Maybe we just need a big group hug.

No

Posted this in the general forum, but figured I'd cross post:

any experienced bowhunter on here could do it. There are several bowhunters on here that are better than I am, I just choose to use odd tackle. Ya'll do know I use a compound too..

ill have a lot more respect for johnny if he makes this his profile avatar and face book profile picture

That is a dang good'un Jono, but wasn't it "Big deer in a big pen?"

I'm only a man.

Now is your time to shine....fix it

100% free range in the big pen

This thread has really hit the skids since Travis showed some contrition. We were easily heading to 20 pages.

In regards to fair chase in the big pen, I can offer some experience. I have a family friend who has an enclosure around his property. It is not a pay for hunt facility and by invitation only. I hunted it a few of times with my father about 15 years ago. I kind of expected this before we hunted but it just doesn't feel right to me. I saw a few really big bucks while in the stand. The deer inside adapt in certain ways to their confines. If it is a really thick spot the deer will bed in it and let you walk right on past them. If you turned and walked directly into the thick spot they would bolt. I shot one deer they had identified as a cull - a 195 lb. 4-1/3 year old with a 9 point rack. Never have scored it but I would guess around 115.

One time I was walking through the woods to a stand and started hearing a loud rumbling noise coming through the woods. Then a group of maybe 30 deer came stampeding within 20 yards of me. I took cover as I thought I was going to be trampled. After the deer passed, someone came by riding on a golf cart. They weren't intentionally pushing the deer, it's just a herd mentality reaction to the circumstances. Definitely not how free range deer react.

I would never pay to hunt a facility like this, no matter the size. The idea of shooting deer like cattle just does not appeal to me. Especially if these deer have been artificially inseminated with the genes of some super freak buck raised in a pen for his nut. Some of those non-typical deer are ridiculous and look like lab freaks to me.

this story really had a good ending. I was heart touched by the change I saw in the op. I just want to say john even though youv'e had a troubled past you can decide now to change. if you try to do the right thing 100% you never have to worry about anything. BTW. nice BF kill.

Y'all sure are easy to forgive. It ain't like this guy stole a piece of nickel peppermint from the grocery store candy rack.

Yep, and the whole story about the deer hasn't even been told. The version I heard would've actually been a funny story. And there's more truth to what he said at first than most think.
My understanding is, he was NOT hunting inside the fence, he was hunting the fair chase portion. The deer WAS in the "big pen", and came to the fence line one too many times, so ol boy decides he's gonna shoot the guy's 150" breeder buck. He and the landowner are evidently buddies and it was all laughed about. If this is true JT, why not just tell it the way it was? If you were gonna lie, why not paint you a black eye on and tell us the landowner "socked" you after shooting his BB. That would've made the story much more enjoyable and believable.
Kudos for admitting you were wrong for lying, but you have a criminal history, and without knowing your true integrity, I'd be more apt to show you the working end of a sidearm rather than shake your hand if you showed on my doorstep. Hate it's that way, but you did it.....not me.

This thread has really went downhill.....definitely no longer top 3 material.

Biblically speaking......yes it is. Lying and stealing a peppermint are both a sin. They are the same. The boy manned up and apologized. Now he has to earn trust.

Whoa now! So, he shot it thru the fence in the big pen. That beautiful free range mountain side in Pelham overlooking the big fence.

I know a buddy who accidentally did that on a rainy day. Wasn't pretty.

If he wants to "stay on this forum and prove himself" like he said, I think he should tell us the true story. If its anything Johnal3 says, Im not forgiving the guy or giving him a chance until the full truth comes out.

So technically speaking, he was hunting free-range. He didn't lie about the area where he was sitting, he just left out the part of where to deer was.

Also if this was in fact a breeder buck, they have piss-poor genetics on their place.

Well, he sounds like top notch Aldeer material. Git his ass on in here!