ORIGINAL: atlasman
Here is the part that I don't understand...............I thought it was about the "challenge" and getting close to a elusive "mature" deer??
Read the posts on this page alone..........written by guys who say when they started hunting their land their were no big racked bucks.......for decades in some cases. Now that they don't shoot smaller ones and grow them bigger they are seeing bigger bucks all the time and shooting them on a regular basis. Seems to me it was more of a "challenge" to get a big buck when you weren't passing them up and all you have done is make it easier for yourselves.
Just proves what many people have said here 1,000 times............passing on younger bucks makes it easier to kill bigger bucks.......not harder.......which goes against what drives most big rack hunters (or so they say).......the "challenge" is decreased.......not increased.
Couldn't be a more clear case of it on this page alone........35 years of hunting with the number of "trophy" bucks taken and seen in the single digits........now multiple "trophy" bucks are killed each year and seeing a bruiser is a "given" during hunting season.
Now tell me again which scenerio makes it harder to kill a "trophy" buck??
I guess if you have no vision past that long narly hair sticking out your nose you'll never get it.
I will be the first to admit that I hunt great natural no-fenced habitat and I'm truly blessed and fortunate and ultimately a fairy tale dream I have is that most if not all of hunters could experience it...now that's a horrilbe thing isn't it? It would put a halt to the steam rolling effects of leasing, outfitters, and guides turning deer hunting into a rich man's sport. They would still exist but not in the same venue they do now. Supply and demand...more mature bucks in herds throughout the country equals costs go down and more hunters hunt and stay in the game instead of being priced out of it and our sport survives. It's the big picture...not just the one in your woods, out of your treestand.
And as far as your disillusion about monster bucks behind every tree...you couldn't be completely further in left field unless you were in the parking lot. I have buddies who hit it hard every year and don't score on a PY buck and IMO they are quality hunters. I've been a bit luckier but like they say, I'd rather be lucky than good any day...but the point being that it by no means becomes like shooting fish in a barrel. Biological, factual research done on bucks documents that the older they get, the more secretive and elusive they become...sometimes disappearing for years before resurfacing again. Believe me...it's all the challenge a hunter could hope for IMO.