Guys-many on our club, as well as those on other leases around us, never shoot a doe because they might mess up a shot on a buck they are after. So, most years it is not problem shooting a doe...if you're willing to shoot one. This year has been a problem for me killing a doe, simply because I haven't seen but 1 deer that I know was a doe and it was the 1st deer I saw this year. It was early 1 morning and didn't want to shoot the 1st deer thinking I would have other opportunities to get some doe meat...but didn't happen.
And yes...I can read deer sign and if it were possible on leases around here where I hunt to hunt the way a man should be able to hunt (you know, find sign and hunt a particular deer until you kill him), I wouldn't need a camera to tell me if there was a big buck around. That is the way I hunted for years before they leased all the open land around here. Of course, that was before the days of game cameras, corn, food plots, etc. IMO, game cameras has nothing to do with "reading" deer sign but everything to do with using technology to kill a deer.
This is not to start a world war, but this is my opinion and am entitled to it like everyone else. Many want to kill the big deer like some of the men and women on TV. You know, those who have their own farm and put out minerals all year, feed, and food plots. And then put out cameras the year round to where they know every deer on the place and have their hit list of those that need to be killed and those they want to let walk. Every buck is named. Now think about it and be honest, does that make a person a "good" deer hunter? Not in my book. They are patient. They have invested a lot of time but most of it has been planting, feeding, riding around on atvs, and running cameras. Go home and file everything on a computer. But they way I was raised and believe, that does not make one a good deer hunter. They have a great place and control over their land and try to out feed the properties around them. A few years ago when I looked at the TX hunting forum a good bit, there was a guy on there who made a comment that he could look at a person's box stand/blind and their feeding set-up and could tell you what kind of a hunter they were. Really!!!
No one wants to go back to the old ways of hunting (and I know that some of you in certain states might still have to hunt the old fashioned way). And if you do, cherish it. Don't wish you were like other places unless having to feed deer just to be able to see some, because if you don't, your neighbor is (4-500 yds. away) going to feed and you won't see much without getting in on it. Plus, I really believe that some deer would starve to death because many places have too many deer and without the supplemental feed some would starve to death.
I really am not saying these things to start anything, but apparently some think that I just started hunting and don't even know what a deer track looks like, or scrapes or tree rubs/hookings whatever you want to call them. I've hunted over 50 years and about half of it before all the modern conveniences many hold so dear. I kill more deer now, but just don't get the thrill out of it like I did before these days. I killed a nice 8 pt. earlier in the season. I wasn't feeding anything at that stand and have killed 3 out of it this year with no corn or rice bran, it is just in a good place. But it didn't thrill me like it once would have simply because that is where I have to hunt to keep from hunting too close to someone else. The only skill it took was making sure I put the crosshairs where they were supposed to be. So go ahead and apply the heat to my opinions. I can take it...you're not going to bother me too much...lol.
