Re: Hunter Skill Comment
First off you are right in that the environment plays a major role in what you harvest. If they aren't there no, matter how good you are you aren't getting them.
So with that said how do you define a "skilled hunter". Is it someone that kills X amount of deer every year? Is it someone that kills big deer every year? I know some folks that everyone in the neighborhood thinks are the most skilled woodsmen around but what those folks don't see are the corn piles or the shell casings in the floorboard, the spotlight, you get my drift. Do you include ethics in your definition of skilled hunter? What does this hunter do when no one is watching? So you have to determine what your definition of a skilled hunter is and that definition may or may not be the same as mine. When you finally settle on a good definition be warned, it may change as you mature as a hunter, or it may not. Also avoid comparing yourself to others when it comes to hunting, that is easier said than done I know, deer hunters are competitive by nature. I think this is written in our DNA from cavemen days when Grog would go out and club a deer or some other critter, we like to provide, we like to brag. What really matters is what do you want to get out of the sport?
Now let's throw in ethics, is a skilled hunter an ethical hunter? Or is an ethical hunter a skilled hunter? Not necessarily so in either case. Does it matter? To me it does. That is one of my biggest complaints about many of the hunting shows that trash the minds of our younger hunters these days all out to make the mighty buck ($) no pun intended.
So in my mind here is the list of qualities I strive for as a hunter in priority order (everyone's list will be different).
1. Always, always respect the animal, always.....even if they make you madder than a shaken hornets nest
2. Hunt with the highest ethics I can and if I don't, see rule #1
3. Strive to find adventure in every hunt, did an owl sit on the limb above you etc, it's all about the hunt, not the kill.
4. You are never too old to learn something new, and you will each time you go in the woods if you pay attention
5. Never take yourself too serious, deer will always make a fool out of you, see rule #1
So my thoughts are don't worry about judging yourself too much, do your due diligence on learning as much as you can about deer behavior and spend as much time in the woods as you can. You are going to gain knowledge and skills as you go. Another important point is to find other like minded hunters and befriend them, this type of networking can open doors to opportunities to hunt better ground.
So let me tell a story. Hunter Bob I'll call him walked down a field road to the edge of some hardwoods and sat back against a big oak. As it started to get light he glanced to his left and saw a large buck easing along the hardwood edge. Boom and 30 minutes later he is dragging out a 140" 10 point. It was a beautiful buck and heck yeah I would have taken him. It was Bobs first time on the property so the only real skill was being able to remain calm and make the shot. He did good!
Then there is Bubba misty rain wind in his face easing down a Field road in an over grown field alongside a milo/Egyptian wheat plot. He sees a doe ease off the path in front of him about 50 yds away and decides to cut her off (thinking she will taste good). He moves left 10 yds expecting to see her standing in a bush hog lane parallel to field road, hmmm not there, moves to next lane, not there either. So back to the field road, there she is moving up the field road about 80 yds away. His Binocs come up to make sure she is a she and wait, that wheat stalk to the right of the road is moving, and it's getting bigger. Holy @#$&&%, one, two, G2 is 12", G3 is 10"....turn your head...grrrr ...not that way...ok spread is good ...come on out little further lemme see other side, does it match...stop don't go that way...binocs down rifle up...other side is good, crap going away from me can't see nothing but back of head, he stopped 70 yards away. Bubba moves forward about 5 steps now he can see most neck and the buck just needs to turn left to follow the doe and expose himself. What...noooo don't go that way, the buck goes right into the tall wheat. Bubba sidesteps right into the tall wheat knowing the short milo will let him see the buck. He peers past the wheat over the shorter milo and sees hindquarters moving into the next alternating row of wheat. Wait what the....a fork horn is feeding on the milo 20 yds in front of him...thank goodness he is facing the other way...Bubba backs up,slowly back out into field road...think, think quick....ok backtrack down field road to this end of the plot to get away from forkhorn and.....
I could finish the story about Bubba (which if you couldn't figure it out was me) but it would take a while since (insert brag here so they will think I have mad skills and luck wasn't involved) I spent another hour within 100 yds or less of 12 deer and managed to not get busted. I consider myself a skilled hunter especially skilled at being lucky. Now if you had been sitting in a tree watching this whole ordeal you woulda thought I was a one Armed crack smoker and fell outta the tree laughing at me, heck I laughed my a@@ off when it was all over. Was that hunt a success, absolutely! I met every single one of the items on my list.
EastTN270 the point is if you are asking "if you are a bad hunter" I would say NO. If you are examining yourself to the point of asking that question, then you are a conscientious enough person to be well on your way to success. You just need to determine what success means to you. Remember you will learn/forget, have good/bad days, fail/succeed smile/curse over and over again, most of all don't ever forget to have fun. And if you want to hunt more mature deer, you are right in thinking you may have to find better hunting grounds to increase your odds. Remember you can't kill em if they aren't there. Just to give you a frame of reference I ran formal cam surveys in prior club near Oxford MS, on 3000 acres we had 30 permitted cams out over bait for two weeks before the season. This was a really good area and out of those thousands of pics we would only identify 10 mature bucks 4.5 yrs old or older on average on an unmanaged herd. Another thing is talk to your local TWRA biologists they probably can tell you what to expect and may even be willing to visit the property
