I prefer spot and stalk or still hunting. However, Alberta has gone from 1 million to 4 million residents in my lifetime. We are lucky enough to have a few quarters of land in the extended family, but due to increased hunting pressure and acreages everywhere on prime farmland we are going to put up some blinds to ensure we have safe shooting lanes.Well, sitting in a blind, "hunting" whitetails, waiting for the feeder to dump goodies or watching a bait planted field, overlooking a bulldozed/chained strip through the mesquite or even a trail intersection where for weeks prior you've cataloged bucks by name coming and going via a trial cam is not my idea of a dream hunt of any kind. Get into a large, unrestricted area where you actually hunt whitetails, mano a mano... now that is a different story. Can be as rewarding and as challenging a hunt as any for any big game anywhere. Add to the whitetails' keen senses and awareness of their territory to a habitat of steep, rocky, broken, scrub thicket covered terrain all on public land and you have a hunt! Do it right by stop and go still hunting an old Coues' buck in his territory, and report back on what kind of hunt that wasHunting most whitetails that way has almost become a thing of the past as best I can tell. I remember reading all the stories of generations of the Benoit family in Maine still hunting those buggers on their own terms years ago. Now it's all trial cam cataloging, blinds and tree stands, whispering to a video camera over your shoulder while waiting for 12pt Fred to show up.
We also hunt in the green zone - Crown land that is largely undeveloped - and I’m happy to go for a nice walk in the woods with my rifle anytime. Blind hunting has become a necessary transition as we teach my kids and nieces and nephews to hunt for safety and practical reasons.
As they say about fishing, ‘a bad day fishing’… Hunting is all about making the best of the opportunities you’ve got IMO.
