On a scale from one to ten, ten being the best how would you rate yourself as a hunter?

I'm having a mind cramp right now and cant think of the other things I was going to say.

Ryan.

Everyone can learn something as a hunter, no matter how old. I am a young hunter, so I think I have a lot to learn! I KNOW I do, that is......and that comes with the experience of bein in the woods....I rate myself as a 6, simply because of my young age and only about 6 years of actual "hunting"

BigBuck95

I rated myself as an 8 mainly for the time and effort I put into each and every hunting season. I will never be a 10 nor do I think anyone will ever simply because no matter how good you are you learn something new each season. I coyote hunt in the winter to help out the fawns and keep my hunting edge, shed hunt to try and see what deer made it through the winter, food plots in the spring and late summer, along with selective mowing to not only direct the deer it makes for new growth for them to eat.. Lots of scouting and trail cam use in the summer. I have something like 25 stands and groundblinds combined I either cut shooting lanes or move depending on what the deer do. Hunt as smart as I possibly can by playing the wind and not over pressuring stands. Practice shooting as soon as the weather gets nice and shoot all year long even through season. Lots of people quit as soon as deer season begins. I try and shoot at least 2 or 3 days a week even during season. I buy the best equiptment I can afford and double/triple check everything to ensure I hit my mark when it comes down to crunch time. I do everything I can think of to make myself the best possible hunter I can be. It takes alot of time and effort but when it all comes together it is well worth it.

I'll just say I'm better than average.

I'm not sure I'd agree that some of the "criteria" you brought up has anything to do with how good of a hunter someone is.

food plots & shed hunting??? To many people, those 2 topics are absolutely irrelavent to thier success in the fall. And then when you drag ethics into it, big can o worms opens up.

Food plots arent ireelavant, they are just another way to put the deer where you want them. Its not something you have to do to be a "good hunter" but it can help increase your chances and its good for the deer, also depending on your hunting situation it could make or break your hunting season. Shed hunting isnt necessarily irrelevant to someones success, it can help you key in on that particular deers area for late season. My dad and I both killed our best bucks to date over food plots we have planted and very close to the area I have found some of my biggest sheds. As far as Im concerned all those little things that may be "irrelevant" to some people play a role in my success each fall.

I put myself as a 4. I really like hunting, although I have only been doing it 2 years. I have the patience to go out and sit day after day, and actually really enjoy the being invisible in the woods. I am still struggling to differentiate the sound of deer walking from other sounds (squirrels scrambling about, wind, other stuff), and have had deer 'sneak ' up on me several times this last year. I still have a really hard time keeping calm and focused as a deer moves in to shooting range, and missed (clean) on more than 1 occasion last year. This year I have vowed to spend more time doing grunt/shoot drills and more time practicing from the stand. Hopefully with 4 deer now under my belt I will start to get a handle over the adrenelin.

I'm probably a 1.

well i give me a 2...
i only hunt Texas and a lil bit O' Oklahoma.and a spell in Hawaii....
there is alot to hunt out there...
the rest of the U.S, Canada...Africa..New Zealand.. Australia the list is endless...
so not having been to these places and master the area makes it hard to give me a good rating...

(if it were just Texas, ill put me in the 8-9 category all day long)

always somethin to learn.

I will forever be a "white belt" hunter.