This has been discussed somewhat in the past, let's revisit.
Look at what TV deer hunting shows have done to affect the way some expect deer hunting to be. A simple look back in history paints a very bleak picture.
Some of us have been on the map longer than others. I started deer hunting under my Dad's wing. I didn't watch TV or videos ( no such thing as videos). Later, a neighbor introduced me to string. After flinging wooden arrows at deer, I was hooked.
I have a pretty good history from hearing my Dad comment and point out while pheasant hunting...deer tracks. Deer were not common south of 64.
I have seen deer population sky-rocket is the 80's when much of my hunting was pressed against Lake Superior. I saw what happened when naive deer met Mr. Wolf and hunters slaughtered does. I remember gutting a deer in late 80's that had corn in it, totally dumb-founded when the nearest cornfield was 75-100 miles away. Never occurred somebody "baited" deer. Only to find a trail of saplings smashed over by a 3-wheel "ATV" and a 50 yard trail "cut" through the woods with a chair set up at one end, corn and salt blocks at the other. I was never taught this was deer hunting (by the way, I still don't believe it is hunting...killing, yes, but no skill involved). How did this "hunter" learn to do this?? Was it a hunting show.
I remember seeing white pine always nipped off up north. Regeneration was being diverted to deer gut. The slaughter of antlerless continued, predator populations grew in response to high deer populations but now took more than the excess deer crop. Hunters started getting dissatisfied because "I used to see 50 deer opening day".
Land parcels were bought up from a depressed farming era. Parcels were split. Hunting shows began to show how easy it was to shoot MONSTER bucks, just by tilling ground and throwing Ag seed on the ground with fertilizer. All you had to do was sit in a box and watch the field. Alternatively, skip the whole planting thing, especially on public land, and dump corn in a pile and stare at it. All those "new" game cameras (shown on hunting shows) can't lie. Not sure why their pictures are daylight while the non-show pictures were after dark.
Even people owning 2 acres could shoot MONSTER bucks, just plant a food plot or throw corn in a pile and watch from a box blind. The shows have to be reality. Try try try the hunters did to replicate what was done on these shows. Just sit and wait. Everybody gets a MONSTER BUCK!
Soon hunters became dissatisfied because they didn't get monster bucks so they cursed the neighbors, posted their land, planted more "food". Still no deer. Damn the DNR, I saw 50 deer opening day just 10 years ago. Why can "the Crush" be getting monster bucks? I just don't hear shots opening day like I used to. Can't be that everybody is sitting in box blinds looking at a corn pile or watching the same area the blind has been set up for 10 years on posted land. I am going to keep sitting because my camera shows pictures, a monster buck has to walk out during daylight. Man, all the b&w pictures of deer eating corn, wish a monster buck during daylight would show up, just like on the hunting show.
I am afraid that the new generation didn't have a Dad to show them how to hunt and picked up tips from hunting shows. And now, we have cross bows for all, that certainly will help see more deer. The heck with hunting anymore, just do what they do on TV, you'll get a big buck consistently. How's that working out for ya?
Maybe I am old school, but I know the forest provides everything a deer needs. I know enough to move into areas that deer have cover. I don't need to add a pile to draw deer. I know that habitat needs constant improvement. When I hunt public land, it is gonna be in areas that have had recent logging activity.
I always be reminded of the deer I shot in the early 80's with corn in it's belly. That, was my turning point in the start of experiencing poor hunting. Sit, stare, and wait over an artificial food source, they will come. Those advertising hunting shows have to be getting those big bucks for a reason.
I miss hunting how it used to be. Deer don't need us to feed them, they do need good habitat that provides food however. This competition has to stop or it's only gonna get worse. Put the hunt back into hunting.
This has been discussed somewhat in the past, let's revisit.
Look at what TV deer hunting shows have done to affect the way some expect deer hunting to be. A simple look back in history paints a very bleak picture.
Some of us have been on the map longer than others. I started deer hunting under my Dad's wing. I didn't watch TV or videos ( no such thing as videos). Later, a neighbor introduced me to string. After flinging wooden arrows at deer, I was hooked.
I have a pretty good history from hearing my Dad comment and point out while pheasant hunting...deer tracks. Deer were not common south of 64.
I have seen deer population sky-rocket is the 80's when much of my hunting was pressed against Lake Superior. I saw what happened when naive deer met Mr. Wolf and hunters slaughtered does. I remember gutting a deer in late 80's that had corn in it, totally dumb-founded when the nearest cornfield was 75-100 miles away. Never occurred somebody "baited" deer. Only to find a trail of saplings smashed over by a 3-wheel "ATV" and a 50 yard trail "cut" through the woods with a chair set up at one end, corn and salt blocks at the other. I was never taught this was deer hunting (by the way, I still don't believe it is hunting...killing, yes, but no skill involved). How did this "hunter" learn to do this?? Was it a hunting show.
I remember seeing white pine always nipped off up north. Regeneration was being diverted to deer gut. The slaughter of antlerless continued, predator populations grew in response to high deer populations but now took more than the excess deer crop. Hunters started getting dissatisfied because "I used to see 50 deer opening day".
Land parcels were bought up from a depressed farming era. Parcels were split. Hunting shows began to show how easy it was to shoot MONSTER bucks, just by tilling ground and throwing Ag seed on the ground with fertilizer. All you had to do was sit in a box and watch the field. Alternatively, skip the whole planting thing, especially on public land, and dump corn in a pile and stare at it. All those "new" game cameras (shown on hunting shows) can't lie. Not sure why their pictures are daylight while the non-show pictures were after dark.
Even people owning 2 acres could shoot MONSTER bucks, just plant a food plot or throw corn in a pile and watch from a box blind. The shows have to be reality. Try try try the hunters did to replicate what was done on these shows. Just sit and wait. Everybody gets a MONSTER BUCK!
Soon hunters became dissatisfied because they didn't get monster bucks so they cursed the neighbors, posted their land, planted more "food". Still no deer. Damn the DNR, I saw 50 deer opening day just 10 years ago. Why can "the Crush" be getting monster bucks? I just don't hear shots opening day like I used to. Can't be that everybody is sitting in box blinds looking at a corn pile or watching the same area the blind has been set up for 10 years on posted land. I am going to keep sitting because my camera shows pictures, a monster buck has to walk out during daylight. Man, all the b&w pictures of deer eating corn, wish a monster buck during daylight would show up, just like on the hunting show.
I am afraid that the new generation didn't have a Dad to show them how to hunt and picked up tips from hunting shows. And now, we have cross bows for all, that certainly will help see more deer. The heck with hunting anymore, just do what they do on TV, you'll get a big buck consistently. How's that working out for ya?
Maybe I am old school, but I know the forest provides everything a deer needs. I know enough to move into areas that deer have cover. I don't need to add a pile to draw deer. I know that habitat needs constant improvement. When I hunt public land, it is gonna be in areas that have had recent logging activity.
I always be reminded of the deer I shot in the early 80's with corn in it's belly. That, was my turning point in the start of experiencing poor hunting. Sit, stare, and wait over an artificial food source, they will come. Those advertising hunting shows have to be getting those big bucks for a reason.
I miss hunting how it used to be. Deer don't need us to feed them, they do need good habitat that provides food however. This competition has to stop or it's only gonna get worse. Put the hunt back into hunting.
I remember one time I was guiding around a photographer from National Geographic during the gun deer season. We stopped by a deer camp in Sawyer County that had a dandy buck on the pole. Baiting was on the upswing and the issue came up. The hunter claimed that buck never ate corn and he did not use bait. I am sure he did not use bait but in the area was hunting it was my belief that every deer by that time had hit corn piles.
It's a double edged sword if you ask me.
Glad I don't have cable or Dish....
My friend is hunting ML season right now,,,,,,,, he has seen over 20 deer, and he has been boots on the ground every day.... He is hunting the NF in Florence Co,,,, as usual he reports, other than on a Saturday, and that was few, no one around, everyone went home
I think people today are better land managers, I agree all the deer needs is woods, if the woods are managed properly for them,,,,,
want to sit on a bait or food plot, I don't care,,,,, do what you want,,,, just hunt legal....
I never saw a time, when so many worried so much, how others hunt and their style,,,,,
I think today we are putting a "better" more "prepared" hunter on the landscape then we ever did before.
I think we have seen a more professional and conservation aware in Wisconsin like never before. I speak from experience.
I can remember in the 70's and the quality of hunters I encountered back then.
Most were uneducated to the life of a whitetail deer and how to hunt them ethically and sucessfully.....
Most deer back then I believe were killed on deer drives. 20-30 men gathered and drove big portions of swamps and farm lands. "Horn Porn" was in it's infancy back then and the "likes" of "Noel Feather" and "Bob Folkrud" were just emerging as was "Dan Fitzgerald".
We all remembered what happened to Noel Feather.
We as hunters have become more educated, whether from HS classes, the Internet or forums like "Bowsite". TV shows are just that, but I AGREE we (myself) can always learn something new.
Like Novice says...don't like it, change the channel"...
For me, and many others that I know, it opened up a new world for me. I'm taking about shows like Drury's, Lakosky's, Mossy Oak, Deer & Deer Hunting - as land owners/managers/deer stewards, what are these folks doing on their grounds that I can be do on mine for better deer, better deer habitat and better deer hunting? As I started educating myself and learning more and more, I found QDMA, then QDM. I've never looked back.
I know that my property will never be like theirs, and so do my kids, and that's okay. We are making it the best that we can, hunting is better than it ever has been and we are loving every minute of it.
So yes, there is some bad with TV show, but certainly some good. I think the strong will survive, the bad will not. BC
