Nomercy448

It wasn't so many years ago that MOST cars didn't have air conditioning, power windows and locks, or even power steering and brakes. Obviously, people could still drive those cars, but it SURE IS NICE to have all that be standard these days.

There was a time when a scope on a hunting rifle was seen as a luxury, not a necessity... There's another thread on this forum tonight about "distance judgement" asking about laser rangefinders, and the resounding opinion of the respondants seems to be that you can't hunt without one!!!

My point is that the things that used to be luxury, like scopes, rangefinders, trail cameras, or even baiting, have become much more widely available, and have started to become "necessity" in many guys opinions.

Personally, I'm a bit of a minimalist. As long as I have my rifle, a good bullet, a decent scope, and some warm clothes, I'm happy to go scout out where I think the best deer will be, and sit in a stand to wait for them. I'll admit, yes, it sure is nice to have some "insurance" that they'll be coming by, such as a feeder, or a salt lick, or having trail cam pics that show the deer are actually there when the sun is up (instead of at night), but like you mentioned, all of that isn't NECESSARY to ensure a successful hunt.

The biggest difference, in my opinion, is in HOW you use your baits, lures, etc. If you simply go out in the woods, throw up a feeder and a stand, with a trail cam looking over it, then you look at the pictures, and go out at the opportune time for the deer to come onto the bait, that's not hunting. All you're doing is luring the deer out of their NORMAL behavior, into a trap.

HOWEVER, if you do the legwork, and discover where the deer are travelling, and identify sign that a big buck is frequenting your area, I don't see anything wrong with do a bit extra to ensure that he sticks around. The difference, in my opinion, is that THIS method is enforcing their natural behaviors and habits, whereas the lazy method of "bringing the deer to you" is more like forcing an un-natural habit onto the deer.

This isn't the 1880's, we don't have open hunting seasons anymore, so if we're going to take our deer, we need to know he's going to be where we expect him to be during the few weeks a year that we can actually do something about it. If I scout an area and find a ton of sign, but never see any deer while scouting, I'll hang a trail cam. Then if the trail cam pics are all showing the deer are moving at 2am, then yes, I'm willing to put up a feeder that drops at 7:30am to entice him to venture out during the day, instead of being nocturnal.

Frankly, I don't see much difference in a hunter hanging a feeder and a farmer leaving a few rows of corn standing for the deer to come feed on. If the feed is there, the deer will come, whether it's a feeder or a food plot.

The biggest problem I have with hunting ranches, and wildlife management farms, is the lack of natural fear in the animals. Most of these hunting ranches are pretty "high touch" when it comes to their herd, so the deer are much less afraid of humans than a true "wild" deer. These deer are less exposed to natural predation, and are typically in much closer contact with humans than wild deer, and with every passing generation, this natural fear and instinct gets essentially washed out of the animals. My brother in law went on a hunt in TX as a company retreat where they literally drove a Mule along a worn path up to a deer stand, in broad daylight, as deer were feeding under a feeder less than 100yrds away, and the deer never spooked. They climbed up into he stand, and the guide told him to go ahead and "shoot the big one on the left". He said there were half a dozen 140-170 class bucks under the feeder, in the middle of what should have been their natural rutting season. Those bucks should have been tearing eachother apart, but instead, they were bred and trained out of their natural behavior. THIS is the problem with the hunting industry. Hanging feeders is one thing, but training deer away from their natural behavior is where I draw the line.

Ultimately, yes, a hunter should be able to hunt with the bare necessities, in case the luxuries aren't available, but no, I don't fault anyone for taking advantage of luxuries if they're available, so long as he's still hunting REAL deer...

Bukmastr

I have been involved with a couple hunting TV shows and agree with the O/P It has gotten out of hand. The "hunting" that goes on with TV shows is not reality for 95% of the viewers, and really, who wants to watch a 30 minute comercial for every product that sponsors the show... We just created a new online webshow that takes a different perspective.
No product endorsments during the show,
Only public and private land hunts / no guides / no outfitters
Hunts that actually teach tactic and go in depth as to why the hunter was positiond where he was.
We go over maps about our access, where the deer beds, and talk about the game plan... We also show the tracking and don't try to lie about bad hits... The show is free, and plays online.
Check it out and let me know what you think. There is a link you can click undernieth to leave a comment about the show.

WWW.EXTREMEWHITETAILTACTICS.COM

dpv

I hunt with a crossbow. I destroyed my shoulder in the Army in the late 90's and had it completely rebuilt in 99. I had not been in the woods in a couple years when I found out I could get a doctor's note and use a crossbow. I was jazzed. Years before that I used a second hand PSE laser magnum compound bow. I was nearly as accurate with that as I am with the crossbow. I had more range by a darn sight with a bow than a crossbow. The arrows are shorter and therefore drop like a frickin stone. I also bought the cheapest crossbow I could find. A horton Steel force. I've taken about 5 deer with it ...maybe 6. My largest Buck was taken with it last year...but the does are tastey and I would be just as happy with them. I have to get closer than when I used a compound Bow.
I also hunt with Muzzle Loader (last year was the first time), rifle and shotgun. When I first started using the crossbow, a conventional bow was out of the question. The shoulder just wasn't stable enough to pull it back. The new bows on the market are super nice and I could probably learn to use one of those...but they are also super expensive so I'll stick with my crossbow.
Bait isn't legal in my state, but if it was I'd probably put it out in some of the places I hunt. This year we have an urban archery season in my county that adds 1 month on the front and 2 to the rear of deer season (does Only). if we are so desperate to have the does eliminated it seems baiting would be the way to go. I don't make the rules.
I have never run dogs, but they are legal in my state and are used often on the public land I rifle hunt. I've used that fact to take deer by setting up where I think they will try to escape the dogs. Some times I've been lucky and sometimes not.
I also use a shotgun with buckshot sometimes. I've taken crap on here from meat heads who think buckshot isn't fit for deer hunting. In many counties it is the ONLY firearm you can use. I'd hunt with a ball-peen hammer if that's all I could get my hands on.
Hunting isn't the same to everyone. I love getting out in the woods and learning the terrain. But I don't 'care if others don't. I've never had the pleasure of hunting over a food plot or in a corn or bean field. I hunt mostly public land with some bowhunting on my own land in a rural neighborhood. In it's pure essence hunting is killing an animal. It didn't start as a sport, it started out of hunger. And early hunters did everything they could to increase their chances. They hunted water sources and any other way they knew to kill an animal so they could eat. The bragging came later. I'm hoping to kill several deer this year. I am gonna try to cull 3 does from my area. 2 immature and one large one. All go in the freezer. Any decent bucks that I see (body size) and am allowed to shoot I will also try to take. I am not trying to grow monster trophy deer, I am just trying to thin them some....there are too many here competing for food and area. They are not getting very big. There was a 2nd year doe staring at my wife and I as we stood outside talking this evening. She couldn't have weighed much more than 70 lbs. Once hunting season starts( in 2 weeks) she will be skittish as can be so I have to make my mind up now if I want to try to cull her. I'm not too crazy about shooting a doe this early because they haven't fattened much yet.
So for me, this is what hunting is. Slipping outside a few times a week for an hour or two of morning hunting and maybe getting home from work in time to hunt at night a couple times. One legal day to hunt on the weekends during rifle season.
Hunting is killing an animal. You have to make up your mind on the ethics so long as you are working within the laws of your state.

SJAdventures

Look at it realistically. If a hunting show showed the hunter sitting in his stand the actual amount of time it takes most of us to finally kill a deer would you watch it? Would you honestly watch hour after hour of them just sitting in a stand not killing a deer or maybe even days of not seeing a deer or killing 4 pointers? It is all about the money no doubt, they are trying to raise their families on the profession they have chose for their life. I can't argue that it gets tiring to hear them state "boy that blah blah broad head sure did a number on him out of my blah blah bow shooting blah blah arrows through my blah blah rest and he was dead down wind so my blah blah scent eliminator sure did the trick". And I absolutely despise the music, whoever came up with that idea is an idiot. But no one is going to watch a show week after week if all they show is countless hours of sitting in a stand not killing anything which is what hunting normally truly is.

Alltlk4

I think that hunting shows have done a lot for the popularity of hunting, however done little for the good of the sport, if that makes sense.

dpv

I want to add one more thing.
Lots of people talk about the sport of hunting. I have no problem with someone else looking at it that way, but I don't think of hunting as a sport. It's challenging and can be quite exhausting but (to me) it's not a sport. Its Hunting.

There are victorious moments that non hunters will never understand. There is a wild mix of joy, adrenaline and the sobering reality of a life ending.

1928you

tell u what, give the kid a gun, and 1 bullet, throw his ass outside and tell him if hes hungry enough, he'll figure it out, trust me, he'll come home with a deer, and you will never have to explain it to him again (:

nodog

Was shooting the breeze with another hunter at a party and the subject of baiting came up, I'd hunted hogs that came into a feeder. That's when his wife chummed in and said that wasn't hunting and pretty adamant about it till I said we all hunt over bait, we all if we do things right hunt the source of what the deer wants be it food or sleep or sex. She was backed up a bit and then said, but putting it there was the difference. Her husband and I both said, not much difference if it's us or a farmers corn/beans.

I cut down trees in my woods so it will grow thick for bedding and trails for traveling and I know where the does are, it's all surrounded by crops planted. Just being honest, I use those things as bait and don't see much difference in putting a pile of corn out or hunting a food source except the one I put out doesn't work as well.

As far as tv broadcasting, turned it off years ago and have never missed it. Pretty much raised all my 5 kids without it. We still watch tapes/dvd's but I stopped paying to be insulted. If you want it to change do the same. Do yourself a favor and watch a few episodes of "The Rifle Man" or "Rawhide" recorded without any crap advertising and you'll see just how far down the sewer tv broadcasting has, I'd say falling but that would imply an accident, this was deliberate. Turn it off and stop paying for it.

srwshooter

i watched a hunting show last week,ray scott was on it and was bragging about how effective his whitetail food plots have been . he also said ,just look at the record book ,the amount of record deer entered in the book have increased every year sense we started sellin this stuff. to me,that means that his product is putting deer in the record book that should not be allowed in. they are no where near natural grown deer. this crap is ruining hunting,the record book are all screwed up with forced grown animals. these days most people don't know what hunting really is. they just go shoot a animal that they have fed all its life,farm animals. just as well raise and hunt cattle.

Baobab Game Ranch

We do watch these hunt shows every now and again, even here in Namibia. It is so very different to the way we hunt. Most of our hunting is done by walk and stalk and we tke gret pride following the the track of especially an Eland to the end. That is we try and track him down and then harvest him. By the track you can make out if it is an old mature animal. Or we sight by vehicle and the walk and stalk the animal. We harvest only mature animals. Some times we sit in a blind and wait to select a special animal. But with the area being nearly 6 thousand hectres it is a special type of hunt.
For more info please mail us! We have great photos on the web page:www.baobab.com.na