What a dimwit

[buck460XVR]

I don't lease anything, and rural Nebraska, and the whole middle of the country, for that matter, is one giant food plot/bait pile. I use the same rifle I shoot recreationally all year long, and we cut our own meat ...... The gas is a minor consideration because I don't road hunt...... I did splurge on a ground blind a few years back and lately we've gotten into making sausage , so there's been some expense on equipment for that, ..... but we generally bring back between a 150 and 300 pounds of cut and wrapped meat ...... while beef prices have fallen from what they were a couple of years ago, even if you figured just 3 bucks a pound for an average cost, and included a tank of gas and the $46 for a permit for me and one for each of my little kids ..... we are still way ahead eating deer instead of beef.

As I said....most of the time. You are an exception and fortunate to be so. I too butcher my own, debone everything and am a tad picky on what I eat. A good size buck will average maybe 50-60 pounds of meat. A good size doe 40-50. That means in a good year I will have around 100# of venison in my freezer. I bow hunt 20 or more days a year and gun hunt 7 or more. Unlike you I cannot hunt deer all year and only use one tank of gas, even tho I don't road hunt either. West Central Wisconsin is a great big food plot also, but I still put in food plots and put out mineral. I can guarantee you, I spend more than $300 total on deer hunting every year. Hell, I spend more than $300 a year hunting Pheasants, Grouse and Woodcock too. Then there's Turkey hunting.........not to mention Musky Fishing.

I don't think this is an exception....but the norm for most of us. Again, the meat while enjoyed and cherished, is just a bonus. For every hour I spend in the woods or in a tree, I could be makin' $40 an hour workin'. I could buy that $300 worth of meat working only one day in the warmth of my shop instead of sittin' in a tree in the rain/snow/cold, with the mosquitoes and deer ticks, hoping to see something. If I was hungry, you bet I'd be working and not huntin'. That's what I mean by most of us are recreational hunters and not subsistence hunters .......we don't have to hunt for meat, we just do.

 

[jimbob86]

Unlike you I cannot hunt deer all year

Firearm Deer season here is but 9 days long..... and I usually spend better than 1/3 of it cutting up deer...... should we for some reason be a little short by the end of season, there's Muzzleloader season in Dec and late Antlerless Only in Jan ..... have not had to fall back on that for several years ...... YMMV.

As for food plots .... there is a Co-Op grain facility less than a mile from my favorite spot....the 4 bins have a bit over 2 million bushel capacity .... and every year in memory, by opening day, more is piled on the ground than is in the bins ..... it is a mountain of #2 yellow corn, about 60 yards wide and a couple hundred yards long ..... tall enough that I can see the top from the creek bottom ..... two years ago, I killed a year and a 1/2 old buck that had "slipperfoot"- from when they eat so much corn and so little else in mid winter that it ferments in their gut .... but I digress .....

What I was getting at was that .....So much of the expense involved in hunting is really unnecessary ..... before I had take into consideration the requirements necessary to bring kids along .... my gun (hand me down) knife (same) and relics from my military service were about the only gear I took ..... I cultivated relationships with land owners and make sure I maintain those ..... some ground I have been hunting on since I was a little kid, and now am stopping by to ask the kids and grandkids of the folks I knew then ....

I don't have to hunt for meat.... like I don't have to keep hens in the back yard, or grow my own tomatoes and peppers back there ..... it's just better food, is all..... I could certainly survive on store bought 2 buck chuck and 49cent/dozen loss leader factory eggs and canned diced tomatoes and peppers ..... but why, when you can get better yourself for a little bit of nothin'? Costs are mainly abated by cultivating skills and relationships that allow you to do the things the people you describe as the vast majority of hunters .... pay for...... I pay for it, too- it costs time..... Like you, I could spend that time working (I'm self employed, and booked out until Jan 15th ATM, but I am taking 3 weeks off in November!) and could make many thousands of dollars in the time I spend hunting, or reloading ..... there is much more to life than money, and if I had to choose, I'd quit and be the subsistence hunter/gardener ..... but I like my work, so long as there's some balance ..... and the skills I've cultivated in my outdoor life are worth far more to me than all the money I've ever made working ......

 

[Husqvarna]

However, the result is the same as if he had used a rifle from a stand.

but you have very very much less margin

I think the game we hunt deserves some margin

 

[Art Eatman]

Wandering off-topic leads to closure of the thread.

 

[zukiphile]

I hunt predators to have more meat myself not because it is "fun"

But it is fun, isn't it? It may not be why you do it, but if you don't enjoy it at all, it sounds dreary. Hunting has an hedonic quality as well as its utility.

I used to shoot rabbits and groundhogs. Rabbits eat the things one plants before the plants ever get a chance to grow, so there is a benefit in killing them. Groundhogs make holes where you might not prefer to have holes, so there is a benefit to killing them as well.

However, eliminating them was bunches of fun.

 

[NateKirk]

Either way, it's kind of a stunt, just like bowhunting

How is bowhunting a "stunt?" As far as killing things goes modern bows are just as, and often more effective than a firearm.

 

[Grizz12]

I cant believe how many snowflakes are getting their panties in a bunch and melting down over this event...

Research the the guy, to call him an expert in the use of primitive weapons is probably a understatement, he has incredible skills!

 

[lefteye]

Scorch - What makes bow hunting a "stunt?"

 

[Scorch]

How is bowhunting a "stunt?"

Scorch - What makes bow hunting a "stunt?"

It's a stunt because you are demonstrating your field skills to get within the limited range of your weapon to kill an animal who typically has better awareness than you do. It is not terribly difficult, but requires a degree of prowess with a bow which most people do not have. Not a stunt in the "here, hold my beer while I show ya", but still a stunt IMO. And I bow hunted for years.

 

[Art Eatman]

Hey, give that guy credit for a powerful set of lungs! Looks like he's a prime candidate for the "Power Puff of the Year" award.

 

[EIB0879]

I bowhunt because some of the biggest deer in my area are taken on public land that is archery only. My home county is archery only for both public and private land.

 

[ThomasT]

Well I thought it was a cool video. I have never heard of this guy before now. I don't normally go looking for hunting videos. But I do think I will have to get one of the Cold Steel Big Bore blowguns. I built a blowgun many years ago and made my own darts from tempered wire and had a blast with it. I never killed anything with it but it wasn't from lack of trying.

 

[Art Eatman]

Ratshooter, look through the selection of upholstery needles. They work on pigeons and squirrels.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_...ords=upholstery+needle&ie=UTF8&qid=1505003918

 

[CalmerThanYou]

I wonder if this "hunter" would have done any of this without the camera rolling??

 

[ThomasT]

Ratshooter, look through the selection of upholstery needles. They work on pigeons and squirrels.

Yes but those cost money. I build R/C model planes and have a good selection of music wire that is heat treated and takes a point very well.

And where I now live I see no more squirrels. In my old house I could shoot a squirrel a day if I wanted. And I did too. Pecan stealing suckers.