Traditional vs Sport hunter

[Dan Andrews]

Ok lets ruffle some feathers.

Last year Parks Canada finally allowed Navy Island in the Upper Niagara River to be hunted for deer. Deer are destroying the biodiversity big time. It's a unique example because its so isolated and weak deer won't swim off the island so this area makes a great classroom.

ARA's have long protested any hunts and a hunt gone bad waayyyyy back saw deer jumping into the water, going over the falls and running through plate glass windows on the mainland banks. Parks Canada Bowed to political pressure and stopped all hunting to the detriment of the Island until last year.

Six Nations only and primitive weapons was the rule. Some licensed hunters were upset and when interviewed a 6 nations spokesman told the paper that sport hunters grab a deer by the antlers and say look at the size of these antlers. However he said the Indians (traditional hunters) throw down tobacco and thank the spirits for this gift of meat. He basically said us hunters don't appreciate the animal for what it is and we're just a bunch of trophy antler hunters.

Well I watch allot of Wild TV and I gotta tell you, with the exception of Canada in the Rough, I agree with him based only on what you see on TV. These TV shows continually show men passing up the perfect shot to wait for a bigger set of antlers to walk by. The more perfect the rack, the more desirable the deer. Last year I let the perfect shot go on a spike because I wanted a big buck and figured I could get a doe that big anyway. I never got another shot and I have two, 2007 tags to prove it.

So what do you think? Are you a rack hunter, do these TV shows portray us properly or are you just playing your part in animal management and taking a shot at the first meat that gives you the opportunity to fill a corner of that freezer downstairs. Personally I think any deer is a prize and as my friend who was teased for shooting a "Bambi" said, the teasing stopped when that succulent little bugger starting filling everyone's mouth.

BTW, Parks Canada made the right and strategic move by allowing Indians only. Same thing happened, bleeding deer in living rooms on the opposite bank but not a peep from the ARA's. Seems no one wants to mess with Six Nations. Sign me up

[Flywire]

While it would be nice to stumble across a big buck, the same as fishing holds true in the sense that the smaller do taste better. I havent started hunting but I would rather have good tasting meat than a mangy old buck with a rack the size of Pam Andersons(talking about overused meat)

[jwl]

most of my experience with hunters and hunting itself had come when I lived up north in The Soo. I had some friends who went hunting all the time, and I was always invited to tag along with them on the adventure. I would go along on the trips but as a fisherman, and an observer. I got to see some awesome parts of Northern Ontario in these adventures, and also got to experience some great speckled trout fishing in areas that where so remote I may have been the only person that whole season to cast a line in these bodies of water.

From the hunting point of view, most of the people in the hunting party where from very remote areas of the North. They made it a whole family experience..men, women and children alike. From the time the kids where about 12 years old they where allowed to participate in the hunt, some where handed down firearms from the older generations, they where all taught very well the importance of firearms safety, and taken all the appropriate courses as they came of age to do so. These children grew up learning that guns where not toys..none of them even had a toy gun growing up.

Keeping in mind that these people lived in very remote areas..a couple people didn't even have hydro..all thier homes where run on propane heat ect, sometimes a generator, they had radios to listen to, but didn't even have a TV. In the winter montsh many of the families who relied on mining and construction as a job, where left layed off in the long winter months. They all hunted for food, and to subsodize thier exsitance with hunter harvested meat over the winter. The size of a rack on a dear or moose, or size of a beard and spurs on a turkey meant absolutely nothing to them....what they where after was a healthy harvest, and hopefully enough meat to fill tags in the hunting parties as they all brought home thier kill, butchered it up appropriately and split it up amoungst all the families so everyone would have a full freezer for the leaner times in the winter months.

[Dan Andrews]

mangy old buck with a rack the size of Pam Andersons(talking about overused meat)

Ya but we sure like to watch them ones walk by. I was lucky in that department. I just happen to land one with a decent rack although they don't need to be huge to mount them

Oh oh where my thread going

[dr_feelgood]

Ya but we sure like to watch them ones walk by. I was lucky in that department. I just happen to land one with a decent rack although they don't need to be huge to mount them

Oh oh where my thread going

mama's gonna give you a slap

[smerchly]

Ya but we sure like to watch them ones walk by. I was lucky in that department. I just happen to land one with a decent rack although they don't need to be huge to mount them

Oh oh where my thread going .........

to hell in a hand basket Casanova ! you have been in the woods too long.........take a pill & quit dreaming !

[packrat]

Ya but we sure like to watch them ones walk by. I was lucky in that department. I just happen to land one with a decent rack although they don't need to be huge to mount them

Oh oh where my thread going

Tell us more, tell us more -------dont forget the pics either

[Guest canada]

The native aboriginals have a completly diferent out look when it comes to the harvesting of meat and animals, all animals in the forrest have a spirit,which is to be respected. When an animal is taken the belief is the animal is giving it's self to the band so the band can survive therefore the spirit of the animal is highly respected, they treat the sucessfull harvest as a gift from the creator and direspecting the animal by, Photographing it ,bragging about it's death and butchering it for a trophy is very disrespectfull to the animal that gave it's self to the band! The Traditional hunter will perform a cermony using tobacco and such as away of thanking the creator for the gift of the animal and the animal is used to benifit the survival of the band, very little if any is wasted. The traditions of the aboriginals alowed these people to live in Harmony with nature and to continue there ways of life for centuries at least untill the white man arrived and pretty much put and end to there ways of life

[FishyWishy]

I grew up in Northern Ontario, Kirkland Lake area. Up there there was no deer season, moose was the large game of choice. As anyone who hunts moose in Ontario knows it is difficult to get an adult tag, bull or cow. Also you could hunt for days or weeks and not actually see the moose for which you had a tag. That being said...anyone passing up a good clean shot on a moose they can legally kill is an idiot.

We hunt as a party of family and friends, that is part of hunting, the comeraderie, much as with fishing. We also hunted not as a necessity of life to feed our familys but through the handed down traditions from our fathers' fathers who did hunt out of necessity to feed their families or at very least to subsidize the food they had. Yes we ate all that is edible there are even those that take the organ meats (not me). There are some that will recognize and put up a trophy if lucky enough to get that one with the biggest rack they ever saw but trophies were not the intent of the hunt.

This bit aboout the natives...I don't buy it. The natives I know are no different than the whites I know and hunt with. Several even have racks hanging above their shed or several racks on a tree in the back yard.

The most "traditional" natives I know will still use the hides to make mitts and mocassins but that is as far as the differences go. I know whites that will take hides to the natives to have tanned and then make them into mitts, etc. As for not taking pictures...I don't think it is as much about honoring the spirit of the moose as it is about photos and trophys are not the purpose of hunting. Sustainability is what hunting is about, and a lot of the old timers and those that have joined the parties have killed, or dressed, or packed out their share of moose so it is no more picture worthy than grocery shopping.

[Guest Lucky Lou]

The part that everyone forgets is that taking the older more dominant bucks are a large part of heard management. Although you see the T.V. shows talking about shooting the bucks with the largest antlers they are also doing the most to control the heard by doing so. Older bucks should be sought after in order to allow the young deer to develop properly. Lets face it there is a big difference between what we see on T.V. and the actual situataion that we have here in the Niagara area. Most people in Niagara will shoot whatever they see due to the fact that they might not see anything else all year. This is not the case in say Ohio where you can pass up 3 deer every day and you know you are going to see 3 more tomorrow. Hunting pressure in Niagara is matched with lack of grounds for the average hunter to obtain permission on. For this reason we see hunters shooting all ages of deer, however, if every hunter was guaranteed to see 5-10 deer every season at 15 yards, you better beleive that hunters would be more selective on what they shoot. A lot of hunters go by the theory "if its brown its down". This is more of a desperation than a choice. The natives would be more selective of what they shot if they were only allowed to shoot 1 deer per year, that would mean only 1 chance to provide food for thier families and they would be going after the big ones too.

Done.