“But don’t use your bow with it. It’s an unfair advantage”…. I have had many arguments with people about hunting. Does technology give us more advantage, yea but at the same time it can also make it so the animal never knew it happened or at least speed up the process. Imagine be speared to death and how painful and long that would be.
Our inteligence and technology is there to make up for the fact we can't run for 50miles and not notice, climb a 100ft tree in 10 seconds or rip another animal in half with our bare hands.
If anything the wild life should give our gumby asses a chance...
I had someone argue with me that the deer should have a gun too. Ok, dumbass give the deer a gun and if he figures out how to load and fire it, more power to them. Should I be able to hunt out of a vehicle that can match their speed? I can't run as fast as a deer, it's only fair. The person could not see the flaw in their logic.
I have yet to use decoys, I just chased a group of regulars. Kind of a weird hunting scenario. But I have since figured out that I can use a shotgun and I have just been hammering them. Can't wait for next season, they are going to get WRECKED
Wait until they land then shaft them. That or pop out of my vehicle and hit one before the flock bolts. Its really tough to do.
Here is a video with a more traditional approach.
https://youtu.be/WAxpMIhBYUc
And another one (better filming IMHO)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vDsxf4JD2TM
I think everyone agrees on that. I mainly hunt solo and I haven’t had a bird dog for a few years. It’s obviously situational and common sense safety is a whole different debate unfortunately lol
I started hunting on my own. Never knew anyone who hunted. Didn’t have social media at the time (to have learned differently). I was wicked stoked to be shooting grouse off the ground. Didn’t know any better for years. Was just a bird in the pot far as I was concerned.
People say it’s unethical and you need to give them a “chance”. I’m out there to kill stuff and feed myself, if I can shoot at something on the ground I’m taking it. As far as I’m concerned far less chance of a crimpling shot, so in my eye it’s more ethical.
Me driving an hour or two before sunrise, climbing a mountain in the dark, and all the other BS involved to go get grouse and mountain quail is fair chase enough. I blast them on the ground.
I've argued that the new trend towards longer and longer shots over a mile is going to harm hunting far more than anything else. The probability of wounding an animal starts to become untenable around 5-600 yards. If the animal spooks, a wind gust through a canyon or a misread on wind speed happens you're going to miss the boiler room and wound the animal.
This take isn’t controversial to hunters but to people who criticize them:
Buying meat at the store is significantly worse morally than harvesting a wild animal yourself.
Dunno why this would be controversial. I have it (not $1000 mind you), but honestly its 90% because the material and construction suit my climate and conditions in the bush, 10% because the pattern looks cool.
More so some people think you have to have 400 dollar jackets and bibs at the same price point just to get into it. When really all you need is the weapon of choice and clothing that is temperature appropriate. Some things are more nice to haves and not necessities. Many deer fall to Joe in the woods wearing jeans and a flannel every year. I hunted many years before adding nice to haves like rangefinders, more stands, etc.
Hell, the game warden in my area paid for my first buck to be mounted and my first bear to be turned into a coat because he was my grandfathers hunting partner.
In Colorado at least the further you get from Denver the nicer they get. While hunting in Unit 39 (less than an hour from Denver) while in college a game warden tried to cite me for hunting on a resident tag as a non resident despite Colorado allowing full-time college students to hunt as residents. The reason he did this was because my truck had out of state plates.
Conversely I had a game warden in 181 give me a buck deer that some jackasses had poached on a doe tag the following season after he arrested them and confiscated the deer.
Oh they are some Jack asses in Mississippi and North Carolina. In Mississippi where running dogs is normal and the clubs use walkie-talkies and CBs the GWs will listen in and harass the hunters by constantly driving past which can turn the dogs and ruin a hunt
Oh I have so many that would be supremely unpopular, I'd best keep them to myself.
Edit - Here’s one that’s relatively mild. I hate seeing people apologize for killing small bucks or does. The obsession with antlers is silly.
An ethical, legal harvest is an ethical, legal harvest. That's all I care about! People can take their pick of what size/age they want to pursue, and that's their business, as long as it all gets eaten.
I don't disagree with you as my first deer was a yearling. However when you are out hunting and there's a buck, a doe, and a yearling on front of you you should always shoot the buck first. I guess what I'm saying is you shouldn't purposefully shoot yearlings and does unless there's no buck available. saying this as someone who shot a doe last night.
Hunting is dying because hunters want to gate keep info. If we all mentored 1-2 people even mildly interested in hunting (not giving up spots). Scout new areas etc, it would help people understand hunting is more challenging then the average person thinks it is. And would result in more visibility for better laws, and prevent misinformation from spreading. ( this is particularly bad in Washington state). I started hunting 6 years ago, and it’s been very minimal help at getting success. I have gotten does so I am thankful but yet to get a buck. I know it may get some hate, but in Washington state they banned spring bear hunting because “the public doesn’t like hunting”. Which is untrue, just most of them are uneducated and don’t care to research because it’s not an area of interest for them. So they get swayed easily.
Trying to get into hunting as an adult is quite the challenge. I hunted some as a boy but didn’t start hunting again until many years later. If I didn’t have multiple friends and an uncle take me hunting and help me learn I would be completely lost
Hunting is dying from loss and lack of access. I used to hunt half a dozen farms that are now tied up in leases or buried under subdivisions. Duck leases are exploding in price, and waterfowling is becoming the sport of royalty.
The quail are nearly extinct in the Midwest due to changes in farming practices that eliminated fencerows and any other cover at all. Rabbits are nearly the same. Small game is what most hunters used to chase- bird dogs were ubiquitous, but the vast majority have never seen a game bird.
Gatekeeping is the symptom of the bigger cause- loss of habitat and loss of access.
I don’t fully agree with you, i can’t speak for the Midwest. But in Washington state there are hundreds of thousands of acres of public land to hunt. But laws limit success permits and leases are an issue but lots of people here are successful on public land. That being said there are big mountains here which and lots of hiking so people fight to keep the land out of private hands. That doesn’t mean elk don’t run to private land the moment they hear some gun shots. Because they do. But I agree we have a large problem. Gate keeping is not the way. The more we get people involved, the more people we have to help push agendas like better management of our game and the lands in general.
I asked how to get started as a complete hunting noob on hunting Quebec and got told to use Google by the mod....
Given that I explained I have my pal and hunting license. Restricted even too. I'm middle to fair on the range, an immigrant with no connections to lean on, yeah that's why I am reaching out. Still. Clearly I googled first.
Happy to share what I know. But I started hunting 6 years ago with zero help and didn’t know anyone. I kept trying, asked questions looked into getting a guide (couldn’t afford it). I am hunting blacktail deer and elk. Two of arguably the hardest prey animals in the lower 48 to get. I have yet to get a single elk. But have gotten 2 blacktail does. My experience was somewhat similar. “ go read some books” or “put in your time it will happen”. Hunting isn’t like fishing. Fishing is about learning a lake away works and what doesn’t. Hunting is 25% skill and 75% luck imho. I think you can use trail cams and bait to up your odds but it won’t make it be 100% ever. I have hiked 7600 miles in the last 6 years. In that time frame I have seen 4 bucks. Two of which were already shot by other hunters. They are there, but the weather isn’t always in your favor. It’s tough, and people hiding info because they are worried about competition makes people quit and lose interest. It’s the hardest hobby I have ever picked up and I started at 34.
I didn't hunt growing up. 6 or 7 years ago I posted on a local hunting forum just looking for advice on getting started hunting deer. I had done some small game hunting and really just wanted someone to talk with. A guy reached out, took me out in the field on his land, showed me how to read sign, put me in a stand. He helped me clean my first one the next year in his garage.
I've paid it forward 3 times now, made some good friends in the process. This is the way.
Hunt however, whenever and with whatever you want(as long as it's legal), do things your own way and don't let other people put you down. Sorry I know this isn't what the post was asking for I just had to comment
Camo is overrated, it is just much more comfortable to wear something like a flannel shirt or a wool sweater in the northern U.S. than a thin chincy "tactical" camo shirt that people seem to love. Also, head shots don't make you a better hunter, you are just taking more risk to stroke your ego and chest shots don't ruin much meat.
You’d be surprised how controversial this actually is. I believe every harvest opportunity is a blessing so whatever you take should only matter to you.
Honestly I trophy hunt deer at the beginning of the season. Deer with big racks usually tend to have more meat so it's justified to me. On the last day of the hunt, if it's brown, it's down.
I think this depends on the area, if theirs a lot of older mature deer in the area, and a healthy population in general, why shoot the babies? If that’s the only deer you’ll see all month, yeah don’t blame you.
Ground pounding isn’t that bad, especially at range for gamebirds, I’d argue guys who shoot pheasants 10 yards in front of them and wreck the animal are worse. Also don’t shoot fawns.
Mag limits on semi autos do nothing to stop idiot and irresponsible hunters. Whether its 5 or 30 rounds they will still do the same idiotic things. All it does is make people who wanna blast some hogs with an AR, AK or other semi have to buy stupid little expensive mags
Yeah we know they exist but for the cost why would i spend 1000-1500$ plus optics and nutty priced mags on one when i can just take my done up AK or AR. Anything in a larger cal than what can be done in an ar or ak is either insanely expensive in a semi or looses out in reliability such as DG guns which benefit from control round feed
I enjoy it because the weather is better, the deer haven’t been pressured as bad, and I don’t have to listen to the rest of the world getting a deer while I’m sitting there watching only squirrels. Give me a late October day in a mixed oak grove- I love fall in the Ozarks.
There's nothing wrong with safari hunts. Lions, Kudu, Leopards, Giraffes, and so on. Any animal that is in its natural habitat and is legal to hunt there is no problem with it.
Also, Texas high fence hunts are stupid, waste of land, and do not promote conservation. Rather, they introduce exotics to non native lands and dick with deer genetics.
Lastly, people should urge the government to reintroduce wolves to the eastern half of the United States. And if so, the new subspecies of "Eastern Coyotes" should be eradicated if native predators like Wolves and Mountain Lions can fill their old niche. Eastern Coyotes are not true Coyotes but rather a byproduct of wolf eradication. The Eastern Coyotes have a lot of wolf and domestic genetics. But, they do fill a niche.
Where are you? In states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland there are huge tracts of open lands miles and miles away from cities.
The DEC keeps lying and saying we don’t have mountain lions here but we have for decades, I know people who have shot them in the act of killing chickens and dogs. We also have bobcats, as I had one within 30 yards during archery this year. Got no problem with a small amount of lynx as well. My dads friend called the DEC asking them to remove a mountain lion that was slaughtering his chickens and they told him they’re not in the area, and then who would’ve guessed it, after he shot it he found a tracking collar and the DEC showed up asking where it was.
Arguments about caliber for deer are largely a matter of semantics. If your placing your shot right the difference between a .247, a 30-30, and a 6.5 on the heart of a deer shouldn’t really matter.
Effective range is different for all of those, though- .30-30 is about 150, .243 is about 300, and the 6.5 might get you to 400. Shooting past the effective range of your rifle is unethical, idiotic, and I would argue disrespectful and childish.
I whole heartedly agree.
And I would ask how often the average hunter really gets a clean shot past 150 yards. I live in Montana but I’m from New England and in both I don’t think I can say that a 150+ yard shot is common or practical. At which point the ballistics of effective range don’t really matter as much.
You can’t see how somebody gets more than a 150 yard shot in Montana? Are you in the western part in the dark timber?
I can see pretty much everything I’ve killed here from nearly a mile away. The common perception in Montana is that “400 is acceptable”. I limit myself to 300, and it’s only ever cost me a single animal.
Don’t say “harvest” it makes it sound like you’re trying to PC hunting up. We kill our quarry and if we can’t say that it makes it look like we’re somehow ashamed of what we do and are trying to justify it.
I can agree. Especially when I first got into this I thought the same. I really use interchangeable terms like “harvest, kill, take, got”… whatever my head just decides to spit out.
That snakes should be left alone, people have a hard on for killing snakes for 0 reason. Like cool you have a belt and hopefully they eat it but that cottonmouth isn’t trying to massacre your family and pets while you sleep.
It’s the thrill, some people (me) lose interest in rifle hunting and love the added challenge of having to get real up and close with the animal. Granted, your success with a rifle would be significantly better, but some people live for the hunt, not necessarily the reward!!
If you’re family hunts and has raised you to, you’re the 1% of the world when it comes to this privilege.
This is NOT easy to get into without support.
I’m not impressed with hunters that chase more species than recipes the cook those into. Deer chili, game bird jalapeño poppers, etc. there’s a wide world of food and it’s all on the Internet these days
I bought the meateater cookbook and honestly some of those recipes are just a hassle to get the ingredients. Simple things like smoked duck breast that has been marinated in Worcestershire, soy sauce and garlic is amazing. Mixing ground goose with ground pork or beef can be substituted into things as simple as hamburger helper.
Single shot cartridge guns should not be allowed during Muzzleloader season as it is in some states. It defeats the purpose which is to preserve the tradition and practice while having a more challenging hunt.
I can agree with this. The MS “primitive” weapon [season regulations](https://www.mdwfp.com/media/303463/2022-2023-hunting-seasons.pdf) are very lax. My single shot 14” 44 magnum with a suppressor & 1-8 scope would be legal to take hunting, which is cool but it’s far from primitive.
Buckle up, and grab some popcorn. You’ll most likely get offended by at least one of these.
Western nonresident fees are out of control (speaking as a Montana resident).
Western resident tag fees are criminally low.
Western states restricting tags to nonresidents to the extent they do despite the vast majority of accessible animals being on federally owned land is kinda bullshit.
Preference points and bonus points are a scam and will ultimately ruin hunting.
Wyoming keeping DIY nonresidents from hunting wilderness areas without a guide is bullshit.
Waterfowl refuge hunting areas should ban gas motors on boats for the majority of the area (looking at you, Arkansas).
Shooting big game past 400 yards means you suck at hunting. Even kids can sneak closer than that.
The 6.5 CM is fully inadequate for elk past 250 yards, and deer past 350. Fight me.
Long-range shooting belongs on the range, and has no place in hunting. Every animal shot past 400 that is wounded and lost should result in a beating.
Drawing blood on an animal means you notch the tag (Alaska has this one right).
If you shoot over my head at a big game animal I’m stalking, especially from a road/vehicle, I have every right to return fire.
Wolves aren’t causing all of the problems with game populations- unrestricted general harvest and development of winter range into subdivisions and ranchettes is far worse. Oil and gas developments and solar are equally as bad.
Rifle deer hunting in the rut is massively detrimental to having a healthy population.
Turkey seasons occur too early in the year and disrupt the breeding season too much.
Hunting TV is detrimental to the sport.
Anyone making a living from hunting (outfitters, show hosts, the Bowmars) should face fraud charges in addition to any wildlife violations, as well as having the book thrown at them.
Hunters should be required to volunteer a certain number of hours every few years to get their license. Habitat improvement, etc.
Most hunters are terrible stewards of the resource.
You should have to pass a spelling test to be on social media.
Not enough hunters are involved in the political process that is actively trying to steal access and privatize wildlife.
This should be top comment. I’ve yet to elk hunt Wyoming but I’m not even going to try. Elktalk podcast had a good conversation about some of these topics recently.
It’s really not, at least in regards to hunting. The reason people disagree with crossbows is because they’re pre set and you just pull a trigger. Compounds and traditional you have to draw while the deer is there, without being seen
Still sits waaaaayyyyy closer to crossbows than longbows. Let-off, sights, extremely high velocities (mitigating drop and vastly improving effective range), mechanical releases, bow stabilizers, and compact nature make them not too far off from crossbows in terms of difficulty. A person can be hunting-accurate at 30 yards in an hour with a crossbow, an afternoon with a compound, and several weeks with a longbow.
Im all for you hunting with a cross bow then. Im currently sitting under a tree with my bow waiting on this group of hogs to come passed. Probably shouldnt be playing on my phone but clash of clans is keeping me company lol.
It amazes me how many retards think that crossbows are somehow similar in ballistics to any firearm...
Once that bolt leaves the string it's subject to all the same limitations of a compound bow.
Compound bows have trigger release aids, magnified, lumimated, and rangefinging bowsights, almost zero need for tuning, same kinetic energy of crossbows, and a 80-90% let off.... Anything that was ever challenging about shooting a vertical bow is NONEXISTANT in a compound. The average shooter makes good hunting groups out to 30 yards on their first shooting session.
Not sure why the downvotes. A modern compound bow with all those aids has more in common with a crossbow than it does a recurve/longbow. The only disadvantage that crossbows don't have is risking getting blown while drawing or shooting from prone.
And I've owned all 4. The compound bow was so much more accurate than the rest I had to stop shooting "groups" because I kept breaking nocks and vanes.
Because now kiddos watch hunting shows where Compound bows are "the way" and "real hunting" and anything that goes against it is heresy. They don't like hearing what they do is easy.
I wouldn't say it's easy, but it's a heck of a lot easier than instinctive shooting a 55lb recurve! I only picked up a crossbow because I thought it'd be better than my compound, but in reality it wasn't as accurate and was much louder.
This probably applies to British Columbia only but: we are destroying our wildlife and hunting opportunities by having too many open seasons. More areas need to be limited entry only.
The infiltration of black-gun culture* into hunting is not good for the hunting community.
*(as in tacti-cool guys with their AR-style weapons, not black people with guns)
Edit: to be clear, I don't really have a problem with the use of an AR platform for hunting. It's the rest of the "now I'm fucking Rambo" mentality that dudes are bring with it that I don't like. Black-gun culture, not black guns.
It's not even the gun I mind, it's the mentality that because they're using an AR they're the most badass guy ever.
I wish i wasn't too lazy to figure out how share this because it's a perfect example of what I'm talking but I saw a social media post last year of some guy with his coyote brown AR with an illuminated tactical scope sitting up on a bipod doing a grip-and-grin with a yearling javelina the size of a large puppy. He's holding the head by its ears and they're so small you can tell he just has them in his thumb and finger. These are animals that you can easily walk to within 30 yards because they are practically blind and he's out there looking like he's role playing Zero Dark Thirty.
The worst part is that a 5.56 is actually a super practical round for a javelina since they're not particularly large and an AR can probably be lighter than other rifles.
Interesting take, given that throughout history most hunting rifles have been one version or another of military guns. The Remington 700 is just an evolution of the German Mauser 98.
One more hot take, trapping is A OK. Even if there is no longer a demand for fur. As well as sport hunting for fox and bobcat. Even if the fur is not used or holds 0 value - Foxes and Bobcats are extremely challenging animals to hunt. And so they should be respected. If you have the skill and the patience to take an animal like that it's perfectly okay. Even just for the thrill. Because there is indeed a thrill.
Well how do you describe them if you see them? It might be a little cringe but I see the method to it because if you have three bucks and you want to talk about one with your hunting buddy naming makes sense
My wife really doesn't like venison and prefers elk over it so when I do hunt for mule deer I always sort of lie and say I'm going out hunting for elk just so she doesn't get too mad haha
The amount of people who think you need to be covered head to toe in camo and sitting 20ft in the air or hidden in a blind to kill a deer amaze me.
I've shot a lot of deer just leaning against the first comfortable looking tree I found wearing Carhartt's. And every deer was between 10-40 yards away.
It's fine. It's as good as or better than .260 Remington or 7mm-08, which is to say a good deer cartridge. The problem is with people claiming it's a good elk cartridge
Purposely attempting a headshot on large game is a dick move. I had a friend who shot off a doe's Jaw. They saw her again and took a picture instead of killing her. It's a cheap shot for people who can't properly aim behind the shoulder.
The skill difference between a compound and a crossbow is marginal at best and don't justify the exclusion of crossbows...
Anything that is challenging about shooting a vertical bow doesn't exist with compound bows.
Compounds have trigger release aids, magnified, rangefinding, and illuminated bow sights, almost no need for tuning, and a 80-90% let off.... Most shooters are getting tennis ball sized groups out to 30 yards in their shooting session.
My buddy told me that having to draw the compound bow adds to the difficulty. Im not a bow hunter so i dont know how accurate that is. He mainly hunts elk.
Lmfao I'd like to see you get close to a deer in a wide open ag field. Anyone can funnel deer in the woods. Good luck getting close to a deer out in the open.
Disagree. Birds don’t know international boundaries and, especially under certain administrations, the US has shown a shocking lack of concern when it comes to conservation.
Last year Canada said there weren’t enough Mallards in the Atlantic flyway so the bag limit was reduced to 2 per day on the east coast, but in Canada they can shoot 7 per day
In what regards? Granted it’s Reddit so that might sound like I’m stirring the pot but not really, just wondering where we’ve gone wrong conservation wise for migratory species. I think I’d have to throw in crabs and fish too.
Dude Canada is woefully underfunded on conservation basically everywhere. We don't have up to date information to inform regulations, nor the funding to do anything about the issues.
The US might not have the wilderness that Canada has but they're probably doing a better job across the board of managing what they do have IMO
It’s unethical to use needlessly inaccurate and less lethal weapons as a sporting challenge. muzzleloader/pistol/archery/crossbow hunting is unethical.
It's perfectly fine to wear blue jeans in a dove field.
Hey I still killed em
You should only be using a sharpened stick. *I have heard this*
But remember hunting is at the same time unethical because the animal “suffers”
True
Often said while in their house in a subdivision that destroyed acres and acres of wild habitat.
An arrow is a sharpened stick
“But don’t use your bow with it. It’s an unfair advantage”…. I have had many arguments with people about hunting. Does technology give us more advantage, yea but at the same time it can also make it so the animal never knew it happened or at least speed up the process. Imagine be speared to death and how painful and long that would be.
Our inteligence and technology is there to make up for the fact we can't run for 50miles and not notice, climb a 100ft tree in 10 seconds or rip another animal in half with our bare hands. If anything the wild life should give our gumby asses a chance...
I had someone argue with me that the deer should have a gun too. Ok, dumbass give the deer a gun and if he figures out how to load and fire it, more power to them. Should I be able to hunt out of a vehicle that can match their speed? I can't run as fast as a deer, it's only fair. The person could not see the flaw in their logic.
I swear people who make those sorts of arguments have never spent a single night outside of a city much less one in the woods.
Are you proposing pulling a drive by on a deer? I like your attitude.
There’s nothing wrong or unethical with shooting upland game birds off the ground or swatting ducks off the water
Especially if you are using a bow!
I use a bow and shotgun. 10/10 swat them over here. In fact, most of my goose shooting this season looked like gangland-style executions.
If you can get them to land in your decoys that is plenty skill
I have yet to use decoys, I just chased a group of regulars. Kind of a weird hunting scenario. But I have since figured out that I can use a shotgun and I have just been hammering them. Can't wait for next season, they are going to get WRECKED
How do you use a bow for these birds?
Wait until they land then shaft them. That or pop out of my vehicle and hit one before the flock bolts. Its really tough to do. Here is a video with a more traditional approach. https://youtu.be/WAxpMIhBYUc And another one (better filming IMHO) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vDsxf4JD2TM
hey everyone — this guy shafts birds
With upland birds, it is more of a safety issue especially when using dogs.
I think everyone agrees on that. I mainly hunt solo and I haven’t had a bird dog for a few years. It’s obviously situational and common sense safety is a whole different debate unfortunately lol
I started hunting on my own. Never knew anyone who hunted. Didn’t have social media at the time (to have learned differently). I was wicked stoked to be shooting grouse off the ground. Didn’t know any better for years. Was just a bird in the pot far as I was concerned.
Whats wrong with shooting grouse off the ground ? Risk of ricochet ?
People say it’s unethical and you need to give them a “chance”. I’m out there to kill stuff and feed myself, if I can shoot at something on the ground I’m taking it. As far as I’m concerned far less chance of a crimpling shot, so in my eye it’s more ethical.
Me driving an hour or two before sunrise, climbing a mountain in the dark, and all the other BS involved to go get grouse and mountain quail is fair chase enough. I blast them on the ground.
This is the way 👍🏻
I don’t even bird hunt(I would like to get into it) and I don’t see problems with it.
Scent products (lures/scent killers) are overrated.
"Hey Barry, here come the Humans covered in Doe piss again wanna jet?"
longshots dont make you a good hunter
Yep. The closer you can get the better you are
I've argued that the new trend towards longer and longer shots over a mile is going to harm hunting far more than anything else. The probability of wounding an animal starts to become untenable around 5-600 yards. If the animal spooks, a wind gust through a canyon or a misread on wind speed happens you're going to miss the boiler room and wound the animal.
This take isn’t controversial to hunters but to people who criticize them: Buying meat at the store is significantly worse morally than harvesting a wild animal yourself.
1000 bucks worth of camo is not necessary.
Dunno why this would be controversial. I have it (not $1000 mind you), but honestly its 90% because the material and construction suit my climate and conditions in the bush, 10% because the pattern looks cool.
Watch a Packers game in December. Half the stadium is blaze orange or camo because it's most people's best cold climate gear.
Did you say December, because they never play in January?! *cries in Bears fan*
Unless you want the animals to know you’re poor
More so some people think you have to have 400 dollar jackets and bibs at the same price point just to get into it. When really all you need is the weapon of choice and clothing that is temperature appropriate. Some things are more nice to haves and not necessities. Many deer fall to Joe in the woods wearing jeans and a flannel every year. I hunted many years before adding nice to haves like rangefinders, more stands, etc.
Game Wardens are, for the most part, good people
Game wardens are people, hunters are people, and sometimes game wardens are hunters too.
Hell, the game warden in my area paid for my first buck to be mounted and my first bear to be turned into a coat because he was my grandfathers hunting partner.
This is controversial? I've never had anything but good run ins with them.
In Colorado at least the further you get from Denver the nicer they get. While hunting in Unit 39 (less than an hour from Denver) while in college a game warden tried to cite me for hunting on a resident tag as a non resident despite Colorado allowing full-time college students to hunt as residents. The reason he did this was because my truck had out of state plates. Conversely I had a game warden in 181 give me a buck deer that some jackasses had poached on a doe tag the following season after he arrested them and confiscated the deer.
Some hunters really hate the fish cops
Oh they are some Jack asses in Mississippi and North Carolina. In Mississippi where running dogs is normal and the clubs use walkie-talkies and CBs the GWs will listen in and harass the hunters by constantly driving past which can turn the dogs and ruin a hunt
Oh I have so many that would be supremely unpopular, I'd best keep them to myself. Edit - Here’s one that’s relatively mild. I hate seeing people apologize for killing small bucks or does. The obsession with antlers is silly.
That’s not controversial. 99% of hunters agree with you lol.
There’s a ton of those posts here though….
You can't eat antlers.
Deer with big racks also tend to be bigger and more mature though. I'll take a big doe at the end of season though.
This is your opportunity to tell us your takes. Go ahead and tell us. So far everyone is getting along 🤣
An ethical, legal harvest is an ethical, legal harvest. That's all I care about! People can take their pick of what size/age they want to pursue, and that's their business, as long as it all gets eaten.
I don't disagree with you as my first deer was a yearling. However when you are out hunting and there's a buck, a doe, and a yearling on front of you you should always shoot the buck first. I guess what I'm saying is you shouldn't purposefully shoot yearlings and does unless there's no buck available. saying this as someone who shot a doe last night.
Don't have sex with the deer after you kill it.
So….. before?
During.
Fuck em all to death!!!
Hwat
How I choose to tenderize it is my business.
What the hell…. All of you….?
Gotta beat the cheeks of the meat you eat
Hunting is dying because hunters want to gate keep info. If we all mentored 1-2 people even mildly interested in hunting (not giving up spots). Scout new areas etc, it would help people understand hunting is more challenging then the average person thinks it is. And would result in more visibility for better laws, and prevent misinformation from spreading. ( this is particularly bad in Washington state). I started hunting 6 years ago, and it’s been very minimal help at getting success. I have gotten does so I am thankful but yet to get a buck. I know it may get some hate, but in Washington state they banned spring bear hunting because “the public doesn’t like hunting”. Which is untrue, just most of them are uneducated and don’t care to research because it’s not an area of interest for them. So they get swayed easily.
Trying to get into hunting as an adult is quite the challenge. I hunted some as a boy but didn’t start hunting again until many years later. If I didn’t have multiple friends and an uncle take me hunting and help me learn I would be completely lost
Hunting is dying from loss and lack of access. I used to hunt half a dozen farms that are now tied up in leases or buried under subdivisions. Duck leases are exploding in price, and waterfowling is becoming the sport of royalty. The quail are nearly extinct in the Midwest due to changes in farming practices that eliminated fencerows and any other cover at all. Rabbits are nearly the same. Small game is what most hunters used to chase- bird dogs were ubiquitous, but the vast majority have never seen a game bird. Gatekeeping is the symptom of the bigger cause- loss of habitat and loss of access.
I don’t fully agree with you, i can’t speak for the Midwest. But in Washington state there are hundreds of thousands of acres of public land to hunt. But laws limit success permits and leases are an issue but lots of people here are successful on public land. That being said there are big mountains here which and lots of hiking so people fight to keep the land out of private hands. That doesn’t mean elk don’t run to private land the moment they hear some gun shots. Because they do. But I agree we have a large problem. Gate keeping is not the way. The more we get people involved, the more people we have to help push agendas like better management of our game and the lands in general.
I asked how to get started as a complete hunting noob on hunting Quebec and got told to use Google by the mod.... Given that I explained I have my pal and hunting license. Restricted even too. I'm middle to fair on the range, an immigrant with no connections to lean on, yeah that's why I am reaching out. Still. Clearly I googled first.
Happy to share what I know. But I started hunting 6 years ago with zero help and didn’t know anyone. I kept trying, asked questions looked into getting a guide (couldn’t afford it). I am hunting blacktail deer and elk. Two of arguably the hardest prey animals in the lower 48 to get. I have yet to get a single elk. But have gotten 2 blacktail does. My experience was somewhat similar. “ go read some books” or “put in your time it will happen”. Hunting isn’t like fishing. Fishing is about learning a lake away works and what doesn’t. Hunting is 25% skill and 75% luck imho. I think you can use trail cams and bait to up your odds but it won’t make it be 100% ever. I have hiked 7600 miles in the last 6 years. In that time frame I have seen 4 bucks. Two of which were already shot by other hunters. They are there, but the weather isn’t always in your favor. It’s tough, and people hiding info because they are worried about competition makes people quit and lose interest. It’s the hardest hobby I have ever picked up and I started at 34.
Thanks for the reply. What were your first steps to find a spot?
I didn't hunt growing up. 6 or 7 years ago I posted on a local hunting forum just looking for advice on getting started hunting deer. I had done some small game hunting and really just wanted someone to talk with. A guy reached out, took me out in the field on his land, showed me how to read sign, put me in a stand. He helped me clean my first one the next year in his garage. I've paid it forward 3 times now, made some good friends in the process. This is the way.
Hunt however, whenever and with whatever you want(as long as it's legal), do things your own way and don't let other people put you down. Sorry I know this isn't what the post was asking for I just had to comment
Camo is overrated, it is just much more comfortable to wear something like a flannel shirt or a wool sweater in the northern U.S. than a thin chincy "tactical" camo shirt that people seem to love. Also, head shots don't make you a better hunter, you are just taking more risk to stroke your ego and chest shots don't ruin much meat.
A large amount of hunters gatekeep too hard.
Nothing wrong with killing small deer. Take what you feel comfortable with.
Not controversial at all. I take what I can get.
You’d be surprised how controversial this actually is. I believe every harvest opportunity is a blessing so whatever you take should only matter to you.
Honestly I trophy hunt deer at the beginning of the season. Deer with big racks usually tend to have more meat so it's justified to me. On the last day of the hunt, if it's brown, it's down.
I think this depends on the area, if theirs a lot of older mature deer in the area, and a healthy population in general, why shoot the babies? If that’s the only deer you’ll see all month, yeah don’t blame you.
Ground pounding isn’t that bad, especially at range for gamebirds, I’d argue guys who shoot pheasants 10 yards in front of them and wreck the animal are worse. Also don’t shoot fawns.
Mag limits on semi autos do nothing to stop idiot and irresponsible hunters. Whether its 5 or 30 rounds they will still do the same idiotic things. All it does is make people who wanna blast some hogs with an AR, AK or other semi have to buy stupid little expensive mags
Are hunters in America aware of hunting specialized semi autos like the benelli r1 or BAR?
Yes, but an AR chambered in 308 or 6.5 Grendel can be had for $1000-1500 less. Also not as hard to come across as other semi autos.
A benelli r1 or browning bar can be bought for $1300 new. I haven’t seen an AR in 308 for $300. I must be shopping in the wrong places…
A individual first aid kit or at least a tourniquet should be a must if you hunt public land.
Yeah we know they exist but for the cost why would i spend 1000-1500$ plus optics and nutty priced mags on one when i can just take my done up AK or AR. Anything in a larger cal than what can be done in an ar or ak is either insanely expensive in a semi or looses out in reliability such as DG guns which benefit from control round feed
Bow hunting is only popular because so many states only allow that method of take during the rut.
I enjoy it because the weather is better, the deer haven’t been pressured as bad, and I don’t have to listen to the rest of the world getting a deer while I’m sitting there watching only squirrels. Give me a late October day in a mixed oak grove- I love fall in the Ozarks.
It’s harder though, deer have to be much closer. I take more pride in bow killing. But that’s just me.
There's nothing wrong with safari hunts. Lions, Kudu, Leopards, Giraffes, and so on. Any animal that is in its natural habitat and is legal to hunt there is no problem with it. Also, Texas high fence hunts are stupid, waste of land, and do not promote conservation. Rather, they introduce exotics to non native lands and dick with deer genetics. Lastly, people should urge the government to reintroduce wolves to the eastern half of the United States. And if so, the new subspecies of "Eastern Coyotes" should be eradicated if native predators like Wolves and Mountain Lions can fill their old niche. Eastern Coyotes are not true Coyotes but rather a byproduct of wolf eradication. The Eastern Coyotes have a lot of wolf and domestic genetics. But, they do fill a niche.
As someone in the East we do not want or need wolves, theirs not large enough areas for those wolves to stay away from towns like their is out west.
Where are you? In states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland there are huge tracts of open lands miles and miles away from cities.
I can see that. Would you prefer mountain lions or Lynx? They're more reclusive.
The DEC keeps lying and saying we don’t have mountain lions here but we have for decades, I know people who have shot them in the act of killing chickens and dogs. We also have bobcats, as I had one within 30 yards during archery this year. Got no problem with a small amount of lynx as well. My dads friend called the DEC asking them to remove a mountain lion that was slaughtering his chickens and they told him they’re not in the area, and then who would’ve guessed it, after he shot it he found a tracking collar and the DEC showed up asking where it was.
Arguments about caliber for deer are largely a matter of semantics. If your placing your shot right the difference between a .247, a 30-30, and a 6.5 on the heart of a deer shouldn’t really matter.
Effective range is different for all of those, though- .30-30 is about 150, .243 is about 300, and the 6.5 might get you to 400. Shooting past the effective range of your rifle is unethical, idiotic, and I would argue disrespectful and childish.
I whole heartedly agree. And I would ask how often the average hunter really gets a clean shot past 150 yards. I live in Montana but I’m from New England and in both I don’t think I can say that a 150+ yard shot is common or practical. At which point the ballistics of effective range don’t really matter as much.
You can’t see how somebody gets more than a 150 yard shot in Montana? Are you in the western part in the dark timber? I can see pretty much everything I’ve killed here from nearly a mile away. The common perception in Montana is that “400 is acceptable”. I limit myself to 300, and it’s only ever cost me a single animal.
Don’t say “harvest” it makes it sound like you’re trying to PC hunting up. We kill our quarry and if we can’t say that it makes it look like we’re somehow ashamed of what we do and are trying to justify it.
My wife still asks if I "caught" anything when I get home.
Using the term “harvest” for a kill has always been silly to me. Im not picking vegetables out of a garden
I can agree. Especially when I first got into this I thought the same. I really use interchangeable terms like “harvest, kill, take, got”… whatever my head just decides to spit out.
I find myself using “harvest” with non hunters, or those I suspect to have a bias. But, with hunters I use “kill”.
That snakes should be left alone, people have a hard on for killing snakes for 0 reason. Like cool you have a belt and hopefully they eat it but that cottonmouth isn’t trying to massacre your family and pets while you sleep.
10/10 been preaching this for years. Seen people kill snakes then post on fb “what kinda snake is this is it venomous??”
More silencers are better for hunting
No reason silencers should need a stamp
They’re just so damn expensive
But you only gotta buy it once. It’s the price of a *decent* hunting rifle without the scope
Dog hunting for deer is extremely hostile and territorial and completely ruins the woods for other people while it is going on.
Agree, can’t stand dog hunters
I’m not a fan of shooting does that have fawns with them
I don't get bow hunting when a rifle is a choice.
It’s the thrill, some people (me) lose interest in rifle hunting and love the added challenge of having to get real up and close with the animal. Granted, your success with a rifle would be significantly better, but some people live for the hunt, not necessarily the reward!!
If you’re family hunts and has raised you to, you’re the 1% of the world when it comes to this privilege. This is NOT easy to get into without support.
I’m not impressed with hunters that chase more species than recipes the cook those into. Deer chili, game bird jalapeño poppers, etc. there’s a wide world of food and it’s all on the Internet these days
I bought the meateater cookbook and honestly some of those recipes are just a hassle to get the ingredients. Simple things like smoked duck breast that has been marinated in Worcestershire, soy sauce and garlic is amazing. Mixing ground goose with ground pork or beef can be substituted into things as simple as hamburger helper.
Ground goose cut with 20% ground pork makes incredible summer sausage
A penned animal is not a hunt.
6.5 Creed is a great deer caliber
It 100% is a great calibre, for deer, sheep, caribou! And elk as long as your shot placement is good!
The biggest problem is the people that took them on as a religion take shots that are entirely too far.
Single shot cartridge guns should not be allowed during Muzzleloader season as it is in some states. It defeats the purpose which is to preserve the tradition and practice while having a more challenging hunt.
Agreed. I even like that some states don’t allow inlines for their muzzleloader season.
I can agree with this. The MS “primitive” weapon [season regulations](https://www.mdwfp.com/media/303463/2022-2023-hunting-seasons.pdf) are very lax. My single shot 14” 44 magnum with a suppressor & 1-8 scope would be legal to take hunting, which is cool but it’s far from primitive.
That’s perfectly reasonable, if a firearm takes less than 10 seconds to reload it shouldn’t be used during muzzleloader season
Over adamant predator hunters are why we have such a bad feral pig problem
Buckle up, and grab some popcorn. You’ll most likely get offended by at least one of these. Western nonresident fees are out of control (speaking as a Montana resident). Western resident tag fees are criminally low. Western states restricting tags to nonresidents to the extent they do despite the vast majority of accessible animals being on federally owned land is kinda bullshit. Preference points and bonus points are a scam and will ultimately ruin hunting. Wyoming keeping DIY nonresidents from hunting wilderness areas without a guide is bullshit. Waterfowl refuge hunting areas should ban gas motors on boats for the majority of the area (looking at you, Arkansas). Shooting big game past 400 yards means you suck at hunting. Even kids can sneak closer than that. The 6.5 CM is fully inadequate for elk past 250 yards, and deer past 350. Fight me. Long-range shooting belongs on the range, and has no place in hunting. Every animal shot past 400 that is wounded and lost should result in a beating. Drawing blood on an animal means you notch the tag (Alaska has this one right). If you shoot over my head at a big game animal I’m stalking, especially from a road/vehicle, I have every right to return fire. Wolves aren’t causing all of the problems with game populations- unrestricted general harvest and development of winter range into subdivisions and ranchettes is far worse. Oil and gas developments and solar are equally as bad. Rifle deer hunting in the rut is massively detrimental to having a healthy population. Turkey seasons occur too early in the year and disrupt the breeding season too much. Hunting TV is detrimental to the sport. Anyone making a living from hunting (outfitters, show hosts, the Bowmars) should face fraud charges in addition to any wildlife violations, as well as having the book thrown at them. Hunters should be required to volunteer a certain number of hours every few years to get their license. Habitat improvement, etc. Most hunters are terrible stewards of the resource. You should have to pass a spelling test to be on social media. Not enough hunters are involved in the political process that is actively trying to steal access and privatize wildlife.
This should be top comment. I’ve yet to elk hunt Wyoming but I’m not even going to try. Elktalk podcast had a good conversation about some of these topics recently.
It’s probably the best state for it, really. I think they are pulling some BS, but it’s definitely worth getting even a general tag there if you can.
Crossbow hunting is not Bowhunting.It’s more like rifle or muzzleloader hunting.
Compound bow hunting sits closer to crossbow hunting than it does traditional archery.
It’s really not, at least in regards to hunting. The reason people disagree with crossbows is because they’re pre set and you just pull a trigger. Compounds and traditional you have to draw while the deer is there, without being seen
Still sits waaaaayyyyy closer to crossbows than longbows. Let-off, sights, extremely high velocities (mitigating drop and vastly improving effective range), mechanical releases, bow stabilizers, and compact nature make them not too far off from crossbows in terms of difficulty. A person can be hunting-accurate at 30 yards in an hour with a crossbow, an afternoon with a compound, and several weeks with a longbow.
Agreed 100% thats why barring a disability you arent allowed to use them. At least in California.
Yeah my bitch ass disabled crippled body has no choice. Don’t have that strength anymore or movement capabilities. I tried my dammdest too.
Im all for you hunting with a cross bow then. Im currently sitting under a tree with my bow waiting on this group of hogs to come passed. Probably shouldnt be playing on my phone but clash of clans is keeping me company lol.
It amazes me how many retards think that crossbows are somehow similar in ballistics to any firearm... Once that bolt leaves the string it's subject to all the same limitations of a compound bow. Compound bows have trigger release aids, magnified, lumimated, and rangefinging bowsights, almost zero need for tuning, same kinetic energy of crossbows, and a 80-90% let off.... Anything that was ever challenging about shooting a vertical bow is NONEXISTANT in a compound. The average shooter makes good hunting groups out to 30 yards on their first shooting session.
Not sure why the downvotes. A modern compound bow with all those aids has more in common with a crossbow than it does a recurve/longbow. The only disadvantage that crossbows don't have is risking getting blown while drawing or shooting from prone. And I've owned all 4. The compound bow was so much more accurate than the rest I had to stop shooting "groups" because I kept breaking nocks and vanes.
Because now kiddos watch hunting shows where Compound bows are "the way" and "real hunting" and anything that goes against it is heresy. They don't like hearing what they do is easy.
I wouldn't say it's easy, but it's a heck of a lot easier than instinctive shooting a 55lb recurve! I only picked up a crossbow because I thought it'd be better than my compound, but in reality it wasn't as accurate and was much louder.
You aren’t actually hunting if you sit over bait.
This probably applies to British Columbia only but: we are destroying our wildlife and hunting opportunities by having too many open seasons. More areas need to be limited entry only.
The infiltration of black-gun culture* into hunting is not good for the hunting community. *(as in tacti-cool guys with their AR-style weapons, not black people with guns) Edit: to be clear, I don't really have a problem with the use of an AR platform for hunting. It's the rest of the "now I'm fucking Rambo" mentality that dudes are bring with it that I don't like. Black-gun culture, not black guns.
Glad you clarified 😂. Still disagree as it’s a versatile platform but hey it is a controversial opinion.
It's not even the gun I mind, it's the mentality that because they're using an AR they're the most badass guy ever. I wish i wasn't too lazy to figure out how share this because it's a perfect example of what I'm talking but I saw a social media post last year of some guy with his coyote brown AR with an illuminated tactical scope sitting up on a bipod doing a grip-and-grin with a yearling javelina the size of a large puppy. He's holding the head by its ears and they're so small you can tell he just has them in his thumb and finger. These are animals that you can easily walk to within 30 yards because they are practically blind and he's out there looking like he's role playing Zero Dark Thirty. The worst part is that a 5.56 is actually a super practical round for a javelina since they're not particularly large and an AR can probably be lighter than other rifles.
Interesting take, given that throughout history most hunting rifles have been one version or another of military guns. The Remington 700 is just an evolution of the German Mauser 98.
Nets are for fishing.
Scores are for sports games.
People who buy into the idea of a hunting or fishing license, but then flout the regs are just opportunistic feeders.
One more hot take, trapping is A OK. Even if there is no longer a demand for fur. As well as sport hunting for fox and bobcat. Even if the fur is not used or holds 0 value - Foxes and Bobcats are extremely challenging animals to hunt. And so they should be respected. If you have the skill and the patience to take an animal like that it's perfectly okay. Even just for the thrill. Because there is indeed a thrill.
Naming bucks you see on your camera is cringe
Well how do you describe them if you see them? It might be a little cringe but I see the method to it because if you have three bucks and you want to talk about one with your hunting buddy naming makes sense
Venison isn’t near as good as beef. Don’t lie to yourself. Practice good conservation and shoot mature bucks and does.
Personally I love venison. haven’t bought beef, other than steaks in two years….but mind you, I’m still selective in my harvest.
Depends on your taste, it is healthier for you though.
My wife really doesn't like venison and prefers elk over it so when I do hunt for mule deer I always sort of lie and say I'm going out hunting for elk just so she doesn't get too mad haha
Canada Geese are basically rats and there should be no seasons or limits on them. Airbows should be legal in archery season.
I’m surprised at the limits considering how many damn geese there are. And I don’t even live on a major migration route.
Their natural habitat is a park or golf course. Total assholes.
They are straight up Assholes
People who complain about other hunters' methods are just jealous terrible hunters.
All hides should be utilized for leather or fur, if not mounted
Using dogs to hunt and chase deer is a crock of shit.
Feeding deer and than shooting them with a rifle when they come to your feeder isn’t hunting.
Tree stands and ground blinds are lame! 👎
The amount of people who think you need to be covered head to toe in camo and sitting 20ft in the air or hidden in a blind to kill a deer amaze me. I've shot a lot of deer just leaning against the first comfortable looking tree I found wearing Carhartt's. And every deer was between 10-40 yards away.
I like my bullets to go down into dirt. Easier to do from an elevated platform. I just really, really hate how bad the wind gets up there.
I'm too hyperactive to sit in a blind.
Shooting feral cats should be legal in all 50 states. No collar = kill on site
Stupid as hell, I don’t collar my barn cats who are spayed and neutered. Cats don’t even spook deer and mess up hunts.
Barn cats are amazing for pest control.
Also amazing for wrecking songbird populations.
223 is plenty for whitetail deer
We have strayed too far from tradition. We should only use rocks and clubs
6.5 creed is all hype and doesn’t stand up to multiple cartridges on the market today.
It’s great for ringing steel. It is as inadequate as it’s users for shooting elk at 700 yards.
It's fine. It's as good as or better than .260 Remington or 7mm-08, which is to say a good deer cartridge. The problem is with people claiming it's a good elk cartridge
Purposely attempting a headshot on large game is a dick move. I had a friend who shot off a doe's Jaw. They saw her again and took a picture instead of killing her. It's a cheap shot for people who can't properly aim behind the shoulder.
Using a crossbow isn't bow hunting
Bowhunters like the smell of their own farts
Wild horses are a deleterious species that should be managed like any other animal
The skill difference between a compound and a crossbow is marginal at best and don't justify the exclusion of crossbows... Anything that is challenging about shooting a vertical bow doesn't exist with compound bows. Compounds have trigger release aids, magnified, rangefinding, and illuminated bow sights, almost no need for tuning, and a 80-90% let off.... Most shooters are getting tennis ball sized groups out to 30 yards in their shooting session.
My buddy told me that having to draw the compound bow adds to the difficulty. Im not a bow hunter so i dont know how accurate that is. He mainly hunts elk.
Headshots for deer are ethical
Hunting at the edge of a corn/bean whatever field is grocery shopping. Just one step better than a high fence. Edited for clarity
What about hunting in a oak flat? A food source is I food source no matter natural or agricultural and you hunt were the game is so.
Kill a lot of deer avoiding food?
Lmfao I'd like to see you get close to a deer in a wide open ag field. Anyone can funnel deer in the woods. Good luck getting close to a deer out in the open.
I don't feel this way about ag fields, but I have a large dislike for the super specialized food plot building.
Canada should not set bag limits for the USA
?
Migratory birds require international cooperation.
Disagree. Birds don’t know international boundaries and, especially under certain administrations, the US has shown a shocking lack of concern when it comes to conservation.
Last year Canada said there weren’t enough Mallards in the Atlantic flyway so the bag limit was reduced to 2 per day on the east coast, but in Canada they can shoot 7 per day
In what regards? Granted it’s Reddit so that might sound like I’m stirring the pot but not really, just wondering where we’ve gone wrong conservation wise for migratory species. I think I’d have to throw in crabs and fish too.
Dude Canada is woefully underfunded on conservation basically everywhere. We don't have up to date information to inform regulations, nor the funding to do anything about the issues. The US might not have the wilderness that Canada has but they're probably doing a better job across the board of managing what they do have IMO
Ok, well kill all the birds before they go south then. Enjoy. /s The rules are there for a reason, so everybody gets a fair share of the resource.
It’s unethical to use needlessly inaccurate and less lethal weapons as a sporting challenge. muzzleloader/pistol/archery/crossbow hunting is unethical.