A Mulle Forum Wanted
12-10-2009, 09:30 AM
#41
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 564
your probably typing your posts from horseback on a laptop you whittled from an elks pelvic bone, my apologies
12-10-2009, 10:04 AM
#42
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Southwest Ohio
Posts: 10,277
I am somewhat sympathetic to Muley's comments about what whitetail deer hunting has become compared to what is was like in Illininois back in the day. I have seen similar changes there in the past 35 years. I somewhat agree that SOME people have to have all sorts of gadgetry and do some rather unchallenging whitetail hunting, especially in terms of what we see on hunting shows. But then you also hear about plenty of deer hunts that are pretty challenging. Dunno that sitting in a deer stand for 8 hours in sub-freezing temps, etc. is exactly a walk in the park.
But on the other hand, based on what I have seen on some hunting shows and have heard, it seems like there is no shortage of Mule Deer and elk hunts where all sorts of gadgets are used and/or you have a pro guiding someone into the position to take a 100 yard shot with a scoped .300 mag. But then again you can have people who do things much harder as Muley says.
Its all good....
But on the other hand, based on what I have seen on some hunting shows and have heard, it seems like there is no shortage of Mule Deer and elk hunts where all sorts of gadgets are used and/or you have a pro guiding someone into the position to take a 100 yard shot with a scoped .300 mag. But then again you can have people who do things much harder as Muley says.
Its all good....
12-10-2009, 10:17 AM
#43
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,605
I appreciate this post SS. I have grown increasingly uncomfortable over the years with with the whitetail hunting community. I grew up in farm country of Illinois, hunted whitetails rabbits etc through my childhhood. My dad would put on a pair of Carhartts and a blaze orange vest and walk the edges of the cornfield. He carried an old savage 12 gauge and a few slugs in his pocket. When he got a deer the the neighbors would all come over and laugh and chat around the kill hanging in the tree, and off he would go to the neighbors when they got one. Every once in awhile somebody would shoot a nice buck, and then it was dang near a hoe-down. Stories were told, chili was served and it was a great time. We turned that simple celebration into horn porn, and it is a shame.
Why? I see all the gadgets, gimicks etc and those are all things we never needed. I use scent, it's called the wind, and it's what my dad taught me to use. We have commercialized hunting to the point of no return. Knocking on the neighbors door doesn't get you in the field because the land has been leased for the almighty dollar. The land wouldn't be leased if it were not for hunters near insatiable desire to kill the biggest buck in the woods. The real beauty of a trophy class whitetail is in it's rarity. We have sought to make it common place, and in doing so the beauty is lost.
Now in Montana the leasing scurge has reared it's ugly head. I blame it on eastern whitetail hunting. I have seen the Texas hunting videos and it is enough to make me puke, that ain't hunting. I am also tired of folks saying we all need to stick together, I call BS on this. I'm done sticking up for anything that prostitutes hunting the way we have. I look at the vast amounts of money spent by hunters trying to weigh the odds in their favor, at what point do the gimicks, cameras and crap like that become too much? Forget the antis, hunters are corrupting the sport from the inside out, and it starts with whitetail hunting. No other hunting has been twisted and distorted to the point of perversion like whitetail hunting.
Why? I see all the gadgets, gimicks etc and those are all things we never needed. I use scent, it's called the wind, and it's what my dad taught me to use. We have commercialized hunting to the point of no return. Knocking on the neighbors door doesn't get you in the field because the land has been leased for the almighty dollar. The land wouldn't be leased if it were not for hunters near insatiable desire to kill the biggest buck in the woods. The real beauty of a trophy class whitetail is in it's rarity. We have sought to make it common place, and in doing so the beauty is lost.
Now in Montana the leasing scurge has reared it's ugly head. I blame it on eastern whitetail hunting. I have seen the Texas hunting videos and it is enough to make me puke, that ain't hunting. I am also tired of folks saying we all need to stick together, I call BS on this. I'm done sticking up for anything that prostitutes hunting the way we have. I look at the vast amounts of money spent by hunters trying to weigh the odds in their favor, at what point do the gimicks, cameras and crap like that become too much? Forget the antis, hunters are corrupting the sport from the inside out, and it starts with whitetail hunting. No other hunting has been twisted and distorted to the point of perversion like whitetail hunting.
12-10-2009, 10:35 AM
#44
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Mont County, Pa
Posts: 7,368
12-10-2009, 10:36 AM
#45
Fork Horn
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: central wi
Posts: 245
the reason we have all these methods for big mature whitetail deer....because it is HARD to kill one! we cant just sit in our car and scout deer 2 miles away and shoot them a half mile away with our rifle with a million power scope mounted on it!
go to the big game forum to talk about your mule deer.
ENOUGH SAID
go to the big game forum to talk about your mule deer.
ENOUGH SAID
12-10-2009, 10:36 AM
#46
Fork Horn
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Georgia
Posts: 249
I understand where Muley is coming from especially on the bolded part. I have hunted whitetails for the past 46 years mostly in the northeast. In the past 15 years I have ventured out and done some hunting in the mid west, Canada and for the past 4 years out west. Times have changed for the deer hunter and all the TV productions glorifying horn porn plays a part. I remember stealthycat making a post a few years ago saying practically what Muley said about how hunting is changing and the old times were better. I don't agree with changing this forum away from whitetail. If there was enough interest then the owners could create a separate mule deer forum. The real important part of his post is in bold and should be discussed further.
All in all, I don't think anyone here has anything against mule deer hunting or you, Muley, but next time don't come out and offend those you seek advice from, or whatever it was you wanted. I myself would love to go out west and hunt Mule deer, simply because I love hunting, no matter the animal I just love being out in the woods with a buddy or alone and feeling the adrenaline from fair chase.
12-10-2009, 10:44 AM
#47
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Carbon County Pa.
Posts: 601
Lying in wait, on a game trail, with cameras, scents, grunts, ridiculous scent lock suits, this gizmo and that gizmo sums up whitetail hunting in America today. Throw in the unnatural modification of environment via QDM and AI practices and you have genetically engineered deer minipulated for horn porn. Sorry, not my idea of a challanging hunt.
12-10-2009, 10:57 AM
#48
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: San Antonio, TX
Posts: 246
I understand where Muley is coming from especially on the bolded part. I have hunted whitetails for the past 46 years mostly in the northeast. In the past 15 years I have ventured out and done some hunting in the mid west, Canada and for the past 4 years out west. Times have changed for the deer hunter and all the TV productions glorifying horn porn plays a part. I remember stealthycat making a post a few years ago saying practically what Muley said about how hunting is changing and the old times were better. I don't agree with changing this forum away from whitetail. If there was enough interest then the owners could create a separate mule deer forum. The real important part of his post is in bold and should be discussed further.
I realize how fortunate I am to have land that I can hunt on where I don't have to open the checkbook and jump through all the hoops. I can be old school and while I won't probably get a record book buck, I still have plenty of fun with it.
I came to this realization after a morning hunt with my 8 year old daughter. We hunted and watched a young spike all morning then went home and flipped on TV to watch a few hunting shows. That show, the 'Bucks of Tecomate' that runs on Versus, Saturday mornings. I explained to my kid that hunting isn't like 'that'. She seemed to get it pretty well and has not been deterred by the difference between edited TV 'drama' and real life.
Ironically, I'm a little grouchy today. We have some nice land but it falls under the 'common sense' herd management theory. We own a large construction company and we have opportunities to go on 'canned' hunts with the bank, for example. My brother and dad are going down to south Texas tomorrow for a weekend hunt on a big bank's heavily managed, high fenced ranch.
Would I like to go? Hell yes. I'm not going to apologize for that. We get 2 full months straight of rifle season. If I could go on a 'canned' hunt once a season and take a trophy (heh, we're not THAT good of customers, we get to pick a buck off of menu 'B' or something) heck, I'd do it. Would I give up my other hunting for it? Never. But just for one weekend? yeah. Well, I was odd man out this year and in fact, haven't been on one of those before. /shrug.
But yes...deer hunting has changed alot from those piles of black and white photos from the 50's in my grandma's house. Then again, nostalgia glosses over some things....not everything about the way it used to be done was superior.
For that matter....though White Tail hunting seems to be the most egregiously infested with commercialism, all forms of hunting suffer from it.
12-10-2009, 11:24 AM
#49
Fork Horn
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Upstate, NY
Posts: 150
You must have been sitting on somebody's couch to have 40 extra lbs to lose.
Last edited by StraightArrowNY; 12-10-2009 at 11:43 AM.
12-10-2009, 11:38 AM
#50
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Orange county, NY
Posts: 2,949
I dont think that this thread was originally intended as a discussion about how TV shows have dumbed down whitetail hunting or "horn porn", I hate all that crap too. I think it was a obvious attempt to marginalize whitetail hunting as some lame activity, out of frustration of the fact that whitetail hunting is way more popular in this counrty than mule deer hunting(OPs hunting)is. lets be honest, mule deer hunting is basically spot and stalk, im sure it poses its own challenges and im sure theres plenty to talk about within that particular microcosm, but compared to whiletail hunting, its pretty 1 dementional. For one, the WTs range is many Xs greater than the mule deers and varys greatly, so there gonna be a wide variety of differnt tactics to disscuss from region to region. 2nd, whitetails themselve, vary greatly in size and behavior from region to region, so naturally theres just more to disscuss and way more people to discuss it. no need to turn your nose down at somthing just cause its more popular than what youre into. this is the most active forum on HN can anyone really expect this thread to be taken positivly?