Have we lost the art of hunting?

[Mr.Boiler]

Its been a while since I've hunted and now Im at it again. Really excited about harvesting deer after so long. Started talking with some of the guys at work and it seems almost everyone is into climbing trees and sitting up there to wait for one to pass by.
My grandfather was a hunter who stalked or ground hunted. He taught me long ago about what to look for and how to track, etc. Climbing a tree and sitting doesn't do it for me.
I get the feeling that we're losing the art of hunting. There were times that gramps came home empty. Those were rare but it did happen. He wasnt disappointed though. His thinking was that the deer were just a bit smarter that day and he'd just have to step up his game next time.

Any thoughts...?

[fratri]

Waiting in a tree stand is a good way to hunt deer, nothing wrong with it at all but there are a lot of guys that like to hunt deer by still hunting too... Many different ways to hunt, so long as you are doing it legal and enjoying it, why poop on the way somebody else is doing it?

[MikePal]

first off "Welcome" to the forum....

Like Fratri said, lots of ways to hunt deer. No need to condemn one over the other.

Out our way, lots of guys hunt in groups, pushing deer with Dogs; push the bush during the day hunts and then stand sit for the night hunts.

Hunting with dogs is just as much a skill, or as you put it an "art form", as stalking deer as a lone hunter, just a different means to the same end.

Hope you get out and hone the skills your Grandpa taught you, harvesting a deer, no matter how you do it, it what Hunting is all about.

[dutchhunter]

A lot of things have hanged over the years and the biggest change is the amount of land people have to hunt ..most guys cannot just go out and walk for a whole day on the land thy can hunt as thy will be crossing many property lines and trespassing ,property has gotten smaller over the years and bush lots have gotten way smaller ,,some places in the near north there is a lot of crown land ,and in many other parts of Canada you can still track deer and other game for days .There are way more hunters today on a lot less land in a lot more condensed seasons .Many guys like myself have a few farms to hunt that run in the hundred acres or so there for to hunt deer you will have to find a spot and sit and wait or risk walking around and bumping the deer chasing them on to the farms next door ,,for the next guy to shoot ,I am sure you can go to the prairies or the rocky mountains mayby the tundra and hunt like your grandfather did ,,Dutch

[Snowwalker]

Many people in Africa make blinds and wait near water holes till game comes in, they also track and stalk game depending on animal and conditions. To say one way is true hunting and another is not only serves to distort the culture and separate us into factions.

If your grandfather walked old roads and shot grouse with you so that is the only way you know to hunt, does that make it wrong for me to wait in blinds and shoot driven grouse in the English country side.

I think you mean to say that you feel that "we" are losing the art of "bushcraft ".
it's the skills to be on the land, not hunting that you fear are lost.

[seabast]

I don't think we lost it. There is just different way to bring some meat home quickly. What the point to walk all day if you can shot a deer in a couple of hours from a stand? And I'm not talking over bait.
I see old stand on crown so it's not new, even so some of them were to cover runs I'm sure they still seat there till the end of the day. We hunt over a thousand acres of crown so I like still hunting better than seating but the odd time I climb one and watch squirrels, but that's not my things, to each his own at the end of the day we want to shot a deer.

[pbonura]

Tree stand hunting works for me and provides me more of an opportunity to harvest deer. You are on a hunting and fishing forum and any legal effective method should not be looked down on.. Great first post and welcome.

[Mr.Boiler]

Apologies if I sounded like I was crapping on other methods. Im not. Some good points made and that was the reason for the thread. It was a long time ago that I was last hunting so the only methods I know is as a single hunter or as a two man team. Also, this was in BC and there wasn't so many restrictions as to when, where or how to hunt.
I get it too regarding more hunters and less land to hunt.
Bushcraft is a good term. If we're out in the middle of nowhere its a necessary skill.
Living in Ontario now I see such a great opportunity for all of us but its the accessibility that may be a problem. What appears to be crown land is not. Even when checking the Crown Land Atlas you're not 100% sure.
I guess you never stop learning. In my case it'll be more like re-learning...

[patvetzal]

Years ago I used to hunt with a bunch of "old guys" and beginners. My buddy and I would walk miles stiring up moose, deer for them to shoot from their "watches". Loved seeing the country and its occupants but now my legs are shot and I have my own property to hunt, from my blind while sitting in my old computer chair. When I get a shot I hop on the tractor and carry my game home in the bucket.
Sure, I would rather wander the bush but those days of hunting are over for me and any day out watching the squirrels etc is great.

[blasted_saber]

Hunting is something different to everyone. I certainly dont view it as art. My family pushes bush for both moose and deer. That incorporates both tracking and sitting waiting for animals.

Respect for the animal and hunt within the laws MNRF sets out and I dont care much what you do.

If you want to rewind 100 years, most people didnt view it as art then either. My great grandfather was a farmer and adding venison to the table was a welcome addition and was a fact of life. Not art in anyway whatsoever.