Hunting: I don't get it

[mctowalot]

I've seen some videos online where they hunt feral hogs from a helicopter and it looks like a lot of fun. Those little pigs can run awfully fast so I would imagine it takes considerable skill to hit one while flying. Now I know there are folks who feel helicopter hunting is unfair so to even things out IMHO they should equip the hogs with jetpacks.
When I suggested this to my friend he said, "when pigs fly!" - and I said, "exactly!"

[chabouk]

Deer breeding programs don't just turn them loose in the woods. They're sold to high-fence private game hunting farms, where people pay huge bucks to get a "trophy" deer.

I used to feel the same way: I'm not a hunter, although I love venison and would like to get started. I couldn't understand how people claimed to be "hunting" when they sat in a blind 50 yard from a corn feeder with a guaranteed kill (maybe not their choice of kill, but definitely an opportunity to kill a deer). How can they call that "hunting"?

Then I realized what a change there had been since my childhood. When I was a kid, deer season was three days long, bucks only, that's it. Hunting over bait or crops was strictly prohibited. Hunters got one tag, and only about one in three or four filled their tag. Seeing a deer in the wild or along the roadside was a memorable event to be recounted at the coffee shop over and over.

Contrast that to today's deer population: suburban and even urban pests, vermin who wipe out both hedge and headlights with maddening regularity. They're thick as rats in a silo.

You're right: it's not hunting any more, it's harvesting. It's killing deer to put in the freezer, and they're deer that need killing.

Eighty years ago, it's estimated that the whitetail population was about 300,000 in the entire U.S. When I was a kid 30 years ago, it might have been a couple of million. Today, it's estimated that 30,000,000 whitetail deer are living in the U.S.

The British call field hunting "stalking", to distinguish it from still hunting over a plot. That still takes place with lots of North American game: elk, moose, bighorn sheep, etc. Even turkey hunting, which mostly takes place from a blind, is more "stalking" because you have to know where the turkeys are going to be, and set up there.

For deer, and especially for feral pigs, you can throw "sporting" right out the window. The goal isn't to go mano-a-mano with the wily beasts of the forest, it's to kill as many of them as possible and put them in the freezer. Nothing wrong with that, it just means adjusting your world-view a bit.

[The Annoyed Man]

I've been deer hunting once since getting to Texas, and it was done from a blind with feeders in use in both locations I hunted. The blinds were 150 and 135 yards out from the feeders — not 50 yards. Another blind on the lease is 225 yards from the feeder. I got skunked both times and never did get a deer. It was also a lot more rigorous (at least for me) than I thought it would be. Sitting motionless hunched over a rifle for hours at a time in a freezing box blind is hard to do. Even with a heavy jacket on, I was cold to the bone. And it should be noted that I passed up several shots on turkeys and coyotes where I had them dead to rights in the cross-hairs, because I was afraid that taking the shot might scare off any inbound deer. The friend who invited me along to his lease was hunting a different spot on the lease from a tripod hidden by a tree, and he took a small doe that morning.

The evening before, I had two does come angling in to the feeder 150 yards out and then they heard something, or smelled me, who knows... but they suddenly turned and bolted before I could get a shot off. So maybe it didn't take the skill of stalking, but it was a fairly hard thing to do for a guy in my physical condition. I wouldn't hesitate to go do it again if invited, but I just can't afford a lease of my own at this time. My friend who brought me along that time figured out that he pays about $147.00/lb of venison each year.



As to hogs, I will gladly shoot them from any position, by any means. They are the orcs of the animal world. Plus, I like pork.

My dream is to be able to buy a couple of hundred acres somewhere sometime in the future, where I can build a small house. I would retire there and hunt the odd deer once in a while; and sit around and swap lies the rest of the time.

[Target1911]

There are many predators in the wild that use lures to hunt their prey......snapping turtles and some fish just to name a couple.

I dont see what the big fuss is bout using a feeder and blind on private/leased land.

[chabouk]

I've been deer hunting once since getting to Texas, and it was done from a blind with feeders in use in both locations I hunted. The blinds were 150 and 135 yards out from the feeders — not 50 yards. Another blind on the lease is 225 yards from the feeder.

Texas is a big place with lots of geographical diversity. In this corner of the state, there's no such thing as a clear shot at 150 yards, unless you're aiming down a highway.

[puma guy]

Since they is very little public land in Texas most deer hunters pay land owners for the privilege of hunting. There are many methods of hunting; stand/blinds with and without feeeders being very prevalent. Still hunting is another method I use but I wait near the trails used by the deer and I may use a call and rattle with antlers. Does that make it unfair? I use a stand with feeders at challenging ranges sometimes. It's not as cut and dried and it may seem believe me.

One only has to watch nature to realize predators in the wild use methods other than stalking. Watering holes as an attractant while they lie in wait in the bush is popoular. Ever watch an alligator or crocodile "sneak" up on a victim? Even plants lure their victims with smells and food. In nature the least amount of effort for the greatest return is a common theme. Humans are the ultimate predator and some say the most intelligent.

With out hunters there would be no bison, deer populations would be a tiny fraction of what they are and the wild turkey would probably be extinct. Do some research on where funding for wildlife management and habitat comes from. Hunters/shooters/anglers!!!! Not just from license fees. In 1937 a group of sportsmen concerened about the dwindling wildlife gathered to brainstorm solutions. One of the recommendations was a TAX. In the middle of the depression, sportsmen recommended a 10% tax on themselves for the purchase of firearms and ammuntion. The Pittman-Robertson Act did just that. That tax was increased to 11% again at the recommendation of sportsmen and was eventually extended to fishing, archery and handgun ammuntion sales. Oh and guess what. The guys were smart enough to outfox the politicians by making it illegal to divert the funds to any thing other than wildlife management , research and habitat procurement. (The Clinton Administartion tried to change that but dropped the effort as a result of complaints). So anyone who may not want to hunt is still able to enjoy our abundant wildlife (the money also buys/funds preserves where there is no hunting) because some guys like to hunt species that they ensure will be around for generations to come.

[marksiwel]

Since they is very little public land in Texas most deer hunters pay land owners for the privilege of hunting. There are many methods of hunting; stand/blinds with and without feeeders being very prevalent. Still hunting is another method I use but I wait near the trails used by the deer and I may use a call and rattle with antlers. Does that make it unfair? I use a stand with feeders at challenging ranges sometimes. It's not as cut and dried and it may seem believe me.

One only has to watch nature to realize predators in the wild use methods other than stalking. Watering holes as an attractant while they lie in wait in the bush is popoular. Ever watch an alligator or crocodile "sneak" up on a victim? Even plants lure their victims with smells and food. In nature the least amount of effort for the greatest return is a common theme. Humans are the ultimate predator and some say the most intelligent.

With out hunters there would be no bison, deer populations would be a tiny fraction of what they are and the wild turkey would probably be extinct. Do some research on where funding for wildlife management and habitat comes from. Hunters/shooters/anglers!!!! Not just from license fees. In 1937 a group of sportsmen concerened about the dwindling wildlife gathered to brainstorm solutions. One of the recommendations was a TAX. In the middle of the depression, sportsmen recommended a 10% tax on themselves for the purchase of firearms and ammuntion. The Pittman-Robertson Act did just that. That tax was increased to 11% again at the recommendation of sportsmen and was eventually extended to fishing, archery and handgun ammuntion sales. Oh and guess what. The guys were smart enough to outfox the politicians by making it illegal to divert the funds to any thing other than wildlife management , research and habitat procurement. (The Clinton Administartion tried to change that but dropped the effort as a result of complaints). So anyone who may not want to hunt is still able to enjoy our abundant wildlife (the money also buys/funds preserves where there is no hunting) because some guys like to hunt species that they ensure will be around for generations to come.

Are you saying Taxes have a place within Society?
Grab the Pitch Forks! He's a communist!

[JJVP]

Edited to fix the dreaded There / Their / They're mistake...

Thanks for that. One of my pet peeves.

[Dan20703]

My dream is to be able to buy a couple of hundred acres somewhere sometime in the future, where I can build a small house. I would retire there and hunt the odd deer once in a while; and sit around and swap lies the rest of the time.

You are not the only person with that dream!

[karl]

Interesting, that does sound a bit more interesting than I've been led to believe. Thanks for the input.

[puma guy]

Edited to fix the dreaded There / Their / They're mistake...

Thanks for that. One of my pet peeves.

I just read my post and found several grammatical errors, beginning with "Since they is", I was chastised on a different thread for pointing out that inmates in prisons in positions of trust are trustees, not trustys or trusties. Trusty needs an object since it's an adjective. i.e. I relied on my trusty trustees to paint the cells of the non-trusty offenders. Trustie isn't even a word as far as I know.
I am prone to err myself since from time to time I was in a comma in English class. (I know it's coma!) I woke up every once AND a while. Does that anoy you? It does me, every once in a while. I just read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and it was almost completely void of apostrophes in the contractions. Commas and apostrophes are related aren't they? I will try to do better. The Deers are not affected by poor grammar, fortunately.

[marksiwel]

aside from the Grammar hectoring this has been a very informative thread.

[puma guy]

aside from the Grammar hectoring this has been a very informative thread.

Funnily stated!

[The Annoyed Man]

I've been deer hunting once since getting to Texas, and it was done from a blind with feeders in use in both locations I hunted. The blinds were 150 and 135 yards out from the feeders — not 50 yards. Another blind on the lease is 225 yards from the feeder.

Texas is a big place with lots of geographical diversity. In this corner of the state, there's no such thing as a clear shot at 150 yards, unless you're aiming down a highway.

Yeah, I've heard about that, and on the one part of the lease where my friend bagged his doe the same time I got skunked, the distance from stand to feeder is only about 90 yards, and it is a heavily treed area. The 135 and 225 yard shooting lanes are located along a pipeline/utility cut through an otherwise densely forested area of oak and cedar, so the distance from blind to feeder is open, while the feeders are located near one edge of the cut, and the stands are hidden along the opposite edge of the cut. The terrain is hilly, so the distances on that cut are limited by the ridge lines rather than the trees. The furthest object I could see from the one blind was an old white dead tree trunk located at the top of the opposite ridge I was facing, which I lased at 229 yards even though the feeder itself was "only" 135 yards out. If you were hunting through the trees, I doubt that you would have unobstructed views of longer than 20 yards or so.

In that 90 yard shooting lane, my buddy primarily uses a nicely put together AR15. On the 225 yard lane, he uses a .264 magnum. Me? I brought along a Remington 700 in .308 on that trip. The next time I go, I'm going to bring along my M1A too for the fun factor.