Seeing deer vs having them in range...

[mobow]

I'm just interested in how many deer we see but never come into our kill zone. If you would, how many bucks do you see, but never enter your kill zone, and how many does do the same?

I'm not talking necessarily about a shot opportunity, but inside your kill zone. Just because a deer is in that zone doesn't always mean we have a shot at it.

I'm having to think pretty hard here, but I saw........15 bucks last fall. Every one of them were in my kill zone. I saw none that weren't.

I am guesstimating here, but I would guess I saw roughly......100 does last year as well. I can remember only 5 that never entered my zone. If I would have shot every deer I had an legitimate shot at last year......It would have been around 20.

And, what from your own numbers can be learned? Myself, they tell me that I set up in the right spots. I mean, just getting a deer in close enough to kill is half the battle, right?

[TexasBowHunter]

The areas that I set up normally, if I see the deer it is within my range. We hunt real thick cedar breaks and finding a place that you can see farther than 30yds is tough unless you are on a road. I would say 98% of the deer I see sitting on stand are within my range.

[GMMAT]

I saw FOUR different bucks, last year from stand. I had them all within 20yds (some much closer) on at least one occasion.

I saw MANY many does.....and some were not within that zone. Many were.

I see a lot more deer than most....and I don't pass up shots on does, very often.

There's NO WAY I could have killed 20 deer, last season. Having multiple targets in range is both a blessing and a curse. I'm not making fun of you at all, Don.....(believe me)...but when i hear people say "I didn't shoot the deer....even though I could have".....I interject my own, personal "at"behind the "shoot".

Like you said.....having them in range.....and putting them on the ground................you could build a Wal-Mart between those two things, sometimes.

[rybohunter]

I really have no idea, this isn't a stat I keep. I only count shot opportunities, not sightings within XX yds.
Generally speaking though, the majority of deer I see are probably within "bow" range depending on how you want to define that, as I normally only shoot at deer that are WELL within bow range.

[mobow]

Jeff, would it help if I told you that of those 20, I can remember at least a dozen that I actually drew and anchored on? There sure is a hell of a distance between seeing them and putting them on the ground, but I can't even tell you how many of those I had w/in 5 yards of my tree, at some point during the encounter. Or even had them hang around w/in 15 yards of my tree for 5 minutes or longer. I can remember a few that hung around for over an hour.

Now, I don't know. I just thought of something else it teaches me too. MAYBE I'm not spending enough time glassing and really scouring the woods. Maybe there are deer, and maybe even some mature bucks, that are passing by a hundred yards away that I'm not seeing. And, maybe if they were, and maybe if I were to see them, I could change up my ambush point a little......

[Siman08/OH]

I see a lot of deer in the early season that are out of range, and that is because i hunt fields. I try to make it so i hunt funnels and pinch points, but the deer don't always cooperate.

[Steven McBee]

it depends on my stand site....in some spots every deer i see is withinb range but if im hunting over a big food plot or on the edge of a crp field, not every deer is within my kill zone/.....overall i would say about 80% of the bucks i see come into range and around 90-92% of the does i see come into range

[GMMAT]

Jeff, would it help if I told you that of those 20, I can remember at least a dozen that I actually drew and anchored on?

Doesn't surprise me....as I know you. I was speaking from my experiences, only. If I get 20 legitimate, ethicalshots at does, this year......I'm gonna stack 'em up.

[PABuckbuster12]

Sometimes I wonder that, when a guy says I let 3 8pts walk this year. Did he really? Or did they wander past him but never gave him a shot or were out of range.

I see a lot of deer each year. I see a lot of buck each year as well. But I see most buck during scouting etc. I then hunt where I think the biggest is going to be. I would say I truthfully let 2 or 3 buck walk each year in all my locations. I'd say I see another 2 or 3 buck that arent in my range. If a nice buck gives me the opportunity I put him down. This is while on stand.

By the end of the season, I start naming the buck I see because I feel like I know them I see them so much. But with tight quarters where I hunt, its tougher to see a 2 or 3 yr old the next yr. They wander off my land and the guns mow them down.

[Paddles]

The last three years i should'vecould've would've had a 150"+ buck but 2 were about 60 yards away and the other well that one shouldhave been down.windy=can't hear real well=right under stand and into field behind bushbefore you can draw[]