Since I've already harvested some this year, I now have 21 consecutive seasons of killing at least one deer. I've lost count, but it's most likely in the mid 60's.l

In ten years of bow hunting in New York state I have taken three, two bucks and one doe

If any of you are fairly new I would start an album. Each deer I have shot I have a picture of and next to it I have month/year, what weapon etc. I have only been hunting 3 years and so far I have 8 pics of deer in it. It is already priceless, and it would be the first thing I would grab outta my house if it caught on fire(besides family). I know I'll be glad I have it when I'm 60 and I can look back on all my kills.

Paul,

I have to agree with many things you stated. How many (#'s) critters a person has harvested over his or her years of bowhunting contains so many different variables. When a hunter gets 1 tag a year period, if you hunt mature bucks your gonna pass up a high # of animals.

Our bowhunting is subjective to our personal philosophies, goals, standards and state laws in which we are regulated by.

I read about a guy Roger Rotharr (sp) years ago. He said "I am not concerned with the quantity of game I harvest, but am concerned with the quality of animal I harvest. (quality over quantity is a philisophical decision) At that time he had about 11 pope and young bucks to his name. He hunted pressured lands and his goal was to take a P/Y Class buck every 4 years. He felt with the ground he hunted that his goal was reasonable. He also felt in some areas that was too low a goal and vice/versa in other areas of the country.

I feel anyone that bowhunts and consistently harvests top end bucks (mature) in regards to his or her specific county or area. (excluding any type of fenced area) These hunters probably have a pretty solid system they use and have something figured out and definately has developed skill and savvy for harvesting their prey.

Every one of us falls into a different equation in regards to our hunting.

23 years hunting on my own as an adult, 2-3 deer killed per year with the exception of 2 years getting skunked. Probally 50 deer total. All with a gun. Started bow hunting this year, wish me luck!

On a side note, Paul made some very good observations. It seems like it's getting harder to kill a good deer on the WMAs I hunt. I quit measuring the success of my season by the number of deer killed years ago.

I've bow hunted for 5 years with 5 kills.

I have no clue how many deer I've taken.I have three that made the P&Y minimun with my best bow kill being a 156 5/8 P&Y.I've been hunting 26 years and bow hunting for 15 years.

For starters, I said its not something I like to discuss, as in I don't go around telling people how many deer I have killed, not that I wouldn't discuss it or say so if you asked. I guess I could have worded it differently. I don't like to brag about stuff like that. I know one deer a year is not steller or anything, but I have met guys that have been doing it 10 years and haven't killed one yet. I don't feel the need to rub it in and offer up the fact that I take at least one every year, including the very first year I hunted. Of course if they ask, I will tell them. As you can tell, I don't mind telling a story.

And the title of the thread is "Let's see how GOOD we are.". What does that indicate to you? Maybe you have a better comprehension of the english language then I do because I took that statement to mean what it says. And go back and read your first post and tell me others didn't take it the same way.

I never said I didn't see the value of the thread, or that I didn't think it should be here. I simply gave my opinion, and in a polite way I thought by the way, not to mention the information he wanted. That is also my right, is it not? Or am I only allowed to give my opinion if it is agreeable? I didn't tell him he was dumb for asking it, or that it was a stupid question. Just that I feel it was not a good indicator to how good of a hunter you were, and why. Maybe he is 15 and doesn't know any better. And even if he is not, I don't doubt there are some young hunters or future hunters lurking around here that could get the wrong idea. Not that killing alot of deer is wrong, as long as you do it legally.

And I didn't say anything about this being a P&Y thread, or starting one. I have never taken a pope and young class deer in my life, and don't really care if I do or not. Please don't quote me and then accuse me of something I didn't even say. Although if you had a few deer of that quality under your belt it would lead one to believe you were a pretty good hunter, or darn lucky at any rate. I think you would find however that most guys that have those kind of trophies don't have a high number of kills. They most likely let more deer walk than the average hunter does.

I also don't make it a point to post on every thread there is just for the point of posting, so I do skip posts that don't interest me or don't apply. That may be why I only have 301 posts and you have over 1600.

Paul

This will be my 17th year bowhunting killed first 2 deer in my life with bow in 88 . Nuge Ive been doing that since ive started and im finishing off my 3rd book this year . Have 97 total 26 with gun 8 with ML 63 with bow which been using exclusivly for 4 years 42 bucks 55 does and proud of everyone of them , we also have the blessing of a large deer herd and large numbers of tags .Interesting what keeping a journal will do to help patern deer as ive taken 12 bucks on oct 28th for whatever reason .

Man i am at work, i dont have my deer book in front of me, i keep a story and a pic of every animal i harvest so my two sons can read when i am dead and gone. Ill give you a SWAG(SCIENTIFIC WILD ASS GUESS)
15YRS HUNTING, I KILL ABOUT 3 DEER A YEAR, SO I WOULD SAY AROUND 20-30 SO FAR! I cant wait to put some deer in my book this year along with some great stories.