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Friday, February 7th, 2025

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Commentary: Dismayed about the changing face of big-game hunting

"Most of our technology today is good," the author writes, "but don’t let gadgetry make you forget why we’re out there." (Stock photo)

I’m not sure what happened to deer hunting and I’m also not sure I like it. I’m an old deer hunter right now, but I started deer hunting when I was 16 or 17 years old.

I was born and raised in the city of Newark, N.J. … not exactly a frontier town. No one in my family was a hunter, so I started out on my own, through the world of outdoor magazines. If someone told me back then that I would ultimately end up as editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life, I would have said they were totally nuts.

Now I have to make a confession, I hunted whitetails in New Jersey for seven hunting seasons before I finally got to drop a fork horn in Chester. I probably made a mess of field dressing that small buck. I did not have a mentor, except for a cousin who knew even less than me about deer hunting.

It took many seasons before I knew about deer trails and rubs and scrapes. I did my deer hunting sitting on the ground without camouflage clothing. If the place looked good, I’d find a stump.  During those early years, I was a charter member of the “Stumpsitters.”

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It wasn’t long before I joined a couple of hunting clubs and starting hunting with older hunters and I started to learn about whitetails. One of my clubs was the Over The Hill Gang and we had a cabin in Sullivan County, New York.

We took our deer hunting seriously, but it was the camaraderie that we looked forward to every season. I’ll never forget the smell of bacon and eggs on the morning of opening day.

It was our hunting camp in New York where I built my first treestand. I was perfectly happy collecting my share of whitetails sitting on the ground and I know that hunting 30 feet off the ground would give me a definite advantage, but I just didn’t like it.

But almost suddenly, the world of treestands dominated the way we hunted deer. Treestands now come in all forms from climbers to fancy ladder affairs. It’s now the standard way we hunt deer.

Over the years, I hunted at some fancy hunting lodges and nearly always I was driven to a fancy treestand, where I would sit comfortably waiting for a buck to show up along a long road or over a machine cranking out deer feed. Did I enjoy it? Of course, I did. But I didn’t really have to work at getting a buck … not like the old days.

Age has taken away some of my gait, so my hunting these days is limited. There’s not much more I can experience about big-game hunting. I’ve hunted big game from caribou at the Arctic Circle to Cape buffalo in Africa to elk in several Western states. Yes, I am an old, very-experienced big-game hunter. So grant me my opinions.

I watch a lot of hunting shows on television these days and many of them are good, but some scare me about hunting today. If you’re like me, you often have to tolerate the absurdity of the anti-hunting cult. These are the people who hear goose music and never look skyward. They just don’t get it. They weren’t born with our awareness of the woods and waters around them. Sad for them.

Now try to imagine a deer hunt staged for television. Forget about treestands. Some of these hunts start in a blind built for several hunters, including cameras and voice recorders. Shooting is from windows over a food plot.

These hunters are never cold or tired. Most of the time, their rifles are rattle-trap AR guns with not a piece of wood on them. My favorite deer rifle is a Ruger .243 with a beautiful burled full Mannlicher stock that runs right up to the muzzle.

Some TV shows also depict hunters taking game a half-mile away, which I cringe whenever I see or hear about it. On such long shots, I hope the hunter cleanly misses. When I hunt deer, I want that buck to be close enough to smell it. Big-game animals deserve better than to be dropped by a bullet nearly 10 football fields away.

A recent TV hunting show depicted someone shooting a mountain goat across a canyon 902 yards away. In my mind, this is not hunting. Want to test your skill as a marksman … shoot paper or a tin can.

Technology has certainly changed the face of hunting and most of it is good. Hunting today is safer, thanks to GPS, cellphones and much more.

But let’s not forget the reason we love to hunt. It’s in our nature. Just remember the way we used to hunt, watching a deer run and sitting on a frozen stump. Most of our technology today is good, but don’t let gadgetry make you forget why we’re out there.

And when geese fly over, enjoy the music.

(This commentary is from a column that is also included in Vin Sparano’s book, “Wit and Wisdom of An Old Outdoor Guy,” which is available on Amazon.)

11 thoughts on “Commentary: Dismayed about the changing face of big-game hunting”

  1. Sorry Vin but you are like me getting old, but I embrace most of the changes. I was one of the early adopters embraced saddle hunting 25 years ago. I made my own and use a lot of the newer products to improve my game. I’ve shot deer for years with blackpowder and recently moved to the 350 Legend including with the AR 15. All my newer guns are all plastic stocks. Some things I rather old school but new technologies are very interesting. I switched to an X-box 12 years ago just because my state finally allowed them. I’m living proof you can teach an old dog new tricks. If you prefer old school that’s great, if you like new technologies that’s great too. Just enjoy the outdoors and shoot straight!

    1. I agree 100%. Money is the root of all evil and changed landscape of hunting forever. It’s not about the chase anymore but the kill. Bigger is better. I’ve hunted 50+ years and have found some aged does more difficult than bucks. I was taught woodsmanship and sportsmanship 1st and foremost. Hunting with friends and family on cold mornings wether it be squirrels, rabbits or deer can’t be surpassed. Hunting has changed but I must say to all hunters young and old. It’s called hunting, not killing, for a reason.

  2. Hi Vin, I too am a big game hunter with more than a few miles on the odometer. Maybe I’m a bit old school but watching young hunters hang Cell phone trail cams and study an animal’s every move or pattern their behavior crosses a line for me. Now on the other hand I embrace big rifles and fast crossbows because in my opinion dead is dead and the faster it gets that way the better. To quote Walt Whitman, “if you’ve done it it ain’t braggin” I will tell you about long range hunting. I have taken Warthogs in Africa at 1000 meters, Wisconsin White Tails at 1500 yds, and guided and set novice shooters up with the science and variables to know how, when and where an ethical long shot is possible. To date I have never wounded, not recovered, or missed one of these rare shots. I’m now 65 and the watching my 85 year old father still harvesting white tails here in Wisconsin at 300yds gives me hope that I will be able to shoot straight for a few more years. I also hope that I will have the wisdom to know my limits if and when my capabilities diminish. I now enjoy guiding my father, my wife, and my grandchildren much more than hunting myself. Sharing my passion for the environment, the outdoors, and the fellowship is what keeps me motivated.

  3. Vin, I’ve known you a long time, and I dare say I love you. You have been as good a man as I’ve known, and I respect your opinion. When it comes to deer hunting today, however, I simply say, different strokes for different folks. If you wish to stick to your traditions of the hunt, by all means do so and enjoy every aspect of it. I would allow today’s hunter to do things their way, giving them the opportunity to use technological advances to help form their own traditions. I’ll say this: a Pennsylvania tuxedo—Woolrich black-and-red plaid—might be part of a lot of hunters’ deer hunting tradition, for example, but I’lll take modern technology’s much better insulated outerwear any day. A tree stand is my favored form of hunting, though I also hunt from makeshift ground blinds. Nothing wrong, IMO, in picking and choosing the many modern conveniences at our disposal. And does it really matter what someone’s rifle looks like? Different strokes for different folks.

    Glenn Sapir

  4. Great article and I agree with most of it. I have hunted deer since I was 15 and I am now 80, and only missed a couple years. I have lost part of my killing instinct, but I enjoy the hunt almost as much today as when I first stared. I still harvest a buck and sometimes a doe almost every year, and I can attribute that to access to good hunting land. I stopped watching hunting programs because it has become more about the kill than about fair chase and the experience of the hunt. I am a hunter safety instructor and enjoy teaching new young hunters, hoping they will enjoy hunting as much as I still do. The choice of gun should be a personal decision. What is important is having a safe hunt, enjoying the camaraderie of those you hunt with, and only taking shots that you are capable of making to provide a clean killing shot. It is also important to help introduce others to the sport you enjoy so much.

  5. I too am old, I too grew up in urban New Jersey, I too and largely self taught.

    I now hunt 50 plus days a year. I don’t take long shots, I don’t approve of long shots. I do acknowledge that “long” has some regional nuisance that should reflect respect for the game and the terrain.

    Hunt respectfully, the golden rule works for most everything.

  6. What a great article! Very well spoken from an intelligent hunter. Is
    “Long range hunting” really hunting? Seems more like target shooting with worthy game animals as the target.
    I can only imagine the adrenaline rush one must feel as they line up a shot at a white tail at 1,500 yards.
    Today’s trend of choosing relatively inexpensive technology to replace learning and development of hunting skills saddens me greatly.
    So sorry for beginners who are mentored by folks who don’t value fair chase in the field and forest, who will never experience the rush and excitement you described when you are close enough to see breath from the nostrils of an elk. VIN wrote: “These are the people who hear goose music and never look skyward. They just don’t get it. They weren’t born with our awareness of the woods and waters around them. Sad for them”. Amen

  7. poppitt@infowest.com

    Boy , did you hit the truth !!
    The changes while aging , the revisions in regulating , and. more so the untruths cultured by so- called ” sportsman’s TV programs and depiction “.
    The deliberate ignoring of the need to be seen ( Hunter orange clothing ) by the sponsorships of camo manufacturers , the ” one mile ” type shots ( filtered to suit ) , and the rantings if the morons who pay big $ , or are sponsored by ranches to brag , ….All are not the real religion of true hunting …
    Too many tree stand myths — get out and truly hunt .Here in Utah there is a lean toward the truth of muzzleloader /black powder hunting …away from the $6000 rifles and 800 yard shots depicted …
    Let’s get back to true sportsmanship , working for your take , and eating what you take ..
    That and the devotion to ensuring continuation of our game is the target
    Thank you

  8. Technology has definitely changed the way most people deer hunt. Now 67, I started at age 15 when I killed my first deer, a spike from a platform 30 ft high between 2 water oak trees. Louisiana born and still here, I was blessed to have uncles, cousins and granddads who took me hunting. Those memories never fade. I still hunt on 60 acres of private family land, a pine stand in the middle and hardwood blocks on both sides with year around water from springs. Everything around it has been cutover so we have the only blocks of hardwoods for at least a mile and the acorns are deer magnets. A long shot for us is 150 yards. My favorite hunting is in October with a crossbow because they have to be pretty close. I’m a meat hunter and this year I was blessed with 5 deer. We eat everything we kill. I also took the biggest rack deer of my life, a 200 plus pound 9 point that walked in at 50 yards November 26 at 5 pm heading to some rubs and scrapes I found that morning. I still hunt with the same Remington model 700 30-06 I bought used at a gun shop 45 years ago. I am just as passionate about being in the woods and hunting free range whitetails as ever. So however someone chooses to hunt, I hope we realize how good we have it in this great country. God has truly blessed us and I hope I never take it for granted and always cherish every day in the woods.

  9. The attitude displayed that if you don’t hunt the way I hunt, you’re wrong and you’re ruining the sport is really what’s wrong with hunting today. We see it from the bow snobs who say if you’re using anything other than a vertical compound bow, you’re cheating and you should be banished. Others say real men should only need a Swiss Army Knife and a sharp stick and those that do will have a special place in heaven and everyone else will be on the outside looking in. Most Wildlife Agencies develop good science base regulations that work for the benefit of the animals and the hunter so as long as it’s legal, why should you care. You hunt your way and I’ll hunt my way!!

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