I've hunted deer for 17 years, and in that time killed 2x animals 3.5 years old. That's a pretty terrible number when looking at it that way. To be honest though, I've only tried to target mature animals for the last 7 seasons, and managed to do it 2 times out of those 7 seasons. I've also never hunted the same property for more than 3 seasons in a row, so when I finally start to get a place figured out I'm usually not able to access it anymore (with the exception of Vermont, where the hunting is so terrible I'll never go back).

In my opinion though, success rate on mature bucks alone really shows me little to nothing about someones abilities or skills as a hunter. There are too many things to consider when trying to determine the skills someone possesses to just look at a success rate. Sure that's a good point of criteria to look at, butit's the guys that can do it consistently year in and year out, on different properties,a variety of environments, with mixed amounts of pressure on those animals........that's the one I'm going to listen to when he speaks.

My best bud from highschool owns roughly 100 acres in Huntington County, PA. When his grandfather passed away, he inherited his "Pap's" treestand. In the first 5 years my buddy Justin sat in that stand, he killed 3 mature bucks. Does he know why those deer use that spot? Nope. Does he kill mature deer consistently? Yup. Can he do it elsewhere? Nope......like a fish out of water when he's not in that tree. [8D] Still one of my best buds to this day but his success rate has very little to do with his abilities as a hunter. He's got a great treestand though.......