Weakest link

[cspot]

I'll do a top 10:

1) Time
2) Time
3) Time
4) Time
5) Time
6) Time
7) Time
8) Time
9) Time
10) Time

Ha. I really do feel that is my only barrier to being as successful as I know I can be. I always say my #1 goal every hunting season is to remain employed and married, everything else is icing on the cake. So far, so good, but the wife is fed up with hunting for the year with one more weekend to go.

Especially not being able to do out of state hunts, it kills me. I fall into that trap sometimes, "how the bleep can 'that guy' spend 3 weeks in midwest state X, and I get flak for going to camp for a weekend?" Oh well.

When my kids get a little older that should get better, I think. My job is decently flexible, but at some point I'd like to be able to just take 3-4 weeks off in bow season and still have a week left over for family vacation.

Someday, retirement. By then I'm sure I'll be at an entirely different chapter in my hunting journey and won't have the drive I have now. But at least I'll have the time and freedom.

FOrtunately my kids all hunt so that has made it really easy on me to hunt alot. She can't complain when you are spending time with the kids.

[cspot]

I think like most, time is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome although I get more time than some guys do.

After that I think I fall into a trap sometimes of hunting the same areas or stands when I should be moving around a bit more. I should also be more aggressive at times too.

[Crazinamatese]

One thing that is kicking me in the right now is NOT making my shots on mature bucks count. I made a bad shot 3 season ago on a big buck and lost two mature bucks this last season within a 3 day frame. All bad shots. I practice shoot alot but for some reason these mature bucks get in my head. I plan on buying an actual foam deer target and maybe that will help? Maybe try practice shooting with increased heart rate to mimic adrenaline? Im not sure how to improve this problem Im having. Lack of focus?

[Kraftd]

Count me in the time group. I have reached a point where I'm not cocky, but I'm pretty confident that were time not a limitation I have a decent idea what I'm doing. Is what it is, gotta balance it all out.

Other than time, I'm an over-thinker too, but have really made strides in that.

[elk yinzer]

[FOrtunately my kids all hunt so that has made it really easy on me to hunt alot. She can't complain when you are spending time with the kids.

Thats what I keep trying to tell her, but it's a difficult message to convey to someone stuck at home with a moody 3 year old and wildman toddler all week.

[treeroot]

Time is a big one.

My two big issues 1. I over analyze hunting pressure and struggle to find the deer. Often times leaves me changing my tail. 2. Years when food sources change away from normal I have a hard time locating deer. This one falls under time as well. Usually once I find them my weekend is over and buy the next weekend it's shifted again.

[live2hunt]

Time here also. I work a full time job that includes over night travel and farm on the side raising crops and cattle. To fix this problem I have to start playing the lottery and win it.

Also I just couldn’t get things to click this year(on mature deer). I was on deer just not deer I wanted to shoot. To fix this I need to figure out what I’m missing. I know the old deer are there “somewhere” I just can’t pin them down to exact location.

I did have success during gun season and archery season isn’t over yet so I will see what I can pull off late season.

[bigbucks1234]

My weakest link,,,, hands down my horrendous case of target panic
It has not cost me an animal yet but if not addressed will..
I made decent strides this fall and made it through killing 2 decent bucks which was my goal for the season.
I have a solid plan on attacking this issue after the new year so i can hopefully overcome it by next fall.

[raisins]

Availability of public land and distance to get to it. Makes for some really long days when you have to add 2 hours on front and back end of a hunt that starts at 530 and ends at 830. Makes scouting more difficult as well. Only other option is to get a lease which I just am reluctant to do.

Same here. We have a national forest with over 1 million acres in it, but it is 2 hours away. The close by public is smaller and has guys trying to sneak through bedding mid-day by mid-October.

[Cchez]

For me, the biggest obstacle is time. Having a young family and the wife and I both work a lot. As far a a personal weakest link, its second guessing my spots. Its something i never thought of before, but this year I've done my best to be more positive in my choices. Having faith in your spots definitely helped me sitting for long periods in areas I'd never hunted, or spots i maybe thought were dumb.

[NorthStar]

Like most, my weakest link is multifaceted:

1. Lack of intel on the properties I hunt due to little to no pre-season scouting
2. Having a plan but not sticking to it
3. Not enough shooting practice

Its a step in the right direction just to write these things out. I have set goals for the 2020 off-season to address all 3 of these. Scout enough properties to have a new sit for each bow hunt next year(I get about a dozen sits in) and shoot 3 arrows a day from different positions.

[Lonewolf_1981]

For me, the biggest obstacle is time. Having a young family and the wife and I both work a lot. As far a a personal weakest link, its second guessing my spots. Its something i never thought of before, but this year I've done my best to be more positive in my choices. Having faith in your spots definitely helped me sitting for long periods in areas I'd never hunted, or spots i maybe thought were dumb.

This is almost identical to my weakest links, as well as commitment to public land hunting. Here in South Carolina I thought I was a good hunter until I set a goal of exclusively trying to kill a public land bow buck. This goal has kicked my tail this season and made me realize I have to scout way more during more beneficial times (winter and just before season opener).

[SplitG2]

Everything!!! Even the things I feel I have figured out.

[RiverBottoms]

Aside from the usual lack of time and lack of scouting excuses I tend to give, I think a major weak link for me personally, that I absolutely can control, is how I access my stand locations. Whether I have the ultimate destination in mind prior or scout my way in, I make too much noise accessing and am in too much of a rush to get my tree picked and set up. I've probably bumped deer I didn't even know where there due to this. Slow and steady wins the race.

[Huntress13]

1. Getting Mobile (I plan to fix that this year)
2. Getting Mobile may require that I work on physical conditioning a bit more. Not fun, but do-able.
3. I'm still so new that I don't even know yet what is my next weakest link....