I was thinking about this thread while I was stillhunting in the swamp, Saturday afternoon. I saw about 20 squirrels, 1/2 a dozen raccoons, some ducks and a couple of does. I never even pulled my revolver from the holster. I guess I ain't much of a predator, huh? Hunting, for many, isn't about killing, it's about hunting. That's something non/anti hunters just don't understand. I will admit, if my freezer was empty, it probably would have had a different ending.
That's a lot like my deer hunting goes most of the time... go after deer and see everything else.
I sat up on the ridge close to my house and seen hawks, owls, foxes... could'a shot plenty of squirrels if I'd had my .22 with me, but a .30-30 would've torn up too much meat. And a lot of times I've seen bucks, they weren't the old big buck I was after so I let 'em walk. Meant to get out there on doe day, but had to be somewhere else that involved a mess of traffic.
Wound up doing with storebought beef because I didn't get deer steaks those years. But I also have enjoyed a lot of success in being there and seeing I could stay still and calm while the does walked by checking me out... most times I've had them walk almost right up to me and never blew up. I've also had bucks walk right by like they didn't even know I was there. This last time, Thanksgiving evening, I enjoyed a level of success I'd previously found rare. Hunting isn't all about killing for me either, but I'm hoping to get more meat by the end of this season.
Oh... thinking of store bought beef vs deer, I killed that buck and Daddy and I got it worked up... we got pretty steaks out of it. What does Mom do? She goes and stocks up on ground beef like she didn't see the deer in the freezer.:banghead: She knows I killed this buck fully intending to eat the meat. I don't know what she's thinking.
The deer tags in Georgia... we have slots for 10 does. In my county, we have three doe days. We also have slots for 2 antlered bucks. One can be any size, but the other has to have 4pts at least 1" on one side. We have 2.5 months worth of deer season here- October 21 this year IIRC, through January 1. It don't sound so bad until you consider they're saying one buck in the limit is covered by antler restrictions and they're doing that to promote big trophy bucks. The problem is their logic don't seem to work because folks can't take out two older spikes that don't have the genetics to pass on big antlers as evidenced by the small diamter of the pedicles (the bases the antlers grow from between the buck's ears). By taking out as many trophy bucks as lesser bucks, it seems to me we're leaving a lot more small-racked bucks out there goofin' up the gene pool. And in my area we have way too many of that kind. On the other hand, there are some idiots who will shoot a buck and see what it is (not having taken the time to see through their scope or binoculars) and leave it laying if the rack isn't big enough by law. This is another issue of ethical hunting... leaving the dead deer laying to just be wasted is another thing that has been known to give hunters a bad name. Now, as a hunter and as a citizen, I have no intention of violating game laws or engaging in unethical hunting practices, but I'm also a thinking person and I think we, in my state anyway, need to change the law so game management works better.