Personal deer hunting limits

[Doc]

Do you all have certain personal limits where you say, "This is no longer hunting". I am referring to hunting or technological assists that feel like they go beyond "fair chase". So many things come into my mind. Where do you draw lines when deer hunting?

[Moho81]

One for me that comes to mind is I could never be roaming around the house, spot a deer in the back yard grab the rifle and shoot it. To me personally that's not hunting that's grocery shopping at best and not "fair chase". I need to be in the woods actively hunting. 

[Tughill Tamer]

For me one thing is hunting deer with dogs. I never even really thought it was much of a thing until my Son's moved to NC. I guess it's kinda common down there and legal. I tell him that's cheating and I personally have no desire to take place in that. I don't know maybe it's just because I was born and raised hunting here in the north.

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[First-light]

The whole bait thing would not sit right with me. Just like hunting with dogs if you grew up doing it, it's your way. I just can't see pulling the trigger on a deer munching on a pile of corn. This debate could go on and on JMO. 

[Tughill Tamer]

The whole bait thing would not sit right with me. Just like hunting with dogs if you grew up doing it, it's your way. I just can't see pulling the trigger on a deer munching on a pile of corn. This debate could go on and on JMO. 

I can't agree with you more. I have hunted in NC with my son with bait piles not far away. It's pretty much the standard way they hunt down there. Its definitely not my preferred way to hunt but it meant getting to hunt with my son which I seldom do anymore so that trumped everything else. I told him I'm not interested in going on any dog hunts.

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[First-light]

25 minutes ago, Tughill Tamer said:

I can't agree with you more. I have hunted in NC with my son with bait piles not far away. It's pretty much the standard way they hunt down there. Its definitely not my preferred way to hunt but it meant getting to hunt with my son which I seldom do anymore so that trumped everything else. I told him I'm not interested in going on any dog hunts.

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Important that you got to hunt with your son! My Neighbor next door has family in Maryland and you are allowed to bait and shoot a ton of deer. I always get invited but never go. Just not my thing. 

[Daveboone]

When we are up to camp, any deer seen in the yard/neighbors yard are off limits. They are visitors. When I was hunting in Georgia a bunch of years ago, some of the guys there talked about using dogs (legally). They hunted huge tracks of swamp land, which was pretty much inaccessible, so dogs were allowed to move them out. Ok, I get it. But they had one hell of a lot of deer down there, with amazing bag limits. Not my game, but it is thier neighborhood so ok by me.

High fence/pay hunts. Nope. Not a hunt. Its a shoot. I have no need to have an engineered freak on my wall. I will be happy with what nature intended them to be. It may take more time given the size of the area, but if you are paying, you are shooting

[Four Seasons]

Drones used for anything more then head count of a property or locating a wounded animal. 

[Northcountryman]

Shooting deer from your vehicle is also a big no-no IMHO.  I dont mind speed scouting in the truck, now , but that is the limit. Also, shooting deer in the yard.

[Cory]

Spotlighting and shooting from the truck. You are a poacher and should never be allowed to hunt again. As far as baiting with corn piles it’s the same as hunting food plots and such.

[wolc123]

I once killed a button buck from my bedroom window, 2 minutes from the end of ML season.  That didn’t feel much different to me than the 8-pointer, that I killed from a tree stand out back, at almost the exact same time last year.  He had just stepped into a food plot but was not eating when I shot him.  
 

 I did have a little (33 minutes) more time until the end last year (thanks to the recent rule change on start/stop time) and a little more cushion on the setback distance from buildings owned by others.

 

[landtracdeerhunter]

1 hour ago, wolc123 said:

I once killed a button buck from my bedroom window, 2 minutes from the end of ML season.  That didn’t feel much different to me than the 8-pointer, that I killed from a tree stand out back, at almost the exact same time last year.  He had just stepped into a food plot but was not eating when I shot him.  
 

 I did have a little (33 minutes) more time until the end last year (thanks to the recent rule change on start/stop time) and a little more cushion on the setback distance from buildings owned by others.

 

I knew of people that did that years ago in Cedar Swamp. 

[Doc]

I like to keep my hunting as natural as possible. What I mean by that is that I do not get involved in things that tend to program or condition deer to change their natural habits and movements in order to assist my ability to hunt them. I am referring to baiting, feeding, and constructing food plots. Yes I admit that in farm country deer movements are influenced by farmers, but that is a natural influence that I have not participated in creating. To me crop land is no different than a nice acorn bearing oak tree or a wild apple tree. It all is food sources that I had no part in placing there. Part of hunting is scouting and finding the existing food sources that the deer are using, but not creating them.

I am not into conditioning deer to train them to come to me. They have natural acts of feeding and bedding that I feel I should be able to observe and use as part of my hunting skills. If I can't do that and have to resort to influencing their movements then I feel that I am doing things that really have no business being a part of my hunting methods. I am into hunting deer, not training deer.

I know I am in the minority on these subjects, but they are just the limits that I personally put on my hunting to kind of even up the score a bit. This is not a criticism of those that have other opinions. It is just personal limits that I choose to put on my hunting.

[First-light]

3 hours ago, Doc said:

I like to keep my hunting as natural as possible. What I mean by that is that I do not get involved in things that tend to program or condition deer to change their natural habits and movements in order to assist my ability to hunt them. I am referring to baiting, feeding, and constructing food plots. Yes I admit that in farm country deer movements are influenced by farmers, but that is a natural influence that I have not participated in creating. To me crop land is no different than a nice acorn bearing oak tree or a wild apple tree. It all is food sources that I had no part in placing there. Part of hunting is scouting and finding the existing food sources that the deer are using, but not creating them.

I am not into conditioning deer to train them to come to me. They have natural acts of feeding and bedding that I feel I should be able to observe and use as part of my hunting skills. If I can't do that and have to resort to influencing their movements then I feel that I am doing things that really have no business being a part of my hunting methods. I am into hunting deer, not training deer.

I know I am in the minority on these subjects, but they are just the limits that I personally put on my hunting to kind of even up the score a bit. This is not a criticism of those that have other opinions. It is just personal limits that I choose to put on my hunting.

Doc I get what all you said but don't you think we change as hunters as we get older? I know I have. We lay down give back and ease off the trigger. Time flys by us and new ways to hunt or attract deer come about and we as the elders not frown upon it but just don't get it. It's the young generation that will never get what we had. I would take that any day of the week. Cold tent warm fire some grub and do it all over again to harvest a whitetail!

[Four Seasons]

54 minutes ago, First-light said:

Doc I get what all you said but don't you think we change as hunters as we get older? I know I have. We lay down give back and ease off the trigger. Time flys by us and new ways to hunt or attract deer come about and we as the elders not frown upon it but just don't get it. It's the young generation that will never get what we had. I would take that any day of the week. Cold tent warm fire some grub and do it all over again to harvest a whitetail!

Exactly. And when it comes to personal limits and taking hunting to the max I find and only kill mature bucks. Tough to try and Train a mature buck. 

[Doc]

13 hours ago, First-light said:

Doc I get what all you said but don't you think we change as hunters as we get older? I know I have. We lay down give back and ease off the trigger. Time flys by us and new ways to hunt or attract deer come about and we as the elders not frown upon it but just don't get it. It's the young generation that will never get what we had. I would take that any day of the week. Cold tent warm fire some grub and do it all over again to harvest a whitetail!

Like I said, my comments are not meant as a criticism of anybody's methods. They are just personal limits that I have put on my own hunting. I just hit 81 a few days back, so I understand what you are saying. But I have not revised those limits, although maybe I should have......lol.

[Northcountryman]

17 hours ago, Doc said:

I like to keep my hunting as natural as possible. What I mean by that is that I do not get involved in things that tend to program or condition deer to change their natural habits and movements in order to assist my ability to hunt them. I am referring to baiting, feeding, and constructing food plots. Yes I admit that in farm country deer movements are influenced by farmers, but that is a natural influence that I have not participated in creating. To me crop land is no different than a nice acorn bearing oak tree or a wild apple tree. It all is food sources that I had no part in placing there. Part of hunting is scouting and finding the existing food sources that the deer are using, but not creating them.

I am not into conditioning deer to train them to come to me. They have natural acts of feeding and bedding that I feel I should be able to observe and use as part of my hunting skills. If I can't do that and have to resort to influencing their movements then I feel that I am doing things that really have no business being a part of my hunting methods. I am into hunting deer, not training deer.

I know I am in the minority on these subjects, but they are just the limits that I personally put on my hunting to kind of even up the score a bit. This is not a criticism of those that have other opinions. It is just personal limits that I choose to put on my hunting.

Agree 100% with you and couldnt have stated it better myself! Question: you say you are against conditioning deer to alter their behavior in an effort to bring them toward you, right? How do you feel about employing the opposite approach? In other words, trying to push them away from you or redirect them towards others?

[Doc]

4 hours ago, Northcountryman said:

Agree 100% with you and couldn't have stated it better myself! Question: you say you are against conditioning deer to alter their behavior in an effort to bring them toward you, right? How do you feel about employing the opposite approach? In other words, trying to push them away from you or redirect them towards others?

I have participated in deer drives years ago, but have not been involved in drive in several decades. There were some episodes that kind of stretch the safety of the hunt. Also, since then, I started to feel that drives violated my limits regarding forcing deer to react contrary to their natural habits and inclinations. Of course in 90% of the gun hunting situations, deer sighting are a result of some other hunter pushing deer to my stand. That is something that can't be avoided. That is why I get so much more satisfaction out of my archery season than my gun season. With the bow it is more me against the deer without outside help or interference. Of course my archery experience started way back when seeing or even knowing another bowhunter was a rare event (even on state land.

But that is a great question.

[Doc]

17 hours ago, Doc said:

I have participated in deer drives years ago, but have not been involved in drive in several decades. There were some episodes that kind of stretch the safety of the hunt. Also, since then, I started to feel that drives violated my limits regarding forcing deer to react contrary to their natural habits and inclinations. Of course in 90% of the gun hunting situations, deer sighting are a result of some other hunter pushing deer to my stand. That is something that can't be avoided. That is why I get so much more satisfaction out of my archery season than my gun season. With the bow it is more me against the deer without outside help or interference. Of course my archery experience started way back when seeing or even knowing another bowhunter was a rare event (even on state land.

But that is a great question.

By the way, I remember that the drives were a lot of fun, but the challenge boiled down to simple target practice. The only ones who engaged in any challenge were the one's wo set up the drives. They had to know where the deer were likely to be and where their escape routes were and how to set up the standers so that they would be likely to get the shots without shooting each other. But we had fun doing it all. 

[Doc]

Remember that deal that someone tried to get going that was a hunting by computer fiasco? Now that was definitely something that I not only would never do, and would happily become an activist against.

And then there are the game farm hunts where penned animals are "hunted". I have a hard time calling some of those hunting. Yeah, those things step over the line and violate some of the limits that I place on my hunting.