Responsibility
Posted By
michigan
at
12/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
If you've followed Midwest Whitetail-Michigan this season you have likely heard me talk about the fact that the guys on the show aren't celebrities. That's because we're not. We're normal guys that love to hunt. I admit that I do have a pretty cool job. I work for Michigan United Conservation Clubs and produce Michigan OutofDoors Magazine and MichiganOutofDoors.com. I get to go to the office every day and work on things that I love: Hunting, fishing and protection of our outdoors heritage. After work, I get to produce Midwest Whitetail-Michigan. Yeah, it's cool. But it really doesn't change who I am. Even if my job didn't allow me to hunt and fish I still would. Just as much. With just as much passion. It's who I am and it's what I'll always do.
I do realize, however, that the things I do put me in a special position. I'm able to share the things I love with a pretty large audience. In a very small way, I get to steer public opinions of hunting and the outdoors. And that's a responsibility that I take very seriously and I know the rest of the pro staff does as well. That's exactly why you will not see us killing yearling bucks on Midwest Whitetail-Michigan. I never hide the fact that I am a firm believer in Quality Deer Management principles. I love big bucks and chasing them is my true passion. But I do not think all hunters should be limited to shooting only mature bucks. When my son is old enough to hunt, it will be entirely his choice as to what bucks he targets. Recall the early-season hunt with Bill Winke's son Andrew. The look on his face when he killed his first buck with a bow was priceless. Regulations and rules should not ever prevent a kid from having such an experience.
But what about guys like us? Guys that have killed plenty of deer and plenty of bucks? No, I don't think regulations should prevent us from killing young bucks. Rules shouldn't be needed. I think anyone who truly cares about the future of hunting and the health of our deer herd should voluntarily do the right thing. Yes, it's legal to kill a yearling buck. But is it right? It's also legal to shoot at a deer that's facing you. Does that mean you should?
Like I said, I don't begrudge anyone that kills a deer legally. If it makes them happy, then that's all that matters. But what about those who claim to care deeply about our sport? What about those who talk the talk but seldom walk the walk? Should they be given a free pass? Producing a show every week -- in real-time and producing footage just hours after the hunt happens is not easy. It gets even tougher when you choose to do the right thing for our deer herd and pass on young bucks. I know for a fact that most of our pro staff could have killed multiple yearling bucks. But they didn't. Why? Because they know that Michigan has a very serious and real problem with our deer herd. Our sex ratio is terribly skewed and our age structure is a mess. Mother Nature fixes her own problems. Disease is just one way that Nature will correct such out-of-whack populations. We choose to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. We certainly could kill a little buck and proudly claim "Hey, it's legal." But would we feel like we had done the right thing? I know I wouldn't. To kill a buck on camera just for the sake of killing a buck on camera, to be honest, turns my stomach. To me, it's greed of the highest order.
That's not what people expect from us. It's not what we expect from ourselves. And maybe that's what I'm really trying to say here. We are proud of the fact that we've stayed true to ourselves and are working hard every day to represent Michigan's deer-crazed hunters as best we can even if it means we kill few bucks on camera this season. We hope you've enjoyed the season so far. But don't think we're done yet. The cold weather has deer on the move. And we're hard after them. The season, in many ways, has in fact just begun.
Hunting is something we all love. I'm not trying to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't shoot. The best we all can do is what we feel is right.
Good luck this weekend. Stay warm. Stay tuned. We've got more yet to come.
See you on Monday's show.
Tony H.
I do realize, however, that the things I do put me in a special position. I'm able to share the things I love with a pretty large audience. In a very small way, I get to steer public opinions of hunting and the outdoors. And that's a responsibility that I take very seriously and I know the rest of the pro staff does as well. That's exactly why you will not see us killing yearling bucks on Midwest Whitetail-Michigan. I never hide the fact that I am a firm believer in Quality Deer Management principles. I love big bucks and chasing them is my true passion. But I do not think all hunters should be limited to shooting only mature bucks. When my son is old enough to hunt, it will be entirely his choice as to what bucks he targets. Recall the early-season hunt with Bill Winke's son Andrew. The look on his face when he killed his first buck with a bow was priceless. Regulations and rules should not ever prevent a kid from having such an experience.
But what about guys like us? Guys that have killed plenty of deer and plenty of bucks? No, I don't think regulations should prevent us from killing young bucks. Rules shouldn't be needed. I think anyone who truly cares about the future of hunting and the health of our deer herd should voluntarily do the right thing. Yes, it's legal to kill a yearling buck. But is it right? It's also legal to shoot at a deer that's facing you. Does that mean you should?
Like I said, I don't begrudge anyone that kills a deer legally. If it makes them happy, then that's all that matters. But what about those who claim to care deeply about our sport? What about those who talk the talk but seldom walk the walk? Should they be given a free pass? Producing a show every week -- in real-time and producing footage just hours after the hunt happens is not easy. It gets even tougher when you choose to do the right thing for our deer herd and pass on young bucks. I know for a fact that most of our pro staff could have killed multiple yearling bucks. But they didn't. Why? Because they know that Michigan has a very serious and real problem with our deer herd. Our sex ratio is terribly skewed and our age structure is a mess. Mother Nature fixes her own problems. Disease is just one way that Nature will correct such out-of-whack populations. We choose to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. We certainly could kill a little buck and proudly claim "Hey, it's legal." But would we feel like we had done the right thing? I know I wouldn't. To kill a buck on camera just for the sake of killing a buck on camera, to be honest, turns my stomach. To me, it's greed of the highest order.
That's not what people expect from us. It's not what we expect from ourselves. And maybe that's what I'm really trying to say here. We are proud of the fact that we've stayed true to ourselves and are working hard every day to represent Michigan's deer-crazed hunters as best we can even if it means we kill few bucks on camera this season. We hope you've enjoyed the season so far. But don't think we're done yet. The cold weather has deer on the move. And we're hard after them. The season, in many ways, has in fact just begun.
Hunting is something we all love. I'm not trying to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't shoot. The best we all can do is what we feel is right.
Good luck this weekend. Stay warm. Stay tuned. We've got more yet to come.
See you on Monday's show.
Tony H.
