RangerAngler said:
It amazes me how caught up in minor details and technology hunters are becoming. Is my bow fast enough? What broadhead is best? Where should I locate my stands based on my trail camera photos? How will I get by without the scent lock and the new buck growl call?
Are we just becoming lazy and loosing our roots, or just caught up in the marketing schemes brought to us through the media?
What are your thoughts?
Aren't serious, obsessive hunters suppossed to be considering and sweating over all the minor details? I think that puts a great deal of fun into it. Constantly searching for the highest quality equippment you can get your hands on and the knowledge of how to use it. As mentioned, hunters have always compared tactics and accessories, what works and what doesn't. We are advancing in many aspects concerning top quality efficient equipment. I find it ironic that the folks who say we are to modernized are stating this from their PC's, on national bowhunting internet forums.... that's way to much technology there!!!
From utilizing topo maps and aerial photos to the many different applications we can use our computers for.... I certainly don't feel like less of a hunter. I'm not looking for shortcuts, I'm looking to better understand the ways of the whitetails by using the info I can collect from many different resources.
Bowhunting IS and ALWAYS will be a pointblank close range sport! It will ALWAYS be a game of inches and one that rewards he who works the hardest! No matter what we think we know, it comes down to the fact that in Bowhunting there really are NO SHORTCUTS..... only extra miles. It's not what the hunter can by or what he can learn but how he applies what he has in the field. You can NOT buy success in our sport, for theost part it must be earned. I think this applies to most of us on this forum.
I don't fault the hunter who is truly looking to improve his game and take it to the next level. From taking and sorting photos from your favorite trail cam to making sound management choices based on the feedback gathered by them. Adding foodplots to boost nutritional intake and inacting a number of habitat improvement projects certainly haven't made hunting easy by any means, it has simply got more sportsman more involved in every aspect of the sport.
Granted, their are a lot of marketing schemes out their but I would like to think that most hunters aren't so naive that they would honestly believe that there are magical potions and magical calls that bring every deer running towards you! There are many gimmicks that actually may help you kill immature deer but for every immature animal killed there is a mature deer that has escaped and learned another trick for survival. As we as hunters advance, so does our quarry. I think overall, hunters want to become better educated and more informed.... not lazy. That is one reason we see such a good turn out on many bowhunting forums, folks WANT to know what they can do and what they should do to improve their hunting. Technology is an awesome thing, don't be scared of it, embrace it. Why should we hate a guy that comes here looking for the most effective b-head he can find based on reliable feedback from his peers, the same goes with bows, stands, etc??? It's my opinion, that many of you ol' timers simply like to over react. If you are a recurve shooting, loincloth wearing caveman that I see your logic but being one that enjoys all the modern benefits of life from your PC to your cell phones..... I just don't see a problem. My guess is that there is a rangefinder hanging around your neck like everyone elses come fall. You visit the bowhunting forums for what reason? What exactly are you looking for on the bowhunting forums? I don't see hunting under a storm cloud but in better light than it has been in for many years. More folks these days than you realize are concerned with a quality experience not instant gratification.
Good luck and good huntin' this fall
