I have no idea. I have never hunted a release area.
I wouldn’t mind trying waterfowl hunting this winter. Think it would be fun...
Big game hunting has rapidly become a “pay to play” type of hunting. Land is getting locked up more and more every day. The orange army is also becoming a thing of the past...sharing hunts and getting people into hunting has become a cut throat business. Throw the dwindling deer herd into the mix and you have a disaster awaiting. The sky is falling with the future of big game hunting. It is no longer driven by the hunt or pursuit, it’s driven by money and antlers now.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I was out bird hunting. I saw three other bird hunters. The public lands were void of any small game hunters. That, friends, is why hunting as a whole is on the decline. The switch to deer hunting away from small game hunting is devastating. People lease ground to keep others away from "their deer". And those very same lease holders would not dream of taking off in search of small game for fear of pushing out "Droopy" or "Stickers". Chasing deer is fun, but in today's world it's a solitary thing, usually. It paves the way for the golden rule; only those with enough gold rule, or in this case, participate in hunting.
This subject was a hot topic at our family Thanksgiving today. I also listened to a Meat Eater podcast this week that talked about this very issue. I like Brock's synopsis about whitetails creating a whole lot of specialists and it ties right in to Giles' analysis that whitetails make for greedy hunters. There are a lot of moving pieces to this puzzle, but those two guys hit the nail on the head.
And BTW, the worst day of waterfowling beats the pants off 99% of the deer hunts I've ever been on.
So you go after the wild ones? That's pretty cool
Why do addicts remain addicts even when they know it's not a healthy habit?
Nothing I've ever done makes me feel the way I do the moment I lay hands on a big buck I've killed. Plus, I love deer meat and take the duty, and right, of food acquisition very seriously. It is very important to me to have a freezer full of venison at all times. That's the main motivation for being pissed off about the deer numbers is because it threatens that way of life. There's a deep seeded desire to chase that feeling of killing a big buck, combined with a love for venison that keeps me involved in the love/hate relationship.
Where there is habitat, there are birds. Unfortunately, modern farming practices create a monoculture that is not conducive to good bird habitat.
Oh, I agree. There's nothing like that feeling of being hunkered down in the grey of the morning with wings whistling overhead waiting for the clock to signify legal light. Then when they work perfectly and coast in to the hole, brakes on, wings cupped, ready to eat a load of steel to the beak. God damn that's a fine moment in time. But I have from December 16 through the end of January to get my fill of that. I'm willing to trade the first 3 week split to chase another addiction however cause I know how damned satisfying it is to drop the hammer of a big buck!
As for patience, it ain't patience so much as stubbornness! lmao