This is a major concern of mine wondering what happened to the skill of hunting in the hunting industry today. There are so . . . so many things out there that have taken the challenge out of hunting from scent free suits, hunting blinds, rangefinders, scouting cameras, food plot mixes and the list goes on and on and on. I think we all need to seriously ask ourselves: Where is the challenge? And... What are we going to hand down to the next generation? Will they learn hunting skills or should we just take our kids shopping to show them what to buy so they can go harvest an animal. This past season was one of the best I ever had. I really just enjoyed being out there enjoying all the sights and sounds.

I had decided to really hunt this year. What do I mean by that? Totally hunting from the ground, no tree stands, no blinds, just natural cover, whether it be still hunting or stalking which the later of the two is my favorite. No fancy so called scent lock suits no range finder with pinpoint accuracy no special scent sprays just my camo my bow and quiver full of arrows. I was blessed this year to be able to take a total of five deer and one turkey with my bow in which one of the deer was a nice four by four mule deer in Wyoming on a stalk hunt.

In this age of hunting technology I think we need to ask ourselves, Are we really passing down to our children the basic skills of hunting such as stalking, knowing how to hunt the wind, scouting, reading sign, practicing with their equipment to know their limitations? I’ve been watching hunting shows for quite awhile like most of you and was just wondering, Have you noticed its mostly about pushing products and showing how many food plots they can plant... so all they have to do is set up in permanent blind on stilts and wait for a deer to come out and shoot it? Folks this is not hunting it does not take skill to hunt over a food plot where they have been growing deer with monster racks and pouring minerals down them as fast as they will eat it - this is shopping for deer.

And no I’m not totally against new hunting products in fact half of them that come out I really like and the other half I chuckle to my self and wonder why bother hunting if they really work. Take scent lock suits as an example, if they really work you could almost harvest a deer every time you went out. Lets face it, if a deer smells one hint of human odor he doesn’t usually stick around to see what’s going on. I know you’ve seen the same thing on hunting shows. They have all their so called scent elimination suits on, their scent free spray, special boots and all the things on that you need to be successful. And then what happens? The deer take off... Why? Because they smell the hunter and then the guy says he winded us. What’s the point? They probably just spent about $300 for nothing. This is where hunting comes in. Yes hunting. I'm talking about knowing the terrain, the wind direction and what that wind does in that terrain you are hunting. This is where your scouting pays of from the past summer knowing the ditches, creek beds, bedding areas, rub lines scrapes and the list goes on and on.

I know that a lot of people disagree with what I’ve said so far but these are usually the people that think hunting is being able to go set on a food plot and wait for a deer of their choice or show off their food plot deer after they killed it to impress their buddies. Take for instance a hunting show a while back where they actually had a contest to see which team is the best for their quote unquote pro team. They were running around trying to show each other how good of a hunter they were, while mostly hunting over their food plot ambush, that they called hunting. While having all kinds of contest to see, who was the best they even had one where they were seeing who was the fastest with a climbing tree stand. What a great safety tool to show our young hunters out there that were watching. Needless to say that was the last time I watched that macho madness show. A prime example to my question: What happened to hunting? I must say there is one particular show I think is great, the best and worst of Tred Barta. He is a true hunter, no food plots, gimmick items or nonsense just hunting at its best. My hat’s off to Tred for a great show.

Now back to the main subject, hunting. Being able to pass down to our children the art of hunting not the art of killing. Being able to take our young generation and teaching them the skills of reading deer sign in a new area and how to follow creek edges to find out where the deers main travel corridors are and following them to find bedding areas, staging areas and feeding locations. Knowing to make sure the wind is right and knowing how to keep it in their favor, even simple things such as deer tracks and to know the difference between does and bucks and the direction in which they are traveling. The simple things like these will keep the art of hunting alive and well. Even if you don’t like to include your youth hunter on the hunt with you, at least twice a year try and take that youngster on a stalk hunt so they can see for themselves what hunting really is. You know I hear this a lot too, "It’s just too hard to hunt on the ground." Well just like every thing else it takes practice and besides if we killed a deer every time we went out it wouldn’t be called hunting would it? I think if you would give it a try you might just get hooked.