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Drama

longspurs

longspurs

Active Member
Here's the thing ... way back in 2002 when Iowawhitetail was still in its infancy, people had a different mindset. Fast-forward 12 years and things have changed drastically. I understand that with time, people and things change, but things have begun to spiral out of control on here to the point where I wonder if Iowawhitetail will ever recover.

Debate is great. So is freedom of speech and the freedoms we enjoy to each have our own opinion. As Kaare said, emotion should be left out of it though. Emotion tends to turn things personal. However, it's easy for people to hide behind a screen name and play telephone tough guy. Anymore, there's way too much of this taking place on the site imo. Debating is one thing and everybody has their chance to offer an opinion here. That's the beauty of it. It's doesn't mean you have to like it or agree with it, but everybody should be able to chip in without having to worry about scathing remarks coming their way.

Here's a quote from Kaare, and I think he hit the nail on the head ...
"Anyways, I miss the fact that hardly anyone shares anything anymore. Trail cam pics are next to nil in the summer, shed pics are almost non existent these days. I am not sure what it is, maybe a fear factor thing but realistically, people just eventually get tired of sharing with nothing shared in return. This particular aspect of the site in general has me thinking my snow bones thread will likely be the last in a long line of shed chronicle threads from north of the border. Thanks to those of you who are unafraid to show me your finds."

Pretty sad when one of the best threads of the entire year may disappear for good. I think that speaks for itself.

Sadly, I'm almost to this point as well. Obviously, several others reached that point some time back. The screen names of those who used to be regular posters (including some of the moderators) are gone. This used to be THE go-to place for all things whitetail and it's still a damn good site. I just think with a little common sense and respect things could get back to normal.

I don't mind sharing. I'm not saying I've got all kinds of great, cutting edge ideas and tactics to share. What I do have are kind words and photos that I hope others will enjoy taking the time to look at. I'm not worried about people tracking down my shed hunting spots or slipping in on my hunting properties. I haven't been burned in 12 years of posting on IW so I'm not going to start worrying about it now.

Let's band together to make this site what it used to be ... a decent place to spend some time.

-Longspurs-
 
longspurs said:
Here's the thing ... way back in 2002 when Iowawhitetail was still in its infancy, people had a different mindset. Fast-forward 12 years and things have changed drastically. I understand that with time, people and things change, but things have begun to spiral out of control on here to the point where I wonder if Iowawhitetail will ever recover.

Debate is great. So is freedom of speech and the freedoms we enjoy to each have our own opinion. As Kaare said, emotion should be left out of it though. Emotion tends to turn things personal. However, it's easy for people to hide behind a screen name and play telephone tough guy. Anymore, there's way too much of this taking place on the site imo. Debating is one thing and everybody has their chance to offer an opinion here. That's the beauty of it. It's doesn't mean you have to like it or agree with it, but everybody should be able to chip in without having to worry about scathing remarks coming their way.

Here's a quote from Kaare, and I think he hit the nail on the head ...
"Anyways, I miss the fact that hardly anyone shares anything anymore. Trail cam pics are next to nil in the summer, shed pics are almost non existent these days. I am not sure what it is, maybe a fear factor thing but realistically, people just eventually get tired of sharing with nothing shared in return. This particular aspect of the site in general has me thinking my snow bones thread will likely be the last in a long line of shed chronicle threads from north of the border. Thanks to those of you who are unafraid to show me your finds."

Pretty sad when one of the best threads of the entire year may disappear for good. I think that speaks for itself.

Sadly, I'm almost to this point as well. Obviously, several others reached that point some time back. The screen names of those who used to be regular posters (including some of the moderators) are gone. This used to be THE go-to place for all things whitetail and it's still a damn good site. I just think with a little common sense and respect things could get back to normal.

I don't mind sharing. I'm not saying I've got all kinds of great, cutting edge ideas and tactics to share. What I do have are kind words and photos that I hope others will enjoy taking the time to look at. I'm not worried about people tracking down my shed hunting spots or slipping in on my hunting properties. I haven't been burned in 12 years of posting on IW so I'm not going to start worrying about it now.

Let's band together to make this site what it used to be ... a decent place to spend some time.

-Longspurs-
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I have not posted alot over the years but I remember back when the site first opened and there was a member who was asking for people to donate for a young boy who was a member her and was very sick and his family was plauged with endless doctor bills and he wanted to get started muzzleloader hunting and shoot a deer in IOWA. I bought around $200 worth of stuff from cabelas and had it shipped to his address, after the boy recieved all the stuff he needed to get started the man posted pictures of the sick boy and his family with all of the stuff that he had recieved it was absolutely amazing the outpour of support for the young man and the smile on his face was absolutely priceless. I never heard what happened to him or if his dream was fulfilled.
I can understand that places to hunt are getting hard to come by and people are not as eager to throw a bunch of information out there and unless you have the money it can be hard to play the game of BIG BUCK KILLING, which it has come to and usually anybody with land and deer numbers is no way going to let you in unless you are already in, it is to bad it has come to that but thats what greed and the love of money do to people. I would think that if the young man was on the site today and read some of the stuff going on lately his opinion of deer hunters in Iowa would probably change
 
I understand the sentiment of having a positive attitude. I even subscribe to it. I think if you look back at the posts over the last 4 months or so you will find plenty of people posted pictures of their harvest or their trail cam photos. Lots of people have. There has also been a lot of concern expressed over the number deer sightings. This may have contributed to fewer trailcam pics and less deer harvested/photos displayed.

As far as the negativity is concerned, I don't really see it. There were almost 50 pages of comments concerning non-resident land owners and harvest tags. 50 pages!! And it didn't get locked due to name calling or anything of that nature. That says ALOT about the character of the people posting. Yes, some people may gotten upset and taken some things personally but that is going to happen when you have a discussion about something near and dear to them.

I also think that debate on here is important. Necessary even. If we don't discuss the issues at hand affecting the quality of our hunting, things will only get worse.
In the last couple of months we have discussed NRLOs, out of state hunters in general, people claiming false residency, reputable outfitters/realtors and the overall condition of Iowa's deer herd.
These are topics worth talking about because the outcome of them can impact deer hunting in general. I wouldn't have been aware of any of them had they not been brought up here.

Look, this is the time of year to be talking about these things. During the lull in outdoor activity. Granted I've only been here a short while but I've only been offended one time. Yes, there have been things that I didn't agree with but only really been offended once.

To sum it up, I appreciate every bodies input on all these topics. I think you're a good bunch of people and that's why I keep coming back.
 
I am relatively new to the sight but I enjoy all the pictures and stories I see and read on here yes sometimes there is some drama threads but I tend to try to avoid them and just stick with what I like and fully intend to get into the trail cam pictures part of the site next spring. I now have 2 cameras and can't wait to get em put up at the end of February when I really start shed hunting.
 
I agree with iabwhntr. We never had these problems 12 years ago and they need to be hashed out. What we do need is balance. We do need more pics and ideas to soften the negative threads. We also need to have the ability to walk away from a thread. A handful of positive leaders would go along way to improving the site.
 
I'll be honest...

I only post pictures in the PMA of harvests because I don't trust people that I haven't known long. I trust most of the PMA members because most of those guys work hard at it like me. They wouldn't cut in on you like some people that get the free area might. I'm cautious because I've had issues with neighbors here at home.

To be honest it's got out about my little honey hole here at home and I've got a few fence line hunters. One guy that I thought was a friend and is a fish and wildlife worker did his best to take advantage of my work. He pulled something really shady. I confronted him and hope I got things cleared up.

No way I'll ever trust the open site, to much to risk....
 
Long spurs

You hit a key point about taking emotion out of it. Debating is fine when done appropriately. Unfortunately there are several guys that remove all logic and base their comments on pure emotion. Even worse is that the moderators fail to control the situations uniformly. They have allowed a few bad apples to control the direction of the forums and have created an unwelcoming environment that is running people off right and left.
 
Half the problem anymore is everyone is so greedy and wound up about killing giants every year that they have lost touch with what nature and the tradition of hunting really is. Its pretty sad its come to all this , I've put many deer on the wall myself in the past but I can handle not shooting another good one , I enjoy my time in the woods regardless. And that is all that truly matters. I've got way more respect for the old timer with his open sight side lock muzzle loader than any big city rich hunter with a hundred trail cams , "pet named" hit list bucks , and all the latest and greatest guns and gadgets money can buy , and I bet the simple old timer that does things the simple way sleeps better at night too !
 
I wasn't a member when the site started so I don't know what the "good ol' days" were like. But in the time I have been a member I haven't had any issues and rarely see people getting too bent out of shape over a thread. I definitely would enjoy seeing more pics and hearing more stories but you can't make everyone post about their season. Here's my suggestion. When you get sad about thinking this site is no good and everyone just wants to fight, just remember it could always be worse, like iowasportsman :D IW is like a rare jewel in comparison. Haha.
 
Half the problem anymore is everyone is so greedy and wound up about killing giants every year that they have lost touch with what nature and the tradition of hunting really is. Its pretty sad its come to all this , I've put many deer on the wall myself in the past but I can handle not shooting another good one , I enjoy my time in the woods regardless. And that is all that truly matters
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Well said and you echo my thoughts. It's a crappy thing that human nature seems to have a lot of people that cannot be happy for others. I love seeing harvest threads, trail cam pics, shed pics and simply enjoy reading about other's success and I am a truly happy for them. Being excited about hunting is a terrific feeling for it is a tremendous pastime. Maybe a bit more excitement and happiness for others would be contagious and would wear off.

Come on, somebody show some shed pics that have you excited for next year. Let a positive feeling trump one of paranoia and worry about others, life is to short to keep everything locked away and hidden.
 
I agree with a lot of the things said on here. As one of the young hunters here on the forums I came mostly to learn things from people with more experience since I am the only deer hunter in my family. I have passed many bucks in the three years hunting and finally harvested my first this year. Originally I was scared to harvest a buck that was a young deer thinking I'd be torn apart and criticized for it. Luckily I was able to harvest a nice mature buck as my first..

I enjoy seeing trail cam pictures also and am always sharing mine on here.
 
"Come on, somebody show some shed pics that have you excited for next year. "

Believe me Kaare when I say I wish I had some more to show. So far, I only have my X-Mas eve shed to show anyone and that's already in the shed forum. Been cautiously looking for the match and so far zippo. :(

As far as the main theme to this thread, the drama is sometimes a bit much but I believe at it's peak during this time of the year rather than year round. Seasons are over, sheds are still hard to come by and cabin fever is setting in. I think trying to take ourselves a little less seriously might be a good general rule of thumb for all of us.

There are tons of things I worry about in the future - deer hunting is one of them. However, in the grand scheme of things - it's WAY, WAY down the list of priorities. I am just thankful for the balance it provides me mentally to offset some of the other things on that list.
 
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This site simply got big. When I started coming here many years ago it was much smaller and everyone was active. Heck we used to get together up in NE iowa and have a bow shoot, a stayover, grilling out drinking beer and telling lies. Now that was awesome!! Now we have a bigger crowd and with more personal views on topics. Deer hunting itself has changed as well in that amount of time.

Me personally, when I started coming on here I was in college. All I did was drive around every night taking video of deer and then coming home and posting it on IW. I used to hunt a heck of a lot more, I used to shed hunt every chance I got, used to run trail cams and shared a lot of stuff over the years.

Now the reality is I have a busy job, a wife and two youngs kids and not much time to hunt, shed hunt, go look for deer etc etc etc.. I simply sit on the sidelines and watch anymore with not much to share outside of words of wisdom of course. ;) ;)
 
Who are some guys (former members) that contributed a lot that are no longer on here?

Curious?
 
Rackaddict, Pharmer, Timberpig , Oldbuck and Blindsow come to mind.
 
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Part of the reason people are less willing to share is because of the trespassing, poaching, etc that goes on now. Also, a guy can't hardly hang a stand or trail cam on public land without it being taken. I hunt primarily public land for everything and I wouldn't give up my spots to even a close family friend anymore. Only takes 1 person to ruin it for everyone.

Used to be that sportsman were in the same boat and willing to help one another. There's still a few out there but many less because we've all been burnt at least once. With the commercialization of hunting came alot of pressure on some people to harvest big animals and that's hurt our sport a lot in my opinion.

Sure there was always theft, trespassing, and poaching but it sure hasn't gotten any better over the last 10 years. I know there's a lot of people left that are willing to do the right thing, but a few bad apples have spoiled it for the bunch.

It's really too bad. I wish we could all get along.
 
Dbl.throat_patch said:
Bring back T250, that will surely get things stirred up...lol
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T250 is a perfect example of balance. He may have talked about the secret society in one thread but countered it with a pic of a nice fish he pulled through the ice or shed that he found in another. That is what we are lacking.
 
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