sounds like a trophy hunter to me. i hunt for meat but still i dont shoot just any deer. i take a doe asap then i hunt for the bucks then at the end of the season, last month or so i try to get 2 or 3 more does. btw i wont pass on a doe everytime either. in al we have approx. 1.75 million deer! we can shoot all the does we want but only 3 bucks and 1 has to have 4 one inch points on one side.
Nicely said. I openly apologize to any of you who might not be as fortunate to have the time, cash or land to be in understanding of my original post, I should have thought of that, however I know that there are some here that know exactly what this thread is about. My hat is off to those of you that have to work extra hard to just get out there and do the best you can with what you have. My intention was not to offend you in any way.
I think the real answer to the question will go something like this: What you consider hunting, is selectively choosing an animal to stalk and harvest. Where other, less picky hunters (note I used the word "hunter"), will shoot the first legal animal that walks in front of them. Also, there are hunters in the range between those types. A hunter is someone that goes out, and stalks prey, and harvests an animal that he plans to eat and/or share with his family/friends. He doesn't have to be selective, and pass on everything to be considered a hunter. He has to put in time, effort, and be thankful for the animal he successfully harvested. A killer, on the flip side, is someone or something that kills. Hunters are killers, murderers are killers, infections are killers, and my wisdom teeth sure feel like killers. Killer, by definition, refers to one that kills. It's a pretty straightforward definition. You can be one without the other (hunter and killer), but they generally go hand in hand. The thing where I think you're upsetting some people is by saying there is only one true type of hunter. What's worse, is you're saying to a lot of hunters, that because they are less picky, or don't have the option to be as picky, that they're not hunters. I think that is a naive viewpoint. As some have said, controlling deer population is paramount. Some people have to kill does before they're allowed to kill bucks because of the property they hunt on. Does that make them not a hunter? Or less of a hunter than someone who is not bound by certain rules? You can try to make that argument, but you will surely not do well in making it. Also, to your comment on someone going rabbit hunting, and shooting a grouse. At that moment in time, from the moment they saw the grouse, to the moment they shot the grouse, they were grouse hunting. We're talking small game hunting here, and grouse, rabbit, squirrel, etc are small game. If it's in season it makes no difference. Hunters go into the woods, to bring food back to their family, regardless the type of food. With my deer tags this year I got two turkey tags. If I shoot a turkey while deer hunting, does that make me less of a hunter? I don't think so, I think from the time I see the turkey, to the time I shoot the turkey, I will be turkey hunting. Just another example
See I don't feel the need to make up my mind. My goals change, some days my goal might be to kill any does I see, the next I might look for a buck, the next I might try to get a good long nap in and not care about seeing anything at all. Sometimes my son and I will beat a level of LEGO Indiana Jones on his PSP while we're sitting in the blind or sometimes I just let him rattle and grunt til his hearts content. I guess our main goal is to have a little fun and spend time in the woods and most importantly, we're together. Not saying theres anything wrong with your approach just saying everybody hunts for their own reasons and has their own approach. But you lost me on the beautiful women and cocaine post.....?? And for the record this site contains some of the most dedicated parents I've been exposed to and I only wish more like them lived in and around my community so maybe the super parent bit can be applied somewhere it is actually needed. Regardless, good luck this season.
To the original poster: I invite you to read the below information taken from gri22ly's signature and take heed.
I haven't read this whole thread (or any of it) ...but I am a hunter therefore I am a killer. I do not believe in the word harvest, Its a weak word made by liberal media ...we as hunters kill things, we don't need explain it its a life style the thrill of the hunt . Society sees one thing we see another.
I think bonesaw hit on some good things. I'm a little confused on a few things he said but I'm thinking most here (Including myself) may be looking Into what he's saying too much.
Hunt: To attempt to find something, to search Hunter: One who attempts to find something or searches for something Kill: To deprive of life or cause death Killer: One who deprives another living being of life or causes the death of another living being You don't have to hunt to kill and you don't have to kill to hunt. Most people on here would be a conbination of both. I can also see some on here claiming to be hunters only because the term hunter sounds less blunt than killer and those who do not hunt often mistake the term killer for someone who causes the death of another PERSON.
I will not be pigeon-holed by mans words and definitions when defining what I do in the woods each fall. I am a hiker, an athlete, a man, an observer, a father, a hunter, a KILLER, a........
I like to think that a hunter has remorse for taking a life of a animal he takes for his own food and a killer does not. I will stop hunting when i get to be a killer. Just my 2 cents.
I do deer management I northern VA. I get to hunt year round on Game Dept permits. Doing so you are supposed to KILL ALL ANTLERLESS DEER. The herd is so big in VA that in the counties I "hunt" you can legally kill as many does per day, per season as you would care to dress and drag. So, I guess I'm a stone right KILLER! Bucks, does or fawn, they all have to go. The automobiles are killing more deer than hunters do here by a great margin. That's not me making that up it's data.
Lastoneout said it perfectly! I too hate the term "harvest" that's been heaped on us by some candy-ass liberal. Ive even seen some in "The Industry" use that and other, similar terms. I guess it sounds cleaner and nicer, but it comes off to me like someone apologizing. I dont explain why, I dont apologize, and i'll NEVER kiss a politically correct ass because I hunt, fish, or own guns. I do those things, plus drink beer and dip copenhagen, and I believe the date of John Wayne's death should be a national holiday. There was a day when this country was strong, and FEARED. But all of that is slipping away day by day, and the values that made this country great are on the way out too. Our leaders and decision makers are now mostly wishy-washy, mealy-mouthed "metrosexuals" with hair spray, pink shirts, and no backbone. If you conduct yourself as a man, and mean what you say, you stick to your word, and you place faith in a handshake, you're now out of sync with the rest of society. With that, we are hunters, providers, caretakers, and yes...KILLERS. TYou can try to sugar coat it, but when its all said and done, we killed it whatever it was, but as true MEN, we're thankful for what we have and for what we have done, and know we are blessed.
This thread has been completley. Even I, someone who does not hunt in great places with large deer or "choices" understand what Bonesaw was trying to do when he first created this thread. I'm sure his intent was to draw in other hunters like him(with the same opportunites) and discuss the way in which they go about there yearly hunting. Even if NO BODY hunts the way he does. I'm sure that singling out a particular deer and hunting only that deer and no others for a whole season has got to be a challenge in and of itself. As bowhunters we all can respect a challenge of that nature. Bonesaw even if you didn't mean to offend anyone here, some of your posts were in fact offensive. Even to the point of making you sound pompus. Bowhunters are the salt of the earth and no matter what way we go about killing deer we are all in the same community. Just because someone doesn't hunt in the same way you do doesn't mean you can't respect there hard work.
