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Pampered Sportsmen

Ghost

Life Member
This is kind of a long read...but I felt it was worth sharing.

I would like to know your thoughts.




Pampered Sportsmen

One needs only to look back to gain a genuine perspective of where we have progressed, or have we? According to Mattis, “Convenience is the public cry in hunting…Today’s sportsman is so pampered with such an array of gadgets and attire for ease and comfort that deer hunting is no longer a privilege of the hardy outdoor clan…The practical deer hunters, and especially the newcomers, come to hunt the game animal where it is most plentiful, and many a bag is filled without the hunter straying a quarter of a mile from his parked car, a farm field, or a side road. The task of dragging in a deer killed even a mile back in from any road is becoming the exception today. Because of this easy hunting, out hunting force is inflated with many soft-handed members who make the outing not so much for their sheer love of hunting but for the ease with which they can assume the stature of a hunter.”

It seems that the exploits of our ancestral deer hunters lies in stark contrast to the hunter of today. We’ve become enmeshed in the intricacies of modern technology, ascribing to the latest, most efficient methodology in hunting whitetails. Our deer hunts are no longer campaigns, “making sporting history,” as Rutledge described, but rather a formula with success being almost a sure bet. Rarely do we find the same energy expanded as those that once tramped for endless miles as penned by George Shiras, “A sportsman’s life consists largely of three elements: anticipation, realization and reminiscence. We look forward to the trip by rail, by canoe and then perhaps a tramp on foot into the heart of the wilderness. Then comes the camp and its pleasant environments, and that lucky, radiant day when the early morning sun casts a glint upon the branching antlers of a mighty buck.”

According to historian Dr. Rob Wegner, “We need to look back on our heroic, distant past so that we can make claims to the future. Without tracing our personal roots and grounding our self-identity in some kind of a collective with a shared past, we will never acquire stability or a basis for a self-sustaining community. We need to return to the basic values of the early American deerslayer—self-reliance, hardihood, woodcraft and marksmanship—and forget all the mechanized gadgets and technological devices.”

If we are indeed to learn anything from those hunters of yesteryear and perhaps emulate some of their storied past, than we must never forget these parting words from New York’s most famed huntress, Paulina Brandreth,

“Hunting is a recreation and invigorating pastime that never should, through a super-civilized, over-artificialized state of living, be allowed to die out. In this age of neurotic haste it means rest and renewed health to the man whose brain and energies are being constantly overtaxed. It means stronger muscles, a more vigorous constitution, self-reliance, hardihood. A real man does not care for sport that does not involve difficulty, discomfort and sometimes danger. The trouble with modern life is that physically it is terribly softening. We need something to counteract the effects of luxury and too easy living. Hunting does this because it takes a man to places where he has to depend on first principles, and where he comes in contact with obstacles that tend to build up and strengthen his natural abilities and manhood. It makes his eyesight keener, teaches him patience, and unfolds many natural laws and beauties and wonders that otherwise would remain to him unknown. We all need something of the primitive in us in order that we may have a rock bottom on which to stand.”
 
What stops me from walking miles back to my tree stand is the neighbors fence line. I would love to hunt back in the day, but times have changed. And I like my hoyt a little to much to pick up a recurve.
 
Interesting read.
I don't think it's any secret that I do my hunting with primitive gear, I think the coined phrase is "the hard way" /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif But I don't feel it makes me any different a hunter than somebody who chooses to use all the new modern tech gear. It's just my choice as it is anybodys.
I drive to my hunting grounds, I don't walk or ride a horse there. In this day and age, full time jobs put an end to most peoples great hunting expiditions that were more common in the "good old days" We also hunt for our own self satisfaction, not for our main substanence. If we were relying solely on our hunting abilities to survive, our hunts would certainly be longer and further in duration. We would also have to ignore game laws since we would need to hunt year round.
To go back to the hunts this writer is suggesing, would mean getting rid of fences, game laws, etc.
Personally, I'll stick with the good old days we have right now.
Ultimately, the only person that needs to be satisified with how you hunt is you.
You make it what it is. Enjoy it.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Ghost</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> In this age of neurotic haste it means rest and renewed health to the man whose brain and energies are being constantly overtaxed. </div></div>

Everytime I go into the woods I come back feeling less stressed, refresed, and rested.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: buck160</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I would love to hunt back in the day, but times have changed. </div></div>
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Shovelbuck</div><div class="ubbcode-body">We also hunt for our own self satisfaction, not for our main substanence. If we were relying solely on our hunting abilities to survive, our hunts would certainly be longer and further in duration. We would also have to ignore game laws since we would need to hunt year round.
To go back to the hunts this writer is suggesing, would mean getting rid of fences, game laws, etc.
Ultimately, the only person that needs to be satisified with how you hunt is you.
You make it what it is. Enjoy it.

</div></div>

Nice post Jay! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif


I sometimes marvel at some of the animals that the old timers took and the equipment that they used to do it. But I don't believe that hunting means any less to me (and I hope the wouldn't look poorly on me) because I use technologies in my hunting than it did to them. We both love the experience.
 
I recently found an Indian artifact in my creek while turkey hunting with my bow. I put down my bow and reached into the cold water to retrieve the broken piece. While admiring his craftsmanship I couldn't help but ponder for a moment the ancient hunter who's hands had made the piece so many years ago. Daydreaming about what my timber looked like back then and if he may have used the lay of the land the same ways I do for sneaking up on and ambushing game. Did he camp on the limestone bluff and rise early to sit above the natural funnel to take a deer, or did he use the rock jetty in the river to funnel fish towards his spear? He hunted to survive, I hunt for other reasons. I must admit I am a little envious of the freedom he must have experienced, but can't help to think we have both shared the same "rush" that comes with being a "hunter". I'm glad I was born with that same desire, no matter what methods I choose in my pursuits.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Skully</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I recently found an Indian artifact in my creek while turkey hunting with my bow. I put down my bow and reached into the cold water to retrieve the broken piece. While admiring his craftsmanship I couldn't help but ponder for a moment the ancient hunter who's hands had made the piece so many years ago. Daydreaming about what my timber looked like back then and if he may have used the lay of the land the same ways I do for sneaking up on and ambushing game. Did he camp on the limestone bluff and rise early to sit above the natural funnel to take a deer, or did he use the rock jetty in the river to funnel fish towards his spear? He hunted to survive, I hunt for other reasons. I must admit I am a little envious of the freedom he must have experienced, but can't help to think we have both shared the same "rush" that comes with being a "hunter". I'm glad I was born with that same desire, no matter what methods I choose in my pursuits. </div></div>

Couldnt of said that any better myself.
 
I think today alot of things in todays world makes everthing easier and faster. there is no quick course ,nothing fast about becoming a good hunter. I have cut trees dried and shaped osage orange into a awsome weapon to harvest a deer.I have hunted with both compound and the stick and string. the very first deer I harvested with my own bow made by my hands was a experience that is hard to put into words.Doing this makes you no more a better hunter than somone that makes a good clean kill with a modern compound.I love being in control of the whole process. it has made me a better whitetail hunter. And evereything is so very simple.I think everyone has to decide what works best for them.easier and faster is not always better.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Skully</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I recently found an Indian artifact in my creek while turkey hunting with my bow. I put down my bow and reached into the cold water to retrieve the broken piece. While admiring his craftsmanship I couldn't help but ponder for a moment the ancient hunter who's hands had made the piece so many years ago. Daydreaming about what my timber looked like back then and if he may have used the lay of the land the same ways I do for sneaking up on and ambushing game. Did he camp on the limestone bluff and rise early to sit above the natural funnel to take a deer, or did he use the rock jetty in the river to funnel fish towards his spear? He hunted to survive, I hunt for other reasons. I must admit I am a little envious of the freedom he must have experienced, but can't help to think we have both shared the same "rush" that comes with being a "hunter". I'm glad I was born with that same desire, no matter what methods I choose in my pursuits. </div></div>

Dang it Troy...that was great stuff! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I recently found an Indian artifact in my creek while turkey hunting with my bow. I put down my bow and reached into the cold water to retrieve the broken piece. While admiring his craftsmanship I couldn't help but ponder for a moment the ancient hunter who's hands had made the piece so many years ago. Daydreaming about what my timber looked like back then and if he may have used the lay of the land the same ways I do for sneaking up on and ambushing game. Did he camp on the limestone bluff and rise early to sit above the natural funnel to take a deer, or did he use the rock jetty in the river to funnel fish towards his spear? He hunted to survive, I hunt for other reasons. I must admit I am a little envious of the freedom he must have experienced, but can't help to think we have both shared the same "rush" that comes with being a "hunter". I'm glad I was born with that same desire, no matter what methods I choose in my pursuits.

Dang it Troy...that was great stuff! </div></div>

I second that. Better than any passage I've read in a book in....well I can't remember when. Posts like that draw me to this site and people like yourself.
 
Skully and Shovelbuck great posts. Skully, I have often daydreamed in the stand about the same thing. How some of the ground I have walked may not have had a human foot on it for many many years if ever.
 
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