Ethics of hunting at feed stations

Let's look at some basic definitions, shall we?

Main Entry: hunt·ing
Function: noun
1 : the act of one that hunts; specifically : the pursuit of game

Main Entry: hunt
Function: verb
1 a : to pursue for food or in sport <hunt buffalo>

Main Entry: pur·sue
1 : to follow in order to overtake, capture, kill, or defeat

Hmmm, so to me, it sounds like hunting involves the hunter to actually follow the animal. Track it. Stalk it. Follow the tracks. Use his/her brain to figure out where the animal went, or where it might go.

Now, sitting at a deer feeder in a tree stand waiting for an animal to come along to eat is NOT hunting. It's not even close to hunting. It's waiting for an animal to walk in front of your sights on its way to a FEEDER! Holy crap. What an idiot to call himself a hunter. Seems like we've forgotten the true meaning and definition of "hunting."

So, maybe this "wonderful" hunter :barf: would think I'm hunting HIM if I sit across the street behind cover w/ a sniper rifle and shoot him while he's sitting at the dining room table eating dinner?
 
Dave in delaware +1.
I think they already named this guy " The Deer Slayer" no need to mention hunting thats for hunters, but whatever lights your candle, its a free world our side anyway.
 
Hunting ,harvesting ,sniping,call it what you will but the fact of the matter is ,in central Texas the deer population is way out of hand due to the fact that we have eliminated all of the deers natural predators except hunters and cars. They have resorted to baiting deer and netting them in Sun City near Georgetown. In my opinion the ethics of fair chase mean nothing compared to the ethics of saving the whitetail species from the results of overpopulation because of our development into their habitat. Squeezing their range and at the same time eliminating their natural predators. I would rather see 10,000 deer get shot from under a feeder than 2 million at the hands of chronic wasting disease. This is why each State should be able to make their own laws. Texas is in a unique situation and has adapted its hunting laws accordingly.
 
I agree 100% kinudaroad. I grew up hunting over feeders on deer leases in San Saba, Lampasas, and Llano counties. Lots of deer.

After about 10 years of that, I took up bowhunting for more of a challenge. I am here to tell everyone, if you think that bowhunting over a feeder is easy pickings, then you've never bowhunted where I hunt. You get 8-10 deer under the feeder, with 8-10 sets of eyes, ears, and noses, looking around, and you will be LUCKY to draw back once in 15 hunts. And you'll learn more about deer behavior and herd dynamics by watching 8-10 wild deer at 20 yds up close and personal than you will in a decade of stalking and seeing their tails bounding out of sight.

Gun hunting over a feeder is not really a challenge, but it will put meet in the freezer, and that is a good thing when you're talking about the numbers of deer I've seen on some of my leases. You can run around and chase them all you want and stay on your high ethical ground, but unless you're putting 5 deer in the freezer each season like I am off of these overpopulated places, then you aren't doing the deer any good. It has it's place. It's not for everyone, and it's not for every region or situation, but outlawing it in some areas would be a very bad thing.
 
It's not for everyone, and it's not for every region or situation, but outlawing it in some areas would be a very bad thing.
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I don't think anyone is talking about outlawing it. We are just saying that you can't call that "hunting".

If deer over population is of great concern why are only a limited number of tags sold each year? I am not trying to be cute here, I am looking for an honest reply.
 
Bravo25, it's mostly emotion. My opinion, but even the wildlife biologists of the Parks & Wildlife Commission are a bit too conservative on this. Some central Texas areas, there oughta be a bounty on does.

However, a lot of that area has been broken up from fairly large ranches to "ranchettes". The new people tend to want to watch deer, not shoot them. Since they know nothing of the population dynamics, nor of carrying capacity of the land, they assume that quantity is just as good as quality--and they don't know much about quality deer, either.

There was at time, back maybe forty years ago, when whitetail deer in central Texas would have a really good buck dressing out in the 125- to 150-pound range. By the late 1970s/early 1980s, figure down to 100 pounds, if you're lucky. I've seen 14-inch spread ten-pointers that wouldn't dress out at 75 pounds.

Back in the late '60s at my old family ranch outside of Austin (now covered by houses and shopping centers), I did a serious herd-reduction program. I took about five times as many does off the place as the law allowed, and killed off every mature spike and "scraggle-horn" buck I saw. I did this for about three years. By the end of that time, average body weight was up by around 30%, and I was getting decent racks.

Art
 
You know after going through and reading all the replys I can tell who hunts and who reads and think they know how to hunt.

We have 10 feeders on my lease in east Texas. I can tell you that the deer are not trained to come to the sound of the feeder. I have never! Ever! seen a big buck at a feeder!:D . When One of my feeders goes off the treerats and coons come running:D . To tell you the truth I don't even know why we set up feeders. They don't work! As long as there are acorns on the ground the feeders don't do anything.

Butch I want you to come to my lease this year. You don't live to far. I want you to show me how to stalk a deer in brush that you can't see more than 20 yards. We have lots of deer because of the brush. They just don't show themselves.

I did find a nice rub line that goes for about 300 yards in thick woods at the top of a hill. Thats where me and my tree lounge will be setup this next weekend for bow. Stalk a deer with a bow! You would have to be an indian and I think even the indians used dogs. My Catahoula has a blood line that goes back to being used by indians.
 
KEY WORD is "HUNT"

Stop using "hunt" "hunting" "hunted" in sentences which refer to waiting over a feeding station.

They contradict one another.

I personally have followed tracks (rubbings, scrapes, poop, hoof prints, etc..)

And come across more than 20 deer this way, and have never had one run off until it had been hit.

This is what I consider hunting.

No matter where you live or for what reasons you are killing the deer, if you are sitting over a feeder station it is not "hunting.
 
Ok rangefodder say I have a feeder set at a location. Say I shoot a deer thats 150 yards from the feeder. This deer never even comes to the feeder. This deer is eating acorns at a big oak tree. Now I will say thats hunting over a feeder. Now say that same deer comes to the same oak tree eating acorns and I don't have a feeder. I would say that not hunting over a feeder. Even though the feeder did not do a damn thing but bring in squirrls, coons and crows and I don't know how many birds. Well thats what it is like where I hunt. Deer could give a less about corn. The only time they eat corn is when all the acorns are gone and we have lots of oak trees.

Like I said I don't even know why we set up feeders. All we do is feed the varmints. Where I hunt is nothing like you see on TV.
 
Impact: Good point.

Feeders aren't just for deer. I haven't studied it in depth, but from my observations, I'd say the squirrels take about 1/3 the feed, Coons, rabbits, and misc. birds take another third, and then the balance is taken by hogs and deer. Still, the squirrels taste better when they're corn-fed and the hogs do too.

I don't know how I'd ever see hogs without the aid of a feeder. With a feeder, I can kill at least one a month and sometimes two. I leave my feeders going all year around and hunt pigs likewise.
 
Impact:

If you are sitting around a station with the sole intent of shooting what ever comes near it it is not hunting.

As far as killing a deer 150yds away...all you did was kill a deer 150 yds away.

You really didn't hunt anything.
 
I guess duck hunters aren't really hunters, since they sit on their butts all day over a spread of decoys in a flooded grain field.

In my book, hunting a feeder isn't any different than setting up a mock scrape and hunting over it, or using rattling horns, or a grunt call, or hunting over a corn, alfalfa, or peanut field. If you use doe in heat scent during the rut, please tell me how that is different than hunting a feeder.
 
rangefodder we have a guy that broke his back two years ago to this month. He is stuck in a wheelchair. There is no way he can spot and stalk a deer. Before he broke his back I would say he was one of the best hunters I knew. The guy was good! His 14 year old daughter can out hunt most men I know. We have a stand setup just for him. I want you to tell him he is not a hunter because he can't walk. I want you to tell him he is not a hunter because he has to sit in a stand. But before you say that to him. Ask him why he still hunts? I know what he will say. But I don't think you will!
 
Always a good hunting topic.:( Different parts of the country hunt deer different ways. Great posts 20C, Impact, and Art. As always, it is easy for people to judge others when they are on the clean end of the @#$% stick.
Rangefodder, you sound like someone who has never hunted deer in his life, but maybe read a book or two.
Bravo, give us the definition in YOUR dictionary. Definition #3 in mine ( Random house college), states: to search for; seek; ENDEAVOR TO OBTAIN OR FIND. I like that last little bit.:D
Is it easy to kill " A " deer at a feeder? Yes. Is it easy to kill the deer you are specifically hunting? No. I have a 50 ac. farm here in TX. and I can watch the 2 feeders we have set up 250 yds from my back porch. Last year I literally hunted almost every morning and afternoon for a specific buck I had been watching eat my feed all summer. Climbed into the stand opening morning of bow season and??????????? No buck! I finally got him on the last morning of the last day, nowhere near the feeder.
All of you "ANTIS" must realize that hunting feeders plays one very important role to all of us and our sport.
It provides a method for the young, the new, or the disinterested to feel the adrenaline pump of at least seeing deer their first few times out, thereby keeping the interest and motivation to "go again". The more fun the new and young have, the more likely they are to become sportsman such as ourselves.
Pro-hunting, pro-guns, pro-outdoorsman period.
We need that desperately.
So, take a first timer out and let them do it the "feeder way" instead of forcing them to trudge over hill and dell in disinterested frustration. Trust me, I have made some wonderful converts who now enjoy our sport almost as much as I.
One final note: stop judging others for their method of take as long as it is legal, nothing pro-sport, will come of it.
 
I have a little different perspective on the word hunting. You are allowed to disagree with me, but please let's be polite and friendly with each other.

Dad (deceased 2004) used to call non-resident city guys hunting in the Bighorns as "hiking with a rifle". They did not know the terrain and were hoping to see game. Didn't really know where to look.

In contrast, our family knows where to find mulies and elk and we carry our rifles to pre-scouted ambush sites. In other words, a planned hunt based upon passed down information and our knowledge of animal habits: their preferred food(s) and predictable bedding areas.

Question: Who are the hunters? In my opinion, both the hikers and those waiting quietly in ambush are hunters. We share valid licenses and are clearly hoping to bring home game.

I think its a mistake to assume an ambush hunter is using some sort of unfair advantage to shoot an undisturbed animal at fairly close range. Ambush hunting is effective and ethical to my view. The hunt does not always go as planned and even the best ambush site is rarely 100% effective, 100% of the time.

I'm hoping we can find more to unite us than to divide us as hunters and ethical Americans.
Jack
 
We have 10 feeders on my lease in east Texas. I can tell you that the deer are not trained to come to the sound of the feeder. I have never! Ever! seen a big buck at a feeder! . When One of my feeders goes off the treerats and coons come running . To tell you the truth I don't even know why we set up feeders. They don't work! As long as there are acorns on the ground the feeders don't do anything.

Butch I want you to come to my lease this year. You don't live to far. I want you to show me how to stalk a deer in brush that you can't see more than 20 yards. We have lots of deer because of the brush. They just don't show themselves.
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Send me a PM and I will certainly entertain the idea!:D I went scouting today in the area that I will be hunting later this year and foudn very little sign. Could be this dry weather has caused them to move elsewhere. Hopefully we will get some rain and they will come back in. If you hunt my way, you are certainly not guaranteed to get a deer every year. That's why I call it hunting:). The deer you do get every few years though, you will be extremely proud of. Even if it is a lowly doe.

I don't understand though, if the feeders don't work, why do you use them? 10 of them would be quite a chore to load and maintain.
 
I don't understand though, if the feeders don't work, why do you use them? 10 of them would be quite a chore to load and maintain.
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It makes me feel better to give back to the environment. Deer do eat at the feeders but only at night. and no I don't shoot deer at night! I watched a little four point last year walk within about 50 yards of a feeder and never even stopped to look. One thing I like about feeders they will bring the hogs! But I really like to spot and stalk hogs. Most of the time I have a good idea where the hogs will be. and I just go in and get them. Now thats fun:) .

A few years ago we had a guy that liked to walk around the woods looking for deer. He never shot a deer but the other hunters could tell where he was because he would run out all the deer in the area.

I took a forum member out to my lease back in july? I think it was. We only walked about 1/4 th the lease in the daytime and saw about 10 deer. Some real close. Come around this time of the year the deer turn into ghost. I know they are there from the signs. But you just don't see them?
 
Deer are worse than people about thinking that Anythig Diffeerent Is Bad.

Changes in behavior patterns: Where are all those funny-smelling upright animals coming from? is a "for instance". Hunters don't act like ranchers. Just the additional truck or jeep traffic around a ranch is unsettling. Or, a group will go out to build stands or check out the area, and they talk and smoke and carry on--and this is all new to Bambi.

A deer has two normal reactions to all this: Run, or hide.

Art
 
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