OK, it’s time to get back up on my soapbox, can you give me hand? There, got it, thanks. My brothers and sisters in camo, we have talked about this before and as long as I am writing for you, we will again. I am going into my Dad mode for a minute here, so take a seat and listen to me. We as a group, hunters, fishermen, (boys and girls) and outdoorsmen in general need to absolutely get our act together. I spoke with two people this very morning about this, both have much experience in this world and are as concerned as I am about it.
We seem to be so polarized that I wonder if we will ever be able to agree on anything important. Why are we so divided these days? We don’t have what we so desperately need as hunters, unity. Why? Let’s try to look at that.
Many different methods, many different toys. No doubt about it, as sportsmen we really love our equipment and gear, what I refer to sometimes as toys. I often say I don’t have time to play with all of the toys I have! Some of you may be in the same boat. (O yeah, a boat, I need to get me a little fishing boat) For example, I would like to spend more time muzzle loader shooting and hunting. I like the concept of it all, and the gear you can accumulate to be a muzzle loader shooter, but when am I going to do that?
So there are muzzleloader hunters, archery hunters, and rifle hunters for deer. This is just one slice of our hunter numbers, but it is the largest of our hunter population. Now within this group there are many different divisions and here is where the trouble starts. There are muzzleloaders that only want to hunt with primitive weapons, sidelock flintlock rifles, and maybe allow the percussion cap variety of rifles. Others want to hunt with the more modern muzzle loading rifle, like the in-line models, rifles with premade powder cartridges, rifles with scopes on them and so on. Muzzleloader hunters differ widely on their views on this, is this good for hunter unity? You tell me.
Archery hunters are if anything, even worse in this respect. For many years hunting groups and state fish and game agencies have fought battles over the use of crossbows versus hunting with traditional archery equipment. Some bow hunters would have you believe the crossbow is an instrument of evil and should never be used for hunting. Where all this came from, I have never been sure. Some bow hunters will preach to you that the crossbow does not make the bow hunter work for it, you don’t have to practice as much, it’s too easy. Who exactly set these hunters up in this position of authority to tell others how to hunt, I am not sure. I am saying we are way past this folks, we need to have people out there hunting and buying licenses andquit arguing over things that don’t matter.
Deer, more than any other animal, seem to cause the most hunter division. As I said before there are more deer hunters than any other type of hunter, and they seem to argue the most. We have talked about this before. For the past several years, the judging of deer, the size of antlers, and the age of buck deer that a hunter will or will not take in the field has cause a lot ofdisputes among hunters. There are probably several reasons for this. Outdoor TV shows which routinely portray hunters taking bucks of trophy size have absolutely had an affect on our deer hunting culture. We have a whole generation now that has grown up on these programs and believe a buck must be a certain size and age before you should think about taking a shot.
Please listen here, I am not saying this thinking is right or wrong. I am just trying to point out the division is out there and it is not good for hunters in general. Are there hunters that only want to take a legal buck and don’t care about the size of the antlers? Absolutely. These two groups need to be more on the same page. All of this I just described filters into many different aspects of how we regulate hunting in our different states. The use of public land, when and how we open our different seasons, what weapons we allow for deer hunting and many other factors.
It’s not easy, it’s complicated, but we as hunters have got to bewilling to sit down and talk with each other, (and listen) and our state game and fish agencies, and work together. Infighting gets us nowhere.
Got it? Ok, here endth the lesson. Now help me down off this box.
Laryocase3@gmail.com              www.gunsandcornbread.com Â