What I love about hunting:

I love bow hunting. I love sitting in my ground blind in the quiet of a Nebraska morning. Watching the wildlife go about in complete oblivion to the fact that I am there. I have had raccoons and squirrels climb on my ground blind and not notice me while I sat there and enjoyed their company in silence. I have had turkey go to roost in the trees above my head (yes, wild turkeys can fly) I have also lost a shot because I was too enthralled watching the deer walking across the field or path right in front of me not bothering to draw my bow. I will also let a shot go if it is a button buck or a doe with a small one with it. I also will not take a shot if it is outside my comfort zone. My bow is set at 45 lbs and I am accurate up to 20 yards. I used to hunt with a rifle, but after my first bow hunt, I was hooked and have not gone deer hunting with a rifle since.

What I can’t stand about hunting:

I have lost most of the land that I hunted because people are coming from out of state paying $5,000.00 and up to the land owners for the hunting rights. I could drive out west a find someplace, but with deer season being the busy season at work, I don’t get that much time. And any public land is so over crowded I wouldn’t want to take a chance.

We have a lot of land owners around here who will come in and complain about the deer eating 20-40% or more of their crops, but when we (people who work for the game and parks and are certified bow hunter education instructors) offer to come and bow hunt does on their property, they don’t want us to.

People who complain about the deer population being too high yet can’t seem to take anything that doesn’t have horns. These people will take a button buck over a doe. Give me a break. If you have an overabundance of deer, you need to take does. I have had guys come in to get deer permits and find out that the only permits left in their area are doe only and say “I’m not shooting a doe”. Like it will somehow make them less of a man and I was nuts to suggest such a thing.

Rifle hunters who will take a poor shot (I have seen some very, very messed up deer) and the deer suffer. I had a guy come in this weekend with his son (it was his son’s first deer hunt). They boy took a nice buck, the dad a button buck. The son, who had just been through a firearm hunter safety course this summer, took his deer with one clean shot. His dad on the other hand shot at a running deer and took off its front leg. Then he had to “finish” the job with a shot to the head. While tagging their deer, I told the boy that I was proud of him for his clean shot and while tagging his dad’s deer said this is why you don’t shot at a running deer. I can’t stand to see an animal that was made to suffer because some jackass show off had to take a bad shot.

Want waste. Our officers get called out because someone threw their deer carcass in a ditch. They caped (took the rack) and threw the rest away. Or the s.o.b. who shot a brace of geese and threw them all in the ditch. I believe that if you are going to shoot an animal, you eat the animal. If you don’t want or need it, there are organizations like Hunters for the Hungary that will be more than happy to take it. I have even learned to turn my deer skins into buckskin so that I can utilize more of the deer that I take. Granted I am not that good at it yet, but I haven’t given up.

The people who think that everyone wants to see their dead deer hanging on that rack behind their SUV or in the bed of their truck with the tailgate down or gone. Not only do people not want to see a bloody deer, but now that they have had to drive out here to check their deer, it is full of dust and dirt. I complain to them that they need to carry a tarp to cover the deer or close the tail gate so people don’t see it.

I know that my “can’t stand” list is long (a lot longer) then my like list, but I still love being able to go out and harvest a deer and bring it home to feed my family (we butcher our own deer). We even buy extra tags so we can harvest a deer for two of our neighbors who as strapped for cash and love the extra meat. I just wish that more people would think about what they are doing. They don’t seem to realize that by their actions they are turning more and more people off to hunting.

I didn’t post this under Rants and Raves because I wanted to start a thread where those of use who do enjoy hunting can share our hunting stories. I love hearing about a person’s first hunt and so on. So if you have a story to share, please do. If you are against hunting, that is ok, but please don’t start an argument here. This is for those of us who enjoy the sport and share a reverence for the animals that we harvest.

Thanks.

I'm not a hunter, but as someone with a degree in wildlife and fisheries science, I recognize that it is necessary, especially when it comes to species like deer. Otherwise, you get an extremely large population with high rates of disease, parasitism, effects from lack of available food, etc. To top it off, overly-large populations of deer mean increased probability of deer/human interaction, usually in the form of road accidents. I highly respect the people that do it with dignity and respect for the animal.