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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 18:32:28 GMT -5
From your observation or experience, have most of the young and/or new hunters you know been taught how to actually hunt ?
A lot has changed over the last few decades. Back in the 1960"s and 1970's the Deer population was very low everywhere. Just to see a deer was rare on thousands of farms in each state. Sometimes you had to hunt for several days just to see 1 deer.
Because of this hunters had to learn how to find deer. They had to learn how to identify natural bedding areas, travel routes, and natural feeding areas. They had to learn how to identify pinch points, funnels etc. So hunters really learned woodsmanship.
However today it seems woodsmanship is quickly becoming a thing of the past. A lot or even most young and new hunters today learn how to hunt by simply hunting over a crop field, food plot, or bait (Depending on the State). A lot of young and new hunters simply get placed in a stand or box blind over a food source, then they simply take the deer of their choice.
It really seems they have missed out on all of the knowledge there is to learn when it comes to hunting.
What are your opinions ?
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Post by schoolmaster on Jan 28, 2015 20:06:09 GMT -5
That's the way it is shown on the hunting shows on TV. (hunting over a food source)I do not find anything wrong with this style of hunting. Now where you sit in order to intercept these deer at an optimum spot and why you sit there also takes some "woodsmanship" We hunt in one of the bottom 10 deer kill counties of Indiana. We have to learn to read deer sign, take advantage of natural terrain, and have an understanding of deer habits in order to get a good shot at a deer. We locate bedding areas, travel routes, funnels etc. just as big woods deer hunters do. Hunting farmland agricultural fields requires many of the same skill sets as the woodland hunter. The features are different looking than in the big woods. When we hunt on public ground in southern Indiana, we apply much of the same knowledge we have learned in our northern hunting areas. Following a blood trail, field dressing, and processing the deer we kill, also is part of deer hunting that doesn't change.
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Post by jjas on Jan 28, 2015 21:25:28 GMT -5
It's more about food plots and running cameras 24/7/365 for many hunters today.
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Post by windingwinds on Jan 28, 2015 23:31:34 GMT -5
Ha. I wish it was that easy. Been trying to get my sons in the path of a deer for a few years now. But between time constraints and just pure bad luck my kids have not shot but once at a deer (two years ago, a hunt that was messed up by a adult family member by the adult being greedy and prematurely firing). I guess maybe if we could bait they might've connected by now. There's more to hunting than shooting a deer.
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Post by shouldernuke on Jan 29, 2015 3:06:51 GMT -5
Yes ! They as a whole tend to know little and young in this case is not that young most 35ish or less hunters have little experience hunting without cams and food plots .Truth hurts em at times but its a fact of life .They have little as a whole woodsmanship skills they rely on trails at food plots and that's actually about it .I am jaw smacked at ths shimple where would hunt questions and hunting situations asked by many hunters today .As herds lower across the country so will those hunters success and they will either adapt or fall away .
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Post by chubwub on Jan 29, 2015 8:17:23 GMT -5
/shrug. Hard to say. I am pretty new to all of this but usually average seeing/finding a deer 50 percent of my hunts. I don't always connect with a shot but I at least seem to at least be able to find them and get pretty close to them at times. I'm finding deer hunting a lot more boring and less engaging as I get more into waterfowl.
I don't necessarily think all food plots and game cameras require "less" strategy but rather a different kind of strategic thought process as in "How can I create something to bring deer where I want them, and what can I do to make these deer come out in the daylight that I see on the camera at night?"
A poorly placed mineral site or food plot is useless and even planting things for deer still requires knowledge of natural food sources and what time of year they utilize them. For example, I know during a heavy snow to seek out multiflora rose bushes in my area and after a hard frost to hang around persimmon trees.
Fiance always said if anyone wants to become an excellent hunter they should take up turkey hunting and learn to stalk them. Most people young, old and new simply lack patience, which is needed no matter what you are hunting.
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Post by GS1 on Jan 29, 2015 10:01:24 GMT -5
It's all the camera and Foodplots fault. Being 35ish, I started hunting with my brother before we used either. It was much harder when we would hang a stand on a trail between a bedding and a feeding area.
Oh nevermind, I guess the only thing that has changed is that I plant some of the feeding areas now.
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Post by majyang on Jan 29, 2015 13:53:34 GMT -5
I see this as another generational "thing" where the older one highlights how the younger has got it so much easier than the previous. My guess is when the 35ish crowd are 60ish they'll pointing out how they used to have to actually use tractors to plant food plots and how they had to actually use their ATV's to drag out deers. Not like nowadays (in the future) where scouting is done on the couch using drones equipped with heat sensors and dragging out deers consist of calling in for an airlift. All kidding aside, i think the answer is us, (those that value woodsmanship) need to share it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 19:44:34 GMT -5
Some good post.
I have noticed here in Kentucky where baiting is allowed, that it seems most young hunters are just placed in a stand over a bait pile. A lot of hunters here take big bucks every year over bait, what is interesting is many of them really don't know how to hunt very well. They just climb into a tree stand over a bait pile and take nice bucks about every year.
That seems to be the only way many of them have ever hunted. It makes me wonder if they really would know how to hunt if they couldn't use bait.
When it comes to Indiana. I think a young person that grows up exclusively hunting over fields, where 20 deer feed every evening, is much different than a young person who grows up hunting in the Hoosier National Forest, or an area with big woods and more natural habitat.
The young hunter in the Hoosier National Forest would probably have to learn more about how to find natural feeding, and bedding areas, as well as how to identify natural food sources.
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Post by schoolmaster on Jan 31, 2015 20:42:35 GMT -5
"where 20 deer feed every evening" Its pretty obvious you haven't hunted in Blackford county.
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Post by sakorifle on Feb 1, 2015 7:45:12 GMT -5
Greetings There is no right and wrong way to hunt, every piece of ground needs to be hunted differently, Some areas one needs to sit for hours, that is a skill, another area one needs to stalk, that is a skill, A good hunter has learned and is proficient at them all. Probably one of the most difficult things to learn a young person is patience because without it any hunt is doomed before it starts. That is my view anyway. Regards Billy.
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Post by nfalls116 on Feb 1, 2015 10:02:56 GMT -5
To be honest deer hunting is to easy I'm not out killing trophy deer by any means but they aren't my target so to speak I am into little smooth headed deer for ease of dragging out and ease of chewing I'm sure that we have evolved to hunt the way our game has evolved to eat planted fields
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Post by schoolmaster on Feb 1, 2015 11:12:41 GMT -5
Billy I couldn't agree more.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2015 14:04:31 GMT -5
Greetings There is no right and wrong way to hunt, every piece of ground needs to be hunted differently, Some areas one needs to sit for hours, that is a skill, another area one needs to stalk, that is a skill, A good hunter has learned and is proficient at them all. Probably one of the most difficult things to learn a young person is patience because without it any hunt is doomed before it starts. That is my view anyway. Regards Billy. I agree, a good hunter should be able to hunt in various different ways. That is what is slowly disappearing in America with a lot of hunters. They are only learning how to hunt one way which is directly over bait, food plots, or a crop field. Many today are not learning how to hunt different areas in different ways.
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Post by beermanbrian on Feb 7, 2015 14:21:00 GMT -5
Yes ! They as a whole tend to know little and young in this case is not that young most 35ish or less hunters have little experience hunting without cams and food plots .Truth hurts em at times but its a fact of life .They have little as a whole woodsmanship skills they rely on trails at food plots and that's actually about it .I am jaw smacked at ths shimple where would hunt questions and hunting situations asked by many hunters today .As herds lower across the country so will those hunters success and they will either adapt or fall away .
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Post by beermanbrian on Feb 7, 2015 14:24:30 GMT -5
Nice generalization shoulder. I'm 36. I own 2 trail cams bought in the last 3 years. I've never put in a food plot. I grew up hitting the woods with my father as I'm sure you did. There are a lot of 35ish hunters just like me. Don't base your thoughts on my generation based off what you see on TV. You're only as old as you sound.
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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 7, 2015 14:49:59 GMT -5
Nice generalization shoulder. I'm 36. I own 2 trail cams bought in the last 3 years. I've never put in a food plot. I grew up hitting the woods with my father as I'm sure you did. There are a lot of 35ish hunters just like me. Don't base your thoughts on my generation based off what you see on TV. You're only as old as you sound. Yep...pretty broad brush he paints with.... .
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Post by chubwub on Feb 8, 2015 9:49:43 GMT -5
Oh well. I like to make fun of all old people and the way they do things so I guess it's only fair that they get to fight back. Bucks in decline always have a hard time backing down from a sparring with those forkhorns lol.
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Post by shouldernuke on Feb 8, 2015 10:28:24 GMT -5
Nice generalization shoulder. I'm 36. I own 2 trail cams bought in the last 3 years. I've never put in a food plot. I grew up hitting the woods with my father as I'm sure you did. There are a lot of 35ish hunters just like me. Don't base your thoughts on my generation based off what you see on TV. You're only as old as you sound. Yep...pretty broad brush he paints with.... . Honestly most the state is covered in smallish broken wood lots and crop fields .Most newer/hunger hunters I have met either hunt on planted food plots or field edges or just inside them .Truth is most don't know how to stalk or still hunt and most have no clue what terrain does to deer hunting and deer or let alone hunt a big forest deer do .I have seen it over and over they walk in a hundred or two hundred yards and set up on the first deer trail they find or first set of rubs or scrapes without any thought as to where are they coming and going and why are they there to begin with. A prime example is the guy that made the TV news this season who got lost in Brown country and they had to search for him and he ended up 24 miles from where he started .Woodsmanship is lacking in many /most deer hunters in our state. Lets be real most Indiana is not exactly conducive to lots of woods lore here .FYI The guy fell right in that age class as do most with simple questions and horror I got lost of busted every few hunts by deer stories. Heck most guys don't even know how to skin or maybe process their own deer and that is sad .In the past 10 years I have had to help at least 4 hunters skin and cape their buck for a mount !!! Come on its not all that tuff and they still don't do it . Yes I am cynical or jaded in how I see or perceive many hunters but people keep that way in general especially with their posts I see on these web sites . Hiding it or not saying it don't make it true it makes them feel better but they never realize they need to learn or get better at what they do or simply just do not know woods lore.I mean really if deer hunters in general had lots of woods lore would 3/4 of them never kill a deer per year If it were not for this one fact even in the best years for deer hunting here we never got any higher than that percentage .If we had or were carrying a big percentage number I would fully agree with you .I just can not at this time . That's all I need to point to here in our state .Don't forget around half of our hunters grace a field edge near you two days a year !!!Nuff said in that last statement I think . Sorry it is what it is I am no Daniel Boone but I sure know what deer do as I have made it my business to know and I sure as heck know how to read a compass or can look at the sky and know what direction is what and remember where I walked in at or know how deer travel in hard terrain .I mean I have seen many Midwest hunters go out west or up north to hunt the big woods actually get scared just yards in when they had all confidence in the world before the sun rose the first day .Just saying .
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Post by greghopper on Feb 8, 2015 11:19:29 GMT -5
Yep...pretty broad brush he paints with.... . Honestly most the state is covered in smallish broken wood lots and crop fields .Most newer/hunger hunters I have met either hunt on planted food plots or field edges or just inside them . Truth is most don't know how to stalk or still hunt and most have no clue what terrain does or big forest deer do .I have seen it over and over they walk in a hundred or two hundred yards and set up on the first deer trail they find or first set of rubs or scrapes without any thought as to where are they coming and going and why are they there to begin with.
A prime example is the guy that made the TV news this season who got lost in Brown country and they had o search for him and he ended up 24 miles from where he started .Woodsmanship is lacking in many /most deer hunters in our state. Lets be real most Indiana is not exactly conducive to lots of woods lore here .FYI The guy fell right in that age class as do most with simple questions and horror I got lost of busted every few hunts by deer stories. Heck most guys don't even know how to skin or maybe process their own deer and that is sad .In the past 10 years I have had to help at least 4 hunters skin and cape their buck for a mount !!! Come on its not all that tuff and they still don't do it .
Yes I am cynical or jaded in how I see or perceive many hunters but people keep that way in general especially with their posts I see on these web sites . Hiding it or not saying it don't make it true .I mean really if deer hunters in general had lots of woods lore would 3/4 of them never kill a deer per year That's all I need to point to here in our state .Don't forget around half of our hunters grace a field edge near you two days a year !!!Nuff said in that last statement I think . Sorry it is what it is I am no denial boon but I know what deer do as I have made it my business to know and I sure as heck know how to read a compass or can look at the sky and know what direction is what and remember where I walked in at . Your way over thinking what other may KNOW and are EDUCATED to.....in all realty your pretty much on the borderline of Discriminating towards a younger group for false reasons.....IMO
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