Until I started hitting Internet forums, I really did not have an idea of there being a distinction. I'm from Ohio, and I realized after a time hunting in Indiana that "Buckeyes" were not welcome. We had a reputation for random slaughter, poaching, road hunting and so on. I caught the cue and moved my hunting out of SE Indiana. I ended up doing most of my hunting in Kentucky for the past 30 years, and I can't say as I resemble the stereotyped KY hunter either. Folks in Ohio and Indiana think we're a bunch wild-shooting booger-eating morons. The former comes from the distinction that, up until a very few years ago, Kentucky was the only state in the area that allowed centerfire rifles for deer season. That's pretty much why I went to KY-- they allowed Sunday hunting and allowed me to hunt deer with a 30-06.
If you have to classify me in any way meaningfully, you'd probably pick on the fact that I've done 99% of my hunting in the Ohio Valley, for the past 20 years, exclusively in the northern Trans-Bluegrass, between the Licking and Ohio. Next, you would probably zero in on my propensity for choosing sitting over walking. Everyone in our camp hunts out of a stand or blind. I still don't know if that qualifies as a "kind." If there's any set designation for me, I don't know it.
When I started writing, "The Deer Doctor" and "The Deer Professor" were already taken. I finally settled on "The Cervid Serial Killer." To quote my weblog:
I plot and plan my next victim all Winter long. I stalk them throughout the Summer. Just seeing them gives me a thrill. Then, when the Fall comes, I go out and shoot them. I disembowel my victims. I take trophies, I feast on their flesh. I take pictures and hang them on my wall, to help remind me of my past episodes.
When I can, I get together with like-minded cervid serial killers, and we boast of our past episodes and plot and plan future forays. I frequent websites and chatrooms that service my needs to share my experiences. I even buy magazines that glorify my lifestyle. I do all this to satisfy some ineffable feeling that keeps driving me on incessantly. I am indoctrinating my children into this lifestyle and encouraging my friends and family to join me in consuming the flesh of my victims.
