James Vee

GMMAT;

I understand how far from reality that sounds, to have a 3.5 year old 10 point in front of you and instead of shooting... you smile and pull out your cell phone to snap a couple pics. It is somewhat comical. But it's my reality.

I'm not the regular Joe that will occassionally hunt on the weekend, or the guy that doesn't start hunting 'until the rut kicks in'. I hunt an honest 365 days a year. I am currently running 8 different trail cams. I have access to a couple of thousand of acres of private land in one of the best areas in the country to shoot a trophy buck. I'm patient and I'm persistent.

You asked how many of those bucks I pass up each year and honestly it is less than half a dozen different bucks of that caliber. 2.5 year olds is a different story. I rarely take pictures from the stand because I have trail cam pics of most of the deer that I pass on. But, I took out the cell phone and snapped a few pics for my father in law, who needed more convincing.

I have no shame in ending the season with a tag in my pocket. I will not settle for shooting a buck on the last day of season that I wouldn't have been happy with on the first day of season. But, I would be disappointed in myself if I ended the season with a tag still in my pocket. I spend all year trying to shoot a trophy. It's one of the things that I do very well. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't really party, I don't play sports....I do hunt.

NJ/PAbwhunter

Hey Gr8t,
Last night when I read your post, I replied on page 2. This morning I hammered the big 6 I was hunting for.
After passing on some respectable bucks, I am thrilled I waited to get this guy I was after. I am going to post
my story & pics tomorrow. But I wanted to let you know your post has got many guys on here thinking.
Once again, great read man, thanks.
DW

Diesel77

Bob, I hear what youre saying and can understand some of it, some of it Im not clear on. Dont stress bro. As owner of a small camo companyI sometimes start to feel some external pressures to kill big bucks, but Ive been hunting since I was 16, Im 43 now, Ive killed big bucks as a kid, and small bucks as a veteran hunter, and vice versa. Ive bow hunted every day I could since I was a kid, and I still do, as much as I can being a married, responsible adult anyway. I consider myself somewhat of a trophy hunter, but I determine what a trophy is each year, not a book with some numbers. I have more than40 archeryracks, a dozen are130" +racks and arehanging around as decorative memories, some are mounts, some are euro mounts, some are just skull caps, but Ive never entered one into any book. The 2 bucks Ive taken so far this year would not make P&Y but are trophies to me in my hunting career. My trophy hunting this season started from the first trail cam pics of the "Kankle" buck looking at his broken leg and crazy rack I shared pics of with you all, and thinking about a game plan, to sitting in this one stand for the first time this season and being able tovideo myhunt and kill on my own, no easy task.I know I could hold out for a 130 or 140 inch buck which I know are on my properties, but I had more fun just going with the flow and enjoying myself. Would I like to shoot a 140" 12 pt, heck yeah, looking back, would I pass on hunting and shooting the 120" non typical, heck no, not for a second.Man, I remember 3 years ago I was after a spike ALL darn season and he outsmarted me all year! Yeah he was a spike and had I got him he would be a shoulder mount, but I will never forget him either way, I called him The King of All Spikes and still do. You seeing that local legend after you shot your buck was just icing on the cake and your second trophy this year IMO, you should be proud you were able to see him at all.
Heres one trophy that got away!! The King

GMMAT

Spread across 250+ acres....playing the wind with each sit (2 sits were somewhere else).

GregH told me he hunted the same stand something like 27 out of 72 sits one year....paying attention to the wind. I think he does just fine doing it that way.....and I'm hutning a LOT bigger farm.

BigJ71

GR8atta2d,

It's obviousby your post that while you enjoyed your hunt it left you empty and unfullfilled....so to speak. That's ok it's normal and to a certain extent (not as deep as your example) that's what "ground shrinkage" is. We as hunters get caught up in the hunt and kill a perceived big deer only to find it not as big as we thought when we let the arrow/bullet fly after we've walked up to it and laid hands on the animal.

There is no one but you that can change your state of mind regarding your kill. If it helps you in any way to become the hunter you want to be (pursuing the type of animal you wish) then I hope you learn from this experience and in the future don't let any other outside force skew your mission objective. While I personally don't sign on to that type of hunting it sure is your prerogative to do so.

Please indulge me however to offer up my perspective on the matter. Setting goals and being "goal orientated" is a good thing...to an extent. Striving to be a "trophy deer hunter" is not a bad thing. I don't think you will find too many folks who would turn down the chance to kill a B&C buck if the hunt was freely available to them. However if taken too far it has the potential to turn your experiences sour and remove all the fun out of the pastime that is hunting.

For example, when I started playing football, my goal was to someday play in the NFL. That was the goal I set for myself and being very much a goal orientated person, there was pretty much nothing that was going to stand in my way.......except for one thing. Fun, yes fun, I vowed that no matter how close to my dream I had achieved I would stop playing if the game was no longer fun for me. I know it may sound strange but even the allure of big money wouldn't stop me from walking away from the game once it was no longer fun for me. As it turned out that didn't happen and I realized my dream of playing in the NFL.

Ihave the same outlookon pretty much all other aspects of my life where I have a choice of activity, hunting being one of them. The dayit's no longer fun to hit the woods and hunt I will walk away from it. I want to kill a big deer every year but I won't let it consume me, I want to enjoy this pastime not regret a kill because the deer wasn't big enough or feelI'll somehow be judged differently by the size of the antlers that lay in frontof me.

Wanting to be a trophy deer hunter is absolutely fine, Ionly ask...no beg that you don't let itbluryour idea of what hunting is all about.....and that's the experience of being outdoors and one with nature. The resurrection of the primal desire that isin all men, that need to pursue game and kill it. We are hunters and have been since our existence but times have changed and we (for the most part) no longer need to hunt. Hunting, just aswe has evolved over time. It has become a pastime, an activity that should be enjoyable and exciting. Yes we still provide and put meat on the table, that's part of it, it's hardwired into us.More so however, it's a pastime and activity that should be fun.

I only hope that it remains that way for you and others......

MATHEWS PA BOWHUNTER

bob,
I know what your going through. i have ate a tag (archery season) for the last 5 years, trying to fill the tag with a good buck. then settled for a small 7 point or a small 8 point in rifle season. I felt a little empty inside after those hunts. I also have felt the same feeling as to see a great animal after i shot my buck. In 1998 i shot a small 8 point on
Oct 07th. and in November that same year i was hunting a doe when i had a 9 point 18 / 19 spread, come into 12 yards. That really sucked.
1998 wasmy first buck kill with a bow. (first bow kill in 97 wasa doe).

Doesnt get any easier brother, you have to decide when and where to pull the trigger and by happy with it when you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

best of luck to ya

Congrats on a trophy, any buck with a bow is a trophy, just some go on the wall as amount and others go on the wall as a skull plate or a skull cap.

chris

Schultzy

You don't learn this stuff over night Jeff, none of us do, not even the big shots. Give It some time man!!! Next year It might only take a few sits and you'll be done! I've been there done that on not seeing **** for decent bucks. Then the following year my ass Is on fire and there running wild but just not quite close enough. You've said It before this buck hunting Isn't rocket science. Care to change your thinking on that one? If all the work Is taking the fun out of It then maybe you do need to change your hunting ways but It's not always going to come easy. I'd say 70% of the time you will have to work your tail off to get what you want. That's bow hunting for ya!! Good luck In what ever you decide to do and what Is right for you!!

wiranger

GMMAT I think you have already figured it out. I enjoy hunting for the friendships I have formed more than anything. I enjoy spending time with my children processing a deer, or sitting in a ladder stand together talking. And boy if that talking might scare off a trophy deer so be it. My friends and family will not remember me for the size of antlers on my wall, but for the quality time I've spent with them.

GMMAT

BigJ....I know you wrote that to GR8....but it sure hit home, here in NC. I need to find "balance" between my competitive (internal) nature and my love of hunting. I can go into a mountain steam and flyfish for hours on end.....and although catching a 15" rainbow is a thrill......the 6" brown or speck is great. Also just being there in the stream is heavenly (I mean that....it's surreal).

I need to find THAT in my hunting. I push myself too much. I went to the place I hunted when i first started, yesterday.....just to get back to basics. Cool sit. Saw two little bucks fight.....and 7 does. That's just having fun standing in the stream.

BigJ71

Jeff,

I wish I had wrote that.....That's exactly what I was trying to say. Anyone who has ever fly fished in mountain stream knows exactly what you're talking about. I can remember vividly to this day my fly fishing experiences in the Rockies while in college, heavenly is an understatement.

It's that "state of mind" that we should all be in when we strike out to participate in whatever endeavor it is we desire to do for fun and recreation. If hunting trophy deer and the realization that at the end of your season you will have most likely NOT achieved the satisfaction of obtaining your goal is fine, and the "journey" itself is enough to keep your passion and fun sustained then I say "go for it". I suspect there are a fewfolks here who are just like that. I also suspect there are far more who become so infatuated and inundated that they have squeezed out every sap of fun.