Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    Wish I could hunt for a month,
    
    6 days in Nova Scotia,4 in MA
    9 deer seen, all does (4 in MA)
    1 doe harvested in MA
    
    Saw many bald and golden eagles in Nova Scotia, very impressive.
    
    I hope for better luck this year
    
    Jim
    

    
    
    
Days spent scouting:

	2 for antelope and

	1 for deer.

Days spent hunting:

	6 hours for antelope and

	1 hour for deer (actually 1 hour hiking and 15 minutes hunting).

Animals harvested:

	1 nice antelope buck (202.53) and

	and a fork-horn (270.?) mulie buck.

All on public land.

Hopefully I'll draw next year for muzzle loading elk and eastern plains 
whitetail.

Mark

	
    

    OUR SEASON LAST FROM 20-OCT TO 2ND WEEK IN JAN.  I WAS ONLY ABLE TO GO
    25 DAYS.
    
    EARL

Spent 6 days in Routt Nat'l Forest in NW Colorado.
 
DRY weather caused us some problems during the 2nd elk season; didn't sight
any elk, but saw about a half dozen muley does.

I did shoot a nice snowshoe hare.

Highlight of the trip was watching my buddy Brad catch a brook trout
with his bare hands!

Jon

    25 days!  You lucky sucker.  I guess I hunted about 15 days for deer.
    1 doe with bow
    1 6 point with shotgun
    1 doe with flintlock.
    
    The last day for bow season is the 15th, so I probably won't get to go.
    
    Now, where are my fishing rods! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 
    
    Wess

    
    15 evenings bow hunting
    26 full days rifle hunting
    8 days muzzleload hunting
    
    2 seven point bucks with the rifle and one doe with the muzzleloader.
    1 buck taken in Maine the other in Vermont. Three bucks seen in New
    York but i didn't get any of them. I don't keep track of how many does
    that were seen but it was a fair number.
    
    Bruce

    too many days to count.  took about 4 weeks vacation off for hunting.
    Bow and rifle.  Saw plenty of deer.  Harvested 8 pointer with rifle
    opening day.  Harvested doe following weekend same stand, same exact
    time of day.
    
    Still lookin for a bowkill.  Shootin caps off of milk jugs at 30 yds
    is pretty darn good, but no meat from bow season.  Maybe will shoot the
    bow for competition.
    
    Oh well, how many days until bow season again.  Right!  yall have a 
    goodun.  time to pick up the fishin rod, and maybe punish myself with
    golf clubs.
    bob
    

    Well its the other way around for me.  Get them opening day with the
    bow.  But then, carelessness, discipline, frustration, got in the way.  
    
    New Years resolution:  not next year.  Go to level 5: methodology and
    purpose.
    
    The levels?  Something that was introduced in the safety course I took
    with my sons last year.
    
    Level One:	 take anything, anytime, any method 	(novice?)
    Level two:	 take as many as you can get	   	(semiskilled)
    Level three: pass on the easy pickings		(skilled)
    Level four:	 the trophy hunter			(craftsmen)
    Level five:	 perfect the method 			(philosopher)
    
    After a fourteen year layoff in hunting, was coming back in between
    level one and two.  This year was definately level three as atested by
    experience in the U.P.  Trophies just aren't an interest.  But defining
    a methodology, including why I'm am doing this, and refining it is an
    attractive goal.
    
    /bob
    
     

I guess there's alot of skill level 1 hunters in New England... ;^)
Not too many guys I know will pass on a legal deer, as the opportunity 
almost never arises where you run out of tags to fill.  Do you describe a 
doe within bow range as easy pickings???  

FWIW, Fra
    
>    Level One:	 take anything, anytime, any method 	(novice?)
>    Level two:	 take as many as you can get	   	(semiskilled)
>    Level three: pass on the easy pickings		(skilled)
>    Level four:	 the trophy hunter			(craftsmen)
>    Level five:	 perfect the method 			(philosopher)

    There is a difference but it might be related to opportunity rather
    than skill level.  I've hunted in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New
    Hamshire, all prior to 1977.  I seem to remember relatively low deer
    count/sq.mile.  In Masschusetts, you might go the whole week without
    seeing anything.  Same thing happened to me up on the Androscogin (sp).
    
    In Michigan, 25/30 deer/mile (3-4 times the MA. density) is considered
    fair to poor.  In the U.P., I've passed on three shots in the same
    morning, simply because I did not feel good about taking that deer.  I
    did not like the way I felt after getting the youngster on 10/4/92. 
    Was he less aware? yes.  Was he easy pickings at 20+yds? yes.  Was he
    the only deer I got this year? yes.  Does he taste good?  oh yeah!
    
    So I want to be level 5 and am willing (for now) to forego quantity and
    "give-me" shots to perfect the method.  I've persistantly screwed up
    that last several opportunites that developed because of method.  So
    just a little more concentration, dicipline and patience should make a
    difference.
    
    I could have filled all my tags, but then I would not know where I need
    to improve the most.  Does this make sense?
    
    /bob
     
    

    
    	Isn't it a lifelong transition?  All of the trophy hunters I know
    have gone through these stages through their life.  They've taken many
    deer, then "graduated" so to speak to a level of primarily targeting
    the trophy animals.  I think Fra is right.  In New England, just about
    everyone will take any legal deer.  I, personally, cannot see myself
    passing up a good doe with my bow - at least not for a while.  I figure
    if I can get one good opportunity during a season here in Vermont, then
    I'm doing ok...
    
    - Rob
    
    BTW, as per the base note, I bowhunted a total of 17 partial days 
    here in VT - only saw 5 deer and managed to take a doe.  For the 
    rifle - I hunted 5 days in Maine, didn't see a single deer, and
    hunted 9 days in VT and took a 4-pt.  Only saw about 6 deer...
    
    

Rob, said it much more eloquently than me...  Ditto his thoughts.

Each year, i seem to find out more private haunts, larger deer and better 
bucks, and I take every precaution, spend several days scouting, and 
go to great lengths to score on one of these big bucks.  For the most 
part I've certainly had my opportunities to take bruisers in the last 
4-5 years... I feel like i'm getting much wiser with each passing year.  

I'm no longer sitting in the open hardwoods (with chances for 200+ yard 
shots) waiting for a deer to wander through unsuspecting. 
I'm now almost exclusivly hunting some of the thickest, nastiest 
sucker brush imaginable...   I'm seeing fewer deer, but the ones i'm 
seeing are beauties...  and at much closer ranges... Unfortunately none 
have been with a firearm in my hands... All were during archery, at very 
close range.

Would I pass up a doe or lesser buck??? Not on your life...  Which brings 
me back to what Rob said, you may go the whole season with only a handful 
of sightings, or opportunities to fill the freezer.  

So am I a mere novice.. I don't think so, I'd like to think of myself as 
a skill level 4, only smart enough to shoot a  few freezer fillers 
in-between.

Now if I was seeing 10-15 deer a day, I may get a little more selective ;^)

FWIW, Fra

    You've got something there, Fra. The trophy hunters I read about
    seem mostly to live in areas with plenty of agricultural land, 
    and much higher deer populations than New England. Plus a lower
    number of hunters per square mile. So, they see many more deer.
    Under such circumstances, when you can look at a buck long enough
    to estimate the B&C score of his rack, and feel confident he won't
    be the only buck you'll see all season, it's doubtless a lot
    easier to hold your fire. 
    
    Here in New England, if you see one legal buck every season, you're
    probably an above-average hunter! For instance, I hunted ten days
    with bow in Vermont, and three days with bow in Mass. and saw several
    does, but none in range. Never saw horns. During rifle season in
    Vermont, saw 9 does, including five that got within twenty yards.
    No horns, no doe permit, so... Hunted two days in Mass. with shotgun, 
    saw zippo. Hunted one day in Mass. with muzzleloader, saw five, all
    does, and shot one. Would I have liked a buck? Of course! Am I
    happy with the doe? Well, the chili I had yesterday was delicious!
    And, as it was the first deer I've taken with black powder, it's
    definitely a 'trophy' in my humble little book ;-)
    
    Anyway, you have to define 'trophy' in terms of the conditions you
    hunt in. A lot of us don't have the means to travel to Texas or
    Alberta or Illinois and hunt what somebody else considers a trophy. 
    So, we make do, and do our best. 
    
    Dana

    Well guys, if I ever win the Lottery, I'll buy a big spread where we
    all will have a shot at a big buck.  I'll build a big lodge with skeet
    throwers mounted on all of the balconies with a 20 acre lake stocked
    with 10lb rainbows.  I'll have topless barmaids serving free drinks
    while we try to decide if we will settle for the 12 or 14 pointer.
    
    That sure sounds good!  I wonder if my wife will care?
    
    Well, it was fun while it lasted...duty calls.
    
    Good Luck,
    Wess

    Hey wess,
    
    I would like to book a hunting trip with you.  And if you wonder if
    your wife will mind, I thought she was going to be one of the topless
    barmaids.
    
    bob
    

    Harris, you always come back with something that makes me smile.  I
    asked my wife about it and she was really disappointed, she wanted to
    be a table dancer instead......I had better run down to the store and
    pickup another ticket!
    
    Wess