What is most important?

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I am probably the odd man out here... my hunting style is a little unorthidox in todays hunting world... I never sit.. I rarely wear any scentcontrol anymore I totally rely on playing the wind... although I'm not a great marksman when it comes to shooting at targets, I rarely miss when I have an opportunity at a whitetail... I never wait for deer to come to me.. I go to the deer... I spend much of my bow season in search of a big buck to hunt... once I find sign or get a look at a decent buck.. I hunt that buck until I kill him...

9 times out of 10 it ends up being on snow... where I can find his track and dog him until I get a good shot... in the 18 years that I've hunted this way I've taken 12 bucks that score between 115 and 155. Each killed in a different location around the State and on public land except for the 155 buck which I tracked and killed behind my own home.

I must also say that time in the field is a great advantage thats why I choose not to waste time waiting for bucks to come to me.

From 16 yrs old to when I started hunting this way (19years) I killed mostly does and maybe a half dozen or more yearling bucks.. didn't kill my first deer until I was 25.. many years I didn't even see a buck (and I hunted a lot!)

Although I agree time in the field is important and helps with increasing success.. I am a believer that waiting is far less effective than actively pursuing deer... I even hunt this way on small tracts of land and have been successful.

I only hunt doe during the late muzzleloader with patch and ball... the same style I hunt bucks.. in 18 years I have taken at least one doe every year and two when I've drawn two tags... I donate half the meat every year from all those does to the Venison Donation drive to feed the hungry... probably my favorite time to hunt and most rewarding.

Thats cool!! I have always wanted to do that but truth is im not real good with a compass. I have a GPS for when i hunt Fort Drum and that has saved my butt twice but i have also been in spots on letchworth where i have tried to mark a buck i shot and had to service. I think i could get lost in walmart. I have learned the areas i hunt, Like Letchworh, Like my own bathroom. I commend anyone who hunts the big woods like the benoint boys and i guess yurself. I do hunt up in Fish Creek wildlife area and some of that place is like the catskills or the dacks but that is only late season muzzle and there is always atleast a little snow to get me home.

[pryz366]

my experience i hate to say is just plain luck. i do spend alot of time scouting setting up stands and when season starts every second of daylight i have in the woods. but my experience in the 3 biggest bucks i got and the 1 my brother in law got were luck. i think i spent a total of 1 hr all combined on all 3. but i will say if i didnt do my scouting i wouldnt have been in those spots to get them so scouting and have luck on your side

[nyantler]

Thats cool!! I have always wanted to do that but truth is im not real good with a compass. I have a GPS for when i hunt Fort Drum and that has saved my butt twice but i have also been in spots on letchworth where i have tried to mark a buck i shot and had to service. I think i could get lost in walmart. I have learned the areas i hunt, Like Letchworh, Like my own bathroom. I commend anyone who hunts the big woods like the benoint boys and i guess yurself. I do hunt up in Fish Creek wildlife area and some of that place is like the catskills or the dacks but that is only late season muzzle and there is always atleast a little snow to get me home.

I am pretty good with a compass... but really all you need to do is make sure you get a reading before you enter the woods back to the nearest road.. make sure its a highly used road preferably the one you came in on... even if it's a long dirt road.. you may not get yourself back to your exact truck location.. but always good to get back to something that looks like civilization... main roads always lead somewhere which tends to ease your mind.. and the direction back to that road doesn't change as you walk through the woods. Getting lost in the woods is probably the biggest fear for most hunters so believe me you are not alone. The big woods are definitely not for everyone.

[Uncle Nicky]

Bow hunting- persitence, putting in your time, marksmanship, knowledge of your hunting area, blending into your surroundings (sight, sound, smell), tracking skills.

Gun hunting-being in an escape area once the bullets start flying.