has technology really affected hunting?

[cjric]

I've been wondering that lately. I've been able to find percentages of tags filled for only the last couple of years, but what I'd like to see is if the percentage of tags filled has risen substantially over the past 30-50 years. I'd like to find out what's being impacted more by technology. Our kill percentage, or our pocketbook. Is tech purely market driven, or is there real proof out there that it increases your percentages? Do I, today, have a better chance of filling a tag if I go out covered in scentlock realtree carrying the latest dual cam speed demon compound bow or scoped, rifled shotgun than someone 40 yrs ago with red plaid wool and their trusty dusty recurve/ smoothbore shotgun?

[live2fishdjs]

Remember, not only has technology evolved, but so have the deer...just my .02.

[boehr]

Remember, not only has technology evolved, but so have the deer...just my .02.
Yep, I agree with that! Changes in population has as great if not the greatest effect in a hunter being successful or not with all other things like scouting etc being close to equal.

[Craig M]

Yeah it does play a role but deer hunting isn't rocket science and the deer don't subscribe to Moore's law. With the computer age, were just get better at building more and bigger databases to query and report from. I think technology has done more good then bad since you can create data models, see trends, etc, which allows for better policy creation in the end. You can never have too much information or be to educated.

[One Eye]

Do I, today, have a better chance of filling a tag if I go out covered in scentlock realtree carrying the latest dual cam speed demon compound bow or scoped, rifled shotgun than someone 40 yrs ago with red plaid wool and their trusty dusty recurve/ smoothbore shotgun?

YES!!

And this is not necessarily all good!

[Foreveryoung001]

I think there is more to it than just the equipment. My grandfather was a great woodsman. He knew how to walk through the deer woods with barely rustling a leaf. I did not go out with him often, and now that he is gone, I wish I could go back and do things differently. But whatever knowledge he had, passed with him. My father never hunted, so in a lot of ways, I'm a first generation hunter. I remember the stories of my grandfather stalking a deer so close he could have whacked it with bat. If I can get within 20 yds, I feel lucky. Put my bow in my grandfathers hands, and no doubt, the skill plus the technology would improve your chances. Take my skill level with my bow, and it might be a wash, although I'd tend to give the edge to my grandfather with his old recurve. To make a very long analogy a little longer.... I think as the technology has improved, general woodsmanship has suffered, and I would call it a wash.

[Michihunter]

I personally think hunting has become easier. The amount of available information has certainly risen. Education has increased. Technology makes it easier to make a quick kill. The only downfall I can see is that hunters have become more lazy. Not all, but most. Todays technology, Gps, walkie talkies, scopes, bullet mfg, arrows, bows, and everything hunting related is by far superior to yesterdays equipment. That is just a fact. People can still hunt with atheir recurves and open sites, but it is not a better way. Just different.

[Backwoods-Savage]

The orginal question also asked about percentage of tags filled. That is perhaps not a fair question. For instance, when I started hunting, the DNR claimed 18-20% kill on deer....and that was only rifle hunters. They didn't even give a percentage on archery. I also remember it being as low as 12% for rifle hunters. But then, I also recall the first time 100,000 deer were killed during rifle season. Wow! That was fantastic news at the time and if my memory is correct, about 40,000 of those were antlerless.

Also with technology, there are a lot more hunters in the woods. Used to be when I went hunting deer in October, it was very rare to see another archer. Now I can no longer hunt like I did then. Tactics had to change with more hunters in the woods but they had to change anyway with more deer in the woods.

Another thing that has changed is that 50 years ago not that many hunters used scopes and not that many archers used sights.

So, do you have a better chance today. Yes; a far better chance.

[schopie4]

I think as the technology has improved, general woodsmanship has suffered, and I would call it a wash.

I agree. back in the old days, they didn't have muzzleloaders and shotguns that could consistanly shoot out to 300 yards or more. All technology has done is made it so that you don't have to know anything about being a woods man to shoot a deer. Set up in a field, and wait until a deer walks within 500 yards of you, then whack it. Its sad, but true.

[Michihunter]

Well, I for one have never taken a deer more than 75 yards away. And where I hunt, you had better do some homework or you'll go home empty handed!!

[2-BIG]

Take a look at the success ratio from the begining of Michigans archery season. The boom in the deer population definitely helped but the large jump in the success ratio coincided with the advancement of the compound bow. I gotta wonder when I see a young person (20 yrs or less) and he already has several bowkills. No big deal but I sure remember hunting my tail off for years till I got my first buck, and I sure learned a lot about deer behavior first hand and not from a book or video. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I know young guys that are disappointed if they don't kill 2 bucks a season with their bows! Shoot, I'm ecstatic that I just shot a doe!

[JAG]

Years ago hunters were more skilled but there were fewer deer. I think the technology has maybe helped us make up for that lack of skill and more deer certainly has helped to keep the harvest numbers larger. As far as all the new gadgets, they have had more effect on my wallet then my kill percentage.LOL

[IGGY]

I agree with all of the above for the most part. I think that the explosion of bowhunting in general in the late eighties early nineties that has continue to roll to this date,had a big impact (more people in the woods all season), along with the equipment and technology. For me it has been wonderful, I grew up playing the big three sports and had nobody to show or teach me the outdoors as that wasn't in our family. I have done a 180 and totally love it,to the extent that I bought property up in the northwest area and spend every weekend up there.........Love to trout fish,snowmobile, starting to hunt more over the last three years. Biggest thing I have learned is to keep it simple,affordable, listen and watch.Then find your own style and approach and learn from your mistakes. Basically picked up hunting at 39-40. Childhood friend of mine that lives in the Tustin area has been my biggest help as he has always been considered a very fine outdoorsman......biggest critic as well

lol

[Munsterlndr]

I think technology has had a limited impact on firearms hunting but a major impact on archery hunting. Compound bows, sights, modern arrows & broadheads have all had a major impact on the efficiency and the killing power of archery hunting. I think the impact on firearms hunting is much less. I killed my first deer with an iron sighted model 94 30/30. Since then I have probably killed another 25-30 deer with a variety of different calibers and mostly with scopes. All of these shots taken in Michigan have been under 100 yards and most at around 50 yards. All of them could easily been accomplished with that old thirty-thirty. Don't tell my wife, though or might have to sell a major portion of my gun collection!:lol:

[lodge lounger]

From purely my personal experience, I'd have to say the vast majority of technology innovation I've seen over my 40 years of hunting have had very little impact. Sure, I bow hunt with a compound, but before I bow hunted I shot archery recreationally with a recurve. If I think back to all the deer I've shot with a compound, I can't think of one that I couldn't have taken very effectively with a recurve. Ditto with firearms. Shot my first whitetail at 70 yards with a Model 12 and a rifled slug. Probably since then haven't taken one out to more than 100, and the vast majority way less than that. The old Model 12 was just as capable of pulling off any of those shots. But that's just me.

For the majority of hunters, and particularly bow hunters, I would say technology has reduced the amount of time required to be successful. Flatter shooting bows that are easier to pull and shoot reduce the practice time required to become proficient, and increase the number of opportunities presented by extending the range. And I'm not talking about guys that go into the woods ill-prepared, or take marginal shots. It just doesn't take as long to become adequate at 30 or 40 yards as it used to. A lot of the tech stuff you see out there seems to be marketed towards reducing the time required to be successful, which is kind of strange since the whole idea is recreation.

[U.P. Whackmaster]

I feel in some ways, technology has hurt deer hunting in that it has made some areas once considered remote, more accessable. My case in point are 4-wheelers. When I started deer hunting some twenty -odd years ago, my family didn`t sit in a blind, we didn`t bait. We still-hunted. We took our lunches, emergency supplies, rifles and ammunition and slowly made our way thru the deer woods. I am from Iron Co. and the area I cut my teeth hunting in was near Amasa. Lots of big, unbroken forest and swamps. Lots of giant bucks too! I think the smallest bucks we ever shot then were 8-pointers. We harvested lots of 9, 10, and even 12 pointers all by hunting scrape-lines, rub-lines, and funnel areas. We rarely saw any other hunters.
Fast forward to the early to mid-90`s and four-wheelers were everywhere. Areas that were once remote no longer were. More hunters, more baitpiles, more pressure. Needless to say, I rarely ever still hunt any more, its just not feasable. Now, I`m not cutting down four-wheelers or any of that other stuff, I `m just stating that one item of luxury/ technology has a snowball effect it does make a difference.
Archery equipment is another such tech. advance that has expanded the sport of deer hunting. Bows today are so user friendly, that with some training, a newcomer to the sport can be grouping arrows in the five-ring rather quickly. These are just some of my observations.