Exactly I would never enjoy a second of bowhunting for camera to get the shot or have to cater to anyone else, my time hunting is not for sale. The allure of fame or making hunting a commercial effort does not appeal to me I hunt to get away from that side of life.
I run into that with SBO, every once in awhile someone will approach me to be a "sponsor" for some product that 99% of the time ive never even heard of. 100% of the time i turn them down.
Yeah, sponsors and brands would be my downfall too. I just refuse to endorse a product I don't believe in. I like what I use and unless something else performs better, I'm sticking with what works - NOT with the one who pays me more. Oh, and the $10K...shooooot, I have an endless list of things I'd do to better my property.
I think some of them have worked their butts off to get where they are at now. I also think some of them are great hunters, better than most think. Like stated in previous posts...you gotta have the land/deer population to kill the good ones. You have to have money and time to do that. As one said you have to pass on the small ones to have the big ones. You also have own a big enough piece of land for that to actually help as well IMO. I have been passing on small ones for the past 5 years, sad part is I only own a 181 acres. Doesn't help much when all the surrounding farms kill every deer they see...lol. I'm starting to think it don't even help folks like me...lol.
I dont think you can truly manage wild deer until you have at least 1000 acres, and even then the neighbors can still kill your deer quite easily if they do some management of their own.
Exactly...! I usually shot one small one a year to give to my church. I passed on a 4 point a few weeks ago. Then he got his fool self shot next door. I tried to tell him to not go the way he did...lol. Oh well, It's even crossed my mind this year to shoot anything that is a 4 point of bigger...lol.
I guess Ill go out on a limb here and throw my two cents in. Everyone has very valid points that I agree with. First of all the sponsor stuff can become a pain in the ***. Thankfully BHOD uses products that I believe in. But theres always the Don't get this or don't get that in the shot that just sucks. Second of all as we have all heard Justin preach on a hundred times before it is a business and people have to pay the bills. As far as talent goes. I think that anyone that sets there goals and works hard towards them will succeed. I have met quite a few CELEBRITY hunters in my life. Fulton county is always full of them in the fall. Heres my take on it. If you are going somewhere to an outfitter that is definitely not showcasing your hunting skills. There are a ton of guys out there that BOUGHT their deer hunting fame. Then theres the guys that have worked for it and are very good hunters. In my opinion its like anything else. There is always someone thats better. Having a lot of ground isn't always the answer to killing big deer but having the right spot is. You have to have big deer to kill them. If you took the top guys whomever you think they are and dropped them off on the same properties we hunt anywhere in the united states I think they would kill mature deer. I believe they are great hunters. Guys that have the drive to succeed would hunt whatever they could find that would provide them the most challenge and a mature deer would do that.
I am slightly split on this topic. For example the Drurys, Lakowskis and Kiskys had a passion and made it their business to grow big deer. Now they have the bank to acquire more land and of course have a better than average chance of harvesting a great animal. While others just show up at an outfitters and get setup on a giant for publicity. The second set I have my doubts but I will also say that there are some hunters out there that live to hunt and are very good at it. They are limited by the land they have available to hunt. Restating the obvious public land hunting is tough. You can scout out a great deer and spend your time, energy and money mapping his daily movements only to have someone walk in on opening day and sweep him out from under you. Opportunity plays a big part in ones success. If you hunt land that has only does, its kinda hard to kill a giant buck. Kinda stating the obvious.
I would have to agree everybody started somewhere. Ya they hunt pristine places but to get there I think they had to put in their time and prove themselves in less desirable locations. It's like that book the outsiders where the elite put in 10,000 hours in their craft ( hunting, computers, swimming etc) to become elites. I don't think these guys are spoon fed from the beginning
