What are your whitetail harvest expectations for a season?

My expectations vary based on my scouting and what I have going on. I would be disappointed if I did not put at least one deer in the freezer in a season, but at the same time I realize nothing is a given. In the past several years I have put myself to pursuing the top 25% of bucks in the areas I hunt and have had pretty good success. I'm considering going after the top 10% in the coming season which may result in an eaten buck tag, but in my mind that is the only way to get better.

If I set realistic expectations and fail to meet them I would be disappointed. On the other hand it would force me to see what I was doing and change some things to up my chances of success. A quote from Thomas Edison is appropriate here:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

 

I "expect" to kill at least a doe every season. Usually I get 2 or three. As far as bucks go, I at least expect to get an opportunity to kill a decent one. The bucks in my area, are for the most part, not large. My best so far, where I hunt, was my 108" 9pt this past season.

 

We've discovered that we NEED four Illinois-sized mature whitetails to feed our family from one season to the next; if I don't kill at least four, it was NOT a successful season. Most seasons, I kill five or six, as our best friends like to pay for the processing costs in order to have a deer themselves (they don't hunt themselves). Some years I'll give my parents one too, depending on their needs.

A couple of those out of the five or six will be bucks... I always take one in Missouri and one in Illinois; my goal -- and what would be a REALLY successful season -- is to take two quality bucks in MO and one in Illinois. If they were all P&Y that'd be one heckuva season for me.

I hunt 95% public land in both states.

I COULD take into the double digits every year very easily if I wanted to... I pass a lot of deer. Then again, I put a lot of time on stand, too.

 

yes i expect to harvest a deer per year. hopefully with the bow, or at least with the rifle.
i base my season on what i see and learn. if i see a decent amount of deer, and learn some new stuff it is a successful season. as long as someone in my hunting party(my brother and i for bow, and a bunch more of family for gun) gets some meat , because we all share, it's all good. getting meat is always the goal for me, but not getting some isn't considered a failure. i won't be real happy but any time you can hunt, and do it for the whole saeson and no one gets hurt, it's a successful hunt.

 

Actually.....Yes you do.

 

I try to get at least two a year. Try to make one a good buck of course. But, you know how that works some years.

 

Really? How many dpsm do those state have? In 2006, on average Pa had 8-18 dpsm (465,000acres of public land) per the dcnr. I'll try to find some newer info.
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/deer/deersurvey.aspx

 

Est. herd @ 1.5M (per the state site). Ours is well less than that. Just sayin'.

 

Plus your state is bigger than ours! We must have a **** load of suburban deer somewhere cause i'm sure not seeing them on the public land i hunt.

 

Correct! Should make it easier for you.

I'm just pulling your leg. I don't care how many deer states have. I just hate it when NC is deemed "easier", when the numbers just don't back it up. We have less deer than PA.

 

I hate it when I don't kill at least one good buck, drives me nuts. I try real hard to kill 2 per year with my bow but its only happened a few times. It reminds me every year that I aint half as good as I think I am sometimes. Hunting specific bucks is never the same since they are all individuals, if i was just hunting deer, I would get bored. If I kill and elk early it does have an effect on what I target for whitetails because filling the freezer is very important to me. If I dont kill an elk, then my mood changes and I try to just kill what I can in the late season to fill the freezer. I am cheap, I hate paying for beef, plus elk and deer tastes better and is much healthier.

 

I guess I expect a take a deer every season. I mean I have been hunting the same property for like 15 years no so I would be an epic failure if I didn't stick a deer every year

 

After going 4 years without shooting one and finally making it happen last year, my "expectations" have changed.

I wanted my first archery kill to be a decent buck, now that I accomplised that I do expect to kill at least 1 with my bow every year. I've had opprotunities at does about every 3 out of 5 hunts, and will take at least 1 for meat from here on out.

I will be putting in a lot more ground work from now on, and try to put myself into contention for a big mature buck.

By learning what I have over the last year or so, I feel as though I can be a lot more successful, but I guess we'll see.

 

Jeff, I truly understand where you are coming from and if I'd have spent the past several years being a true doe slayer, feeling as if it were my duty to kill every female deer that walked in my woods, I may have the same outlook.

But I'm "new" to the doe part. I can appreciate the precision of a well placed arrow. I grew more into the actual killing part of the hunt. When I said getting on a doe was easy, that was relative to the sport of buck hunting. The Kill Shot is still the same regardless of sex. I enjoy the true marksmanship of shot placement and quick clean kills.

That being said I do have things I wish to accomplish..and I may get the rasberries for admitting it but I have a desire to take a deer beyond the 50 yard mark. I would have to deem the situation right but I am confident in my abilities to execute this shot.

As for the Trad thing..I can respect peoples decision to shoot what they feel is is the correct weapon for them. I love gadgets. I like to tinker. I want more tech not less.

Just as Compounds hold no appeal to you ....the thought of a trad bow, bores me to tears. No disrespect just a different mindset.

 

Wow....lol. That's a mouthful.

I wrote what I did,......because your post gave the appearance of dimishing others' (including mine) pursuits. I simply stated that there are many ways we can all choose to challenge ourselves. I demeaned no one in that assertion. It's common knowledge. And, to be honest.....I've actually taken a good buck or two along the way. How/why you took offense to what I posted is beyond me.

Good luck.

Different strokes. Again.....good luck. I also feel the same way RE: gun hunting, but what another does affects me not.

 

You misinterpretted my rebuttal. I did not take offense to your statements.

It seems as though you may think that going trad is some sort of growth step beyond shooting a compound. I just don't view it as such.

How could I diminsh anyone's pursuits of doe..when in fact I am doing the same thing. I just said it's not so tough, nor is rabbit hunting but I do that also...

All they do is Eat Sleep and make Little ones..it's not rocket science

 

Nor do I. I simply view it as "A" way for ME to challenge myself. If you took that (above) from what I posted, you had to read into it. A bowhunter who may think doe hunting is "easy" has options. He can continue down the easy road. Or, he can find ways to make the taking of does (or any deer) MORE challenging (be that via trad. tackle; hunting from the ground; targeting a specific doe; etc...; etc...; etc...).

If I killed 5 does/yr and changed nothing (to further the challenge), I'd agree with you. If I hunted in areas that were less deer-friendly, I'd disagree. If I only got to hunt 10X a year, I'd have the opinion that ANY deer was a viable challenge. Your blanket statement "seemingly" doesn't take these things into account.

And, let's not forget......there's no reason the "doe killer" can't be a buck hunter, too. I enjoy hunting both, immensely.

Doe hunting is not for everyone. Neither is gun hunting......treestand hunting....etc... . But to the people who do it, it's as real as any other pursuit. It's also, quite likely, somewhat dependent upon where one hunts. We actually NEED them to be taken from here. BUT.....If I had gamecam photos like the Siman bros., I'd likely NEVER take one. So, I understand your outlook 100%. No issues.

 

I knew this would get a rise out of at least one PA guy. :D
The great deer debate will likely never die in this state.

 

Although I have only bowhunted for one season so far, and was able to take a deer in my first season. I think that I expect myself to take a deer each year. Just by going by how many deer I saw last season and the opportunities that I had with some smaller bucks and does I am expecting to at least shoot a doe. I'm hoping, and won't shoot anything smaller than a 110" or so buck next season, but hopefully can get a good chance at a pope and young buck.

 

For the past 8 years I've had the expectations of shooting a big buck. I've been successful half the time. A couple years I didn't shoot any thing it bothered me but it made me more hungry. It actually made me a better hunter not getting one those years. My goals this year will be a little different than in the past. I'd really like to see my friend and brother-in-law take some nice ones. I'm not going to put any pressure on myself this year. I'm just going to sit back and take it all in. I hunt private land.