Big Buck Barometer
#21
RE: Big Buck Barometer
I haven't actually seen this deer, but, based on his rub last winter, I'd like to, becauseI have a feeling it would qualify...
(hand is my girfriend's)
It's on my friend's land where I sometimes hunt.
(hand is my girfriend's)
It's on my friend's land where I sometimes hunt.
#22
RE: Big Buck Barometer
If from the beginningto this day I only went by what my buddies shot I would be laying down dinks.
I wanted bigger bucks... So, I worked hard and located them.... Watched and studied them.... Then started shooting them.
I have said it a hundred times... I live 15 minutes from the PA border.... If I canfind them here..... They can befound there.
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#23
RE: Big Buck Barometer
I'm just saying that we all should temper our expectations according to what we see, not what's listed in the record books.
You're more likely to find Rosie's twin.
If from the beginningto this day I only went by what my buddies shot I would be laying down dinks.
I wanted bigger bucks... So, I worked hard and located them.... Watched and studied them.... Then started shooting them.
I have said it a hundred times... I live 15 minutes from the PA border.... If I canfind them here..... They can befound there.
I wanted bigger bucks... So, I worked hard and located them.... Watched and studied them.... Then started shooting them.
I have said it a hundred times... I live 15 minutes from the PA border.... If I canfind them here..... They can befound there.
I believe that 100%. But it's not just what your buddies are killing. It's what your hunting lands hold.
Your record speaks volumes about what you're doing....and how you're doing it. Your point is valid, though. I don't have any friends around me that hold out for even what "I" have shot....which isn't anything many woud give a second look.
#24
RE: Big Buck Barometer
To think that all areas are equal and that everyone should hold out for 160" deer is obviously, to anyone one that can be objective for one minute, a stupid assumption.
But as far as relativity for a particular area goes...........it is also some combination of naivete, ignorance, stupidity, or arrogance for someone to think that they areseeing the best deer in their area on a regular basis. I am not referring tojustone deer either, butthe top 5-10% of what your area offers.
If you are not occasionally (ocasionally defined as once every 3-5 years) finding sheds or dead carcasses of deer considerably larger than you regularly see, then you aren't looking hard enough or you are not looking in the right places.
If you are in fact ALWAYS (always as defined sometime during the season) seeing the largest deer your area has to offer each year, then your deer are really, really stupid.
But as far as relativity for a particular area goes...........it is also some combination of naivete, ignorance, stupidity, or arrogance for someone to think that they areseeing the best deer in their area on a regular basis. I am not referring tojustone deer either, butthe top 5-10% of what your area offers.
If you are not occasionally (ocasionally defined as once every 3-5 years) finding sheds or dead carcasses of deer considerably larger than you regularly see, then you aren't looking hard enough or you are not looking in the right places.
If you are in fact ALWAYS (always as defined sometime during the season) seeing the largest deer your area has to offer each year, then your deer are really, really stupid.
#25
RE: Big Buck Barometer
I have said it a hundred times... I live 15 minutes from the PA border.... If I canfind them here..... They can befound there.
#26
RE: Big Buck Barometer
ORIGINAL: buckeye
If from the beginningto this day I only went by what my buddies shot I would be laying down dinks.
I wanted bigger bucks... So, I worked hard and located them.... Watched and studied them.... Then started shooting them.
I have said it a hundred times... I live 15 minutes from the PA border.... If I canfind them here..... They can befound there.
[/align]
If from the beginningto this day I only went by what my buddies shot I would be laying down dinks.
I wanted bigger bucks... So, I worked hard and located them.... Watched and studied them.... Then started shooting them.
I have said it a hundred times... I live 15 minutes from the PA border.... If I canfind them here..... They can befound there.
[/align]
#27
RE: Big Buck Barometer
If you are not occasionally (ocasionally defined as once every 3-5 years) finding sheds or dead carcasses of deer considerably larger than you regularly see, then you aren't looking hard enough or you are not looking in the right places.
If you are in fact ALWAYS (always as defined sometime during the season) seeing the largest deer your area has to offer each year, then your deer are really, really stupid.
#28
RE: Big Buck Barometer
In Medina County, Ohio, most "big" bucks are in the 130"-140" range.Their are bucks that would hit 150, 160 and maybe 170 in a few areas around the county. I know of a two 23 points, a19 point,a 12point and a few other that would go at least 160" (the 12 point and the 19 point could probably hit 170). None of these guys had them measured or entered into any buck contests though, and two were shot by kids. A few were in the local paper (Medina County Gazette). Theirare no"high" fencedareas and spotlighting is highly illegal (and the game warden is strict).I personally saw two separate deer a total of three times that were over 130, one might be a little over 140 (nighttime video). My trail cameras picked up roughly 7 deer over 115" last year, and somewhere around 13 deer in the last six years over that mark with the biggest being around 160-170.
#29
RE: Big Buck Barometer
Or....they just aren't there. You can not say, (sans some combination of naivete, ignorance, stupidity) otherwise, with any sense of accuracy. It's an opinion....based on a "whim".
[blockquote]
If you are in fact ALWAYS (always as defined sometime during the season) seeing the largest deer your area has to offer each year, then your deer are really, really stupid.
I stand by this statement. Opinion? Yes Whim? Hardly. [/blockquote]
#30
RE: Big Buck Barometer
Scott - I'd LOVE to agree with you here, but I can't. There's a very distinct reasonwhy you stay on the west side of the PA/OHline. We both know that there's a finite limit to how much one person can "watch" or "study" deer -and no matter what - it isn't gonna make 'em grow any bigger. I could walk the PA gamelands until my feet bled, and I'd never kill a 150" deer. I could drag Cox's army through there on a shed hunt, and I'd never find a 70" shed. It's just not gonna happen. You just can't find a deer that isn't there. It's like Polar Bear hunting in Florida.
I hunted Ohio this year. In 3 days in the stand, my buddy shot the biggest buck of his life. I spent 5 days on standand killed a buck that would've torn the antlers off of the one I killed in PA, and passed up about 5 more just like it. 5 days, and I saw more quality deer over that span than I'd seen in hundreds of stand-hours in PA, hunting some of the best land that my home county has to offer. Sure, we scouted fast and dialed-in on some good activity - but I do the same thing at home every year. It just doesn't yield the same results.
I spot/glass literally thousands of PA deer all over Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland Countiesevery year. Thousands. I can say without hesitation that it's everything a guy can do to kill a 130-class whitetail here.
It's easy to sit back and say "you're not trying hard enough" or "you're not looking in the right places," but there comes a point where you are legitimately and routinely shooting the biggest deer around, and you have to accept that you're not hunting in Pike County.Or just realize that you're waiting for a statistical anomaly that might only come along once-in-a-lifetime. If ever.
A 165" buck goes down inElk County, PA or Preston County, WV - it's headline news. The same deer eats a bullet in Iowa, nobody notices. It's just that simple.
I hunted Ohio this year. In 3 days in the stand, my buddy shot the biggest buck of his life. I spent 5 days on standand killed a buck that would've torn the antlers off of the one I killed in PA, and passed up about 5 more just like it. 5 days, and I saw more quality deer over that span than I'd seen in hundreds of stand-hours in PA, hunting some of the best land that my home county has to offer. Sure, we scouted fast and dialed-in on some good activity - but I do the same thing at home every year. It just doesn't yield the same results.
I spot/glass literally thousands of PA deer all over Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland Countiesevery year. Thousands. I can say without hesitation that it's everything a guy can do to kill a 130-class whitetail here.
It's easy to sit back and say "you're not trying hard enough" or "you're not looking in the right places," but there comes a point where you are legitimately and routinely shooting the biggest deer around, and you have to accept that you're not hunting in Pike County.Or just realize that you're waiting for a statistical anomaly that might only come along once-in-a-lifetime. If ever.
A 165" buck goes down inElk County, PA or Preston County, WV - it's headline news. The same deer eats a bullet in Iowa, nobody notices. It's just that simple.