The thing I always hate to see is the guy who buys his way in and thinks he earned it. It seems especially prevalent with big whitetails nowadays.

A chunk of money will get you on some great ground and you should get a big deer.

A guy who busts one on a public hunting area has definitely done more than the guy who bought his way in, all else being equal.

The whole "nimrod" thing was a nice touch, Dave.

If the "earn them on one hunt, collect them on another" postulation is true -- all I can say is that I've been building up an exponential payday over the past 7 years! I only hope that I'm still alive when the "collecting" part of this scenario commences!

I hold the building up effort for a day to collect as scripture. If I didn't I would give up deer hunting and only hunt ducks and fish for stripers in the fall. I have plenty of time ahead of me to hunt as I am only 27 and this is my 10th season hunting. But in those ten years I have been thwarted by every antlered deer that has been near me. And usually by some unforseen or unpredictable force. I mean I once saw a large tree fall in the woods for no apparent reason between me and one of the better bucks I have ever seen. I mean what the hell, who has a tree fall and spook a buck thats on course to walk down you barrel. I mean hell we ain't talking TV deer here I need a forkhorn to break the curse

Which leads me to wanting to throttle most TV hunters who hunt from pre-hung tree stand on ranch du-jour who must just sit and wait for a deer that has been scouted and videoed 15000 times so you know when he is coming by the stand. Not to mention the fact that most of these hunts cost about twice what my truck is worth.

Amen on ruining a beginner. I'm hoping the kids get a fat doe or a young buck. We saw a monster at Dad's and I hope he is the one to take it. He plans to hunt with one of the kids this coming youth hunt, (Hooray, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission! - This year's youth hunt allows over 65 hunters with a youth to take a deer as well) I'll be with one of the kids, Dad will be with the other. I hope I have three deer to clean.

Hunting over bait isn't hunting at all. It's target shooting. Collecting is a pretty good word for it.

Happy is correct, the joy of the hunt is the payback for the hours and dollars spent. Sweat, blisters, insects, heat, cold and the rain are all as much a part of a hunt as camo and a firearm or bow. So are the economics involed in license fees, guide fees, trespass fees, etc.

I leave Wednesday on a coastal hunt which those who attend call three days of heaven sandwiched between 2 days of hell. Moving ones gear onto and off of the island is a royal pain in the butt, however one is paid off in beautiful scenery and good hunting. The mosquitos are big, the deer are small and feral hogs are tough to hunt but it is fun and well worth the effort. In the case of this hunt the trophy is certainly in the heart and eye of the hunter.

I will cetainly be glad to "collect" an animal anytime the opportunity is available, because there have been many miles of briers, ticks, mosquitos, sand gnats, snakes, sweat and effort expended in between.

I think it is 80% luck and 20% the leather on your boots, expecially with elk. Whitetails a little less luck.

After a few decades hunting I have walked my share in snow, mud etc. and some of my biggest animals were gifts. Luck is such a big part, or its track soup.
You just gotta keep your focus from when u leave your vehicle til u get back and hunt all u can til the last minute of the last day because u just never know. That's what makes it so much fun year after year.

After taking the hunter safety course with my son I had him sit with me in our tree stand for two years before he got a license. On both occasions the weather was perfect, cool with light snow on the ground. And each year I shot a buck before 9:30 a.m. He figured it would be easy his first year even though I kept repeating to him how we really got lucky.
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So, last year he bought his own license and we sat together on stand, in a steady rain that lasted the entire day. We didn't see a deer all morning and he decided to take a break at 11:00 a.m. and get some lunch and warm up back at the cabin. At noon two does ran by our stand and by 12:45 p.m. my son had rejoined me. We sat in the rain until 3:30 p.m. without seeing another deer. He was pretty discouraged but began to figure out the notion of putting in your time on stand in order to earn a deer.

My first deer hunt euined me for life. I was using a borrowed 12 ga shotgum using buck shot. Ws suprised when I saw the buck trotting my way, excited i shot him and he stumbled and stopped, i shot again and he left slowly, I trailed him for a while to a rivr and saw bllod where he went in. Ws many years after that before i even got a shot. I can never recll in my 50 odd yrs of hunting a given animal, I feel I've earned all I ever shot and yet feel that way. TO confirm, go West for Elk a dozen years and then eat you tag on every 4th or 5th trip. Now with whiteails here, we got so many that asa rule you can get a deer most of the season, but may not be a deer you want. I now only hunt for a older, worn out deer ( like me at 74), as Den walls are covred. But most of all, I just enjoy being out in the wide open space and seeing what Nature has for us. Next time you at l2K in the Rockies, just look ovr the Valleys below youand than God for the opportunity you had to get there. You may get a shot and may not, but the outing is worth the time, effort and cost. When you get my age, any outing is a +. Good hunting. Shoot-um-straight and often.

At 52 and having been a (so far) life long hunter, I can only thank God and our vets that I live in a country where I can still GO hunting and enjoy the freedoms we have. It's not about the killing or "collecting".

After intently scouting a really nice buck one summer and fall I had the perfect spot for a stand. I hunted there for weeks, getting there before daylight, climbing in the dark, and only saw does and yearlings all day long. Then one morning I overslept and got out of the truck at 8:00am. I walked about 20 yards down the trail and there was my deer with his head down drinking from a puddle at about 50 yards. I think I felt more disgusted than elated over getting him.

Here in AZ there's alot of efforts to turn it into collecting. I see dorks on quads all the time. They're as likely to run into a deer on the highway as spot one from a quad. Then there's the "glass all day" types. They're more likely to see a buck (you can't take does here). When I get bored with glassing, as I tend to, I find the nastiest thickets and cracks in the earth to poke through, because the bucks will often hide in these and hunker down until practically stepped upon.

I have hunted hard for deer and hogs with no results, and lucked on to some that fall into
the "collected" category. Since I hunt mostly
for meat these days, I look at an animal for size and condition more than for horns. I hope that the earned and collected will balance out in the end.

The two biggest bucks I've ever killed were "collected" not earned. Pure luck. But the thing that counts is that I was in the woods. You can't "collect" unless you're playing the game and THAT'S what counts.

Tom Kelley, writing about turkeys in the spring, said that you earn a lot more turkeys than you kill, so you shouldn't turn down the occasional gift. I think he's right, even though I appreciate the hard ones more.

I just have to tell you about four old timers I knew in the fifties.
Each year they saved their money, bit by bit, to get enough to take their "special" hunt.
They drove, in whoever's car was the best at the time over 600 miles to a hunting shack they owned and paid a locale farmer to watch over and stock with food just before their arrival. They stopped each year at a tavern & motel combo, that had good beds and a bar full of mounted trophies. That made the trip a 2 day drive. They spent a week at camp hunting and visiting in the neighborhood then collected a steer that the farmer had grass feed for them. the steer and any deer were dressed at a locale butchers, the deer went in the trunk, the deer were cut and wrapped but the steer was draped over the front fender with any unused tags attached. the trip home was interrupted often by officers that had to find out the story of that "deer" on the front fender.
They had a year of saving, getting and sending letters to their farmer, visiting local farmers that treated them like favorite relatives and having a great time with officers all the way home, the trip home was often made more enjoyable by officers who would set-up a fellow officer just down the road.
It was not the meat in the freezer it was and still is the trip.
The joy of hunting is hunting, it turns into work the minute you kill something.

amen to that brother!

Dr. Ralph, I'm wanting to run down to Cades Cove here in a few days, but I'm going to wait until you get out of the woods with a gun... (just kidding,) hey, Sunday I went riding down to Southern Ky. and saw 200 elk, sure would like to get a draw next spring. Good Luck on the Muzzle season...

I agree with the problem of taking a monster trophy the first time out, but with that some people never get an opportunity to take such a trophy. You never know when it is going to be your lucky day, so take full advantage of it.

The first year I hunted, I shot a big tom turkey within two hours of my first morning turkey hunting and then, during deer season, shot an 11-point monster that scored around 155 on my second afternoon. I have never killed anything as nice since then, and I've never been sour or disappointed that I haven't because I realized how much luck determined things. Not seeing a dang thing has never prevented me from enjoying a day in the field. Then again, I've never paid to hunt -- I might feel differently about paying a lot of money for a nice walk in the woods and no game.

As I consider myself a rifleman, it used to just rub me the wrong way to kill a deer with a shotgun. So, the only alternative at the time was to use a muzzle loading rifle. The flintlock and its tactics, served me for many, many seasons quite effectively, rain or shine. Today, with the advent of quality saboted shotgun rounds, completely rifled barrels and optics for the "meat gun", the premise of taking a deer with a shotgun no longer disgusts me. I remember the first time I used one to take a deer. I can only say that it was like being completely spoiled. The hunt was the same but the feeling was different. I don't use a tree stand. I carried only 5 rounds, needed but one. He stood only 75 yards away and dropped in his tracks. I guess the point is perception. To me, the deer I took with that shotgun was collected. There was no paying attention to all the little things one uses with the flintlock. The care and feeding of that system requires an entirely different approach. This limitation was self imposed yet it gave me a realization of how rewarding hard work can be. "Hard work" is also a subjective topic. I suppose limiting yourself to a certain range or game size or operating system can make the hunt that much more difficult. Enjoy your time in the field with whatever system you choose. That's the point of it.

I have to say though the veery best tasting of ANY of them was the very small Reh Buck.

Just got back from bowhunting. Spent 3 days hunting the same farm I was on back in Sep when my ML missfired on a big 10 pointer. That place is crawling with deer but my luck has been bad. Yesterday glassed a huge buck with a small buck moving my way. At 50 yd the bruiser took a different trail and the small 6 pt buck walked right by my tree. Same thing happened 2 times last year. In 2 years hunting that farm I've let about a dozen bucks 2.5 yr old and younger walk. There are at least 3 really nice shooter bucks on that farm. If it's bow season they come by at 50 yd, ML season it's 250 yd and rifle season there's cows or a barn in the background. They are living a charmed life with plenty of does and a smorgasboard of corn, beans, alfalfa, and milo to eat.

I think the work can be cumulative. I hunted for many years always wanting to take some antlers. Shot one when i was young and inexperience got to me. The buck had not yet expired when i approched him. I was sick to my stomach when he got up and ran out of sight. Sheer stupidity on my part. Then it happened and those antlers are proudly displayed on my wall. Truth is the buck freaked out and ran right to me. 30 yard shot if that. End result was Antlers on the wall and meat in the freezer and it doesn't get any better than that!