Do you consider "Luck" to be a big factor in deer hunting?

[Codaboy]

This is my first season not hunting over bait. The deer move thru the woods with not a care in the world with no bait. I found hot runs with buck sign, I set up overlooking 3 runs crossing crossing point.hunted it hard with the right wind and seen deer every sit. Finally connect after two week of setting up. But it was luck that I was on the path he chose to walk down. So I say it s a 50/50 deal. 50 percent goes into finding the deer. And 50 goes to being in the right spot at the right time

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[hiking]

Yes luck plays a big part in deer hunting,  it is funny how the hunters who put a lot of time in practising, scouting, playing the wind and doing a lot of things right always seem to have the most luck

[DV1]

On 10/20/2021 at 8:07 PM, trapoholic said:

After deer hunting for over 45 years, I strongly believe that luck is a huge factor in deer hunting...

So you see where luck is a factor here. It all depends on where the deer are that day and ultimately where they are going. I don't care how good you are! Deer are not "Slot Cars". They can go anywhere they want anytime they want!

I have the same number of seasons under my belt as you, and completely agree. There is more luck involved than even the most consistently successful, or "lucky" guys will usually admit. I've killed more than my share of mature, big bucks, and been very fortunate to have done so. Even when my plans came together, and strategy worked out, it still requires a lot of luck to seal the deal. Could give tons of examples but I shouldn't have to. Honest reflection on most of our hunts for big bucks should reveal us saying at one point of another, I was lucky he did this, or didn't do that, etc. 

You can work meticulously to find and pattern a mature buck, position yourself correctly, wait for the perfect time and wind, sneak into the spot with the stealth of a ninja, wait motionlessly for the buck to show, and it either doesn't because of something you couldn't control (public land, other hunters, people scouting, early doe in heat comes through and draws him away, coyote crashes his bed, etc.) or does show, and instead of walking through your shooting lane, barely detours around it in just enough cover that you can't shoot, or a multitude of other things can spoil the best laid plans.

I've had battling turkeys reroute a big 10 point that was coming to feast on white oak acorns for an easy shot, bad luck.

The buck that stops exactly where you need him to for a shot, without mouth grunting to stop him (hate doing that), or the doe being nudged by a buck that runs, and comes right to your stand, and shooting lane,  after it looks like they were headed another direction, good luck. Etc., etc..

Just too many things you can't control that make or break every hunt. This season, it was guys scouting for hidden wood duck haunts this past week that blew 2 mature bucks out of beds and off patterns I had locked in about as good as I ever had. I had one of them on 3 cameras at stands over scrapes, in daylight for 2 weeks, several times, and the other just relocated closer to a doe group and was bedding near a swamp and started showing, in daylight, on scrapes, well before dark, 10 days ago. 

Last 10 days of October are the best time to hunt this particular area, on this pattern (scrapes). Pulled the cards in the rain last week, saw the consistent daylight movement up to October 14th, and playing marginal crosswinds, bounced around the 5 stands I have in their daylight range since the 20th with not a single sighting, not any deer. Found out why when the Southern region duck season opened yesterday and at 6:50am, the woods erupted in shotgun blasts. Ran into the guys on the side of the road and they told me they scouted these vernal ponds and swamps for wood ducks all week, which is the bedding area of those bucks. No one has ever duck hunted this big, flat piece of woods in the 29 years I've deer hunted it. Just bad luck. 

If you are hunting public land and are able to kill a mature buck because something like that doesn’t happen, it is good luck. Probably 90 percent of “my plans” on public land are ruined by other people and their plans. When that doesn’t happen, it’s good luck and a major factor in being able to kill mature bucks. There is a reason the saying goes: “I’d rather be lucky than good any day”. Good puts you in the game, luck helps seal the deal.

Not monsters, but about as good as they get for public land in this area, they gone now. Pulled the cards after the morning hunt, not a single pic of either buck, just some guys walking through.

Edited October 24, 2021 by DV1

[Swedish Hunter]

the more time, effort and skills you put into it the better luck you are going to have. Sure, luck is a big factor, at least on a micro level. But over time, I find people tend to make their own luck.

[Slayer1962]

On 10/23/2021 at 9:51 AM, hiking said:

Yes luck plays a big part in deer hunting,  it is funny how the hunters who put a lot of time in practising, scouting, playing the wind and doing a lot of things right always seem to have the most luck

I agree those that scout hard and put in more time have much better odds. It still takes some luck because deer do what deer do. There are also outside influences when hunting public land. 7 years i had a good spot if i sat 4 or 5 times i had an opportunity at deer. Last year all of a sudden i hear deer blowing every sit, my wind is good don't know how they are busting me and they sound far away. One night i stayed in a little late and here comes a guy with a headlamp on . They must have been smelling him. so scouted, put time in and its beyond my control that after 7 years someone decides to hunt a couple hundred yards away in the pinelands which go for miles. 

[archer36]

On 10/22/2021 at 12:41 PM, Slayer1962 said:

I hope you guys did not take it the wrong way . Nobody gets consistently lucky , thats hard work not luck. 

I used to hunt the family farm and my brother shot some huge deer and he was so lazy lol

One time we saw a herd of deer blasting through the hedge row we knew he was sitting in. 

He WOKE UP when most of the deer had gone through in time to shoot a great 12 pointer. 

I could do everything wrong on that farm and see more deer than i could ever see in the pinelands. 

A farm in Budlake was way better odds than the pinelands. 

As I said, great property is 80% of the chances for success.  If you do not have great property, the knowledgeable, experienced hunter will have an edge over others. 

Edited October 25, 2021 by archer36

[trapoholic]

On 10/24/2021 at 7:32 AM, DV1 said:

I have the same number of seasons under my belt as you, and completely agree. There is more luck involved than even the most consistently successful, or "lucky" guys will usually admit. I've killed more than my share of mature, big bucks, and been very fortunate to have done so. Even when my plans came together, and strategy worked out, it still requires a lot of luck to seal the deal. Could give tons of examples but I shouldn't have to. Honest reflection on most of our hunts for big bucks should reveal us saying at one point of another, I was lucky he did this, or didn't do that, etc. 

You can work meticulously to find and pattern a mature buck, position yourself correctly, wait for the perfect time and wind, sneak into the spot with the stealth of a ninja, wait motionlessly for the buck to show, and it either doesn't because of something you couldn't control (public land, other hunters, people scouting, early doe in heat comes through and draws him away, coyote crashes his bed, etc.) or does show, and instead of walking through your shooting lane, barely detours around it in just enough cover that you can't shoot, or a multitude of other things can spoil the best laid plans.

I've had battling turkeys reroute a big 10 point that was coming to feast on white oak acorns for an easy shot, bad luck.

The buck that stops exactly where you need him to for a shot, without mouth grunting to stop him (hate doing that), or the doe being nudged by a buck that runs, and comes right to your stand, and shooting lane,  after it looks like they were headed another direction, good luck. Etc., etc..

Just too many things you can't control that make or break every hunt. This season, it was guys scouting for hidden wood duck haunts this past week that blew 2 mature bucks out of beds and off patterns I had locked in about as good as I ever had. I had one of them on 3 cameras at stands over scrapes, in daylight for 2 weeks, several times, and the other just relocated closer to a doe group and was bedding near a swamp and started showing, in daylight, on scrapes, well before dark, 10 days ago. 

Last 10 days of October are the best time to hunt this particular area, on this pattern (scrapes). Pulled the cards in the rain last week, saw the consistent daylight movement up to October 14th, and playing marginal crosswinds, bounced around the 5 stands I have in their daylight range since the 20th with not a single sighting, not any deer. Found out why when the Southern region duck season opened yesterday and at 6:50am, the woods erupted in shotgun blasts. Ran into the guys on the side of the road and they told me they scouted these vernal ponds and swamps for wood ducks all week, which is the bedding area of those bucks. No one has ever duck hunted this big, flat piece of woods in the 29 years I've deer hunted it. Just bad luck. 

If you are hunting public land and are able to kill a mature buck because something like that doesn’t happen, it is good luck. Probably 90 percent of “my plans” on public land are ruined by other people and their plans. When that doesn’t happen, it’s good luck and a major factor in being able to kill mature bucks. There is a reason the saying goes: “I’d rather be lucky than good any day”. Good puts you in the game, luck helps seal the deal.

Not monsters, but about as good as they get for public land in this area, they gone now. Pulled the cards after the morning hunt, not a single pic of either buck, just some guys walking through.

Nice bucks!

[Serpentine]

Killing true big bucks consistently takes much, much, more than luck.

4 + year olds in NJ don't make mistakes. Even in those rare instances that they are rerouted or bounced out of bed you can be sure there is a swamp or giant briar patch near by. 

It happens, and new hunters score, but saying it is mostly luck to kill a big buck is taking way too much away from a truly rare hunter. 

But those hunters really don't care what others think anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[archer36]