Originally Posted by
rockport
That is not how it works for most of us. That is how it works on TV.
Most of us regular folks take that same chance of going home empty handed.
That is the price you pay to harvest the big boys.
I spend hundreds of hours in a tree from the time mosquitoes are swarming my face all the way through the time when I'm hunting in sleet,and freezing rain just on the hope that I get one chance.
Most of us don't just simply get to choose..... We pay the price to earn an opportunity.
I understand your point and probably should have worded my thoughts differently. I also spend hundreds of hours building plots, I run cameras year round in several locations, scout year round, and shoot throughout the year all with the hopes of bringing home a "trophy". The challenge in Vermont becomes the limited ability to take does and the few bucks to begin with. The buck to doe ratio is somewhere around 5or6:1 (maybe worse). The rut in Vermont is not what it is in other states with a better ratio. It is simply easy for a buck to find a receptive doe. This severely limits their movement. Sure you will see the occasional scrap or rub but they are few and far between. Trail cam pics say the same thing. In a couple of high density doe areas the older bucks are generally only 2.5 There will only be a handful of 200 bucks killed in the entire state. A 120 inch deer will have people talking for miles. My point was not that it was easy for others to simply wait and pick out the buck with the most inches. There is no such thing as easy fair game hunting. My point was that knowing mature "trophy" bucks are attainable if you put in the time and effort is something that we do not have in Vermont. I'd like to think I would let the young buck live to see another year but given the herd I hunt that is difficult to do.