So, are we hunters or killers?
I've thought about this before. I guess there are no hard and fast answers but here is my thoughts. Please excuse my ramblings.
If you knew there was a nice buck showing up at a certain spot at exactly 9:30 every day and you could sleep in, get up at 9:00 and slip in there at 9:20 and kill him at 9:30, would that be a perfect hunt? If so, I think you are more of a killer than hunter. I think as a whole, we are leaning towards being killers. We don't have enough time to hunt, we pay a lot of money and want to kill something, so whatever it takes, we want a trophy without having to work for it.
For me, that is not the way I want to hunt. For some other people I "hunt" with, yes, that would be the best possible situation ever to hunt 10 minutes and kill a nice buck.
I enjoy getting in the woods before it is light and watching the world wake up. I enjoy the squirrels (well, at least most of the time, however, the game they play, I call it squirrel tag, can get old), the birds, and I mostly enjoy watching deer. I watch way more than I kill. To me the journey is just as enjoyable as the destination. Others wonder why I stay out all day. I am there to hunt. When I kill one, it is icing on the cake. I was fortunate to kill 2 mature bucks last season. One was killed in bow season in an oak flat and the other was in a cutover during the rut and he was hot on the tail of a doe. Yes, those hunts, while very different, were both very exciting to me. So were my other hunts where I saw deer and didn't shoot.
Let's face it, hunting a cutover doesn't require much hunting skill. A good set of eyes and binos are more important than wooodsmanship. Yet it is often an effective way of seeing and killing deer. I killed my buck with a 200 yard shot. But it wasn't just pure luck. I knew the rut was on. There was a bad thunderstorm that morning and I waited it out in a good shooting house. When the heavy rains stopped, I was alert and watching that cutover like a hawk. I didn't see a deer all morning. I had seen birds squirrels and some turkeys, but no deer. Then at 11:15, which was about 2 hours after the rain had stopped, I spotted the doe as she stuck her head out of the woods. I knew where the deer usually traveled and kept a close watch on those areas. I saw the buck a minute later.
Finding the oak flat and knowing where the deer were eating took more skills. Knowing where to put and face my climber took additional skill. Knowing how the wind currents flow in that area took knowledge from past experience. Doing it during archery season added to level of difficulty.
Both were very enjoyable to me. Just being out in God's creation is special. I guess some times I am more of a killer and other times more of a hunter. I don't try to distinguish between the two, because, I enjoy being out and seeing deer.
If baiting becomes legal, it won't be a matter of dumping out a pile of corn, waiting a few minutes and then shooting a monster. While that could possibly happen, that will be the exception, not the rule. Just like planting and then hunting a greenfield. It provides food and keeps deer in the area, but it is far from a sure thing to kill a mature buck on one.
Baiting will make it much easier to kill does and young bucks. If done smartly, it could make it easier to kill some mature bucks, but anyone looking for shortcuts will be disappointed, IMHO.
Bucks don't become old by being stupid. This is not a magic bullet. Overall, it will probably reduce daytime movements for deer and make the mature bucks more nocturnal, just like greenfields can do. It will require hunters to adapt to the changing environment. Hunting ability and luck will still play a significant role in the killing a mature buck.
Those are my 2 cents, but y'all get them for free
