This is stuck in my mind, and i'm trying to distinguish the differences between the two. I watch Outdoor TV and see some of these so called Hunting shows, and some of them are making me sick to my stomach. It seems the men and women on these shows are not hunters, but killers. I'm old school and have been hunting for over 25yrs. I hunt the way I was taught, and that is to go on public land in let's say the Adirondack or Catskill Mountains, and take it from there. No baits, No blinds, etc. These people on these hunting TV shows, I see them as killers commercializing company brands and not hunters. Firstly, they have guides, they have outfitters/ranches they go to, to kill animals. These guides show these people where the animals are, and they drive to that location either on a quad or truck. That not hunting in my eyes, thats killing. Where is the sport in that?? Anyone can pay an outfitter, hunt on their land, and score a big buck, being that they were raised and fed there. Thats not hunting, thats killing. I just don't get it. Be a real hunter and go into the wilderness by yourself and hunt like a real man. No baits, no guides, no outfitters, no nothing, just you, your bow, and the wild. Am I wrong for thinking this way, or am I just getting old hehe. What are your thoughts on this subject?
So Wait.....I'm A Kilter Because My Family Owns Land And We Feed And Grow Big Bucks? Because I Hunt The Areas We Know The Deer Frequent Or Hunt Over Kill Plots? Because I Don't Go Into High Pressure Public Land And Settle For Sub Quality Deer. Or Because Once A Year I Take A Trip And Pay A Good Outfitter To Help Put Me On Quality Deer In An Area Unknown To Me? I Would ReThink Your Logic Here Friend. I Bet More Work Goes Into My Kills By Prep With Plots And What Not Than You Walking In The Woods And Hoping On Good Luck
It seems like cheating, you know exactly where the game will be, being that you put out food plots, baits, etc. I manage deer for around 10 years now around my home, and it would be too easy for me, just to walk outside and take down one of the bucks. How is that sport?? How can you consider that hunting??
The only type of hunting that is cheating to me is high fence hunting. Just because I grow food plots and use scouting cameras doesn't mean I'm cheating. I disagree with you..
I dont mind the opinions, and the disagreements, i respect that. I guess I am getting old, or not used to these new technologies that make hunting and bagging that trophy buck much easier for the hunter.
When hunting whitetails you need to increase your chances every possible way. In some states it is legal to bait and grow food plots to manage deer. I don't see this as "cheating". The only way to cheat when deer hunting is by using tracking collars, high fence hunts, or anything that is illegal according to your state laws.
I think there is a difference between "us" and many of the "hunters" we see on tv. Yes we may grow food plots and use stands or blinds ,or bait if its legal (not legal where I hunt), or use trail cams or whatever. But many of the hunters on tv do none of that stuff they go to different outfitters all over the country and just drive to the stand and kill deer. In my opinion real hunting is doing your own work and managing your own land and the deer on your land and doing your own scouting and so on.
I don't think the OP necessarily disagrees with deer and land management to enhance the potential for a positive hunting experience. What bugs me and probably him about a LOT of hunting shows is that the stars are put on these incredible deer through minimal effort of their own for the sake of killing a trophy for a show. This is even 'real' hunting to a certain extent, but one might get more personal satisfaction out of DIY. I have never paid for a 'commercial' hunting experience, but I have paid for fishing trips, and despite best efforts for a guide to put you on, in this case, fish, it still requires me to do everything right to catch one. It requires me to do everything perfectly to catch more difficult fish and to catch large numbers of difficult fish at x place at x time of year. Some harvests will obviously be easier than others. Same with hunting/killin anything else, deer, etc. That being said, though I don't necessarily like the killing shows either, some of my most memorable fishing trips were paid ones and I still consider them fishing trips and not catching trips. There was no guarantee i was going to be successful whatever the definition of success might have been. There was still an HUGE element of skill involved in the harvest. Sometimes on these shows, anyone with basic skills could have killed the big one, all other things being equal, especially with gun hunting. This is one of the reasons I may never kill another deer with a firearm and what has attracted me most to the intimacy of bow hunting...
I'd like to see your success on this. I think you are a little bit overconfident in your abilities if you think like this. I've seen many people on here who have feeders, plots, mineral sites, etc that still don't harvest the buck they want every year. Like has been said. The only way to guarantee success in my opinion, is to radio collar the deer. Otherwise there are so many other variables that come into play. Sure, you can increase your odds by doing all that stuff, but you will never increase them enough to just go out and pick one and shoot it. Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4
Isnt it also safe to assume that all the awesome hunting shows have TONS of editing to have all of their hunts appear effortless??
Perhaps I'm even older. I can't help but notice you use a fairly recently made compound bow, fiber optic sights, carbon fiber arrows, etc. I started with a Browning 45 lb recurve and cedar shafts with real feather fletching. My quiver was leather and hung off my belt or back. I remember when those new-fangled compounds came out and I thought only a "cheater" would hunt with one of those. You didn't even have to be a real man to pull a 55 lb bow and hold it at full draw while you waited for the perfect shot...then someone created sight pins...WHAT CHEATERS, I thought...then peeps and then releases and aluminum arrows and on and on. You can't stop technology. I'm nearly 60 now and I'll tell you, if it's legal I'll use it! If they invent "meat seeking guided broadheads" I will have them! And to the young man "Bowhunter Brown" who says they aren't real hunters because they are just a bunch of rich people...work hard young man. Go to school and take it seriously and you too can be one of us "rich people" someday. Don't listen to those in our current government who would have you believe that being rich is bad. It's the American Dream. Don't get me wrong...I was once poor and proud to be a working class American but I am just as proud to no longer be poor. Now I can hunt whatever I want, wherever I want and however I want and the last time I checked they don't ask how much the hunt cost, they just want to know what the rack scores to put your name in the B&C or P&Y. There's deer a plenty and room for every type of hunter. Hunt the way you like and let others do the same.
Look, I only consider spot and stalk hunting. But if we want to define that as hunting, youve got to realize that you will marginalize all the other hunters and probably lose hunting rights for everyone. You've also got to take into consideration, environment. Where you live, there may be an abundance of deer, where others live maybe not so much. If you're surrounded by deer, is that really hunting? It's all a slippery slope. Personally I don't like hunting shows and where they're going, but, they are part of the reason hunters can still hunt. Like MTSC stated above, how is shooting with a compound bow even hunting? You have a trigger, fiber optic pins, dampeners, im pretty sure native americans or our forefathers had any of that. They had muskets, spears, bow and arrows. I condone baiting, treestands, spot and stalk, and all those if those states allow it.
True. But, nobody wants to watch a hunting show where they pay to kill a deer. That's not hunting, thats killing.
like some others have said, the only "cheating" is high fence. Everything else, within state gaming laws, is hunting. I don't begrudge a guy just because he has the money to pay for a guide or hunt on a ranch where the employees "grow" the deer and have them fairly well patterned. They're still wild animals and act unpredictably as such, and the hunters still have to stay quiet, practice scent control, and be good enough to make the shot. Is it as hard as the public land hunting that I and tens of thousands of other hunters do? Probably not. But it takes money and time to practice QDM, and if the "pro" hunters are willing to provide that then so what? The deer still need managed, and it also provides me and many others a half hour or so of enjoyment watching the hunts on TV. Dare to dream, and all that.
Dnoodles I like most everything that you said, except for high fence hunting. Many of us have been over the previous debate and of course no one will be changed, but I just have to say, if you accept all the other methods of baiting, guides, dogs, private land, etc high fence is not cheating ; )
