Sorry but at no time could I ever use "sportsman" in the place of hunter. There is no shame in being know as a skilled hunter. To me when we apply any other title for what we do we are simply fooling ourselves. I hunt I kill I eat. My friend hunts,kills, mounts, eats. A skilled hunter by any other name is still a skilled hunter. I was always taught the fewer words used to clarify a thought the best. So when I go out in the woods with a rifle in my hand coupled with the entent to kill my prey I have become a hunter. Sportsman? Did the dead animals know they were part of game and did they choose to take part? Hunting is a serious activity and usually ends with something dead. I would rather be known as a great or skilled hunter than a sportsman, better explains what I do.
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Trophy Hunting and Sportsmanship
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I once had a guy make fun of a set of Whitetail antlers I have in my office at work. I explained to him that every animal I shoot is a trophy to me and I don't have the antleres there to impress visitors and I sure did not care about his opinion. They are there to remind me of a great hunt, a fine animal and if I say so myself, a real hello of a shot. I hunt a lot of Woodchucks as varmints and there is not much respect given by my friends who go after "trophies". But there is not one of them chucks that I would trade for a chance to hunt Kodiaks, Browns, Elk or whatever.
paulvallandigham
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Sparsons: You can always make an argument by defining terms too restrictively. We are sportsmen, because we only hunt during a legal season set up by the state to allow hunting. We hunt what our tag allows. Bucks if we have a buck tag; does and yearlings if we have a non-antler tag. We limit the time of the year we hunt, and even the manner in which we hunt. If everyone hunted with a semi-auto shotgun with slugs, or used a semi-auto rifle, then the deer herd would be under much more pressure than it is now. Better than 40 % of the deer hunting is done by archers. A very small percent is done by ML hunters. The rest hunt during the open gun season, using what- ever artillery the state permits.
Its because these hunters obey regulations rather than simply hunt deer when they feel like it, or think they need more food, that they are Sportsmen.
Its because they pay the state money for a license to allow them to put up with ever increasing rules and regulations just so they can hunt deer, knowing that those permit fees go toward policing the hunt, and managing the deer herd that these huntes become " Sportsmen ". And if the deer were so far out classed by hunters, the annual kill would be much higher, and the kill ratios per licenses sold would be much higher than about 35%, as it has been.
Most deer hunters go home at the end of the season to an emply freezer. They realize that they are hunting an animal in its own back yard, and it knows its way around the territory much better than the hunter ever will. It uses the same wits it has to avoid human hunters as it uses to avoid dog packs, and other predators.
The reason that ML hunting is so popular is because it puts a much greater burden on the hunter to get close. The same burden attracts people to archery, and to using traditional bows and arrows rather then those bows with the wheels and extra strings, and gunsights.
So we appreciate these " Sportsmen " for the money they spend, that pay for the management of our public lands and all our widlife species, those we hunt, and those we don't. Nobody else cares, really. if the state has the funds to pay for these programs. When is the last time you saw the Audubon Society members buying hunting licenses or duck stamps? Or " habitat stamps? Don't hold your breath to see PITA members standing in line at the post office to buy Migratory Waterfowl stamps.
That is the one thing that hunters can take pride in, and that unlike the anti-hunting crowd, sportsmen really do care about wildlife, and spend millions of dollars every year to maintain wildlife populations, and even pay for the programs that bring endangered species back from the brink of extinction. No one else pays for that. :hmm:
Its because these hunters obey regulations rather than simply hunt deer when they feel like it, or think they need more food, that they are Sportsmen.
Its because they pay the state money for a license to allow them to put up with ever increasing rules and regulations just so they can hunt deer, knowing that those permit fees go toward policing the hunt, and managing the deer herd that these huntes become " Sportsmen ". And if the deer were so far out classed by hunters, the annual kill would be much higher, and the kill ratios per licenses sold would be much higher than about 35%, as it has been.
Most deer hunters go home at the end of the season to an emply freezer. They realize that they are hunting an animal in its own back yard, and it knows its way around the territory much better than the hunter ever will. It uses the same wits it has to avoid human hunters as it uses to avoid dog packs, and other predators.
The reason that ML hunting is so popular is because it puts a much greater burden on the hunter to get close. The same burden attracts people to archery, and to using traditional bows and arrows rather then those bows with the wheels and extra strings, and gunsights.
So we appreciate these " Sportsmen " for the money they spend, that pay for the management of our public lands and all our widlife species, those we hunt, and those we don't. Nobody else cares, really. if the state has the funds to pay for these programs. When is the last time you saw the Audubon Society members buying hunting licenses or duck stamps? Or " habitat stamps? Don't hold your breath to see PITA members standing in line at the post office to buy Migratory Waterfowl stamps.
That is the one thing that hunters can take pride in, and that unlike the anti-hunting crowd, sportsmen really do care about wildlife, and spend millions of dollars every year to maintain wildlife populations, and even pay for the programs that bring endangered species back from the brink of extinction. No one else pays for that. :hmm:
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Lets settle this....
Does anyone out there remember the name of the Outdoor TV Show that came on Sunday Afternoons after church? Back when we got only 3 channels.
Hosted by CURT GOWDY?
Headhunter
Does anyone out there remember the name of the Outdoor TV Show that came on Sunday Afternoons after church? Back when we got only 3 channels.
Hosted by CURT GOWDY?
Headhunter
Vic im with you on this one.
I consider myself more a woodsman/hunter than a sportsman. I enjoy sitting in the dark watching the sun rise on my hunting area, Every sound the squrriels make; makes me anticipate a deer. The colors of the fallen leaves and the cedars around me make me feel alive and overjoyed that I get to spend a few days in such splendor, alone to think on things and to have a chance to test my hunting skills against a creature (any) that has more sences and is in there own world where they survive.
When I take an animal they are carefully cared for and not much is waisted. I tan the hides and process the meat myself. Its all part of the hunting experience and I will teach my children to do and hopefully feel the same about being a woodsman.
I consider myself more a woodsman/hunter than a sportsman. I enjoy sitting in the dark watching the sun rise on my hunting area, Every sound the squrriels make; makes me anticipate a deer. The colors of the fallen leaves and the cedars around me make me feel alive and overjoyed that I get to spend a few days in such splendor, alone to think on things and to have a chance to test my hunting skills against a creature (any) that has more sences and is in there own world where they survive.
When I take an animal they are carefully cared for and not much is waisted. I tan the hides and process the meat myself. Its all part of the hunting experience and I will teach my children to do and hopefully feel the same about being a woodsman.
That's good even at $68...mine is a little less at $40...year round hunting & fishing, tags for 4 bucks, 2 does, Bear, Wild Boar, 2 Turkey, bow, ML, handgun, rifle, shotgun, access to all state game lands.......and a partridge in a pear tree!RC said:
paulvallandigham said:
It's the state who is putting these limits on us. If you're a "hunter", you're a hunter all your life. It has nothing to do with what time of year it is. Being a hunter who respects the hunting seasons doesn't make you a "sportsman". It just means you're a law-abiding citizen.
I think I should get in White Buffalos camp on this one. The shows I have seen of trophy hunters shooting game on TV that I get the impreshion they wouldn't eat them, them selves turn me off and I think it sends the wrong signel to the people setting on the fence. I killed one fine black tail. (5 by 5 with 3 eye guards that weighed in 196 lb dressed). He ate just as good as all the forkes in the past and more of him. I have also went with out deer a number of years after that because I wanted another big one, Back to the real world, I killed a spike this year. Whem I figure up what it cost to hunt I could eat Lobster cheaper. What it boils down too is I would rather be out in the woods with my 2 boys and 3 grand sons and wheather I kill a deer or not is not real important. Now Elk, we are a little more serious.
I may be incorrect but I think hunting and fishing
are considered outdoor sports, if that is correct then a hunter is a sportsman, I see no reason to try to juggle, slash and put a spin on terminology when it is the individuals behaviour when participating in the activity that is what is judged as proper or improper by law and ethics, the latter being somewhat less definable to everyones satisfaction.
are considered outdoor sports, if that is correct then a hunter is a sportsman, I see no reason to try to juggle, slash and put a spin on terminology when it is the individuals behaviour when participating in the activity that is what is judged as proper or improper by law and ethics, the latter being somewhat less definable to everyones satisfaction.
tg said:
Merriam Webster:
"sportsman" - One entry found for sportsman.
Main Entry: sports·man
Pronunciation: 'sports-m&n
Function: noun
1 : a person who engages in sports (as hunting or fishing)
2 : a person who shows sportsmanship
- sports·man·like /-"lIk/ adjective
- sports·man·ly /-lE/ adjective
:hatsoff:
tg said:
More and more I see people..mostley much younger than myself..referring to hunting as a sport. It may be to some, but it's never been for me. I played sports most of my life and hunting is not a sport for me..it is a way of life.
Hunting ethics is also beat to death with many today. Is it ethical to shoot a walking deer while bow hunting, a running deer while gun hunting, over a corn pile, food plot, feeder..etc. I just get sick of all the ethics stuff..I kinda feel like ethics is for bridge players..people shootin holes in animals just need to do the right thing.
But I think "doing the right thing" is the central issue of those discussions.
So then trying to understand your post...for clarification you're OK with sitting over a baitpile at a fixed known distance, waiting until a buck shows up, shooting him standing knee deep in corn, and calling that hunting?
So then trying to understand your post...for clarification you're OK with sitting over a baitpile at a fixed known distance, waiting until a buck shows up, shooting him standing knee deep in corn, and calling that hunting?
rabbit03
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Maybe it's my country upbringing but I have never ever referred to myself as a sportsman, only a hunter. Most likely I will always be just a hunter.
Sportsman is like in sports or something of that nature. Sportsmanship behavior like when you were in a game at school. When your in the woods looking to kill something I think sportsman should not be considered. I think it is just societies way of wanting to put a different, kinder gentlying name on something that some think of as being cruel or whatever.
Like a sanitary engineer, a garbage man! A domestic engineer, a housewife, come on why try to make something sound different than it really is.
I aint no sportsman when I am killing an animal, I am a hunter!
rabbit03 (the killer) or
(the indigineous wildlife harvester)
Sportsman is like in sports or something of that nature. Sportsmanship behavior like when you were in a game at school. When your in the woods looking to kill something I think sportsman should not be considered. I think it is just societies way of wanting to put a different, kinder gentlying name on something that some think of as being cruel or whatever.
Like a sanitary engineer, a garbage man! A domestic engineer, a housewife, come on why try to make something sound different than it really is.
I aint no sportsman when I am killing an animal, I am a hunter!
rabbit03 (the killer) or
(the indigineous wildlife harvester)
jeepwj992002
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"rabbit03 (the killer) or
(the indigineous wildlife harvester)"
The indigineous wildlife harvester huh? I like it! I'll have to remember that one. :thumbsup:
(the indigineous wildlife harvester)"
The indigineous wildlife harvester huh? I like it! I'll have to remember that one. :thumbsup:
I figure that the folks who hunt with real muzzleloaders are true sportsmen! Not a gun with a range finding scope and a couple of pre-measured pellets of powder down the barrel. But a side hammer gun of the flint or percussion variety. Every other year I get to go to the wilds of Colorado and hunt with my muzzleloader and that is always my favorite time of year!I also hunt with a rifle w/ a scope but the difference between the two hunts are night and day!!! I saw the typical mule deer of a lifetime this last year and I had my Trusty Lyman .50cal Deerstalker in my hand, and I chased that buck for a week. I saw him 3 different times and if I would have had a centerfire rifle he would now be hanging on my wall, but with a muzzleloader....
I killed a nice buck 23"wide and 25"tall and I took it with a smoke pole, and have been doing so for 20+ years. I do not fault anyone for doing what they know, but a trophy buck... or cow elk, or a doe, taken with a fire shooter is a Trophy in anybodys book. :grin:
Brimm
I killed a nice buck 23"wide and 25"tall and I took it with a smoke pole, and have been doing so for 20+ years. I do not fault anyone for doing what they know, but a trophy buck... or cow elk, or a doe, taken with a fire shooter is a Trophy in anybodys book. :grin:
Brimm
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Headhunter said:
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not exactly like yours...i'll fill mine! :blah: RCrabbit03 said:
