Longest drought... (big game)

[iccyman001]

What is the longest drought you\'ve had with taking a big game animal?

Was it due to:
Health?
Financial situations?
Non-corporative animals?


What did you do to stay positive?
What kind of information would you give someone else who is in a drought?

 

[F M]

I went three years without a whitetail. The reason was we had back to back severe winters that wiped our herd out. I went the one whole season without even seeing a single deer.

I knew the herd would come back in a couple of years so that kept me going.

 

[cnelk]

This year is the first year I didnt shoot a deer in a loooonnnnngggggg time.
It wasnt for the lack of trying tho!

 

[bnsafe]

seems like i got thru stretches where i kill something every time, then go thru stretches i couldnt get a elk burger at a fuddruckers. i think its a subtle mental change in me that makes me make small mistakes, not hunt as hard, not pay attn to the details. after a couple three years i start doin it right again and start killing again.

 

[cohunter14]

I have had a number of droughts with different species. I would put blame on multiple things:

1) Not hunting long enough - there were many years where we were weekend warriors when I was in school. We would arrive to camp late on Friday and leave by noon on Monday. That makes it difficult to fill a tag no matter how well you know an area.
2) Lack of knowledge of an area - our group has bounced around a bit over the years, which never leads to learning an area very well. When you don\'t spend time in an area scouting it and hunting it, you are going to struggle to find consistent success.
3) Lack of knowledge of the game I am hunting - I still laugh at some of the areas I spent time in elk hunting back in the day. Areas that would never hold an elk, but because of my lack of knowledge at the time, I thought it might.
4) Animals not cooperating - sometimes you can do everything right and for one reason or another, still not fill the tag. That\'s why they call it hunting!

 

[Ucsdryder]

I don\'t want to talk about it. This is the year though.

 

[Ol' Arky]

Since 2004 I\'ve been unable to hunt elk due to my health...

I\'ve made up for no elk hunting by hunting deer more... :upthumb: :upthumb:

The way I hunt deer is easier and I\'ve had unwarranted success... I just drive the ranger to within 30 yards of my stand and set there until I get tired and go back to camp...

I also duck hunted as usual up until the last few years when I wasn\'t able to keep up with the young ones... And this year I haven\'t hunted the regular duck season yet since the collapsed lung deal... I don\'t know how long it will take for me to get back to where I was or if I ever will... :downthumb: :downthumb:

 

[iccyman001]

I don\'t want to talk about it. This is the year though.

It will happen!!!!

 

[iccyman001]

Since 2004 I\'ve been unable to hunt elk due to my health...

I\'ve made up for no elk hunting by hunting deer more... :upthumb: :upthumb:

The way I hunt deer is easier and I\'ve had unwarranted success... I just drive the ranger to within 30 yards of my stand and set there until I get tired and go back to camp...

I also duck hunted as usual up until the last few years when I wasn\'t able to keep up with the young ones... And this year I haven\'t hunted the regular duck season yet since the collapsed lung deal... I don\'t know how long it will take for me to get back to where I was or if I ever will... :downthumb: :downthumb:

Did you ever do anything with that buck you shot this year? European mount?

 

[Ol' Arky]

You want believe where it is, I hope. I put the scull cap in the bed of my pickup. Just planned to add to the antlers on the wall of the deer camp with the others.The reason I said I hope is because my youngest son has used my pickup to go duck hunting several time to the public WMA we hunt most of the time. They finally caught the thug that was stealing stuff for the beds of pickups at the parking area we use. No antlers mentioned in what was recovered but at the time he was caught he had 3 yeti coolers with him.

Anyway I put the antlers in the back of my truck when I killed him and 4 days later my world change. Thanks for reminding me. I\'ll look and see if they are still there and if so I\'ll put them in my shop and put the clear matte coating on them when it warms up this spring.

 

[iccyman001]

You want believe where it is, I hope. I put the scull cap in the bed of my pickup. Just planned to add to the antlers on the wall of the deer camp with the others.The reason I said I hope is because my youngest son has used my pickup to go duck hunting several time to the public WMA we hunt most of the time. They finally caught the thug that was stealing stuff for the beds of pickups at the parking area we use. No antlers mentioned in what was recovered but at the time he was caught he had 3 yeti coolers with him.

Anyway I put the antlers in the back of my truck when I killed him and 4 days later my world change. Thanks for reminding me. I\'ll look and see if they are still there and if so I\'ll put them in my shop and put the clear matte coating on them when it warms up this spring.

There is a special place for scum bags who steal from people, let alone the back of hunters trucks.....
I can\'t wait for them to go there....

 

[Ol' Arky]

You want believe where it is, I hope. I put the scull cap in the bed of my pickup. Just planned to add to the antlers on the wall of the deer camp with the others.The reason I said I hope is because my youngest son has used my pickup to go duck hunting several time to the public WMA we hunt most of the time. They finally caught the thug that was stealing stuff for the beds of pickups at the parking area we use. No antlers mentioned in what was recovered but at the time he was caught he had 3 yeti coolers with him.

Anyway I put the antlers in the back of my truck when I killed him and 4 days later my world change. Thanks for reminding me. I\'ll look and see if they are still there and if so I\'ll put them in my shop and put the clear matte coating on them when it warms up this spring.

There is a special place for scum bags who steal from people, let alone the back of hunters trucks.....
I can\'t wait for them to go there....

Yes sir there is and I\'ve put a few of them in their earthly place. Now I\'ll leave it to someone GREATER than me to put them in their final place..

 

[mainebrdr]

Three years. I went through a stage where I wouldn\'t take something if it didn\'t meet a certain score criteria. Only took eight deer in 15 years. I\'ve relaxed my standards some and actually enjoy it more.