RE: Are NEW hunters better than experienced ones?
Sort of a different take……
I just finished up my first full season deer hunting. I’m 42…..and I’ve been mostly an upland and waterfowl hunter since I was 10, or so. I never gave wingshooting TOO MUCH of my extra time. It was a pastime….and I loved it…..but I wasn’t enthralled by the pursuit of birds. Waterfowl hunting was a different story. I studied ducks…..had a really nice duck boat…..got into training my own dog (BIG TIME)……and got consumed by the sport/pastime. Then….I moved from the coast.
Along comes bow/deer hunting. It consumed me MANY TIMES OVER what waterfowl hunting did. I read everything I could get my hands on. I watched every DVD/TV show I could watch. I listened to those I trust. I was at a place in life that I could afford to buy the best equipment……take time off when I needed to……gain access to some good land. I had/have EVERY advantage.
I don’t know how much “experience” I’ve packed into 1.5 yrs. How do you measure it? No. of animals harvested? No. of animals seen? Times on stand? It really doesn’t matter, to me, how anyone else (besides me) measures it. Each situation is unique.
In about 30 hunts (first season)…..I took exactly one shot (clean miss) at one doe on closing day. I went at it even harder (and, admittedly, the first season I was CLUELESS)…..and found the deer. It took me a year to find the deer on my small parcels. Once I found them……I knew I could shoot them….and took 5, last year.
Was I lucky?.....lol…who knows?? I haven’t killed a “big” deer by most people’s standards…..but the last buck I took will hopefully make “book” in our state’s bowhunters’ association. I hope I get luckier and luckier (or more experienced and a better hunter…..I don’t much care).
I’m for everybody getting “lucky” or “more experienced”…..or becoming a “better hunter”. I won’t distinguish. I like it when hard work pays off…….and I hope you all do what it takes to up your odds of becoming “lucky”. I’ll be pulling FOR all of you.
Good luck.