Re: Question; Bowhunters descriminated against ???
I see a couple of things that you are missing. First is the time aspect. Bow hunters have almost 3 months in the field while most shotgun hunters have only a week end during the first gun season, or maybe 2 weekends for the second season. Bow hunters have the greatest opprotunity to fill any extra tags themselves so why would they need to party hunt. Why should only bow hunters get to hunt during the rut peroid? Dosen't that discriminate against the gun hunters? Think about it, and understand that there are more voting gun hunters than bowhunters. Who would loose that fight?
Second thing is just one of sheer numbers. Even if bow party hunting were allowed how much impact would it actually have on the deer population, and how many only shoot a doe as something to settle for when Mr Big doesn't show up? If there were no party hunting during the gun seasons then the harvest numbers would go way down as would license sales.
I am not very happy with the current attitudes toward party hunting. When it started there were few deer and fewer hunters and tags available. It was meant to allow groups to harvest deer even if the correct person with the correct tag wasn't in the correct spot for the correct deer. Back then there was a lottery to see if you could even get a tag and then 80% were for bucks only. Hunters were not so infactuated with horns and size then, and the buck doe ratio was much smaller so there weren't many bucks to even see much less shoot. At that time there were darn few anysex tags that went on bucks, almost the entire 20% went on does. Party hunting allowed the hunter with a bucks only tag to shoot one of the 5 does he saw that had completely disassociated themselves from the bucks after the rut. People had a chance to harvest a deer that way. Now the system is being abused by greedy people just looking for a chance to kill more bucks, in some cases even small bucks as long as it is a buck. That to me is the real waste. Years ago the family group I hunted with decided before the hunt who didn't mind taging a deer shot by someone else, and that only one buck per hunter could be killed not 6 or 8 just to fill tags. Why wouldn't ethical groups do that today? Why have we created a society that seems to equate sucess and skill with both the number and size of bucks taken. If horn size equals hunting skill why would any hunter ever shoot a buck smaller than an earlier kill? Just to say he killed a decent buck. Why not shoot a doe instead as long as a good opprotunity presents itself? The only answer I can see is greed, but that is just my opinion.
I hunt deer with bows, muzzle loaders, and shotguns( no centerfire rifles), singlely, and in groups and will continue to do so. Another post asked the question Why do You Hunt. I guess my answer is because I really enjoy it, and I mean almost all aspects of it. I enjoy the outdoors and the wildlife and respect it very much and deer hunting and bird hunting are very special privilages not to be taken lightly or debased by greed or envey in anyway. Remember united we stand divided we fall and the future of hunting and fishing depends on us right now.
