jones123

With most hunters I know, there is already a qualifying score factor in place, it's called pride.

My neighbor the doctor hunts do-it-yourself and fully guided and all over the world. He's got a huge bull elk mount that I love to admire. When I ask him, he just says, "yeah, I got that in Nebraska" and doesn't talk much about it. Then he walks me over to a rather mediocre whitetail mount, and goes on and on about how he got it, and how proud he is of it. He doesn't know any of his scores.

I don't know how a difficulty-of hunt score qualifier would work. I have seen easy, lucky, do-it-yourself racks taken within minutes of opening whistle, and very difficult multi-day spot and stalk hunts with expensive outfitters where both hunter and guide had to be smart and work very hard and also came back with a good rack. Which is more worthy of praise?

The question I have is why there is a scoring system in the first place, not how it should work.

MrLongbeard

All I can say is take all that money away and you have a non hunting !@#$

muley69

The scoring system in and of itself is not something I have a problem with. In my view it is intended to honor the animal, racks that are found intact are eligible for scoring. The problem is how the hunting community has twisted this into the ultimate goal for status, this inturn, has lead to the ridiculas commercialization of hunting.

muley69

Longbeard, are you saying that people who have money can't hunt? Just becuase somebody has money, doesn't mean they only buy trophy hunts. If I won the lotto tomarrow you can bet to Africa I would go, I would also buy a huge ranch for myself and a few close others to hunt, would that make me bad? There is nothing wrong with being well off. Instead of complaining about those folks, maybe we would be better off sttriving to become them.

OleDog

Are some of you saying that just because I have a population on my ranch of nice deer that I shouldn't be able to charge people to hunt? In my area, there is a very nice population of trophy bucks. Much of that can be attributed to genetics, but a lot is because of selection of targets by our hunters. I have 9000 acres of river bottom that I only allow a few bucks to be harvested per year. My bucks get big because they have a chance to get old. I make it clear to my hunters that I want only MATURE bucks taken, I allow at most one rifle hunter per year, and my bow hunters repect my land and deer population. Many times, I have seen video shot by my hunters, of 150+ bucks allowed to walk because they were young. These two and a half year old deer are allowed to become 170+ because they are allowed to mature and grow those larger antlers. This is my personal management scheme, but apparently that doesnt deserve to be rewarded. My ranch is not high fenced. there is a 5 wire barb wire fence around it and the deer have the opportunity to go to the neighbors whenever they choose. It is my responsibility to enhance my habitat to make them want to stay on my ground so they dont go across the fence.

This thread started with the complaint about hunting shows. Many of the guys making the hunting shows are under a lot of pressure to get kills on film because why? They have to have them to make a show. Why? Because viewers are wanting to watch them. If it werent for viewers, they wouldnt be able to get the sponsorship of the products that ultimately pay for those hunts. Do you actually think that these show "stars" pay for the hunts out of their own pockets? They recieve discounts from the outfitters, payments from the bow/rifle companies, binoculars, scents, calls, ATV's, camo producers, a whole host of companies that produce products for the every day hunters to empty their pockets and buy. That is the American way. Free enterprise. If you dont like what they are doing on the shows, write the sponsors and tell them you arent buying their products because of the bad publicity their representatives are giving on the show. If enough people let the sponsors know their dissatisfaction, they will find a new representative.

RandyL

I did one better than a letter OleDog! I cancled the programming! After I learned of some of the secrets as to how many shows are done and staged I just didn't want to pay for it anymore.

Hunting has become to commercialized and high tec. Hunters are pretty effiecent now days with the advent of quads, rangefinders, GPS,rilfes of evry imagination, black powders that are essentially single shot rifles, bows and crossbows that shoot as well as the old muzzle loaders, hand guns that are short rifles, the list goes on and on. I am not knocking, just making a point. With efficientcy the game still seems to be increasing and the big trophys seem to be getting shot every year.

dkhamner

i disagree with high fenced hunting leases. to me thats not hunting. you can read on most ads in hunting magazines for leases "high fence...tag will be filled" or to that sort. if you have the money to go hunt leases like this, go ahead. $7000 though?! wow. i'd rather go out and shoot a couple head of cows, shoot me a doe, buy me a trophy rack off the internet, put the rack on the doe, eat the beef and be done with it. all the same to me. hunting high fenced property is like fishing in a barrel or shooting a cow in the feed lot. i cant see the rush in sitting in a stand on high fenced property where the 30" 12 point bucks are hand fed waiting for him to come down one of two trails that the guide knows he will come down and shooting him! thats not hunting, thats just shooting a very expensive deer. but hey, if thats what you need to do by all means do it. dont brag to me about it cause i will laugh in your face! hunting should be about 75% luck that you see a monster, 20% hunting skill, and 5% lease rates.

the other side of the coin is this. every time i've tried to hunt public land i'll see half a dozen hunters in a radius of 1/4 mile. they could go ahead and set up a Donut and coffee shop out there. my cousin has a lot of farm and ranch land that he only gave my dad and i permission to hunt. if we dont beat the polchers out there on any given day our hunt is shot. POSTED signes must read WELCOME to polchers. we try to go spot light hogs and before we get to the field, we can see two spotlights already in it. my cousin cant even hunt his own land first. why is this?

James B

I would say that the only reason this could happen is if they have no decent game law enforcement in that area. If that happened where I hunt, someone would be in jail. Spotlighting is illegal except for UNARMED land owners

jones123

What I can say for my neighbor the Doc is I admire the work it took for him to get his status and what he has to do to earn it. He's rightfully proud but not boastful of what he's earned, and he chooses to use his honestly earned money to hunt. He learns from his outfitted hunts and applies it on his own. He spends a lot of time at it and I would pit him against 80% of the hunters I know. More power to him and I would do the same if I could start over again at career-starting age.

I'm not exactly sure what a !@#$ is, but I have a pretty good idea. Why would you call someone you never met a !@#$ ??

bwhunter501

Actually you have got a good idea goin. Have a different book for public and private land hunters. Then another for the "big shot" hunting companys.