I grew up in WV which was/is a rifle state. My grandparents own a 200 acre farm and I pretty much lived out there. Killed my 2nd buck with a 30-30 lever action at 5 feet on that farm. Yes, 5 feet. I hunted with rifles for years for deer AND turkeys. My uncles owned 2 acres next to a paper company that had 100,000's of thousands of huntable acres. We would go hunting every Fall at their place. I would see guys shoot deer 200, 300, 400, 500 yards away on an opposite ridge while sitting on a bucket eating lunch. Pretty impressive shooting at times but really nothing much to the hunting aspect. I remember guys sitting on ridge tops looking over bottoms or fields with their 22-250's looking to pop a turkey at 100, 200, 300 yards. Calling? Who needed that?
I consider my uncles and cousins to be pretty good hunters as they worked hard at bow hunting and gun hunting, stand placements, ect., had great ethics, but they were not the norm - at least when I was there.
After college I moved to Indiana and hated it. Too dang flat, smelled like pig crap everywhere, and was terribly ugly during the Winter time. HOWEVER, I fell in love with the deer hunting. I liked the close range, up close and personal culture the regs had developed over the years. Slug gun and bow - throw in a muzzleloader and I was good to go. Shots all under 100 yards or less. Learned the habits and nature of the animal better. I had to scout harder and work year round (not just opening day) at my new "disorder". I had been doing this for several years THEN I went back home to hunt on 2 occasions: 1 for turkey and 1 for deer. We shotgunned for turkeys but left 2 days early because of the rifle hunters walking the ridge tops. Scared the crap out of us. The hunting for deer was not the same for me - I had changed. I did shoot a doe at over 200 yards, but it was not the same.
Now that I have bored you with all that background to say this: hunt with whatever you want that is legal. Your preference and your right. Matters nothing to me. If the DNR decides to add HPR's I think over time hunting in Indiana will change. I am with Joe, Pav, and Dave, on this one. I think it will not change for the better. My opinion. My statements are nothing personal to anyone on this board. Where does this "more opportunity" end. Will we now legalize HPR for turkeys next?
