You new hunters have forgotten what it's all about.
 

You've all got this new technology. Game cameras, Internet discussion forums, google maps,cammo this and cammo that, heck you even got cammo seat covers. Massive ATV's, quads, side x sides, Argos. GPS's and all that jazz. You even got range finders, scopes like Huskymomma's, night vision stuff. Seriously now, have you ever considered about giving your God given gifts of sight, smell and hearing against your quarry to make it a "REAL HUNTING" experience? I mean, get back to what real hunting is all about, without the use of the electronic gizzmos. Obviously bow hunters do come into such a category, but they too enjoy some of the advantages of the electronic age. It sure would be nice to see what a "HUNTING" would be like in a more challenging fashion. Comments?

They have all this new stuff and 90% don't leave the truck lol

This wasn't an overnight thing, and each and every one of us helped it along in our own small way when we purchased a product that allowed us to get away with sloppier hunting.

I find it amusing myself, because no amount of money will ever make up for boot leather and time in the bush. Let the high tech, long range, high horsepower guys do their thing... I'll just stick to hunting.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=269617

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=271729

not this guy
 

this new hunter, uses a spotting scope and bino's to locate animals, and open sights there on out. Boots military surplus, clothing military surplus.
as for electronic stuff, just my I phone with the I hunters app.
Ima compass and map kinda guy.

to me thats hunting.

Gadget hunting
 

I admit to feeling a little guilty every time I pull a memory card on my trailcams. 20 years ago, we would spend our summer evenings watching fields with binos while sipping beer. Now I've got a camera on every quarter that I have permission on, almost anyway.

I cannot wait to be old and senile then b***h about what "kids these days" are doing! :argue2:

Probably have their robot maids do the damn hunting hahaha

My only comment would be not to be concerned how others hunt. Hunt the way you like but don't be trying to tell others what "real hunting" is.

Biggest BS on the hunting forum is some members who are always thinking they should decide what level of technology is acceptable. If you use less then they think then you are not a responsible hunter, if you use more then your not really hunting.
Just concern yourself with how you hunt. If its legal that is all you should be concerned about.

I don't think that anyone should apologise for the way they hunt, so long as its legal and it doesn't interfere with other hunters. Personally I think that a hunting experience is only compromised when you are doing something you don't enjoy... and that's where I think modern hunting has lead us astray. The concept that results are worth any expense, gadget, and sacrifice has plenty of people doing things they don't actually enjoy, all because modern hunting media has told them that it will increase their chance at success, and that the results will be worth sacrificing ones enjoyment of the hunt.

I will make the distinction that hunting by nature, IMO, should necessitate some degree of stealth and some concern for scent and wind direction. By my own personal guidelines driving around a truck or ATV hoping to get lucky, or shooting animals from such a distance that scent and stealth is of no concern, is not hunting. Not that I have a problem with those who engage in such activities either.

^^^^this

BW

Well said.

I hunted with a trapper Nelson pack board wool mackinaws andMcleods brand work boots and would never have shot a squeaker Ram!

Now I have a stone Galacier pack all great gear super light, Vortex and Swarovski optics. Still won't shoot a squeaker. Same passion same guy30 years latter and loving my sport and my passion! Why can't we just be hunters brothers from another mother,sisters from a different dad but hunters, each and everyone that obeys the law and loves the outdoors a family a fraternity.

....oh ya! Well my dads tougher than yer dad.......NEXT!
Saying younger hunters rely on technology would be an ignorant assumption, I know a lot of young hunters who don't use any of that stuff!

I agree. And I know lots of older hunters that do rely on all the new technology. It's like hitting a golf ball. Some need handicap to be successful. Others don't.

It's about killing an animal now however you can for most folks, not so much about "hunting" as I know it. Many call this progress.

If your a hunter you do it ethically then to me you are my friend, pal, buddy and i will stick up for you till i'm blue in the face cause we are hunters. I do not care what you use for a weapon, how far you shoot your animals or how sweet your camo is. I do my thing you do your thing you use what you use and I use what i use but at the end of the day WE are hunters and need to stick up for each other in the world be live in today.

What is the base line? Loin cloth, animal skins, bones and stone tools to make weapons? Call it survival or the real subsistence hunting.

I have no dog in this fight, and am not looking for an argument and/or debate, so don't bother, but I'd probably say the line in the sand for many people would revolve around the use of electronics like game cams, ozone generators, Seek thermal trackers, windmeters, electric calls and the like.

I only have one pet peeve which is long range hunting as I think you are way more likely to wound or maim an animal. That's just my opinion and don't see it as more important than the guy who is all into long range hunting.

I'll bite on this one.
Say you as you type this on a computer using the internet. Figured you'd write a letter and mail it in or use the pony express. What one chooses to use or not use entirely up to the individual. We all use and enjoy some level of the ever changing modern technology in our day to day. Pretty big assumption that by using all the new tech means one doesn't know or appreciate what "real" hunting is all about.

Should we all be half naked in a loin cloth and moccasons. Shooting a hand made bow and arrow? The rifle or bow you shoot is another example of advances in hunting technology, so don't think that your the guy who decides when technology reached the "true hunting" point in history. Just because your too old to figure out how to use it, or too broke to buy it, doesn't make it any less of a viable hunting technology. Good luck this season with your spear or rock.

I find the " Internet discussion forums" part kind of ironic. All though I would not consider my self a "new hunter" I would say that some of the items listed aren't necessarily required. For example I have a range finder. When I am sitting I pre range various item's ( trees and such) from were I expect to see game come from, or when I am bored. But if I see one while walking I don't take the time to whip that baby out and make sure that I know the exact distance I judge the distance sometimes I'm close sometimes I'm not. All these "gizmos" you mentioned do have their place and use. Do I have all of them no. Do I think someone is any less of a hunter using them NO. To each there own I guess. provided it's legal and ethical who cares about what and how someone goes about getting "Billy big nuts". I'm sure the same thing was said 30 or 40 years ago when more and more people started putting rifle scopes on their daddies model 700. "Geeze Johnny were is the sport in using magnifying tubes instead of the eyes the good lord gave you", (depending on religious views of course). TO each their own is what I say.
DT

Sounds like somebody is old and bitter . Go hunting and mind your own business .
You probably call any hunter who gets something bigger then you a poacher

so for my first and second years in the tree stand the only thing I had on me was my bow tree stand and a snack and I had a blast! Last year I carryed a range finder and a cheap deer call and i found my self paying with the range finder a lot. I have to say that the old way of hunting you get to see, smell and hear a lot more when your mind is not on your new toy thats in your pocket

X2

wonder if you've ever hunted an animal with an atlatl? A sling? your bare hands? no?!?
Guess you've got nothing to complain about....

My thoughts exactly. I suppose we will soon hear "it was uphill both ways, we had to cut our own path in, and the willows grew so fast back then that we had to re-cut it on the way out!!" :)



(We all know gitrduns just having a little trolling fun)

My thoughts exactly

......and I thought troglodytes were of a bygone era, apparently I was mistaken, "me rite tread, hunt wif rok, me hit deer wif rok, wump,wump,wump, me hungry, me go eat deer now, nobody hunt deer wif rok like me!?"

Nothing wrong with hunting smarter not harder. I switched to nearly 95% archery only hunting about 5 years ago and longest shot I took in that time frame was 40 yards.

Yah I own a new bow and a couple of gadgets but all the gear in the world can't buy you success if you don't know how to hunt properly.

LC

It sure seems that there is alot of bells and whistles too choose from in todays out-doors market,,, I'm guilty in "some of it over the years,,," but have changed the way I harvest now over the past 14 ish years.

Yes I use a fine rifle with proper ranging optics, but I'm not a long distance shooter at any wild game, I practic long range shooting as it hones in my skills.

It allows me too know what I can do off hand, tri-pod, stick too tree limb shot placement.
I won't be taking any game beyond 40 too 140 yards,,, going into long distance game retrieval is hard to do for the 3 of us,,, no need on our parts too extend that range beyond what could happen if a critter add distance beyond that.

So in short,,, fare game and chase. Better known as, "if the critter allows its self for a timely clean harvest.
My skills and abilities have never been game on the move,,, so now I have "plan in graved in stone" so too speak.

Awesome thread as it allows all too share in ideas that each person might do in their own quest.

Don

getting philosophical
 

A few comments to the OP. I get that you still hold the principle of fair chase in high esteem. Before we go and trash the "young" guy with all the gizmos here are a few considerations. Those who hunted in previous generations were happy to use the latest an greatest. In another time you could call pretty much anything we use an advantage, optics, faster cartridges, repeaters, binoculars etc.... the list is endless. The methodologies are different now. We used to do all kinds of things we would scorn now. I've grown weary of complaints and laments about how we hunt or what we use. Perhaps the hunters of today don't hunt in the construct you have built up in your mind about the past. Perhaps we have forgotten that guys in the past used to trespass, drink and hunt, road hunt, stage drives by fire, drive game with dogs or horses, poison/eradicate species only to introduce prettier/more desirable ones.

Maybe you are saying that the hunt should be about a better connection with nature and not technology. Fine. but that has to balance with all the other forces out there. Bowhunting was out of fashion until some guys started to self constrain and chose the more challenging path. The same is true of many things.
Selective sentimentalism is a veiled judgement that is equally as dangerous as an over-reliance on tech. Old ways are not always better. To find a mature bull elk in his hidey hole and better him is still a crucible. The blood on your hands if you do so well is no less real. Should you choose to walk the trail in old pack boots and wool or with the mountaineering class gear and a GPS - what does it matter? To cling to the past you have to also take the bad.

If worth is only measured by a depth of hardship or effort then we would all be out there is our jeans with rocks and sticks. If a hunter requires of himself sub MOA accuracy to kill an animal I am heartened by his dedication as it shows profound respect for the animals he hunts and his role as a hunter. If he requires it of someone else before he respects them, I am saddened for him and the future of what he hold dear. He has lost something.