Has technology taken the hunter out of the hunt?

[WisBorn]

I have been watching some of the YouTube videos from Shot Show 2025 (it has been cold). Lots of cool stuff coming and upgrades to old stuff.

It got me thinking about how technology has changed the sport. I bought my first range finder about 25 years ago. Now they have range finders built into scopes. I use my range finder bow hunting and turkey hunting more than with a rifle. It just saves me from pacing off landmarks. I just range the same trees and know my yardage.

This is just one example.
Please share your thoughts about how technology has changed our sport. Good or bad!

 

[snowman357]

only tech I use is game cameras, they work more as motivation and don't really help much beyond that. I don't use callers or scents anymore, just don't need them. I do use a red light walking to and from stands sometimes. I prefer to keep it simple, just me and the deer.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I do feral hog control at night. I use enough technology that I actually have a power management routine to make sure everything is powered, ready to go, and have spare batteries and such.

With that said, I am sure some wizened early human lamented technology taking the hunter out of the hunt with the first projectiles...."nobody runs down game anymore."

By the time the rifle came around....people can shoot animals from hundreds of yards away.

My point? You can pick your level of technology and claim the hunter is taken out of the hunt. We all use technology that is another step that takes the hunter out of the hunt, so to speak (unless you are out there butt naked and running down game and killing it bare handed).

 

[epags]

Drones. Possibly use to track a 'shot' deer but how about using one for stalking?
Then use cell phones to walk a shooter into position. Let's not talk about a weaponized drone. LOL

Same can/is being done with game cameras and cell phones.

 

[BreechFace]

I do know I hear less stores about arbitrarily holding in the air above an animal at distance to account for the "kentucky elevation and windage." I would presume this is due to a better understanding of ballistics with use of chronographs, range finders and good adjustable turrets/reticle designs.

But there also was a rash of new hunters who thought they could buy skills and performance at long distances, and learned the hard way.

 

[jmr40]

You can make a good argument that they took hunting out when smokeless powder was invented. Most game animals aren't really spooked if they're more than 50 yards away. When hunters had to take game at ranges well inside of 50 yards it was a lot tougher. At this point I consider archery hunters to be the truest hunters. It takes more hunting skill to get that close and make a kill.

I don't have an issue with most modern tech. My clothes and boots are lighter, warmer, drier, and much more comfortable than my grandfather's thanks to technology. Hunters were blasting away at game animals 400-500 yards away in the 1890's. Optics and range finders just improve the odds of a clean kill.

The biggest change in my life, and the one that most takes the hunt out of hunting, is the use of feeders and planting of food plots. It's almost like hunters are raising semi-domestic deer that they feed year-round. And with special nutrients to increase antler size.

Don't get me wrong. Where legal I have no issue with it. I even hunt some in such places, but I don't enjoy it as much as hunting truly wild game on large tracts of public land.

 

[Rockrivr1]

Drones. Possibly use to track a 'shot' deer but how about using one for stalking?
Then use cell phones to walk a shooter into position. Let's not talk about a weaponized drone. LOL

Same can/is being done with game cameras and cell phones.

This! Was up hunting in NH last year when I noticed a drone flying west of me. Nothing but woods over there so pretty sure they were trying to deer spot to make getting a kill easier.

Also, as some of you know, I’m going on an Elk hunt in the fall. Some of the outfits we are looking at show elk kills on their video loops. Only way that happens is by drone. Probably used the drone to find the elk in the first place.

To me that just seems like cheating.

 

[.38 Special]

Sure. Technology continues to make hunting easier. That's been true since we started throwing rocks. I personally have no interest in things like laser rangefinders - and do, in my heart of hearts, look down at folks who take a space shuttles' worth of gadgets into the field - but honestly figure that if that's the way a fellow wants to do it, then more power to him

 

[BreechFace]

Idaho forbids drone use for hunting. I totally agree, but with one carve out for use in eliminating wolves; then I'm all for it.

Idaho Law, Title 36 1101 (b) 3 and 5 you cannot use Drones to hunt with in Idaho. We would be interested in those individuals who are post or talking about use drones for hunting on their Facebook pages. Please contact us with the infomation or you can go online or call CAP (Citizens Against Poaching) 1-800-632-5999. Idaho Code states: Title 36 1101 (b) 3. Communicate from Aircraft. Make use of aircraft in any manner to spot or locate game animals, game birds or fur-bearing animals of this state from the air and communicate the location or approximate location thereof by any signals whatsoever, whether radio, visual or otherwise, to any person then on the ground. Title 36 1101 (b) 5. Hunt with Aid of Aircraft. Make use of any aircraft to locate any big game animal for the purpose of hunting those animals during the same calendar day those animals were located from the air. Provided however, that nothing in this chapter shall limit or prohibit the lawful control of wolves or predatory or unprotected wildlife through the use of aircraft when such measures are deemed necessary by federal or state agencies in accordance with existing laws or management plans.

 

[Patocazador]

I use a range-finder when bowhunting but not when rifle or muzzleloading. I use game cameras but only check them 2 or 3 times a year. I also plant some small (1/6 acre) food plots but the deer seldom use them in the daytime. Mostly, I just hunt the way I started out in the '60s.

I have no problem with hi-tech boots or clothing but detest drones, shooting at ranges beyond 300 yards except in wide-open country, and using technology in place of developing hunting skills.

 

[Fyrstyk]

I have shunned most of the tech improvements? I hunt with a flintlock with iron sights. It puts the hunt back in hunting.

 

[Jimfern]

My BIL went from getting the lightest rifle he could that shot hundreds of yards out to bow hunting in Colorado. He says he enjoys hunting more now with the bow.

 

[Berserker]

I have been watching some of the YouTube videos from Shot Show 2025 (it has been cold). Lots of cool stuff coming and upgrades to old stuff.

It got me thinking about how technology has changed the sport. I bought my first range finder about 25 years ago. Now they have range finders built into scopes. I use my range finder bow hunting and turkey hunting more than with a rifle. It just saves me from pacing off landmarks. I just range the same trees and know my yardage.

This is just one example.
Please share your thoughts about how technology has changed our sport. Good or bad!

This is the best you got got a concern about technology taking over? Increasing your chance to not wound or hit an animal?

 

[Laphroaig]

A big tech device I use very often is the weather channel. I'm always checking the wind direction to decide where I should hunt and how to go about it. There is a wooded valley behind my house but a south wind will just blow your scent into the valley and alert every deer that is there. A day when they forecast a north wind usually is a good day to hunt. Otherwise I have a patch of woods up the road a little piece that I can hunt on those days. You don't get north winds as often as south, so planning for those days is very helpful.

Depending on your age, you might not remember life before the weather channel. It was either the 6 o'clock news or tossing some grass in the air the day of.

 

[Show Me]

only tech I use is game cameras, they work more as motivation and don't really help much beyond that. I don't use callers or scents anymore, just don't need them. I do use a red light walking to and from stands sometimes. I prefer to keep it simple, just me and the deer.

Those cell cameras are great to show at work but the big ones never show at season

 

[Show Me]

I have been watching some of the YouTube videos from Shot Show 2025 (it has been cold). Lots of cool stuff coming and upgrades to old stuff.

It got me thinking about how technology has changed the sport. I bought my first range finder about 25 years ago. Now they have range finders built into scopes. I use my range finder bow hunting and turkey hunting more than with a rifle. It just saves me from pacing off landmarks. I just range the same trees and know my yardage.

This is just one example.
Please share your thoughts about how technology has changed our sport. Good or bad!

Good topic worth expanding on

 

[WisBorn]

This is the best you got got a concern about technology taking over? Increasing your chance to not wound or hit an animal?

I'm not concerned about improving your chances and reducing the chance of wounding animals.
The tech is changing the sport.

 

[Berserker]

I'm not concerned about improving your chances and reducing the chance of wounding animals.
The tech is changing the sport.

Off all tech concerns, range finders is not one I would have brought up, or even thought about.

You may not be concerned about wounding animals, but I am.

 

[Bazoo]

I hunt old school, from the ground.

As a result, I am not always successful. One of the things I've noticed is, modern hunters only consider the harvesting of game as success. The attitude is if I wanted to be successful I should: Use a scoped gun for those twilight shots, hunt from a blind or tree stand instead of the ground, use scent masking or eliminating soaps and sprays, and the ultimate... hunt over a feeder or corn pile.

While putting out a corn pile is not new technology, it sure is a new trend. Heck... while I'm at the store buying corn... I could just buy supper.

My choice to hunt old school is because I want to learn to hunt.

 

[Show Me]

The Indians used anything they could for an advantage.
What ever floats your boat.
A scope helps make a good shot. Plus you can identify antler restriction . A stand is old as time it's self. Hunting into or sideways to the wind is natural.
Maybe take it a step further and ditch the rifle.
Some states you don't have a chance without a feeder.
Hunting land whether your property or public isn't endless wandering for the most part. Authentic hunting as the hungry Indians or the sloppy mountain men dosent exist for the majority of hunters.
Comradery, family and private time has taken over for hungry times.
It's a sport now. Would you go back to leather football helmets.
Jobs ,time and money determines many hunting decisions.
You want to really learn to hunt , go hungry first. Then go back in time.

 

[WisBorn]

Off all tech concerns, range finders is not one I would have brought up, or even thought about.

You may not be concerned about wounding animals, but I am.

Sorry I didn't proofread my response. I am concerned about wounded animals.
That is a big concern. One that I do worry about is people pushing yardage past their ability.

 

[MacAR]

I feel like I'm an old school hunter. I have no game cameras or such like, wear old clothes, and use guns that are older than I am. I load my own ammo, and take great pride in using my own ammo in my old rifles to take game. There is one concession I make to modernity, and that is a range finder. I won't leave home without it, especially if I'm using my Sharps; knowing exactly how to set my sights just means I do a good job of killing what I'm shooting at. No guessing needed.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm against others hunting their own way. I don't much agree with the guys that are shooting animals at extreme ranges but that's on them and not for me to judge. I guess it's whatever makes you happy, and doing it the old way makes me happy.

Mac

 

[bearcreek]

This! Was up hunting in NH last year when I noticed a drone flying west of me. Nothing but woods over there so pretty sure they were trying to deer spot to make getting a kill easier.

Also, as some of you know, I’m going on an Elk hunt in the fall. Some of the outfits we are looking at show elk kills on their video loops. Only way that happens is by drone. Probably used the drone to find the elk in the first place.

To me that just seems like cheating.

Most western states (actually I'm pretty sure all western states that have elk) don't allow the use of drones for hunting purposes, so I'd be very careful about using an outfitter that was showing that kind of footage.

 

[nettlle]

No.

 

[Berserker]

You can make a good argument that they took hunting out when smokeless powder was invented. Md.

I find it a interesting what people consider the change Were early rifles with smokeless powder shooting that great of range? They were lobbing 45-70s huge distance to kill buffalo

While putting out a corn pile is not new technology, it sure is a new trend.

As opposed to apple tree, acorns, or anything else they eat. Finding a food source to hunt by, is just good hunting

The Indians used anything they could for an advantage.

People romantize the indians. Anyone who wanted to eat was sling whatever with little regard to ethics or clean kills. One shot one kill is somewhat of recent luxory.

I also laugh at the people who don't think people eat deer.

I am not a techie. I wear wool. But I don't care what you wear.