c903

Strut&Rut


I guess it is a " in the eyes of the beholder" thing. Personally, I do not consider shooting as many deer as possible to thin out the deer population to be my cup of tea for my hunting tastes. If I was to go out and repeatedly kill numbers of deer with ease, and I do know of areas I can do that, the " hunt" would lose much of its allure. However, as long as the deer is being properly utilized, a person killing several deer in one season does not bother me.

As for " banging" away at another deer before you know positively that the previous shot deer has expired, is not a behavior I would advocate that novice bowhunters imitate, or any hunter whose ability to know when a deer is actually dead by sight and hearing only, and whose tracking ability is substandard.

As for knowing that a deer has positively expired by sight and sound, 100 yards away in timber, I personally would have to call that a rash assumption.

davidmil

If you don' t shoot.... you' ll never kill ' em.[:-] The bucks went down a slight hill and up the other side and dropped within sight of the stand. The doe laid down within sight, got up and staggered off. He knew she was dead or soon would be. And she was. The only reason she made it as far as she did is it was all down a tremedously steep hill. Too steep to drag her back up. Her last 20 yards was off a cliff. It' s really hard to sharp shoot the results, but I guess there' s always someone playing watch dog. Everyone should be as proficient as Len. I can' t remember all the times he' s shot a double in the past 4 years. Tracking is something Len does exceedingly well. He had all the tracking done when I got there. All I had to do was a little dragging. Somehow I forgot and left my knife in the car.[:-]

As far as killing deer with EASE. Who said it was easy. Len hunts hard. Far more than I do. There are lots of days we see nothing, move, scout etc etc etc. Len has probably hunted, ON AVERAGE, 3 or 4 days a week since JULY. Or at least a couple hours before opening his shop. For the past 2 weeks, nearly some time 4 or 5 days a week. So lets see, do the math, was it really easy? That' s about 21 weeks with let' s say 4 days. So he' s been in the woods parts of 80 days. It isn' t easy. He gets in his tree an hour before light, he goes to work, he plays dad and husband, he takes his kid a couple times a week and puts him up. He' s 11 and has shot 3 or 4 with the bow this year and one with the muzzleloader. I know people hunting the same woods that can' t buy a shot. It' s work and you have to work at it. I didn' t mention all the scouting and stand hunting and hanging of Buckshot brackets etc etc etc. Become the arrow Grasshopper. Yes we have a good deer population. You read the sites and you' ll see plenty of people just begging for a shot in Maryland. You' ll see whoes of no shots and no opportunities. It isn' t luck, the woods or the luck of the draw... it' s the skill, time and dedication. He has literally let dozens and dozens of deer walk.

NOPE........ TWACK never gets old or routine. We rejoice in every deer with each other and for each other. I think we' d both rather see the other guy shoot the next one, or one of our guests. We have a pretty decent record with putting a guest in the right spot too. We usually save a couple spots just for such occasions. We currently have 6 properties we hunt. They' re in size from 5 acres to 265 acres. We can tell you what and when the deer in each piece of property do it. You don' t want to shoot... you don' t have to. I don' t shoot much. I let lots walk and take one when the mood hits me. I also draw LOTS of blanks.

Scar955

David,
Let' s be honest here: you didn' t " forget" anything!!!!

c903

Sorry! All that rhetoric and explanation of time and skill does not amount to a hill of beans with me. Regardless of skill; a deer hit requires that that deer be tracked, approached, and confirmed dead before another deer is shot. If the deer fell dead at the base of the stand, that might be an exception. Is Len so good that he can say that every deer he hit was going to fall dead nearby?

Conflicting opinions are hell, are they not?

silentassassin

Nah, I don' t think anyone cares what your opinion is, in the first place.

Congrats Len that sounds like an AWESOME hunt!

David, very well put! Some folks are always going to spin things in a negative light simply because that is their nature. As for myself, I am staying in the tree and hunting. Apparently c3po intends to never shoot at another deer if he ever wounds a deer that he doesn' t find[&:].

Sitter

I dont know Len or david, but it sounds like len has taken more deer in the past year than most of us have in a lifetime. I would say he knows the effects of his shots. Also according to david, he is a better than average tracker. I would say he has the abiltity to shoot a deer, assess the damage, and decide if he will take another.

Rickmur

Why is it someone always has to bring down a good story? I imagine these people are hell to live with when all they can do is question someones success. I get so damn tired of it. It' s rebuttal like that that has appeared in this thread that has driven so many people away from the best hunting message boards on the internet. I' ve even herd on another site a reply that was a HNI version and then there version. What an embassment to have that reputation. I even left this board once because of this kind of posting and was lured back to help clean it up. If your that negitive and well, nevermind. This is a place to share info and stories of the hunt, I just wish it could be done without all the I' m holyier than you type of posts.
Len, Great job and congratulations on some fine bucks. David keeps saying he will get me over there but he ain' t never in town long enough .

c903

Might be an entertaining story, but that is all it is. As for appropriate bowhunting behavior and methods, it stinks….and I don' t care how many deer one may have killed or how much of an expert they believe they are, or others believe they are. I consider myself very adept in all the pertinent aspects of archery and bowhunting deer. However, shooting three deer before I have positively confirmed each one is dead and I have recovered each the deer, is not something I would do or condone. I can guarantee you that my opinion regarding such action is not singular.

I am anxiously awaiting for the next thread in which a not so well known or an unpopular individual says that he or she committed the same act, or readers believe he or she did not put enough effort into determining the fate of a deer he or she shot earlier, before shooting another deer. If history is repeated, that person will be verbally crucified. What will be the comeback if the person uses this thread as an example that he or she has done nothing wrong and is unfairly being singled out? That a skilled shooter and tracker who has spent many hours in the field is exempt from the same rule and expectation? BS! Anyone who would engage in such acts and anyone who condones it is not a hunter, he or she simply relishes in killing. [:@]

davidmil

C3PO... if only your people skills were half as pure as your hunting.
Doesn' t say that anywhere in my hunting manuals.
Guess what.... I' ll take the second shot in a heart beat. Either I killed the first one or I didn' t. I' ll find it or I won' t. I don' t care if I have one or two on the ground... the effort will be the same. You don' t want to shoot fine. If you want ONLY guarantees you better give up bows and go to guns at no more than 20 yards... or better yet, you shouldn' t hunt period. Shake your finger at me and I' ll bite the damn thing. Get a life.

Question for the moderators. I see that they have decided to allow the use of " THE" four letter word on TV at any time of day or night as long as it has nothing to do with the actual act. When that goes in effect does it mean I' ll beable to tell C3PO to go (4 letter word) himself?

c903

People that cannot stand heat should not build fires! []

Revealing!! I hope that the novice hunters -regardless of weapon used, that read such an unprincipled confession do not follow suit.