Meat Hunt's

[can't miss]

I rag about this every fall, but why not, it's to windy to fish today, and to early to go hunting?
Deer drives, skill less hunting, designed to fill tag's. No thought's of deer management, size or quality of animal harvested, or pride of hunting and stalking the animal.
Skill less hunting, yes? line up, push the deer out of the bush, shoot, gut, move to next bush, repeat. I don't buy the skill of shooting the deer on the move is super skillful, most deer panic, stop momentarily, turn back or head to the next closest cover which is blocked off. Using today's modern, scoped firearm's doesn't take John Wayne to knock the beast down, then add multiple shooter's, must be intense?
I'm not PETA or green peace, I eat meat, lot's of it, store bought, wild if I'm lucky enough to bag something, one on one. Many will use the reasoning of limited time to get out to hunt, comerautity, or meat for the family?
Beef is cheaper if you take in expenses, comerautity is shared by all of us that hunt, driving deer is meat hunting. The public does not understand controlling the population, they see a army of orange setting up as a firing squad and shooting bambie.
Full discloser, I participate in coyote drives in the winter, guess that kinda mute's out my rag? Good luck all and be safe?

 

[WinSX3Tom]

Just search and repost in last year's rag, no need for more crap.

 

[mick]

I don't get it can't miss??? Most hunters enjoy the thrill of there deer hunting ...does not matter how... is long is the method is legal. Sure we are rewarded with good quality venison when we are successful on filling are tags!! Sounds like you have had challenging deer hunting trying to fill your tag?...If something is not working out or your not enjoying it, I suggest hunting a new location and or a different week....I tried a new hunting location from 92D to 92C and shot a nice 10 pointer last November first week of the controled hunt. I filled my tag every season in 92D.. but it made it fun trying something new. I really hope that changes your negative thoughts towards our above average deer hunting oppurtunities here in the south.

Hey you can even go north and hunt deer..there are many fun oppurtunities...I hunted Manitoulin deer with rifle... and hunted with dogs south of Algonquin were the hockey player has a deer camp...forget his name?...try hunting with dogs...especially black bear...lots of fun!!! Look I hunt for the thrill and enjoy the meat too!!! hey I really think you need to shoot a bear really close..that will give you a rush...guaranteed...then go in the bush and follow that blood trail...now your huntin buddy

 

[can't miss]

Mick, thank you for your reply. But no, quite the opposite on the thrill of deer hunting, and success. I live for deer season even now as a senior, and have been hunting them pretty much since they opened the powder hunt here in southern ont. Probably have missed filling my tag twice in that time, once due to not getting one. and another time did not get a tag, back yrs ago you had to fill out your mandatory report within a couple of weeks, I let that lapse and was disqualified the following yr.
Sounds like we may have hunted the same WMU's, hunted the Union area for many yrs, as well as north of St.T when the ministry dropped the no hunting area there. Now hunt my place near Ingersoll. Our group size has changed from 8 or so, down to 3 of us, but increasing now with kid's and grand kids joining in. We have never driven deer, always filled our tag's, and I hope teaching the younger hunter's in our gang the skill's of fair chase hunting, scouting, tracking, bedding area's, cut of points ect. I would not take part if teaching our youth was, OK, surround this 6 acre bush, push them out and shoot them as they come out, sorry, stuck in my way's, but that's not hunting, whats the skill, were's the thrill?
Maybe in the vast forest of the north, deer driving may have a place, there is always area that can't be covered, but most bush here in the south is squared off and divided by concession rds, I'd ask you, were is the skill or thrill of surrounding a animal and shooting it?
There's also what the pubic see's of the our sport, many have the attitude that who cares, as you say, long as its legal? Hunting is under the microscope anymore as far as the non hunting population goes, when they see the orange firing squad set up and gun down those so cute deer, opinions change. Opinions change, hunting opportunity's shrink. Those that say they don't care what the public thinks, give it time, they will.
My opinion of meat hunts, I should prob tune down, to each there own, but surrounding a critter and shooting it isn't the hunting I know. I do take part a little in winter coy hunting, with hounds and drivers, yey it's cool, but its a cull, not a hunt. Cheer's

 

[DaveJ]

I get some people don't like large gangs and drives...both the hunting community and non-hunters. I've done both..hunted in a large group for years in the Teeswater area. Some of those members wouldn't sit on a stand for anything...all they did was drives. Sooner the tags were filled the better. They didn't care if it was a doe or buck...fawns weren't too popular cause they didn't yield much meat. A true meat hunt, but it was exciting in its own way...sitting as a blocker and having deer come at you at full speed was a heart stopper. Funny thing was, with that group most of the deer came from the few of us that took stands in the am and pm...we shot most of the deer.
Now, we have 4 of us with some beautiful land where we see no-one. We hunt from stands, treestands, ground blinds, still hunt. We fill all the tags we choose to, and get to be a bit picky about what we harvest. I'm a bowhunter, so treestand hunting is what I love. Doing it with a modern muzzleloader is just an extension of how I choose to hunt.

...and I think it really comes down to that...how each of us chooses to hunt. Hunting is a person thing, and everyone takes what they want from it. If its legal and you do it with an ethical approach, then bravo. I hate to see ANY legal form of hunting lost as its just another nail in the hunting coffin. If an anti-hunter criticizes an organized drive, educate them on how and why its done this way.

 

[can't miss]

Dave J
Very well put, wish I tuned down my orig post, but once it's inked, it is what it is? Always wait for opening morning, and wonder if I chose the right spot to be? Was looking for more of a discussion on hunting style's, not sure I'll ever understand meat hunting, but to each there own? Good luck all

 

[WinSX3Tom]

Meat hunting tastes better than antlers.

 

[mick]

ya my ex buddy trophy hunts for big buck antlers...i hunted with him first hunt last season in his spot...i shoot a 10 pointer the second evening out...omg he was absoulutley so jealous we don't even talk...this happened with him before...he invites a friend from work to hunt with and the friend shoots a monster buck...he actually took the head and antlers and had the shouldler mount done and now its hanging in his rec room..lol...he then said good bye to the coworker.. no more hunting for you...thats when i come along....some hunters will do anything for a trophy.. like stealing it from the shooter...i am so happy i don't hunt with this guy this season...

 

[DaveJ]

Dave J
Very well put, wish I tuned down my orig post, but once it's inked, it is what it is? Always wait for opening morning, and wonder if I chose the right spot to be? Was looking for more of a discussion on hunting style's, not sure I'll ever understand meat hunting, but to each there own? Good luck all

For me, all of my hunts...deer, moose, geese, ducks...all are meat hunts in their own respect as I don't hunt anything that I don't eat. For example, at our muzzleload deer hunt, we decide at the start who wants meat, and how much. We figure out approx. how many animals that would be, and set that as our max... regardless of the # of tags. We've stopped at 2 or 3 because we had enough venison. We've also set the gender based on the local herd....lots of does then we've shot only does vs small bucks. If someone wants a trophy buck, then its their call, but like said, antlers don't taste good, and I have a house full of them. If I wasn't going to eat the animal I'm hunting, I wouldn't hunt them. Its why I don't hunt bears...don't want the meat, so don't shoot them.

Hunting styles...I'm a bowhunter so I carry that forward in all my hunts. I love treestands and thick creekbottoms so I can see lots of deer up close. One of the guys is afraid of treestands, likes to have a little hut on the ground overlooking a big field. He's a rifle hunter. He sees few deer except at 1st/last light but like the open view I guess. I like using rubs and scrapes and scent lures and following all the seasonal changes in the rut and food supplies to figure out a hunting plan. I scout year round, have a dozen stands, move them around. My friend shows up the day before the hunt and puts up a blind where he figures the deer should be....not my style, but to each his own.

 

[mick]

absoulutely we are meat hunting...killing something for the sport or for antlers to me is not ethical unless you choose to eat the meat...thats why most hunters hunt and fishermen fish...yes it was nice to shoot a 10 pointer last season...but that was not my intentions...I shot 2 bears and had a beautiful bear skin rug made. But I also paid a wild game butcher to professionally process the excellent cuts of quality meat...I am telling ya it was good too. That was a spring bear from the bush up in the temiskaming area of quebec...not from the garbage dump...I think thats was makes the unique flavour of the wild meats we enjoy is the animals diet... Our deer eat corn and beans and acorns and apples...no wonder we are meat hunters for some of the best venison back straps you can get...

 

[bassaholic]

Different strokes for different fokes...if it's all legal then who am I to tell another hunter that I don't agree with the way they enjoy their time in the bush or fill their freezer. I feel like we as hunters/fisherman/outdoorsman for the most part are doing our best to conserve and protect wildlife but there will always be those few dummies out there to tarnish the whole lot of us with one stupid move. Besides when city folk see all the orange out in the fields come November they may not agree with what we do or how we do it but opinions are like a*@holes....everyone has one...I guess it's just a shame that they tend to be the loudest voice heard when complaining about "those damn hunters". Just my two cents though lol.
Good luck too all come Oct 1st...I'll be in my stand waiting patiently for my very first venison harvest

 

[Old Cut LongPointer]

With our gang we usually do both styles of hunting. Everyone[ there's only 6 of us] has there spots to sit at in the morning but before lunch break some of us will "push the bush" just in case something sneaked between and bedded down. Percentage wise we do better sitting as opposed to pushing . Forgot to mention we hunt 90B in November.

 

[mick]

well I like your attitude Bassaholic...us as hunters and fishermen need to stick together. There is no need to be judgemental or opinionated on other fellow hunters choices on how they conduct there hunting and there methods...as long as we make the efforts to comply with the numerous rules with hunting and fishing.

 

[can't miss]

Mick, it was my mistake titling this post, meat hunts, that's not my bitch at all, as you and other's have mentioned, we are all meat hunters. Myself, I home butcher, remove the loin's and a couple of big hind roast and de-bone and burger the rest? love sausage and pepperetts, but doc say's no. Hide goes to neighbor that dabbles in leather, carcass to a spot out back were camera is set, beside yote's and raccoon's, the bird's that feed there are un-real.
As hunter's, we do have to stick together, maybe my method of "sitting in wait" is tough for the public to stomach, but they don't see it? Yes, driving, party hunting produces, but at what cost? Check out U.T., both activist sites or hunter's vid's?
About a decade ago, neighbor shut down 75 acre's of prime hunting turf next to me, kid's were just getting off bus as local orange army took down bled out, buck shot doe? Guess it bothered her? Better yet, I was working for a rural insurance comp. this was back when tag's were pretty much unlimited, it had a fenced chain link compound, small deer collapsed against the fence, rear leg dragging from the hip shot. I was in the building working . Most employee's were rural women working off farm? Meat truck, and trailer pulled into field, finished of doe, gutted and threw onto a un-real pile of venison already piled. Many said that wouldn't be happening on their land??
You can defend gang hunts all you want, but as hunter's, turf is and will continue to disappear?

 

[anonymoose]

This is a common discussion with my friends.

I like to bow hunt and I love the challenge of getting close in on an animal in their habitat. I also love seeing an animal break cover and run across a field while the "pumpkins" plod through the bush. I don't have the talent or energy to try to bag a deer using traditional archery, but applaud those who take up the persuit.

I like to try to finesse a big bucketmouth out of the weeds with soft plastics. I also love to see the joy on my kids faces when we drag a dozen or more smallies out of the inner bay as they gulp live minnows down like candy in the early season. I don't have the talent or energy to try to master fly fishing, but applaud those who have perfected it.

There are many ways to enjoy a resource, and as long as it is sustainable and lawful I say go for it. As anglers and hunters, we are already a marginal proportion of society. We don't need to marginalize ourselves any further by breaking into smaller and smaller factions that bicker.

Just my two cents!

-moose