RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
Yeah Mauser, but it's different now. Maybe I had too high of expectations. Like you, I didn't consider myself a real hunter until the last two seasons. I've finally gotten to the point where I'm pretty fanatical about scent control, entry/exit routes, stand rotation, post-season scouting, planting, etc that I felt like I was doing everything I could to put myself in a position to finally get another shot at a buck. Saturday, I hunted two spots that are to a T like you described (a vegetation transition), and two deer were the results of my efforts. I hunted my morning stand that's an oak grove bordering a pine thicket where I know deer bed. Usually, I have plenty of deer moving through here, but none the last two weeks. During the evening watch I headed to a spot between two pine bedding areas that always served as a staging area in years past. Two sits this year have turned up nothing with very little sign to boot. I've put soo much time into hunting, it's almost embarassing to not enough have a deer on the ground. It's one thing if I was passing 1.5yr olds regularly waiting for a 2.5 or 3.5, but I've had TWO...TWO bucks total this year in shooting range (and that's high for me in the past few seasons)...one spike, and one basket 6. Give most of you guys the time I have to put into hunting, and you would all put down 2.5-3.5yr olds every season. I'm lucky if I SEE a 2.5 every three years.[&:]
My attitude has switched just these past few days, and it's not as much as a result of not having a shot yet, but the fact that I'm having to accept that maybe I really haven't become a better hunter. I'm a bit like Jeff (GMMAT) in the sense that when I do something, I take it seriously to the fullest extent. I'm competitive, and I want to be good, and my record over the past 6 six seasons indicate otherwise to me, so that's what's really frustrating.
I can't make excuses, although my family and friends are gratious enough to try for me (the deer population around here isn't near what it used to be...or, the weather has them all screwed up, or, there's too many people using the property all year round to keep deer comfortable, etc), but all of these really just fall on deaf ears to me. I simply am not getting it done. Like I said earlier, I will go down swinging these last 6 days, but I need to evaluate some things at the end of this season for sure.