Would you spend several years hunting just one animal?

SFC B

SFC B

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I saw an article that described a couple of guys spending several seasons chasing after a specific buck and wouldn't hunt/shoot anything else. While this seems to be much more of a WTD issue than elk or muley, is this something that any of you do or would do? I am not a trophy hunter and can't really get my head around this. I hunt for the outdoor experience and to put meat in the freezer. While I will surely shoot a monster if it comes my way and will try to get opportunities to shoot nice animals (PP usage), I can't imagine sitting for a couple of years and watching nice animals pass while just focusing on the "one" because of his antlers. How about you guys?
 
I have to agree with you SFC B. I have to say, if I were successful in chasing one particular buck, that would be pretty cool. Just wouldn`t know how to act if that one animal I wanted was in my hands, or if someone else would kill it. It would be like..."now what".
However, I`m an opportunist. If I see something stroll by that I like (bucks and does), I`m taking it and will enjoy it.
 
Where I come from if you tried that method you would probably never kill anything. Ihunt for a lot of reasons and if I see something that makes me happy,gave me an incredible outdoor experience or filled my freezer......loose or ka boom..........:cool:
 
I can see why a guy would pursue just one animal.

After a while, it probably evolves from "that toad of a buck", to a challenge you have to win. Sure the horns are what started it. But to have a nemesis in the woods, who beats you all too often, has its appeal as well. It's kind of a narrative we create to make legends out of animals, and revere not only their headgear, but their personalities.

I think Howard Copenhaver in one of his books about hunting the Bob Marshall has a similar scenario going on with a big griz who always seems to outsmart him, chases him up trees, and eats his client's elk.

But yeah, I don't have that kind of self control either.
 
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. . .I guess I'm one of those guys. I usually find 1-3 that are my shooters for that year and focus on those, letting everything else walk. Now, having said that, many years I go without a huge buck too or if my 1-3 bucks get killed I will try to take the next one in line in a late season hunt. I'm all about just being in the woods, if I kill something great. . .if not, at least I wasn't at work. I also think that WHERE you hunt is a deciding factor too, if you hunt public ground only. .I'm thinking the first decent buck would be hard to pass on whereas on private ground you could be more picky. No correct/wrong answer for this IMHO.
 
RUT JUNKEY said:
. . .I guess I'm one of those guys. I usually find 1-3 that are my shooters for that year and focus on those, letting everything else walk. Now, having said that, many years I go without a huge buck too or if my 1-3 bucks get killed I will try to take the next one in line in a late season hunt. I'm all about just being in the woods, if I kill something great. . .if not, at least I wasn't at work. I also think that WHERE you hunt is a deciding factor too, if you hunt public ground only. .I'm thinking the first decent buck would be hard to pass on whereas on private ground you could be more picky. No correct/wrong answer for this IMHO.
Click to expand...

RJ, do you partake of the doe harvest? That would make it an easier call if on could fill the freezer with a doe or two and then sit on the big boy. I could see that if I was "Back Home Again....".... BTW, did you know this is Jim Nabors' last year singing at the 500? I am a little depressed as hearing that song before the race has been one of my constants all over the world :rolleyes:
 
You could say I pursue a few bigger deer bowhunting in the area local to my house, and alot of it has to do with not wanting the season to end. Every year I take a couple opportunities to shoot a doe with a bonus tag, to fill mine and other's freezers, but at the end of most seasons I am throwing an intact buck tag in the drawer. If you were to actually look back over my 30 some whitetails killed in 22 years of hunting, only a handful have been bucks (lots of little ones passed on), and none are what one would truely call a monster. One of these days...and until then I will continue stocking the freezer with does.
 
We used to see (and I don't mean tcam pics) 3 or 4 mature 140-150 class on a local property we've been fortunate enough to keep for over a decade now. Lucky to see one (trail cam or otherwise) these days. I still hold out.
 
I'm one of those guys that TRIES to follow the rule of "IF you'd shoot it on the last day, it ought to be worth shooting on the first day."

My $.02... Set a standard at the beginning of the year. Try to stick to your standard. I'm a big fan of hunting and don't mind hunting hard to try and fill tags; but I'm not a fan of trying to extend your season just for "What if's." If its an animal you would be happy taking, it shouldn't matter what day you shoot it on. A 140" Deer on opening morning will still be a 140" deer on the last day.
 
noharleyyet said:
You've been waiting a long time for this softball thread set up...ain'tcha?:D

..smoker buck everytime I see it.
Click to expand...

Yup, I knew someday....

View from the upstairs office...

photo-L.jpg


I need to do some cleaning.
 
Some time back I chased the largest whitetail I'd ever seen for four years, not exclusively, but at least three to four times per season. I first encountered him bedded down on the point of a ridge overlooking a wide river bottom where he was only blind to what was behind him and it was pretty thick and favored the prevailing winds so he got enough warning to affect his escape down off the ridge, into and across the river before I could get onto him. That turned out to be his main bedding spot and after failing for three years and then some I decided to go spend the night on the property in my Bronco and lay in wait for him along a high tension powerline which crossed several finger ridges, all of which ran down to the river. I got in position before day on a morning so cold there were ice crystals growing out of the wet clay to a length of four inches when it got light enough to see. I never saw or heard him but I heard a squirrel chattering out a couple of hundred yards in the hardwoods and that sucker slipped down the second crease over from me and bedded down just as he always had right on the point of the ridge. I tried to put the slip on him again but he was too slick and finally admitting defeat I decided to let him grow old in peace; he had whipped me too many times.
 
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If you chase the same animal for muliple seasons, I think your family would be asking why the hell the freezer is so empty. I would love to shoot a giant but im not passing up on fine meat to get it.
 
I hunted a one particular buck exclusively for four years. Actually five years but it was him or nothing the last four. I still shot a few does for meat but no bucks. Thinking back on it now, its funny to me of how this buck really became a large part of my life. In five years, I got 60 some trail cam pics and saw him on the hoof five times and a chunk of one shed (H3 was almost 6). To this day, Buck 52 (don't laugh, I had to call him something) taught me more about hunting deer in my area than any person could have. I remember when I realized that as soon as squirrel season this deer disappeared to the corn fields, so now I hunt corn fields like I hunt woods. I remember on a late season nasty weather muzzleloader hunt when I was slow getting to the woods and kicked him up right from where I was planning to be. Now, nasty weather doesn't slow me down (as much). I still vividly remember a "behind the decoy" stalk from 650 yards down to 42 when his bedded doe spooked. I say all that to now say this: When you can get that personal with an individual wild animal, it can be more rewarding than the best single day or single harvest of any hunt. Its the difficultly of the task and the joy of the journey that fuels this mentality, the same goes for a lot of the hunting styles present on this forum whether it be using traditional equipment, or packing out an animal rather that loading a truck, or hiking much further than need be just for the challenge.

I have to let you know that this buck was poached 6 days after I got to 42 yards. The picture is from the second year I knew of him. I won't post any others because when I posted pictures of him when he really got big, people in my area started to focus on what me and a buddy were doing and where we were hunting. I do some high level statistics on my hunting areas and the trespasser sightings went through the roof when I people started following me. I don't think there is enough of an ohio contingent on here to matter but I damn sure don't want that circus again.
 

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