Thread: NZ vs USA hunting style

Originally Posted by MarkN

My 10¢

I'm discovering that "hunting" in 'merica, means often, a different thing, than does the term "hunting" in NZ and OZ.

It transpires that what we Kiwis think of as hunting, in NZ and OZ, is what 'mericans call "spot and stalk"

We, go out into the bush, the mountains, the hinterlands and quietly roam about, looking for, finding and shooting, game/pests.

'mericans drive their trucks up to their hunting area, walk about 200 metres and either, hide in a blind, or up a tree, sometimes for days, until an animal comes to the automatic feeder, that's been there for months, feeding out each day, so as to attract the animal.

And worse, they go to fenced farms and shoot animals raised specifically for the shooting thereof.

That's not hunting, that's sitting.

I prefer the NZ method.

Yeah nah maybe.

It’s a funny post and it conjured up some memories I have of sitting in the stands with obese and incredibly flatulent “hunters” waiting for something to turn up to the free buffet they’d spread all over the ground. But to be fair it’s way too generalised a way to describe hunting in America mate. Simple fact is there’s every flavour of hunting under the sun in America, and most committed hunters will be use several different methods according to species, season and law, and in particular they will almost certainly be highly enthusiastic fisherman.

My cuzzies in America would laugh until they hurt if they thought it was assumed they sat in a stand all season. Hunting for them is a trek with pack horses, and a shit load of very hard miles on their feet, slogging up and down, up and down, and it’s always the freeze-your-testicles-solid kind of cold. And they are required to be very fussy about what they shoot, so not impossible for them to come home empty handed. I’ve done a few predator hunts in winter with these guys, and I’ve never known cold like it, and have no particular desire to experience it again... -20°C with a solid breeze anyone?

Agreed, tree stand hunting for whitetail in typical North Eastern woodland habitats is an acquired taste, but geography / climate / seasons / flora pretty much determine what can and can’t be done. If you’ve been in those whitetail woods of Pennsylvania for example, you’ll know what I mean. Good luck trying to stalk in there. Every footfall is a crackle and snap, there’s no foliage to hide you in season and you stand out like dogs balls.

Everything is determined by where you are. Every state has different laws and laws within each state will vary by county / park. Simple fact is the settlers from the late 1700s to early 1900s did their level best to eradicate most large mammals from the continental USA. They only just got away with it, and if they didn’t have the extremely restrictive controls on hunting today then there wouldn’t be anything left. Today game densities are still relatively low in both America and Canada. I was talking to a relative in Alberta just a few days ago and showing him some video of what I’ve been up to here, the amount of feral game animals we have running around here is mind blowing to him.

I’m quite partial to a bit of sitting from time to time. Well actually I would describe it as lying in mud and sheep shit, hiding in rank grass and thistles, overlooking the bush edge waiting for something to come out. It certainly isn’t the most exciting form of hunting but if you know your ground it can be very productive! Fact is if I was to try any other method in those specific locations I would 90% of the time go home empty-handed... so you do what you need to do to make sure you bring home the venison.