0/10

[perma]

Lots of you have had interest and support in my unsuccessful streak whether it be from posts I made or DMs. I figure I would share here until that day comes. Until then, below is the years of no success along with this year’s endeavors.

2012 CO spring turkey and OTC elk: unsuccessful
2013 CO spring turkey, dove and OTC elk: unsuccessful
2014 CO spring turkey, ducks, OTC whitetail and OTC elk: unsuccessful
2015 CO OTC elk: unsuccessful
2016 CO OTC elk: unsuccessful
2017 CO OTC elk: unsuccessful
2018 CO OTC elk: unsuccessful
2019 IA deer and turkey and CO OTC elk: unsuccessful
2020 IA deer and CO OTC elk: unsuccessful
2021 IL whitetail and pheasant, WI whitetail and CO OTC elk: unsuccessful

2022
CO OTC pronghorn: unsuccessful
IL whitetail muzzleloader: unsuccessful
IL whitetail archery: unsuccessful
IL pheasant: SUCCESSFUL
CO OTC LEFTOVER elk: unsuccessful

And no, I haven’t been collecting preference points this whole time. My ignorance of the draw process screwed me over for 10 years. That changed this year.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I have to admire your perseverance.

Good luck this year!

 

[Wallydeuce]

Have you been at least close to filling a tag? Maybe you're more selective than others?

I'm 1 for 6 on archery elk, but 3 of those losses are due to my own rules, not anything the state mandates.

 

[Nick87]

Are you 0 on the ducks and pheasants as well?

 

[perma]

I have to admire your perseverance.

Good luck this year!

Thanks. It’s easy to be persistent when I have nothing better to do. Lol

 

[perma]

Have you been at least close to filling a tag? Maybe you're more selective than others?

I'm 1 for 6 on archery elk, but 3 of those losses are due to my own rules, not anything the state mandates.

Many close calls, but all by dumb luck. Biggest issue I have is locating game. I never knew what e-scouting was. I never did homework. Never had anyone to teach me.

 

[perma]

Are you 0 on the ducks and pheasants as well?

Yup, actually had a shot at a duck but I led the shot too far. The pheasants I just had bad season dates that I drew for. I’ll have better dates this year.

 

[jt13]

Hat's off to you for the persistence. If I were you, I'd have taken up golf by now

Good luck this year!

Perhaps you started out with your aim too high. Nothing wrong with smaller game and working your way up. If you can kill a squirrel you can kill a whitetail. It may also improve your scouting abilities. There's very few woodlots that hold squirrels that don't also have deer sign to practice reading.

 

[perma]

Hat's off to you for the persistence. If I were you, I'd have taken up golf by now

Good luck this year!

Perhaps you started out with your aim too high. Nothing wrong with smaller game and working your way up. If you can kill a squirrel you can kill a whitetail. It may also improve your scouting abilities. There's very few woodlots that hold squirrels that don't also have deer sign to practice reading.

It’s a curse, man. Funny story, I tried taking up golf just to see if I can break the habit and do different things but I always come back. My whole family has been hunters so it’s in my blood. In fact, my mother showed me a picture I drew in preschool of me shooting a deer and loading it onto the train, my two favorite things in the world (hunting and trains).

I’ve also considered rabbits and squirrels, strictly for the curiosity of taste. When I’m scouting this year for my muzzy tags I may consider doing that.

 

[Nick87]

Taken many shots at game? Not trying to pick on you but is this a hunting or a shooting issue?

 

[Scott85]

Burn some sage!

 

[stk]

Buddy, you need to go pronghorn hunting!

 

[perma]

Taken many shots at game? Not trying to pick on you but is this a hunting or a shooting issue?

I credit myself at being a pretty good rifleman. I’ve taken only one shot at a doe in IA. I missed strictly because I didn’t range her properly. She took a path I had no expectations of taking and she gave me a perfect broadside shot for 3 seconds. I didn’t even range a rock next to her before I sat down.

The issue is strictly locating game. Except this year, for whatever reason I was always into pronghorn. But that’s pretty easy to locate IMO.

 

[perma]

Buddy, you need to go pronghorn hunting!

Just got back actually. But it was archery…. Had I received a rifle tag, we would be talking in a different forum

 

[stk]

Ah! Well, you're doing it the hard way. Hunting pronghorn with a bow is a very different game than hunting them with a rifle. Hats off to you for not giving up.

 

[perma]

Ah! Well, you're doing it the hard way. Hunting pronghorn with a bow is a very different game than hunting them with a rifle. Hats off to you for not giving up.

You’re not wrong. I tried to draw in 6 different states for a rifle tag and came up empty handed. I could have drawn in WY to make it easy but I dont have confidence to navigate the landowner issues over there yet. So ultimately it was either do OTC archery pronghorn and teach myself some new things or sit at home and watch the rain pour.

 

[perma]

Well now it’s time for some good ol whitetail. We’re about a week and a half out of season opener. To my regret, I haven’t focused much on prepping for this long season. However, I’m going back to two places I’ve hunted before that has held deer. They seem to migrate out so I’m going to do what I don’t like to do; sit in a blind. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I am completely ignorant to whitetail hunting and can confidently say I have no idea how to hunt them.

The whitetail hunt is actually more important than the elk hunt. I got word last week that I may be relocating to the west, so this is my last chance to get a Midwest whitetail. Now, I can always come back for hunting season, but the truth is that once I’m gone, I ain’t looking back!

The current question mark is whether or not I’ll be able to elk hunt. This relocation can compromise the hunt strictly based on timing. I’m pretty stubborn though so I’m hell-bent on going. But we will see.

 

[perma]

I also picked up a few extra pheasant tags during thanksgiving break, so there’s that!

 

[steveshuntn1]

I respect your willingness to keep at it! You ever find yourself near Mississippi in November or December give me a shout…we’ll put some deer meat in your freezer!

 

[Nick87]

I also picked up a few extra pheasant tags during thanksgiving break, so there’s that!

Tags?