Jimmy S

IMBO, comparing bass fishing to deer hunting makes little sense. I don't doubt that true elite bass fisherman can catch bass anywhere. The same cannot be said of hunting whitetails. Here's my logic and please tell me where I'm wrong.

Over the years I have had a handful of family members and friends hunt with us in northern NH and Maine. They were from Wisc, Maryland, Florida and Texas. They were veteran hunters that never failed to tag their deer every year. Most were fortunate to even see a deer after hunting for a week. They all were given our knowledge of the areas and where deer were seen and shot in years past. A few did mange to successfully tag their deer and all said it was nothing like they ever experiences. One buddy from FL shot a beautiful 8 pointer last year on his last day of hunting. It was the first deer he had seen during the entire week.

Why is it that veteran hunters from other states, friends that I truly respect as hunters, have such difficulty in being successful in remote, big woods that hold very few deer? I wish I had that answer. Yes, a deer is a deer but finding/seeing and shooting them in areas that you can hunt days without ever seeing a deer, is the biggest challenge of all. This is noted in NH where the total deer population is only 80,000 deer in the entire state. The success rate for all methods (Archery/ML and Firearm) is only about 15%. That's 1 in 8 hunters that brings home the venison. Now when you bring friends from out of state that hunt under these conditions, most may not be up to the challenge.