dpv

I love hunting. But there are some hunters who really chaf my butt. I Used to Bowhunt but I hurt my shoulder and now I use a crossbow. I' ve heard hunters who say I shouldn' t hunt during Bow season.....but rthey don' t offer up a portion of the season for Crossbow hunters...they just tell me to hunt during rifle season. I have hunted 8 seasons now. I' ve killed two doe in the last two years. Some hunters say They' d never take a doe. They' d wait for nice 8 or 10 pointer that scored some ridiculous amount on the earl and shockter scale. I' ve seen two nice mature bucks in the time I' ve been hunting. I hunt during General firearms season. Many of the Bow hunters I know of think that rifle an shotgun hunters are clumsy oafs. They consider us less than sportsmen. I use a 30--06 during rifle season. I' ve been told it' s too much gun for a deer. and I' ve been told it' s a wimpy caliber. I like hunting from a stand. I hear people tell me that I should be stallking the deer.....or using dogs. It goes on and on and on and the thing that bothers me the most is I' m just as bad as the rest of them. I hate dog hunters. I spend lots of time scouting and planning for deer season. Then I get to my spot and about two or three hours after sunrise I see a couple of dogs roaming around. the people who own therse dogs just dumped them out along country roads in hopes that they would kep the deer moving all day long. It destroys my hunt and ruins my day. My time off is hard to come by. Last week, I moved my stand about a half mile away from the first spot I saw the dogs. At just about dark, I saw movement coming from a thicket. I got ready to shoot. Then I saw that it was a beagle. I like dogs but I was tempted to shoot it. I wasn' t mad at the dog. I was mad at it' s owner. I' m exactly the hunter I hate. I' m an arrogant jerk who thinks his way of hunting is better than other hunters. Maybe I should start collecting stamps.

David

txhunter58

Well, that was a mouthful! I bet you are glad you got that off your chest. I sometimes feel the same way, however, " life is like a box of chocolates, you don' t know what you are going to get." First of all, there are lots of guys out there who shoot does, including me. I make no apologies to anyone about what I shoot, how I shoot it, or with what caliber. I use what works for me, what makes me happy about my hunting experience, what challanges me, and the rest of the world can like it or lump it.

As far as becoming what you hate, I would have to plead guilty to that sometimes myself. Just try to realize it when it happens and decide not to that time.

And remember, " you never know what you are going to get" : Those dogs may the very thing that runs that big buck by you someday.

kevin1

DPV ,
if your state allows you to hunt with a crossbow then do it . My state allows them for all to use during our Late Archery season , but you can only take does . So what ? I' ll take a nice fat doe over a buck any day , much more challenging to hunt since they travel in groups . All those eyes and ears !

Don' t worry about what anyone else says , hunt the way you want to . Dogs can be a menace sometimes , but you' ll just have to learn to live with them , or hunt somewhere that has none . I had my hunt spoiled by a coyote last Sunday , if he hadn' t been moving so fast he would have gotten a .54 ball up the chute !

Collecting stamps is certainly a worthwhile hobby , but I' d rather be sending a bullet downrange personally .

hardluck71

I used to collect stamps until I got target panic real bad. Every time I would try to lick the stamp I would get nervous and end up licking my elbow. Devastating.

Quiting is rediculous. I would just move to another location where dogs are not allowed and then tell the other people who have a problem with what you do to pucker up...........

Jimmy S

First of all, I think you' re being a little too hard on yourself...We sometimes dislike some aspect of deer hunting but accept it because it is the hunters choice and it is legal. As far as those other bow hunters are concerned, shooting only bucks is a preference and they do it because they have the luxury of seeing a lot of deer. They also say that hunting with a shotgun or a rifle makes you less of a sportsman, that' s coming from someone who KNOWS he can shoot a buck because of the hugh numbers. Tell them to come up north to New England, especially here in NH where the success rate for bow hunters is less than 5%. Think about it, if you bow hunt, you will average a deer (not a buck, but any deer) once every 20 yrs. If these guys are twice as good as the average NH bow hunters, then that' s one every 10 yrs. See how quickly they change their tune. Have them hunt in areas where the deer herd is less than 10 deer per square mile and see how quickly they pick up their 30-06 if they want venison. Everything is relative and no one should downplay a hunters strategy if it is legal. Continue to do what you want and try not to be too hard on those folks that let their dogs run free during deer season. Relak and enjoy the time in the woods, ' cause that' s what it' s all about. Good Luck.....Jimmy

Aught Six

I have to agree with the others here. Other hunters' dogs can really ruin your trip, but it' s not the end of hope. I' m not going to tell you how to scout or where to set up, but I would find an area that either specifically bans dogs during deer season, or one that has a low hunter density (rough terrain, far from access roads, etc.).

And as far as using a crossbow, rifle, or treestand--ignore the elitists. Each hunter has his/her preferred weapons, and no one else can choose a weapon for him/her. I' ve been shooting rifles for years, so a .30-06 is my first choice. Yes, it has a lot of power, but it' s certainly not too much. Millions of other deer hunters would agree. Now if you were using a .338, I' d have to look at you a little funny.

ButchA

I know how you feel, David.....

When you and I hunted Powhatan WMA this past Saturday, I had the idea of leaving you be in your tree stand (this was around 10:00am), and I' d hike back out and check the other side of the WMA and maybe bump a deer into you.

I didn' t bother with my Ameristep climber, and decided to stalk down the trail (leading into Sallee creek bottom). Thank you, Hurricane Isabel, there were numerous fallen trees to hide in and hunker down inside of. I could hear the hound dogs and beagles constantly barking off in the distance, which was distracting.

Man, I never saw so many hunters before! It was crawling with people all over the place! When I took that shot at that doe at 75 yards, and, er, uh, missed [:' (] , my heart sunk when she ran up the other ridge and got wasted by about 18 different people all blasting at once! Man, WMA' s on a Saturday can be dangerous! []

If you want to hunt Cumberland State Forest or Pocahontas sometime, let me know.

Butch

rockytop

Keep hunting, do it the legal way you like to and the hell with what everyone else thinks.
I hated 4 wheelers for years, seems like some fool was always messing my hunt up with a 4 wheeler, I swore I' d never own one. Now my back is in such bad shape, there' s no way I can drag a deer out or even pull a cart out so I have a 4 wheeler. I don' t use it, except to get my deer but I ain' t quitting hunting.
You were right about the dog, shoot the owner, the dog' s just doing what' s natural.