One more day...

DeerTracker · Nov 27, 2010

Well Ive hunted my butt off and guided my little sister to her first deer ever which happened to be a 130" whitetail, guided my girlfriend to her 2nd buck, guided my younger brother to a decent buck, and also got my buddy from Iowa his first mule deer buck. Finding a buck for myself was put on the back burner until last sunday and Ive been out deer hunting every second I could. Yesterday morning I drove from Choteau to Missoula(140 miles one way) to work at noon, and then drove back to Choteau when I got off work at 9pm. So Ive got one day left to hunt and I am not coming back to the house without a buck in the back of my truck. Tonight I watched a 150" whitetail through my scope only 200 yards away but couldnt shoot him because he was not in my assigned area. Also had a little tiny 4x4 whitetail walk within 100 yards of me but figured I'd let him grow up. Hope ya'lls season is going well and having more luck than I am!

JD338 · Nov 27, 2010

Good luck DeerTracker. Keep the faith. :grin:

JD338

DrMike · Nov 27, 2010

Tonight I watched a 150" whitetail through my scope only 200 yards away but couldnt shoot him because he was not in my assigned area. Also had a little tiny 4x4 whitetail walk within 100 yards of me but figured I'd let him grow up.

It is far more important to be ethical than it is to be successful. In fact, if you aren't ethical, you aren't successful no matter how large the bucks you shoot. It sounds to me as if you have had a very successful season. It is not inconsequential to guide others to game. Sharing becomes more important as the years go by. Trust you are able to tag a good buck on your last day. My season ends on Tuesday. I worked all day today. I'll be busy until late tomorrow afternoon. I have appointments Monday morning. Hopefully, I can squeeze in an evening hunt then and possibly slip away for a final morning hunt on Tuesday.

DeerTracker · Nov 27, 2010

DrMike":2pmdn5ap said:
Tonight I watched a 150" whitetail through my scope only 200 yards away but couldnt shoot him because he was not in my assigned area. Also had a little tiny 4x4 whitetail walk within 100 yards of me but figured I'd let him grow up.

Click to expand...

It is far more important to be ethical than it is to be successful. In fact, if you aren't ethical, you aren't successful no matter how large the bucks you shoot. It sounds to me as if you have had a very successful season. It is not inconsequential to guide others to game. Sharing becomes more important as the years go by. Trust you are able to tag a good buck on your last day. My season ends on Tuesday. I worked all day today. I'll be busy until late tomorrow afternoon. I have appointments Monday morning. Hopefully, I can squeeze in an evening hunt then and possibly slip away for a final morning hunt on Tuesday.

I understand the ethical thing. I like to think Im a very ethical hunter and follow the rules. The area I hunt is surrounded by county dirt roads. On the other side of the road from where I hunt, the deer have been hitting it very hard since there is standing grain left in the field. Every night there are 100-150 deer in the field. Tonight, It looked like a highway with all the vehicles driving up and down the dirt road, stopping and looking at the deer, and what not. I guarantee you, if my pickup had not been parked off the road right there, they would have been shooting out of their vehicles, off the road, and onto land where they dont have permission. It drives me nuts and we only have one game warden for the whole county and he is always 20 miles back in the mountains checking elk camps. At least if I dont find a good buck, I still got out in the -20 degree temps and sat out in the field for hours at a time instead of sitting in the pickup with the heater on, driving the roads.

DrMike · Nov 27, 2010

There are never enough COs and too many slob hunters (unethical or unsafe). Pat McManus always said that God would judge road hunters. It is better to sit in the open than it is to sit in the truck.