I live in state where I can hunt and kill two whitetail bucks a year, 2 elk, 3 bear and 3 turkey, 1 antelope. All over the counter no draw.

That being said, having 2 buck tags for me personally HAS NOTHING TO DO with how much experience I gain. Unless you actually come spend a year with me, scouting, shedhunting, from Jan-June, scouting from June to August 29th and then hunting from August 30th to Jan 1 (passing on many does and bucks)... I guess you would really never understand what knowledge and experience I gain. I hunt areas that I rarely see does unless its during the rut. I hunt areas that I usually only see the buck ora few bucks. Deer densities are low due to predators here..and the bucks I am hunting are savvy. Just getting on them makes for priceless experience. Mature deer and young deer absolutely should be classified as seperate spieces in my neck of the woods, because the act completely different. Along the way I am going to tag out on most of my animals every year only becuase I know my areas and animimals inside and out. The varying species I can killgives me continued practice of shooting, tracking and field dressing. etc..

I live in a state and the record books don't lie, that holds some nice whitetails but nothing world class except for a couple big Nontypicals in the books. Very few though. Yet my top 6 whitetails score 935 inches, not bad for Idaho I reckon when the annual whitetailbuck success rate with a bow and arrow falls around 2%.I didnt kill these big bucks by compromising and filling my 2 tags earlyand then packing it in for the year. Instead, the killing part is a portion and only a portion of HUNTING. I attribute all of my good fortune and success to my Lord Jesus Christ and second, effort....year around non stop scouting, patients, and passing on deer after deer....finally having only 2 tags reallyhas molded me tocare much more about quality than quantity. I learned in my early years to track and skin a buck. Thats easy. I can see how for a young or new hunter getting kills under their belt would be very beneficial. When someone in my area needs a buck found, they often call me to help. I get calls every season from friends and locals. I learned the hard when when I was younger on some poor shots and had to track bucks for long distances. My wilingness to not give up helped more than my skill in those early years. skill developed over time when searching for lost bucks, 2 of mine that I found later and several of others from other hunters. I dont need to kill 20 deer a year to know how to track or field dress a critter. I get enough practice with bucks, bulls, cow elk, bears etc..on a yearly basis.

I've learned way more from the big old bucks that I targeted and thatI never killed than I have from the deer I have shot. end of story.

Peace out...

Me too, GR8.

What's easier....watching her/him pass....or shooting him/her?

All my buddy was saying is....It takes more skill/effort/whateveryawannacallit to get drawn, undetected.....and pull off the shot with your nerves on edge....than it does to watch it walk by.

I assume after you've done this (______) times....you coud say whatever made you feel good. But....I thinka person willgain more experience with the total experience.

Shed....OK....

I didn't say NOT A WORD that went against what you said. Not a word.

If a guy here does EVERYTHING you do.....and decides to kill 10 a year.....I think he straightens out the learning curve a little.

Thats all I said.

Not on the original topic, but on passing/shooting,

Not sure about the experience thing, but it is usually easier to get busted if you pass.

A passed deer is usually in the area longer (for obvious reasons), and is therefore more likely to
cross your trail, smell you, or figure you out. I've had passed deer try to figure me out and
even though I was frozen in the stand, they sometimes catch on.

Of course my deer herd is pretty experienced. I think they've been trained to look up.

Must say....I've never heard that. No movement is easier to get busted than some movement?

I can't read every post because I have to get back to work.But I have read like seven pages or so. My opinion is that there are many different facets that are part of a hunters competency.Some of them are more important than others and some while initially important become on automatic pilot as experience is gained.Experience is gained by doing and observing and applying those things intelligently going forward.Experience can be gained at different intervals of time by different people.Some people hunt their whole lives and never realize any degree of success because they are not using their mind to apply what they are seeing and make the right adjustments going forward.
I would expect that most of us assume many things that might not ever occur to a novice hunter.Bedding area,food source,wind direction,funnels and so on.The best way to gain experience fast is to question why.Why was that animal there at that time,what were the contributing factors? Why,Why,Why.keep questioning,keep reading ,keep scouting,keep talking to folks with more experience than yourself.
Time is not the element that has the most to do with experience,it is exposure to what you are trying to gain experience with,and the application of that knowledge.
Once you can kill on a regular basis without undue challenge,you no longer have to kill to gain that particular experience.You have done it "enough " times you can do it when you wish to or need to.
Observing/passing on deer especially bucks is a tremendous way to gain experience! See how they use an area,how they use other deer etc.Passing on bucks that don't meet your criteria help to calm you for when you have opportunity at a buck that does meet the criteria.
Quantity is not the measure of a great hunter.Putting mature bucks on the ground is!

No what he is saying is they hang around you longer. Which means they may cross your scent trail. The longer a deer hangs around the more of a chance you have of getting busted

tsoc...

Bravo!

Thats another angle, guys....I can see that.

Well,

I'm not really talking about if the deer moves through a shooting lane. I'm more talking about
deer hanging out around your stand in a food plot for example.

But I get your point, that is why I have been practicing shooting sitting down.

If you want to look at this with any logic , it is easy to see that competency is way more important than experience.[8D]

Take the guy that ask you " if you would like fries with that " he has plenty of experience and no competence .

I'll go with the smart guy over the experienced one most of the time,

I say most of the timebecause there are times that experience overshadows smarts.Takesky divingfor example.

Of course smart guys don't jump out of perfectly good air planes. []