Different Hunting Styles

[Mutt]

I wanted to start a thread to discuss the different hunting styles. The first rule of this thread is behave yourself. If you don't particularly like a certain hunting style then that's just fine. But, it doesn't give anyone the right to disrespect someone else.

What many or maybe some are failing to understand, is that different areas of the country have different needs and different terrain. There is also (like someone said in the other thread) the hunters needs/abilities that need to be taken into account.

I grew up in Illinois. 99 percent of Illinois is flat as can be. There aren't alot of trees and when the corn and beans are harvested, there isn't any cover to speak of. Most times, in Illinois we would have to either walk tree lines near the fields and try to catch a deer out in the field picking at the left overs from the harvest. Or, you would watch an area and spot where the deer come and go from the woods to the field/watering hole/whatever. You lay in wait and as the sun comes up or goes down, you get your one and only shot at the deer. Unfortunately, when hunting in farm country, the animal can see you coming a mile away because everything is so flat. I imagine it's about the same hunting in Texas and those other states with similar terrain.

Now I live in North West Washington State. This is the big woods. I had to laugh when I saw the post in the other thread that said "people come from the city to hunt in thier blinds" ...... I'm about as far from city life as a person can get. There are many ways to hunt here. But, stalking a deer in my local wilderness is very hard to do here. The terrain (at least where I am) is fairly severe. Steep hills, very thick forest and underbrush. It goes from ocean to mountain fairly quickly. The preferred method here is to walk along the edge of clear cuts or stalk the game trails. Set up early in the morning and try to get yourself in a good spot when they move at sun up or dusk. If you try to stalk your game in North West Washington, the underbrush and terrain alone make it near impossible. Plus, I haven't had a hunting season yet that it wasn't raining like hell, which makes moving in the woods even that much harder.
But, in Eastern Washington it's high desert and you can see much farther than you can shoot. It's a completely different kind of hunt there also.

I've spent time at a friends house in Montana. He tells of deer hunts where they split up into two groups. One groups sits atop a ridge as the other group beats the brush in the valley. The deer move up the valley and eventually come into the kill zone. The shooters can pick and choose the deer they want. The next day, the groups trade places and the others get thier tags full. From hearing them tell it, the deer in montana almost run in herds.

Lastly, there is the fact that I have no cartilage in either knee and have back problems. I can't simply go stomping through the woods and climbing hills and dropping down into gullies. I'm just not physically able. There are many more disabled hunters out there than you realize. I prefer to sit at high ground at my buddies house. He is surrounded by BLM land and has a pond on his property. The deer typically cut through his property coming and going from the pond. There are several well used game trails in the are. I like to set up on high ground and watch and wait where I can see a couple of game trails. I wouldn't mind sitting in a lawn chair a tent blind with my shooting sticks. It would be comfortable out of the rain and wind. I still have to remain quite, put in the effort to hunt to begin with, sit for long periods of time, shot placement, tracking after the shot (if need be), gutting skinning and all the other stuff that goes along with hunting. The cold and damp make my knees and back hurt even worse. But, I am not going to stop hunting just because I can't run through the woods. I just change the method I use to hunt to fit my abilities.

I'm not preaching here. I'm just explaining why I hunt the way I hunt.

So, tell us where you hunt and how. Why you have to hunt that way in your area of the country and what works well.

[GregP42]

I normally hunt from the ground anymore myself, after having a knee blow out several years ago and having it mostly repaired I don't climb trees. After the back and neck went south in the last couple of years I have had to switch from my long bow to a crossbow for archery hunting. Most of the time you will find me in cammo under a tree with my back to it and blending in as best I can, other times I hunt from a blind. Here in Kentucky there are big mostly flat fields, and then steep hills to hunt, flats with no cover finds me in the blind, hills finds me just under a tree. Even if I see nothing I enjoy my time out in the woods and fields just relaxing and enjoying nature.

Greg

[Alex4922]

1+ on the difficulty of active hunting with the onset of age. I'm 62 next month and unless I take my Ibu, Gluco, Tyle I'm like a a bag of sticks trying to walk the woods. Now that I have picked up Lyme this summer it may only get worse. (yes I'll take a little cheese with that whine, thank you).

Alex

[txgunner00]

I only "hunt" for meat for the freezer and antlers don't concern me much. Don't get me wrong, if I have a chance at a Muy Grande I'll take it but I don't seek them out. Many areas here are overpopulated with white tail so finding land owners that just want a few taken out is not too difficult to find. I tend to use the most efficient method to harvest them mainly because there isn't much challenge in shooting them anyway. Predators are a different story. I hone my "stealth skills" with coyotes, bobcats & foxes.

[Mutt]

I recently reading stories written about blackfeet indians from around the 1880's ....... it talks of three indian boys sitting in the bushes with thier bows and waiting for a deer to walk along a game trail next to a river. They waited till the deer was right in front of them and then shot thier arrows. They then tracked the animal for several hours before the finally finished it off.

I think if it was OK for the Native Americans can hunt from a blind (so to speak), then I have no trouble admiting that I like to sit in a blind and drink coffee. To me that's a good day of hunting. I even use my cell phone to help range shots.

I'm thinking about trying my luck with Coyotes this year with some guys over in Eastern Washington.

[DangerClose]

Close proximity hog hunting has been the choice of "hunt" for me. One of the best ways to induce quick body stress.

I also enjoy a good couple days of dove hunting. It doesnt take much skill to shoot them, but I enjoy it none the less and the eating is pretty damn good too.

I hit both sides of the spectrum I guess

[r3dn3ck]

everybody walks when they're young. Everyone wants to sit the heck down when they're old. In between you just can't make up your mind. I'm too old and broken to be humping 10 miles in and dragging out 200lbs of unhelpful dead weight. I hunt meat only. The best thing I ever learned was that doe tastes way better than some scraggy old buck.

[StoneTower]

Different hunting situations require different hunting techniques. I get a kick out of hearing some guys say that they get a deer every year of shoot their seven ducks every time they go out. Some of these guys are truly skilled but most have a place to hunt with a plethora of game. A private ranch that has many deer running around is much less of a hunting challenge than say a public hunting area that has a 5% success rate for the whole season per hunter. I know duck hunters who hunt private clubs that have thousands of decoys and no shell limit in the field. Shooting a limit of green heads is much less of a challenge than hunting a public refuge that has a 25 shell limit on an extremely windy day. I have taken some of these private club hunters out with me to some public areas and one of them was lucky to get 1 duck before he ran out of shells and had to walk a mile back to the truck for more shells.

If you are a farmer and can hunt your own land, you can have a rifle at the ready the whole season which greatly increases your chance of encountering a good deer to shoot. If you go out 2 or 3 time in a season you need to make those hours count.

If you have the money, you can pay to go to a place that will almost guarantee that you will have the opportunity (or many opportunities) to take a shot on that some public land hunters would consider a buck of a lifetime. We all have different ideas of what hunting is and what is required to give us a feeling of a successful hunt. For me being in the outdoors is enough but for others, they require a limit or a big set of horns on their wall. I use whatever legal method gives me the greatest chance of having a good hunt.

[sneaky one]

I used to hunt the roads in north mn. with my old man- he was the reb. james dean type, also lazy- a bit- also smart- a bit. He enjoyed good success for a few decades,, until myself and lil bro got cranked up into high gear, and started building , and hunting from tree stands. this went on for 15 yrs. Lil bro moved, so I focus my hunt energy on - me, my bud, his lil girl & boyfriend, maybe once in a while - my son, and nephew. Our hunt style now consistes of stalk- ambush syle of hunting. * tree stands, that I built, and a few ground blinds= the newest deal for us all. I can be very Sneaky in the thick woods of N. mn. I can not compare it to a true Nam. jungle, as I was too young then to go overseas,,, but the spot I hunt in , and near -I nicknamed it--HELL. We can have struggles & fun, shoot a few deer, improvise on an occasional r. trip for 10-min. only- Dammit!!! Also- Shoot a few porcipines-etc.-varmints. , to keep things fun. We cook and eat well. We get really cold sometimes, we are a team, we split everything,, as long as we all TRY, as individuals- yet all in it as one.

[hm2 clark]

I am lucky enough to have a variety of different hunting options -for Flordia. Gotta agree with Mr DangerClose about the thrill of close range hog hunting. I enjoy the spot and stalk method. No dogs; just me, my rifle and where a rancher tells me there is plenty of sign. Unpressured hogs are easy to stalk. I dont think they see or hear to well. It's easy to get right up on them .Worming your way through buggy chest high weeds to get within the 20 feet or so you usually need to get a head shot. And I'm here to tell you that the grendel using the Hornady factory load will @3-4 feet knock down and kill a charging 305 lb hog. Yah my feet are bad enough so that I limp in, and yah I wheeze and slip and fall a few times whill draging them out. But when I get home I gotta do laundry, gotta cut the grass,gotta help the kid with her math homework and then gotta take my wife shopping. A least when I'm in a swanp where a hog is trying toy cut me, I feel the blood singing in my veins like when I was young

[SBBW]

I started out hunting from the ground, with a shotgun, with whatever brush I could find for cover. Learning the value of being quiet and still. Later on, in college I built my first stand and started field hunting with a rifle, what I would have given for a Grendel back then. Now, I have the privilege of hunting on a active farm with about 1400 acres and about 10 members. about 800 acres are in production of crops, mostly perennial peanut hay, a great high protein nutrition source until it frosts in November/December. By then the food plots are the hot spots. We have a plethora of deer, so many the farmer has told us if we don't control the population, he would hire someone and get a crop depredation permit. We have done our best to keep it under control, sometimes some of us limit out, 12, and sometimes most of us don't. We share the meat with family and friends. We have condo stands with high back office chairs in most fields, and the food plots have regular buddy stands so the kids have a great place to hunt too. With my old job, I could get off several days a week in the afternoon to hunt. Now I am lucky for one day a month and then on Saturday's. No hunting on Sunday per the land owner, so it keeps a great day for church and family. I still hunt from the ground, a few times a year and yes, up close and personal is a thrill. Great topic BTW.

[Sniper20]

I am one that likes the element of surprise. I passed sniper training for my unit in the army (just to have the training, but they never gave my my cert because we got mobalized for aid in hurricane relief), but I just had the stalk left to do... Well I do that on my own, and to me, there is no thrill like taking aim and downing an animal that had absolutely no clue that you were there. I love to sit in the Praries of NE (home state and visit to hunt and mess around with the family...) and watch the prey walk right into my crosshairs. I also love the fact that I can hone my skills so there are rabbits that get within 10-20 feet of me and sometimes, never realize that I'm there. It just gives you that sense of invincibility. There is nothing better than that... I sit out all day long sometimes, just waiting for P-dogs to deer (depending on what I'm hunting/shooting). Yes, I'm only 23 at the time, but I think even when I get older, this will still be one of my favorite past times...

[lweb43]

I like hunting hogs. Out here in west Texas we are just about over run with hogs. A couple of ranchers I know haven't had much of a lamb crop in the last three years. I've gotten one hog so far with my SKS this year. I would like to perch myself up on top of one of the hills close to a water hole. We've had less than 10 inches of rain since 1 Jan. You know the all that rain that caused the flood in Noah's time? West Texas only got an inch and a half of that. Anyway I just purchased a 6.5 grendel AR15 from J&T Distributing and I figure on perching myself atop one of them hills next to a water hole. There are about 10,000 acres on that ranch with about 8 tanks with troughs and only one is good enough for a hog to crawel into and have a good waller. I wanted a gun that could reach out and touch someone (Hog). I figured if I could get within 500 yards I could drop at least two or three before they headed for the hills. Oh did I mention I'm going to use a noise suppressor? If they don't know whats hitting them they should be confused as to what's going on with the others around them. Some we'll keep and some we'll let lay. Buzzards got to eat too. The big ones will stink. If they stink then they will smell that way when you cook it and probably taste like it too. The big ones that stink I'll take a knife to it and slice the skin up a bit so the buzzards won't die of starvation waiting for the skin to break down. Their hide is a bit tough. If any of you have any other ideas on huinting hogs let me know. Later.

[StoneTower]

I like hunting hogs. Out here in west Texas we are just about over run with hogs. A couple of ranchers I know haven't had much of a lamb crop in the last three years. I've gotten one hog so far with my SKS this year. I would like to perch myself up on top of one of the hills close to a water hole. We've had less than 10 inches of rain since 1 Jan. You know the all that rain that caused the flood in Noah's time? West Texas only got an inch and a half of that. Anyway I just purchased a 6.5 grendel AR15 from J&T Distributing and I figure on perching myself atop one of them hills next to a water hole. There are about 10,000 acres on that ranch with about 8 tanks with troughs and only one is good enough for a hog to crawel into and have a good waller. I wanted a gun that could reach out and touch someone (Hog). I figured if I could get within 500 yards I could drop at least two or three before they headed for the hills. Oh did I mention I'm going to use a noise suppressor? If they don't know whats hitting them they should be confused as to what's going on with the others around them. Some we'll keep and some we'll let lay. Buzzards got to eat too. The big] ones will stink. If they stink then they will smell that way when you cook it and probably taste like it too. The big ones that stink I'll take a knife to it and slice the skin up a bit so the buzzards won't die of starvation waiting for the skin to break down. Their hide is a bit tough. If any of you have any other ideas on huinting hogs let me know. Later.

For a supressor to work properly, you need to use a sub-sonic load or you will still get a sonic crack. If the bullet is subsonic, a 500 yard shot is a very long snot. You better have your exact shooting position figured out and your scope setup before you actually need to take the shot.

At 500 yards (which is still a long shot for many people) you should be able to get a few before they figure out what is going on even without a supressor.

[Sniper20]

I like hunting hogs. Out here in west Texas we are just about over run with hogs. A couple of ranchers I know haven't had much of a lamb crop in the last three years. I've gotten one hog so far with my SKS this year. I would like to perch myself up on top of one of the hills close to a water hole. We've had less than 10 inches of rain since 1 Jan. You know the all that rain that caused the flood in Noah's time? West Texas only got an inch and a half of that. Anyway I just purchased a 6.5 grendel AR15 from J&T Distributing and I figure on perching myself atop one of them hills next to a water hole. There are about 10,000 acres on that ranch with about 8 tanks with troughs and only one is good enough for a hog to crawel into and have a good waller. I wanted a gun that could reach out and touch someone (Hog). I figured if I could get within 500 yards I could drop at least two or three before they headed for the hills. Oh did I mention I'm going to use a noise suppressor? If they don't know whats hitting them they should be confused as to what's going on with the others around them. Some we'll keep and some we'll let lay. Buzzards got to eat too. The big ones will stink. If they stink then they will smell that way when you cook it and probably taste like it too. The big ones that stink I'll take a knife to it and slice the skin up a bit so the buzzards won't die of starvation waiting for the skin to break down. Their hide is a bit tough. If any of you have any other ideas on huinting hogs let me know. Later.

A 105mm Howitzer works pretty good...

[hm2 clark]

My thoughts on on what makes a hog stink and taste bad are these. It's not the hogs size or age that causes the the problem but rather circulating stress hormones and perhaps gender. If I shoot a hog and it"bang-flops", there is little bad smell or taste. If I shoot a boar hog and it runs even 50 yards its probably not worth eating. Bar hogs and sowes taste better then boars. So all the more reason to pick your shots an shoot accurtately.

[lweb43]

I was hunting with my brother (from Missouri) over around Lomeda, TX (lots of hogs) and this 500 pound hog comes waltzing down to the tank we're sitting on and hops into the water. I'm sitting there waiting for more hogs to show up when bang, my brother shoots the hog in the water. I say how in the world are we going to get this hog out of the water? We walk over to the other side of the tank and stand there looking at this hog in the water. I'm standing there looking at this hog and my brother strips down to nothing (birthday suit) and hops into the water. I'm so thankful no one else shows up about this time because I just don't think this looks quite right. So he grabs this hog by the back legs and drags it thru the water to the edge so we can drag it out of the water. I'm no spring chicken anymore so by the time we get this big old hog out of the water it feels like my heart is scared of something and trying to escape out of my body and make a break for it. Anyway to make a long story short that hog even after being suprised by getting shot without knowing it and rinsing it off in the water still smelled bad.

[jwilson1985]

i liked to stalk and find choke points and just watch them...they only stands i care for are the big tripod platforms but dnt do eather since my back injury should have surgey done with in 4-6 weeks so i can finaly get back at it well when i heal anyway.i kill them to eat so im not out looking for that huge buck any how...not that i would pass it up lol

[DangerClose]

I like hunting hogs. Out here in west Texas we are just about over run with hogs. A couple of ranchers I know haven't had much of a lamb crop in the last three years. I've gotten one hog so far with my SKS this year. I would like to perch myself up on top of one of the hills close to a water hole. We've had less than 10 inches of rain since 1 Jan. You know the all that rain that caused the flood in Noah's time? West Texas only got an inch and a half of that. Anyway I just purchased a 6.5 grendel AR15 from J&T Distributing and I figure on perching myself atop one of them hills next to a water hole. There are about 10,000 acres on that ranch with about 8 tanks with troughs and only one is good enough for a hog to crawel into and have a good waller. I wanted a gun that could reach out and touch someone (Hog). I figured if I could get within 500 yards I could drop at least two or three before they headed for the hills. Oh did I mention I'm going to use a noise suppressor? If they don't know whats hitting them they should be confused as to what's going on with the others around them. Some we'll keep and some we'll let lay. Buzzards got to eat too. The big ones will stink. If they stink then they will smell that way when you cook it and probably taste like it too. The big ones that stink I'll take a knife to it and slice the skin up a bit so the buzzards won't die of starvation waiting for the skin to break down. Their hide is a bit tough. If any of you have any other ideas on huinting hogs let me know. Later.

Hunting with a suppressor in Texas is on the black side of things....unless it changed from last year.

You say you are in west texas. Mind me asking what city? I live their as well. I have already met a forum member who lives in my current town. Its awesome to see neighbors so close

[bwaites]

Hunting with a suppressor in Texas is on the black side of things....unless it changed from last year.

You say you are in west texas. Mind me asking what city? I live their as well. I have already met a forum member who lives in my current town. Its awesome to see neighbors so close

I'm not a Texan, but after reading lots of hog hunting posts here and other sites, I was under the impression that suppressors were allowed for hog hunting, because they have been declared a nuisance animal, not a game animal.

Is that not the case?