Are u better??
11-17-2010, 04:33 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Mercer Co. WV
Posts: 121
Are u better??
Lets say a 120 class deer is the best i have on my land yet right next door my neighbor takes a 160 class buck..............is he a better hunter just because his scores higher?? It seems by todays standards that that is the case but i am not so sure. Does taking the best your land has to offer make you a good hunter? Or are you not a good hunter until you get a 200 inch buck?
11-17-2010, 04:59 PM
#2
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 135
This is probably a touchy subject but I'm gonna put my .02 cents in. I've drank a few so bear with me. I don't think that makes someone a better hunter by no means. They just have a better area to hunt. Now if they put the work in like food plots, access routes, and making good bedding areas etc. and someone doesn't do nothing to improve their areas than all that work trhough the off season isn't for nothing and I could see them saying their better as a hunter in that aspect and respect that. For the record I don't put any work in the off season doing food plots and all that, Although I'm gonna this year since I have time. Now that would be a scenario in the same region.
Different regions is a different story. Midwest and up north bucks are huge compared to southwestern deer and southern deer in terms of rack size and body size.
Another thing is public land big bucks are hard to hunt compared to ya pay 5,000$ to hunt 3 days in a high fence enclosure. The person that pays is probably guarenteed atleast a 130'' buck, but the public land guy gets a 100''. I'd say the person that got the public land buck is more in tune with deer behavoir and hunting cause he had to pick his own stand, travel routes, and put up with high hunter pressure unlike the fella that just goes and sits in a stand someone else put in the wwork to find. [But that's what he's paying for].
I'm rambling now, not to sure where my train of thought is but....Sometimes it's also just being at the right spot at the right time.
Good luck everybody!
Different regions is a different story. Midwest and up north bucks are huge compared to southwestern deer and southern deer in terms of rack size and body size.
Another thing is public land big bucks are hard to hunt compared to ya pay 5,000$ to hunt 3 days in a high fence enclosure. The person that pays is probably guarenteed atleast a 130'' buck, but the public land guy gets a 100''. I'd say the person that got the public land buck is more in tune with deer behavoir and hunting cause he had to pick his own stand, travel routes, and put up with high hunter pressure unlike the fella that just goes and sits in a stand someone else put in the wwork to find. [But that's what he's paying for].
I'm rambling now, not to sure where my train of thought is but....Sometimes it's also just being at the right spot at the right time.
Good luck everybody!
11-17-2010, 05:37 PM
#4
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: NC
Posts: 196
Ide agree that putting in some work in the off season to give yourself a better chance/ result when hunting season opens then you are the better hunter for doing such and your hard work paid off. I plan on putting in some work this summer in my areas, as I am new to hunting and happy with the deer in the area. I just read an article the other day about hunting and deer management, and they talked about only taking 8pts + however they stated when trying to get new hunters/ children into the sport that any deer they harvest could be that persons trophy. So a "trophy deer is really in the eye of the beholder". And lots of luck haha, deer are alot smarter than I ever thought...
11-17-2010, 07:11 PM
#5
Fork Horn
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Buffalo County WI
Posts: 163
It does not mean that you are an inferior hunter. If your neighbor has 160" deer on his property, you do too. Especially during the rut, deer move Miles within an area. Like the others have mentioned, you certainly can help make your land a place that Holds deer with food plots, pine plantations, water holes, etc... Also (here is a small QDM plug 
) passing on the 120" deer to let them grow another year obviously will multiply the number of bigger bucks in the area.
) passing on the 120" deer to let them grow another year obviously will multiply the number of bigger bucks in the area.
11-17-2010, 07:29 PM
#6
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Pa
Posts: 70
if your neighbor walked out and sat in a random tree with no idea if he would see a buck, and shot the new world record ten minutes into his hunt do you think that makes him a better hunter?
you cant measure a hunters skill level by the inches of antler on top of a whitetail, every deer is a trophy and being able to locate, setup, and harvest one is an accomplishment and also luck will always play a roll on every hunt
many hunters who have never harvested a buck bigger then a spike that shoot a 160" buck is now in his mind the expert hunter and will tell you so
you show me a hunter that does nothing but go around bragging about his monster bucks in hunting camp and ill tell you who i WILL NOT ask for hunting advice from...typically the guys who really know there stuff will keep quiet and just sit back
you cant measure a hunters skill level by the inches of antler on top of a whitetail, every deer is a trophy and being able to locate, setup, and harvest one is an accomplishment and also luck will always play a roll on every hunt
many hunters who have never harvested a buck bigger then a spike that shoot a 160" buck is now in his mind the expert hunter and will tell you so
you show me a hunter that does nothing but go around bragging about his monster bucks in hunting camp and ill tell you who i WILL NOT ask for hunting advice from...typically the guys who really know there stuff will keep quiet and just sit back
11-17-2010, 08:50 PM
#7
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 147
I think that sometimes some people do just get "lucky." But I heard a saying that I live by. "It takes a lot of skill to get lucky." It usually is the people who put in the most time and effort who seem to be the most lucky.
If all things are equal with the land, (public vs private, same region, no high fences...) than deer don't get to the 160 class by being stupid. Deer that old are very smart so I think that there are alot of variables that might have allowed the other guy to get closer to the 160 that maybe kept it from getting close to you. A few examples are: amount of time and scouting put in, scent control and camo patterns, stand placements, playing the wind, food plots, time of day entering and exiting stands, skill using calls or rattling... There are a ton of variables that might cause your neighbor to get the 160 but not you even though the same deer might be walking through both your properties.
P.S. High fence and 100% guided hunts are no measure of skill at all. Only a measure of a checkbook, so those don't count when discussing skill.
If all things are equal with the land, (public vs private, same region, no high fences...) than deer don't get to the 160 class by being stupid. Deer that old are very smart so I think that there are alot of variables that might have allowed the other guy to get closer to the 160 that maybe kept it from getting close to you. A few examples are: amount of time and scouting put in, scent control and camo patterns, stand placements, playing the wind, food plots, time of day entering and exiting stands, skill using calls or rattling... There are a ton of variables that might cause your neighbor to get the 160 but not you even though the same deer might be walking through both your properties.
P.S. High fence and 100% guided hunts are no measure of skill at all. Only a measure of a checkbook, so those don't count when discussing skill.
Last edited by phil_pick; 11-17-2010 at 08:58 PM.
11-18-2010, 05:17 AM
#8
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: MO
Posts: 643
It does not mean that you are an inferior hunter.If your neighbor has 160" deer on his property, you do too. Especially during the rut, deer move Miles within an area. Like the others have mentioned, you certainly can help make your land a place that Holds deer with food plots, pine plantations, water holes, etc... Also (here is a small QDM plug ) passing on the 120" deer to let them grow another year obviously will multiply the number of bigger bucks in the area.
) passing on the 120" deer to let them grow another year obviously will multiply the number of bigger bucks in the area.My thoughts exactly.
11-18-2010, 06:09 AM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Virginia / West Virginia
Posts: 4,906
That is a problem we have today....people DO judge hunting skill by rack size. Like it or not, unfortunately its a reality.
Guys in the midwest routinely put down 130-140" bucks year after year, with chances at true montsters. Does that automatically make them a better hunter than a guy in another area putting down 100" bucks? Not neccessarily. There are definitely alot of variables, but the #1 biggest variable is location. Either you have big bucks or you don't. Some areas a big buck is 100" and hard to come by, and in others that is a dink that most would never shoot and there are piles of them around.
Obviously if your neighbor shoots a 160", that deer was in your area and most likely on your land also. Just because he got him, doesn't mean he's a better hunter. I know guys that realistically suck at hunting and are total slobs, but they hunt in areas that hold big deer, so they end up killing some nice bucks regularly. They don't even come close to qualifying as a "good hunter", they they are legends in their own minds.
Location and luck are two huge factors in hunting. Obviously skill is another big one, but you can have all the skill in the world....and if your area doesn't have big bucks, your SOL.
Guys in the midwest routinely put down 130-140" bucks year after year, with chances at true montsters. Does that automatically make them a better hunter than a guy in another area putting down 100" bucks? Not neccessarily. There are definitely alot of variables, but the #1 biggest variable is location. Either you have big bucks or you don't. Some areas a big buck is 100" and hard to come by, and in others that is a dink that most would never shoot and there are piles of them around.
Obviously if your neighbor shoots a 160", that deer was in your area and most likely on your land also. Just because he got him, doesn't mean he's a better hunter. I know guys that realistically suck at hunting and are total slobs, but they hunt in areas that hold big deer, so they end up killing some nice bucks regularly. They don't even come close to qualifying as a "good hunter", they they are legends in their own minds.
Location and luck are two huge factors in hunting. Obviously skill is another big one, but you can have all the skill in the world....and if your area doesn't have big bucks, your SOL.