The blight of feeders

[Mesophilic]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not terribly critical of the weapon used to take game as long as it is a legal method.  I'm just harsh on the the whole idea of feeders and cameras.

At least with a food plot, they're subject to nature somewhat; germination,  bugs, time of season, other critters, water, etc.  There won't necessarily be food distributed every moning at a predetermined time.

How can one call it hunting when my "hunt" starts by me checking an app on my smartphone to see what buck has been showing up to my feeder and at what times?  Why not just set up a remote control weapon system and you could shoot your deer from the comfort of your office cubicle with a click on a smartphone app?

We all have things to do, work, family, etc...so game cams aren't even a sore spot for me by themselves.  Were we primative we'd be keeping track through more primative means.  But we're not, and many of us can't spend the hours in the bush needed to do this.  It's the combination of technologies that take the sport out of it, but whatever makes people happy I guess...

ETA: why not just pass a law to drug the animals?  They'll be waiting when the "hunter" arrives at his convenience and it will be the ultimate in humane harvesting as the animal won't feel pain or fear.

[bradsmith2010]

yes I think it would be hard to call that hunting,,
I call it hunting when I hike in the mountain,, and dont get anything,, I still feel like I am hunting,,

I love to be outside and hunting,,, even when I dont get anything,,

I hope to get lucky next year,, and draw a tag,,,

[Outbackbob48]

Make it easy and they will come. Bob

[TrevorM]

I guess the problem with feeders is that it makes a lot of people feel like they've got to use one as well.

[bradsmith2010]

Im so old and grumpy ,, its hard to make me feel like I need to do anything I dont want to do,,,

[Eric Krewson]

I live in a subdivision where everyone has about 5 acres, some lots are open land, on my street and the next one our land drops down into what I call the "grand canyon". Many of the neighbors have privacy fences around their yards and could care less about deer movement. The guys that hunt are all in nice hunting clubs but will shoot a deer out the back door if the freezer is getting low.

The grand canyon;



The deer movement down the hollow has remained unchanged for the ten years I lived here before I made the postage stamp sized food plot and after. It is a natural deer travel path between the 100s of acres of woods and fields 1/2 mile to my south and the 200 acres of fields and hardwoods woods that adjoin my land to the north. Then came the feeders.

My plot has no effect on the deer, my neighbor to the north has about 30 acres of fields alongside his driveway and down by his barn. I can see about 20 deer in his fields after dark any time I drive down his half mile long driveway.

I have a 3 acre vacant lot alongside my driveway with a virgin timber white oak fence line down the middle, the deer like this place much more than my place. I mow it like it is my own to keep it from becoming overgrown. It is covered with centipede grass that the deer love, they congregate there every evening and night. I can hunt it but it but haven't so far.

I put my camera on a tree facing the 3 acres to see what was showing up, they hit the oaks in the winter but don't feed in the field as much because the grass is like zoysa and turns brown in the winter. Here is a typical evening dinner party on the 3 acre vacant lot, the oak patch is in the background.



So far the only one to take a shot out of my ladder stand is a 77 year old great friend who has health issues that have slowed him down a bit. He has just recovered from a badly broken neck that he sustained when a woman ran a stop sign and T boned him, this caused him him a year of misery, he is being treated for prostate cancer as well. I asked him to come over and shoot a deer off my plot if he could, I would much rather him get a deer on my place than me. He missed one with his crossbow but I would invite him back in a heartbeat and have. It would have been a chip shot getting him a deer before the feeders turned on.

[Eric Krewson]

Another thing or two, I have a trail cam but only use it for monitoring deer around my house to see what is eating my flower beds and garden but don't use it where I hunt, I hunt mostly on my neighbors land. I do have it up on my food plot right now to see if any deer are on the plot in the early morning so my buddy can take crack at them, he is strictly a morning hunter, I only hunt evenings.

I have developed a thing I call archers neck from 65 years behind a bow, I am 72 now. I can shoot a light bow a few times but not enough to feel good about taking a shot at a deer, I didn't bow hunt this year for the first time in my hunting career.   

[bradsmith2010]

I had a friend ,,,his bow got too heavy..he had been a great shot,,,he said he could only pull it one time,..I put him in stand by the creek,,where I had seen deer sign,..that morning he shot a nice buck,,.that was a great morning,..just pulled the bow one time

[Eric Krewson]

I twisted my ankle a month ago, it is still a mess and yes I have been to a dr but can't walk on rough ground like in the woods yet so no hunting so far.

My neighbor told me not to kill any buck on his place I am not going to mount. I am not enamored with deer mounts, never was so it is does only on his place.

I won't put up a trail cam where I plan to hunt but did put one up at the end of his orchard. This is a stretch for my so called "ethics" because I do hunt a 100 yards down the ridge and off in a hollow below his orchard.

This is the top dog of the area, I had him on the orchard cam running off the lesser bucks and chasing does. He is after one in this picture but she is out of the frame.

[Eric Krewson]

On a positive note; I had two does on my little plot yesterday evening and a doe and a button head down there right now (2:30pm), they ate for a while and are bedded next to plot at the present.

Just looked again and there are 3 button heads and 4 does either feeding or passing through the plot.

[Chief RID]

Done it all in SC. Old now and have given up on fighting change. I don't have to change but everything in this old world will change. On that you can rely. Enjoy and adapt. Let the young ones fight their fight. I love most kinds of hunting and fishing and try as much of it as I can. Doing out to check a corn block on a trail I have a camera on. Probably won't hunt today but I will see deer on my cameras in my yard and out of town on a family plot. Fun stuff!!!
Hang in there 

[bradsmith2010]

thats a nice buck, thanks for sharing

[bjrogg]

I really try not to put down how anyone hunts. As long as it's legal it's ok with me. I know if we don't all stick together we'll all hang separately. We got more than enough people trying to take our hunting, trapping and fishing rights away from us.

Until this year it was legal to use 2 1/2 gallons of bait in my area. I personally don't like hunting over bait with my selfbow. Not because it's to easy. Because I like hunting the trails to and from the bait better.
Bjrogg

[Pappy]

Never really seen the need in Tennessee, it is illegal in TN. anyway but we have plenty for them to eat, you just have to find it and change as the food source changes. I love finding and hunting white oaks and persimmons early and red oaks and browse later in the year, rutting sign in between. I guess maybe if I hunted public areas it would matter more but am blessed to hunt my own place so I really don't care what anyone else does as long as it legal and they stay off my farm unless invited.
 Pappy

[Knoll]

Im so old and grumpy ,, its hard to make me feel like I need to do anything I dont want to do,,,

Yep.