. Loss of hunting opportunities due to the quest for big bucks and the large amount of cash that it takes to get one. Many areas of historically open land now are all tied up with large lease operations. Hunting access used to be by relationship and sealed with a handshake. Now it is with a checkbook. Most here are normal people who work hard and enjoy hunting and haven't had to pay fees and leases to enjoy the pursuit. There is not much leasing here in Vermont due to the fact that the area doesn't produce large racked bucks. Right now it is getting harder to find good quality whitetail habitat for free because of the movement towards leases in areas where the racks grow large. Farmers who historically were ok with people hunting their lands are now aware that they can get thousands of dollars through leases. It spreads like a plague and once it starts it doesn't end. The TV shows are just promoting all of the above along with their advertising which are hawking all the gadgets that seem to work on TV. The reality is the hunting public is being ripped off and most of the crap they are advertising doesn’t work and the sales are focused on people who don’t know any better or are looking for shortcuts to get deer. I can understand the image of a hunter going out with a pair of barn boots, a 30-30 and checked wool coat looking for his buck. Crossing from one fence line to another didn’t matter because people at that time and place just accepted that hunters were their neighbors and were only looking to bag a buck. Those were indeed the good old days.