What do you feel your own personal odds are at harvesting a 180+ inch whitetail in your lifetime? Taking everything into account. How much time you have to hunt, where you live, your chances of traveling to a great whitetail state to hunt if you live in a so-so area... etc etc... Don't be bashful. And I am not talking about seeing one from stand or missing one... I am talking about 180+ inches of bone in your truck.
That big buck hustler Shed and Todd Graf are the only guys I can think of right now on the forums that have done it.
Got one already and legitimately passed up one in Iowa at 8 yards broadside that I called in..... because I knew how much my buddy whom invited me out wanted that buck! I shot the smaller buck with him that day. Glad I did because my buddy whom I was hunting with, killed it later that season, hes pictured below. I think I have at least 1 more in a lifetime possibly even more as I continue to branch out and hunt more areas across the nation that hold big deer. pic of the buck I passed up in Iowa (drop tine buck ended up grossing 188) Then my 184 Idaho buck
I'd think with where you live and hunt GregH, you always have that chance of one coming through your ground. Good luck
I'm young enough, will never get married, starting to get into hunting out of state, I think there is a chance. I have some really good family land in central Wisconsin with that caliber deer in the area most years and have learned a lot about whitetails in the past few years. I give myself a 1 in 4 chance.
I voted 51-60. I have seen a few that I know were above 180 2 were killed by neighbors. They just haven't given me the shot yet, but they are around. I've still got a few years left to get it done........I hope.
0.005% Chance Only because I hunt 2 general areas where bucks have the ability to get that big. Not that I have ever personally seen any that big or know of any confirmed killed in either place. Some confirmed kills have occured in the same county at least.
I voted 0-10% due to there are not that many if any 180+ in the NC area. I don't see me hunting outside of NC for a long time if ever. I would love to just don't know if it will ever happen.
I sent an arrow over one that was borderline in 2002, and had him at 30 yards the following year with no shot. I still put my answer at 0%-10%. The odds just aren't that great of it actually happening. There are bucks around here that will go over 180, so there is a slim chance I guess.
I went with 51-60%. I hunt some relatively good areas and know there's big bucks in them. I'm still fairly young and hopefully have a lot of hunting ahead of me. Consdering my standards seem to increase a bit each year I'm hoping by the time I'm JM's age I have one on the wall. :D Whether that will ever actually happen or not is anyone's guess, but I'm sure going to try!
I know my areas well. We've literally pulled hundreds of sheds out, and nary one of them would break 165. The top end bucks in my stomping grounds have averaged between 140-170. Those are the biggest of the big. Between the thousands of trailcam pics that I look at, and the truckloads of sheds that we pick up, I'm very comfortable with what my areas are capable of producing. With that said, a few confirmed 190"+ bucks have come out of the surrounding zip codes in recent years, so it IS a mathematical possibility. Pair that with my ongoing mentality that, base license fees aside, I will never pay a nickel to hunt for a whitetail (i.e. leases, outfitters, etc.), and I'd put my chances somewhere around 10%.
Sorry about that, I missed a legit 185 over a decoy , he was a 5 x 5. No excuse, I just blew it. I was blessed to shoot a bigger buck 2 years later that I decoyed in. There was definately some luck involved. I have not seen a 180 while in a stand since. I have hunted hard, really hard some years. I realize it was a once in a lifetime deer, heck a once in many lifetimes deer.
^ This speaks volumes. 180 is a tough nut to crack. I think a year or two ago M. Waddell shot a 174 and it was his biggest today. He hunts very good ground and gets alot of tree time in on those grounds. That speaks volumes more.
