gonewest

I think everyone has made very good points and I agree with most of them. But I have hunted now for 40yrs and to me what changed it the most was advanced technology. Back when I started nobody bowhunted NOBODY. Then came the compound bow. This is the biggest change in hunting by far. Deer hunters used to hunt small game till the gun season then take the week off and shoot the first buck they saw and wait till the last day or so and shoot a doe. Everyone was happy. And there were alot of big bucks shot and like what was mentioned nobody knew how to score a deer. It was how many pts and what was the spread and weight. Now I don't want to sound like I am against bow hunting cause I'm not. But here comes the mid 70's and the compound and everyting changed. My gramma had a farm and we hunted it and so did the neighboors and we hunted theirs. We could go about anywhere after opening day. But as the bows got better everone wanted a stand with baitpile and then came the no tresspass signs and then the attitude well if I can't hunt your I'll post mine. Then everyone wanted and bought a 40-80 acre peice so they had a stand and bait to hunt. Then came all the videos and mag about throphy hunting. Some want to use QDMA and others don't. Its a big mess. But I do feel the seasons are way to long. Back when I started the big bucks had a chance to breed. No they have to get by a youth hunt that kills alot of mature buck in bachelor goups still very easy to pattern and the early bow and the rut during bow. Ask a breeder you need to breed the best to the best. But in a nutshell we all need to get toghether and get along. I go out west when I can because I like the style of hunting and lack of hunters. I throphy hunt where I think they are. I still hunt MI for the hunting camp and stories with relatives and friends but I know the chance of a big one are not good but I still have as much fun as going out west or Canada. The only reason I go west is to hunt more. Where this will end up is a big guess but we have to appreciate the fact we can still hunt!!!!!

J Pike

So let me get this straight?? Because such a high % of hunters choose to enjoy the sport differently than you, you think they are in the wrong and are jeopardizing the future of our sport?
Who are you to say that the way you enjoy the sport isnt whats jeopardizing our sport. Let hunters enjoy our great sport the way they choose and stop critisizing other hunters because they think differently than you. Its narrow minded hunters like you who try to divide us by critisizing other hunters that is going to put the future of our sport in jeopardy. It seems to me that you feel embarassed to harvest what you do (which you shouldnt) and for what ever reason need to justify to other hunters why you harvest what you choose to harvest because other hunters have a different opinion as of what is a trophy in your eye's. Harvest what makes you happy and stay out of other hunters business.
After all this antler worship that you despise so much dates back long before the palaces of the Roman empire and the majestic castles of Europe. Pike

warbirdlover

This is an excellent topic and post!

I agree on the TV shows. What a bunch of garbage. Some "ace" hunter pays some game farm a bunch of money to release the biggest buck he has for the idiot to kill. He dinks around looking at it with binnoculars until he finally decides it's "big" enough and then dinks around and dinks around aiming before he finally takes the safety off. I GUARANTEE you that doing that in a real hunting situation in Wisconsin, he would NEVER kill anything. And I don't know what kind of bullets they use but when I hit a deer in the vitals with a good deer caliber they drop down. The deer on tv run for a 100 yards! I can only assume that the "ace" hunter gut shot it or hit it in the tail.

We have an agreement with the other landowners around our area to not shoot young bucks. We don't expect them to grow into world records but just good bucks and it's working. I've taken two nice (17-18" spread) nine point bucks and the last couple years have let similar ones go waiting for a bigger one but guess what. This year I'm taking a decent one since the real monsters on our land (huge 13 pointer on camera this year) never bother to come by me. (Maybe I smell bad?)....

Bottom line is hunt the way you get satisfaction from it and don't criticize those who do it differently. Some go for the meat, some go for the horns. Some go for both reasons. Nothing wrong with it either.

BetterBirddogs

I find that the longer I bowhunt the more my priorities change in the stand. When I was a younger man (a teenager) I was happy to see a deer let alone kill one. My first buck kill was a 4 point fork horn. My greatest accomplishment in my opinion. As I have gotten older (33 now) I find that my time in the woods is far more precious to me then I ever imagined. I met my fiancee' 4 years ago and she is now a bow hunter. I sold my 14 year old neighbor a spare bow I had and now he is looking forward to hunting the youth season Saturday morning. I'll be up with him and in the stand with him as the sun rises on Saturday morning. That's what hunting has become to me. I have killed some big deer since my first buck and I will let young deer walk right by me all day until I see a deer I'm interested in harvesting. That doesn't mean I've lost focus. It means my standards and my expectations of my own hunting ability have increased. Just like everything else in life we all start at a basement level and work our way towards something. That something is different for everyone. What a trophy animal is can only be determined by the person who harvested that animal. When I get into my stand I pray to the Lord to keep me safe and return me home. I pray in thanks for the opportunity to hunt in His wilderness. I pray for all of the hunters hunting that day, that they may have a successful and SAFE hunt. I don't know any of you but you're all included in my prayer. We're all brothers and sisters in the woods. What I don't pray for is a big buck to walk right by me. In my mind the very fact that I'm in a treestand has already made my morning a success.

Jeff Ovington

Bottom line.. Focus has not changed..
No matter how you hunt, or what you kill or don't ,and how you go about doing it, hunting will make great memories, and enjoyment..
It's not Trophy Hunting that will kill the sport..
It's illegal hunting activity and practices, that will kill the sport and that's how focus gets lost, among both hunters and non hunters..
There is only one to blame, the ones doing it..
To sum it up, Focus on yourself and what you do, if you start thinking about what everyone else does, or doesn't do according to your beliefs,
(not the Law but your beliefs) your focus will be lost, nobody else will lose their focus.. Just you..

Lost_By_Choice

I think it works out pretty good. Some people hold out for the big ones, some don't. Keeps us all from chasing the same group of deer. Neither is right or wrong IMO. Hunting shows, magizines, etc are keeping the sport alive by enticing new hunters, I don't see how that is a bad thing.

MZS

I would agree that the deer hunting equipment industry is exploiting hunters a bit for financial gain. But the plus side of all this is that younger hunters from non-hunting families are being drawn into the sport by fancy technology and the cable hunting shows - face it kids now watch TV a lot and these hunting shows can get them into the sport. Also, the high tech stuff appeals to them. And we need hunters - politicians pay attention to large voting blocks. Also without enough hunters herds will get too large and then the wolf-lovers will start pushing for more wolves to control herds. These new hunters might have a different mindset of maybe the "TV hunter", but as long as they act courteous I am OK with it.

doetrain

For sure SJAdventures! I would rather not hunt than to ever impose upon a young hunter some ridiculous standard as regards what size Buck he or she must take.

BarnesX.308

Two things that annoy me:

1- Guys who walk around in blue jeans, walk up to a bunch of bucks and talk about which animal they should harvest. None of the deer spook.

2- A guy who lets the biggest buck of his life walk by because his camera man doesn't have a good angle.


Both scenarios look like fiction to most hunters.

Bocajnala

I think for the most part as hunters we haven't lost the focus of the sport. Some people choose to only shoot large bucks, others choose to shoot the first legal meat they see. I'm halfway in between personally. Early Bow season it's gotta be an 8 point or better, also does. Come rifle season, if It's legal I'll probably take it because I typically don't have much time to bow hunt late season.
So, for me it's not so much about "Not shooting small bucks and letting them grow" because I have no issue with shooting a small buck. I just wait for an 8 point or larger just because I'd like to shoot a bigger one.
What has become an issue to me is the TV shows and the media and commercialization of hunting. My favorite part of hunting is the family and friends I spend the season with. And very few shows focus on what I find important.
Basically, if it's legal, go for it.
-Jake