A question for hunters
- Thread starter Ladybug
- Start date
Cowdogpete
New member
hmmmmmm
Heres how I grew up doing it. And still do, just not very often anymore.
When I wanted a deer, I'd get in my pickup wearing whatever I had on from work. Drive to a spot where I knew there were deer. Sit in the truck for a time not to exceed 30 minutes (I'm impatient that way) Shoot a deer and go home.
Deer are heavily populated here. You dont need fancy guns or high dollar equipment. You can't see more than 75 yards tops through the brush. I never hunted for horns. Never baited a spot.
I used to watch the hunters show up on our place with big 4WD and tons of gear. Hunt the wrong spots and then get stuck. I made extra money pulling them out and quit trying to tell them where the deer were. Most of them knew more than me anyway. Thats because I lived on the place and they only showed up 2 months a year.
I think beef is better anyway. Deer is just camp food. If you have to go buy all the gear, pay a lease, and spend the time, what does that deer dollar out to a pound? Do it because you want to and like to, but don't give me the cheap food line. And leave the Cabelas models at home.
Heres how I grew up doing it. And still do, just not very often anymore.
When I wanted a deer, I'd get in my pickup wearing whatever I had on from work. Drive to a spot where I knew there were deer. Sit in the truck for a time not to exceed 30 minutes (I'm impatient that way) Shoot a deer and go home.
Deer are heavily populated here. You dont need fancy guns or high dollar equipment. You can't see more than 75 yards tops through the brush. I never hunted for horns. Never baited a spot.
I used to watch the hunters show up on our place with big 4WD and tons of gear. Hunt the wrong spots and then get stuck. I made extra money pulling them out and quit trying to tell them where the deer were. Most of them knew more than me anyway. Thats because I lived on the place and they only showed up 2 months a year.
I think beef is better anyway. Deer is just camp food. If you have to go buy all the gear, pay a lease, and spend the time, what does that deer dollar out to a pound? Do it because you want to and like to, but don't give me the cheap food line. And leave the Cabelas models at home.
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Cowdogpete, I've hunted by your method, back at the old family ranch just outside Austin. I've done the walking-hunting thing not far north of Uvalde, as well as stand-hunting. And out here, where we have more lions than deer, walking is about the only way.
I dunno. I just like the taste of deer better than I do beef--particularly when I cook Bambi. Heck, I like quail better than chicken, for that matter.
"Each to his own taste," said the old maid as she kissed the cow.
, Art
I dunno. I just like the taste of deer better than I do beef--particularly when I cook Bambi. Heck, I like quail better than chicken, for that matter.
"Each to his own taste," said the old maid as she kissed the cow.
, ArtFred Hansen
New member
Have we answered your question?
“I was looking at my Cabela's catalog (this is the GENERAL catalog, not even the specific hunting one) tonight, and I have a question for any of you hunters out there... it may sound like I'm being a smart aleck here, but I really am curious.
What I found in Cabela's was:
Full camo clothing that would fool any human, much less a deer”
Most of the deer hunters that use camo around here are using a bow. And it is almost mandatory to do so. I wouldn’t dare go out into the woods in full camo during gun season for deer. Other uses of the camo are for predator hunting. I have never done this but I here it is very beneficial.
”Special lined under garments that mask your scent (some are even heated for your comfort)”
Face it people stink at least to creatures with a better since of smell then we do. However I think that 75% of the time it really doesn’t matter. I have sat there 15 feet from several deer on the same level for 20 min while I proceeded to smoke a cigarette.
”Seats, towers, stands, whatever that are also very well camouflaged (and comfortable) so you don't have to move”
I have a nice camo foam pad that I sit on cause it keeps me dry, and is more comfortable then a stump or a rock. And let’s face it a cold wet butt sitting on a cold wet rock can really take away from the whole being in nature, and enjoying it.
”Very realistic decoys”
For Deer never seen one for waterfowl sure have and they work no better then a cheap home made one.
”Scent marking chemicals to attract deer”
I guess they work I saw a guy get mauled by a buck on real tv cause the buck wanted some lovin from him. Just goes to show you don’t use the scent on a living thing.
”Deer feeders”
Hunting next to a deer feeder is well just wrong in MNSHO. But feeding deer not only helps the hunter but helps the deer as well. They have a source of food to keep them healthy; it also provides the hunter with a more nourished deer to harvest.
”Special fertilizers for the land to ensure big, well-antlered deer”
I have never seen a fertilizer do that they usually promote better crops. But they do make special crops for the hunter to plant to help the deer grow, and make sure they have plenty to eat. This IMNSHO helps the hunter by letting him harvest a bigger deer and helps the unharvested deer survive the winter better.
”Deer calls that replicate lost cow calls, the sound of herds, etc. (not just some whistle or something -- a huge audio system with a pre-recorded CD)”
I have never used a call in my life and I don’t know anyone who has. But some people like them, and I suppose they could be useful.
”A game-finder and ear pieces so that you don't even have to notice the deer yourself”
Never used one or known anyone who has.
”"Steady Sticks" -- basically tripods so that you don't have to hold your weapon steady”
Try holding a 7lb gun or better steady enough to shoot three hundred yards without a rest.
”Scopes so you don't really have to know how to aim well”
This one really bugs me. It is totally false. Scopes do nothing really but magnify the target. But in magnifying the target they also magnify every thing else. Try using even a light magnification scope say 2 power. Watch the scope makes it everything appear to move even greater then with open sights. Not to mention target acquisition with a high power scope it is very hard to get the gun on target from what your brain remembers it saw before you raised the gun. And for a moving target the average guy has one hell of a time hitting anything moving at more then a slow walk with a scope.
And of course this doesn't include the technology of the weapons themselves.
”Now my question is... where exactly is the "sport" in all of this? Why not just domesticate deer and keep a herd, like you would a bunch of cows? You could just raise them to come to you by name, and then one day you could just go into your pasture, call one, and shoot it point-blank... I mean, when you're sitting in the woods, in your heated clothing, on a padded seat, are you really get that much of an "outdoors" experience? If you've got an arsenal of tools to attract the deer, as well as tools to help you locate the game, and more tools to guarantee an accurate shot, are you really "hunting"?”
Well I have a few comments about that. First off I will comment on our status in the world. Human beings generally do enjoy veggies, but were designed to be predators also. The odd part in all this we are at a severe disadvantage in the animal kingdom in all but one area our brains. We can’t see as well as most of our prey, nor can we hear as well, or smell as well. We are also slower then most of our prey, and also weaker then most of the prey we have taken for thousands of years. We have been given a superior brain however. This one single superiority has allowed us to survive and thrive. Technology from the spear to the modern rifle has helped us equal the playing field. Now would you look down on the human that used a spear to feed himself and his family because it was advantages to him?
What I found in Cabela's was:
Full camo clothing that would fool any human, much less a deer”
Most of the deer hunters that use camo around here are using a bow. And it is almost mandatory to do so. I wouldn’t dare go out into the woods in full camo during gun season for deer. Other uses of the camo are for predator hunting. I have never done this but I here it is very beneficial.
”Special lined under garments that mask your scent (some are even heated for your comfort)”
Face it people stink at least to creatures with a better since of smell then we do. However I think that 75% of the time it really doesn’t matter. I have sat there 15 feet from several deer on the same level for 20 min while I proceeded to smoke a cigarette.
”Seats, towers, stands, whatever that are also very well camouflaged (and comfortable) so you don't have to move”
I have a nice camo foam pad that I sit on cause it keeps me dry, and is more comfortable then a stump or a rock. And let’s face it a cold wet butt sitting on a cold wet rock can really take away from the whole being in nature, and enjoying it.
”Very realistic decoys”
For Deer never seen one for waterfowl sure have and they work no better then a cheap home made one.
”Scent marking chemicals to attract deer”
I guess they work I saw a guy get mauled by a buck on real tv cause the buck wanted some lovin from him. Just goes to show you don’t use the scent on a living thing.
”Deer feeders”
Hunting next to a deer feeder is well just wrong in MNSHO. But feeding deer not only helps the hunter but helps the deer as well. They have a source of food to keep them healthy; it also provides the hunter with a more nourished deer to harvest.
”Special fertilizers for the land to ensure big, well-antlered deer”
I have never seen a fertilizer do that they usually promote better crops. But they do make special crops for the hunter to plant to help the deer grow, and make sure they have plenty to eat. This IMNSHO helps the hunter by letting him harvest a bigger deer and helps the unharvested deer survive the winter better.
”Deer calls that replicate lost cow calls, the sound of herds, etc. (not just some whistle or something -- a huge audio system with a pre-recorded CD)”
I have never used a call in my life and I don’t know anyone who has. But some people like them, and I suppose they could be useful.
”A game-finder and ear pieces so that you don't even have to notice the deer yourself”
Never used one or known anyone who has.
”"Steady Sticks" -- basically tripods so that you don't have to hold your weapon steady”
Try holding a 7lb gun or better steady enough to shoot three hundred yards without a rest.
”Scopes so you don't really have to know how to aim well”
This one really bugs me. It is totally false. Scopes do nothing really but magnify the target. But in magnifying the target they also magnify every thing else. Try using even a light magnification scope say 2 power. Watch the scope makes it everything appear to move even greater then with open sights. Not to mention target acquisition with a high power scope it is very hard to get the gun on target from what your brain remembers it saw before you raised the gun. And for a moving target the average guy has one hell of a time hitting anything moving at more then a slow walk with a scope.
And of course this doesn't include the technology of the weapons themselves.
”Now my question is... where exactly is the "sport" in all of this? Why not just domesticate deer and keep a herd, like you would a bunch of cows? You could just raise them to come to you by name, and then one day you could just go into your pasture, call one, and shoot it point-blank... I mean, when you're sitting in the woods, in your heated clothing, on a padded seat, are you really get that much of an "outdoors" experience? If you've got an arsenal of tools to attract the deer, as well as tools to help you locate the game, and more tools to guarantee an accurate shot, are you really "hunting"?”
Well I have a few comments about that. First off I will comment on our status in the world. Human beings generally do enjoy veggies, but were designed to be predators also. The odd part in all this we are at a severe disadvantage in the animal kingdom in all but one area our brains. We can’t see as well as most of our prey, nor can we hear as well, or smell as well. We are also slower then most of our prey, and also weaker then most of the prey we have taken for thousands of years. We have been given a superior brain however. This one single superiority has allowed us to survive and thrive. Technology from the spear to the modern rifle has helped us equal the playing field. Now would you look down on the human that used a spear to feed himself and his family because it was advantages to him?
Cowdogpete
New member
Art,
I'd rather eat Quail myself. There just aren't many of the little buggers left to shoot anymore.
I'd rather eat Quail myself. There just aren't many of the little buggers left to shoot anymore.
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Cdp: Far aints? The (bleep) things are killing quail--and other critters--all the way across the Gulf coast. My little ranch down below Cuero is infested.
Art
Art
Gosh guys, I feel really bad 
I didn't know this thread got moved from the General forum to here, so I never saw all the responses since my last post!! THANKS for all the answers -- YES you've answered my question, and I really appreciate it, and I'm happy that no one thought I was insulting them (at least I hope so!) You've pretty much confirmed what I thought -- that most people don't really use all that stuff!
keanno, art, others -- please, please don't be mad at me -- I posted this on the General forum, and didn't know it had moved. You're right, I'm not a hunter, which is why I don't visit this forum, which is why I never saw all these replies.
I didn't know this thread got moved from the General forum to here, so I never saw all the responses since my last post!! THANKS for all the answers -- YES you've answered my question, and I really appreciate it, and I'm happy that no one thought I was insulting them (at least I hope so!) You've pretty much confirmed what I thought -- that most people don't really use all that stuff!
keanno, art, others -- please, please don't be mad at me -- I posted this on the General forum, and didn't know it had moved. You're right, I'm not a hunter, which is why I don't visit this forum, which is why I never saw all these replies.
Ladybug,
Thanks for getting back to everyone. Your reason for the delay is completely understandable.
I would like to respond to one statement you made: You've pretty much confirmed what I thought -- that most people don't really use all that stuff!
What you may not understand is that even if you did use all that stuff, you still haven't turned "hunting" into "getting". The only thing all those wiz-bang gadgets ensure you is a lighter wallet.
Thanks for getting back to everyone. Your reason for the delay is completely understandable.
I would like to respond to one statement you made: You've pretty much confirmed what I thought -- that most people don't really use all that stuff!
What you may not understand is that even if you did use all that stuff, you still haven't turned "hunting" into "getting". The only thing all those wiz-bang gadgets ensure you is a lighter wallet.