ORIGINAL: davidmil
Well I'll probably never be declared a great hunter. Why, because I really don't care if I am. I don't hunt for anyones acolades or kudos. I don't hunt for a "BOOK" buck. I don't measure them. I don't compare them. I shoot a lot of them, but I don't do it for any of the above reasons. I hunt for me. I do what gives me joy and pleasure. I do what is just my thing. I do it for the pure fun and enjoyment. The problem with hunting today is there are just too many people telling everyone else what they should and shouldn't do. I chose not to do that. It's suppose to be fun. I shoot some, I let some walk. I don't do any of it for anyone else. I'll never make it.
Sounds great to me............to many others I'm sure it doesn't......that is why there is no way to really answer this question. It's impossible to compare hunters from different towns........let alone states or regions. Every plot of land is different and many places don't even hunt in a similar manner........I mean, how do you compare someone sitting in a stand in the east with somone stalking the open plains out west? How do you compare people who hunt someplace like Florida with someone on the corn belt?? How do you even begin to equate hunting with 900,000 other hunters in the woods with places that have less then 20% of that pressure?? Some states have long gun seasons and some have short ones......some have VERY long bow seasons and some have just a few weeks. Some states have multiple buck tags and some can't even shoot certain bucks or have to tag a doe first. These and MANY more variables pretty much make any comparisons besides microanalysis meaningless.
Not even mentioning that everyone seems to be guilty of tunnel vision here and discussing whitetails only.........the question was bowhunter not deerhunter (funny how often people believe those are the same thing).
I also didn't see any mention of traditional gear.............now combine the two and it confounds things exponentially. Can we really compare someone who kills a grizzly bear face to face with traditional gear with a guy who kills a deer from 25 feet up a tree??
Land is ALWAYS the common denominator of success/"greatness"
In 2001 Maine, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida entered a total of 4 bucks into P+Y (1 each)..........Now contrast that with the 791 that were entered by hunters in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin (which had 358 alone) and it doesn't take long to figure out what the most important ingredient for success is........it would be quite foolish to believe their are no "great" bowhunters in the 4 states with 1 each........and even more absurd to think that coincidentally the vast majority of "great" hunters just happen to live in the midwest along the corn belt.
Unless you have had success in MANY different environments, taking MANY different animals with traditional gear part of that equation...........it would be hard to apply the label of "great bowhunter" IMO.