I can't speak for everyone, only me I guess. But I'd have to say in my hunting areas, there are too many hunters that simply shoot anything, which results in less mature bucks. Does that mean that they're not there; No. Harder to get one; sure. But, one of my first goals is to pass on the smaller ones, so, by passing on them, I have achieved one of my goals. Does that mean I've failed, yeah I guess so if the season closes and I don't get a big boy...
However, I get a sense of accomplishment by being selective, but that is just me.

Great thread, I think this excuse falls into 2 categories.


The guys who rarely if ever, kill anything, so they just say they were waiting on the big one, so their excuse is pretty much BS.
the guys who legitimately wait on big bucks and for whatever reason don’t get an opportunity at one that meets their requirements. This is legit and whether they say it as “they didn’t place themselves in the right position” or as “one didn’t show up that I wanted to shoot” is just being nitpicky. [/ol]

However, I feel that if you did not get one due to missing, blowing a shot, or having one close that didn’t work out, just state how it went down. No biggie, its not an “excuse” so much as its just the way it happened

As are most things, I think this is just an oversimplified way at looking at a complex problem.I think thatthere is a large amount of luck involved with killing a specific deer. E.G. does he stop in the shooting lane or for some unknown reason just decide to jump through it, does he hang around your stand for 15 minutes and never give you a quality shot, etc. I truly believe that you can do everything right and still end up with nothing, especially in bowhunting. That is why it is so sweet when things do come together.

I think that anytime you're dealing with hunting, there are three very distinct camps of guys:

The first group (A)are the guys who hunt like maniacs, logging MAD hours in the stand, hunting away every possible second of spare time they get - rain, sleet, snow or shine. These guys will fill their tags (or at least have plenty of opportunities to do so). When I hear one of these guys say "I ate tag soup because I didn't see any deer worth shooting,"I know they're telling the truth. From my experience, I'd say (around here at least) - Group A comprises maybe 3-5% of the hunting licenses sold.

The second group (B) are the weekend warriors. One day every weekend or two, when the weather is nice, they're out there. These guys have all the gear, but just don't have the obsession. They like to feel like the great white hunters, and they're chock-full of excuses. These are your "passed up 30 bucks in one day" guys. John Rambo, Ted Nugent wanna-bees,they pretend like they're hunting on Buckmasters or something. 30-50% of the hunting population, if I was guessing. These guys always have a big plan, and that plan usually falls flat on its face.

Group (C) are the pretend hunters. They drive trucks covered in big buck stickers, turkey track stickers, hunting stickers, strutting toms, etc... They hunt the opening day of opening day of gun season and the first Saturday. Somebody flushes out a deer and it runs in front of them, they blast it, and they're god's gift to deer season from that point on. These are the guys who hunt 1, 2, maybe 3 days a year, but talk game year round. They're the guys who say "Been out lately?" and you say "yeah, bowhunted all day yesterday in a drowning rain" and they look at you like you're crazy - coming back with some idiotic comment like "deer don't move in the rain, I won't even waste my time." "I went on a poker run on my quad - screw huntin' in the rain - that sucks." This demographic makes up the remainder of the pie.

heard that one two many times

Dang Fran....

Now you won't hurt my feelings.....but where do I fit in on that list????

quiksilver,

You sure left a lot of room between Group A and Group B. I don't fit Group A, but it is really largely a matter of work, family and distance to my hunting spots. I can't be that obsessed right now although I want to be.

But I don't fit Group B. I try to hunt when I can no matter what the weather, post-rut, or deer sightings are indicating. I don't make a lot of excuses (I used to do that more due to youth). I don't go just to hang out at the camp and drink all night. I get up early and have more and more been moving to hunting the whole day. I work on food plots, clearing lanes, putting up stands, scouting, etc. (again, with some of my only free time). Last year I had a 12 or 13 year old bow. I've slowly worked on getting better gear to increase my success.

In other words, I used to be in Group B, but I'd like to think I'm moving towards Group A.

Since it is related to this thread, I had a day last year where I saw 4 nice, non-shooter bucks (one was a 3.5 yr. borderline shooter), I totally loved the experience. I watched them chase a doe, run each other off, lick branches, etc. So of course I told people about that b/c it was cool, but I wasn't making excuses or hanging my head. I made a gamble that an even bigger buck might appear and it didn't pay off. I don't regret that. I will be hunting that same area this year at that time.

Jeff, you defy all logic and demographical boundaries. There's no way to quantify the GMMAT phenomenon - it's like the Northern Lights or Stonehenge.

I guess I should qualify my group A, B, C classifications - being as P.C. as I can be - let's just say that Pennsylvania has a "unique" set of circumstances, and hunting around here is quite different than what a lot of y'all are accustomed to.

Not the first time I've heard of this. I have to believe you guys, but likely....as you reference.....not what I'm accustomed to.

Now lets add the Geographic excuses to the list.