Are you lucky? or good?

[Zap]

I am neither.

[headgear]

I recall lucking into one nice buck, right place at the right time during the rut, only there 5 minutes or so. The rest of my bucks have been hard fought, wouldn't call myself good but maybe getting there. I should know more over the next 2-3 seasons, goal is to consistently take a good public land buck for my area.

[Stanley]

When you think about it how could you not call all success luck? You go out and have no idea if the buck will be in the bed you are targeting, you hope he is. You go out and hunt during the rut and hope a buck will come through the area you are sitting. You go out and sit between a bed and a food source and hope the buck follows the same pattern. You sit on that parallel buck trail and hope a buck will use it. There are no sure things in hunting, luck plays a big part in how successful you will be that day.

So why does that guy have a wall full of good bucks and you only have 1 or 2 ? I will tell you why. That guy with the wall full of good bucks knows how to play the game of luck. He ups his odds by hunting more often, he ups his odds by hunting where the best chance for that big buck to be. He ups his odds by hunting areas he knows holds good bucks. He ups his odds by capitalizing on those rare lucky encounters with that big buck. He ups his odds by placing his stand in an area where he has a shot. He ups his odds by being a good marksman. He ups his odds by hunting smart, approach, wind etc. Killing a good buck is merely an unknown and unpredictable circumstance that has led to a favorable outcome. I would call this luck.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

When you think about it how could you not call all success luck? You go out and have no idea if the buck will be in the bed you are targeting, you hope he is. You go out and hunt during the rut and hope a buck will come through the area you are sitting. You go out and sit between a bed and a food source and hope the buck follows the same pattern. You sit on that parallel buck trail and hope a buck will use it. There are no sure things in hunting, luck plays a big part in how successful you will be that day.

So why does that guy have a wall full of good bucks and you only have 1 or 2 ? I will tell you why. That guy with the wall full of good bucks knows how to play the game of luck. He ups his odds by hunting more often, he ups his odds by hunting where the best chance for that big buck to be. He ups his odds by hunting areas he knows holds good bucks. He ups his odds by capitalizing on those rare lucky encounters with that big buck. He ups his odds by placing his stand in an area where he has a shot. He ups his odds by being a good marksman. He ups his odds by hunting smart, approach, wind etc. Killing a good buck is merely an unknown and unpredictable circumstance that has led to a favorable outcome. I would call this luck.

This post pretty much sums it up in my opinion. It takes a combo of luck and skill..That's just hunting.

[headgear]

I agree to a point but it kind of depends on your point of view. I think we have all gotten lucky at some point in our hunting careers but after that you have to look at a guy with a wall full of bucks and say that dude is strait up good. If you label all hunting lucky aren't you just downplaying all the years of hard work and skill a hunter has acquired.

When you think about it how could you not call all success luck? You go out and have no idea if the buck will be in the bed you are targeting, you hope he is. You go out and hunt during the rut and hope a buck will come through the area you are sitting. You go out and sit between a bed and a food source and hope the buck follows the same pattern. You sit on that parallel buck trail and hope a buck will use it. There are no sure things in hunting, luck plays a big part in how successful you will be that day.

I think the rut/luck have more of a relationship than bed hunting. Was it luck you hunted the right bed on the right day (sometimes yes if you are going in blind) but otherwise if you look at all the scouting done on the beast that really isn't about luck. Or if a hunter can visually determine ahead of time a buck coming out of a bed he scouted, then go in and kill him. Or say you spot checked numerous beds until you find some fresh sign and know where he is bedding and execute a hunt. Like the old saying goes the harder you work the luckier you get.

So why does that guy have a wall full of good bucks and you only have 1 or 2 ? I will tell you why. That guy with the wall full of good bucks knows how to play the game of luck. He ups his odds by hunting more often, he ups his odds by hunting where the best chance for that big buck to be. He ups his odds by hunting areas he knows holds good bucks. He ups his odds by capitalizing on those rare lucky encounters with that big buck. He ups his odds by placing his stand in an area where he has a shot. He ups his odds by being a good marksman. He ups his odds by hunting smart, approach, wind etc. Killing a good buck is merely an unknown and unpredictable circumstance that has led to a favorable outcome. I would call this luck.

If you are doing all the little things right to up your odds aren't you doing the best to take the luck out of your hunts? I do see where you are coming from but again, its all about perspective.

[Troutking]

It's all relative but I would not consider myself as good or lucky. Proof is in the pudding, I have killed a handful of average bucks on highly pressured public land. No giant deer, one thing for sure is I've improved every year a ton since watching Hill Country Bucks. This is the cornerstone that I have built all my hunting on and am grateful for the knowledge I've learned from Dan and the other fellers.

[JoeRE]

Sometimes I have been lucky hunting and sometimes I have been good, this bow season felt like I was neither

You can kill any individual buck by complete luck, but you have to be good at something to get a wall full of trophies, even if its just something like being good at buying them lol

[Zap]

It's all relative but I would not consider myself as good or lucky. Proof is in the pudding, I have killed a handful of average bucks on highly pressured public land. No giant deer, one thing for sure is I've improved every year a ton since watching Hill Country Bucks. This is the cornerstone that I have built all my hunting on and am grateful for the knowledge I've learned from Dan and the other fellers.

[Edcyclopedia]

When you think about it how could you not call all success luck? You go out and have no idea if the buck will be in the bed you are targeting, you hope he is. You go out and hunt during the rut and hope a buck will come through the area you are sitting. You go out and sit between a bed and a food source and hope the buck follows the same pattern. You sit on that parallel buck trail and hope a buck will use it. There are no sure things in hunting, luck plays a big part in how successful you will be that day.

So why does that guy have a wall full of good bucks and you only have 1 or 2 ? I will tell you why. That guy with the wall full of good bucks knows how to play the game of luck. He ups his odds by hunting more often, he ups his odds by hunting where the best chance for that big buck to be. He ups his odds by hunting areas he knows holds good bucks. He ups his odds by capitalizing on those rare lucky encounters with that big buck. He ups his odds by placing his stand in an area where he has a shot. He ups his odds by being a good marksman. He ups his odds by hunting smart, approach, wind etc. Killing a good buck is merely an unknown and unpredictable circumstance that has led to a favorable outcome. I would call this luck.

I just upped my odds by reading this
I thought it was a scene from ground hog day for a second...

It is 50% luck any way you slice it, the rest is preparation, opportunity and follow through.

[checkerfred]

I'm definitely not good... And right now I'm definitely not lucky... I haven't been lucky in a few years lol... Now my neighbors 12 year old son can drop a nickel and pick up a 100 dollar bill

[ Post made via Android ]

[kenn1320]

Obviously I'm not lucky or good. I enjoy scouting, habitat work, food plots, shooting my bow, etc. I'm learning that Stans post is spot on. I envisioned "good" hunters go to a property and can kill a good buck in a couple days. Even Dan who I look up to and admire his skills has years that he really has to put in the hours on stand(even though he has scouted like crazy) to connect some years. I've had a false sense of reality. Unfortunately many years of no luck, combined with scouting that doesn't reveal a nice buck, I have lost a lot of desire and drive. When I hunt out of state its game on, but in my home state I'm like why bother. I realize its a bad attitude and as Dan says positive attitude is part of success.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[headgear]

I envisioned "good" hunters go to a property and can kill a good buck in a couple days. Even Dan who I look up to and admire his skills has years that he really has to put in the hours on stand(even though he has scouted like crazy) to connect some years. I've had a false sense of reality.

That is kind of interesting, I envision a good hunter as a guy who you can drop off anywhere and he will get on some good bucks that season. Likely she shoots one but I think even if you can have some encounters in any terrain you know what you are doing. Maybe my standards are limited by years of hunting public land, not sure. I don't think anyone can get it done in a couple of days even under ideal conditions, I mean come on even the TV guys don't get it done until the "last day" of the hunt.

[keb]

It's all about the spot, you find good spots you increase your luck or chances tenfold.

[ Post made via iPad ]

[fishlips]

I am sure everyone has had a time or two in their hunting days where they were lucky, but the guys that get it done every year are able to get it done for a reason. Put in the time and the effort and you see the results. All of the people that I know that consistently kill big bucks put in their time and have confidence in their setups.

I don't think it's a coincidence that I have scouted more in the past three years and have seen more shooter bucks and have killed my two biggest bucks to date in that same time period. I think there is a lot of merit to the whole "the harder I work, the luckier I get" mantra.

[Jay]

Had this same discussion with a few guys at the church Christmas party earlier. At first when they saw the picture of my buck this year, I was a lucky guy. As I showed them a few more pics of the other deer on my wall the tone kind of changed. My closing statement as I left was that I seem to get lucky a lot. preparation+opportunity=LUCK