Are the glory days of deer hunting coming to a close?

[Howboutthemdawgs]

There are so many amazing things there. The trackers--beyond belief. The variety of animals, the incredible sense of wildness. Hunting experiences you cannot get here. Tracking buffalo, then realize lions are in front of you tracking the same herd. Being in the middle of a herd of elephants listening to their stomachs gurgle and feeling more than a tad nervous. { Having you PH get in a gunfight with poachers...I'll leave that story for now } . The Masai....and we think we are hunters. On and on...

Well…I need that story now! You can’t tease a gun fight between poachers and good guys in the African wilderness and just leave it!

 

[westonwhitetail]

This is a good book about African trackers with some life lessons mixed in. This and the meateater podcast got me more interested in African hunts when I never was before


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SwampCat]

This is a good book about African trackers with some life lessons mixed in. This and the meateater podcast got me more interested in African hunts when I never was before


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Watching the trackers work was the most amazing thing I have ever seen related to hunting. Us US hunters are at the bottom of the skill level compared to African trackers. If a hunting safari is in your future, I would suggest you go somewhere besides South Africa to experience a more classic hunt. But South Africa is typically a lot less expensive than hunting in the more primitive areas - and still an experience to remember.

 

[Baker]

Well…I need that story now! You can’t tease a gun fight between poachers and good guys in the African wilderness and just leave it!

You asked...

It was about 35 years ago my girlfriend and I were hunting Zimbabwe on a rather large concession. We were driving thru a valley in an open air jeep with the PH and a couple trackers when they spotted smoke coming from below. A camp fire. After a brief huddle they told us not to leave the jeep under any circumstance and they would be back shortly. Off they went heavily armed leaving me and girlfriend alone in jeep. About 30 minutes later 5 or 6 rounds were fired from a heavy rifle followed by several short bursts from a machine gun. Shortly several more shots followed from the heavy rifle. Then silence.

I didn't know where we were. Had no idea where to go. Zero clue what to do. After another 30 minutes the PH and crew still had not shown up. I got kinda scared not being sure who won the gun fight and what would happen if the poachers came our way. So I grabbed the .300 Weatherby , 2 boxes of shells and we climbed a couple hundred yards up a hill and hid. I really didn't want to kill anyone but I figured I could take legs out if required.

After about an hour the PH returned like nothing had happened. When I asked he just said they fired some shots to scare the poachers off then stayed a while to clean up the camp and take pictures for the authorities. I still have questions? My suspicion --S.S.S. But who will ever know.

Not the only camp I've ever been in where seriously spooky shit has happened. There was that time in Mongolia... :)

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

You asked...

It was about 35 years ago my girlfriend and I were hunting Zimbabwe on a rather large concession. We were driving thru a valley in an open air jeep with the PH and a couple trackers when they spotted smoke coming from below. A camp fire. After a brief huddle they told us not to leave the jeep under any circumstance and they would be back shortly. Off they went heavily armed leaving me and girlfriend alone in jeep. About 30 minutes later 5 or 6 rounds were fired from a heavy rifle followed by several short bursts from a machine gun. Shortly several more shots followed from the heavy rifle. Then silence.

I didn't know where we were. Had no idea where to go. Zero clue what to do. After another 30 minutes the PH and crew still had not shown up. I got kinda scared not being sure who won the gun fight and what would happen if the poachers came our way. So I grabbed the .300 Weatherby , 2 boxes of shells and we climbed a couple hundred yards up a hill and hid. I really didn't want to kill anyone but I figured I could take legs out if required.

After about an hour the PH returned like nothing had happened. When I asked he just said they fired some shots to scare the poachers off then stayed a while to clean up the camp and take pictures for the authorities. I still have questions? My suspicion --S.S.S. But who will ever know.

Not the only camp I've ever been in where seriously spooky shit has happened. There was that time in Mongolia... :)

Why that is crazy!!! Guarantee that wasn’t just some pop shots over their head.

Speaking of Mongolia, guy I was with today was looking into a sheep hunt in Mongolia next year.

 

[Baker]

Why that is crazy!!! Guarantee that wasn’t just some pop shots over their head.

Speaking of Mongolia, guy I was with today was looking into a sheep hunt in Mongolia next year.

Mongolia is a fascinating place to hunt. Nomads. Marmot hunters. Superstitous people. Witch doctors. Camels Very old mountains so not nearly so strenuous as sheep hunting N.America. The largest sheep in the world. Ibex in the Gobi desert. A bazillion square miles without a road. All a very wild adventure. And there is still a jeep there totally crashed that fell over a cliff off the mountain with its driver in it. Ask me how I know

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Mongolia is a fascinating place to hunt. Nomads. Marmot hunters. Superstitous people. Witch doctors. Camels Very old mountains so not nearly so strenuous as sheep hunting N.America. The largest sheep in the world. Ibex in the Gobi desert. A bazillion square miles without a road. All a very wild adventure. And there is still a jeep there totally crashed that fell over a cliff off the mountain with its driver in it. Ask me how I know

It’s always caught my eye for tiamen fishing. For whatever reason I’m not much of a traveler to hunt but i would like to go all over the world to fish.

 

[SwampCat]

It’s always caught my eye for tiamen fishing. For whatever reason I’m not much of a traveler to hunt but i would like to go all over the world to fish.

I’ll be damned - me too. Just finished my worlds billfish slam of all nine species in 2024

 

[Telemark]

Safari club international

Was it in Nashville?

 

[Telemark]

I've been hunting and fishing in Mongolia. Back before I met my wife, I dated a Mongolian gal for a while.

The fishing can be amazing if you get away from other people. A lot of Mongolians don't seem to know the difference between the river fishes, and I saw people keeping taimen under 18", which I believe was illegal. Also, a lot of the fish had weird parasites.

We hunted marmots and gazelles. I was warned not to touch the wildlife because of the risk of plague.

The landscape has changed a lot due to mining activity. Some places that used to be pristine, beautiful, and wild, are now covered by mountains of overburden from strip mining. You can still find some amazing untouched places, but it requires more work these days. I was mostly fishing for grayling, and I found some nice spots I could have to myself. Guided taimen fishing and the ibex and maral stag hunts are way out of my price range. But it's loads of fun to just take a tent and a fishing rod and go camping somewhere near a river. There are also abandoned Soviet military bases where you can scrounge for souvenirs.

 

[Mortenson]

 

[SwampCat]

There are so many amazing things there. The trackers--beyond belief. The variety of animals, the incredible sense of wildness. Hunting experiences you cannot get here. Tracking buffalo, then realize lions are in front of you tracking the same herd. Being in the middle of a herd of elephants listening to their stomachs gurgle and feeling more than a tad nervous. { Having you PH get in a gunfight with poachers...I'll leave that story for now } . The Masai....and we think we are hunters. On and on...

When hunting dangerous game, a so called “game scout” from the game and parks commission will accompany every step. Supposedly, to insure there are no infractions concerning the taking of game. However, he carries an AK47 - and Zimbabwe does have a “shoot to kill” law in effect now for poachers. My PH buddies said it is having a positive effect on game numbers.

Like everywhere - game laws could be better - they are way over populated with elephants - now destroying the habitat - and over populated with lions in many areas - causing a decline in plains game.

 

[omicron1792]

My African hunting trip was awesome. Cant recommend it enough.

 

[Mortenson]

We found zero sheds this year. Not sure if the glory days are over, but they're suspended indefinitely.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

We found zero sheds this year. Not sure if the glory days are over, but they're suspended indefinitely.

Did your place run out of food before the deer dropped their antlers? We had a ton of deer around in December and early January, but it ran out before the antlers dropped.

 

[Mortenson]

Did your place run out of food before the deer dropped their antlers? We had a ton of deer around in December and early January, but it ran out before the antlers dropped.

Yeah that's part of it for sure. It got so mild a few weeks ago that I think it was more a situation where they just fanned out and left. Oddly we actually had some nice turnips that didn't get consumed this winter. Usually they get eaten. They were on them during the cold blasts, but no horns to show for it. Numbers are low as well. Did you find any sheds?

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Yeah that's part of it for sure. It got so mild a few weeks ago that I think it was more a situation where they just fanned out and left. Oddly we actually had some nice turnips that didn't get consumed this winter. Usually they get eaten. They were on them during the cold blasts, but no horns to show for it. Numbers are low as well. Did you find any sheds?

My son found one nice shed a week ago, which was surprising as most of the deer in our area moved out when our food ran out.

I also planted some brassicas this year that weren't hit quite as hard as I expected. Normally they eat every portion sticking above ground, but this year a bunch of bulbs were left alone. The bulbs almost appeared to have withered away and that may be why they were ignored. Normally they just freeze and are good looking into spring, but this year the bulbs were brownish and dried a bit.

 

[Baker]

We are having a little better luck down here. Course, I think the glory days of hunting are ...now!

 

[Tangler]

No doubt. I am very guilty of this. I make it as easy as I can to entice any of my five grand daughters to come hunt with me.

This was two days ago, from a box stand, with a “long range rifle”, over a food plot

View attachment 59557

That’s freaking AWESOME!
You are the best grandad ever!
Thanks for posting!
Look at that smile. Probably never forget that day. Wow!

 

[Tangler]

There is the other side to the story, also. One of my grand daughters killed the deer above - opening day of modern gun. It was the biggest deer I currently have on camera - a slightly bigger one has been a no sho for a week - but no telling what might show up with the rut really kicking off. My area of the state has an average 104” for a five yr old buck. That 134” buck my grand daughter killed is a dang good one for this area.

My son and I were talking as we were cleaning that deer - that no one else will probably want to hunt unless another big one shows up on camera. There is so much more to deer hunting than just killing a big deer - which has been lost in a lot of areas - and that is the camaraderie at camp, tracking deer, telling about the kill (over and over again), cleaning the kill, making a euro out of the skull, processing the meat, cooking and eating the meat - etc. when you only hunt or kill the bull of the woods, there is not much action around the game pole.

While most of my hours are now spent trying to grow or attract a big deer to my place, I am afraid just hunting known big deer has caused us to lose what the total picture is about. It makes me a little bit sick to think of what many of us have become as deer hunters. It is all about g2’s, mass, beam length - and there is so much more to deer hunting.

“Did you see anything this morning?” “Yeah, a couple of dink 8 points and a herd of does.” We talk about them like they are squirrels.

Good stuff! You cannot eat the horns, I am happy with anything! Happy to shoot does. We need to shoot them anyway and they are delicious!