My name is Dan and I have a confession to make: I’m not an expert at consistently killing mature bucks.
Why should you keep reading? After twenty years of trial and error, I am an expert in a skill that some hunters seriously lack: maximizing my hunting experience based on my life’s situation.
The Basic Hunter
I kill deer (pretty much) every year because I understand my life situation and adjust my expectations accordingly. I am not a consistent big-buck killer (although I love big bucks). I do some things that go against the mainstream wisdom of big-buck killers.
I hunt too close to the parking lot. My Native American name would be Hunts with Crossbow. I am the hunting equivalent of a pumpkin latte-sipping, T. Swift-listening, AirPod-wearing girl. I am The Basic Hunter. I am the ‘regular hunter’ all the big-buck killers refer to. When those folks say ‘targeting a 4+ year old buck may not be your thing’…it’s not my thing.
What is my thing? Understanding my situation and adjusting my goals accordingly. I love hunting deer. I love the outdoors. I am passionate about all of it. So I had a conundrum a few years ago when I realized that I started to hate hunting.
I experienced jealousy instead of joy when a friend would kill a buck and I didn’t. I couldn’t even watch hunting shows because I would get so angry at my “lack of success”. I experienced far more frustration than joy when out in the field. Then it hit me – if I kept setting my expectations to the level of what I saw on YouTube, I would end up quitting all together.
Once I clearly saw that my problem was my overall expectations, my hunting improved drastically. It took me twenty years of hunting to understand this phenomenon. My goal is to help others understand their life situation and to successfully hunt with realistic expectations.
I Was Told There Would Be No Math
When I say ‘understand my life situation’, here’s what I mean: I have a full time job, a daughter about to turn two and another baby on the way. I am married (to a saint), I have a social life, and I coach college football at the Division 3 level (in addition to my full time job). My fall schedule is, in a word, full. Yet, I still kill deer (pretty much) every year.
How? By understanding the following principle, which I call the Hunting Equation.
TIME X PROPERTY = OPPORTUNITY
Put another way, the more time you have for hunting activities and the better property you can access, the more quality opportunities you will have at mature deer. At its most fundamental level, this is the formula every hunter follows, whether they know it or not.
You Get to Pick Two
You may have heard the old axiom ‘Quick, Cheap, Quality. You get to pick two.’ The point being if you want something of quality done quickly, it will cost you money. Conversely, if you want to something done cheaply and still have quality, it will take time. Finally, if you want to something done cheaply and quickly, it will be of poorer quality. You only get to pick two.
Hunting follows the same exact formula.
If you want to have better opportunity at a mature buck (quality), you generally need to pick one other factor – access to pristine hunting property or invest lots of time. Hunters generally fall into one of three scenarios.
The first scenario is wanting to kill mature bucks quickly. You will need access to pristine land to have a high-quality hunt. An extreme example is that you can show up to a high-fence hunt and shoot a giant in a matter of hours. You are choosing to save time and hunt quality deer. You sacrifice the cost to access pristine hunting ground. As Alan Jackson said, it won’t take too long it’ll just take money. When I first started hunting twenty years ago I found myself in this situation, but that has since changed, and it took me way too long to adapt.
The second scenario hunters fall into is wanting to kill mature bucks without access to pristine private property. This is absolutely possible, as seen in the recent phenomenon of public land hunting. The guys at The Hunting Public (whose show I LOVE) and others have proven that. What do they sacrifice in instead of the cost of pristine ground to kill those bucks? Tons. Of. Time. They go on literal tours of the country for months at a time. They will scout and hunt dark to dark for days on end. That is awesome for them! It’s just not an option for me.
Obviously there are some people who invest a lot of time AND have access to pristine hunting land. These guys and gals usually have their walls covered like a Cabela’s store, and it may be something you strive to have one day.
I don’t fall into those scenarios. I fall into the last scenario. I have access to mediocre land (when compared to a 400 acre privately managed farm in southern Iowa) on either public ground or by permission. I have limited time to spend. My life situation dictates that I choose ‘Quick’ and ‘Cheap’. Therefore, I must sacrifice quality. At its extreme, people who simply do not have access to land and do not spend any time hunting do not kill deer. Fairly obvious, but it illustrates the point.
Before I continue, a necessary disclaimer: I am not claiming that any situation is better than the other. I am not claiming that you are a better hunter if you’re in a certain situation. I am in support of anyone who goes out and enjoys this incredible and unique sport. Not wrong, just different.
The Truth Will Set You Free
Sacrificing quality does not mean sacrificing enjoyment or success. I define what success means to me. My expectations are to fill my freezer to provide for my family, kill a legal buck of my standards (which is not a 4+ year old buck), and generally enjoy God’s creation.
It is unrealistic for a hunter who does not have a lot of time and does not have access to pristine hunting ground to consistently kill big bucks every year. If you do not have access to pristine land and do not have a ton of time to invest in hunting, understand that something will have to change if you want to consistently kill mature bucks. If that’s not realistically going to happen any time soon, you can still be a successful hunter if you are honest about where your expectations need to be in the Hunting Equation.
Understanding the truth of the quality of the variables I had in the Hunting Equation helped me overcome the burden of unrealistic expectations. That’s not to say that I don’t want to someday reach the strata of ‘big-buck killer’, I’m saying I can continue to successfully participate in this incredible sport without hating it.
Since I fall into the third scenario, how do I kill deer every year?
1. Be honest about my situation
2. Adjust my definition of success
3. Maximize efficiency on what I can control
All of my content focuses on maximizing the three variables of the Hunting Equation: efficiency in time spent, access to land, maximize success and enjoyment of being a hunter. If you are interested in learning more about maximizing your hunting experience, please subscribe and share with a fellow Basic Hunter.