Shooters that do not hunt?

[xsn10s]

Mine wasn't that bad of a shot.

I should clarify. I wasn't saying Hugnot's shot was bad. I was describing mine. Anyone can make a poor shot. I've done it in the past. Which is why I practice as much as I can. A "perfect" shot every time is close to impossible. I just try to pick my shots more carefully and increase my probabilities of a clean kill.

 

[memtb]

I'm surprised at the number of shooters I encounter that do not go hunting. They've either given it up for various reasons or never hunted to begin with, they enjoy shooting by its own merit.
I'll admit I'm not the diehard I used to be, age takes it's toll on the body. I still enjoy getting outdoors and Fall is my favorite time of year.

And then…..there are those of us that hunt that don't shoot! Extremely depressing if the "non shooting" occurs during hunting season! memtb

 

[memtb]

Hunting doesn't require shooting skills anymore, at least down here. Just pull out your checkbook, and you'll have whatever you pay for put in your crosshairs at 50 yards. Whitetails with zoo antlers, exotics, pigs, predators, varmints, you name it and all you have to do is pay. And with how many guys can pull out big checkbooks it's expensive to hunt anything worthwhile.

Yet…..those that kill animals under those circumstance, still refer to it as "hunting"! For many it's all about the "Trophy Room" you can show off! memtb

 

[xsn10s]

Hunting doesn't require shooting skills anymore, at least down here. Just pull out your checkbook, and you'll have whatever you pay for put in your crosshairs at 50 yards. Whitetails with zoo antlers, exotics, pigs, predators, varmints, you name it and all you have to do is pay. And with how many guys can pull out big checkbooks it's expensive to hunt anything worthwhile.

It's not only hunts but ammo components that are getting more expensive. And I see some organizations pushing for "ideas" that will raise the cost substantially. I see it as another form of banning. Make things so cost prohibitive that most will not be able to afford it. Someday only Kings and royalty will be able to afford hunting, shooting and even fishing. Unless people start seeing the writing on the walls.

 

[QuietTexan]

Yet…..those that kill animals under those circumstance, still refer to it as "hunting"! For many it's all about the "Trophy Room" you can show off! memtb

I'm not impressed by big racks unless they have a good story to go with them. "I wrote a $15,000 check, the guide drove me out to the blind, and I shot it" is not a good story

Now on the flip side, saying I shot an exotic out the back window of an old 4Runner going 30mph and chasing them across the ranch is good enough I can probably look the other way on what it cost. Surprisingly exotics can be more affordable to hunt down here, up until the big freeze a couple years ago Axis were like rats and some landowners wanted them gone for some reason. I've still never shot one, but I'd really like to.

Someday only Kings and royalty will be able to afford hunting, shooting and even fishing.

And it will be tragic the falsified "natural environment" the green weenies keep those poor animals in if that comes to be. There's no mismanagement as bad as what the greens think is smart.

 

[StanleyActual]

I love to do both. Dad got me into hunting as a kid and set me up in the back yard with a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. Wanna say hunting is what started my love of shooting and my time in the MC Sniper community is what really got me into LR shooting. Due to work / time schedule Im definetly heavier into shooting side of things. Still love to hunt but my work schedule doesn't allow me to hunt nearly as much as I'd like to. I could absolutely take a vacation for a couple weeks and go hunt public land but without putting in the time scouting pre-season if I did in fact get into something it'd be by pure luck. Still, walking around glassing in Gods County with or without getting any shots off is still time well Spent. My focus now is shooting with my 15 y/o daughter and trying to get her first animal. A guided hunt maybe the best way to accomplish that at this point.

I enjoy both but spend much more time on the range these days than I do out hunting.

 

[Rosebud]

Hunting doesn't require shooting skills anymore, at least down here. Just pull out your checkbook, and you'll have whatever you pay for put in your crosshairs at 50 yards. Whitetails with zoo antlers, exotics, pigs, predators, varmints, you name it and all you have to do is pay. And with how many guys can pull out big checkbooks it's expensive to hunt anything worthwhile.

Local guy I reload for called me one morning about10 AM and said I've just got a new Springfield Waypoint. Can you do a rush loading job for me, I'm hunting with it tomorrow. Keep in mind this guy owns enough rifles to stock a new gun store. But I like him and he's pays well. I run over to pick up the rifle, he's already mounted a scope. all the brass and bullets, ect. As I'm leaving to try and accomplish this in six hours, did I mention I'm to sight it in at a 100 yards. Anyway, he says, you want to see the deer I'm going to shoot? I'm thinking trail cam photo. Nope, he's high fencing about hundred miles away. It's huge non typical, over 330 inches. I'd show the picture but don't know how to block out his face!

 

[Rosebud]

Howdy, this topic has come up in a few forums lately. I posted that I was a hunter as a young kid with my grandfather, dad, uncle's and my brothers and hunted with a Bow, shotgun and rifles. The amount of game we brought home was staggering. My dad passed away about 5 years ago. Since then I have had no desire to hunt. But I shoot 3 to 5 days a week, and reload all my ammo. So now I consider myself as a target shooter. Joined a range the other day that has out to 1000yds. So I don't hunt anymore but I shoot more than I ever have. I read a article the other day I think it was in American Rifleman, that each of the last 3 years a average of 20 million new shooters, and a lot of them are women. It's no wonder we can't find ammo and reloading supplies.

And that scares the crap out of the dimms.

 

[memtb]

Quiet Texan, I've recently watched two (yes I'm a bit slow) elk hunting tv shows shot on a private Kolorado ranch, where there were very nice permanent stands (tiny home) built along natural traffic areas for elk. It definitely didn't equate into what my perception of elk hunting is!

The only thing lacking in the hunts shown….were the "custom" meals catered in for the hunters (?)! memtb

 

[Varmint Hunter]

The only thing lacking in the hunts shown….were the "custom" meals catered in for the hunters (?)! memtb

For some of the guys that I've hunted with over the years, the cuisine was literally the biggest part of the hunt. Others just needed to get away from the wife and kids for a while. They didn't even need a rifle!

 

[Rosebud]

Father was a hunter but died in mining accident when I was young. Never hunted with him. But had a fiber glass recurve bow in my hands sense I was ten years old. started hunting with scout leader who took all the boys who's parents would permit bow hunting for deer in the 60s. Alabama was blowing up with deer at that time. If I'd killed every deer I shot at I'd be as famous as Fred Bear. But the hunter gene was turned on. Its not as blood thirsty as it was fifty years ago , but it flares up on occasion. Only killed four deer this past season, killed 16 last year. Ask best friend one afternoon when we were hunting together, did you ever think thirty years ago you would let good bucks walk away like we've done this year?

 

[WYO300RUM]

My daughter has been a shooter her whole life, never showed any interest in hunting. Last year she went antelope hunting with me, must have liked it she is getting her hunter safety and wanting to apply with dad Sometimes it happens when it happens.

 

[epags]

Much cheaper and the opportunities are more plentiful to be just a shooter. The days of just walking out to the "back forty" and go hunting are a thing of the past. So sad and I am happy I had that gift in my lifetime.

Exactly! I hunted in the late 60s and early 70s to mid 70s when in Alaska and in rural Missouri, Just needed a rifle, hunting safety course and a residence. Cost of gas and your time and maybe a few dollars to a farmer.
Presently we see hunts that require multi year draws and/or $$$$ just to hunt a deer.
Coupled with the population growth and subsequent expansion of housing developments which eat up open land,
Very glad I was able to enjoy those times. Now I am just one of those old f...ts that sit around and talk about the good old days.

 

[Turkeytider]

I should clarify. I wasn't saying Hugnot's shot was bad. I was describing mine. Anyone can make a poor shot. I've done it in the past. Which is why I practice as much as I can. A "perfect" shot every time is close to impossible. I just try to pick my shots more carefully and increase my probabilities of a clean kill.

That`s why I`ve self-imposed a 40 yard range limit ( preferably closer if I can call him in further ) for shots on turkeys. I know if I crippled one it would ruin my season. I don`t want any game I shoot to know what hit them if at all possible. I feel I owe them that.