Article by G Fred in the new TBW.. please re-read with a better explanition on pg 3

[Dave Lay]

I just read his article on my lunch hour.. i personally agree with alot he has written, he isnt saying not to do anything, just think about what we need and dont need, personnaly over the last few years I have dumped my gps and gone back to compass and map skills,  I have never used a trail camera, they just didnt seem right, have never used any kind of scent lock clothing, personally think its a gimmick and a waste of $$ and have real reserves about using a commercial blind, i have never baited again although its legal it just isnt what I want to do.. . i am kinda extreme compared to some of my friends but i am also a little older and like Fred, I  remember standing on a limb and killing deer with my longbow and without any of the above mentioned items  a simpler time for sure, and one without all the horn porn we have to endure nowadays....
  LE Carroll, to reply to your post, it probably would show a diffrence in replys, as some have never been in a world without this stuff....
  I am 56 and been bowhunting for 40 years...

[TommyBoy]

Indiana Bowman,

You can share a campfire with me anytime.
 

[Walkingstick]

Take it from an older gent.......enjoy what you can how you can when you can long as it is legal ...Mac~

[Brian Krebs]

I sure feel good about what Bill Carlson said.

But I sure feel bad about what walkingstick said.
( with respect. I am an older gent too )

I have long been one to say 'when they outlaw hunting- is the day I become an outlaw'.

 When I see technology dragging crossbows into archery season; and 'bows' that have to be carried in a bra into the woods - I feel sick.
 Michigan will see crossbows this year for the first time in archery season. I predict this will do nothing good for bowhunting. It will increase the take - and I am no swami: but the long archery season in Michigan will be shortened.

 And time in the woods is what traditional archery is all about. Fred Bear talked about how where a hunt is over with a rifle - the bowhunt begins; and how a bowhunter can get so much more hunting experience with a bow.

 Time afield is critical to bowhunting. These archery genes do not require only a bloody arrow; they require time afield.

 That is in danger. I will not stop hunting when it becomes illegal. As Sitting Bull said- 'if I run out of buffaloes I will hunt mice'.
 My desire to be in the woods is not confined to the rule of law. I am not out there to help balance the buck/doe ratio. I am not out there to see what its like. I am not out there to be able to brag.
 I am out there because it is where I have to be.

I NEED to see the wind blowing the leaves; and the birds flying by; and noticing things that take observation and time. It feeds what I NEED.

 I am not content in reading about hunting. I am not content with watching a hunting show.
 I was quite content listening to Fred Bear talk about bowhunting.

 I feel like we traditional bowhunters are sitting in a fallout shelter; waiting for the end of the war. That might be the way to do it.

 But when the wackem and stackem crowd starts destroying the concept of bowhunting: which it is doing now. I think it is time to at least have a battle plan.

 And not just to hunt as long as its legal.

[onewhohasfun]

It always amazes me that two people read the same thing and have two totally different versions of what was said. From a satety standpoint by all means take your cell phone with you. But to call your buddy and tell him to stay in his stand for 20 mins. longer because the big one is coming your way is an entirely different issue. 54yrs young.

[Ben Maher]

Indiana Bowman .....
Thank you for so eloquently verbalising the very thing I have thinking .
Well said ...  

[Steve O]

Page 10 here has some real good stuff.  Very well said!

[Zbone]

"Times don't change, people do" - Ted Young

[mwosborn]

Couldn't agree more Brian.  For me it is time in the woods - the anticipation of seeing deer - any deer.  Getting close and they not knowing you are there.  Hunting for hours and hours and only shooting for a second or two.  Being as excited to shoot a late season doe as a PY buck.

It seems we have become so obsessed with large antler we will do what ever it takes to get them.  Not that I don't like large antlers - but at what cost?


It hit me the other night when I saw the commercial for the "hot and squat" decoy that will bring in the big bucks.  What will we not do for a monster?

JMHO

[Tsalagi]

Well, I haven't read the article yet, but haven't been able to hop over to the one bookstore in this town that has TBM. I need to read this article.

 Honestly, I can't afford a trail cam. I'm kinda lost with technology and probably couldn't figure out how to use one in the first place. I still haven't figured out how to load the photos from my recently acquired secondhand digital camera into the computer. I tend to get frustrated with technology and find it more times more trouble than it's worth. I mean, it's supposed to make our lives easier, but look how many people now can't even go to the bathroom without being interrupted by a phone call. And then they take the phone call. Color me cynical, but a person can't even sit down on the porcelain throne without having to talk on the phone? How has that made anyone's life easier? First time I heard someone in the next stall over in a public restroom talking on their cell phone, I thought the guy was nuts and was planning on a course of action in case it got out of hand. I mean, it's bad enough to GET the phone call while sitting on the throne, so to speak, but who sits down and immediately thinks they need to MAKE a phone call? And why would sitting down to "deliver the mail", as it were, remind you of who you needed to call? "Oh, yeah...need to call the boss..." Sorry, I'm not seeing how technology is making life easier.

Now people are doing this thing called "Twitter"? Huh? I don't get this. I don't want everyone to know where I am and what I'm doing every second of the day. This is like having overprotective parents 27/7, if what I'm thinking about Twitter is true. This is why I don't have a cell phone of my own. I don't want people getting a hold of me when I'm doing my own thing. I have a phone at home. That's enough. My wife has an emergency cell phone to carry on trips. That's as far as we go with it.

 Yeah, I guess I kinda digressed here. But, this technology thing really is getting out of hand. I don't think it's making our lives easier, it's just more crap to buy, more crap to break and have to buy another, and more crap to have to babysit and watch and fiddle with.

I don't have a GPS. I can't afford one of those, either, and never had the inclination to buy one if I could. I have a compass and the fact the army taught me how to use it. No batteries, no fiddling, and easy to understand.

[IndianaBowman]

I've heard it referenced above that perspectives may differ due to the age of the hunter. I do believe this to be a contributing factor as we are a sum of our experiences.  Let's not forget that we as hunters do evolve in our motives and drives for hunting as we progress through our hunting career.

I too believe that we should be very tolerant and understanding of others choices. We just need to politely inform and teach when those choices endanger the sport we all love. It is very difficult to look into the future and sacrifice a little now to preserve our heritage.  

I will never begrudge or belittle anyone for their choice to use technology. It is their choice and if it brings them happiness, then great for them. I only hope they reciprocate and understand the impact of their choices.

Society is a fickle entity.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

"The search for woodsmanship"

I like that phrase

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I read the article last night, and honestly, I can't understand why anyone would get offended by it. While I don't necessarily agree with all of Fred's points (I seem to recall a motorized cart for packing meat and gear on the Little Delta hunts, and didn't Fred Bear hunt grizzlys over a dead horse for bait, and constantly pioneer the latest bowhunting technology of his day?) I think he made his points in the least judgmental and offending way possible.

I think he expressed his opinions and got people thinking without all the brow-beating and condescending arrogance that's common in pieces such as that. I thought he did a great job with that article, even if I don't completely share his opinions on the subject.

[Mike Gibbs]

I take a cell phone; it's common sense.  But I don't use it to call another hunter re. game movement. I keep it turned off.  Emergency use only.

I detest hunting/shooting aids.  Yes, of course I use a motor vehicle to get to the hunting area, but once in the woods, I don't want a gadget of any kind that helps me locate or shoot game.  That's just me.  It's a personal decision.  I'm of the opinion that if you need assistance, or you want to kill something so badly you take every modern advantage, you are missing the point of going hunting.  I suppose rewards for our efforts vary by individual.

[Bill Carlsen]

I hope people don't take what I said as saying Fred or anyone else is wrong. People write from their experiences and sometimes forget that not everyone has the opportunities that they do. For some of us getting to hunt private land, crawling with big bucks is just never going to happen. I took my first turkey last Fall from a DB blind and I'm determined to do it again. I canoe into my hunting area where I have trail cameras set up on my own little 23 acres of river bottom. It's very challenging to hunt as there is not a single mast tree on it that bears feed. It is primarily a staging/bedding area and using the canoe and a double bull blind this year I intend to tag one of those buggers. But here's what  my cameras have taught me. There is one doe that has triplets. I doubt that I will shoot her because there is another doe that has two one year olds with her and no fawns of this year. She is the target for my doe tag as I do not want to leave the triplet fawns on their own should the winter be difficult. There is another doe with twin fawns that are rather large for this time of year and are already loosing their spots. I could see  myself shooting her if I don't recognize the fawns as fawns. So the cameras, for me, have their place.

I guess my biggest problem is that we all have the freedom and the right to hunt however we please with whatever tools we have at our disposal that are legal. As I said previously, here in NH not using a trail camera just doesn't make sense if you can afford one. Many of the celebrity bowhunters that do all the writing have had or will have hunts most of us will never get to do. They take it for granted...it's the business they are in. I envy them as I, too, would like to be able to sit back in my spare time and write a book or two, and a couple of articles and tell the world the right way to do things. When guys like Fred do that they are making some assumptions about me and my situation and he doesn't have a clue. And, I have to tell you. as I am getting older I am more than happy to use the technology that I can if it will keep me in the woods for 5 or 10 years that I otherwise would have to give up.

I don't know Fred personally and I have a lot of good feelings about his contributions to the sport. He deserves our respect for those things. However, he is in a much different place than most of us and as I said he takes a lot more for granted than 90% of the people on this site. He is, after all, an elite trad bowhunter and I assume that he even turns down hunts that he gets offered to go on just because he is who he is. I just don't want to be made to fit the mold he finds himself in or be made to feel that how I do it is somehow inappropriate. If he is happy where he is (I would be) then let me be happy with where I am making the best of the lot life has dealt me. I hunt legally, as much as I can, love to be out there even when it is not hunting season and when the time comes to make that shot we are all pretty much in the same boat, anyway. We just may have gotten there a bit differently. IMO...it ALL good if it's legal.

[Eugene Slagle]

Originally posted by mrpenguin:
 

Originally posted by John3:
Asbell is right... So is Barta...

Looking for and buying every "advantage" is a personal thing driven by the TV "pro-hunters" Lee & Tiff and of course Waddell and many others.  

I went traditional (many years ago) because I grew weary of all the gadgets.

Spend your money and have a great time bowhunting. More power to you but remember you don't NEED all that stuff!  Being a better than average bowhunter is about experience and woodsmanship...

Amen Brother!! [/b]

I'll give another AMEN to that.

[ChuckC]

Bill   I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for me.  

I personally think you should do as you wish and not worry about whether I think poorly of you.

 I don't.       I don't see your name on the wanted poster, you sure seem like a great person on Trad Gang.  That's not it at all.

I think what Fred is trying to do is to get folks to think about what they are doing.  If you read the magazines or see the TV shows, I can easily see the "if you don't use XX you are nothing" mentality.  There is a lot of pressure that we put on ourselves to succeed.  

I don't think he is condemming folks like yourself, or even saying that you are wrong at all,  in any way,   but rather just asks that we think about how all of that has crept into our lives.

Keep doing what you do.  We still like you .
ChuckC

 

[bolong]

I respect G. Fred's thoughts and opinions. Some I agree with and some maybe not. One thing is for sure though, he sure got some discussion going on. I guess the old saying is true, opinions are like ******** everybody's got one. Everyone is different, just like no deer horns just alike. That's the way it should be, be a dull world if everybody and every thing were the same.

[Brian Krebs]

bolong - I don't quite get it. Everyone has 8 asterisks?
 Or are you referring to the movie 'the Tingler' ?

[cahaba]

I think Freds point was for hunters not to get caught up in "if I buy this I will automatically become successful" attitude. Things like "if I buy these clothes I don't have to worry about the wind" malarky. Fundamental woodsmanship needs to be mastered just to know where to put the trail cam. There are very few shortcuts in hunting.