Will you honestly answer this question?

[becker]

The last deer you shot, be it this year or any year.


Your last deer... would you say you got it deer hunting, or deer shooting?

Here is what I mean.

I've been deer hunting since I was 11.. ( now 36 )

I've taken a deer just about every year since my 1st.

I use to modern hunt the wheat county. ( blm or state land or private restricted to walk in only )
But the land bordering was also private. He would let in a bunch of guys every year. Same guys.
These guys did not hunt. They drove the CRP grasses in their 4x4s or 4wheelers.

I've hunting the mountains like a mad man.. Hauling deer out miles...
Every year I'd round a corner and see a proud "hunter" gutting out a deer next the the road.
I'd stop, take a look and BS.
Then listen the the story...

Yeah I came around the corner in my truck and there it was.
Man I'd been driving all day, and this is the 1st deer I saw.

Last year I was out bird hunting.
Came up on a rig. They were gutting a deer.
Looking in the back of the truck.. Bed of truck was covered in blood.
They clearly shot it elsewhere, more than likely somewhere they were not to be. Loaded it quickly and got to an area to gut it.


So...
Who will admit to being a deer shooter?

 

[BENCHLEG]

im sure we all have been deer shooters at one time or another. but my last deer was deer hunting. there i answered your question

[Huntbear]

I consider myself a deer hunter, and my last few deer have been while deer hunting.  That said, I will not turn down a buck that is standing next to the logging road in a clearcut.  So  I guess at times I am a deer shooter as well, as long as it was legal.

[shoot-em-dead]

I love to hunt but if I am on the way in the truck- so be it. I can't remember the last one I got from a road But I know it wasn't any of the last 7

[PolarBear]

Have never been a shooter always a hunter.  The day that I lose the love of the chase and hunt is the day I quit.  As I have said so many times on here, if I want to go out and shoot an animal I will kill one of my steers.  I see no difference in that and those who drive the roads hoping something will jump out and stand there long enough for them to put down their beer and squeeze off a round out the window.  Thats harvesting, not hunting.

[rasbo]

Im a deer hunter and have killed them both ways mostly hunting.If Im going to where I bike or hike in and a deer offers it self to me its freezer first....

[Ray]

Shot em high, shot em low, shot em dead, shot and missed, shot em next to the road.  Dragged em feet, carried them miles, in the mountains and out of ditches and holes. Always legal. The most important things to me are legality, ethics, clean kills. Too many people worry about what the other guy is doing. As long as it is safe, legal and sensible then most of the time I would not argue or even have anything bad to say about it. I don't think I am better because I shoot a deer or other critter miles in the backcountry as opposed to someone next to the road. I do it both ways. Meat on the table. Of course the experience of taking one in the backcountry is better every time but it's not a bragging point for me.

[markts]

Shot em high, shot em low, shot em dead, shot and missed, shot em next to the road.  Dragged em feet, carried them miles, in the mountains and out of ditches and holes. Always legal. The most important things to me are legality, ethics, clean kills. Too many people worry about what the other guy is doing. As long as it is safe, legal and sensible then most of the time I would not argue or even have anything bad to say about it. I don't think I am better because I shoot a deer or other critter miles in the backcountry as opposed to someone next to the road. I do it both ways. Meat on the table. Of course the experience of taking one in the backcountry is better every time but it's not a bragging point for me.

Ray you put it well, couldnt have said it better myself. Mark

[carpsniperg2]

right on ray way to spell it out

[shoot-em-dead]

perfect Ray

[huntnphool]

Well put Ray

[nwhunter]

This year I had my ten year old son hunting with me so I wanted to take him out and do some real hunting not just drive around and glass clearcuts since we are in blacktail country. We drove up to the higher country where I figured there wouldn't be any people and so we hiked around in the driving rain opening day for a while and got soaked and saw no deer. Driving out we see a bunch of does and he spots a spike above the road that is bedded. He gets out loads his lever action 30-30 and hits it perfect and it rolls down to the road, steep hillside. So my take is sometimes regardless of how we plan or intend to hunt the hunting gods throw us a curveball 90% of the time and I will guarantee you there wasn't a happier  kid in the state at that time. However getting a lucky one on a logging road is not in the same category as running deer down on the stubble, in my book that ain't hunting. nwhunter

[wilsongideon]

i always have been a hunter not a shooter... spent the first five seasons dumping wheat powder out of my hikers and watching deer run around 2000 orange vest every day tongues out. I did take my first doe and three other bucks out there. . . as soon as i could drive myself i started hunting everywhere but wheat country and i dont regret a minute of it. i cannot stand hunting where i can see so many people at least in the timber or hills you cant see them all the time.   i dont make a practice of road hunting but sometimes a area doesnt pan out early on in the day and i drive looking for somewhere else or take a look and see where other guys are camping.  never shot a deer on land that wasnt public or feel free to hunt and plan on keeping it that way. love hking way in the mountains and having miles of country to yourself.

[cle elum bowhunter]

Hunter always, my "easiest" recovery in the last 10 years was still a very steep uphill pull to the nearest road.  100 yards and a lot of brush cutting and I had him back on the road about 2 hours after the kill shot.  After a 45 minutes stalk, I got in on a bedded buck at 15 yards, waited almost 30 minutes for him to stand.  Running out of daylight and he hadn't stood so I calculated the angle of his body, the slope and my entry point shooting him from uphill.  Arrow disappeared and then he bolted downhill through the blood red huckleberries and out of sight.  Talk about a tough tracking job, everything was wet from a melting dusting of snow so could not differentiate blood from water.  Found his track later where he crossed the road (thank god) and eventually hung my tag on him.  Will admit, retrieved my motorbike from down the road where I had left it earlier in the day, and threw him over the back and took him out whole.  That was my easiest hunt.  

[alecvg]

I consider myself a deer hunter.  That said, I will not turn down a buck that is standing next to the logging road in a clearcut.  So  I guess at times I am a deer shooter as well, as long as it was legal.

 

[high country]

 I hunt the high country because that is what I love. I have had some easy shots up there, but all have been earned with boot leather. I also participate in the states depredation hunts.....those are straight up shooting to me. I try hard to make it fun by taking friends, but in the ed it pales in comparison to a good ol' weekend under a tarp in a montain snow storm eating oatmeal and instant coffee by headlight with your teeth chattering because you did not want to hump that extra layer of longjons up the hill.

[cle elum bowhunter]

High Country, you sure we haven't hunted together.  I've taken more than one friend deer hunting to have them later say, "Never again". 
Guess there is always that ridge or basin just a little further that needs to be examined closer.

[high country]

High Country, you sure we haven't hunted together.  I've taken more than one friend deer hunting to have them later say, "Never again". 
Guess there is always that ridge or basin just a little further that needs to be examined closer.

that is funny yo say that....my pard spends 6 nights a week in the gym and always gets mad at me because I feel we need to be on top or the other side of everything. poor guy has to haul 30 lbs of food for a 3 day trip.

[elksnout]

My son and I hunt our rears off. All kinds of weather and terrain. Fall on yor butt, snow down your neck, bee stings yada, yada.... That is fun stuff man. And we do it nice and legal like. But if the mountain throws you a bone once and awhile, enjoy........

[Black Plague]

well said elksnout.    I hunt for mine...however, if I have a doe tag its usually half a mile to a mile walk ....see the deer...take your pick (a big fat one usually) shoot, gut drag...so for does its usually not quite as difficult and really its about the meat, and getting a good close shot....I dont really get the excitement of a 400 yard shot on a doe...nothing more fun than being sneaky  ......   Bucks on the other hand I always hunt harder for, simply because it necessitates it and sometimes I'm picky...but come the 14 of november...

[ipkus]

All I will say is 'hunters' are rarely in or on a vehicle during daylight hours...

[GoldTip]

I kill'em where I find'em.  Long as it's legal.  Whether it be 4 yards, four hundred yards, four miles or fourteen miles from the truck.  I've killed'em in all those spots.  Don't care if it's a trophy buck or a doe, a 330 bull or a cow.  If it's the one I'm after, it dies where I find it, and I've been wherever I need to go to find it.  Hunt smart, hunt hard, but the two don't always go together.

[KimberRich]

I kill'em where I find'em.  Long as it's legal.  Whether it be 4 yards, four hundred yards, four miles or fourteen miles from the truck.  I've killed'em in all those spots.  Don't care if it's a trophy buck or a doe, a 330 bull or a cow.  If it's the one I'm after, it dies where I find it, and I've been wherever I need to go to find it.  Hunt smart, hunt hard, but the two don't always go together.

Perfectly said.  Hunt smart..  Which doesn't always mean hard.  My hunting partner and I killed 2 nice WT bucks last weekend and they were 250 yards from our camper. We scouted and set trail cameras the last couple months and know the area and had a plan..  Luck??  Well I think there is always a little luck involved BUT being in the right areas and being a good woodsman are the most important things.  I consider myself a hunter and honestly can't remember a time when I felt like a "shooter".  I've worked, in one way or another, for every deer I've killed.

[chrisb]

I have yet to harvest a deer ... so I am neither

[Pathfinder101]

Well, I just did a tally.  Based on the standard presented in the opening of the thread, I have "Hunted" 10 deer and "Shot" 2.  My first buck I lucked into as we were driving down the mountain after a midday hunt/hike.  He was bedded right off the side of the road.  All I saw were antlers sticking up out of the brush (about a 130 class whitetail).  I got out and was shaking so bad I coudn't get a shell in my 30-30.  He ran off before I could shoot, but we trailed him a few hundred yards and caught him in a clearcut.  No skill involved, total luck, so I'll call him "Shot".
Last season CoryTDF was cutting firewood in a place we hunt often for elk.  He called me and asked if I had filled my tag yet.  I hadn't and he said that there were two mulie bucks out in a clearcut that we know well.  I got off work, drove out to the clearcut, parked and walked into the draw he described.  Sure enough, there they were, right where he said they would be.  I shot the larger of the two.  I'll call that one "shot" also.
All the rest were "hunted".  My buck this year was an hour and 15 minutes hike from the nearest road.  My 10 year old has shot 2 deer.  Both "hunted".
I am not above shooting a deer that presents itself near a road.
That being said; When my son and I hiked an hour into a large Feel Free to Hunt area on opening day and found 2 fat guys parked in a truck in the middle of it, I had to restrain myself from making a scene...

[Angus]

My last deer was in Alaska and I hiked about a mile across a musket clearing to a ground blind I built and shot a nice Sitka blacktail. If you've ever hunted in muskeg you know that you've earned any and every animal you've ever harvested. If you don't have knee high rubber boots you might as well go home.
That being said, I'll also admit that 2 of my other 6-7 deer I stepped out of a rig and shot and 1 of those was with a bow. In both cases I hunted hard all morning in heavy rain, both times I was soaked and driving back to camp and the opportunity presented itself, no regrets and I would do it again. The other deer were taken after putting down considerable amounts of boot leather.

[littlebuf]

well we shot a deer last year and it was after a long hard day of "deer hunting" busting brush, hiking our butts off and just flat out working hard. well we saw no deer. but on our way out there was a nice three pointer off the side of the road, my buddy took it. so what were we doing "deer hunting" or "deer shooting" we wouldn't have been there were it not for the hard work all day. don't judge so quickly how others hunt, to each there own as long as its legal. we all have the right to enjoy the outdoors how we see fit.  

[CP]

My last deer I hunted hard for.  I’ll spare you the story other than it took 3 days and did in a good pair of boots.  But I have nothing against a good deer shoot.  I used to hunt Texas high box blinds.  Sometimes it was climb in at pre-dawn, wait for legal shooting light, pick which buck looks best, shoot him, drive the truck up and load him.  I wouldn’t want to hunt that way all the time but there is nothing wrong with it. 

[coriantonk]

I have yet to harvest a deer ... so I am neither

 

Maybe in the late season.   

[colockumelk]

In 2005 I was driving back to camp and saw a group of does just off the side of the road.  I got out of my truck, put a cap on my ML stepped off the road and made a 30 yd shot. 

I will never do that again.  I felt guilty like it wasn't fair to the deer.  I had no adrenaline rush and there wasn't any excitment.  All the other deer I have shot on foot in the mountains or sage brush. 

[boneaddict]

I backpacked in 14 miles, spotted and managed a stalk on him and killed him with my longbow.  YeP was hunting and not shooting. LOL  Gotta admit being able to back up to him wiht the truck would have been more convienent.

[NWBREW]

I have yet to harvest a deer ... so I am neither

 

Maybe in the late season.   

Hang in there guys. I don't even hunt deer till the late season, haven't but maybe once or twice for 13 years. Best time to go is the late season. And to answer the question, when I was younger I shot a couple. For the last 14+ years they have all been hunted. The last 3 have been out of a tree stand.  

[boneaddict]

Now....tot he time I shot one......went hunting with Idabooner.  We decided to abandone the orange patch, stopped got a cup of coffee at the house and headed up the road.  There was a nice buck standing there.  Got out, climbed off the roadbank and killed him.  Probably the only set of bones I don't have anymore.  Let thte dog chew on them.   They meant less to me than ebay bones.  That hunt is now a story though, always a joke.

[huntnphool]

 Actually I think this question is better answered by those you hunt with rather than by how you view yourself. I would venture to guess that some of your hunting partners may have a difference of opinion.

[Ray]

The real question here is: Why do you hunt and what do you expect to get out of it?

If it's purely for meat then shooting something next to the road is always going to be an acceptable means of obtaining that goal. Other people might seek satisfaction from accomplishment in a variety of ways...

[boneaddict]

your first post and goldtips both sum it up very well.

[runamuk]

To be honest I have been hunting my ass off I wouldn't mind actually shooting something at this point 

when I finally kill something I will let you know...

[shoot-em-dead]

To be honest I have been hunting my ass off I wouldn't mind actually shooting something at this point 

when I finally kill something I will let you know...

Yep your YAR- 5 oclock and sitting at the comp thinking about hunting during season

[runamuk]

To be honest I have been hunting my ass off I wouldn't mind actually shooting something at this point 

when I finally kill something I will let you know...

Yep your YAR- 5 oclock and sitting at the comp thinking about hunting during season

leaving again at o dark thirty tomorrow morning.....to try again.....

spent today doing about 5 hours of math..and some other homework  ....managed a quick trip to the gym as well....cooking dinner and doing laundry right now

[runniNgunnin]

being pretty new to this hunting game... right away i switched to archery and i loved it(THE HUNT) and ive been successful one out of 3 years of hunting...but it seems so damn competitive both for animals, and hunting grounds now... i think i might just start putting in for tags, both here and other states then only actually hunt if i get drawn for something.....     i love hunting, i just dont have enough free time to actually get to do it and waste my time with combat hunting areas....

[bow-n-head]

I hiked my ass off last year, 9 days to get my deer, 2 miles from any road. My favorite type of hunting.

[BENCHLEG]

i wouldlike to see a post  like this. HOW MANY RECORD BOOK ANIMALS HAVE BEEN TAKEN, ON A ROAD OR TAKEN ILLEGALLY, THAT ARE ENTERED IN THE BOOKS.  you will never get anyone to admit to that.  just somethlng to think about.