ORIGINAL: GregH
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.
It's not that I'm "breaking down" my bowhunting years, I'm just considering the years that I was able to hunt on my own without needing someone to drive me around or put me in a spot. Sure I learned a lot hunting with my dad but my biggest strides came when I did it my self, picked my own spots, made my own decisions completely.
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.
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.
So......You saw 8 mature deer in 14 season and a handful of P&Y caliber deer in the 6 seasons that you didn't see or shoot a mature deer. Without knowing the exact number of P&Y deer in those 6 seasons, I can only assume that "some" means more than one so for the sake of debate I'll just divide it in half and say 3 P&Y deer in those 6 years.
By my calculations that makes it about 11 P&Y or better deer (giveor take)in 14 seasons in Illinois......pretty good if you ask me.
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 agree....
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.
I disagree, They could be doing EVERYTHING that you do....and then some and have a better knack for hunting than you and still not put the inches on the wall on a consistent basis. If the deer aren't there in the numbers that they are in your neck of the woods then all things (hunter wise) being equal you will end up with more antler inches on the wall.
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.
The key word is "some" and yes I agree there are "some" P&Y and better deer and every year there are those who kill "some" of those deer. But year in and year out there is a whole lot more "some" up here than down there.
It would be akin to asking you why you don't kill a 190in deer every year....after all there are "some" where you hunt aren't there?
It really does not ALL boil down to location. Location is only part of the equation, like it or not...... that's gospel. [:-]
Yes it is only "part" of the equation....but it's a very big and IMO themost important part of it.Hunting skill goes a long way in killing nice deer (consistently), but I've also seen or heard first hand about literally hundreds of P&Y deer or better killed by novice and inexperienced hunters over the years. Why? because the deer were there plain and simple they were there. I told a story about a kid who killed a 198in deer out of one of my bow stands during the gun season, He had never killed a deer before in his life!You will find this scenario played out year after year and far more frequently up here in the big buck states than you ever will in the states not known for big bucks. That's why they say those states aren't "known for big bucks" it's not that they don't have them, they do.....it's that they don't have
a lot of them!