I haven'tneeded an excuse since 1973. That year I moved to a new state and was starting up a business. No time or a place to hunt.

I know one,..... YOU!

So...you mean we need to be accountable for ourselves and quit being cry babies w/ nothing but excuses???

What are we gonna do now.....[&o]

If I see a nice buck in range I will shoot it. But I wont shoot a button buck or deer under 2.5 years. It must be a nice 3.5 year old or better. The problem is when pumpkin head season rolls around, they shoot everything.

If I see a buck I want to take, I take it. Easy enough.

Sometimes it just doesn't happen for whatever reason.

Many let small bucks pass to try for the prize. I dont mind
them saying that if it is honest. Just never got the one they
had in mind to cooperate.

I have a lot of respect for guys that will hunt years to try and get
a particular buck. Sure they have to pass up small ones. That shows
patience and persistence. It is noble in a way.

Butsure, some will say that and hide the misses.

I must not be able to put these thoughts of mine into words.....

I didn't say you were not able to put yourself on a buck. If you decided to not take the shotbecause that buck did not live up to your self imposed standards that is great and basically the only way to consistently take animals that do fit your standards (by passing ones that don't). But once the season ended your tag went unfilled because you didn't put yourself in position to make it happen and take an animal of your liking.

This post has nothing todo with what ones personal standard are it could be 50 inches or 300 inches. It's all about yes I did what it took to take a buck of my "personal standards" or no I failed at filling my tag because I never put myself in position to take an animalworthy of my "personal standards".

What I am trying to say is if youdidn't shoot an animal above your "personal standards" it is because you didn't put yourself in a position to succeed.

This is not a bad thing, it is actually a positive asit is taking responsibility rather than putting the blame on an idle variable (the deer that never showed up).

Least Mo get's it [8D]
[/align]

it depends on the person you talk to...if the person tells lots and lots and lots of stories about monster bucks that mysteriously gave them the slip then it may be just an excuse but most of the time your probably talking to a good and experienced hunter...dont confuse lying fisherman with honest bowhunters!!!

Exactly, so why not just say I didn't get it done this year rather than spew the old "I didn't get one this year because I didn't have a shot at an XXXer"?

If one does not succeed it is no ones fault but their own. This is all I am getting at, stop pushing the blame on the deer you never saw and put it on ones self for not getting it done.

Like I said earlier my "goal" for yearswas amature whitetail, the last few years it has been a 140 class mature whitetail. Plainly put, I succeed some years and failed others.

Yes. If you saw the buck you were after, and you did not kill it, that can be considered a failure.

If you wanted to kill a 150 or better and you did not do it, that can be a failure.It is.

I think what you are saying is when asked "So did you do any good this season" you hate it when they tell you about all of the pass-ups etc etc and why dontthey just say, "No, but there is next season, and he is still out there". Man, that is boring. We alll like stories.