Five Seasons

I should clarify. I do not get down on my knees and pray. I say a small prayer, just like I do every morning and night thanking God for my success or asking him to help me with my success. I'm not actually very religious, but there's something about being in a stand with the sun coming up or taking a life that gets me all spiritual. haha.

i agree with you, however it's best to reserve judgment until facts come out. Because (and i'm not defending this case, just a general observation) what you see does not always tell the whole tale.

i forgot one year. tagged and everything but forgot to call. looked all over for how to do it late because i wanted to report it for their numbers. i ended up not doing it because everything on the DEC website pointed to being fined. I'm like, wtf... it was an accident i want to report it, but now I'm not going to.

I have a touch of sadness for every kill. I do not feel remorse, and I do not believe a hunter should. As long as you're planning on harvesting the animal, you've done nothing wrong. I do think you should feel a little emotion though, as you've taken the life of a beautiful animal. I think if you do not feel something, it's time to get out of the sport. My grandfather hunted for over 70 years. he was a Korean war combat vet, and he told me that he still felt the same way he did when he first started hunting. I personally say a prayer every time. I will counter however that one isn't allowed to show emotion with a kill. There is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating so long as you're respectful. If you want to hug, high five and holler after taking a nice buck, you should. Wearing the deer head around the forest, might be a little excessive. You've most likely spent hours and hours doing all sorts of tasks to prepare for that moment and it's finally paid off. It's just like getting a promotion at work. Be happy. what does using trail cams to increase your chance of success have to do with not respecting the animal? I know a handful of people that did feel bad after hunting and stopped. I don't judge them, just the same as I hope they do not judge me. We're all hunters on this forum, so we all obviously feel ok with what we're doing. But hunters are also the biggest conservationist. To preserve the land, the species etc. If you don't give a hoot about deer, why not just open a year round season. I don't think anyone is claiming you "need to feel a certain way" but that if allyou're in it for is to shoot your gun, you may be in it for the wrong reasons. I'm not a fan of those pics, but I do not see them as disrespectful. That includes the "dead deer on the ground pic". I do however prefer the deer and hunter pic together. I think that helps preserve the memory. And if you're going to that length you might as well put some leaves over the gut and clean any blood off the mouth and horns. We do this for our mounts don't we? i've done 2 coup-de-grace. don't like them one bit.

seems we have a lot of people who passed the bar and are familiar with this particular counties rules and regs.

there is something primal and badass about that pic. Congrats.

First, at least they're shooting at all. We all know those that dont. Secondly, the age of the bow should have nothing to do with their shooting ability. But I will agree with your thoughts on how little some people practice, how bad their aim might be and wonder how they can call themselves "good to go".

i lol'd

11. missed the footprint and wounded deer running downhill. A lot of those are weasel answers or debatable though. I never like tests with "sometimes, not always, mostly etc"

yeah. i actually almost lost a tag once by not securing it right and had to back track and search for it on the trail. From then on out I give it a good once over, but filling it out back in the barn happens too.

I'm having trouble understanding your post. but using another tag or not reporting both suck. I do sort of wish you could get 2 buck tags and use them how you wish though. Would rather stick 2 with an arrow than go sit during gun. However, I understand why this is not the case.

I guess the part of it being a friend trying to get property from me because he knows about the deer I've shot there and seen the pictures off my trail cams, versus me going in blind to a property trying to get permission with no connect to current hunter escaped you.

While it sucks, I'm not sure they are "stealing anything out from under you". Capitalism works in a way that, unless someone has a better relationship, trust etc. The good or service will go to the highest bidder. It's why i'm such a big advocate for trying to own land if you can. No matter what, that land is yours. If your neighbor moves or his daughter marries a hunter you lose your rights just like that. However, I'll agree that if my friends knew I leased some primo land and tried to get it from me. We would no longer be friends. But if I was trying to get rights from an owner and there was another hunter already there, I would not feel bad about offering more money to lease, given that the current leaser has a chance to outbid again. Which sounds like, in your case it's nice the owner is at least letting you know what's going on before he just boots you without a chance to counter.

f*ck cares about cruelty to a bunch of murders and rapists... maybe it'll even result in less violence and what not.

Browning Gold Edition Deer Hunter. Semi/rifled barrel Leupold 3to9 Lightfield sabots

wasn't a shot at you. I see it on a lot of forums. Those with a lot of posts or some credibility gather blind supporters of ALL their opinions, because they have demonstrated competence in the past. Proving you know your stuff in some areas does not make you all knowing, that was all I meant.

ok. just curious if maybe you pissed off the adjacent land owner. sucks man...

question out of curiosity. Do you own the field of the edge you're hunting, or are you possibly shooting into someone else field even though your stand is on your land

2 things. 1. this forum is very "pro hunter choice" which is fine I suppose and it's hard to argue with when this State is notorious for taking away our rights. Although what's popular is not always right. 2. there a few very outspoken members that seem to have followers. Disagree with them and you're in for a ride.

man that feeling was in the air this morning though wasn't? always get excited when I start using my remote starter even if it's just right before I walk out into the garage.

agree if needed for certain WMU. Disagree if population is healthy. Not so strong in either category. Would be just find if they did go into play. I can't believe this was only posted once. I love the "meat hunters". Nothing wrong with it, we eat tons of venison in my house; but I always ask this question. 1.5 year old great tasting doe standing next to a crappy tasting mature 12 point... you still shoot the doe? Not to mention the biggest bucks I've shot have been on the tails of the doe I let walk. Hold your finger off the trigger and there just might be a nice buck behind her. Very important point, and why if they ever did ARs I would not impose on hunter under the age of 20. someone is shooting your spikes... and they never get to big racks

lol. probably.

fair enough, although by the size of most americans i'm not sure you're right and I guess my point was that with some things, it doesn't seem to matter what you tell people. Look at all the smokers still out there. Knowing, they're killing themselves.

try to drive them into the ground. But now that i have a little more disposable income, plus a family I might trade in a little earlier than i used to. Mostly to upgrade safety and reliability. I do 90% of the work needed on my cars. Right now I have payments on 2 of the 4 and I cant wait to be without one again.

You need to educate yourself a little on deer biology. There are many "versions" of the whitetail. The north generally has bigger bodied deer than the south for obvious reasons. Although rack size does not generally change based on area. The giants in the midwest are mostly due to the large, large flat areas of food and decent rainfall. Not to mention the food type that influences antler growth. D&DH tv had a good show on this a few weeks back. They are also far enough north to grow big deer, but not so far that the deer cannot survive the harsh winters. In addition there is more undeveloped land for the giants to grow and hide in then states like NY. I have not lived, nor hunted in Iowa, but I imagine that there is not nearly the food plotting going on there that takes place in drier areas of the south.