Tyrus21

How do u know when you're there?

mudtutl

Ditto. Not sure how to measure "good."Is it number of filled tags?Swift kills? Succesful stalks?Properly cared for and prepared meat? Big racks?Careful selection ofproper equipment?

How'bout this? A little bit of luck and a whole lot of fun no matter what! You'll know when you get there.

deertipper

Lifelong rifle hunter up in Wisconsin. I've seen,done, and hearda lot of weird,interesting,unbelievable, and cool things. I've filled my tag(s) every year, shot gun hunt here in Illinois and its been good too. No monsters, but my fair share of shooters and lots of doe, lots of doe. This yearI bought a bow, had it fit, bought the release,arrows,broadheads, and so on....
Learned to shoot it( right handed, left eye dominate ) bought 2 more tree stands,archery permits and headed to the woods thinkingpiece of cake, just a different way to kill a deer, no problem. The first deerI called in was a nice 8pt and Iwas gonna take him.

Lets just say I've got a lot to learn and I ain't as good asI thought I was.
Thank god for the ole rifle/slug seasons.

dway87

well here are the stats of my 2 season hunting career.
have shot at 3 bucks. 2 of which i got. shot and killed 1 doe. so thats 3 outta 4 shots. so the question is, am i a "good hunter"? i dunno but hey at least i got meat in the freezer and that's all that counts.

srwshooter

it took me a few years to start killing nice bucks,it just seemed like they always got away. but then all at once it seemed easy to kill a nice buck for a 10 yrs or so. infact so easy that i thought anyone that hunted much should be able to kill a mountable buck every year. but in the last 4-5 seasons it has changed again. i think the lack seeing as many nice bucks is mainly because of coyotes and poachers on my hunting ground. these days alot of places we hunt are small tracts of land and the deer are just impossible to pattern , because someone on other property may change there habits for you . just because your not killing big bucks often doesn't mean your not a good hunter. this past season i had over 100 deer within 50 yds of my stand during the season without spooking a single one, in my mind that makes me a pretty good hunter without killing a thing. its not always the kill that proves your a good hunter...

Red Lion

I feel you aboutbow hunting. It ismore challenging to close the deal on a whitetail with a bow.

Jimmy S

I think measuring "good" is a personal thing. Like any other activity, a lot of learning and even more practice can change anyone fron novice to good. It's not rocket science.

For me, it was when I really began to get a better understanding of the animals Ihunted. I learned the deer's habits, what kind of food sources he likes, how he reacts in different weather conditions and most importantly how security and safety plays into his world. I began to understand the calls signs the bucks leave behind during the rut. I learned and appreciated how keen his senses are, especially his sense of smell. All these kind of things go into understanding more about this animal.

When I first started, I had no clue about a lot of these things, but as the years went by and I learned and studied about the habits and needs of the deer and a began to hunt accordingly after hours and days of scouting.

That's how I measure "good". Am I a novice hunter? Not anymore. Am I a good hunter? I sure am. Am I great hunter? Not even close.

RDHunter

I consider myself pretty good at hunting whitetails and turkeys as for scouting , tracking , knowing when and where to place a treestand and ground blind.
I learn something every time I go out and always reading everything I can to improve my knowledge.

il coyote

It's hard to accurately judge yourself. Just like driving a car, everybody thinks they're good.

I do better than everybody else that hunts the same spot as me, so it either makes me good, or them bad.

But I do call myself good, but am constantly looking at getting better.

Hotburn76

Like you said, I think the area has alot to do with success. If I go out and see any deer, it is a great hunt. If I see more that four deer in the same spot I tell all my friends at work because I am real excited, not a bunch of deer around here. But I started hunting at nine with dad, he had hunted since he was a boy, but when I started hunting he decided to start deer hunting also. He shot the first deer in the family when I was sixteen I think and he bought me my first CB when I was seventeen. I killed my first doe with it the next year. I had a hard time after that with seeing deer, did not feel good at that point. When I was about 23 or 24 a new friend introduced me to tree stands and that was the turning point for me. I seen more deer the first year in a tree the I did the previous five I would bet. I would place myself at a good average if I had to rate myself. This year is the first in a long time thought I still have my tag. I considered myself good enough to pass on a eight pointer twice and a six pointer once, was considering myself good on them days, LOL. Had nice pics of a nine pointer I wanted to get. Not sure how to rate being good, but when you have deer under your stand and you choose not to shot, you feel good about it. Always learning!!