After reading through all of the above post I am not sure where I fit in. I, like several here live in Texas. I was brought into hunting as it was something my family has done for years before I was even a thought. In the early days of my father's life, it was for food plain and simple, as he was from a large family of ten. They lost their father at an early age at the end of the depression and either had to hunt or not eat. Luckily they lived in a rural area and had property in which to do this on, as well as friendly neighbors who allowed them premision.
I shot my first deer at age six from a box stand over looking a feeder. To me at that time this was hunting. As I grew older I gained more and more skills and hunted many different terrains and places. I found that sitting in a box was still fun but also I had a need to get out and do my own thing. I learned to track through necessity in finding several deer which had been lost by myself and other hunters through the years. They didn't always leave a blood trial. I learned through watching and listeneing to my father and uncles who learned from experience in their youth. I learned many things from them to which I am eternally grateful, as they were great teachers and examples.
In my years of experiences I have been one, who felt bad if I didn't get a chance at a deer, one who felt that if I had 7 tages I needed to fill them all, one who had to have the biggest buck or settle for nothing, one who has hunted over food plot and feeders without fireing a shot or filling all my tags over the same, one who has learned my rifles and the ballistics of each to enable me to make a one shot kill out to ranges some if not most folks call ridiculious or unethical, one who can slip undetected more times than not sometimes to within yards of deer or feral hogs in the woods just to do so and has the patients to do so, one who has brought my daughter into hunting at an age when folks said she was way to young to do so, (but I would put her up against most men I know and she would probably shame them,) to now being one who is teaching my grandson at age 6 to shoot and track as I learned, and that patients and waiting for the best shot or letting them walk is the best option.
I hunt now to enjoy the wildlfe we have in our areas. If I choose to shoot it may be for a number of reasons, but they are mine, and they are legal. I do not get overly concerned by what others figure I should be doing, as I know at the end of the day what I did was well within the realm of my own consious. I have sat for hours just watching an open hayfield hopeing for just a glimpse of an ear along the edge of the woods on the far side. I have also sat for hours watching dozens upon dozens of deer work their way in and out of food plots I planted for them just to help them through the year. I bring my grandson out with me to box blinds, and two man tree stands with covers around them in order that he can see game and to help conceal some of his youthfull fidgiting. He has taken a couple of feral hogs and a coyote so far and missed his first deer due to being excited at the chance, all from some type of stand or hide. Do I feel this is wrong bringing him into hunting this way, nope not at all. At his young age he can already shoot less than 2" groups at 100yds, can distinguish several types of tracks and follow trails and pick out scrapes and rubs. He also has the mindfulness to sit out in the wide open pasture and have deer come within 50yds or less without spooking them with movement. He cannot however hold the rifle on his own just yet. When the time comes however, he will already have a skill base to draw from.
I continually read the bickering between folks who hunt here or there, this way or that way, and believe that only shots within a certian yardage should be taken or no good can ever come from it. THey might hunt wide open terrain with rolling hills or woods which only allow limited visability, or flat farmland which one can see for upwards to a mile or more. I have and still hunt on property which can have some of it or all, and know that I might leave the house planning to shoot 400 plus yards only to make a shot at 10 yards using a 300 RUM or plan to only shoot 50 yards and make a shot past 400 yards using my .243 Win. In each case I will have done my part to ensure things end quickly and decisevly no matter what someone who is not there at the time the trigger breaks thinks they could have, should have, or would have done. I know from experience that the caliber of a firearm or the draw weight of a bow is not the determining factor in being sucessful, as they are just tools. IT is the inherent skill of the person using the tool to get the job done. For some the term "skill" is a meaningless term. For others it describes a choice to learn and develope their abilities to accomplish a goal. The goal might be the same in the end but the tactics are always open for debate. One thing I don't do is try to push my ideals on others. I might suggest a way in doing something if asked, or if I see a need as when someone who is new to shooting is working on sighting in a new rifle or handgun. I do not however tell them that this is the only or best way that it can be done or that their way is wrong simply because it is not the way I would do it. This is of course keeping within the lines of safety. I use my learned experience to draw up the best conclusion for the problem I see they are having and offer the guidance that I deem the most appropriate.
Most of the native folks in Texas grew up hunting on privite property or leased property in one manner or another. There are also a lot of us, who like myself have hunted many types of property including high fence operations free range farms and public access, and been highly successful through the years. The high fenced operations might seem like canned hunts to some, but I have hunted several of these types ranches and found that the huting can be just as difficult, if not more so in some areas than hunting out in national forrest areas or other pulic access lands. Granted my chance at a 170 class whitetail or a bull elk here anywhere within a 10 hour drive might not be good on public land but it's not impossible, but then again on some of the ranches depending on the operation it is still not a guarantee either.
Here we have a huge population of feral hogs. Some states actually consider them game animals. To most here, this would be like calling a prarie dog, ground hog, or other similar critter a game animal, and posing a season and limit on them. To some this would sound propustious to others not, simply because of cultural differences. Here we sometimes shoot feral hogs in like manners to what some shoot the above mentioned critters. Not always from a hunting state of mind, but sometimes from a nuesence control point. Most who would disagree with this practice have never had 50 or more acres of prime coastal hay field or several hundered acres of corn ruined in less than a week by them and simply do not understand how someone would simply shoot them and leave them lay. However they would head right out to spray insecticide on their crops to keep the bugs from eating them. By the same token I don't see whats so facinating about blowing small rats to pieces, at least I, if I choose to, eat the hogs or give them to someone. We use dogs, bait, spotlights and numerious other tactics, hunt them year round day and night and are not even making a dent in the population. It is still hunting in that they just don't wander out in the wide open 98% of the time, but when they do we take full advantage of it using whatever we have on hand or tactic we can at the time.
Hunting is in my opinion a heritage brought through the ages by our great grandparents, grandparents, fathers, mothers, uncles, auntes, cousins, family friends, or whom ever sparked your interest in it. Whether you do it for food or simply to get out in the out of doors. At some point in time everyone on this board, or just about any other internet stop, has been or was exposed to some definition of "hunting", and depending on what was typical, or the norm for that area at that point in time. It formed the nucleus of your ideals today, just as it has for everyone else. This nucleus then grows with your experience or experiences through the years to form your own ideals and opinions of what you consider "hunting". The problem arises when folks from one opinion or mind set begin to think or preach that they are right and others are wrong simply due to the circumstances or habits in which they choose to or learned to, in the end do the same thing.
As has been mentioned, times are getting tough for not only hunters, but also anyone who enjoys many of the gun related sports. This is a time we need to set aside differences, and band together for the common good and goal of us all. Sorry if my definitions didn't fit or were not segregated but I hope that the meaning is seen.
