I agree 100%. Barring the occasional blind ****house luck the skilled hunter will be more successful on the same land.

I doubt many people would question that fact. However if both guys are on crappy land neither one will have much success......the skilled guy will have little if any and the clown will have none. Put them both on a great field to hunt and the skilled guy will get in P+Y and the clown will have to " settle" for 8' s and 10' s that look like basketball hoops.

They will both do very well or very bad depending on what land they are on. The skilled guy will just do a little better in each place.

I would think this is the exception rather then the rule. Are there dorks out there with great land that can' t hunt worth crap??? Of course. I really would be shocked if someone could hunt a sweet plot of land and come up empty handed year after year though. Geez all you have to do is put on some camo and sit still and quiet and you will have all the chances you need. All you have to be is a good shot.

Speaking from 16 years experience in my woods and knowing everybody who hunts those 1,500 acres regularly I can say without hesitation that I know the deer herd there pretty well. My dad and my brothers and I get deer there every year because we know where they are and where they will go when the lead starts to fly. For archery we know the paths they take to and from the food and beds. We have seen a few nice racks come out. When it happens it is a rare occasion and everyone knows about it. Could I know my woods better?? I think you always can.............Do I know it well enough to grade the land and the bounty of it' s herd?? No doubt.


Please, I hope no one that reads any of this takes it as me trying to minimize the skill or effort of those fortunate enough to hunt sweet land. The deer don' t just run up and jump on your arrows or nibble on your gun barrel. You still have to be a solid woodsman no matter where you are. Some places just offer more chances for your skills to shine that' s all.

Very good point Mykey

It does take more then a little luck to find yourself on a sweet hunter' s paradise doesn' t it.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm [8D]

Atlasman, I' m about to quit,but aren' t you saying skill is more important than land in the success of the harvest ,cause it sure looks like your skilled hunter is doing better both places (?)


Todd1700 , I know how hard Alabama public land is ,that' s where I do most of my hunting when I can ,probably about an hour and a half from you. BTW I meant to tell you nice deer !

No I am not.........and what are you ready to quit??? I am not trying to prove you wrong man................I am just giving reasons why I voted for land.


If 2 guys hunt crapville USA and the average hunter gets skunked while the skilled hunter bags a spike buck after 2 straight years of hard work and long hours on stand........I wouldn' t call either one of them a shining success. Spending an entire season and being able to count how many deer you saw on one hand and never even coming close to a shot attempt is not a successful year.........even if someone else had a worse year then you.

Put both those guys in a well populated sweet spot and they will both enjoy much more success. The skilled hunter may get a more impressive deer.......he may not. Either way you will have a tough time convincing either one of them that they did not reap more success on the better land because they will both point to the mounts on their walls and the freezer full of meat as proof. The skilled hunter may get bragging rights with a better rack but that hardly makes the average hunter a failure with a solid 8-10 trophy and a freezer full of backstraps. This was all acomplished with less effort then they put into Crapville USA to get a spike between 2 guys over 2 seasons.

All the skill in the world will get you no deer if your land doesn' t provide them. Average to below average skill will get you deer year after year if you are fortunate enough to hunt bountiful land.

Given the choice between improving your skills or being able to hunt better land with a larger healthier deer herd I doubt many members here would not choose the land.......unless they already are on a sweet spot of their own.


I know I wouldn' t. I have experienced it both ways. I have been on subpar land most of my life and been forced to make the best of it.......and I have. I would call the number of deer taken by the men of my family off those hills pretty damn impressive considering what we have to work with. We don' t pretend it is something it is not and we usually don' t miss ....usually I have also been fortunate enough to hunt some sweet, lush fields and farms. The difference is almost laughable. I have taken some of the guys that let me hunt their land out to the state forest with me and more then one has told me that if they had to hunt like that they would quit. I have seen more deer and bucks in the very short amount of time I have spent hunting these lush grounds then I have in all my years of state land combined. More deer=More chances it' s that simple IMO.

When you see a deer on state land you better bag it........PERIOD. If you miss or let it walk you may as well go home. You will not have chance after chance and you will not see bigger and bigger deer by letting the first one walk. You have to take advantage of EVERY chance you get........because you never know how many hours, days or weeks will go by before your next one.............the deer just aren' t plentiful enough and/or the hunting pressure is overwhelmingly stacking the odds against you. On state land you have to compete with other hunters as much if not more then the deer. On a private hot spot you have to wait for a clean shot so you don' t accidentally wound another one with a passthrough [] or just take 2 at a time like that high KE thread suggests


CBM.........I really thought we were just throwing out stories and logic here.......not competing to see who was right or wrong. Just passing the winter months..........no harm intended bro.

CBM SC----What type of public land are you hunting in Alabama? I may be able to direct you to a few places that don' t get quite the hunting pressure that a lot places do. I know some places that, if a little walking doesn' t scare you, can offer a good chance to kill a deer with a bow. A small wheeled game carrier is a must at a lot of these places however. Post Back or shoot me a private message if you are interested.

I think you make some very valid points atlasman. Although we disagree, I think our opinions are really closer than what might appear by our posts. I think the only way to measure a hunters success is by defining the meaning of success. In some areas success could mean P&Y bucks, other areas it could mean about any buck and some it could mean getting a shot at a deer period.

Another variable here is the differences of state/government land from area to area. When you stated that is what you hunted I assumed your state land was like some of the state land we have available to us in VA. We are fortunate enough to have 2 National Forests that have over 1.60 million acres all available for the outdoorsman. Now these forests appear to be crowded but you do not have to get far off old roads and trails to leave all but the dedicated hunters behind.

I' m in agreement with VAhunter. And don' t take me wrong ,I' m not mad or anything I just feel like we have hit a wall as to what we think success is !

If the real question is about landing P &Y or better class deer than that might be a new thread?

And I love this.....ever since I have moved up here I have no one to shoot with or talk to about bowhunting . Todd thanks for the offer , but I have more than I can even get to now that I' m up here in SC. And you must not have read my posts, walking[8D] I usually take a jon boat in freezing weather for about 30 minutes,before daylight, and walk in about 500 yards, get one and drag it out about 500-600 yards. I may need to check into a cart ?The 210 # one about killed me !

" what is more Important" ? No question would have to be the respect, for Your Game. Skill,Land,ability, or luck are things that you can fix. But The respect for any Animal you Hunt for is The Most Important in my book. For not having any respect then you are nothing more then someone how just kills Animals. I give thanks for every Animal I harvest. Hell look at the Deer. You move in the there homes and they still seem to grow, more so then any other Game around. So to me the most Important thing is the ANIMAL I Hunt.