ORIGINAL: BigJ71
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?.
John,
It's nice that you have your own way of breaking down your hunting experience according to pre-teen, teen, adult, middle-age and senior years. I did not know that you were only talking about "adult" years of hunting. I too roamed the woods with my dad when I was 9. However, I count the years that I had my very own bowhunting liscense as years of bowhunting experience. So that would be 41 years of experience not 43.
In the last 14 years of hunting Ill I did not shot a mature buck during 6 of the 14 seasons. Of those 6, there were some that I did see a P&Y caliber deer, I don't remember how 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?
Good detective work, John. The "trophy heavy" area I was talking about was in my home town of Racine, Wi. I started hunting this area in the early '70s. At the time we were only rabbit and pheasant hunting because there weren't any deer around (at least that we knew of). We started seeing deer in the early '80s and I started hunting for them in 1983. Eight years later, in 1991, I shot my first P&Y.
You really shouldn't assume anything about my hunting, John, because you don't know. Well I'll tell you.... after the first P&Y in '91, I shot4 more P&Y class bucks in a row. Then my land was sold in '96. I had to find a new spot in Wi. In the mean time I had hunted Ill for the last 2 seasons. I bagged my first big one in Ill in '96 and mythird one in '01. Skunked in both states in '97 but doubled in '98, '03 and '04. 2004 was the last time I was able to hunt in my home county but have been hunting up north (where I want to move). So for the 3 seasons I have bow hunted Ill until successful and then went up north to hunt. So far I only got a 130" up there with my rifle. So my total is 8 with a bow in Wi and 8 with a bow in Ill and one with a rifle in wi. 17 total.
As you can see, my success is about equal in either state and have averaged taking a mature buck for each of the 17 seasons that I've been hunting them.
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.
Well, I'm not lying..... I hope you're not accusing me of that.
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.
Experience is necessary but not the only prerequesite for killing a P&Y. You're right John, you do have to hunt where they live (at least one of them).
I'm not about to say who is more skilled than myself anywhere, especially in other states. There are too many variables as to why I might have more inches of antler hanging on my walls. I would guess that the number one reason would be that I put in more time than most. Because if they were as skilled or more skilledthan I am, they'd certainly be hunting in a location where they had a reasonable chance of success.
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.
John, calm down. Nobody is getting arrogant or elite. The point is, that their states do hold some numbers of these animals. If it is their goal to kill one of these animals in their home state, then they are going to have to find them.... it's called hunting.
It really does not ALL boil down to location. Location is only part of the equation, like it or not...... that's gospel. [:-]