I guess you are correct.

No big deer come from NY.

Guys like the Eberharts seem to do it.. in Mich.

The Benoits tend to get it done in Maine.

Jim Roy in West Virginia.. etc.

And there are lots of hunters in between who get it done in otherwise lesser locations.

I'm not saying location isn't a HUGE factor.. cause it is.

But you are always FIRST to point this out. Wonder why?

Which means.. only one of two things.

But I'll leave it at that.

And I never said anything about myself.. I'm simply stating your own estimations of deer hunting and "big bucks" are wrong in my opinion.

25th year hunting, and 22nd bowhunting andI still learn something every year. I don't think I'll ever arrive, or at least hope I don't. I am more passionate about it now than I was in my early years for sure, and in a much different way. The pastfew years I have been toting along my little bud - who's now 11. He knows more than I did at 25...LOL. Its exciting to me to be able to view the woods from a kids eyes (again). Though I am in the teaching role now....he teaches me some things I pretty well forgot as well, which is neat.

One of these days I will have the time to invest into "mature buck" hunting exclusively and effectively. I know I have alot of things I can improve on if I want to be consistently shooting a mature buck.

Awesome post bloodcrick, I like it.

I say it so often. Shed hunters are often at a better advantage come deer season. They get more involved with their animals that they hunt than others would.

Putting miles and miles and miles on the shoe will do that.[&:]

With the help of friends and some posted on these forums, I have learned more in the last 2-3 years than I have all my hunting season combined. I learn a little something each time I hunt. I believe the only way to get "better" and understand the whitetail nature is log hours upon hours in the woods hunting and scouting. I truly believe we will never be able to understand the whitetail world. Are there experts....don't believe so. If there were experts, then harvesting whitetails would be a everyday occurrence, because the "expert" would now exactly where deer are at all times.....that to me would be an expert. Knowing the exact deer behavior. If were the case, then we would not have 15,000 people on here every night trying to figure them out. That's my 2 cents.

I am more into bowhunting whitetails than I have ever been in my 30 years of bowhunting and being a hunter. I used to hunt with everything and everything; guns and bows; ducks, pheasants, upland etc. Now it is just big game and only with a bow. Gun hunting doesn't trip my trigger. Bow or nothing and I am hardcore into it. I have evolved into what I consider, a very good bowhunter, and it has come together for me over the last few years. I can walk into a strange piece of woods and know how the deer will move through the woods and where to hang my stand with certainty. I also have my kids raised and am single now and I don't have a 5 year old step kid anymore that put a huge cramp in my freedom(I didn't hunt 2007 as I had to care for my stepson 24/7 for 8 weeks while my wife went to banking school and was cheating on me; gr8 payback for my daycare services[:'(]). 2008 season has been the best bowhunting seasonof my life with two nice bucks down from 2 different states9 a 9 pt and an 11 point, an elk killed in Sept, and another MO buck tag that will definately be filled by Jan 15...no doubt in my mind. I have a Drop in/Flyin Moose hunt in AK being planned right now with 2 guys and life is rockin'. I also have the finances, that married life didn't allow, to keep me hunting now more and I will be doing a lot of bowhunting traveling in other states/countries from here on out. I got married when I was 20, and have been either married or in serious relationships all of my life. Time to take a break from being tied down and whipped(I hope) I always learn something while in my stand and when I quit learning, I will quit hunting. In other words, I will always be a bowhunter.

My wife thinks I need help. She can not understand the passion I have for both fishing or hunting. I am more dedicated to these sports at this point in my life then anything. Exception being family first.

I learn each time I am out. When I am given lemons, I am learning to make lemon aid. I would love my own land to hunt but until then, I will try to tame the woods and become a smarter hunter then the other billion PA and Delaware hunters who are hunting the same state land I do. I can't go into the woods or on the internet with out learning something new and applying it the next time out. I'm not a mature buck hunter exclusively but.....still trying how to find the signs of big buck early and target them. This is a skill I have much work to do. (I thin kit is harder on state land pressured by other hunters...which makes it a bit more fun yet frustrating at times.

Good thread!

But now you're into relatives. The deer the Benoits shot won't hold a candle to the average deer from the corn belt. The Benoits are shooting better than the average for the area. That's it. It can't compare to the midwest. Now throw in all the DEER FARMS where they bring in breeders and have food plots and spend thousands to grow a big rack, it's all relative I'd take a Benoit deer any day to the next Mega buck from Tecomate. I'd takea nice 8 point from NY public land before I'd thump my chest over a Tecomate Buck.It's all relative. Jim Roy shot A buck.

OH, and wait a minute. I just read your post again. I think you're saying something about I don't shoot any big deer. My my .... you just have no idea do you? I've shot deer much bigger than most hope to. I shot deer when there were hardly any deer. I shot deer before you were born. You really questioning my ability to hunt. Now that sir is really really small. I've shot deer. Those who know me will attest to that... they're here on the board if they haven't been driven off by the Groupies. It's just that some here find it easy to think they're the only ones. Pathetic. I say location is a huge factor simply because some people get on here and act as if they're the God of the woods when all they really have is a target rich environment. Hell look, Tiffany the blonde bimbo became an over night expert along with Lee the guy with the money to buy it all. I don't play head games.... I call them as I see them. Sorry if it hits close to home.

I have hunted exactly 10 years (killed my first when I was 7, now I am 17) I have just gotten to the learning phase, and really finding out my interest in hunting. I love bowhunting, and it has taught me more than a lifetime of gun hunting would. I may not be at the right level to where I can lay down monsters year after year, but I am progressing to becoming a more successful hunter.

I was reading an article about theBenoits back in the early 80s, one said they had beentracked a buck for 3 days and heard fur rubagainst pine needles from 300 yards away and knew they were close, LOL.I called BS, discontinued all I had read about them, now I laugh when I here there name.