ORIGINAL: nchawkeye
It's too bad deer hunting has to be about the "trophy"...In the recent post "How many", you said you had 28 kills total and 8 (now 9) bow kills...
You're still learning, just really starting out...You need to be shooting deer to gain experience...This is one of my pet peeves with trophy hunters...They don't want to kill does, even if they are over populated....
The only way to learn to be a good, efficient hunter and to learn proper shot selection is to actually shoot an animal...We see all these posts on tracking...Guess what, you can learn tracking by tracking does as well as bucks...
Don't ever be "bummed" because your animal didn't live up to "your" expectations...That is not at all what hunting is about...It should be about putting meat on the table, killing the animal quickly and getting it butchered properly so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor, period...
Congrats on a great hunt, and the good memories...If your season for whitetails is over you might consider squirrel hunting with a .22...This puts you back in the woods scouting, I have stumbled across some of my best deer stands by doing this....
1. Number of Deer DOES NOT EQUAL Amount of Experience....otherwise an average joe who shoots everything he sees and kills 35 deer in 3 year down south would technically be more experienced than a savy hunter who limits what he shoots at and hunts for and has only killed 15 deer, but has passed on more deer than the first hunter saw
2.he NEEDS to hunt the wayt he wants to, which appears to be for bigger bucks than the one he just recently downed, no problem with setting goals and standards. He may very well have been hunting longer than you have, just hasnt stacked up the number of deer that you have.
3. Trophy Hunting has NOTHING to do with shooting does, in fact, most huntrs who target bigger bucks shoot does for a better buck to doe ratio. "trophy" hunters pass on small bucks, not all does. he even told that he has already shot two does this year so far.
4. So hunting has to be about this? people can't set goals and standards or limitations in this sport just as in anything else in life? just because he targets bigger bucks doesnt mean he kills animals slower, butchers them wrong, or doesnt eat the deer.
im sorry but i dont agree at all with your post. if you dont like that he tries and shoots bigger bucks, dont read his posts.
Congrats on your deer tho man, anything with a bow is an accomplishment, IMO. another lesson learned when it comes to judging bucks. Still a respectable deer and like you said, you have Alberta still to chase the big boys
Best of luck to ya, and again, congrats!