Will you honestly answer this question?

[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.