Germ - I don't shed hunt in my hunting areas, just new areas and abandoned ones. And I think I did allright this year, considering

ORIGINAL: quiksilver

Boy, you guys can turn a simple little poll into a real mudslinging match... Let's get back on task.

We're all restrained by the confines of life itself - whether it be family, work, money, kids, other hobbies, etc... Everyone here has limitedamounts offree time. This isn't rocket science:
[ul][*]I'd be willing to bet the farm that competing at the top national level in archery does require a significant time investment.[*]Shooting a big deer every year, DIY-style,also requires a similar time investment. [/ul]


Time, by its basic nature, is mutually exclusive. That is, you can't do two things at the same time. You're either hammering away at an x-ring, or you're out in the woods somewhere playing Rambo.

So, as archers, we choose to apportion our timealong a sliding scale. Going too far in either direction can have disastrous consequences. The question was:where do you lie?

I'm sure everyone here would love to have perpetual amounts of time to devote to both pursuits, but it just doesn't work that way. You have to make a choice. Some guys choose to take a shot at being the best competitive archer in the world. Other guys choose to spend almost 100% of their free time in the woods.

Rare are the guys like Matt, Matt & Buckeye - who are actually good at both. The fact is, most of us lie pretty faron one side or the other of themedian line. Since this is a "hunting" forum, I'd guess most of us would put competitive archery on the back burner in hunting season. However, that is NOT the case for everyone. I know plenty of guys around home who barely bowhunt at all. They choose to focus almost purely on competitive archery year-round. I could've cited them as examples, but none of you know who they are, so that would've been fruitless.

Me? 95% of my free time goes to hunting. I'm lucky if 5% of my hunting time is burned in front of a target. 5 arrows, and I'm bored out of my mind, unless I'm shooting with guys who are making it fun.

...and for whatever it's worth - I think Dan and Troy would do just fine out east. They might even luck out and find a shed or two. [8D]

I'm sure that somewhere along the line - both of those guys passed up a chance to scout/hunt and opted tospend the evening workingwith their competition rig.

And for what it's worth - you, Jeff, Rob and RJ seem to be the only guys struggling to understand what I was trying to say in my initial post. Everybody else was able to answer the question without getting all bent out of shape.

Germster, you nancy- I know what the biggest deer in my area look like...I'm doing just fine. 200+ guys in my local buck pool, and my deer would've taken 2nd if entered. 1st in 2000, Top 5 in '01 and '04.

And for what it's worth - you, Jeff andRJ seem to be the only guys struggling to understand what I was trying to say in my initial post.