Hevi-Shot: old vs. new

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Not only does Rapier make me look like an irresponsible idiot on another thread this week for not cleaning my guns, but now you guys are making it look like I cannot call or shoot geese and that I am some rookie hunter out there.

Sorry Fabs, but that was not my intention......this is just something that I have noticed over the last several years of hunting the managed areas. I don't care how you spend your money; if you wish to use gold shot, be my guest.
The point I'm trying to make is that a lot of people (I wont call them hunters) are trying to make up with technology with what they lack in skill. They can't call, so they put out a spinner....or a dozen. They can't (or won't) work birds, so they shoot at long range, and if something is advertised that will allow them to kill 'farther", then they try it......even though they don't have the skill.
Not trying to infer that you're a rookie or irresponsible, and I'm sorry if you took that from my post.

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by Mr. 16 gauge

Sorry Fabs, but that was not my intention......this is just something that I have noticed over the last several years of hunting the managed areas. I don't care how you spend your money; if you wish to use gold shot, be my guest.
The point I'm trying to make is that a lot of people (I wont call them hunters) are trying to make up with technology with what they lack in skill. They can't call, so they put out a spinner....or a dozen. They can't (or won't) work birds, so they shoot at long range, and if something is advertised that will allow them to kill 'farther", then they try it......even though they don't have the skill.
Not trying to infer that you're a rookie or irresponsible, and I'm sorry if you took that from my post.

Yeah, I think it all comes down to skill regardless of what you are using. However, the technology does give us an edge. Me, I still use a $20 Primos goose flute to call and I kill plenty of birds with it. I also have a Tim Grounds Magnum call, but it just doesn't seem to work as well. I have a mojo goose, mojo duck, and mojo dove. Haven't hunted with the mojos at all this year but have personally killed 6 geese on 3 days of hunting so far this year (i.e., I have limited out every time). My take is that sometimes those mojos work and sometimes they don't. I think the most important thing is being able to read the birds and listen to the birds, and then the next most important thing is putting out a realistic spread. One of the guys I was hunting with told me that it doesn't matter whether the birds are pointed into the wind. However, whenever I study birds on the ground, they are almost always headed into the wind.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to whether people are sportsmen or not. Whether they realize their limitations with a firearm. For instance, I am pretty confident up to 60 yards on doves, ducks, and geese and will go out to 250 on a deer with a rifle, 125 on a deer with a shotgun. After those yardages, everything needs to be right (e.g., wind, stance of the deer) for me to even try to take a longer shot.

I just think we are lacking sportsmen nowadays, and therein lies the problem. We are lacking the type of people that can go out hunting, get nothing, and still come home thinking it was a great day. That is what the marketing is promoting. Just like I think marketing has screwed up the American people and made us buy a lot of crap we don't need (e.g., mojo decoys, Hevi-Shot, patternmaster chokes, $150 calls, $150 for 4 or 6 decoys). Hunting is both a business and a sport. The same thing holds true for cycling. There is so much stuff out there (e.g., ceramic bearings at $150 to $200 a set) that people think will give them the edge. In the end, it comes down to practice/training for the most part.

Too much marketing and people have too little time on their hands because they want to do too much during their lifetime.