Possibly one of the greatest hunting videos made

[44magHunter]

Sitka Gear produced this video a while back. A very well put together short film. Video brings up some good points about how hunters see our sport and how we view others who hunt differently than us. How we need to get along...

http://www.sitkagear.com/video/display/ ... DWVM4cnc90

[AJMD429]

I highly recommend watching this.

I think even 'non-hunters' would get a feel for what hunting is all about if they watched this, and it is done in a way that wouldn't turn-off non-hunters.

[44magHunter]

honestly surprised more people didn't have more to say...

[.45colt]

Just O.K. for Me, I know it happens a lot. but why in the world would they show the deer shot in the rump with a lighted nock???? makes Me want to puke. I can just Hear the anti-hunter scream "see it's just going to run off and die. I have no doubt the Hunter recovered this buck but they could just as easily have shown a double lung shot in this video. My .02.

[FWiedner]

What I got out of it is that gun-hunters are careless, rowdy, and arbitrary killers of meat deer, "The Orange Army".

Meanwhile, trophy-seeking bow hunters are much more intelligent, spiritual, and connected to the animals which they reverently harvest for the good and salvation of all mankind.

Or maybe I missed something...

[44magHunter]

Yep. Clearly you guys missed the whole point of the video.

Oh and the deer was not shot in the rump. it was a quartering shot and lighted knocks are very deceiving on showing shot placement.
It is real film and not faked. They show the shots as they happen. Can't fake a guy's first archery deer.

[Canuck Bob]

It was an interesting video. The trophy hunter is an ethic that I was taught to despise growing up. It was a typically American thing to us. A guy who came to Canada to take home some antlers or a hide. Some where real gentlemen some were not. I grew up around men who guided. As a hunter and once a farm boy there is a question of systematically harvesting the best breeding stock in any community. A healthy prize bull is a ranchers dream not his supper.

Please don't misunderstand in that I have a new opinion of trophy hunters and just how challenging an aspect of the sport it is. It just seems that this video is making it out to be something rather special almost spiritual. It almost is a statement of how special the hunter is not the deer or hunting. In all honesty I also occasionally brag about a particular bull moose and a 175 yard 444 single shot DRT hunt.

One thing that really warmed my heart was the rifle rack in the hunter's shack. There for all the world to see was a Lee Enfield 303 front and centre in the screen!! I felt the actual gun hunters were not portrayed in a poor light by the video footage. They seemed like a great bunch having a whopping good time. Some of the dialogue did hint at a major difference. However there is still a place for grandpas rifle, a barn coat and rubber boots, compass, matches, and a sharp knife as a guys gear. And even more important, a few sturdy lads to hump it out and share a drink with that night!! Now that is my kinda hunting and does and cows are the tastiest!

I might add that I tried bow hunting with a Browning recurve many years ago. I gave up because I couldn't hunt close enough. That was before ambushing from a tree was popular.

It sure reinforced in me how much money is behind such slick productions. This highlights the incredible industry behind these endeavours. Our sport has become a gadget driven marketplace. There is as much hollywood as backwoods here.

[.45colt]

O.K. 44magHunter I see the light now , at 16:40 of the film the deer is shot thru the kidneys, not the rump as I first thought. My error. I don't see a quartering shot. but then I have 60 year old eyes to deal with. .

[Lastmohecken]

That was a pretty good film. It reminds me of my growing up and maturing as a deer hunter.

When I was a kid, it was pretty rare just to see a deer, no one I personally knew bow hunted in the 60's. There was no Muzzleloading season, no youth hunt. The big Bang was the first day of gun deer season, and almost everyone took off from school or work to go hunting on the first day. Excitement was high, and most people were delighted to kill even a spike horn, and a big buck was just one of those once in a lifetime hopes. Doe day was rare with only maybe a day or two open to doe killing. The deer populations were low, and killing a deer every year was challenging and few did it in my part of the world, and practically no one let a legal deer walk, because it was probably the only legal deer they would see the whole season.

Fast forward to the late 70's and the first compound bows were becoming available, and being advertised in the hunting mags. I bought one and killed my first bow killed doe that year, and wow! I felt like I had really done something. Big horns were still mighty hard to get a shot at, and most people still bragged up a storm when they killed any kind of legal deer.

I kept killing deer, and more of them, learning to process them myself, and my family ate a lot of deer meat, most years. I eventually ended up shooting deer with several different compound bows, crossbows, muzzle loaders, all kinds of center fire rifles, and even the re-curve bow.

Fast forward to the 90's and beyond, and we went to the 3 point rule and the trophy hunter was born. Now days, unless you are a kid, taking anything less then a 120 class buck is considered an embarrassment, and everyone puts out all kinds of deer feeders and food plots trying to keep that big deer from wandering onto someone else's hunting ground, and many people spend hundreds of dollars a year on everything from deer scents, special tree stands and blinds, game feeders, camo scent holding clothes, game cameras, you name it, all in pursuit of the 180 class and up big buck.

I guess it's all hunting, just different. For me I guess it doesn't matter that much. I am not really willing to put the long hours on stand anymore, freezing my butt off, but I will still take a deer when I can, and if it's a coyote instead, I am just as happy.

[.45colt]

I'm sorry if I upset anyone with My remarks...but when My Boy was around eight years old (long time ago) I rented some bow hunting videos from the local sporting goods.
I had been trying to get Him interested in Hunting. one showed several bad shots including one square in the hip. I still remember His reaction .Why wouldn't the Guy wait for a better shot? He's up in a tree?. He sure wasn't impressed.

[44magHunter]

It is interesting how different hunters see things for sure. I for one will not shoot a buck unless I believe he is 5 years or older. I don't really go off antler size much. I have never shot a buck under 130", but that is only because I don't shoot the young ones. The three bucks on my hitlist right now are actually 5.5 years (150" 10-point), 8.5 years (145" SIX point!!!) and 6.5 years (maybe a 120" 2 by 3). I don't really care that much about the antlers, but shooting a truly mature, smart, survival expert of a buck is one of the coolest things ever. And yes I shoot does as well. 6-7 month old doe fawns are the best food. There are usually between 7-15 new fawns on our property each deer season so obviously controlling the population is a must!

[AJMD429]

It is a true dilemma for hunting-video makers to decide to:

• a) either show only the 'good' stuff (quick, humane, aesthetic kills), or
  b) show the entire spectrum, including failures, woundings, or even no-game-seen boredom.

I think about 80% of the good and 20% of the 'real' is a good mix most of the time; it should interest and not repulse the newbies, yet not be unrealistic.

Part of the issue is "what is the baseline/norm/alternative...?"

Many of us think that since deer 'normally' die either from starvation, disease, automobile collisions, feral dog packs, etc., and all those deaths are likely drawn-out, and unpleasant, that virtually any way we humans kill deer, even with a 'bad' bow or gun shot, is likelier more humane than the real-world alternative.

Of note - ONLY humans seem to have any particular conscience or remorse about suffering of our prey; other predators will kill any way they can, and typically begin eating the prey while still alive. So therefore, if and when we kill and it is not a quick, 'humane' death, I think we need not feel much guilt, unless for some reason we do so intentionally. Making the hunt more 'challenging' by using a bow rather than a 460 Weatherby is not 'intending' to create suffering, because the bow/arrow is clearly a LETHAL weapon, particularly in the modern compound/razor broadhead format.

The only problem is that those citizens who are unfamiliar with the real world of 'nature' are not likely to realize this perspective.

[Rusty]

Thanks for posting. Different ways to play the same game. Archery vs gun and meat vs trophy. There's room for everyone however you want to play the game.

I've never wanted to hang a big rack on the wall but I've never looked down on those that do.