Key attributes of a successful “trophy” hunter

[AT Hiker]

Attributes defined as; characteristics or qualities in someone. In this case a step further, meaning if you level the playing field, what sets a successful hunter a part from the average Joe?
Trophy (for lack of better words) in this case defined as; a solid representation the landscape has to offer yet limited in availability. The animal has been well nourished from the landscape, biologically mature, possibly rare yet not a requirement (Ie any legal Turkey at LBL).

We can debate the term trophy but maybe instead, we could start another thread later redefining "Attributes to killing B&C, etc".
Level playing field; in that everyone has the opportunity. In some cases I suppose it could be land open to everyone but common sense prevails as some private lands are pretty equal to each other, some public lands are better than others. Let's pretend that it is all equal, if possible.


The rules, if you will....First, to make sure we all understand let's try to define the trait and then give an example. This is not gloating, it's part obvious and part personal experience and/or expectations. I understand hunting is fun but sometimes it's not and explaining that is difficult. This is my attempt to explain it and see what others have to say.

I'll start....

Resilient; able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult situations.
A specific situation I've been exposed to that most would have thrown the towel in on (I wanted to multiple times) was my Arizona Coues deer hunt. El Nina hit and altered the landscape, a landscape I've practically never been exposed to in a hunting situation, after an animal I've never hunted before and with no one who could offer anymore advice on the quarry than myself. I did have a solid hunting partner, newbie to Coues as well, but thats another attribute in itself.
Blistering cold, wind and snow brought the taste of defeat up from my stomach. Lack of water made overnight backpacking the ultimate challenge and tested my desire to stray far away from the truck. Lack of finding deer tested my inner pessimism.
On the last day of my hunt, I finally put my tag on a grey ghost. If it wasn't for my resilience to shake it off after a missed shot, to muster through the pain of pulling cactus from my sore body, to sit behind binoculars on a windy peak miles from the nearest truck heater and fresh water supply, I have no doubt I would have went home empty handed. Overall the trip was a blast, but I would be misleading to say it didn't have its fair share of moments.

 

[Snake]

I really don't understand what you are trying to accomplish. Way too many variables to get what you call a fair playing field even if it's the very same property . Let me explain : playing field would be same property but how would you determine how each hunter hunted ? #1 Everyone get there at the same time and check in then take off? #2 Draw to see who hunts first ? (This couldn't be fair as then the property is pressured after first hunt ). #3 Do it year after year after year to contestants which is fair but weather could play a role. #4 Getting a really large tact open to each contestant and make different areas numbered and draw for areas, which is fair to chance but as we all know even in the same tracks some areas are better than others . Luck could have a role in this scenario.

So how to you propose to do this or is this just a hypothetical question ?

Dont see how it could be fair with different propties which I do understand some couldn't get a kill in Cades Cove others could get a kill on just about any property which I think that's what you ate leading to .

From your posts and from what others have said about you AT I'm not trying bash your post by any means for I have the upmost respect for you ! Or is this a post giving us the attributes of what you determine a trophy hunter ? I know some hunters go that extra mile to attain to the prize , letting bucks mature only hunting the mature bucks and only when wind and conditions is right . Those that are persistent even when deer movement is slow and many othere attributes. Some have property to be able to attain their prize , some don't but manage to still take really good animals and these ibtip my hat to.

 

[younggun308]

Judgement: knowing when to be patient with an approach, but also when to completely move on, to a new spot, a new tactic, etc.
Sometimes patience pays off. Other times it's just the definition of insanity.

 

[AT Hiker]

Ok, so I epically failed.

Look at it this way, what attributes do you or other people posses that make you successful. Trophy is a horrible description but I tried to explain what I meant, but I failed at it. It could be a cow elk in a OTC public land unit with low harvest statistics in Montana or a giant whitetail in Iowa on heavily managed land.

Level playing field could be looked at like this; your not going to kill a free range big horn sheep in TN nor is someone wheel chair bound going to hike 14,000 feet in Colorado to hunt a Mountain Goat. Your Cades Cove comment is in line with what I'm getting at. But it's not a competition, just attributes that you think one might posses to be consistent. What attributes make a Navy Seal?

Explaining this is far more difficult than I realized.

 

[AT Hiker]

Judgement: knowing when to be patient with an approach, but also when to completely move on, to a new spot, a new tactic, etc.
Sometimes patience pays off. Other times it's just the definition of insanity.

Kinda like the saying goes..."you can't kill what ain't there"

 

[BSK]

Working on large hunting clubs, what I often see is a small percentage of the hunters/members killing the large majority of the big/old bucks. Basically, somewhere in the rule of 20% of the hunters killing 80% of the big bucks taken each year. Why is this? I see it over and over. What makes those minority of hunters so much better at connecting on what bucks are available?

From what I have witnessed, it is not the hunters who hunt the most. It is the hunters who spend the most effort studying deer behavior all year-round. They run trail-cameras and experiment with camera placement. They pour over maps and create maps of the sign they have found. They spend a huge amount of time and thought into figuring out how deer move across the landscape, and how older bucks often use terrain and habitat differently than does and younger bucks.

At it's core, this minority of highly successful hunters are the most observant and the best able to make the connections between what they see and what it means. They innately see the patterns. I firmly believe it is far more a "mental attitude" thing versus an "effort in the stand" thing.

 

[Snake]

Ok, so I epically failed.

Look at it this way, what attributes do you or other people posses that make you successful. Trophy is a horrible description but I tried to explain what I meant, but I failed at it. It could be a cow elk in a OTC public land unit with low harvest statistics in Montana or a giant whitetail in Iowa on heavily managed land.

Level playing field could be looked at like this; your not going to kill a free range big horn sheep in TN nor is someone wheel chair bound going to hike 14,000 feet in Colorado to hunt a Mountain Goat. Your Cades Cove comment is in line with what I'm getting at. But it's not a competition, just attributes that you think one might posses to be consistent. What attributes make a Navy Seal?

Explaining this is far more difficult than I realized.

But with this post I do kinda understand more so .

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

Luck of the Irish.

 

[AT Hiker]

Working on large hunting clubs, what I often see is a small percentage of the hunters/members killing the large majority of the big/old bucks. Basically, somewhere in the rule of 20% of the hunters killing 80% of the big bucks taken each year. Why is this? I see it over and over. What makes those minority of hunters so much better at connecting on what bucks are available?

Thank you for that, good to hear from someone with experience that actually studies these aspects.
In the Western hunting world there is a saying that goes like this "10% of the hunters kill 90% of the elk". There is obviously something that set those hunters apart from the other 90%, IMO.

 

[AT Hiker]

Luck of the Irish.

I have a heavy influence of Irish blood, most of which influences my desire for dark beer and good whiskey!

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

I have a heavy influence of Irish blood, most of which influences my desire for dark beer and good whiskey!

Same here, half Irish half German. Dark beer, good whiskey, and BIG DEER.

 

[BSK]

I have a heavy influence of Irish blood, most of which influences my desire for dark beer and good whiskey!

I like my beer dark, but tend towards English porters and German dunkels and schwarzbiers.

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

I agree with what BSK stated above. You have to put in the time. My comment about luck of the Irish pertains to me. Every time I have seen a big deer, I happen to be in the right place, at the right time, looking in the right spot. Especially hunting out West where we glass for deer hundreds of yards away.

 

[Snake]

Ok think I can contribute some . Those with the attributes to take the trophy they set out to attain on property anyone can use . Public land with all kind of variables from which some you have absolutely no control over . Those that can consistently kill these trophies year end and year out (maybe not yearly).Those that will go that extra mile need be or that extra 10 mile trec to set up on their trophy knowing each time could be a bust . Those that can improvise when conditions compromise their intentions and still be successful. Those that spend time out of season to scout out that buck of a lifetime only to find out someone else has found the buck sign you found but use that to their advantage . Those that have multiple stand setups due to wind changes during hunting times and not just staying in that one perfect stand. Those that have the instinct to know when to still hunt and when to stand hunt . Those that have the skills when still hunting to move without notice , moving at a snails pace have great patience. Those that would belly crawl hundreds of yards to try a set up on the desired animal. Those that take mental journals to remember their mistakes and to never make them again. Those that study their prey to know at a glance that that animal is the mature animal they seek . I could possibly state many more but I think you get the gest , this hunter is unlike possibly 90 % of hunters and he sticks out to the point as the jealous just call him Ole Lucky ! Fortune plays a role as we all can attest to but consistently killing trophies on public property most likely is not just being lucky .

 

[AT Hiker]

Right Snake, and 90% of the other hunters likely wouldn't have fun doing it how the others do.

For me, the pain and agony that sometimes happens during a season is my drive. Don't get me wrong, I wuss out a lot. Sometimes I'm in it for the fun and sometimes I take it way to serious. I personally feel that's what makes us hunters, as humans go. It's a desire that sometimes gets unleashed.

 

[AT Hiker]

I agree with what BSK stated above. You have to put in the time. My comment about luck of the Irish pertains to me. Every time I have seen a big deer, I happen to be in the right place, at the right time, looking in the right spot. Especially hunting out West where we glass for deer hundreds of yards away.

I do not discount luck one bit but surely there comes a point in time where the often prescribed definition of luck; preparation meets opportunity, comes to light. Maybe you have that intuition of where to look.

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

I do not discount luck one bit but surely there comes a point in time where the often prescribed definition of luck; preparation meets opportunity, comes to light. Maybe you have that intuition of where to look.

Good point.

 

[Snake]

Right Snake, and 90% of the other hunters likely wouldn't have fun doing it how the others do.

For me, the pain and agony that sometimes happens during a season is my drive. Don't get me wrong, I wuss out a lot. Sometimes I'm in it for the fun and sometimes I take it way to serious. I personally feel that's what makes us hunters, as humans go. It's a desire that sometimes gets unleashed.

On the wussing out part that's where I'm at now as time takes a toll on you. Can't do the things I used to do . Once a friend commented to me as I was showing him a place I liked on a piece of large property we had " man you always go to the furthest part " which most times I did because the others was a little lazy . Most would push deer to me. In my younger days and still today I had to be on stand at the least 30 minutes before dawn or I was just to the point of being angry . Now to what I've said I don't consider myself a trophy hunter or to what some call a trophy but have been blessed with some pretty decent bucks. I've never been fortunate to have been on a lease were all would allow the bucks to mature . Call it lucky some have and as FH put it been in the right spot at the right time at times .

 

[redblood]

In terms of deer hunting, i would say patience is key. Unfortunately, i suck at patience.

my best attribute in the deer woods is restraint

 

[redblood]

On the wussing out part that's where I'm at now as time takes a toll on you. Can't do the things I used to do . Once a friend commented to me as I was showing him a place I liked on a piece of large property we had " man you always go to the furthest part " which most times I did because the others was a little lazy . Most would push deer to me. In my younger days and still today I had to be on stand at the least 30 minutes before dawn or I was just to the point of being angry . Now to what I've said I don't consider myself a trophy hunter or to what some call a trophy but have been blessed with some pretty decent bucks. I've never been fortunate to have been on a lease were all would allow the bucks to mature . Call it lucky some have and as FH put it been in the right spot at the right time at times .

I agree snake. I find myself getting in a little but later. I also have been know to take cold windy mornings off. That wind just hurts more now!