Mental struggles

[Tanner Peyton]

Does anybody ever feel like with all the modern advancements in today's technology that it kind of feels like you're cheating.? I kind of feel guilty from time to time knowing that I'm about 15 years further along then I should be because of technology. Almost like I haven't truly earned anything yet. But on the other hand I guess I can take that extra time and use it to maybe go above and beyond where the last generation left off. Anyhow I just wondering if anybody else ever kind of feels conflicted like that.

[LarryBeggs]

I would trade all the technology we have now in a heartbeat for the open gates, and cheaper gas prices we did have. I don't feel like I am cheating at all. Everything comes at a price.

[Mike Leonard]

Tanner,

I am sure many have felt this way when reading the stories of the old time hunters and how different it must have been, but there is no way to really turn back the clock, and the technology we have today in all facets of life has advanced so quickly over the past several decades it is truly an amazing thing.

That being said a person can still use their own personal barometer without any judgment on others and hunt the way that makes them feel the best and most satisfied.

Many people ask me at times why I am still clinging to the tradition of hunting lions on horseback and preferring to hunt on bare ground? My answer is that it combines several thing I love hounds and horses and it serves to lead me far away from the crowds and onto trails less traveled. My catches although lower in percentage than many are none the less very satisfying to me, and that is what it is really all about.

When hunting becomes a numbers game and mine is better than yours game and kill at any cost game the true enjoyment of it is very short lived.

But each has to make their own decisions based on how it makes them feel.

I had hunters who we were guiding ask me after looking over my rifle combinations of which several are advanced long range shooting platforms with excellent optics and ballistic compensating ability. Why on earth are you packing a model 94 32 Winchester Special for you own elk hunt?

I explained that I had killed many big game animals over the years and had even been lucky to harvest some Boone & Crockett quality trophies but today it was much more about the actual hunting than the killing to me. Sure with a good rest and one of my long shooters I could easily bump off an elk so far away he would have no idea there was anybody around and he would never even hear the shot. But slipping off your horse and pulling a slick little carbine out that was light and lively and putting the sneak on bull in the thick stuff was to me a better feeling deal.

No judgment for those who choose to go the long range route because it too has many challenges and rewards.

We can choose to use whatever makes us feel the best, but we can never go back to the way things were before so many technological improvements. And that is the way the thing that is known as progress seems to work.



Have fun!

[Goose]

With today's technology it sure makes things a lot easier and I believe the Garmin technology is an absolute game changer, It's a feeling of easement knowing the chances I have of getting a dog back now thanks to all of this, but I make it a point to always put my garmin down and just listen to the hunt, I'll look around and everybody's faces are glued to those screens and steadily asking where's your dog at, I always tell them , running, like was stated Its all about what makes you happy and feel good, one negative im seeing is the generation of hounds men, who only know of the Garmin age are losing their basic woodsman ship and hound sense, I see it every time I take someone sort of green with me.

[floridacathunter]

As an older, long time enjoyer,of hound hunting, my greatest " mental struggle" is trying to learn how to use, and benefit from today's modern technology. I well remember when having a good "homing" instinct was a very desirable trait in our hounds. Also, some houndsmen bred for "stranger shyness or one man hounds", to reduce the chance of hounds being picked up. Modern technology has lessened the need for these traits, while they are still beneficial. As a boy, I can remember my Dad getting a letter telling him that the sender had one of his hounds. I don't remember who didn't have a phone, the letter writer, or us. Maybe, neither. We've come a long way! Many years ago,I went fox hunting with an old time July breeder, Mr B.W. Giles , of Milledgeville Ga. We loaded about 20 July hounds in his truck and dog trailer. We drove about 3 or4 miles from his home and cast the hounds and enjoyed a good red fox race. As soon as we cast the hounds, Mr Giles un- hooked his trailer. Later that day we went back to where we cast the hounds. Several of the hounds had returned to the cast and were in and under the dog trailer. We loaded them and headed back to his house. On the way back we passed one of his hounds on the roadside, headed home. Mr Giles never slowed up. When I asked why he didn't stop and load his hound, and wasn't he concerned about the hounds safety. His answer was " if he doesn't come home, or return to the cast I don't want him". Technology has made many good changes in the ways we use and enjoy our hounds

.

[pegleg]

There's alot of traits and each Hunter values different ones. A dog that doesn't handle or home is worse then useless.

[davidg1!]

I agree with pegleg.

[david]

Tanner,

I am sure many have felt this way when reading the stories of the old time hunters and how different it must have been, but there is no way to really turn back the clock, and the technology we have today in all facets of life has advanced so quickly over the past several decades it is truly an amazing thing.

That being said a person can still use their own personal barometer without any judgment on others and hunt the way that makes them feel the best and most satisfied.

Many people ask me at times why I am still clinging to the tradition of hunting lions on horseback and preferring to hunt on bare ground? My answer is that it combines several thing I love hounds and horses and it serves to lead me far away from the crowds and onto trails less traveled. My catches although lower in percentage than many are none the less very satisfying to me, and that is what it is really all about.

When hunting becomes a numbers game and mine is better than yours game and kill at any cost game the true enjoyment of it is very short lived.

But each has to make their own decisions based on how it makes them feel.

I had hunters who we were guiding ask me after looking over my rifle combinations of which several are advanced long range shooting platforms with excellent optics and ballistic compensating ability. Why on earth are you packing a model 94 32 Winchester Special for you own elk hunt?

I explained that I had killed many big game animals over the years and had even been lucky to harvest some Boone & Crockett quality trophies but today it was much more about the actual hunting than the killing to me. Sure with a good rest and one of my long shooters I could easily bump off an elk so far away he would have no idea there was anybody around and he would never even hear the shot. But slipping off your horse and pulling a slick little carbine out that was light and lively and putting the sneak on bull in the thick stuff was to me a better feeling deal.

No judgment for those who choose to go the long range route because it too has many challenges and rewards.

We can choose to use whatever makes us feel the best, but we can never go back to the way things were before so many technological improvements. And that is the way the thing that is known as progress seems to work.



Have fun!

That is some amazing writing. It reminds me of the good old days when we could go to the mail box under the old shade tree and read some Mike Leonard Philosophy on most days.

I still don't know how a person can write a post on the computer and make it feel like a page from a book of classical literature written a hundred years ago.

Hopefully, You have been busy with writing that old book, and one day we can be reading it to our kids and grand kids and classrooms.

[david]

As an older, long time enjoyer,of hound hunting, my greatest " mental struggle" is trying to learn how to use, and benefit from today's modern technology. I well remember when having a good "homing" instinct was a very desirable trait in our hounds. Also, some houndsmen bred for "stranger shyness or one man hounds", to reduce the chance of hounds being picked up. Modern technology has lessened the need for these traits, while they are still beneficial. As a boy, I can remember my Dad getting a letter telling him that the sender had one of his hounds. I don't remember who didn't have a phone, the letter writer, or us. Maybe, neither. We've come a long way! Many years ago,I went fox hunting with an old time July breeder, Mr B.W. Giles , of Milledgeville Ga. We loaded about 20 July hounds in his truck and dog trailer. We drove about 3 or4 miles from his home and cast the hounds and enjoyed a good red fox race. As soon as we cast the hounds, Mr Giles un- hooked his trailer. Later that day we went back to where we cast the hounds. Several of the hounds had returned to the cast and were in and under the dog trailer. We loaded them and headed back to his house. On the way back we passed one of his hounds on the roadside, headed home. Mr Giles never slowed up. When I asked why he didn't stop and load his hound, and wasn't he concerned about the hounds safety. His answer was " if he doesn't come home, or return to the cast I don't want him". Technology has made many good changes in the ways we use and enjoy our hounds

.

Wow some great posts on here. I really enjoy the pictures you guys are painting.

I feel the same way about homing. It is still mandatory.

[macedonia mule man]

No matter how advanced and how expensive the technology is, you still have to strap it to a dogs that can find, run, and catch a cat. I find it is a lot easier to come up with all type technology, but extremely hard to come up with a pack of cat dogs. I wouldn't worry too much about technology making cat catching too easy.

[david]

Haha. Like saying to a guy swimming from California to Hawaii: "No fair, you are using swim fins!"

Does anybody ever feel like with all the modern advancements in today's technology that it kind of feels like you're cheating.? I kind of feel guilty from time to time knowing that I'm about 15 years further along then I should be because of technology. Almost like I haven't truly earned anything yet. But on the other hand I guess I can take that extra time and use it to maybe go above and beyond where the last generation left off. Anyhow I just wondering if anybody else ever kind of feels conflicted like that.

I think I felt the same way when I was young. It took me many years to cave in and buy any electronics. And I nearly always went with my dogs.

Now that I am old, well, I need all the help I can get and I really can't go with the dogs a lot of times. (Unless I am in shape by doing it every day). And really I am glad these things are available for young people too, because we need as many young people as we can get, and I think it makes the sport accessible and possible.

There still are a few spots where a person can go as primitive as you care to go. A person would find out how addicted he might be to technology. Sounds kind of painful and maybe not very fun.

We have a lot to be thankful for and a thankful heart is good medicine for a struggling soul.

(Sometimes it is best just to receive the gifts, and say "thank you", and feel blessed beyond measure. We really are!)

[1bludawg]

Well said Mike .
All the technology in the world won't make you a houndman . There's quite a learning curve in handling and understanding dogs before you start having some success at it.Some guys have hunted for years and never really learn the sport .
The new gadgets are invaluable in knowing where your dogs are and gathering them up at the end of each hunt .
In some instances they can be used to make up for shortcomings in a dog(i consider that unethical ) but i wouldn't go back to the old days for anything .Days when i had to search for several days to find my dogs ,sometimes finding one that had been hit by a car or had been caught in a trap for to long .
We never really know how many times this new technology actually saves our dogs lives .

[Tanner Peyton]

I'm not talking just about Garmins, but rather the whole spectrum of our tech savvy age. These inventions do make life easier but also as a direct result they remove us farther from our roots. For example on my last hunt I;used the internet to speak with experienced hounds men from all over the country. I got on google maps and looked at satellite imagery to scout a new spot. I used global positioning system to track the distance and rate of my dogs every movement. I made phone calls to speak with game and fish officers about local rodent and cat populations. I got in my pickup and drove at 70 mph down the hwy for about a 200 miles. It just all seams like none of this could of been possible 100 years ago. But then again for me to hunt the way they did a hundred years again isn't possible either. There isn't a lot of wilderness left out there. For me to have the amount of knowledge I do as of now would of taken 30 years of trial and error. I mean I love new technology the way it allows me to test my theories but it also seam to teach me things that cant be un-learned. Also, maybe that's a testament to the bobcat, with all this fancy technology they can still be quite a challenge. I think that's why I love this sport, the challenge of it all. A guy can make it as hard as he wants to.

This is getting weird, I'm sitting here complaining about getting help. I better stop before I get my self into trouble.


I agree about homing, the great thing about homing is the problem culls its self pretty fast. Also I feel like free range puppies do develop at this a little better. I could be wrong though.

Mike that was great writing, for a moment I was literally in your story. But just so you know I adjusted my hate right before I shouldered my rifle and put that bull down. Haha, I added that part.

[pegleg]

Wondering through the wilderness with your houndin pursuit of game will teach you a great deal about yourself your hounds and he animal leading you on. However it is a slow way to collect knowledge about hounds or your prey in general. It can be mislead you by a animals off behavior or your perspective. But reading through everyone's experiences and types of dogs can be just as misleading or confusing. So it all has its ups n downs. However having broke dogs with out collars or much else I admit to preferring the advantages and I'm sure the dogs would choose to live now instead of endure the methods of communication employed in the past by some

[twist]

If your worried about it bein cheating or to easy there is a solution. Dont use the new technology go at it off the grid. Ive been at it long enough to see both sides I will take it the new way lol! Andy