Published: October 10, 2009 06:48 pm      

Let’s take Warren’s high road

I like the concept behind Keith Warren’s television show “The High Road,” which airs on The Outdoor Channel.

Warren is basically saying that, as hunters, we are all in this together. As long as the way you hunt is legal in your state, well, you go, guy or gal.

The way Warren hunts isn’t for me. He basically raises deer in somewhat of a farm environment. He raises big deer with big antlers on his Texas spread. He puts in water systems so the deer have liquid during a South Texas drought. He has feeding stations. He uses genetic engineering, having deer whacked that don’t have the size of antlers he is looking for. It’s perfectly legal. He likes doing it. So that makes it OK with me.

For me, I’d rather hunt a spindly racked 6-point in a wild mountain setting. From earlier columns that I’ve written in this vein I now know that there are numerous readers who join me in that belief.

I think Maryland should go ahead and make crossbows legal during the entire archery deer season for anybody who wants to buy one, practice with one and then use one to turn a deer into dinner.

If you don’t like crossbows then don’t use one. If you don’t like crossbows and you have the say about a certain piece of land, then don’t let anybody use one.

As a fading user group, hunters need to be very careful about being snobbish, about saying my way is so much better than your way that you are an inferior hunter or even an inferior person to me.

On the Web site of The Outdoor Channel it reads, “The goal of ‘The High Road with Keith Warren’ is to unite hunters from all over the country, regardless of geography, styles, techniques and views.”

In my opinion, those of us who use compound bows have no reason to complain about crossbows. Those who use recurves or long bows have no reason to complain about compound bow users.

I wonder if Ishi’s counterparts in northern California who used spears started to complain when somebody came up with the bow and arrow idea.

If you are unfamiliar with Ishi, check him out on the internet. Fascinating stuff.

If you think about it, the evolution of the average blackpowder hunter from the flint to the cap and ball to the in-line rifle with 209 shotgun primers came about without much of an internal fuss from deer hunters.

If you’ve been around Western Maryland for a while, though, I’m sure you remember when we went through the years that scopes became legal on muzzleloaders, then scopes became illegal, then scopes became legal again.

Make a vow this hunting season. If you are a traditional bow user, make a vow to help a crossbow hunter drag a buck out of the woods. If you are a person who doesn’t bait, make a vow to help a Corn King skin his deer.

And vice versa, of course.

Let’s have a good hunt.

Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.