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How is it that deer hunting is so popular?

posted 8 days ago by MaximRecoil (4598)
25 replies | jump to latest

First you need a suitable gun and ammunition. That's easy enough in here in the US, but it's far from free or cheap, especially if you want a decent scope too.

Then you need to sight it in, especially if you are using a scope. Where are you going to do that? Probably not in your backyard unless you live in a very rural area and have a stretch of flat land that's at least 100 yards long. You'll need hearing protection, a table and chair, a paper target, something to hold the target, and some way of measuring out 100 yards. Then hope you at least "get on the paper" quickly else you'll use up that, say, $50-box-of-20 cartridges before your rifle is sighted in.

If you don't have your own place to shoot and don't have any friends or family that does either, then you'll have to find a rifle range and pay a range fee. The nearest one to me is about a 30-minute drive each way.

Now that your gun is all sighted in, you'll need a hunting license. That's $26 here in Maine, and only allows you to shoot a buck. You can try for a "doe permit," which allows you to shoot any deer, and if you get one (it's a lottery system), that's another $12. You'll also need 2 articles of "hunter orange" clothing here in Maine, such as a hat and jacket or vest.

Now you're ready to go, but where are you going to hunt? If you have hundreds of acres of your own woodland, then great, but you probably don't. So what are you supposed to do? Drive out into the country and go door-to-door asking total strangers if you can hunt on their land?

You've found a place to hunt and you shoot a 300-pound buck. Now you have to gut it and drag it out of the woods. Does that sound like fun? I hope you're rugged and have a pickup truck.

Next stop is a game tagging station, and unless you're a butcher, you'll need to pay someone probably a couple hundred dollars to butcher it for you. And I hope you have a big standalone chest freezer that's empty; you're going to need it.

Despite all this, millions of Americans hunt deer every year.

[–] Zarkoff (1853) 8 days ago

I grew up up in a hunting family and did it for a few years. Shooting the rifle is the most enjoyable part for me. I stopped doing it because I didn't like sitting out in the cold all day. I never did have to gut a deer, fortunately.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

Country boy can survive :)

[–] MaximRecoil (4598) 8 days ago

In a survival scenario (SHTF type thing), way too many people will all have the same idea, and the deer and other edible critters won't last long unless you happen to be in, or are able to get to, a very remote location where few, if any, other people decide to go to as well.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

SHTF - is something completely different and animal consumption is only one part of that puzzle.

[–] Zarkoff (1853) 8 days ago

Someone with experience hunting and living off the land is going to have a huge advantage over the rest of the population.

[–] SamHyde (136) 7 days ago

Food only takes weeks to grow, and because of the multiplicity of the seeds 20 seeds x20x20x20, in just a few months there'd be surplus of food again

Meanwhile the deer would be getting exterminated for no reason

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77378) 8 days ago

Hell yeah Hank Jr😄

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

👍

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77378) 8 days ago

Im playing his stuff right now out in the garage because of your post…sadly all my rowdy friends have settled down.
👍

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

They are probably more into laid back songs

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77378) 8 days ago

I have loved some ladies and I have loved Jim Beam and they both tried to kill me in 1973😬

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

That’s one of the best lines of that song.

I think my favorite album of his is Habits Old and New. Do you know that one?

I saw him earlier this year in Shreveport Louisiana and I hate to say it, but he did not put on a good show. I still love the guy, though. :)

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77378) 8 days ago

Yes, I remember much of it.

Well I hope we’re all running on 7/8
cylinders at age 75😬

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

Exactly!!

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

A few other things:

-trail cams
-Scouting
-food plots
-maintaining entry accesses and trails or roads
-4 wheelers or boat maintenance

Too much to list and duck hunting is even more involved at times. Almost everyone I know cleans their own game.

Long story, short - people who hunt and fish love that kind of life and probably grew up doing it.

[–] jacotodd47 (1836) 8 days ago

No idea.

One could never do it, not in a million years.

In fact, one of my best friends started shooting deer for sport. Then proudly took pictures of the carcasses.

It was awful hard for me to relate to him after that.

[–] parkerbot (8995) 7 days ago

Did they save the meat?

[–] jacotodd47 (1836) 7 days ago

I don't know what he does with it.

I never mentioned it in our subsequent discussions.

[–] parkerbot (8995) 7 days ago

Well killing for sport is lame - I agree with that.

[–] BuckleBilly (1114) 8 days ago

1. It's a right of passage. It allows new hunters to see where food comes from, how to process it, and how our ancestors had to provide for their families. Farming does this too. Rather than just buying it, you earn it with patience and skill.

2. It's a way to get away from the noise of the modern world.

3. There's a sense of accomplishment in getting a deer.

4. Processing a deer is a a good time. My family and friends get together after a hunt and we butcher the deer. It's a good social time.

I don't hunt. I process and butcher the deer after. My brothers and wife like doing it. We stick up on the meat. It's pretty cool.

I don't hunt because I can't shut the fuck up.

[–] WandererFromYs (2308) 8 days ago

And I hope you have a big standalone chest freezer that's empty; you're going to need it.

I think that is what you are missing by looking at it from a practical standpoint. Shoot 1 deer, and you have more than enough meat for the year. Even if you just know someone that shot a deer, they are usually looking to give some of it away.

Hunting is a life style though. People who hunt are usually into guns, or shooting as a hobby, so most of what you mentioned the gun, the ear protection, the blaze orange even a range membership aren’t really the cost of entry, it’s stuff that they already have.

Not everyone has their own hunting land, but there are game reserves where you can go hunting

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21457) 8 days ago

“Not everyone has their own hunting land, but there are game reserves where you can go hunting”

I’ve hunted many different WMAs (wildlife management areas) over the years, and I’m lucky to have one bordering the property where I work. So there ARE lots of them out there.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77378) 8 days ago

I wrecked a perfectly nice Chevy on Oct. 28th by crashing into a deer.
About 30,000 deer collisions happen every year in New York. Most are total wrecks but a few are human fatalities.

We hunt for for meat and to cull the herd.

A .35 lever action rifle or a Mossberg Model 500 12 guage solves some real trouble for people around here.

I only use a scope for my .22 semi-auto rifle, and that is just my fun gun. I prefer iron sights for hunting. The North Eastern woodlands do not involve very far shots, NO scope needed here.

The gutting is not difficult. It IS pretty gross but it’s all over in a few minutes, then you hang the corpse over a rock wall or handy fallen tree to drain all the blood out.

Then walk away and enjoy the scenery for 15 minutes for all of the ticks to jump away from the dead body, check your clothes and head!
Those goddam tick ticks can make you really sick, one of those bastards got mre good and Was laid up for a week!

DO NO get LYME'S disease! Those ticks can ruin your week, I know all about it!

A good butcher is less than a hundred bucks but they will charge a hell of a lot more for a finished pelt or mounted head.

Happy Hunting boys:)

[–] parkerbot (8995) 7 days ago

It's not as hard as you make it out.

My friend just got one and (a) he used a gun that already had the scope sighted and (b) went with some friends on a piece of land with the landowner's permission. Clean up isn't easy but if you want easy, go to Costco.

For what it's worth, I think elk tastes better.