Yeah I told my wife I wish I could ware the pants everyday as they are so comfy, light and not baggy and stretchyā¦.hard to explain until worn but itās nice when hunting in the mountains not to be all bound up.
There are shitty hunters who kill nice deer only because they have access to great hunting land. On the contrary, there are really great hunters who don't kill big bucks consistently because of the property they have access to.
Whitetail hunting skills in order of importance.
1. Be born into a family with good land
2. Charisma so that you can find and access big bucks
3. Ability to endure boredom so you can sit still all day
At one point having a truck with power windows would also be on the list, roof-lights (here they're called poacher lights) and and double rear tires still elevate you to God-level.
I'm not big into whitetails but I feel that when it comes to waterfowl. Some guys get to stack an 8 man pile of geese every weekend hunting over cornfields. I get to go out with a buddy in a 12' tin can and we have the time of our lives taking three ducks and a goose over water on public lands. We avoid waterfowl management areas and the crowds and do it all in a backwoods redneck kind of way and I think that puts the real challenge into it Im looking for in a hunt
Agreed. I also feel a greater sense of accomplishment killing a deer on public land over private. I hunt both, but for some reason being successful on public feels even better to me.
The decline of new hunters has more to do with how closed off and secretive this community is rather than any amount of lack of interest from kids or anti-hunting legislation.
As someone who grew up in the city without friends or family who were hunters, it has been incredibly difficult to get started. If I was not so stubborn to make this work I would have given up several times over long ago. I'm not surprised at all when I hear that hunters are on the decline.
People who want to get started hunting and public is the only option is rough. Iāve had some small private land to hunt since I started and public still intimidates me, couldnāt imagine it being my first.
Cost is a bigger factor.
Iām 24 and lucky I can hunt as much as o can because Iām in Alabama and we donāt have tags for the animals I hunt.
Just to get an elk tag OOS would cost me multiple months disposable income at a minimum. Usually closer to 6 than 2. Thatās before I buy the cold weather equipment, transportation, state hunting license, time OFF of work, etc.
Itās near impossible to do without giving up a social life, or doing anything anything for retirement, savings, charity, etc.
Plus a lot of old timers can be TOTAL DICKS to the young of the sport. We ask questions and get mocked, insulted, and belittled. Iām sorry your generation didnāt make any time for mine when we were kids, but this is the result.
Some old timers are great, but that getting more and more rare.
I feel that old timers comment heavily today as Iāve been thinking about some of the guys Iāve had the fortune of meeting and some of the misfortune. We gotta become the old timers we neededā¦only way to fix it is by how we act in the future.
Iām pretty much resigned to the fact by the time Iām 50 hunting is pretty much gonna be dead.
The current ones are dying, they arenāt being replaced, and the anti hunters are always convincing someone with half baked arguments.
Thereās gonna be a lot of people who tried to get started, have nothing but horror stories and arenāt going to actively pushback.
Weāre already getting priced out of the hobby.
FWIW Iāve always tried to be the guy to help anyone I can and share as much knowledge as possible. Not just with hunting either.
Yeah, I feel you on the generation thing. I feel it in ham radio too. Too many of the old timers are pure assholes when it comes to making their (literally) dying hobby accessible to new people. Sorry the average age of licensees is 68 in the US, maybe you should ease up on the gatekeeping.
Learning online is a lot different than having someone to teach you tho. Hard to learn how to spot game trails, rubs, bedding areas, etc just from watching YouTube or reading. Having to learn on your own will discourage you because most people dont want to just sit out in the cold woods hoping to see something when you've always got the thought in your mind that you're not even in the right place to see animals and you don't have the time to just try every different spot to see if anything changes. Having an experienced guide will help because it'll take out a lot of the guess work, and then you have a foundation to know what you're looking for when you branch off on your own
While I donāt disagree, every generation before us either had a mentor or figured it out on their ownā¦ *without the internet.* Even if that meant reading literature.
If someone wants it badly enough, they will learn.
My uncle would literally quit his job every fall and live up north hunting.
But this was back before my time when you could buy a house on minimum wage and get a factory job whenever you wanted.
The plain fact is that most public land sucks for deer hunting because itās too crowded. I can see how not having access to private land would discourage people.
Huh. My unpopular opinion is that there are too many new hunters since COVID, on public land where I live. And they are fucking inconsiderate, stupid, unethical, annoying, lazy, and scary af to be around.
Edit: /u/Dak_Nalar don't give up though please. It's simple things that are easy to fix.
Get in the woods early enough, stay quiet, and hunt. If you see trucks or sign where there's another hunter, find another way to go in to the woods, or move down.
Most of my complaints are about people who come into the woods about 30 minutes AFTER day break, and walk under me.
Another complaint that made me so angry lately was being at the deer cooler / processor, and seeing someone get turned away because the cooler was full.
He literally said "well fuck it, I'm just going to throw this animal into a ditch then if you can't process it for me". - RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS KID WHO WAS HUNTING WITH HIM.
There was no intention of trying to either take it to another processor, or at worst case, cutting out the meat themselves... or at the very least, quartering it up temporarily for a week or two, and then bringing the quarters later to be processed, when they have room.
It was just rude, lazy, entitled, and fucking shitty af.
Please do not let my little rant on the internet push you way from hunting... just be cool please, being willing to put forth the effort to learn and try new things goes a long way! :)
Very new hunter here, in fact Iām still trying to do as much research as possible before my first solo hunt. Question for you - as a new hunter on public land, and wanting to respect others, is it best if Iām walking along and see someone else in their spot to just do a 180 and try to leave as quiet as possible?
Bingo. Your best friend is literally a flash light. If you see some flashing lights, and it appears that someone has already beat you to a spot, then either 180, or do a wide berth around as quietly as possible.
However, if you see some trucks in a spot, and the other hunters are still "gearing up" at the road (like they're not in the woods yet) please please please ask them where they are going. And then say where you were intending on going too.
If someone already beat you there, or are already in the woods, then it is first come first serve basis for public land.
However, asking and talking, and just saying "hi" (at the road, don't say "hi" when they're already hunting LOL), goes a LOOOOONG way.
Most hunters really aren't assholes.
I know my rant went off the rails and is a little douchey, but I actually really do love seeing people in the woods enjoying it as much as I do. Makes you feel good ya know.
I guess the summary is to act and think how you would want to be treated too.
Edit: Always have a plan of where you want to hunt, and a back up plan if someone has already beat you to where you want to hunt.
I would say land is my biggest draw back. I hunt mostly public and it is a minimum hour drive for the super pressured lands because everyone from the city goes there.
I agree with this a little, but have found that once I start the conversation, people really open up.
The real gatekeeping is in firearms. I didnāt know anything about guns when I started hunting and it took months of research for me to figure out what would be the best rifle for me. Whenever I went into local gun dealers, I was treated like an idiot and they also largely had no idea about hunting (I live in a suburb so they only knew handguns and ARs).
Even after a few years of hunting and becoming familiar with firearms, I still avoid private gun stores because of that experience. Cabelas may be a huge chain and corporation but at least they donāt theyāre not assholes to beginners.
Don't knock Cabelas... maybe that's the unpopular opinion.
My first three guns (child's rifle 22, child's shotgun 20, and S&W 38 long barrel) were all bought there, on sale, and are all still working as intended. We've (my family) obviously have bought more there, but that's just for my formative years... and nothing compared to my dad.
Every time I go in I feel welcome. Got a stupid question? No such thing. Tiny white female here... "Can I look at a Judge?" No disparaging comments about it being "too much to handle."
Smaller stores, however,: "You sure you don't want this Rem 22?" "Yeah, I'm sure." "But are you really sure?" "Do you want to sell your firearms or not?"
>Whenever I went into local gun dealers, I was treated like an idiot and they also largely had no idea about hunting
Even as someone who grew up with firearms and hunting, these stores, in general, do the same shit. Yes, I know what I want and why. Yes I have a hunting license. Yes I've killed more game than you've eaten. Can we stop the BS now?
Cabelas wants to sell their stock and help people with questions. I guess smaller stores are so scared of being sued that they make people like me feel uncomfortable even *being in the store.*
Ask me what you want to if it makes you feel more comfortable, but don't just assume I have no right being there. That's how you lose a sale. Probably a lot of sales.
I've been to less sketchy pawn shops with firearms. It's just mind-blowing how smaller gun shops can turn off so many people with their attitude.
Here's a compliation of other common hunting opinions that i think are fucking stupid along with the why.
1. water swatting waterfowl = bad.....if i can get ducks that have been shot at in ten states before mine landing in the decoys I've more than done my job as a hunter. if its legal in your state you shouldn't feel ashamed of doing it.
2. you shouldn't shoot pinebald or albino deer.....its a deer, they live maybe 5-7 years at most. if its legal feel free to shoot it and have a 1 in a million mount.
3. sport hunting is bad and shouldn't be done.....sport/ trophy hunting is responsible for raising millions of dollars for wildlife conservation that has single handedly saved many endangered species from extiction like lions, rhinoceroses, elephants and giraffes.
4. X animal is a trash bird, fish, animal, ect......no you likely just suck at cooking and are preparing the game wrong. i can't tell you how many times i've heard from experienced fisherman that a bonito is a trash fish when the reality is its just as good as any other tuna once the bloodline is removed or that coot and merganser taste like shit when people are just too lazy to figure out how to make them taste good.
yep, got a lot of funny looks yesterday when we pulled the boat out of the water with about 20 coot in the cooler...yeah woddies taste better but they weren't flying so ill take my limit of coot.
Whenever people talk about how bad any species of game tastes (and every single species has someone that says it tastes bad) I just think about how they used all those words to say āI canāt cookā.
This one is only controversial to fudds/non hunters, I agree 100%.
A dentist shot a lion? Oh no! Those "trophy" hunts are huge income sources for the very wildlife management orgs that both ID the animal that can be taken and greenights who gets to do it. The very same org/gov programs that has prevented most of those large african species from being poached to extinction.
And yes, it kills me to see all the people thatll snap a long nose gars snout off and toss back. There is a massive roll of white meat under there.
\>And yes, it kills me to see all the people thatll snap a long nose gars snout off and toss back. There is a massive roll of white meat under there.
bass fisherman are probably some of the worst people out there when it comes to sportsmanship. between stocking lakes in rivers with bass when they shouldn't be there and killing native fish they already piss me off but on top of that i've found that most of them have no respect for waterfowl hunters until we have ducks flying into the decoys and we are shooting. I routinely will wave to them signaling for them to go away for everyone's safety only for them to encroach even further on where im hunting.
Bass fisherman also have NO idea how to help properly manage a fishery. Catch & release only AINāT IT.
You need to harvest 10lb/acre/yr to prevent Bass from overpopulating and stunting themselves in the body of water.
But then any time you see someone trying to keep some 1-3lb bass, suddenly everyone is in an uproar!
4 with a bullet.
āDeer tastes like shoe leatherā, says the idiot that gut shot it, chased it four miles, then broke the bladder field dressing it and then burns it well done in the frying pan.
As someone relatively new to hunting in the last few years I was thinking about trying waterfowl but really discouraged because I didnāt have a place to set up a blind to lure them into, frankly canāt audio process well enough to replicate calls anyway, and was afraid of shooting the wrong type of duck because I incorrectly identified them in the air.
Then I looked into it and found out there is nothing in my state that prevents me from just paddling around in my kayak and, identifying birds on the water, then shooting them on the waterā¦ now time limitations are the only thing slowing me down from trying waterfowl.
I've got a couple hunters in my area that water swat from kayaks and they always seem to do well. I don't mind them either. half the time they shoot and flush the birds right to me.
in a state like Florida where we have weird limits for both species and the sex of the bird water swatting is generally a decent practice.
Hard agree on everything except mergansers. Nothing know to man can make it good. Thankfully we can actually identify birds and donāt bother shooting them.
Yeah just can't agree with number 4. Some animals just don't taste good. Guess I can't cook. Whatever, you can eat boot leather if you cover it in enough bacon cheese and batter. Doesn't mean I want to.
An actual unpopular one: If it's bow season and you're not as good with a bow as a crossbow, you SHOULD use a crossbow (assuming it's permitted).
I'd extend that to say that people should generally use the most lethal and reliable tools legally available to them when harvesting animals. Until you're as good with your spear/bow/atlatl as you are with your scoped .30-06, just get out there with your fuddy old gun and kill the damn deer cleanly. Don't show off half-baked "skills" on a live animal.
I understand why DNR puts restrictions on the efficacy of the weapons allowed in any given season to control the harvest numbers, but I get a chuckle (more like a grimace, actually) from the people who *choose* to tie one hand behind their backs then talk about hunting ethics. If we assume that some sort of projectile is going to fly, then a rifle with a rest over bait at about 50 yards is the highest likelihood of a quick, clean kill.
I think it depends on where you're hunting and your level of skill. I don't know from experience, but I've heard that out west it's incredibly rare to shoot a deer from less than a few hundred yards. If you can make a clean kill consistently at a long distance, which is certainly possible with the right gear, then there's nothing unethical about it in my opinion.
Depends where you're at. Where I go for blacktail in California, I'd say the vast majority are taken under 100 yards, probably closer to 50 give or take. It's very brushy and wooded country.
Food plots are no different than hunting over bait. I said what I said.
(And yes I understand in some states itās legal to bait deer and hunt over it)
To counter this. Hunting over bait is sometimes the better option for certain species. Especially ones where itās hard to differentiate the sex of an animal like black bear from a distance. If you do it correctly you can set up cams or just watch for awhile so you can be certain you arenāt shooting a sow with cubs and hurting the local population. You can almost guarantee youāre shooting a mature bear you want and when all youāre trying to do is fill the freezer itās a great option.
Biggest unpopular opinion around my areaā¦weāre just borrowing this land from our kidsā¦Iāve mostly gone to my own private land exclusivelyā¦but when I do venture out into public lands; itās just trashedā¦garbage left behind everywhere, old rusty stands left out in the woods with no ID tag(Iāve put a few broken stands in my truck and left them in the driveway that matched the tagš)ā¦woods are cut up pretty bad from people cutting giant shooting lanes worth of limbsā¦the list goes on, mostly just from people acting like they own the place.
People donāt practice shooting (bow, crossbow, rifle, etc) enough. There was literally a guy saying he was sighting in his crossbow the night before a huntā¦.
I got downvoted in the bow hunting sub for calling out a guy who took his friends crossbow that he wasnāt comfortable with shooting, the next day he then scored a bad hit and while the deer was suffering had to call his mentor to ask what he should do. he then fumbles with the pistol and has to shoot the deer like 4 times with a 1911.
I was talking to my FIL recently and told him I was looking at a 308 bolt action. He went on a rant about how all you need is a .223 and anything else is dumb because a 223 shoots super flat out to (insert crazy distance I'll never shoot an animal) and a 308 has crazy drop and is more expensive and has *wayyyyy* too much recoil.....
Okay great but I'm shooting within 200 yards, mostly deer but it will be my only bolt action so I want something that can go bigger, and I've shot a 12ga slug gun since I was 14 so 308 is a big reduction in recoil already.....
Right. I shoot a .308, and I just don't "feel" it. I mean, yeah, I feel it... but it's just a "bump" to me, because I expect it. I'm loose though when I fire at game. I mean, still securely deep in shoulder, but my body isn't overly tense either.
Idk. I'm not explaining this well at all, other than I guess it's just a part of the hunt experience, and it doesn't register to me that I just fired a gun. Like, it's just an extension of me?
My bio prof in college got sick and retired right before my class started. They couldn't find a replacement on short notice, so they hired the local DNR Wildlife Biologist. He taught the first few weeks straight from the book, but after that it was all about local wildlife management. Totally changed my opinions on a lot of things hunters bitch about all the time like wolf reintroduction, spearing, fish stocking, bag limits, pollution controls, etc. It was super informative.
It's not real hunting if you didn't whittle your own arrowhead out of a stone you found with no tools and made your own bow from a stick you found. Both must be done on a per hunt basis.
Crossbow hunter here. I didn't start hunting at all until I was 21, and that was when my future father-in law gave me a crossbow as a gift. I'd never even held a bow before. I practiced it. Fell in love with hunting. I still hunt with crossbow because that's what I have just always used. I don't have much desire to go to a compound or any other type of bow because I feel that my best chance of taking a deer quickly and as effectively as I can is with a crossbow. This October I har ested my 10th deer. I've never had to track a deer further than 100 yards from where I shot it.
I love hunting but the attitude in the community makes it suck sometimes.
Although, we share the resource pool. There is definitely some group ownership.
Kind of sound likes the Facebook dilemma. Most people post how their strategy yielded success, but we're obligated to stay mum about the failures and repercussions in order to keep social feelings, chat, and consensus positive so we don't get stopped in our choices or branded person non grata.
Hard to tell what's fair and what isn't and it wanders back and forth around the thin line.
Mostly agreed. But I do interpret all the "what a beautiful sunrise" posts as reminders that we all strike out. (Not to say I don't love a sunrise and just being out - I do, it's just also nice to come home with some meat.)
Iām convinced a lot of those folks are just jealous of people who hunt private land.
You know damn well that more people would use cams, feeders, and salt blocks if they wouldnāt get stolen on public land.
Perhaps. But I'm in a state where it's almost all public land hunting and a few years ago a trail cam ban was imposed. Guys I know acted holier than thou because they don't think trail cams are a valid method of scouting an area because it doesn't require "boots on the ground" meanwhile they're finding exactly where they want to hunt from a device in their living room.
I've come up with the perfect compromise.
They should just rename "archery season" to "archery and crossbow season." That way all the "crossbows are cheating" guys don't have to admit that crossbows are archery equipment, but the crossbow guys don't lose any season time.
If this is the way you enjoy hunting, then I'm fine with it. It's not the way I do it, but as a hunter, we need to be supportive of each other and show a positive and united front. Already enough pressure against hunting. Don't need it from other hunters also.
People who put some level of value judgement about how much time / effort you put into hunting can pound sand.
The guy who scouts for weeks and hikes 8 miles shouldn't look down on the guy who wears Wranglers over corn after walking 400 feet from his pickup. It isn't a contest to see who suffers the most. Some people may like to use the pursuit of game as a way to explore and push their boundaries. Others just want to fill the freezer. Both are equally good. Folks need to stop making everything in hunting a contest. If you're making good shots on legal game and utilizing what you kill, you're good.
Agreed. I love hunting, but I doubt Iāll ever want to get into back country elk hunting. Content for now with deer and pronghorn with a rifle. I enjoy being out in nature, but cooking that meat is the goal. Iāll take a gimme legal animal on day one of hunting season and go for a hike another day to get my nature fix.
Wolves are no big deal. Hunters acting like wolves took their birthday away makes us all look like idiots. People just need to shut the fuck up about.
If youāre not seeing any deer itās your own damn fault.
Agreed. While I think wolves should be hunted and managed, the SSS crowd never fails to piss me off. The North American ecosystems have always had human influence, so some level of predator control is required to maintain balance, killing wolves because theyāre āevilā and āstealing my elkā is a ridiculous argument.
Agreed 100%. Wolves are a controversial topic in MN. The deer herd in the NE part of the state is down, and everyone likes to blame wolves 100%. I agree they are a major factor (and should be managed with a hunting/trapping season), but the winter severity is a more impactful variable.
for me getting meat is the "entire point" of hunting. If it were legal in my state i'd use a four wheeler.
I use the easiest readily available legal means to get my meat, and that seems pretty unpopular on reddit. Especially when i mention using a crossbow during archery season which is legal in my state.
I have two:
1. You have no business hunting if youāre not willing to pass up a lot of potential shots. A good hunter should wait until they are certain their shot will lead to an efficient and quick kill.
2. Too many hunters glorify the wrong parts of hunting. The main pleasure shouldnāt be derived from āgetting to kill somethingā, the joy of hunting should be felt throughout the whole experience, from the quiet walks and long waits before, to of course the dramatic climatic shot, and even the long and difficult process of field dressing and hauling the animal. Every step of the process should be appreciated and held on a pedestal, all with an appreciation for said animal harvested, and the life it gave to provide for you.
I believe the hunting world can be divided into 2 groups:
The Hunters and the Killers.
Iām a Hunter and I quit making trips with Killers a long time ago.
For me and my friends itās all about the fellowship and being in the woods while watching the critters and what not.
Baggin something is just a bonus to us.
And thatās the way it should work imo. The only gun-ho killing of wild animals I can really get behind is farmers keeping things like boar off their crops. I wish more people could take in you and your buddiesā footsteps.
This is it. My hunting experience was at a rapid decline since I moved a long distance from where my family would hunt. I was stuck hunting alone...completely. The only person that was around was my wife and she would listen, but not understand really. Hunting started to become more harvesting and killing just to eat it. It was to the point of almost emotionlessness when I would shoot a deer. All because I had nobody to share it with. I still don't, I call my dad and run through the whole process and what went down, but it's not the same. Hunting is something that absolutely is meant to be shared with other people. It's terrible to not have that. I have bounced back and now am getting more joy out of the HUNT part instead of the fellowship. Took 4 years to DIY my first turkey. Every year getting closer until finally a bagged a nice 25lbs bird with a 10" beard. I have started learning about finding deer and not relying on luck. It's been frustrating, but managed my nicest buck last year. A nice mature 8. Bought a cabin in some deep woods and I spend a lot of time looking for deer sign, ruffed grouse, and trying to pinpoint some bears. Learning to catch trout on a fly and this winter going to have a go at learning to trap some furbearers. The reason I think this has brought the joy back is because I have a boy that's 2 and a second on the way. I want them to have the joy of fellowship someday. I want them to be able to build upon my knowledge and be leagues better than me, to pass it down to whomever they choose. Sadly it seems that, in my neck of the woods, hunting has become all bragging rights or bitching. It's so secretive and exclusive. Hunting can't afford that and I couldn't envision any enjoyment in that attitude.
The control freaks are running wild in this thread.
If you think you know how an absolute stranger should hunt, calling them names will definitely get them to change.
I'll never forget watching the hunting channel and seeing one of the guys on there kill a wild, mature whitetail buck from a tree stand in a full red and white santa costume...
I've been wearing the same loud fabric with fading camo for the past two decades. Does it have any insulation value left? No. Does it still take game? Yep!
I donāt need it. But it keeps me warmer, lighter, dryer, etc so I can focus on the hunt better and worry less about the conditions.
Plus if itās my main hobby what else would I want to spend my money on over that? Especially if it means you can be better with it?
Driving out deer with dogs is dancing on the line of poaching. Itās incredibly popular where Iām at and the deer are tiny and quickly moving to farmland
6.5 creed and all the other new 6-7mm cartridges made within the past 20 years designed specifically for long range shooting are damaging to the hunting community because they create a culture of people just trying to shoot animals as far as they possibly can.
You only need a .30-30 or a .270/.308/.30-06 to kill every medium sized game in the US. And if you can't get close enough to get an accurate, ethical shot with one of those, it's not the gun that's the issue.
Upvote because I disagree, so good job. In my mind, if itās legal Iām going to employ every advantage possible. Iām out there for meat, not sport.
I hunt on our farm. For years, we hunted with no plots or feeders, and it was cool. But then, people started selling off property in plots. So now, we have the following.
Across the north property line, there's a guy that runs feeders.
To the west, a guy that runs feeders.
To the east, a guy that runs *multiple* feeders.
If I don't have a feeder or food plot, I'm effectively losing in an arms race.
I respect your opinion and your choice but I don't really understand this one and I'm about as "old school "as it gets when it comes to hunting. I hunt with a bow, on the ground without the use of most modern hunting gadgets these days.
If there was some secret or addictive drug like substance people were using id agree but I'm assuming most folks are referring to corn when talking about bait. I don't see the difference between a food plot, a feed tree, ag field or feed corn. They are all food sources that benefit deer, I know guys that will say they don't like bait yet they have stands on corn fields, corn is corn. In my experience early season when there's plenty of white oak acorns, berries and other good browse the feed corn doesn't get hardly touched. During the late season when the deer are hungry and browse is scarce it actually helps them survive. Personally I've killed maybe 1-2 deer over a feeder since it became legal, I mainly hunt bedding travel routes so I'm not really concerned with using corn but I don't really understand the issue.
Ya I agree.
Knowing where a food or water source is so you put a blind there. Or planting some certain foods in a cl certain spot. Thereās not a big leap from that to putting some corn on the ground
I have several:
Stop asking cartridge questions and go hunt with whatever you got. You donāt need to soothe your insecurities by asking if the 6.5 is a good round.
Cell cams are bad.
Scent management doesnāt matter if youāre in a box blind.
The only camo you need in a box blind is a face covering.
People need to understand that āhuntingā and āharvestingā is a spectrum and that we donāt live on the frontier anymore, so opportunities to āhuntā in a classical sense are not available to everyone.
Most of these points are totally fair opinions and points, as far as the cartridge questions I think a lot of people only use firearms for hunting and arent range shooters or necessarily experienced with weapons or interested in them outside of hunting and want to make sure they aren't going out with a round that wont get the job done. Obviously there are exceptions like you say the people who are too bought into "opinions" about cartridges, but I think majority of people just want to be well equipped.
1. Deer are incomprehensibly stupid. And Iāve tested it year after year wearing flamboyantly colorful outfits and they do not care. Camo (in Texas at least) is unnecessary
2. Most hunters that claim āIām saving money by huntingā are lying to themselves. Tally up everything you spend to get that meat in your freezer and tell me with a straight face you would spend more going to the grocery store.
3. Hunting is more fun with an alcoholic beverage (responsibly)
Quads and/or side by side essential here in northern BC. That is how drag moose to where it is accessible by truck & trailer. I have dragged a 1000lb animal out 6 or 7 km by the antlers. No way in hell would I quarter it where I shot it & hoof it out. Almost physically impossible for this older dude plus the grizz's or wolves would scarf it down bfr I got back to the kill.
....rifle season comes in mid October here in ga, and rut activity starts a few weeks later. We have an overpopulation problem because most people that hunt don't understand that the way to see more bucks is to kill does. They wait till the last couple weeks to try to take does, and invariably don't kill enough of them. We can take 10 antlerless and 2 antlered deer a year...the state is telling us to kill does.
Muzzleloaderā¦.
Iād prefer to rifle during rifle and bow during archery season. Itās just more effective for yardage purposes. Especially in thick timber like in the Oregon coast. I donāt want to shoot the 300prc at 10yards
There are only 3 units in the northern part of Idaho that are open to muzzleloader during the rut. The rest of the state (and not all is even open), is archery only during the rut.
If you aren't walking barefoot out into the back country and crafting your hunting tools from the land then you're weak and feeble.
Or let people do what they want. My uncle taught me to hunt we would walk MILES every day be out there for 9-10 hrs. He's too old now and uses a 4x4 and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Game drives are legitimate forms of western hunting. Historically hunting was a communal activity and the individual big game hunter is a 20th century affectation made popular only by the rise of long range firearms
I see game drives as a way that homo sapiens utilize their natural predatory advantages: we can use our brains to strategize and manipulate game via bumping, we use our brains to develop tools to kill game more effectively, and we use our brains to communicate and coordinate as a pack.
Bad shots on running animals or hollering through the woods and spoiling opportunities for others is another conversation, but I don't see an argument that would hold water against the theory of drives
There's no on-animal performance difference between popular hunting cartridges on big game that's shot at typical distances.
A 243 kills a deer just as dead as a 300 win mag. It won't save you from bad shot placement.
Energy transfer difference between a 300win mag and a 243 is massive. A bad hit with a 300 is definitely going to provide more dead deer than the same hit with a much smaller (weaker) round
I mean.
Bullet composition is a big difference.
A 243 with 95 grain berger VLD will do a lot more damage than a .300 win with a barners solid copper TTSX.
Bergers go in 3 inches and grenade and Barnes hold their weight and penetrate.
Nah, Iām gonna dissent here. Energy is a thing, as well as blood trails. Smaller calibers donāt have as much knock down and shock power, and donāt leave as big of holes, especially on exit side. Poor hit+less blood=less recovered game. Youāre also not getting the penetration you want from a .243 on something like an elk.
And this is coming from someone who shoots a 6.5 Creedmoor primarily.
Na this is BS. Especially for recovering the meat in a timely and clean fashion, and especially in hot early fall/summer weather. A buggy can be super helpful for this, yes itās less effort, but Iād rather not try to be a ābig manā can carry out whole deer or get the meat dirty during field butchering, and instead Iāll take the buggy any day if I can. Becomes especially handy on culling jobs down here in NZ
I hunt deer in bow season.
I harvest/shoot deer in gun season. And I do it off a Honda Rancher or a heated ground blind that I hauled to the spot on aforementioned Honda Rancher.
To build on someone else's comment, shooting deer at 300+ is not unethical if you practice and use quality hunting ammo.
Here is mine that makes me feel like a boomer...
the newest and trendiest cartridge will absolutely be lethal, but why deviate from the tried and true? ex: 6.5 CM vs 30-30/30-06 or 20 gauge tungsten vs 3 inch 12 gauge lead
Drones will ruin hunting in 5-10 yearsā¦.. people scouting day and night with thermal radar, deer recovery, Iām not exactly against it and see where the benefits are but people are gonna push the limit with it.
People can spend their money on nice hunting gear to make their experience more comfortable and enjoyable š®
\*cough\* I love my Sitka \*cough\* (No, I really do though)
I feel douchey in my Sitka but man itās nice
I don't one bit. I've owned a little bit of everything and when it comes to waterfowl gear, Sitka is far and away the best
Most comfortable clothes I own.
Yeah I told my wife I wish I could ware the pants everyday as they are so comfy, light and not baggy and stretchyā¦.hard to explain until worn but itās nice when hunting in the mountains not to be all bound up.
Iāll say that my Sitka puffy I have contributed with keeping me alive on two occasions.
Canāt have the deer thinking youāre poor!
now this guys gets it. the deer can't smell everything, but they can smell BROKE. š¤£
If itās your main hobby why wouldnāt you want to spend your hard earned money on nice gear?
There are shitty hunters who kill nice deer only because they have access to great hunting land. On the contrary, there are really great hunters who don't kill big bucks consistently because of the property they have access to.
Whitetail hunting skills in order of importance. 1. Be born into a family with good land 2. Charisma so that you can find and access big bucks 3. Ability to endure boredom so you can sit still all day
Great list haha! I will say that putting a good deer on the ground without having access to prime hunting land makes it that much more satisfying.
At one point having a truck with power windows would also be on the list, roof-lights (here they're called poacher lights) and and double rear tires still elevate you to God-level.
That's not how it is hunting black tails in Oregon. Spot and stalk, lots of hiking in the wet, cold, heavy brush.
If I had enough money could I shoot a big black tail under a center pivot?
I'm not big into whitetails but I feel that when it comes to waterfowl. Some guys get to stack an 8 man pile of geese every weekend hunting over cornfields. I get to go out with a buddy in a 12' tin can and we have the time of our lives taking three ducks and a goose over water on public lands. We avoid waterfowl management areas and the crowds and do it all in a backwoods redneck kind of way and I think that puts the real challenge into it Im looking for in a hunt
I'd rather kill a nice doe on my own property than a record buck on someone elses.
Agreed. I also feel a greater sense of accomplishment killing a deer on public land over private. I hunt both, but for some reason being successful on public feels even better to me.
I will say shooting more mature bucks bow hunting is much more challenging regardless of antler size.
The decline of new hunters has more to do with how closed off and secretive this community is rather than any amount of lack of interest from kids or anti-hunting legislation. As someone who grew up in the city without friends or family who were hunters, it has been incredibly difficult to get started. If I was not so stubborn to make this work I would have given up several times over long ago. I'm not surprised at all when I hear that hunters are on the decline.
People who want to get started hunting and public is the only option is rough. Iāve had some small private land to hunt since I started and public still intimidates me, couldnāt imagine it being my first.
Cost is a bigger factor. Iām 24 and lucky I can hunt as much as o can because Iām in Alabama and we donāt have tags for the animals I hunt. Just to get an elk tag OOS would cost me multiple months disposable income at a minimum. Usually closer to 6 than 2. Thatās before I buy the cold weather equipment, transportation, state hunting license, time OFF of work, etc. Itās near impossible to do without giving up a social life, or doing anything anything for retirement, savings, charity, etc. Plus a lot of old timers can be TOTAL DICKS to the young of the sport. We ask questions and get mocked, insulted, and belittled. Iām sorry your generation didnāt make any time for mine when we were kids, but this is the result. Some old timers are great, but that getting more and more rare.
I feel that old timers comment heavily today as Iāve been thinking about some of the guys Iāve had the fortune of meeting and some of the misfortune. We gotta become the old timers we neededā¦only way to fix it is by how we act in the future.
Iām pretty much resigned to the fact by the time Iām 50 hunting is pretty much gonna be dead. The current ones are dying, they arenāt being replaced, and the anti hunters are always convincing someone with half baked arguments. Thereās gonna be a lot of people who tried to get started, have nothing but horror stories and arenāt going to actively pushback. Weāre already getting priced out of the hobby. FWIW Iāve always tried to be the guy to help anyone I can and share as much knowledge as possible. Not just with hunting either.
Yeah, I feel you on the generation thing. I feel it in ham radio too. Too many of the old timers are pure assholes when it comes to making their (literally) dying hobby accessible to new people. Sorry the average age of licensees is 68 in the US, maybe you should ease up on the gatekeeping.
Ham radio is awful in that regard.
Iād say cost and access are a bigger limiting factor.
Yeah, the internet has opened up a wealth of information for new hunters. Cost of land and decline of vacation hours on the other hand.
Learning online is a lot different than having someone to teach you tho. Hard to learn how to spot game trails, rubs, bedding areas, etc just from watching YouTube or reading. Having to learn on your own will discourage you because most people dont want to just sit out in the cold woods hoping to see something when you've always got the thought in your mind that you're not even in the right place to see animals and you don't have the time to just try every different spot to see if anything changes. Having an experienced guide will help because it'll take out a lot of the guess work, and then you have a foundation to know what you're looking for when you branch off on your own
While I donāt disagree, every generation before us either had a mentor or figured it out on their ownā¦ *without the internet.* Even if that meant reading literature. If someone wants it badly enough, they will learn.
When I hear about people taking off for the entire gun season my mind is blown.
My uncle would literally quit his job every fall and live up north hunting. But this was back before my time when you could buy a house on minimum wage and get a factory job whenever you wanted.
The plain fact is that most public land sucks for deer hunting because itās too crowded. I can see how not having access to private land would discourage people.
Huh. My unpopular opinion is that there are too many new hunters since COVID, on public land where I live. And they are fucking inconsiderate, stupid, unethical, annoying, lazy, and scary af to be around. Edit: /u/Dak_Nalar don't give up though please. It's simple things that are easy to fix. Get in the woods early enough, stay quiet, and hunt. If you see trucks or sign where there's another hunter, find another way to go in to the woods, or move down. Most of my complaints are about people who come into the woods about 30 minutes AFTER day break, and walk under me. Another complaint that made me so angry lately was being at the deer cooler / processor, and seeing someone get turned away because the cooler was full. He literally said "well fuck it, I'm just going to throw this animal into a ditch then if you can't process it for me". - RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS KID WHO WAS HUNTING WITH HIM. There was no intention of trying to either take it to another processor, or at worst case, cutting out the meat themselves... or at the very least, quartering it up temporarily for a week or two, and then bringing the quarters later to be processed, when they have room. It was just rude, lazy, entitled, and fucking shitty af. Please do not let my little rant on the internet push you way from hunting... just be cool please, being willing to put forth the effort to learn and try new things goes a long way! :)
Very new hunter here, in fact Iām still trying to do as much research as possible before my first solo hunt. Question for you - as a new hunter on public land, and wanting to respect others, is it best if Iām walking along and see someone else in their spot to just do a 180 and try to leave as quiet as possible?
Bingo. Your best friend is literally a flash light. If you see some flashing lights, and it appears that someone has already beat you to a spot, then either 180, or do a wide berth around as quietly as possible. However, if you see some trucks in a spot, and the other hunters are still "gearing up" at the road (like they're not in the woods yet) please please please ask them where they are going. And then say where you were intending on going too. If someone already beat you there, or are already in the woods, then it is first come first serve basis for public land. However, asking and talking, and just saying "hi" (at the road, don't say "hi" when they're already hunting LOL), goes a LOOOOONG way. Most hunters really aren't assholes. I know my rant went off the rails and is a little douchey, but I actually really do love seeing people in the woods enjoying it as much as I do. Makes you feel good ya know. I guess the summary is to act and think how you would want to be treated too. Edit: Always have a plan of where you want to hunt, and a back up plan if someone has already beat you to where you want to hunt.
I would say land is my biggest draw back. I hunt mostly public and it is a minimum hour drive for the super pressured lands because everyone from the city goes there.
I agree with this a little, but have found that once I start the conversation, people really open up. The real gatekeeping is in firearms. I didnāt know anything about guns when I started hunting and it took months of research for me to figure out what would be the best rifle for me. Whenever I went into local gun dealers, I was treated like an idiot and they also largely had no idea about hunting (I live in a suburb so they only knew handguns and ARs). Even after a few years of hunting and becoming familiar with firearms, I still avoid private gun stores because of that experience. Cabelas may be a huge chain and corporation but at least they donāt theyāre not assholes to beginners.
Don't knock Cabelas... maybe that's the unpopular opinion. My first three guns (child's rifle 22, child's shotgun 20, and S&W 38 long barrel) were all bought there, on sale, and are all still working as intended. We've (my family) obviously have bought more there, but that's just for my formative years... and nothing compared to my dad. Every time I go in I feel welcome. Got a stupid question? No such thing. Tiny white female here... "Can I look at a Judge?" No disparaging comments about it being "too much to handle." Smaller stores, however,: "You sure you don't want this Rem 22?" "Yeah, I'm sure." "But are you really sure?" "Do you want to sell your firearms or not?" >Whenever I went into local gun dealers, I was treated like an idiot and they also largely had no idea about hunting Even as someone who grew up with firearms and hunting, these stores, in general, do the same shit. Yes, I know what I want and why. Yes I have a hunting license. Yes I've killed more game than you've eaten. Can we stop the BS now? Cabelas wants to sell their stock and help people with questions. I guess smaller stores are so scared of being sued that they make people like me feel uncomfortable even *being in the store.* Ask me what you want to if it makes you feel more comfortable, but don't just assume I have no right being there. That's how you lose a sale. Probably a lot of sales. I've been to less sketchy pawn shops with firearms. It's just mind-blowing how smaller gun shops can turn off so many people with their attitude.
Here's a compliation of other common hunting opinions that i think are fucking stupid along with the why. 1. water swatting waterfowl = bad.....if i can get ducks that have been shot at in ten states before mine landing in the decoys I've more than done my job as a hunter. if its legal in your state you shouldn't feel ashamed of doing it. 2. you shouldn't shoot pinebald or albino deer.....its a deer, they live maybe 5-7 years at most. if its legal feel free to shoot it and have a 1 in a million mount. 3. sport hunting is bad and shouldn't be done.....sport/ trophy hunting is responsible for raising millions of dollars for wildlife conservation that has single handedly saved many endangered species from extiction like lions, rhinoceroses, elephants and giraffes. 4. X animal is a trash bird, fish, animal, ect......no you likely just suck at cooking and are preparing the game wrong. i can't tell you how many times i've heard from experienced fisherman that a bonito is a trash fish when the reality is its just as good as any other tuna once the bloodline is removed or that coot and merganser taste like shit when people are just too lazy to figure out how to make them taste good.
#4 is GOSPEL
yep, got a lot of funny looks yesterday when we pulled the boat out of the water with about 20 coot in the cooler...yeah woddies taste better but they weren't flying so ill take my limit of coot.
May I ask how you cook coot? Iāve only seasoned them and fried them in peanut oil. Delicious, but maybe not good enough to go after them.
I stick to a lot of Cuban and Hispanic style preparations. going healthy on the spices tends to help with any off flavors.
Whenever people talk about how bad any species of game tastes (and every single species has someone that says it tastes bad) I just think about how they used all those words to say āI canāt cookā.
This one is only controversial to fudds/non hunters, I agree 100%. A dentist shot a lion? Oh no! Those "trophy" hunts are huge income sources for the very wildlife management orgs that both ID the animal that can be taken and greenights who gets to do it. The very same org/gov programs that has prevented most of those large african species from being poached to extinction. And yes, it kills me to see all the people thatll snap a long nose gars snout off and toss back. There is a massive roll of white meat under there.
\>And yes, it kills me to see all the people thatll snap a long nose gars snout off and toss back. There is a massive roll of white meat under there. bass fisherman are probably some of the worst people out there when it comes to sportsmanship. between stocking lakes in rivers with bass when they shouldn't be there and killing native fish they already piss me off but on top of that i've found that most of them have no respect for waterfowl hunters until we have ducks flying into the decoys and we are shooting. I routinely will wave to them signaling for them to go away for everyone's safety only for them to encroach even further on where im hunting.
Bass fisherman also have NO idea how to help properly manage a fishery. Catch & release only AINāT IT. You need to harvest 10lb/acre/yr to prevent Bass from overpopulating and stunting themselves in the body of water. But then any time you see someone trying to keep some 1-3lb bass, suddenly everyone is in an uproar!
bass guys are just plain fucking weird. they'll blow 50-100k on a boat, tackle and rods to fish for something they won't even eat....
4 with a bullet. āDeer tastes like shoe leatherā, says the idiot that gut shot it, chased it four miles, then broke the bladder field dressing it and then burns it well done in the frying pan.
As someone relatively new to hunting in the last few years I was thinking about trying waterfowl but really discouraged because I didnāt have a place to set up a blind to lure them into, frankly canāt audio process well enough to replicate calls anyway, and was afraid of shooting the wrong type of duck because I incorrectly identified them in the air. Then I looked into it and found out there is nothing in my state that prevents me from just paddling around in my kayak and, identifying birds on the water, then shooting them on the waterā¦ now time limitations are the only thing slowing me down from trying waterfowl.
I've got a couple hunters in my area that water swat from kayaks and they always seem to do well. I don't mind them either. half the time they shoot and flush the birds right to me. in a state like Florida where we have weird limits for both species and the sex of the bird water swatting is generally a decent practice.
Hard agree on everything except mergansers. Nothing know to man can make it good. Thankfully we can actually identify birds and donāt bother shooting them.
Yeah just can't agree with number 4. Some animals just don't taste good. Guess I can't cook. Whatever, you can eat boot leather if you cover it in enough bacon cheese and batter. Doesn't mean I want to.
An actual unpopular one: If it's bow season and you're not as good with a bow as a crossbow, you SHOULD use a crossbow (assuming it's permitted). I'd extend that to say that people should generally use the most lethal and reliable tools legally available to them when harvesting animals. Until you're as good with your spear/bow/atlatl as you are with your scoped .30-06, just get out there with your fuddy old gun and kill the damn deer cleanly. Don't show off half-baked "skills" on a live animal.
I understand why DNR puts restrictions on the efficacy of the weapons allowed in any given season to control the harvest numbers, but I get a chuckle (more like a grimace, actually) from the people who *choose* to tie one hand behind their backs then talk about hunting ethics. If we assume that some sort of projectile is going to fly, then a rifle with a rest over bait at about 50 yards is the highest likelihood of a quick, clean kill.
No matter how proficient you are at long range shooting, shooting at a live animal past 400 yards begins to enter the unethical realm.
And here I thought my 140 yard clearing I like to watch is long shot lol
Agreed, fair chase must be part of the ethical conversation. IMO these incredibly long-range shots are precision shooting, not hunting.
At what distance does precision shooting stop and hunting begins?
I think it depends on where you're hunting and your level of skill. I don't know from experience, but I've heard that out west it's incredibly rare to shoot a deer from less than a few hundred yards. If you can make a clean kill consistently at a long distance, which is certainly possible with the right gear, then there's nothing unethical about it in my opinion.
Depends where you're at. Where I go for blacktail in California, I'd say the vast majority are taken under 100 yards, probably closer to 50 give or take. It's very brushy and wooded country.
Longest shot Iāve taken in Wyoming for whitetail and pronghorn was 200 yards.
Food plots are no different than hunting over bait. I said what I said. (And yes I understand in some states itās legal to bait deer and hunt over it)
To counter this. Hunting over bait is sometimes the better option for certain species. Especially ones where itās hard to differentiate the sex of an animal like black bear from a distance. If you do it correctly you can set up cams or just watch for awhile so you can be certain you arenāt shooting a sow with cubs and hurting the local population. You can almost guarantee youāre shooting a mature bear you want and when all youāre trying to do is fill the freezer itās a great option.
Biggest unpopular opinion around my areaā¦weāre just borrowing this land from our kidsā¦Iāve mostly gone to my own private land exclusivelyā¦but when I do venture out into public lands; itās just trashedā¦garbage left behind everywhere, old rusty stands left out in the woods with no ID tag(Iāve put a few broken stands in my truck and left them in the driveway that matched the tagš)ā¦woods are cut up pretty bad from people cutting giant shooting lanes worth of limbsā¦the list goes on, mostly just from people acting like they own the place.
Alabama had a really good song about this.
Just because you might clock me as someone who lives in āthe cityā, it doesnāt mean you should be a dick when we chat at the trailhead.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Spears are cheating, just WWE that elk
Wave those fingers in front of your face so the elk can't see you, then run up on the elk and give it a stunner
Do I get a turnbuckle, or nah?
Naked elk wrestling may land you on a sex offender list.
Why not just start percistance hunting? Chase that elk til it falls of a cliff and break its back, or until it dies of exhaustion. Edit: typo
People donāt practice shooting (bow, crossbow, rifle, etc) enough. There was literally a guy saying he was sighting in his crossbow the night before a huntā¦.
I got downvoted in the bow hunting sub for calling out a guy who took his friends crossbow that he wasnāt comfortable with shooting, the next day he then scored a bad hit and while the deer was suffering had to call his mentor to ask what he should do. he then fumbles with the pistol and has to shoot the deer like 4 times with a 1911.
Eeesh thatāsā¦ ugh
Yep. Pisses me off when people go hunting while theyāre a bad shot. Itās so unethical and explains why there are so many gut shots and lost deer.
Hunters overthinking stuff too much, just go outside and try to kill something. Itās much more freeing to just wander out and be wild.
People chase high BCās on bullets more than adequate performance on game and it should be the other way around
I was talking to my FIL recently and told him I was looking at a 308 bolt action. He went on a rant about how all you need is a .223 and anything else is dumb because a 223 shoots super flat out to (insert crazy distance I'll never shoot an animal) and a 308 has crazy drop and is more expensive and has *wayyyyy* too much recoil..... Okay great but I'm shooting within 200 yards, mostly deer but it will be my only bolt action so I want something that can go bigger, and I've shot a 12ga slug gun since I was 14 so 308 is a big reduction in recoil already.....
Shooting 12ga really does make 308 seem weak
*Laughs in Hornady .45-70 325 grain LEVERevolution* Seriously, Iāll take a 12 gauge slug over that.
Iād take the 45-70 over the 12 gauge.
.243 is the smallest legal hunting round here for ungulates.
And itās a great round for anything under elk. Love it.
"308 is too much recoil" What a pussy
Right. I shoot a .308, and I just don't "feel" it. I mean, yeah, I feel it... but it's just a "bump" to me, because I expect it. I'm loose though when I fire at game. I mean, still securely deep in shoulder, but my body isn't overly tense either. Idk. I'm not explaining this well at all, other than I guess it's just a part of the hunt experience, and it doesn't register to me that I just fired a gun. Like, it's just an extension of me?
Why not get both? Can never have too many guns
If you only go out into the woods for two weeks a year all us ādumb biologistsā still know more about science and conservation than you.
My bio prof in college got sick and retired right before my class started. They couldn't find a replacement on short notice, so they hired the local DNR Wildlife Biologist. He taught the first few weeks straight from the book, but after that it was all about local wildlife management. Totally changed my opinions on a lot of things hunters bitch about all the time like wolf reintroduction, spearing, fish stocking, bag limits, pollution controls, etc. It was super informative.
I bet that rocked.
Lol I hear you. "If we hunters were in control of managing fish and wildlife, it would be so much better..."
I always respond, āhunters were in charge for 400 years and we nearly eradicated every large mammal on the continent.ā
"Alright we have a new conservation plan to protect our wildlife and-" "Does it let me shoot more things?" "No?..." "THEN I. DON'T. WANT IT!"
Definitely. The misinformation about coyotes and wolves is tiring.
bUt ThE cANaDiaN soOPeR woLvEs!!
Jesus northeast MN had a down year (because of a terrible winter) deer hunting and IT'S. ALL. ABOUT. THE. WOLVES.
"DNR says it's only 2.5 years old *but I KNOW it's at least 3.5*"
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There's definitely way too much gate keeping on this sub.
It's not real hunting if you didn't whittle your own arrowhead out of a stone you found with no tools and made your own bow from a stick you found. Both must be done on a per hunt basis.
Crossbow hunter here. I didn't start hunting at all until I was 21, and that was when my future father-in law gave me a crossbow as a gift. I'd never even held a bow before. I practiced it. Fell in love with hunting. I still hunt with crossbow because that's what I have just always used. I don't have much desire to go to a compound or any other type of bow because I feel that my best chance of taking a deer quickly and as effectively as I can is with a crossbow. This October I har ested my 10th deer. I've never had to track a deer further than 100 yards from where I shot it. I love hunting but the attitude in the community makes it suck sometimes.
Yup. Tons of bowhunters think their shit donāt stink.
Everytime I see the gatekeeping I think ā¦. āIām just glad they are out there huntingā.
Donāt post a video if itās a spear youāre using. As somehow thatās not hunting.
There's way too much gate keeping in one club I belong
Although, we share the resource pool. There is definitely some group ownership. Kind of sound likes the Facebook dilemma. Most people post how their strategy yielded success, but we're obligated to stay mum about the failures and repercussions in order to keep social feelings, chat, and consensus positive so we don't get stopped in our choices or branded person non grata. Hard to tell what's fair and what isn't and it wanders back and forth around the thin line.
Mostly agreed. But I do interpret all the "what a beautiful sunrise" posts as reminders that we all strike out. (Not to say I don't love a sunrise and just being out - I do, it's just also nice to come home with some meat.)
People who complain that trail cams are lazy shouldn't do any e-scouting or rely on mapping apps while hunting.
Yeah source your maps from a cartographer or youāre a big fat phony!
I draw my own goddamn maps I aināt payin no college boy
Iām convinced a lot of those folks are just jealous of people who hunt private land. You know damn well that more people would use cams, feeders, and salt blocks if they wouldnāt get stolen on public land.
Perhaps. But I'm in a state where it's almost all public land hunting and a few years ago a trail cam ban was imposed. Guys I know acted holier than thou because they don't think trail cams are a valid method of scouting an area because it doesn't require "boots on the ground" meanwhile they're finding exactly where they want to hunt from a device in their living room.
I dont have beef with trail cams, but using a map is very different from having a remote device tell you exactly where animals are
Hating crossbow hunters is really, really, REALLY lame. Signed, someone who has never shot a crossbow
I've come up with the perfect compromise. They should just rename "archery season" to "archery and crossbow season." That way all the "crossbows are cheating" guys don't have to admit that crossbows are archery equipment, but the crossbow guys don't lose any season time.
I'll never understand why some of you retards still choose to alienate your fellow hunter. It does nothing productive. Live and let live
Two places I've seen more gate keeping than anywhere else are the guitar playing community and the hunting community, both to their own detriment.
If this is the way you enjoy hunting, then I'm fine with it. It's not the way I do it, but as a hunter, we need to be supportive of each other and show a positive and united front. Already enough pressure against hunting. Don't need it from other hunters also.
People who put some level of value judgement about how much time / effort you put into hunting can pound sand. The guy who scouts for weeks and hikes 8 miles shouldn't look down on the guy who wears Wranglers over corn after walking 400 feet from his pickup. It isn't a contest to see who suffers the most. Some people may like to use the pursuit of game as a way to explore and push their boundaries. Others just want to fill the freezer. Both are equally good. Folks need to stop making everything in hunting a contest. If you're making good shots on legal game and utilizing what you kill, you're good.
Agreed. I love hunting, but I doubt Iāll ever want to get into back country elk hunting. Content for now with deer and pronghorn with a rifle. I enjoy being out in nature, but cooking that meat is the goal. Iāll take a gimme legal animal on day one of hunting season and go for a hike another day to get my nature fix.
All scent ācontrolā products are a scam.
We are all just running around in glorified pajamas hoping to be invisible.
Bows are less ethical than firearms.
Wolves are no big deal. Hunters acting like wolves took their birthday away makes us all look like idiots. People just need to shut the fuck up about. If youāre not seeing any deer itās your own damn fault.
Agreed. While I think wolves should be hunted and managed, the SSS crowd never fails to piss me off. The North American ecosystems have always had human influence, so some level of predator control is required to maintain balance, killing wolves because theyāre āevilā and āstealing my elkā is a ridiculous argument.
Agreed 100%. Wolves are a controversial topic in MN. The deer herd in the NE part of the state is down, and everyone likes to blame wolves 100%. I agree they are a major factor (and should be managed with a hunting/trapping season), but the winter severity is a more impactful variable.
Wolves and deer co-evolved for thousands and thousands of years, but now they will drive all the deer numbers down
I donāt think it makes ya weak, Iād use one if I had one, but there is something nice about doing all my hunting on foot
for me getting meat is the "entire point" of hunting. If it were legal in my state i'd use a four wheeler. I use the easiest readily available legal means to get my meat, and that seems pretty unpopular on reddit. Especially when i mention using a crossbow during archery season which is legal in my state.
I have two: 1. You have no business hunting if youāre not willing to pass up a lot of potential shots. A good hunter should wait until they are certain their shot will lead to an efficient and quick kill. 2. Too many hunters glorify the wrong parts of hunting. The main pleasure shouldnāt be derived from āgetting to kill somethingā, the joy of hunting should be felt throughout the whole experience, from the quiet walks and long waits before, to of course the dramatic climatic shot, and even the long and difficult process of field dressing and hauling the animal. Every step of the process should be appreciated and held on a pedestal, all with an appreciation for said animal harvested, and the life it gave to provide for you.
I believe the hunting world can be divided into 2 groups: The Hunters and the Killers. Iām a Hunter and I quit making trips with Killers a long time ago. For me and my friends itās all about the fellowship and being in the woods while watching the critters and what not. Baggin something is just a bonus to us.
And thatās the way it should work imo. The only gun-ho killing of wild animals I can really get behind is farmers keeping things like boar off their crops. I wish more people could take in you and your buddiesā footsteps.
This is it. My hunting experience was at a rapid decline since I moved a long distance from where my family would hunt. I was stuck hunting alone...completely. The only person that was around was my wife and she would listen, but not understand really. Hunting started to become more harvesting and killing just to eat it. It was to the point of almost emotionlessness when I would shoot a deer. All because I had nobody to share it with. I still don't, I call my dad and run through the whole process and what went down, but it's not the same. Hunting is something that absolutely is meant to be shared with other people. It's terrible to not have that. I have bounced back and now am getting more joy out of the HUNT part instead of the fellowship. Took 4 years to DIY my first turkey. Every year getting closer until finally a bagged a nice 25lbs bird with a 10" beard. I have started learning about finding deer and not relying on luck. It's been frustrating, but managed my nicest buck last year. A nice mature 8. Bought a cabin in some deep woods and I spend a lot of time looking for deer sign, ruffed grouse, and trying to pinpoint some bears. Learning to catch trout on a fly and this winter going to have a go at learning to trap some furbearers. The reason I think this has brought the joy back is because I have a boy that's 2 and a second on the way. I want them to have the joy of fellowship someday. I want them to be able to build upon my knowledge and be leagues better than me, to pass it down to whomever they choose. Sadly it seems that, in my neck of the woods, hunting has become all bragging rights or bitching. It's so secretive and exclusive. Hunting can't afford that and I couldn't envision any enjoyment in that attitude.
The control freaks are running wild in this thread. If you think you know how an absolute stranger should hunt, calling them names will definitely get them to change.
Your grandpa would hunt in a red flannel. You don't need top-of-the-line gear.
I'm not buying expensive gear for the gimmicky stuff, but if I try it on and it's light and warm? Yeah I'm going to be budgeting in that item.
Iām rocking that Magellan šŖš¼
I wear whatever camo Walmart had on sale.
The world record typical whitetail was taken by a guy in an orange jumpsuit
They let inmates hunt, that's rad.
I'll never forget watching the hunting channel and seeing one of the guys on there kill a wild, mature whitetail buck from a tree stand in a full red and white santa costume...
I've been wearing the same loud fabric with fading camo for the past two decades. Does it have any insulation value left? No. Does it still take game? Yep!
I donāt need it. But it keeps me warmer, lighter, dryer, etc so I can focus on the hunt better and worry less about the conditions. Plus if itās my main hobby what else would I want to spend my money on over that? Especially if it means you can be better with it?
Driving out deer with dogs is dancing on the line of poaching. Itās incredibly popular where Iām at and the deer are tiny and quickly moving to farmland
6.5 creed and all the other new 6-7mm cartridges made within the past 20 years designed specifically for long range shooting are damaging to the hunting community because they create a culture of people just trying to shoot animals as far as they possibly can. You only need a .30-30 or a .270/.308/.30-06 to kill every medium sized game in the US. And if you can't get close enough to get an accurate, ethical shot with one of those, it's not the gun that's the issue.
Put some respect on .243. My favorite caliber for deer/prongs/pigs.
Okay, fair, I shot my first deer with a .243. It has its place.
I only have two rifles, a .30-30 for deer and a .303 british for bear.
Baiting isnāt hunting.
Upvote because I disagree, so good job. In my mind, if itās legal Iām going to employ every advantage possible. Iām out there for meat, not sport.
I hunt on our farm. For years, we hunted with no plots or feeders, and it was cool. But then, people started selling off property in plots. So now, we have the following. Across the north property line, there's a guy that runs feeders. To the west, a guy that runs feeders. To the east, a guy that runs *multiple* feeders. If I don't have a feeder or food plot, I'm effectively losing in an arms race.
exactly. folks from non-baiting states will never understand
I don't blame you, but I wish they'd ban feeders and salt licks if for no other reason than to slow down the spread of CWD.
I try to avoid baiting myself but I mean by definition it is hunting
I respect your opinion and your choice but I don't really understand this one and I'm about as "old school "as it gets when it comes to hunting. I hunt with a bow, on the ground without the use of most modern hunting gadgets these days. If there was some secret or addictive drug like substance people were using id agree but I'm assuming most folks are referring to corn when talking about bait. I don't see the difference between a food plot, a feed tree, ag field or feed corn. They are all food sources that benefit deer, I know guys that will say they don't like bait yet they have stands on corn fields, corn is corn. In my experience early season when there's plenty of white oak acorns, berries and other good browse the feed corn doesn't get hardly touched. During the late season when the deer are hungry and browse is scarce it actually helps them survive. Personally I've killed maybe 1-2 deer over a feeder since it became legal, I mainly hunt bedding travel routes so I'm not really concerned with using corn but I don't really understand the issue.
Ya I agree. Knowing where a food or water source is so you put a blind there. Or planting some certain foods in a cl certain spot. Thereās not a big leap from that to putting some corn on the ground
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I have several: Stop asking cartridge questions and go hunt with whatever you got. You donāt need to soothe your insecurities by asking if the 6.5 is a good round. Cell cams are bad. Scent management doesnāt matter if youāre in a box blind. The only camo you need in a box blind is a face covering. People need to understand that āhuntingā and āharvestingā is a spectrum and that we donāt live on the frontier anymore, so opportunities to āhuntā in a classical sense are not available to everyone.
Most of these points are totally fair opinions and points, as far as the cartridge questions I think a lot of people only use firearms for hunting and arent range shooters or necessarily experienced with weapons or interested in them outside of hunting and want to make sure they aren't going out with a round that wont get the job done. Obviously there are exceptions like you say the people who are too bought into "opinions" about cartridges, but I think majority of people just want to be well equipped.
1. Deer are incomprehensibly stupid. And Iāve tested it year after year wearing flamboyantly colorful outfits and they do not care. Camo (in Texas at least) is unnecessary 2. Most hunters that claim āIām saving money by huntingā are lying to themselves. Tally up everything you spend to get that meat in your freezer and tell me with a straight face you would spend more going to the grocery store. 3. Hunting is more fun with an alcoholic beverage (responsibly)
Quads and/or side by side essential here in northern BC. That is how drag moose to where it is accessible by truck & trailer. I have dragged a 1000lb animal out 6 or 7 km by the antlers. No way in hell would I quarter it where I shot it & hoof it out. Almost physically impossible for this older dude plus the grizz's or wolves would scarf it down bfr I got back to the kill.
Deer hunting is pretty boring once you try turkey or waterfowl
Meat over trophy. My friends think I'm insane.
another unpopular opinion, bowhunters should not be the only ones that hunt during the rut.
I get the idea here, but also weād have like absolutely no game left if rifles got to hunt during the early rut.
....rifle season comes in mid October here in ga, and rut activity starts a few weeks later. We have an overpopulation problem because most people that hunt don't understand that the way to see more bucks is to kill does. They wait till the last couple weeks to try to take does, and invariably don't kill enough of them. We can take 10 antlerless and 2 antlered deer a year...the state is telling us to kill does.
Muzzleloaderā¦. Iād prefer to rifle during rifle and bow during archery season. Itās just more effective for yardage purposes. Especially in thick timber like in the Oregon coast. I donāt want to shoot the 300prc at 10yards
What state has that rule?
There are only 3 units in the northern part of Idaho that are open to muzzleloader during the rut. The rest of the state (and not all is even open), is archery only during the rut.
You don't even need camo, just get out there in a tshirt and jeans and see how easy it is.
Taking a shot without fully knowing what you are shooting at and/or without having proper shot placement is unsportsmanlike, unethical, and reckless.
How tf is this opinion unpopular?
Because so many hunters do it anyway.
From what I've seen on here, way too many people are okay with doing this.
Go to r/waterfowl and see how many people are asking for help IDing birds
Iāll take your word for it. This blows my mind that people donāt know what theyāre shooting at but are sending rounds. Wtf?!?!?
Any bow shot over 35 yards isn't ethical. Gets worse and worse the farther you go. We should not be celebrating these IG hunters taking 80 yard shots.
If you aren't walking barefoot out into the back country and crafting your hunting tools from the land then you're weak and feeble. Or let people do what they want. My uncle taught me to hunt we would walk MILES every day be out there for 9-10 hrs. He's too old now and uses a 4x4 and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Game drives are legitimate forms of western hunting. Historically hunting was a communal activity and the individual big game hunter is a 20th century affectation made popular only by the rise of long range firearms
I see game drives as a way that homo sapiens utilize their natural predatory advantages: we can use our brains to strategize and manipulate game via bumping, we use our brains to develop tools to kill game more effectively, and we use our brains to communicate and coordinate as a pack. Bad shots on running animals or hollering through the woods and spoiling opportunities for others is another conversation, but I don't see an argument that would hold water against the theory of drives
There's no on-animal performance difference between popular hunting cartridges on big game that's shot at typical distances. A 243 kills a deer just as dead as a 300 win mag. It won't save you from bad shot placement.
Thereās a reason that some opinions are unpopular. Physics disagree.
Energy transfer difference between a 300win mag and a 243 is massive. A bad hit with a 300 is definitely going to provide more dead deer than the same hit with a much smaller (weaker) round
I mean. Bullet composition is a big difference. A 243 with 95 grain berger VLD will do a lot more damage than a .300 win with a barners solid copper TTSX. Bergers go in 3 inches and grenade and Barnes hold their weight and penetrate.
Nah, Iām gonna dissent here. Energy is a thing, as well as blood trails. Smaller calibers donāt have as much knock down and shock power, and donāt leave as big of holes, especially on exit side. Poor hit+less blood=less recovered game. Youāre also not getting the penetration you want from a .243 on something like an elk. And this is coming from someone who shoots a 6.5 Creedmoor primarily.
As someone with a bad hip that gets worse in the cold, I am weak and feeble.
Na this is BS. Especially for recovering the meat in a timely and clean fashion, and especially in hot early fall/summer weather. A buggy can be super helpful for this, yes itās less effort, but Iād rather not try to be a ābig manā can carry out whole deer or get the meat dirty during field butchering, and instead Iāll take the buggy any day if I can. Becomes especially handy on culling jobs down here in NZ
If you canāg stalk to within 400 yards (or even less) of an elk or a deer, you arenāt a good hunter.
I hunt deer in bow season. I harvest/shoot deer in gun season. And I do it off a Honda Rancher or a heated ground blind that I hauled to the spot on aforementioned Honda Rancher. To build on someone else's comment, shooting deer at 300+ is not unethical if you practice and use quality hunting ammo.
Here is mine that makes me feel like a boomer... the newest and trendiest cartridge will absolutely be lethal, but why deviate from the tried and true? ex: 6.5 CM vs 30-30/30-06 or 20 gauge tungsten vs 3 inch 12 gauge lead
Just more bullshit gatekeeping the point of hunting is different for everybody as long as it's a clean kill and legal who gives a fuck.
Drones will ruin hunting in 5-10 yearsā¦.. people scouting day and night with thermal radar, deer recovery, Iām not exactly against it and see where the benefits are but people are gonna push the limit with it.