Why do some of the most experienced deer hunters eat tags in some areas every year? Seems like if they had it all figured out, they would always tag out in every state. It's not that hard, is it? I wonder why is this phenomenon still around?
BS, bad luck will fall on anyones parade. Oh, sorry, I guess I should have said "competent" deer hunters. If it isn't so hard, why do people "work" so hard at it? Remember the sweat that has to be expelled?
Then is the question "why do some of the most experienced hunters fail to kill a mature buck every year (eat their buck tag)?"
In some states it is hard to even find a buck that is 4 years old. All the gun hunters kill 80% of the 1.5 year olds every year. You also cannot do the same thing and make it work in different places around the country. I know fisherman that can catch big fish at the lake that hit every week. Take them to new water and most of the time they cannot catch a dang fish. I know deer hunter that are the same way.
OK, the "plain deer, not "mature buck" hunters who are extremely competent and work their butts off every year, who still at times eat their tag. Why do they fail?
I would suppose many (hundreds)different reasons could exist causing one to eat their tags or "fail". Maybe they don't have enough time to hunt that particular year. Maybe they only hunt on a 15-20 acre woodlot and they kill the only mature buck that frequents their property that year. After they kill the mature buck, maybe another buck does not move onto their property for any portion of the next hunting season. Maybe the hunter really isn't as good as he/she think they are, having been spoiled by many nice bucks frequenting their hunting areas, and really not having to work hard at killing them for many years. Maybe the neighbor just planted a ton of crops and the deer/doe do not frequent the hunter's property when the time is right like they did in the past, thereby causing the bucks to move onto his neighbor's property. There are so many reasons why a competent hunter could fail I could probably stay up all night and devise scenarios that would decrease the likelihood of a competent buck hunter killing a mature buck.
Why? Because #1, 99% of the hunters out there don't have It all figured out and never will and #2, too high of expectation's for the land/area their hunting. Lots of other factors can go Into It that no one can control (neighboring land owners, bad regulation's, etc.) What It comes right down to Is It's called hunting and not getting for a reason.
