"The Hard Way" ?

[centaur]

I guess the 'hard way' is somehow in the mind of the hunter; my version goes as follows:
Elk- I hunt public land, alone. I use a 4 wheeler to get to access points: wilderness boundaries, roadless areas, or places where I don't want to be on one of the noisy things. All my hunting is on foot, and each year the mountains get steeper. I average several miles a day, hoofing it. Maybe that is why I am seldom bringing home elk meat, but that can also be a good thing, since when I get one, I have always packed them out on my back.
Antelope- Public land, spot and stalk. This is another good way to not have to pack one out.
Deer- I have a private land honey hole for whitetails, but hunt them from the ground. Nothing wrong with tree stands, I would just rather be on terra firma.  When I hunt mulies, it is public land spot and stalk.
My own belief is that if you pay your dues long enough, success will happen. If hunting over a feeder is what you consider the hard way, I won't argue, but I have tried it, and it didn't turn my crank. If I ever head south for hogs, I may not be successful, but I will be spotting and stalking.

[just_a_hunter]

I can't help but wonder how many of you have Brittish accents..    

Todd

[JamesV]

My wife and myself bowhunt public land, some of the hardest hunting there is. No bait, fences, just out there enjoying the hunt.........James

[Chris Shelton]

Hard enough for ya      

[Izzy]

Private land hunts are an unfair advatage and exempt from hunting the hard way?????

[SkottyBoy]

The hard way? When I gave up a rifle and went to compound I thought that was hard!  Now this coming season will be my first trad only season. Hard... heck yeah!!! I will hunt public land (11,000 acres of hardwood river bottoms) and private land, with an invite, usually 5 times per season.  The private land has corn feeders and hang on stands.  If I take my first traditional kill from here that will be finer than frog hair with me.

[BUFF]

Just so I understand..... I work 300 days a year to have the money to make my land payments and taxes. About half my days off are spent working on my place BUT my deer don't count because I didn't hunt them on a free place they was given to me by the government? I must have woke up in the twilght zone

[just_a_hunter]

Don't sweat it fellas... We trashy folk are going to have to realize that there are folks about everywhere we will ever go that are always going to be better then us. That's all there is to it.

Even so, I wish with everything I have each and everyone of them the best hunting season ever!

Todd

[marsniper27]

I plan to hunt on my parents new property but i am not using any blind or stand and no baiting.

I want to do it the traditional way but i feel safer hunting the private land then public land since i am just starting out. I also do not know where the good places to hunt are on public land.

As far as food plots go i see there use and may make one to help care for the deer and help provide a good food source to help them grow nice and big. But i do not want one so i can sit at the edge and wait for them. I want to do more spot and stalk/still hunting then anything else.

[Chris Shelton]

wowowo . . . first things first I am pretty sure that even tho we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave that sign going into the public land says Pittman-Robertson on it . . .Nothing in life is free.

Secondly I dont think anyone is saying you private guys dont work for your deer . . . I think the main vibe is that we have to work to find our deer . . .  could be wrong, that is just how I feel

[RC]

I never thought a lot about hard are easy. I hunt the way that gives me the most enjoyment. Thats with a longbow anywhere I can. RC

[K.S.TRAPPER]

       :rolleyes:    Come on hunting season        To many of these cut down threads lately or could it just be the hot weather        

Personaly, I could care less were everybody hunts or what they hunt with just as long as there out there doing it. I hunt for my self and nobody else.

Tracy

[Darren.zesch]

"The hard way" there is nothing easy about hunting whitetail, be it from a tree or on the ground, i believe you have better chances from a tree, but you still have to find a good tree without getting busted. As long as you enjoy being outdoors and hunting with your bow, nothing else matters

[KSdan]

Buff- I am ALL FOR a guy who can afford his own land and even put in food plots.  I really am FOR IT. I LOVE your videos and even the game you have taken at feeders. Nothing "wrong" in my book.   I also have benefited by the complete kindness of many a landowner!  Freedom is a wonderful thing. . .

The question that I wrestle with is it seems to me that hunting is shifting from a community tradition of the common man for conservation and the land, to a privilege for the few- much like what happened in Europe.  

Believe me- I feel blessed for my days in the sun. . . I just wonder about the coming generation as television and much of the marketing makes hunting look like a "sport" for the few who can afford it.

I could be wrong and just viewing it all from a clouded lens.  I am just not sure the trend is going in a healthy direction.

The "hard way" just seems to me to be the historic traditional way that many of us grew up.  It is conservation at its best.  I just hope we don't now burn up/lose the benefits of that very conservation.    

Just my 2C
Dan in KS

[BUFF]

I guess it just depends on how and where you grew up. When I was a kid, deer hunting consisted of the whole family showing up at Grandpas house, turning the dogs loose and everyone hitting the brush with shotguns loaded with buck shoot. I was a teenager before I ever saw a rifle other than a .22 . Any legal deer was shot. It was all about the meat. No one ever gave3 a thought to making it "hard". My Dad almost laughed his self to death when I told him I wanted to try to kill a deer with a bow. Deer were meat back then nothing more

[Custer]

Is the cost...or better yet...what people are willing to pay for hunting any different than what has happened to every other recreational activity?

For example, when I see the baseball gear owned and venues played by the 10 year old next door compared to what I had playing ball, I just shake my head. And that boy is not unique by any means from what I see.

People are just willing to come up with the cash and they are not all "rich" people. Just people.

[Bowwild]

It doesn't matter what I think about how others hunt (or what they think about my hunting) I care about what works for me and what makes me feel worthy of the hunt.  The only thing I can't tolerate is the breaking of game laws, whether one agrees with them or not.  I've lost two private hunting spots due my intolerance of poaching.  By the way, I wish there was a TV program that consisted of episodes where camera's followed some of the folks on this site on a hunt. That would be TV worth watching -- I'm so fed up with the shock and awe self-promoters on most of outdoor TV these days.

[KSdan]

Buff- sounds similar to the way I grew up; family, harvest, getting some meat, using many different tools. . .

Custer- 1) exactly the point:  Is this about recreation or conservation?  2) I did not intend to suggest anything negative about people being "rich." (As if having riches were bad!) A man who is given riches and wisdom is a blessed and wonderful thing. I personally have benefited from many friends who have been so blessed!!  

However- I have talked to many young people getting into hunting who REALLY think they need to drop $1K (minimally) at Cableas or Bass Pro.  They also think the only way to hunt is having private land and equipment to draw deer to their property.  Just realize that for many of them their ONLY input on hunting is the new hunting television and websites.  That is their frame of reference.  I had one young such guy I took out who never had taken a deer but was "holding out" for a 150" deer.  Good grief- where did he get that idea?!

Bowwild- I sort of know what you mean (I think!) But- I also think it DOES matter what is best for the community.  This is not just about me- but living for something beyond me- like handing values and virtue to the next generation. That is what "tradition" is all about- the means/way a culture captures and passes on virtue and values.  Without those traditions- what carries forth the virtue?

I just hope we don't lose the essence of what conservation is all about.

Dan

[Bill Turner]

I find it interesting that Adam (the original poster) has not responded to our comments. Was he reeling us in, like they do on talk radio? Stir up the masses with an inflamatory comment or question, and sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy the commotion. I started hunting with a recurve in 1970, tried a compound in the late 80's, and moved back to traditional equipment in 2000. The "Traditional Way" or "Hard Way", as some would call it, is far more satisfying for me, and yes, more challenging, but it is definitely not for everyone. I live to get them close and to make a quick, clean kill. Some prefer the challenge of longer shots and the appeal of technology(compound shooters). I do not. Private land, public land, leased land, makes no difference, just hunt in a lawful manner. If you don't want to hunt over feed in Texas or hunt with a compound bow, don't do it. That is your perogative, but don't pass judgement or look down on those that do. I'm sorry, but that is "elitism" of the highest order. Get the most out of what you do and pass your wisdom and love for archery and bowhunting on to the next generation. If you havn't noticed, we are losing the war. Our numbers are dwindling. If we don't get away from the "my way is the only way" mentality, hunting, as we know it, will cease to exist. With that said, I'm going to go shoot a few arrows. Hunting season is just around the corner, and I've got some pre-season scouting to do as well.  

[Bowwild]

KSDan,
What I meant was that I don't take myself so seriously that I would publicly judge another's actions as long as they were legal. I certainly have very strong personal feelings on almost everything archery and conservation. I won't bore folks with a resume but suffice to say I've spent my adult life in conservation, bowhunter education, and now youth archery. I didn't mean to come across like I don't care what others do. I am small in stature and am simply allergic to high horses.

Certain things such as obeying game laws, taking ethical shots, working at recovery, projecting a tasteful image of the bowhunter in public, etc. are important and I agree we owe our "sport" the time it takes to pass the importance of these things on. What I'm not forceful about is judging another's choice to hunt with longbow, recurve, compound (notice I left one out), over bait (where legal), food plots, from trees, the ground, etc.

I agree with you, if we who were brought up in bowhunting and conservation aren't willing to provide guidance to those coming after, who will?  

I listened to my newphew talking about hunting the other day. He sounded just like the self-proclaimed "pros" on the tv shows.