Wish I was average Hunter again...

[SwampCritter]

Some days I just wish I was an average Hunter again..... I'm not a qdm guy by any means I'm not a I only shoot 140 inch Buck guy I actually hate when people say they only shoot a certain size buck cuz it's just not realistic.. but I've always tried to be realistic with my goals... It's just that if there's not a buck you want to harvest in the areas you're allowed to hunt.. you can't shoot a mature buck if it's not there basically is what I'm getting at... when you done all the scouting you've done your sets you've done the time and all you're seeing is 110 in 9 point and could have shot it several times that's the best deer in your area but you don't want to shoot it just because of personal goal it becomes kind of disheartening.... I just feel that I may have outgrown my area and I love hunting but I just can't bring myself to shoot another buck of a certain size when I've already shot so many of them I want to step up my game personally and I know that just two years ago the same Buck would have made me happy and would make anybody happy in my area.. just figured I'd post cuz maybe some not all can possibly relate with me on here.. by the way I am in central lower Michigan... What have some of you in the same boat done to try to move forward pass this crutch...

[hokiehunter373]

Some days I just wish I was an average Hunter again..... I'm not a qdm guy by any means I'm not a I only shoot 140 inch Buck guy I actually hate when people say they only shoot a certain size buck cuz it's just not realistic.. but I've always tried to be realistic with my goals... It's just that if there's not a buck you want to harvest in the areas you're allowed to hunt.. you can't shoot a mature buck if it's not there basically is what I'm getting at... when you done all the scouting you've done your sets you've done the time and all you're seeing is 110 in 9 point and could have shot it several times that's the best deer in your area but you don't want to shoot it just because of personal goal it becomes kind of disheartening.... I just feel that I may have outgrown my area and I love hunting but I just can't bring myself to shoot another buck of a certain size when I've already shot so many of them I want to step up my game personally and I know that just two years ago the same Buck would have made me happy and would make anybody happy in my area.. just figured I'd post cuz maybe some not all can possibly relate with me on here.. by the way I am in central lower Michigan... What have some of you in the same boat done to try to move forward pass this crutch...

I'd imagine the answer you're going to get most on here is you can only shoot big bucks where big bucks are... time to start traveling.

[Trout]

Hokie makes a great point. I always thought I sucked at locating nice bucks, then I travelled to a state that actually has them, did the same things I always do, and had an encounter or two with a nice buck almost every day. Felt like I was in an amusement park. I'm still trying to locate nice deer here at home but I don't feel nearly as discouraged as I used to.

[Chuck B]

From the sounds of the guys on the Michigan challenge, there are some big bucks in your area.... just probably quite a bit fewer than you’d like.

I am in somewhat of the same boat in Northern WI, I just have to be ok with not shooting a buck for a few years. Sometimes that is hard. Either that or travel.

[Kraftd]

Just have to decide how important things are to you, imo. If traveling isn't in the cards, there's no shame in going after and killing the best bucks in your area. Some, or even most, years that may not be what you really want, but there's still quite a bit of meat on a 110" 9.

If big bucks are truly what engage you as a hunter, and nothing wrong with that imo, then make some travel plans, or even look at what it would take to move.

[thwack16]

I think a lot of us in similar areas can probably sympathize with you.

I killed a pretty good deer for the area and time in just my third year of hunting at 12 years old. From there, gun hunting was never the same(though nearly twenty years later I've rekindled that flame a bit with the smoke pole and public ground). Bow hunting was and always will be a challenge, but as I bow kill bigger deer that "minimum" that I set for myself keeps becoming harder and harder to find. Currently I have nothing on cam on 800 acres of private that meets that minimum.

Scouting and trail cams just takes more and more of a front seat to find the bucks I'm wanting to shoot.

Also, don't disregard the traveling out of state advice. I've sat in a tree twice on public ground in the Midwest and have killed two bucks, one being my first P&Y.

[mheichelbech]

One thing I never understood was the idea of killing A buck, any buck. I truly don’t mean to imply you are like this at all, obviously you are not. Like you, I have standards that are higher than what I can accomplish every season or even every 2-3 seasons, especially given where I hunt and the time I have available to put into it, how hard I am willing to work and how far I am willing to travel.

I feel like this site is a pretty good barometer for measuring my results on harvesting mature bucks. What I perceive is that MOST of the guys that are putting down big ones consistently either live/hunt where there is a much higher population of big bucks or, they travel to where they are. A few, do the super hard and time consuming work of finding and killing big bucks regardless of the population. Again, that is my perception and I could be wrong. The other thing is, a lot of mature bucks just don’t have big racks which is another obstacle for me.
What I’ve tried to measure myself against is, how do I preform when there is an encounter with a mature buck? Do I make mistakes or do I hunt him and kill him? It’s the mistakes and missed opportunities that depress me. I’ve learned or maybe matured to the point that it’s not depressing to not get one every season. Most hunters go their whole life without killing some of the deer you see on here. It’s just not that easy to do in most areas of the country.

[Ack]

If you're passing 110" bucks on public land in central lower MI you're doing better than 95% of hunters around there. If it doesn't float your boat anymore, it's simple....hunt where there are bigger bucks. But don't lose sight of the big picture either.....you still have to keep things fun, and it's not always the trophy shot or size of the rack that makes a good hunt.

[jmaas07]

Move to another state

[Crazinamatese]

I think some hunters will see and shoot at least one good size buck in their lifetime if they play their cards right. Not every season is going to be raining giant bucks.

[Buckshot20]

In my state, in the area I live in, if you could kill a 100” buck every year you would quickly become a legend. Just saying

[Hawthorne]

In my state, in the area I live in, if you could kill a 100” buck every year you would quickly become a legend. Just saying

Same here. John eberhart says he has 30 book bucks in Michigan in 53 seasons.A good majority of them are in the 100-110 range I believe. A buck only has to score 100 here to be put in the record books. Dont get me wrong he has killed some giants but not all

[crankn101]

BREAKING NEWS:Thats not the biggest buck in your area

[Thesouthpaw]

Find different ground and hunt it. I'm sure if you're willing to put a few miles on the vehicles, you can get into the caliber of deer you are looking for.

[Dewey]

In my state, in the area I live in, if you could kill a 100” buck every year you would quickly become a legend. Just saying

Same here. John eberhart says he has 30 book bucks in Michigan in 53 seasons.A good majority of them are in the 100-110 range I believe. A buck only has to score 100 here to be put in the record books. Dont get me wrong he has killed some giants but not all

Interesting. When he say's that I always just assumed he meant P&Y minimum. That's a big difference.