I was reading the previous post and I had a follow up question for everyone. I saw some of the replies have answered this but not all of them.
Typically when I hunt I hunt state land. In recent years I have been able to hunt private more often but still do most of my hunting on state land. I hunt heavily pressured areas most of the time and a 2 year old turkey or deer is considered a trophy. With that being said I have eaten tag soup all too often. Its getting better it usually only last 1 year but I have gone several without tagging anything. So the question is
What if you have hunted and havent tagged anything in 2 or 3 years and that Jake or Spike buck presents itself on the last evening of the last day you are going to hunt for the year. Are you shooting?
BOOM,BOOM, out go the lights. :fud: :newmascot:
I honestly never plan on allowing myself to be in that position.
I work hard each year, all year to ensure success on mature animals and will continue to do so.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Quote from: VaTuRkStOmPeR on January 07, 2012, 03:24:38 PM
I honestly never plan on allowing myself to be in that position.
I work hard each year, all year to ensure success on mature animals and will continue to do so.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
So is that a yes I'd shoot :lol:
Quote from: VaTuRkStOmPeR on January 07, 2012, 03:24:38 PM
I honestly never plan on allowing myself to be in that position.
I work hard each year, all year to ensure success on mature animals and will continue to do so.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Im not sure I understand what being prepared has to do with the above scenario. I do agree that being prepared is number one on my list.
However I can assure you that Woodsman works hard everyday to raise his family and provide them a good home. With limited time to hunt and then being forced to hunt on public land overrun with goobers who dont understand the basic principle of sharing the land its tough. You pass up a young bird or buck only to see someone else loading it in their truck in the parking area.
I'm pulling the trigger and going home with a smile on my face. :happy0064: Some people are just not as fortunate to have an abundance of critters to chose from as others may. Spike or 10 point buck, jake or longbeard, they all eat good. :fud:
Jake/no shoot. Spike depends on my mood. If I'm deer hunting then I must be bored so chances are good his day ain't going to end to well.
Quote from: redarrow on January 07, 2012, 03:38:39 PM
Quote from: VaTuRkStOmPeR on January 07, 2012, 03:24:38 PM
I honestly never plan on allowing myself to be in that position.
I work hard each year, all year to ensure success on mature animals and will continue to do so.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Im not sure I understand what being prepared has to do with the above scenario. I do agree that being prepared is number one on my list.
However I can assure you that Woodsman works hard everyday to raise his family and provide them a good home. With limited time to hunt and then being forced to hunt on public land overrun with goobers who dont understand the basic principle of sharing the land its tough. You pass up a young bird or buck only to see someone else loading it in their truck in the parking area.
It has everything to do with the question.
If you aren't getting the opportunities you are looking for you have failed at some part of the hunting process.
Sometimes achieving success means realizing that an area doesn't have the caliber of animals you are looking for and concentrating your efforts on securing new ground elsewhere.
If you're going multiple years between tagging the quality of longbeards or bucks you're looking for, harsh reality is that a failure occurred somewhere in the process.
And the answer is no, I wouldn't shoot a Jake or a spike because I wouldn't feel satisfied in that harvest.
I'd shoot a doe and try to identify why I was unsuccessful. That would be my first step to ensuring greater success next season.
The spike would get shot, and the jake would walk.
I put zero thought into the bone on the animal's head.
That full fan? That's another story! :fud:
Spike, if I wanted one to eat, yes. Jake, no. Absolutely nothing wrong with shooting a jake where legal, but it just doesn't float my boat anymore. I proved that to myself a few years ago hunting Alabama during a tough season with virtually no gobbling. I had 3 jakes walk all over me for about 10 minutes, but didn't shoot, and ended up going home after a weeks hunting without firing a shot, but did not regret doing so for a moment.
Leo I suppose it depends if a hunter is hunting for venison or antlers. or turkeys or beards........I personaly hunt to fill my freezer, not my wall.. just sayin...
[/quote]
If you aren't getting the opportunities you are looking for you have failed at some part of the hunting process.
Sometimes achieving success means realizing that an area doesn't have the caliber of animals you are looking for and concentrating your efforts on securing new ground elsewhere.
If you're going multiple years between tagging the quality of longbeards or bucks you're looking for, harsh reality is that a failure occurred somewhere in the process.
[/quote]
The point that alot of people on here seem to miss because they have more options for quality deer or turkey is that some areas just dont produce "quality" deer or turkey as well as others because of habitat and PRESSURE. a quality deer where I hunt and across most of Michigan on public land is 2 1/2 years old. Buck or Doe.
Not being able to devote alot of time because of having a family to raise is somehow being unprepared? As for the oppurtunities I am looking for is to fill my freezer and has little to do with racks and beards.
I've met alot of goood hunters on here that cant travel all over the place to kill birds who are relegated to hunting in one state for minimal days who do as much as they can to prepare and still get skunked at times. Getting skunked or not getting a shot doesnt always mean failure to prepare, one of the guys on our team in the turkey contest last year put in a ton of time trying to get his bird and it just didnt work out, doesnt mean he wasnt prepared.
for me jakes and spikes always get a pass
I shoot what I feel like.
Some days the jakes get it and some days they dont. I never regret what I kill.
I usually do the same for the deer. Some years I would try for a bigger deer, some years I will shoot anything that moves.
Woodsman4God,
It should not matter what VaTuRkStOmPeR does or any other person within this forum. You should do what you feel is the right thing to do.
If someone looks at you as a failure because you shot a Jake or a Spike do to the fact that you may not have as much time to devote to hunting as some of those here in this forum then they have to live with themselves.
I would smoke that rascal and feel blessed that you were able to find time to enjoy yourself.
What others do here or anywhere else is their deal and you have your own deal.
Any respectful hunter should applaud you for whatever you do! I will try my hardest to give you a big :icon_thumright: when I see a picture of whatever you choose to shoot!!!!
Good Luck!
Quote from: Woodsman4God on January 08, 2012, 08:48:30 AM
If you aren't getting the opportunities you are looking for you have failed at some part of the hunting process.
Sometimes achieving success means realizing that an area doesn't have the caliber of animals you are looking for and concentrating your efforts on securing new ground elsewhere.
If you're going multiple years between tagging the quality of longbeards or bucks you're looking for, harsh reality is that a failure occurred somewhere in the process.
[/quote]
The point that alot of people on here seem to miss because they have more options for quality deer or turkey is that some areas just dont produce "quality" deer or turkey as well as others because of habitat and PRESSURE. a quality deer where I hunt and across most of Michigan on public land is 2 1/2 years old. Buck or Doe.
Not being able to devote alot of time because of having a family to raise is somehow being unprepared? As for the oppurtunities I am looking for is to fill my freezer and has little to do with racks and beards.
I've met alot of goood hunters on here that cant travel all over the place to kill birds who are relegated to hunting in one state for minimal days who do as much as they can to prepare and still get skunked at times. Getting skunked or not getting a shot doesnt always mean failure to prepare, one of the guys on our team in the turkey contest last year put in a ton of time trying to get his bird and it just didnt work out, doesnt mean he wasnt prepared.
[/quote]
You asked the question, not I. Asking such a question is soliciting a response and that doesn't guarantee that you will like what you hear.
I never questioned who you or anyone else is as a person or a family man. That has nothing to do with the hypothetical scenario you posed.
Furthermore, you never stated that you were just out there to fill your freezer. Your question created the impression that you, or the hunter in it, has some type of standard that supersedes meat hunting.
If the hunter was just hunting for sustenance, of course he would shoot the animal with little regard to its maturity.
However, if the hunter was a trophy hunter, or hunter with some type of personal standard for judging an animal, then yes, he has in fact failed. He did not achieve the goal to shoot his desired animal.
Lifestyles are a choice. Family obligations are a choice. Hobbies are a choice. Additional miscellaneous responsibilities are a choice. Educational opportunities are a choice.
The way I see it, we all make choices and we all go into the woods with aspirations and goals, which should be established based on the locality in which you are hunting (not all areas have 140" deer, and not all areas have a lot of 3 year old gobblers; I'm well aware of this). However, If you conclude a season without achieving them, you have failed and I maintain that the best way to prevent that from recurring is from admitting failure and identifying why it happened.
And once again, since puregold seemed to interpret my post as a personal attack, I'll highlight that this question is in the context of hunting and there is nothing personal in saying, "you failed." We have all failed and will continue to do so. The value in failure is learning from it; not in denying and personalizing it.
I, clearly, have a different perspective on failure and success.
First of all , I havent taken anything as a personal attack, I was just responding from my own personal experience, I will debate for debates sake but no offense taken here guys.
For me just being in the woods hunting is a success, the taking of game lage or small is the icing on the cake. I just cringe when I hear people talking about success or failure as being a standard of size or age because it cant apply universally because of many factors that are beyond any number of hunters control.
My question was meant more to see who or if people would bend their own standards based on a different set of criteria from the first question.
Va i understand where you are coming from , if you had a set goal of shooting a Mature gobbler or Whitetail buck of a certain size and could not then you failed your objective but again that is not always a case of unpreparedness, setting reasonable goals based on whats available is also a part of the equation. There is no way I can prepare my way to a 140 class whitetail where I bow hunt because he only comes around once every 10 - 20 years, now if that was my goal I have to hunt elsewhere because its unrealistic the failure would be to not recognize that, as I do recognize that, my goals are not that.
Woodsman,
I'm grateful for your open mind and the debate.
I also see where you are coming from and respect the point you make.
Cheers!
I'd shoot the jake but not the deer. The only reason I say that is: I thought my area was just full of lil' racks untill I saw a monster a few years ago.I have never shot a deer since I scout for friends mostly. So I figure If Ive gone this long with out shooting a deer I might as well just wait and get the big one. Had a chance this year to shoot a 2x2 mule deer at about 30 yards and passed. I just know one day I'll see the big guys and take a shot. This year most of the deer shot were 3x3 or bigger in my zone. I think the tag sale quota is 1500 tags and only about 14 deer were taken this year that I know of, I havent check the stats.So what im saying its up to you if you set any limits on your hunting,do what you please within the legal aspects of your DNR or F and G rules.
I hunt to eat the wild game and not put racks or fans on the wall. I say shoot and eat it with a smile on my face.
Not saying that if I got a monster buck that it wouldn't be on a wall somewhere though.
Kill switch engaged!