Many hunters are quick to dismiss anothers success when it comes to killing big bucks consistantly. The usual excuses come up time and time again:
[ol][*]Location[*]Access[*]Desire[/ol]
Some say there are no big bucks where they hunt, yet the P&Y records tell us that they can be taken anywhere that deer exist.
My excuse, if you will, has always been access to hunting ground. I hunt areas that hold great deer, but seldom on the properties that I can actually hunt. Lack of access is my limiting factor, so I have to play the hand I'm dealt.

If your goal is to kill a mature buck and you aren't getting it done, why not?

Nothing is stopping me other than time itself. I could go for a longer season, preferably early season. That way all of my summer scouting might actually pay off and I could hunt them while they are still on some sort of pattern. Other than that I think its only a matter of time until I better figure out this property that im fairly new at.

Those three excuses are easy to fix.

The main factor for me is Time.

But if 1 and 2 are easy to fix, it shouldn't take that much time, should it?

Im not going to argue anybody else's success, even though i think location is a huge factor.

I just know as a bowhunter, i have notgot to the place where i want to be. My goal is a mature whitetail, and after 3 years of chasing them with a bow, i have yet to draw back on one. I have passed on roughly 30 bucks andonly 1 mature back as been in range...and i could not bring myself to attempt a shot though the brush on such a phenomenal deer.The fact that i have not got it done gets me out there as much as possible, 42 times so far this year, and the late season cold weather will not stop me.

No excuses here. Simply put............ I suck!

There are plenty of big bucks on my property.

It is private land that only a few have access to.

I love to hunt and do so as often as possible.

I shoot what makes me happy, which might not meet P&Y qualifications.

Time is the greatest factor affecting me. I changed jobs this year, just before the season started, so I did not have the vaction time I normally would have had. This made me a weekend hunter this year, being lucky to get in the stand 3 days in a row. Of course having access to land that holds mature deer, or at least mature deer use, is a huge factor as well, it is my opinon that there is very little land where I hunt that P&Y cannot be taken from. Again (and I am only speaking about where I hunt) the biggest factor is the amount of time spent in the stand.

Not for me personally. I don't have enough time, only hunting the weekends (a few weekdays if I'm lucky). I go to school an hour from home, really hinders my ability to target, pattern, and kill a mature buck.

i am no where near what i would like to become as a hunter yet. but i would say that a big problem in my area as far as mature bucks are poachers. spotlighting, running dogs, hell deer season opens on the 4th of july for alot of people.