Exotics

[marmot]

Would a farmers crop be included as a food plot.

No, that food was planted to feed humans or livestock. This scenario falls under "crop damage."

About hunting the watering hole, to a true wild animal, the watering hole is their most dangerous location to be. Most of their preditors lie in wait there for the chance to get their meal. So then we as humans would only be joining the natural food chain if we hunted the watering holw would we not. I do not hunt over a watering hole, but I do hunt a trail that leads to the water, would that count as hunting over the hole.

Watch a few the shows that appear on the "Outdoor Channel," and you will see what I mean. These people are not hunting over ponds and streams. They are hunting over manmade watering troughs. In essence, they are using water as bait. This type of hunting is not the same as scouting a natural wildlife area for food and water sources along with bedding areas, and setting up one’s stand or blind accordingly.

[Tom]

marmot I se you missed my point in the reply above. A farmers field planted with crops or planted with grain, peas or some other crops strickly to enable the animals more food and an easier time through the winter is really no difference at all. Tiny food plots will not do much to bring in animals, you need to a larger plot to attack the deer. Where do you draw the line as to what is acceptable and what is not.

As for the water hole and hunting over them. It has always been a hunting tactic for as long as people have hunted. Weither it is a man made trough, ditch, hole or pond, man has always used water to their advantage to hunt. If you make a pond in your back forty, put fish in it for fishing, does that mean you can't hunt deer there because it is a man made pond. Again where do you draw the line as to what is acceptabel and to what is not.

Deer as well as other animals do not care if it is man made or not, only if it is what they want. They look at the man made water or feeding areas the same as they would natural feed or water areas. The same danger to them at al locations. It still takes skil to get close enough to the animal to kill.

Another thing about this is, shall we allow hunting in blinds for deer, or in treestands, or from those heated shelters that is now becomming more common. Remember that not everyone has the same ability to get into the woods as you might. There might be a mobility problem, a heart condition, the need for a heated area just to allow a person to be able to continue to hunt. Just like crossbows, should they be banned just because some feel it is not their way of hunting. No!!!, nor shall there be rules made just for certain people. Again where is the line to be drawn as to what is acceptable and what is not.

As I said earlier, everyone has the right to their own opinion and the right to do their own thing as long as it is legal. The question is, do you have the right to pressure you beliefs onto others. I do not think anyone has the right to dictate how others hunt as long as it is legal. Yes they have the right to voice their opinion but not to condem or make a judgement of another way of hunting.

[wabi]

As I said earlier, I'm not really interested in hunting exotic animals in a fenced enclosure, but I support those who wish to. They have a right to hunt them whether I want to hunt that way or not.
As far as hunting in a fenced enclosure, I'm not against it, but I do think the size of the enclosure and the method of hunting would be a huge factor in the "sport" of it. We have a small operation here in my home county that offers several exotics. The fenced area is only a few hundred acres, but it's very rugged terrain. The owner takes you in, puts you in a stand where a sighting is almost guaranteed, and the rest is up to you as far as the kill. In reality it isn't much different than my hunting over a food plot or feeder, with the exception the game I hunt can pick where they are going to eat. In the enclosed area food sources are limited, and the game has to come to the feeders to eat. A stand over the feeder or on a trail leading to it pretty well guarantees a sighting. I guess the big difference is that I set up the food plot and patterned the deer I'm hunting, and they can go elsewhere anytime they want to. On the "preserve" someone else did the work for me, and the game don't have much of a choice where they eat.

[RayGunter]

I had a lease in Tex that was just down the road from a exotic ranch a few miles. They had turned out about a hundred Axis deer to thin their herd. Said that Axis deer were like goats in they would have 2 or three birthing periods a year. Any way a few came down to our place and man were they good eatin. In Texas an Axis deer or any exotic (read non native) outside of a high fence is considered a varmint and can be hunted year round.

yea let some more out.

[chris4570]

. You do not catch and release with guns or bows.

Why not? Catch and release is essentially selective harvest. I had several catch and releases while hunting last year. On two seperate occasions I had the crosshairs on one particular deer twice and decided to release him on both occasions.

Exotics, I would hunt them. Not on a ranch. Not in a cage. I would hunt them where they are not considered "exotic" but where they are considered native. I would hope that the meat is good. I would eat it. If there was too much meat I would share.

Hunting a waterhole is fair chase. Animals in Africa tempt fate anytime they approach a waterhole. Predators, such as ourselves, know that these are good places to ambush prey. If hunting a waterhole is to be considered unfair, would hunting a trail also be considered unfair? The animals use the trail, just as they use the waterhole. I believe pronghorn are often hunted at waterholes. So are ducks and geese.

[LV2HNT]

I also think it is ok to hunt a water hole. The animals don't have to use it but they will at some time. Who is to say you will be there at that time. Plus water holes are attracting to many kinds of game especialy in places like africa where water is limited. So it could actualy be harder to be succesfull because you could have an incredible amount of game around you who are all on their most catious state of alert. If one of them spots or smells you before your prey arrives, they will sound the alarm and everything in the area will be on the run, spoiling your hunt. I think it is basicaly the same thing as hunting a food plot or a farmers feild. Is it wrong? I don't think so. I think it is a good strategy. If it's not, then hunting a bedding area would be wrong too, because you know the deer will be there every day around the same times. I don't like hunting over feeders that are programmed to release food at a certain time every day. They train the deer to be there so all you have to do is get set up in time for their arrival. I also don't like baiting bears because you are putting a unnatural food source in a place where there isn't any similar foods and training the bears to check it on a regular basis. Food plots, fields, and water are always there giving your game the option to use them when they feel the safest, many times at night, where as feeders and bait teach them to come running when they hear the motor turn on or smell the fish guts because they want to get as much as they can before something else comes in and eats it all. Baiting and feeding is like using an addictive lick for deer, it teaches them to abandon their instincts and their normal behaviors to make it easier to for a person to ambush them.

[marmot]

Hunting a waterhole is fair chase. Animals in Africa tempt fate anytime they approach a waterhole. Predators, such as ourselves, know that these are good places to ambush prey. If hunting a waterhole is to be considered unfair, would hunting a trail also be considered unfair? The animals use the trail, just as they use the waterhole. I believe pronghorn are often hunted at waterholes. So are ducks and geese.

Once again, I am not talking about impoundments, rivers, or streams. I am talking about tanks filled with water. IMHO, hunting over a tank filled with water is no different than hunting over a feeder.

[Tom]

Marmot I am not saying anything against your opinion or your choice of hunting. But with a deer, they will not think any different to a tank filled with water then they will a pond or stream. To them it is only a source for water. The same with feeders, salt or mineral blocks. It would only be a source of food.

As long as it is safe and legal, then I will not judge someone for their choice of hunting methods even if it does not agree with how I think. I have feeders for trail cam pics and I have NEVER hunted over them or other feed piles. This does not mean that I am against it or that I will not hunt over a feeder. It is just another tactic that hunters use. Some use recurves, longbows, compounds, crossbows, decoys, no decoys, treestands, ground blinds, guns only, dogs ect. That is what makes hunting such a progressive tradition, tactic will change all the time.

[excaliburfanatic]

all i have to say on this subject is i do not really get excited about shooting an animal that is paraded in front of me on a leash... to me thats not hunting just my opinion i will probably catch h#ll from some for saying the leash thing lol sorry