I recently watched a hunting show on television that made me think. My significant other, Cathy, watched the same show, turned to me and said, “That’s wrong!” I agreed.
The show’s heroes were dressed in street clothes and cowboy hats. Their prey was a 2,000-pound buffalo quietly standing on what looked like a well-manicured lawn. The men walked in, talking behind an old, torn down barn and set up while two fat buffalo stood about 60 yards away.
The shooter aimed what looked like a rolling block 45-70, took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. A close up showed the bullet hit behind the animal’s shoulder. The buffalo just stood there while the shooter pumped two more rounds in its thick hide.
Finally the buffalo dropped, no doubt dead from the first shot. This hunt reminded me of shooting cows in a pasture – no challenge, just killing. The buffalo were not wild animals; they were just waiting to be fed again. The average whitetail deer or no doubt, wild bison would have been long gone when the hunters walked up.
Another show that affected us the same way featured a pretty woman with a compound bow. A pickup drove in what appeared to be a game ranch parking lot and dropped her off at a tree stand. She climbed up and waited. Soon what looked like a billy goat walked past and she planted a broad head in its heart-lung area. The goat dropped dead. The pickup returned, loaded up the goat and drove away--not much of a hunt, but a good example of shopping.
Shows of this nature raise many questions in an experienced hunter’s mind. For example, what is the essence of hunting and how should it be portrayed? Let me try to answer some of these questions from my 40 plus years of hunting experience:
What is the difference between hunting and shopping? I go to the grocery store for shopping. There I pick out steaks in packages that allow a good look at the meat. Buying a package of steaks is only a satisfying experience after they are cooked. I hunt in the woods, and hope to find and legally take my prey. Shooting a big buck, because I conducted the hunt correctly, is satisfying from beginning to the end. Some hunting shows seem more like shopping and less like hunting.
What image of hunting do you want youth to discover? Hunting should never be easy. Sure, we have all dropped a buck 5 minutes into opening morning. But it would not have been that easy if we hadn’t done everything correctly. Just a touch of human scent picked up by the buck’s sensitive nose would have ended the hunt before a shot was possible. We did everything right and were lucky to be in the right spot.
I get more thrills out of fooling a big gobbler with my setup and adequate calling than killing the big bird. The hunt starts before daylight. I quietly move through the woods occasionally pausing to make barred owl sounds that will make the turkey gobble from his roost. Then, when a gobbler is found, I set out a decoy, sit in a most uncomfortable position and start calling with a mouth, slate and box call.
Then comes the hard part. A gobbler has the sharpest eyes and hearing in the woods. A small mistake of movement or sound will quickly end the hunt. Sit correctly; shoot straight and the hunt will successfully end with the important one shot kill.
What can the novice hunter look forward to? I envy future hunters who have years that I will never see again. They have experiences coming that have touched my heart for 40 plus hunting seasons. Many of you know these experiences. For example, have you ever walked though a woodlot when it was snowing or the leaves were falling? Or have you sat in a deer stand and watched a big flock of geese fly low just over your head or a covey of quail land and start feeding just below your stand?
Have you watched a deer move across a frost-covered field when it was cold enough to see the deer’s breath exhale in a white frosty stream? Have you watched a woodlot come alive at first light when many species of birds respond to a new day? Or have you watched teal dart over your decoys when the sun just started to peek over an orange and red horizon?
I have watched these miracles and many more too numerous to mention in different areas of this country – sights I hope to see many more times, moments that make up the hunting experience. This is the beauty of television hunting shows done correctly – a hunter can view these miracles. I am proud to say that Ultimate Outdoors television shows always include the experience while other show barely touch on this important topic.
How should future hunters learn to prepare for hunting? Preparation for a hunt is important. Planning the hunt, learning wood lore, understanding your prey, learning skills like game calling and target practice until you are good enough for the one-shot kill. Few experiences are worse than wounding wildlife to escape and suffer or as an old man told me many years ago, “If you’re going to shoot the damn thing, kill it or don’t shoot at all.” He was right.
What mindset should a young hunter learn? Hunting should never be a competitive sport and is not about who shot the most quail or other types of game. I have watched dangerous acts of carelessness made on quail or pheasant hunts by those who wanted bragging right at days end. I would rather hunt with someone who takes his time and shoots. Human life has been taken by fast shooters who want to brag later.
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I recently watched a hunting show on television that made me think. My significant other, Cathy, watched the same show, turned to me and said, “That’s wrong!” I agreed.
The show’s heroes were dressed in street clothes and cowboy hats. Their prey was a 2,000-pound buffalo quietly standing on what looked like a well-manicured lawn. The men walked in, talking behind an old, torn down barn and set up while two fat buffalo stood about 60 yards away.
The shooter aimed what looked like a rolling block 45-70, took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. A close up showed the bullet hit behind the animal’s shoulder. The buffalo just stood there while the shooter pumped two more rounds in its thick hide.
Finally the buffalo dropped, no doubt dead from the first shot. This hunt reminded me of shooting cows in a pasture – no challenge, just killing. The buffalo were not wild animals; they were just waiting to be fed again. The average whitetail deer or no doubt, wild bison would have been long gone when the hunters walked up.
Another show that affected us the same way featured a pretty woman with a compound bow. A pickup drove in what appeared to be a game ranch parking lot and dropped her off at a tree stand. She climbed up and waited. Soon what looked like a billy goat walked past and she planted a broad head in its heart-lung area. The goat dropped dead. The pickup returned, loaded up the goat and drove away--not much of a hunt, but a good example of shopping.
Shows of this nature raise many questions in an experienced hunter’s mind. For example, what is the essence of hunting and how should it be portrayed? Let me try to answer some of these questions from my 40 plus years of hunting experience:
What is the difference between hunting and shopping? I go to the grocery store for shopping. There I pick out steaks in packages that allow a good look at the meat. Buying a package of steaks is only a satisfying experience after they are cooked. I hunt in the woods, and hope to find and legally take my prey. Shooting a big buck, because I conducted the hunt correctly, is satisfying from beginning to the end. Some hunting shows seem more like shopping and less like hunting.
What image of hunting do you want youth to discover? Hunting should never be easy. Sure, we have all dropped a buck 5 minutes into opening morning. But it would not have been that easy if we hadn’t done everything correctly. Just a touch of human scent picked up by the buck’s sensitive nose would have ended the hunt before a shot was possible. We did everything right and were lucky to be in the right spot.
I get more thrills out of fooling a big gobbler with my setup and adequate calling than killing the big bird. The hunt starts before daylight. I quietly move through the woods occasionally pausing to make barred owl sounds that will make the turkey gobble from his roost. Then, when a gobbler is found, I set out a decoy, sit in a most uncomfortable position and start calling with a mouth, slate and box call.
Then comes the hard part. A gobbler has the sharpest eyes and hearing in the woods. A small mistake of movement or sound will quickly end the hunt. Sit correctly; shoot straight and the hunt will successfully end with the important one shot kill.
What can the novice hunter look forward to? I envy future hunters who have years that I will never see again. They have experiences coming that have touched my heart for 40 plus hunting seasons. Many of you know these experiences. For example, have you ever walked though a woodlot when it was snowing or the leaves were falling? Or have you sat in a deer stand and watched a big flock of geese fly low just over your head or a covey of quail land and start feeding just below your stand?
Have you watched a deer move across a frost-covered field when it was cold enough to see the deer’s breath exhale in a white frosty stream? Have you watched a woodlot come alive at first light when many species of birds respond to a new day? Or have you watched teal dart over your decoys when the sun just started to peek over an orange and red horizon?
I have watched these miracles and many more too numerous to mention in different areas of this country – sights I hope to see many more times, moments that make up the hunting experience. This is the beauty of television hunting shows done correctly – a hunter can view these miracles. I am proud to say that Ultimate Outdoors television shows always include the experience while other show barely touch on this important topic.
How should future hunters learn to prepare for hunting? Preparation for a hunt is important. Planning the hunt, learning wood lore, understanding your prey, learning skills like game calling and target practice until you are good enough for the one-shot kill. Few experiences are worse than wounding wildlife to escape and suffer or as an old man told me many years ago, “If you’re going to shoot the damn thing, kill it or don’t shoot at all.” He was right.
What mindset should a young hunter learn? Hunting should never be a competitive sport and is not about who shot the most quail or other types of game. I have watched dangerous acts of carelessness made on quail or pheasant hunts by those who wanted bragging right at days end. I would rather hunt with someone who takes his time and shoots. Human life has been taken by fast shooters who want to brag later.
