# New era of deer hunting



## Tritonman (Jul 4, 2004)

I know it's been around awhile but I would say a big majority of all deer taken on tv are over or close proximity to food plots. With that said. Does it mean that filming a kill before plots took a lot longer thus not being able to hunt ten different states during their ruts. No difference to me. It makes for good times with the kids. A long time ago you were able to learn a little bout funnels and etc. Now it's all equipment and advertising. For me back in the day I would never look for a nice tree on the edge of a field to take a huge buck. That's all they seem to do anymore. Again I'm not mad. I've learned a lot about planting and gardening. As I have my own plots to keep my buck attractants around.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Food plots work best on large chunks of land that most of us don't have, let along have access to solely. I have a small one and it may attract one deer a sit...always does until now...it is November 1st!

I enjoy the woods/brush hunts as opposed to food plot/field hunts. I enjoy watching them more too.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Growing up bowhunting in the early 70's there was no thought about planting food plots for deer and there were no hunting shows on the only 4 channels available on TV.

When hunting central Ohio I did however hunt from a lot of big trees on field edges along crop fields, especially picked corn. The farmers were still picking not cutting the corn fields back then and it made for a great late season food source for the deer.


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## Tritonman (Jul 4, 2004)

Lundy those were the days. I was just a kid watching the guys leave the cabin only hoping I would get the chance to help track or drag. Those Fred Bear bows were popular with yarn whiskers on em. Baker climbers. Wow gives me the chills. Anyhow the deer were giving me the slip today. But hitting the plots hard. Killing the chicory and clover. Brassica nothing.


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## Lewis (Apr 5, 2004)

Yep...TV hunting. Many of the hunting shows are sponsored by some kind of food plot seed company. Makes many folks think they can't kill a deer without having a food plot. Or some kind of latest gadget!


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

Tritonman said:


> Lundy those were the days. I was just a kid watching the guys leave the cabin only hoping I would get the chance to help track or drag. Those Fred Bear bows were popular with yarn whiskers on em. Baker climbers. Wow gives me the chills. Anyhow the deer were giving me the slip today. But hitting the plots hard. Killing the chicory and clover. Brassica nothing.


A blast from the past! Are there any bow hunters our age who DIDN'T have a Baker? Bright, shiny aluminum with a plywood platform! Took me a while to figure out I needed to paint that thing. I can't remember which model I had. It was either the "Leg Breaker" or the Crippler"! Most unstable piece of crap I ever took up a tree! 

My brother is a videographer and floated the idea of us doing a bow hunting show. He doesn't hunt, but he'd seen some of the TV shows. I said, "Look man, those guys can hunt every day, sunrise to sunset. I can't. That's all they do when hunting season rolls around. They usually hunt with private outfitters where the deer herd has been managed to a fare thee well, they have food plots galore, and it's been pre-scouted. I hunt, for the most part, public land. They need to put a kill on video every week. I can't do that. Nobody is going to be interested in watching a weekly, half hour show of a guy sitting in a tree stand basically NOT seeing any deer!"


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## Lowerider1029 (Jul 8, 2014)

Back in the day, all i had was a wooden tree wedge, and an old Baker climber, Never even thought of using a harness. It's a miracle i didn't fall, never went higher than 15 feet but still killed Deer. Now most people don't go below 20 feet.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

Not me! My knees start getting rubbery at 15 feet! There's a guy who posts on another web forum I'm on who has a stand set at 9 feet off the ground! He, and his boy, whack deer left and right out of that stand! Put it any higher and you're in the sapling tops with no shot. That stand is at the perfect height for the situation. You don't always have to be a mile in the sky!


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

> Orig. posted by Lundy:
> 
> ...The farmers were still picking not cutting the corn fields back then and it made for a great late season food source for the deer.


Before all the cutting and planting right up to the fence rows started we also had plenty of pheasant around to hunt as well. 

I was driving home tonight looking at some of the harvested crop fields thinking just how clean they looked. Looked more like golf course's with absolutely nothing left. Many of the farmer then spray the fence rows with weed killer.

Never used a stand until about the mid 80's. The 1st tree stand was a 12ft section of aluminum ladder strapped to a tree and an old metal framed chair that was cable tied to the tree as well. It was on a steep bank with another steep bank about 40yds across. A major trail at the bottom of the two banks that funneled out to a farmers field. Killed more deer out of that stand then any other stand I've had. Before that it was always bow hunting on the ground. I had two spots at two different places in Hocking Co. that I hunted that I posted up on the tops of steep banked walls and hunted trails below as well. Guess you could say those were naturally elevated stands.

Far as hunting food plots back then, along with the obvious crop field edges we looked for and hunted natural food plots. Pockets of beech,oak and other hardwood trees, clusters of honeysuckle or berries etc. 

For me, that was really hunting back then and I feel I was a much better hunter then. There wasn't any trail cams. You had to spend the time in the woods scouting, watching deer movements, looking/reading tracks etc.. 

With the latest technology(game cams, cellphones, GPS's, firearms capable of 2-300yd shots etc) and food plots strategically planted all have surely been game changers. And IMO, not all bad but not all good either.


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