We all know someone .

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Sometimes there's just a few that just work a little harder, understanding and study the animals that we are after( not what the shows try to tell you) I'm content to sit and study them in the wild putting in many, many hours of sitting and glassing and patterning.

Not just deer, not just turkeys, not just elk everything I am after from fur to monster bluecats. It's a challenge way down deep inside of me to accomplish what I want. Sometimes I fail, does it bother me nope not in the least it motivates me, always.

I have taught my boys the same, we don't lease we work on hand shakes. We don't hunt over bait piles or feeders we scout and do it year round. Does it bother me if other people do, nope! that's what there taught everyday when they turn on the hunting channels. It's not about deer it's about woodsmanship skills and reading the sign left behind, knowing we're to place your stands or blinds and why. IMHO

I better stop    :D  

Tracy

[NY Yankee]

I always see deer when I am not hunting or not looking for them. Now, when I go "hunting", It's just a walk through the woods, with my bow.

[YosemiteSam]

It's about probabilities.  And in any game of probabilities, there are those who succeed and those who fail -- both by sheer luck, good or bad.

A simple thought experiment:
Give 100 people a coin and tell them to flip it.  Heads are winners, tails are losers.  There should be about 50 winners.  Take those winners and do it again.  Now you have 25 winners.  Do it again -- 12.  Again -- 6.  Again -- 3.  Again --1 or 2.  The last one or two "winners" just flipped heads 6 times in a row.  The odds of that are about 1.5/100.  But I can assure you that they're not skillful coin flippers -- it's just dumb luck.

Out here, our success rates are only about 10%.  Better odds than a lottery but still 90% chance of tag soup each year.  My neighbor usually gets his deer each year but he hunts for a month straight (retired) so he increases his odds accordingly.

This isn't to neglect the role of skill.  But luck plays a much bigger role in life, business and fun than we care to admit.

Yes and it makes me a little jealous.  Years ago i gave a guy a recurve.  With his compound and mechanical heads, if it wernt for bad luck he'd have no luck at all.  He went out with that recurve, second time out, perfect shot.  Then claimed all he had to do is cant the bow, he knew where the arrow was going and it did.  He then went to a longbow, stays on the ground, he wants the option open to run after pheasants and turkeys.  He has been running after deer that are not heading his way and killing them.  He has been told that he is a snap shooter, he has been told to hold his bow straight up, the experts are doing their very best to 'help' him and get him to come back to the indoor spot shooting club.  Twice in two years I got back to my car with my little cargo trailer in tow and found the note on my windshield, "I have your deer cart."

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Flipping a coin a deer hunting are far, far from the same.    

You have to make your own luck through determination and work.      

Tracy

[ksbowman]

Probably 40 years ago my brother and I got a guy started shooting a recurve. All summer we told him all the things we did, scent killers, peed in a bottle , went to stand well before daylight and the list goes on and on. He would shoot once a week or once every 2 weeks. Come season he got out of his car at 9 am walked in drinking a cup of coffee, lit a cigarette and climbed up on a 6 foot step ladder all the while enjoying his pleasures. At 9:30 a Pope and Young walked inand at 10' he shot it. Told us it was a lot easier than rifle hunting. Who Knows!

[ksbowman]

Tracy is right on. You normally make you own luck.

[kennym]

I gotta say time spent is a big part, sure some folks have some luck sometimes, but the guy who stays after it and can pretty well read the animal's actions will have the most success.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Great story Ben      

Exactly Kenny!            

Tracy

[njloco]

O.k., this more of the believe it or not, but I tell you now it's all true.
My buddy gets me into hunting in 1996, which I really know very little about, but I can shoot archery, So I take my trusty 1973 Ben Pearson recurve ( against his wishes ) and I bag a doe right off. Few days later I get back into the woods, I bag a nice 7 pt buck.
Then one day we're walking into the woods and I say to him, " do you smell that ? " he says smell what ? I say to him I smell deer, he looks at me like I'm crazy and, says I think you've lost it, and you can't smell deer ! We take a few more steps and there they go, about 5 or 6 deer take off. Needless to say, he's got nothing to else to say, but he gets aggravated with me because he asks me where I'm going to sit, and I tell him I'm going to try a new spot. He starts telling me how he is trying to teach me how to hunt, and how I need to scout an area out and then set up a tree and cut shooting lanes and do all sorts of preperation. So I say, it's a little too late for that and go to my area, find a tree, wrap my climber around it and climb up, as I'm pulling my bow up, I hear a noise and low and behold I'm surrounded by about 7-8 doe's and get stuck with my bow half way up the tree and,  no, I didn't get a shot off.
Don't forget now, we have the highest amounts of deer per square mile of any state.
So no, I don't scout, I don't cut shooting lanes, I don't prepare any trees. I go in the woods, find what looks like a good area with some sign, check the wind, and hunt ! I don't even bother going up in a tree anymore. Is it luck, I don't know, I suppose sometimes it is. I did read everything I could find on hunting white tail deer when I decided I was going to do it.

P.S. Charlie, please stop trying to sell my bridge !

[ron w]

I'm one of the guy's who never scores......been at it since 1968. I had a shot in 1972 I think, next shot was just a few years ago. 3 shots since 2 misses and one hit no recovery. Bear Quest #9 in Quebec I had my first Trad kill.....the Bear in my Avatar. But I will say I have had some fantastic hunts and never drew an arrow. Had seasons with out a deer being seen......like last year. BUT.......I'm not a quitter.......  

[kennym]

Ron, you gotta find a spot with more deer!! You can't shoot em if they aren't there!!  

[ron w]

That's why I want to move south by my daughter in Georgia.........

[Valkyrie]

I usually fill a tag or two. In fact I've killed at least one deer  every season since I was 17.  I'm 46. Every deer is a trophy. Some tags I fill for the freezer. Some because I want to ply my skills on a nice buck. I get.very little time to hunt because we of my job. Because of that I take pride in getting close and seeing deer. A basket six or a flathead, etc ther is an earned trophy. Now don't get me wrong, I have matched wits with some nice bucks and occasionally it worked out.  But I don't think success is measured by filling tags either. I had a gorgeous 8pt come past me on 14 November. I had filled my buck tag on opening day and was looking for a fat doe for the freezer. But it was awesome to know that had I been able l, he was as good as dead. That was just as fun as tagging him. Well, almost. But my point is? I m usually successful but there's more to it than killing animals.

[Michael Arnette]

This is an interesting subject! I've always wondered the same thing, I think it comes down to certain variables.

1) some people have all the luck LOL I feel like I've been in this category a few times
2) with traditional archery shooting ability is a big factor
3) you'll notice guys who kill lots of animals consistently put a lot of faith in their equipment.  For instance, have you ever noticed how few hunters with wooden arrows consistently kill? I don't think it's because wooden arrows shoot poorly necessarily it's more because the "killers" of our groups tend to use man-made materials for better consistency

Lastly but most importantly, a universal trait of all consistently successful hunters:
They are quick to change their set up, hunting location, gear etc. at a moments notice when it appears to not be working well for them. This is the biggest difference between the successful and the unsuccessful.

[ron w]

What about the guys who killed stuff every year before carbon arrows.     I don't think gear has anything to do with it. You either have good spots to hunt or you don't. You either practice hard or you don't. You put the time in.......or you don't. The last few years I have been closer than ever, because I have been working harder to make it happen and I sure it will if I live long enough....lol

[K.S.TRAPPER]

#3 is one of the craziest statements I've heard on here in a long time.        

Tracy

[meathead]

No kidding Tracy. I hope the turkey I shot this morning doesn't come back to life once he realizes that it was a Doug fir arrow that went through him.

3) you'll notice guys who kill lots of animals consistently put a lot of faith in their equipment. For instance, have you ever noticed how few hunters with wooden arrows consistently kill? I don't think it's because wooden arrows shoot poorly necessarily it's more because the "killers" of our groups tend to use man-made materials for better consistency.
 wow, that is one hell of an assumption.
I have noticed that some people take pictures and brag about every single thing they shoot.  Out of the eight deer that got shot by wood arrows, (that I made) this past year in our one tag per hunter area, the only picture taken was one that I took with my cell phone.  I took it to commemorate a lengthy pass through shot with a 20 year old wood arrow shot from an elcheapo Montgomery Ward recurve that I completely reworked and gave to a friend when he wrenched his shoulder years ago. When asked why he used that bow, the answer was, "because it is perfect in every way." You cannot put a price on 'it's my favorite just because'.

[mwosborn]

The single most important thing to consistently taking deer (or whatever) each year is location.

Like has been said, if they ain't there you ain't going to kill em.

I could hunt hour after hour for 100's of hours in my front yard...I still think my chances are zero.

I am blessed to have numerous places to hunt which all hold quite a few deer.  I shoot several deer each year and I pass up lots and lots of shots.  Not because I am such a great hunter!  It is simply because I am there - where the deer are.