The Drive for Notoriety

[SJB358]

If the ordinary person knew how much phoney BS goes
on in the real world of trophy hunting it would turn your
stomach......... Unfortunately American's top the list in hunting egos. ANYONE that has never fired a rifle with $10,000 can fly into Kansas tomorrow, book a hunt with MidWest Hunting Adventures and shoot a bigger deer than anything most could ever imagine..... Not fair but true. Private leases, mature 5/7 year old monsters.
My next door neighbor shot a massive 15 point double droptine gagger here in his horse pasture a few years back
with his brothers 30/30. He was 45 years old and had NEVER shot a deer in his life........ Not fair but true.
Hunting is a wonderful sport, for me its all about the anticipation and the romance of friends and family at camp, waking up to the smell of woodsmoke and bacon
frying and hoping for fresh tracking snow. I have always been fascinated with big horns since I was a kid. And just
would not shoot smaller bucks....... I have killed 17 in my life that made it over 200lbs, however I went dozens of seasons I "never taged one" but had past up, on decent 8 pointers I
knew were 160/180 lbers. So if your going to "hunt horns"
Get prepared to eat " horn soup" cause your not always going to get em......... I am 19 days after the same buck today, and no closer than I was the first day!
But if I never get him, it wont change one thing.
The coffee will taste the same, the smell of bacon
frying at 4:30 am will never change, the snapp n pop
of split cedar in the old stove, getting the fire going, will sound the same....
It isnt about a 200lber on the tailgate, its alot more than
that. When we came in last nite after dark the new snow on the side of our tracks was so dry it sparkled like a million diamonds, in the headlights. And is a spectacular sight, to anyone.
For those that those that have never seen the diamonds of
hunting life, and believe it too be found in a big set of horns, I wish you well. For you have likely missed the whole reason for hunting?

Well said E! You literally knocked that outta the park!

 

[Africa Huntress]

If the ordinary person knew how much phoney BS goes
on in the real world of trophy hunting it would turn your
stomach......... Unfortunately American's top the list in hunting egos. ANYONE that has never fired a rifle with $10,000 can fly into Kansas tomorrow, book a hunt with MidWest Hunting Adventures and shoot a bigger deer than anything most could ever imagine..... Not fair but true. Private leases, mature 5/7 year old monsters.
My next door neighbor shot a massive 15 point double droptine gagger here in his horse pasture a few years back
with his brothers 30/30. He was 45 years old and had NEVER shot a deer in his life........ Not fair but true.
Hunting is a wonderful sport, for me its all about the anticipation and the romance of friends and family at camp, waking up to the smell of woodsmoke and bacon
frying and hoping for fresh tracking snow. I have always been fascinated with big horns since I was a kid. And just
would not shoot smaller bucks....... I have killed 17 in my life that made it over 200lbs, however I went dozens of seasons I "never taged one" but had past up, on decent 8 pointers I
knew were 160/180 lbers. So if your going to "hunt horns"
Get prepared to eat " horn soup" cause your not always going to get em......... I am 19 days after the same buck today, and no closer than I was the first day!
But if I never get him, it wont change one thing.
The coffee will taste the same, the smell of bacon
frying at 4:30 am will never change, the snapp n pop
of split cedar in the old stove, getting the fire going, will sound the same....
It isnt about a 200lber on the tailgate, its alot more than
that. When we came in last nite after dark the new snow on the side of our tracks was so dry it sparkled like a million diamonds, in the headlights. And is a spectacular sight, to anyone.
For those that those that have never seen the diamonds of
hunting life, and believe it too be found in a big set of horns, I wish you well. For you have likely missed the whole reason for hunting?

Very nicely stated sir. I might also suggest readers of this thread to read Cheyenne's post, which is another post that reminds us, that the difference between loving the outdoors, and hunting is much different than "canned shooting of game"

If I may and "in my opinion" the "canned hunts" for trophy lions in South Africa is NOT lion hunting. You fly in, look at the different lions available to shoot on a computer screen while having dinner. choose one and the next morning go out into their enclosed area and shoot it. They breed the lions on the farm for this purpose. It is like shooting a lion in a zoo enclosure. I hate to burst anyones bubble, but many of the red stag hunts in NZ are "canned hunts". I would rather have lunch with Cheyenne while watching the animal's she wrote about doing what they do or hunting a day with Earle, as he has so eloquently written about above, than to shoot a "Trophy" animal in a cage.

While here, this might be considered poetic justice. A few months ago three Rhino poachers were killed by a pride of Lions. This may seem to be a bit insensitive on my part , but you might view it differently if you were to see what poachers do.

Best Regards

Jamila

 

[DrMike]

Wouldn't trade my memories of days spent watching the sunrise over the mountains, smelling the fresh air and cutting tracks in fresh snow. We didn't always shoot something, but we always saw scenes unfolding that are priceless. Time spent with dear friends, the laughter and the ribbing are a priceless heritage. Yeah, Earle, I've eaten a lot of "track soup," and I wouldn't trade it for any amount.

 

[noslerpartition]

Metric is fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I will post some links as soon as I find some good ones.
Meanwhile, if you'd like to see some videos, type 'hochsitz Anleitung' at youtube.
I think you get the idea without understanding the strange language...

Gesendet von meinem HUAWEI VNS-L31 mit Tapatalk

 

[noslerpartition]

well - no idea if it helps. if you need translations, just drop me a line. Open versions can be covered with tarp and if you spend some time, you can fit the "shooting-table" to your needs (there are a ton of versions, some foldable to move them around, others fixed to trailers, ...). I did not find the perfect one, yet, if you don't speak the language. but these might give you some impressions and if you don't have two left hands (unless you are left-handed), you will be able to start from here (additions will follow):

https://www.svlfg.de/60-service/serv02_ ... uktion.pdf

https://www.geartester.de/articles/2997

https://www.jagderleben.de/anleitungen/ ... t-hochsitz

http://www.bjv-lohr.de/Plan_Kanzel2.pdf

https://www.jagd-tg.ch/Hochsitze/kanzel

http://www.aufbaumen.de/Download/Ansitzkanzel-1412.pdf

https://docplayer.org/39706107-Jagd-gui ... aeger.html

 

[jspickar]

I'm much more interested in hunting ordinary animals in trophy country than trophy animals in ordinary country.

Right on

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[walkinhorseman]

This topic and thread strikes a very sensitive chord for me. I have been disgusted by the “Hunting” programs to the point where I no longer watch them. A pet peeve with me has always been the “long range hunting” concept. I am going to make a statement that is not meant to disparage stand hunters but what I see is a nation of lazy immediate gratification game shooters who are not about the hunt but more about the ego. I lay blame on the gun scribes and firearms industry that project this idea success behind the trigger can be purchased and doesn’t have to be a learned skill. A very low percentage of American big game hunters have the marksmanship skills to be proficient on the trigger of the super-magnums. I would be willing to bet that there have been far more animals wounded and lost to the 30-378 than the 30-06.

We have become a nation of stand sitters that get there on ATV’s or wheels and not hunt on our feet. Big cudos to 35 Whelen for his hunting style and attitude. It is more about the hunt than the kill. That is real hunting. Hunting rifles should be carried in the hand and deer should be stalked on foot. I freely admit that the infirmities of age mandate that there is a point where we are relegated to a more sedentary hunting style. There are also some localities where there is just no accessible hunting ground to do anything but find some place to sit.

Most of my hunting was done in North Central Pennsylvania where there are hundreds of thousands acres of State Forest and National Forest, in addition to State Game Lands which provide more room to hunt that you can do in a lifetime. I used to take two weeks of vacation every year for PA Buck season. I would go to camp and begin my hunt after the first two days of antlered deer season. Most of the casual hunters were out of the woods then and you could have less interference from other hunters. My hunting area was the Hammersley Wild Area. This is a watershed of the Hammersley Fork stream that is described by a 55 mile teardrop shaped perimeter where the Hammersley fed into Kettle Creek. It was federally mandated Wild Area where there were no motorized vehicles allowed. You could drive in about a mile from the southern gateway to an old CCC camp site but that was it. You were on your feet for 12 miles more north before you hit even a dirt road. After the first two days of deer season, I could hunt in there the entire week without seeing another hunter. There was no road noise and the only human made sounds that you would hear was an occasional airliner going over at high altitude. That area is remote enough that even today, there is no cell service.

I never shot a spike deer even though they were legal then. I usually still hunted my way back in there about 5 miles during a typical hunting day. I did kill bucks back there where I started dragging at 1:00 pm and never got to the truck until 5:30. I killed my first buck there in 1962 when I was 14. At that point, the hardwood forest had tree branches that were low enough that you had to stoop to get under them. Several decades later, this was no longer the case. As the forest cycled, so did the deer herd.

I’m 70 now and quit hunting there when PA put the point restrictions on bucks. That requirement took me out of my game. In the big woods hunting environment, it was not possible to count points until the deer was on the ground. I only looked for antler mass before I took a shot. That area did not have any human population and worrying about an errant bullet was not a factor. Aside from some of the deer killed on pipeines, most of my shots ranged from 70 to 200 yards, in the timber, where you had to pick a window and “thread the needle” as a buck stepped into the window. I shot a couple deer across a hollow lying in a bed or feeding. Snow was essential for visibility in the big woods. I went many seasons, hunting 10 full days without firing a shot. I also had a couple seasons where I hunted the entire season and then shot a buck on the last day. I had seasons where I passed on spikes and Y-bucks the first week to never get another opportunity for a shot. My reward was the hunting experience.

I now live in Eastern Nebraska and lived in Western Nebraska, 50 miles from the Wyoming border. I had hoped that when we moved out here, there would be a lot of huntable land. That is far from the case. What public land that there exists is generally small sections that some farmer put in CRP and is many times just open feral ground without food, cover or water. Most of the land is private and unless you know someone, it is not that easy to access. In addition to PA, I spent a couple years in Southern New Hampshire where we lived adjacent to a 5000 acre State Park. There were also other areas that were easily accessible to hunt in NH. While we were there, we went to Libby Camps in Northern Maine to hunt black bear and ruffed grouse at Libby Camps. I hope to end up back East soon. I suppose that if I traveled a day West to CO, WY, or ID, I could find room to roam. In PA and NH it was much easier to find places to hunt. The sad reality is that I’m 70 and reaching physical limitations that can’t be helped. I sat in a tree stand here last week for rifle deer in NE and hated every minute of it. More power to those who can really hunt.

So to close this rant, I am going to address the core of this topic. That is Ethics in hunting and the poor influence that our media is inflicting on those who were not properly introduced to hunting ethics. Part of the problem is human nature to take the path of least resistance. The second component is egos. Success in the field should be measured by the quality of the experience and not the size of the antlers. Our shooting industry continually exploits the lazy American hunter by offering cartridges and shooting products that they promote as a fast track to success. That is really unethical to me on the part of the firearms industry. The long range hunting shows give the inexperienced hunters the impression that technology can replace developed skill. I hold an NRA Mid-Range Master F-Class qualification card that I earned by shooting a 308 Win in F-TR at 600 yards. Therefore, I have pretty good understanding of the challenges that Mother Nature presents the rifleman under controlled conditions with the aid of wind flags. I would never try to kill a big game animal much beyond 300 yards. I might stretch it to 400 under calm conditions, in the right situation. But before taking a shot at these distances, I would try to close the gap by stalking, if at all possible.

I am a Range Officer at our local club that has a membership of 2500+ members. From what I’ve seen on the range, the average hunter shouldn’t be shooting much over 100 yards. These hunting shows that have youngsters shooting big bucks on game farms out of small cabins on stilts don’t do anything to promote a sense of what hunting is all about.
END OF RANT

 

[hunternyny]

I'm much more interested in hunting ordinary animals in trophy country than trophy animals in ordinary country.

What a beautiful statement Mike

To take this a step further and I know Guy, Dr Mike, Gil, Don and Earle have eluded to enjoying the mountains, streams, meadows, rivers without ever firing a shot and I am sure their are many others here that feel the same way.

I enjoy watching

A herd of walrus sunbathing
A herd of musk ox forming a defensive circle to protect their young
A pack of Arctic wolves crossing the tundra
125000 Caribou migrating
Polar Bear fishing for arctic char
A moose fight is always entertaining

and not a fence, house, road or town in sight. For me it is always the perfect time to stop and have lunch

But to get back to what Hodgeman and others have said on this thread-------I agree with you gentlemen

Earle, Cheyenne, Hodge man---------

I and probably many others here would love to hunt where and how you three hunt. I would also enjoy watching the things you speak of Cheyenne and hunt the way you do Earle . And once per year we do. We go west to Wyoming or Montana and horseback into the country you refer to Hodgeman AND love it.

But you three and others like Salmonchasr and Bear78 and Dr Mike can do this. Many of us can not, so we hunt where we can. I am certainly not speaking of high wire fence hunts but wide open spaces for a lot of us just isn't there, with the possible exception of maybe a once a year trip. Even then the family might want to do something else with our vacation time and we dont even get to go West, every year.

As to Canned hunts like Jamila speaks of. I can not even imagine traveling to Africa and shooting a lion in an enclosed area. If I ever get to Africa I want to "hunt", which to me is a major part of the experience.

I understand walginhorsemans point and agree with it, but without a doubt I envy those of you who can hunt like Earle, Hodgeman, Cheyenne and others

 

[Guy Miner]

walkinhorseman - quite a post and thanks for sharing your hunting history, and thoughts on hunting.

Ya, time catches up with us, no doubt.

I'm glad you had those great seasons in years gone by, and I hope you're able to get out and enjoy some more hunting and shooting.

Regards, Guy

 

[salmonchaser]

The posts on this subject affirm why I enjoy this forum so much. It is all about the hunt. A spike bull or buck is every bit as honorable as some huge specimen. The hunts done with passion are the ones that interest me.


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[diverdown]

Walkinhorseman, excellent comments, you echo my thoughts. At 74 years of age I can no longer cover the ground I used to but what I can cover I do at a slower pace (and actually see more game). Thanks again!