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Hunting as a sport declining


MoCarp

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I think you guys nailed it. Limited access that was available before that isn't now. My uncle lived in Walnut Shade over by Branson and was a huge coon hunter. He would cover miles in one evening and have to cross multiple land owners land and never had a problem. Bet that isn't even possible now.

"you can always beat the keeper, but you can never beat the post"

There are only three things in life that are certain : death, taxes, and the wind blowing at Capps Creek!

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No buck is ever big enough nowadays.  If it isn't 180 inches people act like you should let them walk.   I'll whack a 6 point and put him in the freezer if feels right.  

I prefer small game these days,  I just got a bird dog, so will keep me busy in the fall.  Another annoying thing is a lot of bow hunters get mad if you small game hunt on public land during bow season.  Well bow season is the entire fall so not much choice to avoid that.

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35 minutes ago, unreal45 said:

No buck is ever big enough nowadays.  If it isn't 180 inches people act like you should let them walk.   I'll whack a 6 point and put him in the freezer if feels right.  

I prefer small game these days,  I just got a bird dog, so will keep me busy in the fall.  Another annoying thing is a lot of bow hunters get mad if you small game hunt on public land during bow season.  Well bow season is the entire fall so not much choice to avoid that.

There's nothing wrong with trophy hunting if that's your thing nor is there anything wrong with filing the freezer. Hunt the way you like. I've passed bucks that didn't meet my standards, but was thrilled when another member of the family killed that same deer and it put a big smile on their face. It doesn't matter what it is, but there are always people who feel they have to belittle and talk down on others who don't see things their way. It happens on here and on literally every hunting or fishing forum or group that I've been a member of.

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With the threat of CWD, my doctor buddy does not recommend eating deer.

But the hunting needs to continue to lesson the threat of overpopulation.  Deer have really exceeded the carrying capacity of most of the lands in MO.  And population density is spreading the disease.  We have manipulated the nature of things too much.  Again....

 

"Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously."

Hunter S. Thompson

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Electrification brought with it Disney and anthropomorphism, TV has made most people animal worshipers that believe Bambi and Rocky and Bullwinkle to be human or human like in ability to think, have emotions and feel pain. These people deny the connection between roast and cows or  between fried chicken and live birds. They reinforce this denial by not butchering and thereby  witnessing the transition, even buying at a supermarket whole chickens sell to fewer people than fully cut up skinless boneless chicken because the resemblance of the whole chicken to a bird is far greater than that of the fillets. Whole fish vs fillet is about the same. I think that a reason for eating out often and for buying fully prepared meats, as well as veganism is to distance oneself from the conversion of live animals to food. Almost everyone I have met who grew up with television has this anthropomorphic tendency to some extent, most often not even realizing why they treat dogs as people or don't go hunting.

To some extent the lack of access also lies with television, America is no longer made up of communities of people that know each other  and through familiarity have a degree of trust; TV has broken the communities by keeping people at  home where they never become acquainted with the people next door or in the next block- this unfamiliarity breeds distrust and this distrust is increased/reinforced by the TV constantly showing news programs that focus on the evil acts of other people and movies that stress various forms of robbery and violence. The outcome of this is Fear. Landowners become fearful that "trespassers" may rob them or cause them harm and the average person looking for a place to hunt is fearful of knocking on doors to ask permission. Fear is so prevalent that people meeting in public places like the trout parks or WalMarts don't usually even make eye contact and very rarely exchange friendly greetings. One fear landowners have is that people they don't even know can get hurt on the land and sue the landowner, a thing that was unheard of when I was growing up in the '50s.

The other side of lack of access is the success of corporate farming and the subsequent loss of small farms. Large corporations that own much of the land don't have doors to knock on and in many or most cases don't have anyone with authority to grant permission to hunt.  

We won't go back so wildlife managers will have to learn new ways to control the numbers while keeping the control methods somewhat hidden from the Disney watching public. Professional hunters and trappers are employed by farmers and governments in most of the lower 48 now and will bear more of the control work load in the future. Loss of hunting as a sport won't have much other effect on the general public. Sport hunting by the masses has only existed in the USA since the end of WW2 and has never existed in most other countries.

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11 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

With the threat of CWD, my doctor buddy does not recommend eating deer.

But the hunting needs to continue to lesson the threat of overpopulation.  Deer have really exceeded the carrying capacity of most of the lands in MO.  And population density is spreading the disease.  We have manipulated the nature of things too much.  Again....

 

In the immortal words of Dr. Iam Malcolm, "life..uhh..finds a way." 

We think we can control..but we can't. 

“To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.”--Aldo Leopold

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  • 6 months later...

Ok anymore how many kids what to get up early and go to work? And how has the Government made it to where these young kids can’t work if they wanted to.

I started working regular on a Farm at 13. I enjoyed working making my .75 an hour. Before that I was given a 20Ga. and told go get them. Nobody went with me  😮

Remember when if a person shot one Deer they was considered a Deer Hunter. Remember seeing Bass Heads tacked on a Board.

I had to laugh had bunch of High School kids working for me. Handle 50 pound bags all day because that was the job. Every once in awhile had to run 60 pound bags. You never heard so much crying and wanting more breaks. They just couldn’t believe I use to handle 100 pound bags all day.

They think Food is the Obese problem, try computers and TV . Lots of parents count on these to keep their kids occupied.

oneshot

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Hell I don't WANT to get up and go to work.  My kids are workers, early late whatever.  Always told them be the one that is always there and a little bit early, be willing to do Crappy jobs as well as the fun ones and believe me they will remember.  Now if I could just get my son to understand the difference between a job and a career.  But he is young, food, shelter, and cute girls are his world.

If I could only hunt one critter the rest of my life it would be squirrels, partly because there is no "trophy" unless we sink to measuring the size of a red squirrels testicles, it was about the first game I ever hunted and still brings back memories of hunting with dad.  There are plenty of them they are tasty and if you decide to stop in a comfy place and take a nap, no harm no foul. 

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Game Leases and Big Ag have ruined hunting access for most. Public land is full of goobers, and gets shot out quickly. Private land is still full of Goobers,  but it gets less pressure. Plus hunters & fishermen suck at recruiting...The focus is on 8 year olds...That's nice, but recruit folks in the 16-50yr old range...They can drive and go on their own.

 

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If you don't start them young, by the time they hit driving age they will have other things to do.  

The world itself is full of goobers, anymore part of growing up is how to deal with goobers.  Should be a class for it.

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