There no such thing as “real” or “fake” hunting you’re either huntin or ya ain’t huntin simple as that. Just hunt whatever way makes you happy but don’t try to call out someone because they’re not hardcore enough

I hunt ever witcha way. Sitting in a shooting house right now, might be stalking across a hardwood ridge tomorrow, and climb a pine tree tomorrow evening. I just do whatever I think might work at the time. When my boy gets a bit older im gona try some 2man drives, I like that too.

Too often, the “you aren’t really ‘hunting’ if crowd” comes across the same way that the “you should only shoot 5+ year-old bucks that are pushing record book status” do. As long as other hunters aren’t breaking game or property laws, endangering others, or shooting every deer they ever see as though they are trying to single-handedly drive the species to extinction, what does it matter how they hunt.

Have to check with Swampy about this.

You're not using the right scent. If you were then it would be like flipping a switch.

In the past I have hunted with some guys that were all about scouting and would spend countless hours walking around looking for sign and driving back and forth on 4-wheelers. But ironically never had much luck actually hunting.

I call myself doing my "woods" scouting during turkey season. I try to have all of my stands in place as early as possible and stay out of the woods (unless actually hunting) as much as I can from September - February 10th.

But half of the property I hunt I have hunted all my life so I pretty much already know where all of the scrapes and rubs are going to be. The additional land I lease I have been hunting for about 4 seasons and I know what areas are too thick to hunt or walk through without spooking deer so I find its best to leave those areas alone.

Oddly enough the good bucks always seem to travel the same routes year after year (for the most part), once I get a good bead on that I just try to leave them alone until the weather and wind corporate.

Once you get over the phase of trying to prove something to other people then you won’t really give a damn about where or how you choose to hunt. Hunting is way more enjoyable when you stop caring what everyone else thinks. You can go to the woods and just have fun without feeling so much pressure to make it happen. You don’t feel that intense disappointment if the season ends without you killing the big one. All of that stress you put on yourself goes away and you can just go to have fun.

I think everyone(except me, because I appreciate the advancement of technology) should hunt with a sharpened stick and should walk or ride a horse to where they will be hunting. Think how challenging and rewarding that would be

That is unfair. You can ride a horse right up to a deer in many places. They don’t know what it is and aren’t bothered by it.

^^^^^^^This. Right here.^^^^^^^^^

I believe this question can be answered by asking yourself, "what does 'fair chase' mean to me?"

The guy that's gotten me into hunting and I talk about this concept often. I'm a middle-aged man who is still beginning to understand basic hunting concepts. I've only been at this a couple of years.The property I hunt (~120acres) is from asking for permission from someone I knew and then spreading outwards to their neighbors for permission. There's no green fields, no shooting houses and nobody saying where to go to see deer. The terrain is incredibly steep as it borders Smith Lake in several places, which causes a forecasted North wind to come from the SW or East, depending how far down the side of whichever ridge I'm sitting and the vegetation around me. (INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING!)

Nobody told me that crap. I had to go and figure it out. That has allowed me to build up enough confidence in my trials and errors to computer scout Bankhead and kill a deer on my first trip out there..

On days like today when it's storming and blowing, I'd love to have a shooting house overlooking a green field. I would be so much more comfortable. But, right now, to me, deer hunting isn't necessarily about being comfortable. It's challenging to try to intersect the path of a deer in their undisturbed habitat and claim success on that day. Most days I fail... badly! But I put in the effort to go to the deer, on their turf and that has to be good enough on those days that I don't kill or even see anything.

I'm sure that the more addicted I get, the better the chances will be that I will wind up in a house, looking at a long stretch of greenery. I hope that when that day comes, I still get as excited when a doe and fawn walk out as I do right now. These animals are amazing creatures and I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we're lucky to be able to participate in this dance with them, from a climber in a pine or a lazy boy in a shooting house.

It pains me some, but I agree with you.

We have scrapes and rubs all around our green fields, crp fields and cut overs. Isn’t this buck sign? And if I’m sitting in a ground blind or shooting house hunting theses areas am I hunting bucks? I believe so.

I don't use trail cameras, feed, food plots, half the time I don't even use a treestand, scent control, mock scrapes, any other kind of scent stuff. I find the terrain and vegetation pinches on public land and shoot the deer that give me quick clean kills. That's really all there is to it. I chuckle at the guys that feel obligated to adopt every knew product as necessary to their "arsenal" like scent bags and ground blinds and new camo patterns and all that bull.

Wait a dang minute!! You mean you can kill deer without sponsors??? How will the sport of hunting and youtube survive??

The first 30 years of my life, we hunted the river swamp on land only accessible by boat. We didn't have any timber rights and could not cut any trees to clear for plots. I dreamed of hunting big food plots and seeing deer over 100 yards away.
Kids and caregiving for a parent have greatly reduced the time I can be in the woods. I just enjoy the time I have now, whether it be in a house or climber

With that being said, you can bet your azz I will be in a house, with a heater tomorrow trying to get my daughter a deer and won't think twice about missing that damn cold azz boat ride. Bought four propane cylinders tonight to prove it

First off - they are all hunting and people should hunt however makes them happy and not give a rip what others think. That said, there are definitely different difficulties of hunting and some people find the more difficult hunting rewarding.

If someone kills a buck in high fence over a green field or corn I don’t care what it scores...

If someone consistently takes quality bucks in Bankhead I’ll buy his book!

But as long as both are happy with their deer good for them.