Killing the future of hunting

[stagetek]

Never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad I'm as old as I am. Can't even imagine what it will be like in 20 years. I've lived thru what I believe to be the best years. Pretty much all down hill from here !

[LongStick64]

What is worse is how the local shops have jumped on the +bow bandwagon. You don't find archery anymore. Add to that the over regulation in my state and it's a wonder I still want to hunt. How can you inspire someone to our sport when the sell in all the shops is to promote pulling the trigger instead.

[Izzy]

Im just sitting back and getting ready for the climax of technology that hunters will accept and the epiphany that comes when they realize that it has diluted the essence of hunting. Some folks will go back to the couch and video games and some will pick up more primitive hunting tools and laugh at themselves for all of the door dads they played with in "the beginning".

     There are cycles in everything and I hope the tech in hunting is peaking out. The only problem is all of the money involved in marketing the stuff.

     Being open and positive instead of snobbish when you come across someone who you "feel" may be overburdened with gadgetry is the best way to combat the retardation of the essence of the hunt. You have to let people know that you can still get it done and have fun doing it with less than the industry is telling them they need.

[Alexander Traditional]

Originally posted by Izzy:
Im just sitting back and getting ready for the climax of technology that hunters will accept and the epiphany that comes when they realize that it has diluted the essence of hunting. Some folks will go back to the couch and video games and some will pick up more primitive hunting tools and laugh at themselves for all of the door dads they played with in "the beginning".

     There are cycles in everything and I hope the tech in hunting is peaking out. The only problem is all of the money involved in marketing the stuff.

     Being open and positive instead of snobbish when you come across someone who you "feel" may be overburdened with gadgetry is the best way to combat the retardation of the essence of the hunt. You have to let people know that you can still get it done and have fun doing it with less than the industry is telling them they need.

[Alexander Traditional]

Originally posted by Alexander Traditional:
 

Originally posted by Izzy:
Im just sitting back and getting ready for the climax of technology that hunters will accept and the epiphany that comes when they realize that it has diluted the essence of hunting. Some folks will go back to the couch and video games and some will pick up more primitive hunting tools and laugh at themselves for all of the door dads they played with in "the beginning".

     There are cycles in everything and I hope the tech in hunting is peaking out. The only problem is all of the money involved in marketing the stuff.

     Being open and positive instead of snobbish when you come across someone who you "feel" may be overburdened with gadgetry is the best way to combat the retardation of the essence of the hunt. You have to let people know that you can still get it done and have fun doing it with less than the industry is telling them they need.

[/b]

I agree with a lot of what Izzy had to say. I know a bunch of people however that don't even know what to go back to. They have been taught to hunt with all these things,and that's all they know.

Regarding the last statement,i've always tried to be respectful when I see people doing and using things I don't agree with. I've had compound and gun guys come up to me though and say why would you use that thing? Isn't that a novelty type thing? I just wish I would have something in the back of the truck sometimes when I run into these people.

[Producer]

To me hunting game is not about the kill but rather the pursuit. The opportunity to be in the forest or desert and chase or rather hunt quarry that may out match me without the aid of bonoculars, sub minute of angle rifles, 300fps wheel bows, no scent, sites, range finders or God forbid a drone. I don't even feel the need to carry an camera to record my kill or even to have a taxidermist stuff my trophy. All of the pre mentioned to me, cheapens the experience and somehow is disrespectful to nature. I can't say that I would hunt lions with a speare but if I did, I am fair game and if it cost me life or limb,so be it. It is only fair. Does anyone remember the movie Predator? Well it is about what we might call a creature from another solar system that traveled to earth for the purpose as we find out,to trophy hunt humans. How we hated the creature and wanted to see Arnold kill the beast angainst all the odds as the creature had far superior intellect and weapontry but still, we considered it a beast. I don't know where I am going with this but I carry a stck bow to the field because of the challenge and because of the fact that I simply love the art and beauty of an arrow in flight. If I don't kill my quarry, it does not matter and I enjoy the experience none the less.

People will always try to do the easiest thing until they get bored with it.  If there would be lots of pheasant hunting possibilities like the old days, many of these deer sitters would be doing that instead.  However, exclusiveness and territorial property control has limited access for most and farming methods have destroyed the pheasant numbers, so it is either waterfowl or deer.  Riding around looking for deer is easy, walking around looking for deer is hard. Deer hunting is a ride and go sit game for most.  Even golf is too hard, one has to swing that heavy club and everything, not mention bending way over to pickup balls.  
I seen that golf clubs have 5 hozzle adjustments, I don't know what that is, but I don't think I own anything with a hozzle.
I watched some TV, if the ads mean anything they do show where the marketing push is at, drugs, insurance and little computers with apps.  The technologies already exist to hunt totally automated.  Last winter I borrowed a telescope. The person that owned the $110,000 monster, lived in California,  the scope was in Arizona, and I operated it with my computer here in Iowa.  If I can do all the complicated things that it takes to view planetary nebulae remotely, the technology required to have a cross bow shoot at a deer is simple in comparison.
How much would hozzle adjustments and apps raise the price of my new longbow.  I need one of those 'bow shoots itself' apps, automated hozzle adjustments for wind-age, digitally programmed cameras to tell my apps where to shoot, and a bigassed drone to carry it for me and maybe another drone to watch my bow while it hunts for me, while I view it all from the comforts of my car. Oooh, this is going to be fun.

[hitman]

Our response to issues is so important to our well being. The best thing we can do to promote our sport is by actions not words. We must be true to what we do, abide by the laws of the land and help show other people the right way to enjoy the things we love. Everything I have seen you do Clay is top notch and keep up the good work.

[Tajue17]

you know what will kill hunting, civilization will and I say that based on here and what I see.

the houses and buildings going up, the once accessible property's we could hunt are now private with new houses, places my father hunting when he was a kid are all gone.

so they put aside management areas where we all get crowded into and then fight amongst ourselves.

a lot of you live in very remote areas and you may not see it in your lifetime but if the building doesn't slow down then a 30-50 unit townhouse complex may be coming to your kids or grandkids,, just close enough to shake things up a little and bring in some dog walkers, young paintball players, dirt bikers, animal lovers and tree huggers, geo cache gangs, and so on.

[Clay Hayes]

Originally posted by Tajue17:
you know what will kill hunting, civilization will and I say that based on here and what I see.

the houses and buildings going up, the once accessible property's we could hunt are now private with new houses, places my father hunting when he was a kid are all gone.

so they put aside management areas where we all get crowded into and then fight amongst ourselves.

a lot of you live in very remote areas and you may not see it in your lifetime but if the building doesn't slow down then a 30-50 unit townhouse complex may be coming to your kids or grandkids,, just close enough to shake things up a little and bring in some dog walkers, young paintball players, dirt bikers, animal lovers and tree huggers, geo cache gangs, and so on.

So true. Even in the west it's increasingly hard to get away from people. They call it progress unfortunately.

One of the state areas we hunt has a one hundred year plan.  It will go like another area except more commercial.  First the state acquires the land with funds for public hunting. Then if it goes like other public hunting land, it gets multiple use classifications and a dam.  In Iowa a small  reservoir is a puke green/brown pond, but every filthy pond gets a massive campground that can keep people with fifth wheel campers and sleeping buses happy.  The blue sky that contractors paint over the bids to install camping slots and blacktop roads in campgrounds is incredible.  One of the hardest things to do in Iowa with all of these advances in camping technologies is to find a place to set a wall tent and go hunting from ones tent.  Once those water lines get drained for the year camping is finished and the campgrounds are closed.   The nature conservancy group does buy up unique natural land when they can, but in time that gets turned over to the state. Often it is not good for hunting, but it has natural features that makes it attractive to the conservancy folks to warrant saving.
When I say no gun hunting on my property, it is not fair to gun hunters. When I say no tree stands, the tree people get offended, same for carbon arrows and compounds, almost like all of these groups of choices are each a different species.  I am all for putting challenge and adventure back into hunting by mandating restrictions to methods and equipment.

[Archer1977]

@ Producer, yeah the Predator had Arnie out matched in nearly every aspect, but in the end it came down to he wanted a fair game pursuit as well. Remember he removed all his gadgets and stuff except his wrist blade.

The minimalist nature and challenge of trad bow hunting is what drew me to it. I used to take a bunch of crap with me every time, game cameras, all the best accessories on my fast compound bow, and I found it very unsatisfying. Even using tree stands seems way too easy. I let quite a few deer pass because it just didn’t seem fair. Sitting in a tree stand long enough till something passes doesn’t take that much skill, lol. Let’s face it, the vast majority of us are not relying on bringing home meat to survive, so why not make it a gratifying experience and not about bragging rights? While I would say I am more of a meat hunter first and trophy hunter second, I do not HAVE to make a kill to make it enjoyable.

[Bjorn]

Guys like the dentist who killed Cecil the Lion are helping to kill hunting!!

[ChuckC]

we don't know what actually happened there.
ChuckC

[Mike Schlegel]

Clay, thanks for penning a great letter. Sadly, "sport hunting" has evolved into the big business arena. The mantra: "More hunters buying more gadgets means more PR dollars for financially struggling wildlife management agencies."

[arrowlauncherdj]

The day I saw my first Ozonics add is the day I turned off all the hunting shows. I frankly hope folks drop out of what it has become and go back to the city. Too many folks in the woods as it is. Maybe then all the gadget companies will go belly up and we get back to the basics. Prolly a pipe dream tho.

[Clay Hayes]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
Guys like the dentist who killed Cecil the Lion are helping to kill hunting!!

Geez, isn't that the truth! A story like that just results in a big bump in contributions to anti hunting groups. The thing that bothers me the most is that the media is calling him a hunter.    :(

[Clay Hayes]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
Guys like the dentist who killed Cecil the Lion are helping to kill hunting!!

Geez, isn't that the truth! A story like that just results in a big bump in contributions to anti hunting groups. The thing that bothers me the most is that the media is calling him a hunter.    :(

[kbetts]

I just had a guy on a local forum ask why I don't use a range finder.......for every shot.  At this point, it's hopeless.  I specifically asked him "Who told you that you had to use a range finder?"  I'm still waiting on a response.

[Mark R]

The more advanced we become as hunters using tech. such as drones, thermal imaging, and the likes  the less chance the animal has,the more advanced and easier, usually means more hunters, what happens to the magnifficent creatures we hunt,extermination.Its hard enough managing wildlife ethically as it is.