ORIGINAL: GregH
John, you have to remember that when I first started hunting in 1967, I had never seen or heard of compound bows or treestands!
It wasn't until 1984 that I shot a 96" 8 pointer with my rifle and I thought that it was a monster! I thought woods were woods and that deer were deer. I didn't realize that over 80% of the bucks taken during that time were only 1 1/2 year olds. Then a buddy told me about the P&Y and B&C clubs. I started to wonder why I had never seen one. So I started studying about deer, scouting and making a real effort to try to find one of these beasts. I started trophy hunting in 1991 and started hunting Ill in 1994. And now I'm where I'm at because of the desire to hunt big bucks.
Greg,
Fair enough, but my question really pertains to adult years of hunting. You'll notice that when speaking of my hunting career I use the last 20+ years as an example. Truth be told I started deer hunting with my dad when I was a 9 but I don't claim to have 34 years of deer hunting experience nor do I count those early years when it pertains to the scenario questioned in this thread.
So...that being said, I have a few more questions.
How many years in the last 14 (since 1994) of hunting Illinois have you gotten skunked or not seen a P&Y caliber deer?.
don't entirely agree with this statement either. I had been hunting a "trophy-heavy" area for 8 years before I finally learned enough about mature bucks to finally lay eyes on one and tag it. I totally believe in the statement that hunting a mature buck is like hunting a different species. You have to have you're sh_t together or you won't see or get many.
That "trophy-heavy" area couldn't have been Illinois because that would mean you didn't kill a mature deer in Illinois until 2002 because you started hunting Illinois in 1994. So we're to assume that the choice to hunt Illinois had NOTHING to do with the obvious spike introphy caliber deer you've seem to be seeing/killing?
I'm still finding it hard to believe you didn't see a P&Y caliberdeer in a trophy-heavy area for eight years when I've been seeing them for 20+ in not so "trophy-heavy" areas ofIllinois.
Experience while necessary is NOT the only prerequisite needed to killing P&Y caliber deer, you need to be where they are to do so as well. I'd venture to say that there are a lot of hunters in PA and VA and NC, etc...that are far more skilled and put more time and effort into pursuing Whitetail deerthan you or I, yet they don't have the antler inches that you or I do hanging on their walls.
For us to think otherwise is arrogant at the least and borderline self absorbed elitism because the bottom line is their states don't hold the number of P&Y deer as ours do thus their opportunities for killing a P&Y deer drop off drastically. EVEN if all the "best, most skilled trophy hunters" traveled and gathered in the few isolated areas where P&Y bucks were killed, they STILL wouldn't kill the numbers the average Joe kills in the big buck states so it isn't all about skill. It all boils down to location....like it or not.