steve863

Good for you, but as was pointed out in the other thread a whole mess of 1.5 year old are still getting shot so all these AR supporters may not be practicing what they are preaching. Besides, if AR supporters are the more avid hunters, who spend way more time in the field than than the weekend warriors who may or may not even get to shoot any deer, then the AR supporters might actually be the ones who are killing the majority of these 1.5 year olds. I don't care how many of these guys claim they won't shoot at small deer, I think the majority of them WOULD when it comes down to getting a deer or eating a tag. Waiting for next year is a long time for most people, and I would think most especially for the hunters who plant food plots, set up cameras, etc. all in order to kill that big deer they seem to be so obsessed with. I'd just like to see these guys explain to there hunting friends why they didn't kill a deer on the land they put so much time, money and effort in, when many of the friends got their deer with way less effort! BS'ing your way thru it can only get you so far in my honest opinion.

Very good point. For all these guys who say they don't shoot small bucks, I bet a good percentage (majority) of them don't get to see that big buck and then end up taking the 1.5 year old, thus the statistics are remaining the same even with all these alleged AR supporter out there!! For all their pontificating, they don't like coming home with nothing just like anyone else! LOL The only difference between us and them is that they BS us the whole way thru, while the rest of us are just happy with anything that we bring to bag! What hunter would you suspect is the more content one? I think the answer is pretty easy.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me! Would they let you keep a small trailer on the land all year round? I guess one could use the land even in the summer for camping with family or target shooting, right?

Culver this is a really good link. If I were ever to lose the land I hunt on, this would definitely be something to consider. It would surely be a further drive for me, but it would sure beat state land you have to share with whom knows who. How is the deer hunting in this area?

Ted Nugent. I would like to ask him directly why he thinks his antics are good for hunting and hunters? The only other famous hunter whose opinion I would value is long dead. His name is Theodore Roosevelt. All other famous hunters have done NOTHING compared to him in regards to the natural world. Most especially, the Nugents, Barta's and Jordan's of the modern world!!

The biggest reason was because I had an opportunity to take a deer of either sex in my WMU with it. Doe permits weren't being given out for a couple of years and are still not a sure thing, so if I don't get one, I will be out hunting for a doe with the muzzleloader instead after the regular season.

I bought one of these about 3 years ago. Shoots pretty darned good for such a cheap gun. Probably as good as guns costing a whole lot more. The trigger is crisp and it seems to weigh 10 pounds less than my uncles T/C Encore. Have only hunted 2 days with it so far and haven't had a deer in it's sights. I think I will spend a little more time hunting with it this year.

What I find most amusing in these silly shows is when the hunter makes the shot and turns to the camera and can barely get any words out because they are breathing so heavily. They look like they are about to go into cardiac arrest. Heck, if I was in such a state of delirium and had such compromised vital signs after I shoot, I think I'd want paramedics parked a few hundred yards from my stand. LOL!

Believe me, I have a pretty tough skin. Takes lots more than that to offend me and it surely won't happen on something like a talk forum. All I'm saying is that I will shoot only at things I intend to eat these days. If others want to shoot at things that are legal to shoot at without any intentions on eating these critters, there isn't much that I can do about it. Everyone makes a choice for themselves.

Really? He hunts with a longbow with no modern crap on it and makes his own arrows. There is a big difference between longbows and compounds(I like to call them modern bows and not primitive). With that kind of bow you have to feel for shooting a lot more. He shows failure in chasing game more times than succeeding. I actually could care less about any of these hunting characters. Barta or any of the others could decide to hunt with loin cloth and run barefoot across the Alaskan tundra, I wouldn't think too much more of them. I prefer my own hunting experiences and those of friends and relatives over what I might see on TV.

So, how do you feel about those that do hunt woodchucks, crows or anything else they don't intend to eat? Are they living in their "bloodthirsty days"? ....... : Maybe those people that trap and take animals that they don't eat are bloodthirsty too? I suppose those that give away their venison are probably also just exercizing their blood lust with their hunting. They obviously are not hunting because they like the meat. How do you feel about those people? .... just curious. No seriously, I do support your highly evolved sensitivity, and appreciate the fact that such attitudes fit well with this century's political correctness. A few more of us could use a little more of that kind of enlightenment. Maybe next year I will adopt the more tender-hearted attitude and give up predator hunting. I'm no darned good at it anyway, and there is no way that I'm going to start gnawing on some coyote's leg. Doc Look, shooting woodchuck, crows, coyotes in season is legal as far as I know, so nowhere did I call for a ban on such hunting. If I had the itch to simply shoot at things, I myself would rather shoot at paper targets or tin cans than destroy these creatures that I will have little use of after I walk over to see them dead on the ground. Call me politically correct, or any snide remark you want to make, but that is how I approach things these days.

Friend or no friend that guy still has to pay taxes on the land you were using for free. Exactly, that is why I pay him gladly and don't complain. That is also why I stated that MONEY will get you access before anything else will. The handshakes, offering to help with chores, and blueberry pies won't get you very far these days, that's for darned sure!

I guess I don't watch enough of these hunting shows, but the ones I have seen have been nothing to write home about. Some of the hosts were downright embarrassments and almost make me ashamed to be a hunter. Ted Nugent has to be my least favorite by far. Tred Barta got a couple of votes here, but all I ever saw on his show was him flinging arrows at ranges he probably shouldn't have been. I don't know how this could present him as an ethical hunter?

I surely ain't calling you a redneck, Culver. I have no problem with anyone eating bear, woodchuck, etc. Anything can be eaten if one wants. However, I myself have no desire to eat a bear, thus I am not about to shoot one. Just me I guess, but I just don't find eating them very appetizing nor do I care for a bear hide that would simply collect dust in my house. Maybe there are people out there who would buy them, but I don't think I would have too many potential buyers throwing money at me for them where I live. Even the several deer I had mounted in my younger day I have either given away or pay little attention to on the wall.

In the eyes of the law, that would be deemed as self defense and NOT murder. And by the way, they could be quite tasty if marinated properly. LOL

As per countless threads across many hunting forums over the years that have asked about the reasons for hunting, I have found "meat" is actually a long ways down the list. Even among those that really like venison, that particular reason for hunting is still a long way down the list. If you ask the same question of a woodchuck hunter, "meat" moves even farther down the list. If you ask a predator hunter, it moves even farther down the list. If you ask a crow hunter, it generally drops off the list entirely. And of course the guy that goes to the dump to shoot rats, well ....... I'm thinking that if meat was the only reason that I hunt, I would probably be hunting black angus in a barnyard somewhere ..... lol. I hope we never get to the point where the only justification for hunting is food. That's one argument that I won't even pretend to support. Doc That is why I don't shoot woodchucks, crows, or anything else I don't intend to eat. Won't say that I never have, but surely don't anymore. My bloodthirsty days are behind me. I even had an opportunity to kill a bear last season and chose not to because I surely wouldn't want to eat it no matter what people say how good the meat can be, so I had NO other reason to kill it. So you don't need to support or even believe the argument, but others may live by it.

That about says it in my opinion! Not that it isn't possible finding land to hunt, but in most cases if land is of any suitable size and has some deer on it, it most likely already has people hunting it who don't want company or willing to give it to someone else. Once in a while someone lucks out knowing a friend of a friend who owns some land that he doesn't use or something, but that is pretty rare and getting rarer all the time. If someone really wants to know what the surefire way to get private land to hunt is, they have to realize it's MONEY. Show someone some money and you might get somewhere. Not that I like this idea, or am promoting it, or that it's good for hunting in general, but that IS the reality in todays world. Being friendly, wearing nice clothes and having a winning smile only gets you so far. I have been lucky enough to have a friend with a good amount of property. For several years he was more than happy to let me hunt just because we were friends. Of course reality set in eventually and he realized that he could make a buck off his land so he asked me if I am willing to pay him some money for the use of his land. What I pay him is surely within reason for the enjoyment I get from his property, but again, friend or NO friend, the handshake thing is becoming a thing of the past!

You are 100% correct here! I have heard a good many hunters say that they don't even like venison. I myself would find it hard to justify hunting if I didn't like or eat the meat. Sure, there is a bit of a thrill when one bags something, but killing for no real good reason doesn't sit too well with me. I know I'd get plenty of arguments, but hunting for antlers is also not a good enough reason for me. The older I get, the more strongly I believe in this!

Why is it funnier to you when someone says he hunts for meat in comparison to any other reason for hunting? Is it any less funny when someone hunts for a set of antlers?? I doubt anyone would give you anywhere near $600 for even an impressive looking rack. The reason we ALL hunt is because we like to. Nothing wrong with saying that some meat is ones major objective. I tell you, you can keep your grade A angus, I surely prefer venison over it. Sure the costs add up, but as I said, we are doing something we want to and like, and typically any hobby or pastime can cost money. Besides, I don't see free ranging venison being sold at my local supermarket for any amount of money. Sure it can be found in specialty markets, but in general it surely ain't the same product as the one a hunter brings home. In my opinion there is absolutely nothing wrong saying that one likes to hunt first and foremost for some tasty venison.

Boy, after reading this thread I'm sure glad I don't ride one! Much safer on my own two feet and way better for my health also!!

I honestly believe any commercially available round made by a major manufacturer in the appropriate deer calibers will kill a deer. Maybe the premium stuff will give you a bit more accuracy, but in general they won't kill a deer any deader than the cheaper stuff. The premium bullets are really not necessary for the relatively small whitetails we have in NY or worth double the cost that some go for. I have honestly had MORE instant drop kills with the cheaper ammo than the premium rounds. The premium rounds are more solidly constructed to go thru thicker and bigger animals so they tend to zip thru the smaller whitetails we have in NY and expand less than the cheaper ammo. You will no doubt have a dead animal with either round if you make a good shot, but from my experience deer tends to travel more after the shot with premium ammo than the quicker expanding cheap stuff. In some heavily hunted areas it is better to have an animal drop sooner than later for various reasons.

Doc, you are probably right, but there are some characters out there like the guy from that NYC sportsman club in the old forum who kept telling us how he needed to educate us for not supporting AR's. He loved to talk down to us like we were some sort of illiterate yahoos. He obviously had no use for any of us. Well, maybe he ought to now read the PA report and get a bit of an education himself! LOL

Well, the AR supporters are probably not looking at it from an angle that it would reduce the number of hunters in the field directly, BUT a good many of them look down their noses at anyone who doesn't support AR's, so I'm sure they would prefer that these hunters who don't think the same way they do would just step aside and somehow disappear. AR's were proposed in the unit I hunt last year and it was basically because of some little known sportsman clubs in the area that somehow took the initiative to speak for everyone else who hunts in the unit. No one ever asked me my opinion, that is for sure. I did write the DEC of my thoughts once I found out that AR's were on the table. I have NO doubt that the AR proponents would prefer that people like myself didn't take a stance, so that they could get their way. Tough noogans for them, though!

I will take the first legal buck that I happen to see. Antlers don't mean a thing to me anymore. Much prefer to have some meat in the freezer. Besides, the area I hunt doesn't exactly hold deer in great numbers. You pass up a buck, you may not get to see another one. Most especially when one hunts the first few days of the gun season and then only the weekends after that. If one lives close to the area they hunt, maybe they can be more selective, but for the people who have limited hunting time, any buck should be a shooter buck.

Because there are some hunters out there who want less hunters out hunting. Their thinking is that with less hunters there will be more deer for themselves and more land available. It's not like greed doesn't rear it's ugly head in the hunting world also.