I'm really surprised he would participate in a hunt like that, let alone put it on his show. I was never a big fan of his anyways, but that's about as lame as you can get.
Spear, I never said there was anything wrong with him being all spiritual, he just wasn't that way when he started out. Were you even born when he started out? lol Knowing about a deer's comfort zone should be one of the first things you learn about hunting them. The deer he shot was a mature 10pt. It stood there at 20 or so yards and fed while he drew, aimed, and shot with his camera man right there. What I'm saying is simple, a "normal" mature buck of this caliber would have/should have been long gone before they got within bow range. This was all in the open.
So people aren't allowed to change? Maybe he was always that way and didn't show it. Not sure that matters anyway. About the hunting, I have no idea when he started hunting, I'm 30 (insert the "you're so young joke here"), but again I'm not sure that matters either. Again, I don't see the difference in the buck being 20 yards from him and his cameraman and me being 20 yards from a buck in my back yard while holding my fidgety noisy daughter in one hand and my cell phone in another to take a picture. I'm not sure why you're trying to patronize me, I know quite a deal about deer and deer hunting as I've been hunting for almost 20 years. We've probably all experienced deer doing something odd and against their typical nature while in the stand. I know I have, plenty of times. Just some more subjective questions. If deer are going to a field to eat and a hunter sits over that field, what difference does it make if there is a fence around the few hundred/thousand acres the field is in compared to no fence? The deer are still going to go to the field to eat. It would be one thing if the environment wasn't offering water, food, or natural bedding/cover and the deer were trapped, but say the fence was only 5 feet high, I wonder how many "wild" deer would jump into the ranch. Do people have an issue with high fence hunting as if hunting should be really hard to find deer or because the size of the deer is manufactured? The fence could mainly be for making sure to keep inventory and protecting the animals from predators to guarantee hunters a sound animal to acreage ratio. Because if hunting is just supposed to be hard then we should just go to down town New York City and put up a ladder stand so we don't risk being told we're hunting the easy way. If it's because the deer are manufactured then why are we non-high fence hunters feeding our deer minerals and planting food plots? Again, I'm just being subjective here. I really can't say I lean one way or another.
Boone and Crockett Club | Fair Chase Statement | Wildlife Conservation | Deer Hunting | Elk Hunting | Big Game Hunting
Boone and Crockett Club | Canned Shoot Statement | Wildlife Conservation | Deer Hunting | Elk Hunting | Big Game Hunting
While I agree with their definition, their rules don't define hunting, just rules for entry into their hunting club records.
Simple, that buck in your yard is USED TO you and whatever else goes on in and around your yard, and KNOWS there's no threat. But, the buck in the show was in a WILD environment (not somebody's back yard) and should have run as soon as it spotted the hunters, as the intrusion was a threat. I'm flattered that you think I'm patronizing you, you couldn't be further from the truth. At least I know a deer should run when there's danger. lol
No animal, other than domestic, can "know" whether there's a threat or not. Not all deer run away from people and likewise not all deer stand there and act like there's no threat. Like I said, I've had plenty of deer do some odd things while I was in the stand when they knew I was there. Other people have hand fed a wild deer. What is your analysis on that? So my point is made, there is no difference because minus the deer being able to read the law that I can't shoot them in my back yard, there's nothing preventing me or any other person in the neighborhood from being a threat. If you weren't patronizing me by saying he's been hunting longer than I've been alive and trying to give me the ole deer reaction to humans lesson then I guess you were just being a smart aleck. I'm ok with either one, I've got thick skin.
^ Haha, I thought she was going to shoot one of them. The form on that draw, though. Yikes. My grandpa owned deer, I think he had about 15 at once when he was really into it. I remember he showed up to feed them one day to find an extra deer in the farm with them. He ended up hand feeding it and it ended up acting like it was one of his own. I don't remember if it stayed long or for how long if it did stay. I know another time one of his young does got out in the summer and came back pregnant in the spring over 6 months later and acted like nothing happened. I guess he should have told that wild doe that she was supposed to run away from the danger.
All arm chair quaterbacking and bashing jim shockey over the internet is something I thought kids do, now about the encounter in question and all this talk the buck seen him and didn't run is reasonable. I was on a fire this past summer up in northern california, myself and two other's had a black tail come with in 10 yards of us and look right at us and never once get spooked. I also had a doe eat her way within 15 yards of us and never spook, so it is possible to have a buck stare you down and not spook no matter whitetail, mulie, blacktail. Now if those of you who disagree with what happen on that video than maybe you should bring it up with jim shockey not the forums here.
Were I come from that's how we refer to things, and if you read it slow it said I was on a fire not on fire......
I guess we see things a different way. TV hunters represent hunters because they put themselves out there as a hunter. The American public is not smart enough to understand that what they see on TV is edited and produced and polished, so like it or not TV hunters are portraying what hunting is like to the non hunting public.
And like I said, I'm referring to a MATURE buck in a wild habitat. What part of this do you not understand? Damn dude, you're thick headed. If folks are feeding deer by hand, then those deer aren't wild. Do you get it? Other than reading whatever else get's posted on this thread, I'm done.
If some of you actually watched the show you would see that he "stalked" a lot of deer in that episode that had the exact same reaction. They just looked at him and went back to eating. That is what made me think they were not wild deer he was hunting. I am not going to argue about it. I know Shockey is an excellent hunter and doesn't need to hunt pen raised whitetails. I am just saying that episode seemed "off" to me and I didn't enjoy it.
And like I replied twice now, I've had mature deer do some odd things while I was in the stand and they knew I was there. Animals are unpredictable. You have it set in your head that if someone hand fed a wild animal then it must not be a wild animal, which is simply not true. My grandpa's deer farm was in a rural area outside of a town of a few thousand people. The deer jumped in with his tame deer and it was not a deer that was comfortable with people or one that regularly saw people. I've had a buck walk right up to me while hunting on the ground, look at me as I stood up (because I was actually preparing to defend myself) then simply walk away. He got within 10-15 feet from me and this was in the Pennsylvania deep woods. All these experiences and you just toss them to the side because YOU didn't experience them. I am not thick headed, I am simply telling you my first hand experiences. I wasn't expecting any argument to begin with, but I didn't know I was going to have to defend my first hand experiences. In terms to what Shockey did, I have no idea whether the deer he was stalking was wild or not. As I mentioned, I am not defending him, I was just playing devil's advocate and asked a few questions to see what answers I would get. I didn't get any.
