Is technology helping or hurting the hunt.

[cdbing]

Is texting and keeping up with social media or even just technology helping or hurting the hunt?

 

By that I mean both the experience of being in the woods and in pursuit of game and the actual taking of the game.

 

For example, on opening day I was triple checking the distance of a tree when i failed to notice a spike sneak up behind me. Now i admit that tree had not moved and was still 22 yards away, but I am kind of anal retentive that way. Fact is I've been busy texting and had deer sneak up on me. But sharing has become part of the hunting experience for me. What are your thoughts?

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

 

[BowmanMike]

It is both good and bad. If i am on a stand and constantly scanning the area,my eyes will start playing tricks on me. I think it is good to take a break once in a while. I used to just close my eyes for a bit before i had a smartphone.

Now i post nonsense on the live from the woods thread.

Deer have a real talent sneaking up,even of you are paying attention. Looking in the opposite direction and poof a deer is 15 yds from the stand in the other.

[Jeremy K]

The fact that you kept checking the same tree for yardage has nothing to with technology and it's effect on hunting. 

[rob-c]

Our new lease has no cell service and we got on it late so I hung no trail cameras. I have to say I am kind of enjoying going old school this year. 

[JRod 8G8H]

Both. This is my 6th or 7th year bowhunting and it's really hard. I've learned to get back to the basics and drop some of the tech. Been rattling and calling bucks in. Sat on the ground yesterday and had a bachelor group of 3 bucks at about 8 or 9 yds but none shooters. They had no idea i was there because I've been studying their movements combined with the landscape and wind. The tech that i do utilize the most are GPS maps and topography maps that are on all of our phones now, and of course trail cams..

[philoshop]

I would never intentionally ruin a day in the woods with a cell phone. Then again, I didn't grow up with a cell phone surgically attached to my hand either. I know how to live without it. I carry one in the woods for emergencies. We used to use CB radios, but that generally entailed making it back to your vehicle. Could be difficult if you're bleeding to death from a chainsaw wound. The last time I used a cell phone in the woods was when my mother was passing a kidney stone. She couldn't get in touch with my Dad and called me. I called her an ambulance. Technology is okay, sometimes.

20 minutes ago, rob-c said:

Our new lease has no cell service and we got on it late so I hung no trail cameras. I have to say I am kind of enjoying going old school this year. 

Old school is cool. You'll learn a lot more about what the deer will teach you if you stop looking at their pictures and start looking at how they actually live.  Break out the old walkie-talkies just to keep in touch!

[moog5050]

While being focused to spot deer is important no doubt, I do like the social aspect of being able to text with your buddies.  Could I miss an opportunity - yep.  So one needs to be careful but I still take the risk.  It keeps me occupied when I start getting bored which means more time in the stand.

[Fletch]

To tell the truth I could not sit on stand for hours on end without a distraction. Before cellphones I would pack a paperback book to read. I would read a page, scan, read a page... I am sure it has made me miss some deer sneaking in but as it keeps me a lot stiller and in the woods longer it has also gained me some deer. I am a lot more alert during peak times or when the woods are wet and quiet. Those potato chip leaves days I can hear a deer long before I can see it!

 

Also before cell phones I hunted the ADKS and bigger parcels so I would sit the peak am and pm but be still hunting in between. All my close spots now are small and I do not blow them out still hunting them.

[ApexerER]

I was never able to sit very long. I would get antsy and move to another place and then just end up walking around. I love being in the woods and seeing them wake up but staring at the same trees for hours gets old for me. I started bringing a book to read and that kept my attention. Read a paragraph or even a few sentences and look up and scan, go back to reading etc. Now I do the same with my phone. Have deer snuck in on me....yes but if I wasn't keeping myself occupied I probably wouldn't have been there to see them. I try to focus for the first hours in the morning and the last hour at night and I have all I can do to do that. 

[ApexerER]

1 minute ago, Fletch said:

To tell the truth I could not sit on stand for hours on end without a distraction. Before cellphones I would pack a paperback book to read. I would read a page, scan, read a page... I am sure it has made me miss some deer sneaking in but as it keeps me a lot stiller and in the woods longer it has also gained me some deer. I am a lot more alert during peak times or when the woods are wet and quiet. Those potato chip leaves days I can hear a deer long before I can see it!

 

Also before cell phones I hunted the ADKS and bigger parcels so I would sit the peak am and pm but be still hunting in between. All my close spots now are small and I do not blow them out still hunting them.

Ha, was posting basically the same thing the same time as you....

[Fletch]

2 minutes ago, ApexerER said:

Ha, was posting basically the same thing the same time as you....

Great minds...…..lol

[rob-c]

19 minutes ago, philoshop said:

I would never intentionally ruin a day in the woods with a cell phone. Then again, I didn't grow up with a cell phone surgically attached to my hand either. I know how to live without it. I carry one in the woods for emergencies. We used to use CB radios, but that generally entailed making it back to your vehicle. Could be difficult if you're bleeding to death from a chainsaw wound. The last time I used a cell phone in the woods was when my mother was passing a kidney stone. She couldn't get in touch with my Dad and called me. I called her an ambulance. Technology is okay, sometimes.

Old school is cool. You'll learn a lot more about what the deer will teach you if you stop looking at their pictures and start looking at how they actually live.  Break out the old walkie-talkies just to keep in touch!

I agree, I myself did not grow up with cell phone either.heck I didn’t get a smart phone till about 6  or so years ago. In the 30 + years that I have been hunting I did used to bring a book to read in slow times, and now I use my phone. I don’t think that my phone has ever cost me a shot, I still scan the woods as I did with my book . It is nice having the ability to text each other that your all set and safe when climbing into the stands, and when it’s time to climb down etc. 

Its funny you mention the walk talkies,  I did dig them back out after years and years of sitting in a box. I think the thing I like the most is it takes me back to when I was younger and the simpler times of deer hunting when my dad was alive and there were no electronics. 

[Jeremy K]

My brother and I used to find a channel that guys were using on those little hand held walkie talkie and start talking about coming back at night with a spot light and other illegal activities . Some of them took the bait.

[Robhuntandfish]

while in the woods hunting i rarely check this site or use the phone other than texting another buddy out hunting.  I dont want the distraction and part of hunting for me is the getting away from it all.  But i do like the technology of being able to text buddies that i am hunting with. I dont think having it hurts hunting at all.  I enjoy hunting even more being able to share and read stories on this site , but i still do that after i am done with a sit.  

[dbHunterNY]

i think it's still fine with one exception. everyone has the biggest bucks in the area of otherwise at their finger tips. it's hard to swallow when your season's slow and you're trying to grasp your own standards are from season to season. confirmable news of a particular buck kill can spread very fast now. there's been seasons where practically all the deer i know of and are after have hit the dirt and my drive is a bit less. shouldn't be that way but it is.  i feel the mystery is what could be out there is gone at times.

[Cabin Fever]

Like others have said, it helps keep me in the stand longer, which is hard to do when you're not seeing anything. Just hearing that others are seeing activity is encouragement to stay in the stand. I also like to keep in touch with my son, especially when he's out hunting by himself on a mountain 1 1/2hrs away and no one else knows that he's out or where to find him if anything should happen. 

Have I ever been texting, looked up and saw a deer walking by? Sure. Would I never do it again? Yes. BUT, I've also had the same thing happen while eating a snack/lunch, closing my eyes for a few minutes, taking a leak, etc... It's just part of the hunt! 

[DirtTime]

Still trying to find a way to take a 50" TV and DVD player with full surround sound in so I can watch movies. 

[Merlot]

Just having 2-way radios is enough tech for me. I head to the woods to get away from most tech stuff, except the walkie talkies.

[turkeyfeathers]

6 minutes ago, Merlot said:

Just having 2-way radios is enough tech for me. I head to the woods to get away from most tech stuff, except the walkie talkies.

If your hunting by yourself that ain't no fun

[Moho81]

I'm the same as a bunch of other posters here, I need the distraction. When I was real young it was an am/fm radio in one ear. Then it was books and now its a combination of books and the phone. With out books and the phone I could only last a few hours in the stand and not the full day sits I do during the early part of the regular season. I also like to take naps in the woods when everything is real quiet so i'm sure i've missed a bunch of deer sneaking by and honestly it doesn't matter to me. 

I also think it helps as well. Between 2 way radios and phones our group has given the heads up on many deer headed one way or another that we where able to prep for before they even got close.  Just 2 years ago I had a a nice buck cruise past me headed for a ditch that my buddy was sitting on the other side of. I sent off a text and 20 min later the bucked popped out 70 yards away from him. He was ready for him and the buck never stood a chance. Without the heads up the buck might have sneaked past unnoticed as it was an odd direction of travel in this particular area. 

[Daveboone]

At one time, high tech was our gang using portable CB radios to keep in touch....then we went to hands free radios. I quickly ditched em. I was out to hunt, not chat, and on several occ. playing with the toys caused me to miss opportunities. I can appreciate a cell phone from the safety stand point when alone, but there is no service where I hunt. And I consider a phone ….a phone. NO games, toys, books, etc. I absolutely see more and enjoy my time more without the junk. Exception....when bear hunting, and I am sitting from early afternoon until sometimes well after dark, I have a book in my phone. Most of the junk they have out there does nothing in the long run in my opinion to help the hunt except make more dollars for the retailer. All the toys just give some hunters more excuses on why things didn't go right. Younger folks have become acclimated to having constant stimulation...like having a constant caffeine buzz, so likewise, they (and many of us older folks) are becoming addicted to the need for stimulation. 

[Dom]

1 hour ago, Rob... said:

Still trying to find a way to take a 50" TV and DVD player with full surround sound in so I can watch movies. 

Solar powered box blind

[wolc123]

Both:  It cost us some venison last year, when a buddy texted me that he had a buck down.  He always gives us most of the deer he kills on our place.  Had he used that finger on his trigger for a second shot last fall, rather than his smart-phone, our freezer would have been in better shape at the end of the season and we would not be down to just one pack of grind left in the there right now.   I do like having my flip-phone, up on the edge of the Adirondack park, at the in-laws place.  Before I start gutting, I give my father-in-law a call, and he is usually there (or as close as he can get) with his ATV by the time I finish the job.   When it has been in deep, he has carried my gun and gear out, while I dragged the carcass.    

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I'm the same as a bunch of other posters here, I need the distraction. When I was real young it was an am/fm radio in one ear. Then it was books and now its a combination of books and the phone. With out books and the phone I could only last a few hours in the stand and not the full day sits I do during the early part of the regular season. I also like to take naps in the woods when everything is real quiet so i'm sure i've missed a bunch of deer sneaking by and honestly it doesn't matter to me. 
I also think it helps as well. Between 2 way radios and phones our group has given the heads up on many deer headed one way or another that we where able to prep for before they even got close.  Just 2 years ago I had a a nice buck cruise past me headed for a ditch that my buddy was sitting on the other side of. I sent off a text and 20 min later the bucked popped out 70 yards away from him. He was ready for him and the buck never stood a chance. Without the heads up the buck might have sneaked past unnoticed as it was an odd direction of travel in this particular area. 

Hence the issue of fair chase? Fine line no doubt but a line.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jdubs]

You guys do what you want, but my hands stay in the muff!