I am personally not in it for the horns, there are a few on my lease that are, so that's what they are there for, me I will take does all day long just to put meat in the freezer for the year. My family eats almost strickly deer meat, hardly ever buy meat at the grocery store, trust me everthing that I take gets put to use.

I wish I could hunt all those but what did hunting cost you as oppose to what you took in.

For me the the cost of hunting is not offset by the meat I bring in but the time and experiences with my son and recently my daughter are "priceless."

I consider hunting telling stories around the fire, getting away from work, drinking with my buddies, turning off the cell phone, etc. And occasionally I'll kill something and eat it. I only try to "harvest" a good time and some great memories.

Some of my family make soup, hats, cover sent, and toothpicks outa coons.....they are swamp indians...around here we call them coona$$ they cant even spell harvest

Several hogs got killed last weekend when a farmer, whose land I hunt, cut his hay grazer and a bunch of hogs were living in there. Several got cut up by the blades. Pretty sure none were eaten, but I'd still call them "harvested".

Sorry if anyone interpreted that as disrespectful to the hogs!

I dont think the way we hunt in TX (over corn) is very challenging, but it is legal and acceptable. Harvesting or hunting, who cares. Shoot the deer and eat it, or give the meat to someone who needs it. I dont see anything wrong with trophy hunting, or hunting over bait. Its all a matter of opinion.

Don't throw my fish back either!

Hogs should be shot at every legal opportunity whether you are going to eat the filthy things or not.

It always cost me a lot more than if I went out and bought it. But I don't give a big rats butt. I love hunting and plan on doing it as long as I can.

I did the same, every year my roomates and I would get together and make sausage and ground meat, enough to last us through the year, and yes we ate sausage about 3 nights a week and didnt have a single problem wiht it. We made a deal when we moved in together not to eat out because it was expensive and not really al that great most of the time. We hunted for free, did a little work for some old folks and they let us hunt deer and hog, didnt get any big bucks, but plenty to eat.

I dont hunt because I have to, but because I want to and i love the meat and doing stuff how my relatives did in the past.

I also think it is real easy for them norther boys to critisize hunting over a feeder while they sit in a tree stand overlooking a corn or soy bean field.

If you cant feed them then what else is cheating?

Say your walking through the woods and you come to a clearing with two stumps in it on one sits a Big Mack on the other ____ (insert name of babe of your choice)stark naked and ready to go, which one you going to first? Does that mean doe estrus scents should be considered cheating too?

What about the products that ALEGEDLY remove or destroy human oddor, is it FAIR to take that advantage?

They are deer folks get over it. If you got the want to hunt/kill one great, do it how you want within the law. We got dominoin over them from the highest power.

Im gonna hunt spot and stalk in a blind over corn over water with a gun a bow and a smoke pole because it is fun and I like it not because I think im rambo.

In Texas, I readily admit, most of us do "selective harvesting" when deer hunting. In the mountain regions of North America, it's more hunting. Spot and stalk is about as "hunting" as hunting gets. Be it with a rifle, bow, crossbow, or spear. You are trying to outsmart the animal on their terms. You are reading terrain, watching conditions, always looking for fresh sign, and playing the wind at all times. And that's just to SEE the animal, then you get to try to set-up on it when it's likely moving thru the woods at a faster rate than you can.

Hunting over a feeder, foodplot, grainfield, waterhole, etc., is selective harvesting, unless you kill the first thing that walks out.

I bet a large portion of the hunters on this site have watched deer grow from fawns (seedlings) to mature deer (ripe) and then killed them. I know I have. It does give some gratification to know the hard work and patience paid off. But to call it "hunting" is not completely accurate. Growing something until it is ripe, then taking it home to eat is "harvesting" no matter if you cut if off the vine or shoot it with a rifle. Workers at the slaughter houses aren't hunting cows, they are simply killing them because they are ready (ripe). They just happened to be harvested out of the herd by the rancher, taken to the feedlot, fed out, then on to the butcher. Same thing.

Funny story; My uncle always talked about hunting over a "can" (feeder), and how he disliked it. He frowned when I built a 5'x8' condo stand 20' off the ground on the pipeline across our property and can now watch what it used to take 3 other stands to watch. I then put in about 4-5acres of food plots and two feeders. But any time I am not there, he sits in my stand because he knows he will see more animals. He has stands on travel corridors thru the place, and I hunt them as well. We see deer on them that we never see out in the open. But he, and everyone else on the place, gravitate towards my set-up more than any other. Maybe it's the heater, or the Louis Lamour library, or simply the great view from 20' in the air while sitting in the high back reclining office chair? I dunno, but I do find it hilarious when I show up to the property right before a hunt and surprise everyone, and they are having to adjust all of their plans because someone was going to be in my stand and others had based their locations on that as well. I admit, sometimes I do it on purpose to keep them on their toes. LOL

My Dad owned guns and golf clubs, and I never saw him use either. Never had anyone to teach me to hunt. I began on my own and am still a student to the outdoors.

I "hunt" until I "harvest" simple as that. As long as it's legal, I have no problems how another fella wishes to hunt, blind ,stalk, ect tra. I've hunted every way I can think of, but always with the same goal.

Hunting:
1.
to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.
2.
to scour (an area) in pursuit of game.

Trapping
1.
a contrivance used for catching game or other animals, as a mechanical device.

2.
any device, stratagem, trick, or the like for catching a person/animal unawares.

Think a corn feeder would fall under the category of trapping/baiting. Not really hunting. Not saying there's anything wrong with it, just I don't think setting traps for deer by baiting them is the same as "hunting" them. Will I do it? Damn right. Would I compare killing a deer that way with someone who actually hunt for a deer in the rocky mountains of Idaho where baiting is illegal? Not likely.

The entire problem revolves around money. Would I like to hunt by stalking animals? Sure I would, but I can only afford a lease with a few hundred acres and stalking animals on a few hundred acres takes about an hour and then what are you going to do the rest of the day after you have run all of the animals off? You can see more animals hunting over a feeder and you have a better chance of hunitng longer by using a feeder. Indians hunted over salt licks and over waterholes, was that just shooting, or was that hunting?

If you have 100 acres with cattle and you decide to shoot one at the feeding trough does that mean you hunted cow?

Welcome to Texas.

Now if you can't say anything without being condescending and negative, you might consider just going back to the wonderful mountains of Idaho and your precious BLM land.

Just because I have a differant opinion on what hunting is doesn't make me condescending or negative. I just think that that baiting an animal and hunting an animal are 2 differant things.

Not saying I have an answer for the problem except maybe winning the lottery, but hunting over a feeder is much preferred to not hunting at all and being less into the killing aspect, I can pretty much enjoy myself if I am outside and away from people. You figure it out and I will just enjoy myself. Imagine this, sometimes I just take a camera.

I guess if you do not like it is done down here, you can get in your vehicle or maybe on the back of your pack mule and head out for parts unknown, but I would consider the time and money spent when you rip off to head out for your favored Utah. We are just trying to do the best we can with what we have here. One more thought is that we were doing fine before you got here and we will be doing fine long after you are gone.

This topic has been covered 1000x times

Ya'll are taking my comments personally, it's kinda sad. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with baiting an animal if it's legal, and you can call it whatever name you like. Call it spelunking for all I care. I've stated my opinion on baiting vs hunting and if you don't agree, fine, but telling me I should leave Texas? Kinda childish.