I see your point 100% RR. But how about this scenario... What if there's a large piece of property, like the 2,000 acres you hunt, that only has 5 oak trees and they're all together. Would it be wrong of a hunter to have 4 stands in that area and hunt there exclusively when the acorns are dropping? No matter which way the deer come from they'll be within range and there's only one reason the deer are coming to that spot. Granted, it's not a man-made food plot but it's still accomplishing the same thing. Or should the hunter just bypass that area all together because he knows the deer will be there and there's no challenge in it?

Does this sound like an argument that woul be had in our government???? lol:s6:

course, one might well argue that any artificial enhancement to the land or the hunter ain't really hunting.

me, i take my glasses off, wear clothes made of woven grass, walk barefeoot, and try to bash 'em over the head with a rock...

boysda, thats funny. I usually just wear a loin cloth and paint my body with green paint. The rock is my choice of weapon, as well.

So, did we get everything resolved with this topic yet? LOL! There will always be division of opinion when it comes to matters of different hunting preferences.

Try not to take it to heart and be all serious just because another hunter hunts in a way you object to. Just be happy he/she has that right and let them hunt peaceably. For me it's easier said than done, but I do it, but it's hard!

iSnipe

"Artificial" enhancement of the land?? RR, not sure you've been to the midwest lately but NOTHING here is natural. 100% of the land we hunt on is in an "unnatural" state, dictated by the economic whims of modern agriculture. What is the difference between an alfalfa filter strip planted as part of agricultural practices, and the same size alfalfa strip planted for the purposes of being convenient for hunting?

RR, from a hunter's perspective you live a VERY privileged life. Most people dream of hunting a property like you have, but it is a reality for scant few. There is not a single property of that size in my whole county except for the airport. So it is a little irrelevant to use it as an example here. You are in a different world -- you have many bucks whose entire home range is on your property. You can pick where and when you will go after them. Conversely, most of us have bucks who traverse numerous properties and, when they cross the line, they are off-limits. So we must do what we can to maximize our opportunity to take them on the land we have access to -- including trying to create feeding areas on the property to retain them there long enough to MAYBE get a shot.

Is it a competition of sorts? Perhaps, but it's all we have access to. I don't feel too sorry for you that you have to encounter the competition most of us have every time we go afield on just the fringes of your hunting property. I don't feel like less of a hunter because I don't have the convenience of 2000 acres. If anything, I have to be MORE creative to get a chance at a big buck because there are other hunters, on other properties, that are educating him and spooking him. I may do everything right then some other idiot changes the deer's patterns and I never see him again. Rather than just understanding a deer's patterns and getting in the right spot, I may need to CHANGE his patterns or draw him across a property line for a shot.

While I have seen food plots be relatively successful on all types of deer, true baiting doesn't have much success around here. There are simply too many food sources during the season for a single pile of corn to do anything.

MTA: If you're insinuating that "artificial improvements" make it not hunting, perhaps we should do away with Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, and The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation?

I would agree with you that hunting NF lands is harder, I have done so myself backpacking far back into the Bob Marshall Wilderness the past two years with good success on hunts that most people could not even hike far enough in to get to where the tags were valid. However I have seen plenty of people lacking hunting skills doing so regardless of food source, that's really another issue though I do see how you could link the two.

But we aren't all hunting the NF lands of Virginia. Most of us are hunting the relatively developed or agricultural lands around our homes. So the methods and issues are different. I know you (and I) would have no issue with calling a skilled shooter who can make a 800 yd shot a hunter. So that 900 yd hunter sitting in the middle of a square mile, 680 acres, of alfalfa could kill any buck entering that field from any route and direction. They have essentially used shooting skills to eliminate the need for hunting skills, to determine where the deer will enter the field and position themselves close enough for a shot because they can cover the whole thing with their 338 Edge or whatever. Yet if a guy plants 5 acres of alfalfa, scouts the plot and identifies the best trail in for a buck and puts himself in position for a 20-yd kill he's less of a hunter?? That is the inherent disconnect in the logic I'm trying to point out.

As this most recent post of yours seems to elude to, I think what you're getting at is more a discomfort with the overall degradation of real hunting skills more than simply the food plot issue. I will agree with you on the degradation of skills issue, but disagree of the food plot issue and suggest instead that it's a much more complicated issue going back to more factors and it's an over-simplification and unfair stereotype against people planting food plots to say that they're only doing it to make up for a lack of hunting skills.

I don't care how skilled hunting you are, you are welcome to come hunt my 15 acres any time. And I'll bet you a steak dinner you'll never shoot a deer because until I get the property more suitable for them they have no reason to set foot here -- 15 acres of flat, open fescue grass with no food or water. If I'm ever to hunt deer on my land I need to modify it. Nothing to do with hunting skills, I shoot my share of nice bucks....on land that has nice bucks. You can't shoot deer that aren't there and unless you have access to large tracts like you do or NF lands simply changing hunting spots is not an option for most people.

I wheel my chair down to the blind and I sit and watch the deer moving, I watch the squirrels, the birds, the foxes as well. I have put down maybe 2 bags of corn on the ground since spring, I don't make a huge bait pile to hunt over, I have scattered just enough on the ground to allow them to know if they come in the area, there is a good chance of a treat, not a feast, but enough to keep them coming back.
I don't need to worry about how I am going to act in archery season since givin my situation, a bow is not in the cards. I have rifle season to deal with and that's it..I make the best of it...not everyone has the ability to walk and stalk, not everyone for that matter even has the ability to walk, so lets keep that in mind when we make our snide comments about how "we" have been in the rodeo before ....cowboy...:violin::rolleye0011:

Uhhh...people put bait on fish hooks. I just thought I'd throw that into the mix.

They drop around that time in SC too... maybe a little later. But people are allowed to hunt in August there so your point wouldn't apply.