Captain Tred Barta - HUNTING: Tech Hunt

[Captain Tred Barta]

I agree completely, all my friends hunt compound with sights, and releases and all that gimmick crap. I hunt with a Bear 55 LB. Kodiak Magnum, Custom cedar shafts, and Zwickey broadheads and they make fun of me for it because I can't get a group of arrows in a 3 in diameter at 25 yds. They all shoot deer at 45yds and they call it bow hunting. Just last week I was hunting a natural ground blind since I already got my buck from a wood ladder stand my dad and I made and I already shot a nice buck I wanted a fat doe to end my season. It was about 8:30 when a doe and two fawns popped out of the woods about 120 yds away and worked down the trail towards me. The doe got with in 2 yds of me and when I say 2 yds I mean 2 yds, 6 feet. She kinda turned her head back to her fawns and I started drawing when she turned back around and noticed me and jumped a little and ran about 5 yds. then I shot and missed. I rushed the shot, in the heat of it all I broke my concentration, at least it was a clean miss. I still consider that hunt a success, I accomplished what i set out to do, get into bow range on the ground which I've never done before. To me that is what bow hunting is. Its being able to see each hair on the deer, see the sun reflect in their eye or hear their young chewing on acorns in the back. If anybody wants to shoot deer at 45 yds wait until gun season if you want a thrill of a lifetime and a memory to last forever get a deer to come within 2 yds of you. Fred Bear said it best "...there's more fun hunting with the handicap of the bow than there is hunting with the sureness of the gun." and when you add sights and releases you turn the handicap of the bow to the sureness of a gun.

Dear Bear Recurve,

Couldn't have said it better, so I won't say it again.

But I detect in your comment, a slight insinuated touch of elitism. It is not for you, I, or anyone else to judge that the excitement and adrenaline rush we achieve at two yards is any different than what the compound shooter experiences at 50 yards, what the muzzle loader experiences at 100 yards or the rifleman at 300 yards.

Second Amendment righs involve us all.

Great post. Both of us are from the same tribe of life.

Captain Tred

[WAHOONBOX]

I agree completely, all my friends hunt compound with sights, and releases and all that gimmick crap. I hunt with a Bear 55 LB. Kodiak Magnum, Custom cedar shafts, and Zwickey broadheads and they make fun of me for it because I can't get a group of arrows in a 3 in diameter at 25 yds. They all shoot deer at 45yds and they call it bow hunting. Just last week I was hunting a natural ground blind since I already got my buck from a wood ladder stand my dad and I made and I already shot a nice buck I wanted a fat doe to end my season. It was about 8:30 when a doe and two fawns popped out of the woods about 120 yds away and worked down the trail towards me. The doe got with in 2 yds of me and when I say 2 yds I mean 2 yds, 6 feet. She kinda turned her head back to her fawns and I started drawing when she turned back around and noticed me and jumped a little and ran about 5 yds. then I shot and missed. I rushed the shot, in the heat of it all I broke my concentration, at least it was a clean miss. I still consider that hunt a success, I accomplished what i set out to do, get into bow range on the ground which I've never done before. To me that is what bow hunting is. Its being able to see each hair on the deer, see the sun reflect in their eye or hear their young chewing on acorns in the back. If anybody wants to shoot deer at 45 yds wait until gun season if you want a thrill of a lifetime and a memory to last forever get a deer to come within 2 yds of you. Fred Bear said it best "...there's more fun hunting with the handicap of the bow than there is hunting with the sureness of the gun." and when you add sights and releases you turn the handicap of the bow to the sureness of a gun.

FIRST OF ALL ...I WISH TO WELCOME YOU FRED' TO SFC AND THE BEST AND THE WORST FORUM......I CAN SEE NOW THAT THINGS ARE GOING TO GET QUIET INTRESTING HERE. LIKE I HAVE ALWAYS PREACHED ON THE INTERNET WHETHER IT BE FISHING OR HUNTING....."THIS IS ONLY MY WAY AND NOT THE ONLY WAY.....I WOULD BE MORE IMPRESSED HERE WITH YOUR WORDS IF YOU WERE USING THE PREDESESSOR LONG BOW YOU MADE RATHER THAN A RECURVE......

Dear Bear Recurve,

Couldn't have said it better, so I won't say it again.

But I detect in your comment, a slight insinuated touch of elitism. It is not for you, I, or anyone else to judge that the excitement and adrenaline rush we achieve at two yards is any different than what the compound shooter experiences at 50 yards, what the muzzle loader experiences at 100 yards or the rifleman at 300 yards.

Second Amendment righs involve us all.

Great post. Both of us are from the same tribe of life.

Captain Tred

AFTER READING THE ABOVE THOUGHTS, I THINK I WILL GO ACROSS THE HIWAY FROM MY CRIB (350 YARDS) THIS EVENING WITH TWO CAMERAS ....ONE OUT FRONT OF ME POINTING BACK ON A GROUND TRIPOD...ONE ELEVATED BEHIND ME BARTA STYLE......I WILL SETUP BEHIND A HOMEMADE BLIND ON THE GROUND....MAXIMUNM DISTANCE OF POSSIBLE KILLSHOT WILL BE 7 YARDS...POSSIBLY CLOSER.

IT WILL BE EITHER HERO OR ZERO THIS EVENING...FOR THE DEER IN MY LOCALE ARE VERY NOCTURNAL....I HAVE A SMALL SIX POINTER AND SOME DOES ON TRAIL CAM PASSING THRU THE INTERSECTION OF THIS SPOT....OF COURSE....I GUESS MY TRAIL CAMERA IS CHEATING AS WELL AS MY CHEAP $400 COMPOUND BOW ..............

MAYBE WE SHOULD ALL HIKE TO OUR HUNTING GROUNDS AND REFUSE THE USE MODERN GROUND TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM AS WELL....IN FACT....LET'S NOT WEAR CAMO CLOTHING EITHER....

IF I DO GET SOME FOOTAGE IN THE NEXT 150 MINUTES OR SO...CAN I POST IT IN THIS THREAD ?


OFF TO GET READY...........


ROCK ON.

[Gurn]

I think this gentleman sums up my thoughts very well. As I said before I have in the past 40yrs, hunted in just about every way Tred mentioned. Even high fence. All said and done I chose the longbow with wood arrows. When I'm out there with my Saxon there's just something special going on that I can't explain. I love it. It's like I'm set free from all the technology I thought I needed. Here's is a feller that has said what I been felling about the hunting community for a long time.



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As in Rome, do as the Romans

If you are not working to protect hunting, then you are working to end it.
Fred Bear

By John Simeone
On a brisk spring morning on a secluded lake, somewhere in the state of Vermont, a hunter waits patiently in a tree stand. This tradition goes back three generations in the nimrods family, and you would believe its not much different than deer hunting right here in Louisiana. No, not deer hunting. Would you believe he is legally gun fishing? The quarry is spawning northern pike in the shallows, and the hunter/fisherman shoots the fish with a selected firearm and then scoops up his dinner.
Oh my goodness does that rub a lot of you raw; does it sound unsportsmanlike or just plain ridiculous? But this form of hunting has been around for a long time in that state, and done properly it is safe, ethical and legal, not to mention being a cultural tradition. To tell you the truth, Id kinda like to try it out myself, however many others in their ignorance would cry fowl.
Invite that same hunter to Louisiana on a deer hunt, and after everyone gets through laughing at him about his gun fishing, they inform the already embarrassed Yankee, the hounds will be turned lose at 9:00 am. The hunt master hands him a shotgun and a handful of buckshot, telling him to leave the rifle in the case, while he goes over the safety rules of this timely southern hunting tradition. Then our Yankee kicks and screams all the way to the deer stand complaining,They don't do it that way in Vermont. Chances are he will change his tune when he finds out he is about to have more fun than a Yankee ever deserved, but until the first strike of the hounds he will stew in his own myopic view of deer hunting. If you think you have the market cornered on methods, protocol, or even sportsmanship your living in a glass bubble.
It certainly doesn't stop there. Always among hunters there is an individual, or a group that wants to pontificate how we should conduct ourselves afield, even when the contrary is perfectly legal, ethical and many times traditional. Game and Fish Commissions have long figured out what the majority of the people want as far as methods and means, basing their decisions on harvestable numbers of game, rules of fair chase and local cultural hunting traditions. Louisiana, the Sportsman's Paradise is by far one of the most liberal and thats why I choose to live here.
Still you can get an emotional response over these topics and more. Bow hunters vs. Gun Hunters, hunting on the ground vs. elevated stands, Inline muzzle loaders vs. traditional muzzleloaders. Hunting Turkeys with rifles as opposed to shotguns, then there is the crossbow issue and whether or not we should bait deer or other big game animals. Of course you have the guy that backpacks a deer stand into remote areas as opposed to the heated box stand hunter over the alfalfa field. The classic battle between the Have's�and the Have Nots, certainly relates to hunting. One activity may be somewhat distasteful to one group of hunters while being perfectly acceptable to others. Unfortunately, the words legal, ethical, and traditional don't seem to be enough convincing for some.
There are those who are just bound to a small area and only know their way of hunting, which is not a problem. This only requires a little study and conversation with other locals if the hunter travels outside of his traditional boundary. It does however, require an open-minded attitude lending new credence to the old adage, As in Rome do as the Romans. If you travel out of state on a hunting trip, ask your friends what the local traditions are and be prepared to be surprised.
Then there are what the outdoor forums now call Cannibals. This group of individuals crusade the destruction of certain core hunter groups usually for there own personal gain, whether it be hunting lands or misguided opinions. I'm generalizing here, but I could easily get specific, just look around you. It's the dog that won't hunt, but he won't stay on the porch either. He just runs around nipping at the other dog's heels, and it's not politically correct to shoot him. Remember it is the core hunters that buy the majority of the hunting licenses and pay the way for the rest of us, including non-hunting outdoorsman.
A learned anti-hunter can put a negative spin on any type of hunting regardless of its nature considering the present day sensitivity of society. Anti hunting groups are the final interlopers, waiting in the wings enjoying with glee any type of infighting hunters conjure up to do away with themselves. Time is on their side. These so called cannibal hunters are unknowingly joining ranks with anti-hunters, undermining the very soul of hunting tradition every time they make a criticizing comment on legal, ethical and traditional hunting methods and means.
The bottom line is, if you don't prefer to participate in a certain way of hunting, then by all means don't. The time is now to rally hunters through education and understanding, constantly remembering if you aspire to the ways of the cannibal, you may be next on the menu. Pass it on.

[mlp1985aggie]

Hey everyone first post here, pretty excited...hey Mr. Barta I agree with you in so many ways of what you were talking about and always try to make sure of the hunting experience to be less technology the better. NO range finder, no cameras, but that being said I do have a bipod, and a rifle with a scope. Tell you the truth I have never fired a bow before in my life, not ever wanting to until I watched your show and just cant get enough of it. You pretty much opened my eyes to the ways that we all should be hunting. What is the point of keeping whiteails in a pin for specific breeding, thats not wildlife. How is keeping your game in a highfence give the animal a shot at all. Im not the biggest fan of just sitting in a blind and wait for the game to come to you, but I have done it and have shot some animals that way. When I go hunting, it's usually with my brother who pretty much got me into it, from dove hunting in the backyard with my first gun being a single shot 20 gauge at the age of 10. A little of topice but me personally some people just have to have the technology for them that makes it so interesting to them i guess. I cant imagine spot and stalking with a bow and shooting within 50 yards because I have never done it and really want to, but also theres nothing like shooting and dropping your target 300-400 yards out, that would be my trophy hunt right there for me. So i guess its just up to the hunter of what makes it a trophy for them.

[tugboat]

Bravo! Well said and I couldn't agree more. My surprise is your commentary hasn't inspired more comment because you hit on the crux of what is wrong ( IMO) with the sport of hunting today.

I gave up hunting about ten years ago because the current state of hunting ethics makes me want to vomit. I have no problem with harvesting animals. I have a huge problem with HOW they are harvested and WHY they are harvested. Nowadays, if a pill was invented that you could swallow and you would be guaranteed an eight point buck it would be heralded as a breakthrough! Just damn!

[Steve_Montana]

Here is my opinion... and that is all it is:

If your definition of a great hunting experience is sitting in a heated box... hunting behind a high fence... go do it.

If your definition of a great hunting experience is climbing to the top of the Rocky Mountians with handmade bow and arrows... go do it.

My definition of a great hunting experience is heading out with my hunting buddies at 4am and hiking the mountains of Montana all day... no matter what the weather.

I hunted elk with a video camera this year during archery season and had the best time ever putting in miles and miles of hiking trying to help a buddy get a trophy bull.

The bottom line is... if all that technology is what you need for your definition of a "great hunting experience"... fine... go do it... just make sure its legal.

...I personally think that todays modern muzzeloaders take the sport out of hunting in primative weapons areas. BUT... if that is what you choose to use in a regular weapons area... fine... shoot what will make the most ethical humane kill on the animal.

[Gurn]

Steve well said!!
I think were getting a little off topic. I'm sure I'm to blame for that. I think what Tred is trying to say is not, what is ethical?
He stated he would defend others rights to hunt how they wish, even if they were not his preference. Sad to say, this is far too many times not the case with many other hunters, concerning hunting methods, and type of weapon.
Way too many are Cannibals. That will get us all in the end.

My understanding is, he is saying if we take a certain amount of challenge out of it, will it still remain interesting to the young hunters coming up.
Myself, I don't know, but definitely worth discussing.

[Steve_Montana]

I am not sure if it will be the use of to much technology in the field that will slow down young hunters... its really to much technology they have become accustomed to on a daily basis.

I have 5 boys... the oldest 3 came part of the package when I married my wife. I tried hard to take these boys out and get them interested in the outdoors. They have all killed deer but would rather stay home playing video games than get up at 5am. (the oldest 2 are in the Army now)

Now my 2 young ones (9 & 11) I am approaching it a little different... I am taking them out more as a family... and not just something dad does. I am about to buy them and me longbow so we can start sticking straw bales around our 10 acres.

So I think the technology our youth get accustomed to makes them lazier than when I grew up with 1 tv channel that you could barely watch. I had to run around the hills for entertainment... they just sit in front of a tv and push buttons on a game controller.

[CHOCOLATE THUNDER]

Tred,
You do things the hard way your way? But how about compare it to fishing are you using a canoe with oar or a boat with big disesl engines. Are you fishing with just a compass or do you have a GPS. Are u fishing with cane poles or modern day rods and reels with braided line and all the such so on and so on. No i don't think you are. So do it your and let people do things their way. Just because your not "doing the hard way" doesn't mean your lesser of a hunter or fisherman. Till I see you in a canoe with oars a compass and a cane pole your not doing it the hard way!!!!

[Gurn]

Thunder I kinda see your point in a way but.......... I don't think Tred said he did everything in his life the hard way. I guessing when he goes to the office, he most likely don't ride a horse. When he wants to start a fire I'm guessing he don't rub two sticks together. If he needs to contact someone he probable don't send up smoke signals. You see what I'm getting at?
He is talking about hunting, and from what I know about him he does do it a harder way than most folks do. Don't mean he's better. Only means he finds his way more satisfying, and tries to make a case for it.
I understand, as I chose a longbow myself. Whatever way you chose to hunt is great with me. I see all hunters as equal parts in this great sport.