Well I have pondered this on my own for awhile, now its time to involve yall.
Do you think the way hunting has been publicized, over the past few years has hurt you as a hunter or helped you? Let me explain, take television, majority of hunting shows focus on trully monster deer and mystical places. So now peer pressure makes us want to kill big deer, which makes us spend more money, which creates more stress, which makes it harder to enjoy the reason we started hunting. So you see where this is leading, just take a moment and give me your thoughts, but before you do, reflect for a minute on hunting when you were a kid.

I don't give two hoots about what "professional hunters" are harvesting on their product pimping TV shows.

The trophy hunting has not helped the average hunter. I also think it has partially caused the rise on lease prices, the hunters work hard to "upgrade" the deer herd, the owner sees the result and jacks the lease price.

I agree with the lease prices rising, snd truly believe it has to do with the flood of the hunting market. Those products he mentioned being pimped, but I am no better because I admit I buy those products. I also like big deer.

I still go out for the same reason I always have and that's just to enjoy the woods not to kill some trophy animal!!! Shooting a deer is a bonus and I hope to get a buck and a doe this year and both will be a trophy to me!!!

I missed a lot sleep before opening night of any hunt or hunting season since day one and still do today. I dreamed of killing a big deer 45 years ago when I killed my first buck (spike) and that has never changed everytime I go out. The excitement factor is just as strong today as it was then. Just nowdays I enjoy the actual hunt and the events that surround it just as much if not more. So no peer pressure, money or stress is driving me. I just love to hunt and my success is never judged by the antler size if I even kill a buck.

Don't watch those shows so guess my answer is no. We have land in Erath & Cooke counties so I haven't been pressured to pay any lease fees. Would be cheaper to buy out of state and hunt Okla than pay Texas leases.

i just saw this the other day, one of the best hunting videos i have ever seen and its only 2:03 long. i think i will be just like him if i get the buck i am after.

i have never figured out the cool way you guys put the video in your posts, so here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb3zClHDCOM&feature=youtu.be


http://youtu.be/jb3zClHDCOM

Generally your thoughts are the same as mine.

I have always sought the biggest deer I could but this numbers/score crap is ruining hunting. The hunting shows play a big part in a lot of what's wrong with hunting today for sure.

Agree 100%

I still hunt for the same reasons as I did when my dad first ever took me hunting and I got to walk the fields for the first time with a shotgun chasing pheasant and quail. I just love being in the outdoors where I am away from all the stress of life and there is nothing but me and nature. I have just as much fun sitting in the stand for four hours watching game as I do taking a animal.

Walter

I've definitely "evolved" over the years in what I'm looking for when I go hunting. But I really don't think I can attribute any of it to hunting shows.

I set my own goals w/o other people influencing what those are. There's some hunts I'd love to do but will never do, so I watch them on TV and read the experiences of other (like the Pakistan trip that Trijicon has shown this week)...Good Lord willing & the creek don't rise, I'll hit the 200" mark on Mule Deer, complete a sheep slam & go shoot a bullwinkle.

When we were in North Dakota in the 1960's I got a real nice buck in the Badlands, I thought I had hit the jackpot. Within 2 yeas I was on another hunt, after that the excitement of deer hunting was never the same.

My BIL is a nice, great guy but he started hunting later in life and is eaten up with that score crap. When he hunts my place my rule is we don't talk score and he squirms like a stuck pig.

I instituted this rule when he killed a deer and was super excited about it, rough-scored it, and then immediately became disappointed in it because it wasn't as high as he thought. I explained how ridiculous that was and said no more scoring inside these gates.

You won't even let him give you a rough score of deer that get passed up?

I've always hunted by feeling... And age. If the buck is mature and I get excited about the thought of harvesting that deer, then I'll shoot. I'm curious about what it will score, and I like to guess on the hoof, but it doesn't really mean anything.

Like many others, I still view hunting the same way I did before. I enjoy some of the hunting shows and dont think they have taken anything away from my hunting experience. For me, it is no different than hearing the stories of folks on here and seeing their TC pics. Many have bigger deer than I do on my place, but that doesn't mean that I am disappointed opening morning because one of "your" deer didn't show up. I simply hunt the biggest deer that my area has to offer.

As a matter of fact, I hunt Concho county where a 140" deer is a trophy and hunt Kansas where 160"+ deer wonder the woods. I enjoy both greatly for different reasons. A few years back, my father shot a 189" ten with his bow and later in the season, he shot a 122" eight pointer. Didn't take away from his excitement over the eight at all.

In regards to the scoring, I don't mind a bit. I have a 132" that I like better than my 142". I have a 124" that I was more excited about than any deer I have shot, with exception of my first.

I hunt to enjoy the hunt. A trophy isn't always the biggest deer, but can be about how memorable the hunt was. I enjoy reading about hunting, I enjoy hearing about hunting and I enjoy watching others hunt. The hunt is about the woods, getting away with just your thoughts, sitting around a campfire with family and friends, etc.

Personally, I can't think of anything, besides our government, that can threaten that.

One of my personal favorites was a 127" buck I shot on the last hunt my grandpa went on....I didn't care how old that deer was, he was getting shot.

Much like most that have posted thus far, I hunt to be outside, free my mind of all the town stuff, get to be with someone other than myself (family or my Maker) and just cuz I enjoy seeing wildlife. I love looking at big deer and get as excited about the next about jshouse's big monster and others like big, but I don't let it consume me and I hope that has kept my son the same way. I hope to max out on deer at the lease this year, that would mean 4 bucks and 3 doe, but amongst many people I plan to take there including myself.

I have found that score matters more to guys that didn't grow up hunting, that got into that as adults.

at our camp, we could care less what the deer scored as long as it meets the age requirements.

that is awesome

Hunting has definatey changed for me over the years. It wasn't that long ago deer were scarce in certain areas. Now those same areas are nearly over populated.
Plus my children hunt with me and my priorities are geared towards their success. I still hunt for big deer but find most of my memories are the event and not the actual deer or score.

I think tv has been a big influence in getting a bunch of city people interested in the outdoors. That's why lease prices are so high and the lakes are covered up with fishermen every weekend. I think the tv shows have been successful in dragging a large population off of the golf course and into the woods.

As for me I'm not much on any of the hunting shows. There are a few good ones but when the deer have names and after they're shot the hunters are hollering and fist pumping like Tiger Woods I just don't buy it.

I'm not as mad at the deer as I used to be. I go deer hunting to enjoy
the outdoors, hang out with old freinds, cook good food, and drink cold beer. If a big buck is killed (notice I said killed not harvested) that's an added bonus.