Post by freedomrules3 on Jan 6, 2011 15:05:42 GMT -5
Its a well known fact that one of the laziest animals on the face of the earth is a whitetailed deer ... Given the essentials, food, water and cover and they will spend a lifetime in an area . The only thing lazier than a whitetail is the modern day hunter that pursues them. The sport of hunting has become more of a task of farming and harvesting our livestock in todays hunting world. It has evolved into something that by old timers standards is simply growing deer and giving big kudos to a job well done... but is it really a job well done or will it eventually be the end of hunting as it once was.... the line has been crossed and once that line is crossed its very hard to come back to reality and go backwards....
I'm a kinda old buck myself and have watched the sport take many turns in the wrong direction that I don't agree with but have no power to stop it. The invention and popular use of the 4 wheeler has brought hunters into once sanctuary spots that they would never muster the drive to attempt to walk there let alone drag a huge bodied doe or buck from that spot. The use of baits which for many years were outlawed has nearly become a norm and with that things grow like water sources and low fence feeding areas .
What have we become as hunters other than simply harvesters or farmers ?
Once you cross that line its hard to come back and worse than that is the fact that hunters now teach their children these dreaded "tactics " of hunting deer and the line back to actual hunting will never return .
I am simply amazed that the lust for some big horns has taken prominence over the true meaning of hunting. Don't get me wrong the name of the game is big bucks with large horns , hunters would be lying to themselves if they said anything otherwise but at what cost do we bring to get such animals.. Yes the line has been crossed and its a sad thing imo.
I have much more respect for someone who goes into uncharted public land and puts a good setup on a basket 8 than I do someone who "grows " by way of feeding and giving minerals and such to a Boone & Crockett buck. The real expert is the guy who can make it happen without using todays lazy methods of feeding and growing deer and lets nature do her thing and simply outsmarts and outplays the big or small deer.
I've read time and time again about people griping about high fenced big deer being shot , but I got some bad news for the modern day hunter, what they do by way of 6000 pounds of corn and water troughs etc etc is not any different , its become a shame and I am glad I never fell prey to any of those tactics , and have saved myself some dough in the process. Its really not about the trophy in my eyes as much as it is about the time afield and the beauty of what is out there that many don't experience. Sure I pass bucks up in hopes of a legitimate big giant horned whitetail buck but that is mostly because I would rather eat a doe , they simply taste better to me.
I personally think they need a seperate catagory of trophy animal that was harvested by natural means with no help along the way by using todays baiting, modern (frankly lazy) method of simply growing deer and harvesting them . I have seen my fair share of huge bucks that I have never had the chance to kill but by simply pulling of enough knowledge to get in range of them has been more than enough satisfaction to me ...
I think sometimes we all need to take a step backwards and teach our children the real meaning of hunting not just that we can grow big deer and shoot them and feel good about it. It will eventually bring the sport to its knees and we will wonder what went wrong when its all but gone ......
Yes folks its a fine line and it has been crossed , the real question is can it be crossed back the other way
I'm a kinda old buck myself and have watched the sport take many turns in the wrong direction that I don't agree with but have no power to stop it. The invention and popular use of the 4 wheeler has brought hunters into once sanctuary spots that they would never muster the drive to attempt to walk there let alone drag a huge bodied doe or buck from that spot. The use of baits which for many years were outlawed has nearly become a norm and with that things grow like water sources and low fence feeding areas .
What have we become as hunters other than simply harvesters or farmers ?
Once you cross that line its hard to come back and worse than that is the fact that hunters now teach their children these dreaded "tactics " of hunting deer and the line back to actual hunting will never return .
I am simply amazed that the lust for some big horns has taken prominence over the true meaning of hunting. Don't get me wrong the name of the game is big bucks with large horns , hunters would be lying to themselves if they said anything otherwise but at what cost do we bring to get such animals.. Yes the line has been crossed and its a sad thing imo.
I have much more respect for someone who goes into uncharted public land and puts a good setup on a basket 8 than I do someone who "grows " by way of feeding and giving minerals and such to a Boone & Crockett buck. The real expert is the guy who can make it happen without using todays lazy methods of feeding and growing deer and lets nature do her thing and simply outsmarts and outplays the big or small deer.
I've read time and time again about people griping about high fenced big deer being shot , but I got some bad news for the modern day hunter, what they do by way of 6000 pounds of corn and water troughs etc etc is not any different , its become a shame and I am glad I never fell prey to any of those tactics , and have saved myself some dough in the process. Its really not about the trophy in my eyes as much as it is about the time afield and the beauty of what is out there that many don't experience. Sure I pass bucks up in hopes of a legitimate big giant horned whitetail buck but that is mostly because I would rather eat a doe , they simply taste better to me.
I personally think they need a seperate catagory of trophy animal that was harvested by natural means with no help along the way by using todays baiting, modern (frankly lazy) method of simply growing deer and harvesting them . I have seen my fair share of huge bucks that I have never had the chance to kill but by simply pulling of enough knowledge to get in range of them has been more than enough satisfaction to me ...
I think sometimes we all need to take a step backwards and teach our children the real meaning of hunting not just that we can grow big deer and shoot them and feel good about it. It will eventually bring the sport to its knees and we will wonder what went wrong when its all but gone ......
Yes folks its a fine line and it has been crossed , the real question is can it be crossed back the other way
