A Changing Tide?

[mbVT]

I don't know if its who I'm reading/interacting with of late or if there really is a swing, but I get a sense that some of the sensibility is coming back to the hunting world- a change I'm in favor of.

As part of that, I found an older essay, written in 1996, that captures some of that essence. The author, Ted Kerasote, wrote one of my favorite books, Bloodties.

I think it's worth a read: https://www.kerasote.com/essays/RestoringOlderKnowledge.pdf

 

[JDK]

I agree with this 100%

Second, de-emphasize the recordbook and the pursuit of trophies forthe trophy’s sake. This is not to saythat animals will no longer be admiredand that taxidermists need be put outof business. Rather, we would stopvaluing animals by so many inches ofhorn or antler. I would also suggestthat if records must be kept as a wayof honoring animals, only animals arelisted, not hunters. In addition, huntersmight initiate a completely new formof record keeping, one that honoredthe greatest amount of wildlife habitatconserved.

 

[VtPalmaShooter]

I'd like to think there's a swing but I think you're right, it's who we choose to interact with. I do a little MZ hunting in N.H. and belong to a N.H. Facebook group. My goodness, the further south in N.H. you go the worse it seems to get. Stolen trail cams and tree stands, no respect for other hunters, etc, etc. I know that happens here in Vt. as well but certainly not on the scale as elsewhere. Just about everyone hunting in Vt. now has been thru a Hunter Safety Course, that may have helped a little, and with fewer deer than back 20-30 years ago, many of our "problems" are now hunting elsewhere and to call them hunters is probably incorrect. If you're right, lets hope it continues.

 

[NH Hunter]

As long as there's money and mans ego involved, it ain't ever coming back. I've reached a point where I just don't give a damn any longer either.

I was reading some archived threads in here from when I first joined this forum in 2010. I realized I'm going on 9 years of pissing, moaning, arguing , pissing off members, being pissed off by members, being wrong, being right and so one...... All for what? What a waste of 9 friggin years. (Well.....other then some really good reading of hunting reports. I have to admit there's a half dozen members reports I truly enjoy.)

I've volunteered to be on fish and game club boards, attended hearings, taken time away from my family to attend wildlife federation board meetings, raised money for clubs, helped with fishing derbies, chaired deer and turkey pools for our local club, sent in money to organizations, but at the end of the day, it hasn't changed a damn thing, and was a massive waste of time.

We will eat our own, and not care until it's too late. We have members on this board that see non landowners that dare walk on another persons land as a piece of shit although they are fellow hunters. Accusing them of being "entitled" or hinting at them being lazy, "not willing to make the sacrifices that it takes to buy your own piece of land". And those are the people that are suppose to be on our side??!!! I've personally had people accuse me of being anti firearm, or an anti hunter because I don't fall in march step with the text book "all or nothing" or my favorite " give them an inch they'll take a mile".

I have no more energy or desire to give a rats ass about the inch or the mile any longer. I avoid conversation with other hunters now. I literally just left a poker game where a player next to me asked " how'd your season go?". I told him I missed a big buck, had a great time, but ate tag soup. No story, no details, just wanted to change the subject, but wanted to be polite so I asked him "you?" Where I was then engaged in listening to a 10 minute story about a "clown" who "messed the entire area up walking around, and he and his neighbor will both be posting their combined 210 acres and planting food plots." Great...... card dead, and having to listen to that...... talk about torture for me. The difference between now and 9 years ago? Back then I would have been pissed that acres were being taken away from hunters, that it may cause the loss of another hunter or a dad not taking a kid. Now I selfishly am just pissed I have to listen to that conversation for god only knows how many times now. And the bitch of it..... the guy is a super nice guy.

It is what it is, it's never coming back..... shit maybe it was never here. I don't know........ but my days of engaging in debate or defending management practices, fish and game depts for their work, where or how money should be spent, antler restrictions, doe days, posting, leasing, scorable inches, food plots, baiting, feeding, or any other form or talk about hunting is over. I'm going dark on the entire content, and just doing me.

 

[longbow]

I was then engaged in listening to a 10 minute story about a "clown" who "messed the entire area up walking around, and he and his neighbor will both be posting their combined 210 acres and planting food plots." Great...... card dead, and having to listen to that...... talk about torture for me.

.

Did he know it was you?

Your good deeds and work has not gone unnoticed, I am sure. Keep up the fight.

 

[NH Hunter]

Did he know it was you?

Your good deeds and work has not gone unnoticed, I am sure. Keep up the fight.

Nah.... wasn't me.

I'm not even kidding. I'm done, don't give a shit. I could keep fighting the anti hunters, but truthfully..... most of the fighting or defending has been against/with our own. I'll buy my licenses, that's where my support starts and ends. Terms like "friends family and the outdoors", "you're in hunting country", "The brotherhood" is only a catchy phrase that was to pull at peoples good will so they would pull their wallets out.

 

[outdoorsman]

As long as there's money and mans ego involved, it ain't ever coming back. I've reached a point where I just don't give a damn any longer either.

I was reading some archived threads in here from when I first joined this forum in 2010. I realized I'm going on 9 years of pissing, moaning, arguing , pissing off members, being pissed off by members, being wrong, being right and so one...... All for what? What a waste of 9 friggin years. (Well.....other then some really good reading of hunting reports. I have to admit there's a half dozen members reports I truly enjoy.)

I've volunteered to be on fish and game club boards, attended hearings, taken time away from my family to attend wildlife federation board meetings, raised money for clubs, helped with fishing derbies, chaired deer and turkey pools for our local club, sent in money to organizations, but at the end of the day, it hasn't changed a damn thing, and was a massive waste of time.

We will eat our own, and not care until it's too late. We have members on this board that see non landowners that dare walk on another persons land as a piece of shit although they are fellow hunters. Accusing them of being "entitled" or hinting at them being lazy, "not willing to make the sacrifices that it takes to buy your own piece of land". And those are the people that are suppose to be on our side??!!! I've personally had people accuse me of being anti firearm, or an anti hunter because I don't fall in march step with the text book "all or nothing" or my favorite " give them an inch they'll take a mile".

I have no more energy or desire to give a rats ass about the inch or the mile any longer. I avoid conversation with other hunters now. I literally just left a poker game where a player next to me asked " how'd your season go?". I told him I missed a big buck, had a great time, but ate tag soup. No story, no details, just wanted to change the subject, but wanted to be polite so I asked him "you?" Where I was then engaged in listening to a 10 minute story about a "clown" who "messed the entire area up walking around, and he and his neighbor will both be posting their combined 210 acres and planting food plots." Great...... card dead, and having to listen to that...... talk about torture for me. The difference between now and 9 years ago? Back then I would have been pissed that acres were being taken away from hunters, that it may cause the loss of another hunter or a dad not taking a kid. Now I selfishly am just pissed I have to listen to that conversation for god only knows how many times now. And the bitch of it..... the guy is a super nice guy.

It is what it is, it's never coming back..... shit maybe it was never here. I don't know........ but my days of engaging in debate or defending management practices, fish and game depts for their work, where or how money should be spent, antler restrictions, doe days, posting, leasing, scorable inches, food plots, baiting, feeding, or any other form or talk about hunting is over. I'm going dark on the entire content, and just doing me.

I’d take a strong swig of the nights drink and let it go in one ear and out the other. ...it happens...

 

[Grandkid]

I got to agree. Now a days some hunters are into a competition to see who get the most tags filled and not doing it for the right reason. Posting your kill on Facebook is not what it's about. There are some great hunters on this site and we would do well to understand their love of the sport. Read their seasons experience with family and friends and take it for what it is. (Thanks to all of you who have and continue to share) It's not a race to see who gets the first or most or biggest. Fill your tag for the satisfaction that you did the hard work and collected a deer or several for the consumption by your family or whoever you should choose. Whether it sports large antlers or weighs 200 pounds does not matter in the end. I congratulate the hunter that can be modest when having a discussion on how their season went. It's not about one upping your fellow hunters to have bragging rights. In my opinion its about doing the best you can to satisfy your desire to fulfill your need to be a successful deer hunter and to pass that desire onto your young ones. I have.....to my son and daughter and now I will do the best I can with my grandchildren.

Roger-

 

[JDK]

You guys really want to blow a gasket, watch some of the archery specific shows from the midwest.

 

[ihunt]

You guys really want to blow a gasket, watch some of the archery specific shows from the midwest.

True Story! I can't watch any hunting show nowadays without blowing a gasket!

 

[NH Hunter]

You guys really want to blow a gasket, watch some of the archery specific shows from the midwest.

I can't watch anything archery specific...... They make it out as if they are doing something special hunting with today's equipment. There is no other means of hunting that has reaped the advancement of technology more then the archery community. Starting with how much faster todays bows are, broad heads that fly like field points, lighter vanes, carbon fiber shafts, advancement it mobil tree stands, range finders, etc. Yet they try to act or conduct themselves as though they are using equipment they purchases from a Sioux Indian Tepee sale. Friggin joke...... and have I ever mentioned how much I love the term given to gun hunters by them "orange army"??!!! It instantly makes me see red, and makes me want to throat punch them.

 

[Mainewoods]

You guys really want to blow a gasket, watch some of the archery specific shows from the midwest.

Only thing I’ll watch is Meateater. The rest just mostly suck.

 

[outdoorsman]

There are some great YouTube videos that outline my kind of hunting and purpose. Most notable is Leatherwood Outdoors and Rodney Elmer & Mountain Deer Taxidermy.

 

[JDK]

Sadly, I spent a portion of last Sunday watching a few shows on Roku. I had to shut them off. I got sick and tired and actually embarrassed by (and I really wish I were making these up):

"Smoked em".. No you didn't you gut shot him
"I apologize that I'm using a muzzle loader rather than a bow."
"We looked for a 1/2 hour and couldn't find him." 1/2 hour huhhh.
"It is only a <insert doe,smaller buck, or whatever>." So you killed something at your pleasure and it is "only." Take up another sport.
"My hunt was ruined by another hunter on public land." Really????

I also could not get over the number of deer wounded and not recovered. I know it happens but the complete nonchalance of it happening was sickening. I watched one guy gut shoot a deer and not get it, back leg shoot a deer and not get it, and miss a deer. He then killed a buck and proclaimed it was a "great season." I watched a young kid stick an arrow in a buck and then shoot it later in the season. He was narrating it like he was proud. Watched another shoot a buck and not find it until the following summer. Kept the antlers and said it was a great day.


I bring this up to go along with mbvt's post. Sadly, this is what hunting has become. Every idiot with a camera is making videos. How and what other people hunt is their business but I fear we have lost sight of why we hunt.

 

[longbow]

I find a lot of the "personalities" annoying, but mostly watch just to see the big bucks walking around.

And I agree that a lot of these shows do not portray hunters in a favorable light. There are certain aspects of hunting that should not be broadcast to the masses.

 

[Mainewoods]

There's currently seasons 5-7 of Meateater on Netflix, that's like 48 episodes and so far they are all good. I like to watch the good and bad of hunting and fishing, not just the successful hunts, or whens some idiots says "there's my target buck".

Who knows if the tide is changing, but there is definitely a whole generation that thinks success is only about shooting an animal and putting it on social media. And shooting that said animal takes posted property, food plots, and all sorts of useless gadgets. Life is too short to worry about what I cannot change.

 

[Mikejd]

You really need to remember what they are. They are TV shows. Made up personalities in order to make a living doing something they love. I am not a big fan of any show other then meat eater. But it cant be easy to make show after show about hunting. I bet everybody on here has seen the Benoit videos If they were not about the benoits you would consider them lousy. Not much going on in those videos.and I used to actually hate the Tbone charachter on Bonecollector. Then I started watching him on you tube tuning bows and such and thats when I realized that Tbone was just a charachter.

 

[802-603hunter]

Only thing I’ll watch is Meateater. The rest just mostly suck.

When we are on long drives and my 5 year old son asks how much longer, I have to describe it in terms of how many Meateater episodes it would be. For instance, 45 minutes away from camp is two episodes of Meateater. He loves that show.

 

[Mountain Hunter]

I got to agree. Now a days some hunters are into a competition to see who get the most tags filled and not doing it for the right reason. Posting your kill on Facebook is not what it's about. There are some great hunters on this site and we would do well to understand their love of the sport. Read their seasons experience with family and friends and take it for what it is. (Thanks to all of you who have and continue to share) It's not a race to see who gets the first or most or biggest. Fill your tag for the satisfaction that you did the hard work and collected a deer or several for the consumption by your family or whoever you should choose. Whether it sports large antlers or weighs 200 pounds does not matter in the end. I congratulate the hunter that can be modest when having a discussion on how their season went. It's not about one upping your fellow hunters to have bragging rights. In my opinion its about doing the best you can to satisfy your desire to fulfill your need to be a successful deer hunter and to pass that desire onto your young ones. I have.....to my son and daughter and now I will do the best I can with my grandchildren.

Roger-

I think you hit the nail on the head. I agree with everything you wrote.

 

[JDK]

There are a lot of real @#&%heads out there and you can't regulate smarts. The same people who buy a ice fishing flasher from LL Bean, and then return it for a rod in the spring, and a coat in the fall are the ones who are hunting now.

Conversely you have the hunters who have to do it their way or you aren't a hunter also ruining the sport. I love the guys that buy an old farm here, post it, and then hunt every one else's land.

the participation trophy generation has come of age. We reap what we sow.