Of Those Who Hunt

[toot]

some of us are going to be eating, deer! BON APPITITE!!

 

[MrMackc]

I lived in Texas for a time & when it comes to hunting, that is a world unto itself. Very little public land & nearly all hunting is PAY or you don't get to PLAY, especially those tiny deer they go crazy about. We got dogs in Iowa bigger than the deer I shot in Texas. All of the other states I've hunted had many public areas, although some may get crowded, that one could easily hunt a variety of game on. I found that in every other state I've hunted that it is possible to get permission to hunt private land with a little effort & proper communication. Not so in Texas. I was fortunate to have met a fella where I worked whose family had farmland just 50 miles from where we worked or I would not have been able to hunt when I lived there.

From the size of the deer where you lived in Texas, you must have been in North Central Texas, I was raised in Wichita County and saw these mini-deer in Jack County. Down here the deer are bigger and fatter, have you heard of San Saba White tails?

 

[RoaringBull]

From the size of the deer where you lived in Texas, you must have been in North Central Texas, I was raised in Wichita County and saw these mini-deer in Jack County. Down here the deer are bigger and fatter, have you heard of San Saba White tails?

I've seen some of those San Saba deer! I swear they feed them steriods!

 

[Marshhawk]

You'd have a tough time "still hunting" here on the S.C. coastal plain. Nearer you get to the Atlantic the thicker the woods get. You'd be still hunting with a machete. And what leaves that do fall off the trees, don't fall off until December (season on private land is mid-August 'til January 1st). Bow of any type, muzzle loaders, pistols, centerfire rifles ... use what you want, but not rimfire. I grew up hunting deer in the Hoosier State in early '70s. To find deer you had to join everyone else in the Hoosier National Forest with slug guns. No one climbed trees. Now down here in S.C. we hunt small private land parcels around Charleston. So the solitude of hunting is often accompanied by leaf blowers, construction noise, chainsaws and loud rap or country music in the distance. So baiting it is. We have to draw deer into safe shooting zones. Exurban hunting I think it's called. We just call it our "Scattered-Site Hunt Club." With the booming growth in the region we don't know from year-to-year what sites might be lost to development. I find it depressing that hunters have to say that their way of hunting is the only REAL way of hunting. Much like the deer we target, we are good at adapting to conditions.

 

[FishDFly]

"I tried to make that distinction in the ‘hogs’ thread and the hog shooters didn’t seem to want to understand. "

I think how you hunt is based on how your were taught to hunt as a youth and what the local traditions were or are.

My Father had some hunting habits which would make a game warden frown and scowl.

Age also has a direct bearing on how you hunt. I use to sit on tree limbs, now in box blinds. Reaches a point, you change and adapt with age or you quit.

I am not quitting.

 

[Henry Miles]

Adapt and overcome! I have become a deer sniper as of recent, shooting 200yds to the bait right out of the carport behind a makeshift blind from a pallet and some saw slabs. Injury keeps me limited. It's good by me!

 

[Long monday]

I live in Colorado and small game hunt here. The season is weird though as a lot of the small game does not overlap archery season (which in my opinion needs a primitive season itself with all the training wheel shooters now taking blackpowder length shots)

anyway I digress...

I no long big game hunt in Colorado. To many Texans.
That and my family purchased some land in GA. Now I hunt deer with my dad for a week each year. It’s awesome.
We do have a couple feeders out but the unwritten rule is that we just don’t hunt over them or leading to them. Again, it feels like cheating not hunting to us.

definitely different than hunting in Colorado. This year I paid my fees to the state of GA, processed the meat at a local processor and paid for the shoulder mount all for less than my dad paid for his out of state elk tag here in Colorado a few years ago.
oh!! And that included my small game fees for GA as well.

now if we can keep my mom from coming out every day at noon to visit
I guess if I visited more frequently she wouldn’t feel the need to.

 

[longcruise]

now if we can keep my mom from coming out every day at noon to visit
I guess if I visited more frequently she wouldn’t feel the need to.

Well, hopefully she is bringing you lunch.

 

[LME]

I tried to make that distinction in the ‘hogs’ thread and the hog shooters didn’t seem to want to understand.

I think I understand your point but I also think you don't understand that hogs in the wild are vermin and need to be eliminated. Wild hogs ruin fields,damage crops and destroy natural wild life. They are a plague and this is the reason there is open season on them.

 

[Rudall]

I think I understand your point but I also think you don't understand that hogs in the wild are vermin and need to be eliminated. Wild hogs ruin fields,damage crops and destroy natural wild life. They are a plague and this is the reason there is open season on them.

Why would you think I don’t understand that? I am far from stupid and can read. That point was made ad nauseam in the hogs thread but is totally irrelevant to the linguistic point I (and others) have made. Sitting around waiting for an animal (of any species) to turn up to be shot is not hunting by definition.

 

[FishDFly]

"They are a plague and this is the reason there is open season on them."

"Sitting around waiting for an animal (of any species) to turn up to be shot is not hunting by definition."

Depends on your "personal" definition of hunting.

My sister -in-law use to give me grief about hunting. One day when she was wearing her mink coat I asked her if she had "eaten" the minks who gave up their life so she could look like she had class. I am not bothered any more.

You are welcome to come to Texas, catch them and transfer them to where you live. I'll split your gas money with you.

 

[okawbow]

Rudall, I really don’t think you understand. I have to drive 110 miles one way to hunt my 10 acre woods. If all I did was walk around stalking deer, the only thing I would see is the game running off onto the neighbors property.
I have to sit around and wait for the game to come to me. It’s called STILL HUNTING, and is a traditional and respected way of taking game that has been around since the dawn of time.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

Rudall, I really don’t think you understand. I have to drive 110 miles one way to hunt my 10 acre woods. If all I did was walk around stalking deer, the only thing I would see is the game running off onto the neighbors property.
I have to sit around and wait for the game to come to me. It’s called STILL HUNTING, and is a traditional and respected way of taking game that has been around since the dawn of time.

Actually, "still hunting" is sneak hunting - slowly walking through the woods in search of game. Sitting/standing in one place for an extended time is what I would call ambush hunting, which is what I do most of the time. And can be quite enjoyable, I might add...

 

[Nuthatch]

Of those who hunt, how many hunt your own land, pay to be on a lease or hunt on public land? How long is your ML season if you have one?

I know in Alabama you are allowed a deer a day.

I’m in CA. Things are different here. We have lots of public land but tags are based on the area you want to hunt. The areas with plentiful deer tend to be either very restrictive with tags (and short seasons) or largely private land. Deer aren’t quite as plentiful as they are in whitetail country. So take is limited to forked-horn or better bucks only and the seasons are set to be mid-Aug- end of October for most people with over-the-counter tags. So just as the bucks start to get a little interested in the ladies and want to do something besides sleep all day, the season is over. Success rates tend to be <10%. Much better than that and they’ll have to cut tags as there just aren’t enough deer to go around for everybody.

We don’t have a ML season so much as some select ML tags that you apply for in a lottery. I’ve been fortunate to draw one each time I have applied. But there are only about 100 tags for that hunt so it’s not a high-demand one. Some are buck-only, some antlerless, some either sex — just depends. Our ML rifles have to comply with lead-free regs and are open-sighted only. No baiting is ever allowed.

I leave this morning to hike in on that hunt. The main rut is over for coastal blacktails (it’s prime rut in the Sierras) but they’re still looking for does on a second or third estrus cycle. The main season in the Sierra Nevadas (my main hunting area) came & went without getting much opportunity to hunt due to the fires so I’m looking to fill the freezer tomorrow. It’s public land but a place I’ve learned well & have a lot of confidence in. Wish me luck!

 

[Bob McBride]

Ethics are a funny thing, supposed by some to be something like the 10 Commandments, written in stone, but to me it’s all about fair chase. I don’t hunt long range, and I don’t care to hunt deer in an area where they prance up to you like Bambi if you’re holding out a carrot (Read: Central Texas). Ambush hunting is as good as stalking (which is very difficult in my area where the dried leaves are a foot deep and the deer are hyper alert), and my goal is meat in the freezer, as opposed to ‘sport’, so, as I’m not going to chase one down in a loincloth with a Bowie knife in my teeth, I see it as ‘If I can hit one properly so it dies quickly, and there’s a chance I’m busted if I’m sensed, then I’m doing my part’ regardless of what my person was doing the 10 seconds before the shot. People should learn how to make non self-centered ethical choices, not what another’s personal definition of ethics is, based on their specific situation. IMO.

 

[Sidney Smith]

"No such thing as hunting in shorts and t shirts."

When it is 80 degrees, you are going to find me in a t-shirt and shorts and it's not going to be camo..

And I guarantee you aint gonna be hunting in Pennsylvania! 80 degree days here is when we are out dove hunting.

 

[FishDFly]

People should learn how to make non self-centered ethical choices, not what out personal definitions of ethics, based on our specific situations, are. IMO.

Ditto, should be a sticky at the top of the Haunting Forum.

 

[theoldredneck]

I'm past 70, grew up in the country. Learned growing up to love hunting, fishing and wildlife. Game was cleaned and enjoyed as family meals. One of my uncles owned bird dogs and I quickly developed appreciation for their ability to find and point quail. Loved to eat quail, if he was still alive I could now explain that it wasn't really hunting. We also hunted rabbits with beagles. Last few years we watched and listened to dogs run more than we shot. My best friend died not long after I retired, we grew together hunting, fishing, riding horses and enjoying life in the country. He didn't know that what we thought was hunting really wasn't as far as some are concerned. It is really being judgemental for me or anyone to say if hunting is not being carried out a particular way it isnt hunting. Same with fishing and some other things. Over the years some of our local game wardens have been good friends. Kept a private range behind my shop for years. Shot with law enforcement officers, judges and lawyers. Coached and taught how to deal with eyes going south around 40 and seeing sights and target. They taught me a lot about the practical side of laws. You can impose rules of hunt for yourself, that is a freedom we have in this country. Just remember that as long as others are following the legal rules/laws for the area they also are "hunting". Here the number of young hunters are decreasing. For example dove hunts in this area are much smaller than they were when I was qrowing up. The quail are gone due to fire ants, house cats etc. I shoot trap and skeet instead of birds now. Not very sporting or challenging next to live birds but still burning powder. Hunted deer and critters with handguns last 10 to 15 years hunted. Dont hunt deer but still watch them woods walking/sitting and from back porch. I miss hunting with my best friend, watching bird dogs work, listening to beagles run, stalking/still hunting deer. Calling crows, fox, bob cats, then coyotes after they migrated here, hunting to us. We loved to walk in the woods and fields, to sit quietly and watch game/critters. Did more watching than shooting sometimes often shot a young small deer for meat instead of a buck. Laughed when we stood up with a nice buck that had walked between us. We were about 20 yards apart. Deer looked like he almost turned inside out getting away. Priceless memories, feel sorry for those that did not grow up in the country. Good hunting to those in the woods and fields, make and enjoy memories. They are the only thing you have that that you can take with you. They live past the moment of the present into the future. Memories live longer than best friends and loved ones.

 

[Rudall]

Rudall, I really don’t think you understand. I have to drive 110 miles one way to hunt my 10 acre woods. If all I did was walk around stalking deer, the only thing I would see is the game running off onto the neighbors property.
I have to sit around and wait for the game to come to me. It’s called STILL HUNTING, and is a traditional and respected way of taking game that has been around since the dawn of time.

No, I understand perfectly. There is nothing wrong with my reading comprehension. I don’t care how far you drive. I don’t care how much or how little you kill and I don’t care how you do it. My entire point, which you don’t seem to understand, is that the English language definition of hunting includes ‘pursuit of animals’. If you are not pursuing them then you are not hunting. You are simply killing. Or shooting. You may indulge in what you call ‘still hunting’ but that is a massive oxymoron. Do you call sitting on your arse on a sofa ‘still running’? No, because running involves movement. So does hunting. Have you ever been on an Easter egg hunt? Did you do it from the comfort of a chair or did you go around looking for them?

Once again, for the hard of hearing, I do not care how you do it or why you do it. And at this point I no longer care what you call it.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

I'm past 70, grew up in the country. Learned growing up to love hunting, fishing and wildlife. Game was cleaned and enjoyed as family meals. One of my uncles owned bird dogs and I quickly developed appreciation for their ability to find and point quail. Loved to eat quail, if he was still alive I could now explain that it wasn't really hunting. We also hunted rabbits with beagles. Last few years we watched and listened to dogs run more than we shot. My best friend died not long after I retired, we grew together hunting, fishing, riding horses and enjoying life in the country. He didn't know that what we thought was hunting really wasn't as far as some are concerned. It is really being judgemental for me or anyone to say if hunting is not being carried out a particular way it isnt hunting. Same with fishing and some other things. Over the years some of our local game wardens have been good friends. Kept a private range behind my shop for years. Shot with law enforcement officers, judges and lawyers. Coached and taught how to deal with eyes going south around 40 and seeing sights and target. They taught me a lot about the practical side of laws. You can impose rules of hunt for yourself, that is a freedom we have in this country. Just remember that as long as others are following the legal rules/laws for the area they also are "hunting". Here the number of young hunters are decreasing. For example dove hunts in this area are much smaller than they were when I was qrowing up. The quail are gone due to fire ants, house cats etc. I shoot trap and skeet instead of birds now. Not very sporting or challenging next to live birds but still burning powder. Hunted deer and critters with handguns last 10 to 15 years hunted. Dont hunt deer but still watch them woods walking/sitting and from back porch. I miss hunting with my best friend, watching bird dogs work, listening to beagles run, stalking/still hunting deer. Calling crows, fox, bob cats, then coyotes after they migrated here, hunting to us. We loved to walk in the woods and fields, to sit quietly and watch game/critters. Did more watching than shooting sometimes often shot a young small deer for meat instead of a buck. Laughed when we stood up with a nice buck that had walked between us. We were about 20 yards apart. Deer looked like he almost turned inside out getting away. Priceless memories, feel sorry for those that did not grow up in the country. Good hunting to those in the woods and fields, make and enjoy memories. They are the only thing you have that that you can take with you. They live past the moment of the present into the future. Memories live longer than best friends and loved ones.

No one in this town could catch any fish except this one man. The game warden asked him how he did it. The man told the game warden that he would take him fishing the next day. Once they got to the middle of the lake the man took out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and threw it in the water. After the explosion fish started floating to the top of the water. The man took out a net and started picking up the fish. The game warden told him that this was illegal. The man took out another stick of dynamite and lit it. He then handed it to the game warden and said " are you going to fish or talk".