Oh you got me there....funny thing is you generalize things all the time but don’t ever ask questions about my situation to know. So I will ask you, what do you consider a small place? Second, why do you think I need the extra month to shoot a deer my neighbor has every right to shoot if it were on their property? Third, do you know any of my neighbors and how they hunt?

Rationalization? Really? That’s your answer? I gave you concrete examples of how you are the one acting entitled and you throw “rationalization” at me, as if I was the one who performed acts of hunter harassment.

Pot meet kettle, because you just aren’t seeing the big picture here dude!!

Keep bringing it to the table man, it seems to be working for you.

It seems you are all about calling out divisions but when you are the one causing the division you fail to see it that way. You admitted to hunter harassment in an earlier post yet call out bow hunters for wanting a dedicated season where they don’t have to worry about gun hunters? Again, pot meet kettle. Sounds pretty hypocritical to me. Am I missing something you aren’t disclosing?

Post #2. Explains in great detail what kind of "hunter" you are.

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/7069461/Re:_For_the_Small_Tract_Hunter#Post7069461

Maximus, reading comprehension...if you read my post you would have seen it was a response to a post about small tract hunters, and I said “I HAD two leases....” emphasis on HAD

Yes, I started on small tract leases because I wasn’t born rich of marry into money, but current isn’t that. I earned the right to call myself a land owner

Yes, because I know you are going to ask, my current place is my owned 400 acres. I am surrounded by hunters who bow hunt, some exclusively and some also gun hunt as well. But unlike your 1000 acres, I don’t own my deer or worry if my deer are shot by neighbors. I do try to make my place as inviting to deer as possible and hold them on my place, but I am not the hunter you think I am. Sarcasm is thick in that post you quoted, and I didn’t hunt fencelines or shoot deer on the fence lines. I can’t help Which way the deer came from, but always solidly hinted inside the property and not fence lines.

I am sure you can understand not all hunters can start hunting on large tracts of land, but I had the ability to jump up. 400 acres isn’t big enough for you and you will still call it too small and I propbably still hunt fences or my neighbors deer, but that’s just life. It doesn’t mean your perception or preconceived notions are reality

Benefits of separate seasons outside of increased license and equipment revenue?

Benefits: not too many deer killed, keeps numbers up. If gun hunters had an extra Month then most would probably tag out. Keeps deer from being killed too young as more deer survive the season.

Equipment would be purchased regardless as some people like the challenge of bow hunting over gun hunting. Maybe not as much, but there are a lot of states where gun season is very limited or nonexistent, so bow hunting is the only way to go, so equipment costs will be there. License fees will be there regardless too. If the bow hunters didn’t subsidize your hunting license costs, then you would be lying more, so you should thank bow hunters and not chastise them. The money will show up one way or another, so that’s not a concern to me either.

What’s your answer to the problem? Seems we are the only ones discussing this, so throw your answer out...

The sheer mention of going to a single season for all methods brings out an immediate, defensive response from bow hunters who feel they're being singled out. My original post made no mention of bow hunters because they're NOT the only group who would be impacted by such a change. They're just the first to cry foul at any mention of removing exclusivity, as they did at the first mention of allowing crossbows. Those who enjoy hunting with muzzle loaders would also be impacted, the only difference being a loss of exclusive access to the resource after all other groups. But because they come last, what do they really have to lose?

You made an assumption that a single season would start earlier so that an increased harvest would result. If an all methods season started around the same time as the current general season, a longer season that runs into the current muzzle loader season would likely produce the same harvest numbers, given that 90% of any given harvest occurs during the first two weeks. Everyone ends up with a longer season and less division because no group has exclusive access to the resource.

Or perhaps we should create true equality by flipping that cards every other year and let the ones who hunt with a muzzleloader have first access to the resource. That would surely increase sales of muzzle loaders.

I'm just goin by your own words, describing how you hunt TB.

Now that's settled, we can concentrate on your ridiculous arguments in this thread, like the "benefits" you just described.

Texas Dan, I guess I just assumed the season would be expanded to the front because that is really all that makes sense. Extending it backward doesn’t do much for most hunters and could create situations where people are shooting bucks that have shed thinking they are shooting a doe. So I don’t imagine the state doing that. It really only makes sense to extend things forward.

I would have no problem with your suggestion of Muzzleloaders alternating with bow hunters for the early part, I don’t think you would see a huge increase in ML purchases, but of course you would see some. Gotta remember over all the US, some states don’t even have a rifle season, it’s SG or ML or archery only. So the overall ML numbers wouldn’t be affected much by Texas enacting such a change.

Yes I am sure there would be some bow hunters against your suggestion, but...there’s some gun hunters against a separate bow season, so what’s new? Haha

Ok, whatever you say. Where did I ever describe how I hunt? I made a few sarcastic remarks in one thread about the sizes of laces I have hunted and that defines me as how I hunt??

How do you hunt?

Having one long season for all weapons won't increase the bag limit or the limits landowners have adopted or put in place already. It just extends the season...it could mean the LO might adopt his own rules and season regulations. Sometimes you get more than you wish for when asking for more. You could end up with a shorter "hunting" season in some instances if the LO chooses to regulate how long and when you can hunt.

Good to see you sharing your comments again stxranchman.

I must admit I didn't expect my post to draw the attention of those who purposely hunt fence lines when their property has far less to offer. But it does make sense that those who hunt earlier might try to create even further advantage by adopting the tactic.

I believe you got that right. I personally think the seasons are too long already. Those LO's that feel different have ways to extend the season if they choose. In my opinion a hunter is going to shoot X amount of Deer. If there is a long season they will drag out the killing and sometimes may wait too long. If a shorter season they will get the killing over with as the opportunity presents itself.

I don't hunt the neighbors chairs on the fenceline.

Bwahahahaha, neither do I! That post was full of sarcasm and rich with humor, two styles of thought that elude you I guess??

I said I hunt those chairs hoping to catch a buck taking a rest in the chairs (paraphrased), if you can’t see the humor and sarcasm in that then you need help...

Since this thread is pretty much been me and you talking I am guessing that reference to fence line hunters is for me....Texas dan you dont Get that I was playing devils advocate and trying to show the flaws in your logic. You supposed that someone who owns the cover owns the deer. I hate to tell you but deer need more than cover to survive. I was just trying to show you that. Assume what you want about me, but your assumptions are wrong. Again, flawed logic, flawed lines of thought, just trying to point that out, but you don’t care to listen. You are set in your thoughts and that’s ok.

In any discussion, comments may appear to be directed at someone but are really directed at a comment or position that could be shared by many.

All wildlife belongs to the State of Texas until it is harvested by a hunter. However, the water, food, and cover (habitat) that it takes to maintain the existence of wildlife belongs to landowners, public and private. If you have no habitat on the property you hunt, your success rests on the shoulders of those who do.

I support a one season for all. I actively bow and gun hunt and will continue to do both if the state moves to a combined season.

TB, I may be mistaken, but havent you posted pictures from your stand where your looking at your neighbors fenceline? Seems like you were bragging about it also.

If your neighbors are putting up stuff on the fenceline to discourage your hunting, you are too close.

Now you can spew some more of your gas about what a great hunter you are.

And that is what I am trying to get you to see, even though you THINK you had a monopoly on all that stuff, maybe your 100 acre deer mecca wasn't all that you thought it was and the deer were looking for something else. Why I gave the example of seeing deer travel from the small bedding area everyday to go over a mile for food and something (??) only to return every morning and bed down all day, repeat, repeat, repeat. The small tract owner that had the bedding cover for the day was the one who put the chairs along the fenceline in an effort to thwart deer from crossing (yes, the same chairs I was accused of hunting over by Maximus above), but guess what, they still crossed. Every evening, the deer would come out, cross the fence, and travel across a 3/4 mile long wheat field, cross the street to go to something (I never could figure out what they were going to as I never trespassed or knew the other owner across the street), only to return in the AM and be in the bedding cover property by sun up. So who in this example brings more to the table? Is it the owner with the bedding cover? Is it the owner with the travel corridor and wheat field? Or is it the owner of the ultimate destination these deer would travel to every night? And who has the right to shoot these deer?

My point is, if you are complaining of someone hunting your deer by drawing them out with feeders from your 100 acre tract, and then you go an harass the fence line to ensure no deer cross over that fence line, you are no better than the fence line hunter whom you so vehemently decry (or the bow hunter who wants an extra month, or whatever other postulation or situation you are bemoaning at the time). The simple reality is most people don't make enough money to get onto the lavish, awesome leases or own great tracts of land. The state owns the deer, and the state says it doesn't matter what you "bring to the table" if you are doing something in an effort to reduce or restrict another's ability to hunt, that is hunter harassment. While your movement along the fence line might have well been very legal and not prosecutable in the moment, your admission of intent is enough. Your intent was to stop the hunters from hunting close to your lease. You were successful. I just hope your group didn't discourage some kids or young adults from a lifelong pursuit in the outdoors by being unfriendly.

Deer just aren't that important in the grand scheme...

I don't ever remember pictures of my stand overlooking a neighbors fence, I don't ever remember putting a stand close enough to a neighbors fence to have pictures of such a thing...but I did take some pictures of the chairs in question because I thought they were a hilarious attempt to stop deer movement, but I have no idea the real intent. I did joke abut the chairs and said something to the effect of "I guess they didn't like how close I was..." but I wasn't close.

One of the problems with this lease was perception by the neighbors. The main draw was a large wheat field where deer would travel and eat, and if I set my blind on the outside looking in, the neighbors complained it was too close to them (even being 200 yards off the fence in the middle of a wheat field was too close), If I set it up in the middle they complained I might shoot toward them. I think the real issue was the place was never hunted in the previous 5-10 years and the hunting status was unknown or simply mislead, but when I set my stuff up, the neighbors got offended with whatever I did and the land owner wasn't real assertive with the neighbors so I just did what was asked. I am off that place now, so it is a bittersweet memory, some good numbers of deer, but tough to hunt given the neighbors demands I had to deal with. Yet in all my hunts out there, I never once saw a neighbor hunt and only saw one of them there one time, which happened to be opening evening of the first season I was on it and they were driving several cars around the tree line where the deer bedded down right around sunset up until dark. Never saw them again after that and never said anything to anyone about it except my wife. I am sure it was their effort to keep me from hunting, even though I wasn't on their fence line or even close to it. probably some anti-hunters that just wanted to keep their deer alive or something??

Somewhat a weak argument because even a gun hunter can have an equal chance during "bow season" because crossbows are legal now, and a gun hunter can learn to shoot a crossbow in about 15 minutes, and hunt with it.
So getting out in the woods a month early is now no excuse for a gun hunter who wants to be able to hunt during the bow season.

Since when is a crossbow a gun?

You are so full of BS on this, your signature issue. A broken record. The history of the separate bow seasons and a bunch of other arguments have all been made to you - you don’t care. And you have the guts to lecture others about being “divisive” on other issues.

Pick up a bow or quit whining. (Fat chance of that).