Crying shame. An ethical hunter is welcomed at my camp no matter what he's carrying.
I swear, some folks here sound like the anti's with their arrogant, cry baby rhetoric.
The hunter in the OP has nerves of steel. A sincere congrat's to him!
badger, why don't we have deer like that at our camp!?
Deer of this magnitude are more common everyday...Amazing how big these old boys can get and make it all year without one eye seeing them...Knowing that this deer was a good clean free range harvest is breath taking.
And good luck at your camp this year one never knows what lurks in the woods they hunt...That is all part of the hunt!!!
Penned and corn fed are some of the comments I have read on this thread....He is a close friend of my son's and his family is first class. I swear some folks on this board kill me.
NO...there are NO fenced operations in Worth County GA...he killed it on a 53 acre tract entirely fair chase.
This is truly one of those stories where you can say, "It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy"
given that pen kept and hormone fed trophys are more and more common i think its a fair question to ask....not fair to accuse someone of right off the bat but it is a fair question to ask....
ive got a question, whats a "tract"? must be a term down your way....guessing its something along the lines of a 53 acre stand of timber or river bottom or something like that?
as far as the crossbow comments.....most bow hunters i know think they are a handicap cause they limit how they can twist and take a shot, especially from tree stands so the not having to hold the draw is not a trade off they want to make....plus in Montana, unless you are a disabled hunter, they are only legal in the rifle season, not the bow season....and the guys comparing it to a rifle must be eastern hunters cause ive never seen someone shoot a deer with a crossbow at the ranges most hunt with a rifle out here....
so long as the buck was taken legally, and especially free range(though i actually have no problem with fenced so long as you dont call it free range) i say congrats to the hunter
A serious student of the "Armchair Safari" always looking for Africa/Asia hunting books
An ethical hunter is welcomed at my camp no matter what he's carrying.
AMEN! I don't care if you are carrying a pistol (I'll probably want to shoot it!), 20 gauge, or a Barrett 50 Cal...long as it's legal, why not use it?!
I'd rather have a bad day hunting than a good day working!
given that pen kept and hormone fed trophys are more and more common i think its a fair question to ask....not fair to accuse someone of right off the bat but it is a fair question to ask....
Eyeball, Try this with your bow. Turn it sideways and try and get it to shooting position without deer seeing the movement. That is what you have to do everytime with a crossbow. I HAVE to use a crossbow but used a compound for years and would go back in a second if I could but I see no real advantage in the woods with a crossbow. Yes, slightly better in some areas but much worse in others. Example: Try banging a stick on your stand with each bow shot and see how many more deer "Jump" the string. They are bloody loud and deer react to it much faster and more often than they do a regular bow.
Of course this is based on 20 years of using a compound and about 6 now with a crossbow, with dozens of deer killed. Thus my comments are based on actual field results, not someones opinion on what must be true. YMMV
PS. I don't see folks crying about scopes on rifles, although they have only become common in my lifetime. Why don't we try to ban these too as they give unfair advantage to folks who use them!
We need more people hunting and IMHO should support any legal method.
TM
Some mornings, it just does not feel worth it to chew through the straps!~
I don't agree with the use of crossbows in the archery season, but that is one helluva deer.
Friggen monster.
We're going to sink or swim together on this one guys. It's kind of like the feud between the traditional ML shooters and the in-line guys.
That's a fair analogy. I don't like how the muzzleloader season has been corrupted by the 'evolution' of the equipment either. The whole point of special primitive weapons seasons was that the weapons used were to be, you know, primitive.,,and thereby longer in duration.
I don't care if anyone uses a crossbow in gun season. I do care that they are being allowed in archery seasons.
Why bother having a dedicated archery season at all? A crossbow isn't a bow, obviously. I'll continue to voice my opinion on this matter because dissenting opinions are still valid and important. I'm not a huge believer in the 'big tent' theory.
That said, it appears that this hunter did nothing illegal so I say congrats to him. Awesome buck.
It's, for sure, a great buck. But as a hunt goes, nope, crossbows are just another firearm in my opinion. Handguns (real ones, not 40-x bipod "handguns") would be more challenging than a crossbow.
Shot over a feeder doesn't cut it for me either.
If you feel different, well good for you.
Pretty much in agreement with Brent on this but I'll not bitch or get on people's asses over it. To each his own.... but my opinion is that a crossbow is much more like a single shot long gun than a compound or a real bow.
Nebraska recently began allowing Xbow hunters in archery season, in some ways I'm glad and others not so much.
As predicted it turned the orange army loose. I always rather enjoyed the serenity of early season, it's a bit more crowded now, even clear out here. Bow hunters tend to be much more polite, far less apt to hop fences where they do not belong, and much less inclined to be after the "big one" (which means do anything, legal or otherwise). In short, besides more people afield ya get more jack asses, just like during the rifle season.
However, couple of aspects of it are good. FIL just recently retired. Between his shoulders and his eyesight archery season was a no go for him before but now he's getting out there in the field and having some fun. Good for him! And a lot of others in his same position.
The best part of it is bow hunters are finally allowed to hunt during Nebraska's 9 day rifle season.... always held during peak rut activity. That was stupid. I'm glad it's gone. Many times I'd take deer thinking "coulda done that with my longbow". I don't like other people making decisions for me. Especially when those other people are know nothing thumb up their ass bureaucrats who make rules for no other reason than to be making rules.
Oh well. There's good and bad with everything. I like options. This feels more like freedom.
Last edited by Archerhunter; 10/25/12.
BAN THE RAINBOW FLAG! PERVERTS OFFEND ME!
"When is penguin season, daddy? I wanna go kill a penguin!" ---- 4 yr old Archerhuntress
I never understood this whole "crossbows aren't bows" thing or that they do not belong in archery season...
Historically, they ARE bows. That's been the case long before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Medieval Kings would call for their archers to step forward and the crossbow men would step up along side the long bow men. They often would hunt together too.
They have ALWAYS been a part of archery from their inception on.
It's a bow just like any other bow except it's on a stick and always at draw.
Those that say it doesn't count as a bow and doesn't belong in archery just do not have history on their side...
It's been a valid, accepted, and well established hunting tool for centuries.
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams
