ORIGINAL: Matt / PA
Location and access to the proper hunting lands within a specific location is a HUGE component of anyone's success. There are alot of people who just do not have access to these kind of deer on a yearly basis no matter how hard they hunt.
You think it took me 23 seasons to shoot my first P&Y deer because I don't have a clue what I'm doing or don't know how to shoot?
I know guys who simply by the amount of time they spend in the woods should be successful by simple dumb luck........that have gone that many seasons and more and have yet to shoot ANY buck with their bows. But that's another topic entirely.
You simply cannot dismiss the notion of some people just having it better than others with respect to what the woods have to offer.
If you are an absolute rank beginner on a beautiful family farm in Pike County Illinois, I guarantee you that you have an advantage overhunters here in South Central PA or some public land in Michigan etcthat probably can't even be comprehended by the midwest guys, regardless of skill level or shooting ability.
I have gone entire seasons here in PA hunting multiple farms carefully and correctlywithoutSEEINGa legal buck, meaning one with 3pts to one side.
Take me and throw me on Hadley Creek's properties for the next 10 yrs, and put someone like Stan Potts on mine here in PAand check back with us in 2018 and see what our walls look like.
And that's not a slam on Stan because I know he knows what he's doing.
Exactly Matt, I can promise you I know what I'm doing and I'm yet to take a P&Y after 26 seasons. I have however missed a few but I can also promise you this, give the land some of these members are hunting to me and I can produce P&Y's ever season. I've shot 3.5 year olds for several years now, thing is, my 3.5 year olds score maybe 100" and in IL, WI, IA 3.5 year olds score 130's. Put those same people in my woods and they won't produce often or ever as well. It's not always "knowledge", "experience". I can also say this, after 26 seasons, I've seen ONE deer that would score over 150"....Why do you think PA hunters travel to IL, IA, KS, etc....I don't see anyone booking hunts in PA for the same bucks.
Sure PA has some booners but guess what, if they are seen, they are usually shot. Sad but true, farmers for crop damage or poachers. Where as, As Greg stated about his properties in that other thread having 130's common, PA has 85-100" commons. It's numbers, Midwest states have MORE in the statistics of the herd. Sure there are P&Y bucks in ALL states, some just have more so where would one stand a better chance at said bucks.
It's simple, I'll use Tiffany Lakoski for example, do you honestly think she's a more quailified bowhunter than most of our forum members yet she's taken bucks I may never see.
I made the statement the other day after I learned my 12 year old nephew just shot his second big buck of his life both of which are bigger than any buck I've shot yet. I do not have access to his locations, well I could I just choose not to..and he said he passed 14 bucks to get that one. I passed 2 legal bucks all season and shot the best one I saw. I do thinks right, I know what I'm doing. PA is a different state than most when it comes to pressured animals. Same goes with our turkeys. There is a saying in the turkey industry and I've heard many a "pro" on TV say it as well.
If you can call in and kill a spring gobbler in PA, You can kill a gobbler anywhere in the country!.
Some of that might not be far off in the whitetail woods as well.
There a taxidermist of a friend of mine, in fact that's where I'm going next Nov's rut....he said, and some of you will be offended by this, The deer in IL just don't look up. That's what he says, he and his friend brought 150's home this fall. That's his outtake of hunting IL vs PA.
No, location has nothing to do with it. [&:]