Good Post!!!

A hunter is a person who abides by the laws both ethical, humane and federal/state game laws. Also a person WHO DOESN'T BAIT GAME like deer. You actaully have to HUNT the game not entice them with food 30-yards from your stand for several weeks prior to season. That's not hunting in my mind, you need to go in the games habitat, learn their travel routes, food/water sources, bedding areas and use the wind to the hunters advantage and try to outsmart the game, then finally take the game as humanely and quickly as possible. I can't stand baiters except of course bear hunters. Just my opinion.

I agree with most of what's being said here. Hunting within the confines of the law is a must if you want to be a true (ethical) hunter.

I for one cannot see how hunting baited deer is true hunting, but that's just me. Others may see it different.

I also feel that guided hunts don't necessarily make a preson a true hunter. The guide.....yes, I'd say in these situations, the guide is the true hunter and the shooter is just along for the ride as all he/she has to do is pull the trigger or release the arrow. The true hunting effort is done by the guide though.

Pheasant hunts where the birds are raised and then released into a field where shortly thereafter, people go out and bang away at them. That's about as lame as hunting fenced-in deer IMO.

I also feel a true hunter is one who learns the specie that he/she is persuing. Whether it be waterfowl, deer, elk, moose, pheasants, turkey, etc. Learning the call, learning the habitat, learning the conditions, learning the patterns and tendencies....all the efforts that go into understanding the specie being hunted makes for a more true hunter. Something like this takes time and experience, and in no way makes a young hunter any less of a true hunter.

I also think a true hunter is one who, no matter how difficult or how poor the hunting may be, they stay at it and work to make it better. I feel a true hunter even cherishes a bad day in the field or on the water as there is so much more to take from an outing or experience then just shooting what you persue.

I also feel that guided hunts don't necessarily make a preson a true hunter. The guide.....yes, I'd say in these situations, the guide is the true hunter and the shooter is just along for the ride as all he/she has to do is pull the trigger or release the arrow. The true hunting effort is done by the guide though.

If a person is hiring a guide to try and learn how to become a better hunter or "true hunter" I think no less of them.