[ranchovillabrew]

I've never understood sport hunting. At least with catch and release fishing, the fish gets away only slightly harmed.

Actually I don't understand catch and release fishing. If its not for food, why put an animal through that?

A good portion of my work is on best practices for catch and release of fish in recreational fisheries and reducing post release mortality in commercial fisheries.

There is nothing wrong with catch and release if it is done right.

Most anglers and hunters are very ethical, responsible and excellent stewards of fish, wildlife and habitat.

The few idiots harm the reputations of the rest

[pete b]

I've never understood sport hunting. At least with catch and release fishing, the fish gets away only slightly harmed.

Actually I don't understand catch and release fishing. If its not for food, why put an animal through that?

There is nothing wrong with catch and release if it is done right.

I guess I don't understand, from the fish's point of view, how the being pulled by a hook in the mouth and wrestled out of the place you need to be to breath can be "done right". Again, if its for food I get it, but just for the heck of it I don't get.

Most anglers and hunters are very ethical, responsible and excellent stewards of fish, wildlife and habitat.

The few idiots harm the reputations of the rest

I think there are healthier outdoorsperson cultures in parts of the country but here its more like the few good hunters fail to salvage the reputation of the many idiots. I grew up in the general area I live in so I know a lot of people: hunters and non hunters. Hunting around here really attracts idiots. The standard MO is to grab a twelve pack and a gun and go in any convenient woods and shoot at things that move, even if you have strayed into someone's back yard. If nothing moves shoot the twelve empties and leave them there. There is no concept of respect for the land, animals or private property, not to mention safety. Hunters around here routinely brag about bagging deer on wildlife sanctuaries and private property. The good hunters actually tend to take trips farther north and leave the crappy one's behind.

[Slowbrew]

Back home when I was a kid we had so many road hunters that it wasn't safe to work in the field during the Fall without driving a truck out.  Often it would take less time to just walk out and do something than to go get a vehicle and drive out but the idiots on the road couldn't seem to tell the difference between people and deer.  One idiot shot into our yard from a half mile away.  He hit a tree 3 feet above my head.  I never saw a deer so I can only assume he was think I was one.

I know many hunters who are now just sport target shooters because they can't stand the "hunting crowd" today.  A well trained and respectful hunter is a big asset to our ecology in the mid-west.  Their just aren't enough of them to make up for the idiots.

Paul

[ranchovillabrew]

I've never understood sport hunting. At least with catch and release fishing, the fish gets away only slightly harmed.

Actually I don't understand catch and release fishing. If its not for food, why put an animal through that?

There is nothing wrong with catch and release if it is done right.

I guess I don't understand, from the fish's point of view, how the being pulled by a hook in the mouth and wrestled out of the place you need to be to breath can be "done right". Again, if its for food I get it, but just for the heck of it I don't get.

Most anglers and hunters are very ethical, responsible and excellent stewards of fish, wildlife and habitat.

The few idiots harm the reputations of the rest

I think there are healthier outdoorsperson cultures in parts of the country but here its more like the few good hunters fail to salvage the reputation of the many idiots. I grew up in the general area I live in so I know a lot of people: hunters and non hunters. Hunting around here really attracts idiots. The standard MO is to grab a twelve pack and a gun and go in any convenient woods and shoot at things that move, even if you have strayed into someone's back yard. If nothing moves shoot the twelve empties and leave them there. There is no concept of respect for the land, animals or private property, not to mention safety. Hunters around here routinely brag about bagging deer on wildlife sanctuaries and private property. The good hunters actually tend to take trips farther north and leave the crappy one's behind.

The main way to catch and release properly are using appropriate sized gear, circle hooks to increase mouth hooking, rapid return to the water, and use of release devices also targeting species for catch and release that have a high survival  rate.

When dealing with resource management, we work at the species or stock level and not at the individual level.

[klickitat jim]

When I catch and release the fish only comes out of the water if it jumps. I dont lift them out for photo ops. In my area you have to catch and release or just dont fish. I have not found a way to keep native steelhead from striking...

Back to the hunter thing. No more criminals since opening weekend.  Last night I passed up a nice 3 pt because it was about 75 yards in on the neighbor's winter wheat. No way to retrieve it without damaging his crop, even though I have hunting rights there. This moring I passed on a trophey 4X4 because about 800 yards behind him is a county road, but harvested a nice clean healthy 3 pt on my land. One shot. Dead right there. He was hanging in the butcher's cooler within an hour. For you folks east of the rockies, he was a 7 point. We count only the biggest side minus brow tines.

[majorvices]

I have nothing against hunting deer. I love venison. But I have very little respect for trophy hunting. No offence meant to anyone here who has a antlered deer head hanging on your wall, I'm just not super impressed by it. I'm more impressed by your freezer stuffed with edible doe.

[HoosierBrew]

I have nothing against hunting deer. I love venison. But I have very little respect for trophy hunting. No offence meant to anyone here who has a antlered deer head hanging on your wall, I'm just not super impressed by it. I'm more impressed by your freezer stuffed with edible doe.

Agreed.

[erockrph]

I have nothing against hunting deer. I love venison. But I have very little respect for trophy hunting. No offence meant to anyone here who has a antlered deer head hanging on your wall, I'm just not super impressed by it. I'm more impressed by your freezer stuffed with edible doe.

At home in RI, deer are a hazard and a nuisance. Harvesting does is a much more effective way of controlling the deer population. And frankly, they tend to be much better quality meat. I don't get to hunt very often down here, and I certainly wouldn't turn down a shot at a trophy buck, but I would never pass up a shot at a doe.

But if I do ever harvest a trophy buck (or moose, if I ever luck out and draw a tag), I intend to mount and display it proudly. Because to me it will likely be a once-in-a-lifetime memory. And frankly, I have yet to get over that feeling when I harvest a fish or animal - that I have taken it's life to feed myself and my family. It's a mixture of pride, awe, sadness and a feeling of being connected with the Earth. That trophy would serve of a constant reminder of that for me. That's why I hunt.

Keith, I know your comment wasn't directed at me, and I understand the sentiment. But not all trophies are for trophy's sake. And there is certainly nothing wrong with a respectful hunter having pride in their trophies. And I certainly would not be impressed either with the trophies of a hunter that does not have respect for the animals that he or she hunts, or the land from which they harvest.

[theDarkSide]

My brothers in VT had deer heads mounted everywhere including one that was the largest take in the state one year.  Last year one of my brother's got a moose and mounted the antlers.  He also had to buy a chest freezer for all the meat.  I admit a part of it is to show off to their friends who come over to the house but our family eats just about everything they shoot...except Chipmunks...never can find enough of those little bastards after shooting them.

[majorvices]

My brothers in VT had deer heads mounted everywhere including one that was the largest take in the state one year.  Last year one of my brother's got a moose and mounted the antlers.  He also had to buy a chest freezer for all the meat.  I admit a part of it is to show off to their friends who come over to the house but our family eats just about everything they shoot...except Chipmunks...never can find enough of those little bastards after shooting them.

One of my best friends and neighbors has deer heads all over his walls. It doesn't mean we aren't friends, and hunting is his passion, so I get it. I just don't have much respect for it. And, BTW, I am a far more advanced outdoorsman than he is, and he knows it.

[curtism1234]

At home in RI, deer are a hazard and a nuisance. Harvesting does is a much more effective way of controlling the deer population. And frankly, they tend to be much better quality meat. I don't get to hunt very often down here, and I certainly wouldn't turn down a shot at a trophy buck, but I would never pass up a shot at a doe.

I would rather eat a 2 year fork and horn buck than a doe that looks like a mule

[klickitat jim]

I've eaten venison all of my life. Flavor depends on breed and age a little bit, then what they've been eating, but the flavor depends largely on how they were hunted and processed. I wont take a deer on the run. I have, I won't anymore. If you take a healthy buck that's not been stressed out, get the guts and hide off immediately, dont nick the bladder or sent glands, thoroughly rinsed of hair and blood, and to the butcher's cooler within an hour of the shot... it will be a totally different meal.

All things equal, a 3 year old doe might be as good maybe a little better than a 3 year old buck. Here in my area only bucks 3pt or better are legal.

[S. cerevisiae]

I still fly fish from time to time (although, it has been several years since last casted a line).  I am strictly a catch-and-release fisherman because all of the good trout fisheries in Maryland are catch-and-release or delayed harvest.  I tie all of my flies on barbless hooks, and I attempt to minimize the stress that the fish endure.    Fly fishing is the exact opposite of hunting from a stress point of view.  One needs to be hypervigilant when hunting, especially if one hunts public land.  Fly fishing is peaceful and serene.  There is nothing like watching a drag-free drift approach a riffle and having big brown with a fly fisherman Ph.D. take it.  That means that one has matched the native aquatic life well and presented it in such a way as to fool a fish that is not easily fooled.

[1vertical]

he he 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6x29TfeI6E

Or  lol....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb9yhhflmvY