Where do the nation's best deer hunters live?

[Junebug]

I read an article some time ago about the Benoit family from the northeast; (Maine or New Hampshire I think). Anyway the author felt they were the quite possibly the most capable deer hunters alive. He had a pretty good argument when you take a look at the tons of monster bucks they've killed from public-land wilderness, in an area with low deer-density.

Others say southern deer hunters are some of the very best. Super-thick habitat, heat, swamps, high hunting pressure from man and dogs. If you regularly kill good bucks in the South, you're among the predator-elite.

Where do you think hunting for big bucks is the toughest?

 

[DSGB]

All over. I think some of the best deer hunters out there are guys we'll never hear about.
It would be hard to decide if'n we did have a list of choices. The plains and grasslands out west are nothing like a Georgia thicket. Most hunters that do get a chance to hunt somewhere besides their home state probably have someone else scout for them, anyway.

 

[MonsterBuck19]

Hardest place to hunt.

One of the hardest places to hunt in bow season is the south. In bow season your hunting in 80 degree weather and if your in a river bottom it even harded. The nats and bugs will drive you right out of the stand.

Where do you think the hardest place to hunt is?

 

[Branchminnow]

North of Marietta of course.

 

[GeauxLSU]

Stalk hunters get my respect. Sitting in a tree and waiting (like I do) for luck to have pity on me, is not harldy as impressive.
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil

 

[Junebug]

DGSB; Agreed.

It would be hard to decide if'n we did have a list of choices. The plains and grasslands out west are nothing like a Georgia thicket.

I didn't want to pick on Texas, but sitting over a roadbed with feeders on each end doesn't sound terribly difficult to me (I could be wrong; never hunted in Texas). But what about west-Texas...stalk/bowhunting?

How about New York? 719,696 hunters (NYDNR 2002 estimate), mostly on public land? I think that'd be a tough one to put a mature deer on the ground year in/year out; even during gun season.

I was just thinking about places that might be fun to visit/hunt some day and difference in skill required to consistently be successful.

 

[Junebug]

Where do you think the hardest place to hunt is?

Being a bowhunter first and a gun hunter second, I'd say the tougher areas to hunt are where it stays green, hot, and buggy with lots of cover. Scent control, limited visiblity, food everywhere, skeeters...can make if really difficult to get close to a mature deer.

The "easier" places to hunt (in my experience) are the ag areas of the midwest. Picture a 200 acre farm with 1 little brushy creek(35 yards wide) and a total of 12 acres of open hardwood timber...the rest is corn that was combined the first week of September.

Makes it a little easier to choose a place to start. Of course in truth, none of the are really "easy."

 

[How2fish]

All over most of the really great hunters you won't hear about...they blow their horns about as often as they hunt with the wind behind them! Really the 2 best hunters I know... and they are really good....won't let you know anything about them...unless your someone that they trust...just like they won't tell where or how they are successful....these guys aren't Roland Martin types

 

[leadoff]

The best deer hunters...

...live in the woods during deer season!!!

 

[Huntervationist]

He !!!!!!!!!

Lives in Sandersville Geaorgia, Drives a ford 4x4, and carries a browning Bar .30- 06 alot in the woods......I know him well......He's me!!!

 

[huntfish]

All over most of the really great hunters you won't hear about...they blow their horns about as often as they hunt with the wind behind them! Really the 2 best hunters I know... and they are really good....won't let you know anything about them...unless your someone that they trust...just like they won't tell where or how they are successful....these guys aren't Roland Martin types

That's correct. There are alot of guys nobody hears about and the quality bucks they shoot. Take a look at the B&C book. I bet folks may only recognize less than 5%, and that the folks who applied. I've unofficially scored three book animals for my family that will make the all time but our names are not there because we didn't apply. I know of one guy in Clarke county that would blow your doors if you knew of his success. All on public property.

To answer the question, The BEST hunters are those who spend their time in the woods; doesn't matter where they live.

 

[rapid fire]

Best one I've ever met lives here in Georgia and is our resident CoonDawg. Aint never met anyone like him.

 

[HT2]

Hard to say...........

I don't think you can narrow it down to one region, or one type of person..........

I think that Will hit the nail on the head.........

It's the person that is in the woods the most...........During deer season and the off season........

The off season is where you learn as much if not more than you do during the regular season.......

 

[Thunder Head]

I think there is no one person you can pick. Take one of us and stick us in the snow and expect us to track down a mature buck?
Take a guy from up north and stick him in the swamps of south GA.?
Take a guy from the midwest and put him in the mountains with thousands of acers of mature forest?
I think every region has those guys that are real good at hunting the deer in there area.

 

[General Lee]

As a group, Glascock County Georgia........

 

[Ga-Spur]

I think they live in Elbert County . A lot of them use .22 rifles still hunting . I didn't say they were ethical. The game wardens could use some help.

 

[coon dawg]

..............

I read an article some time ago about the Benoit family from the northeast; (Maine or New Hampshire I think). Anyway the author felt they were the quite possibly the most capable deer hunters alive. He had a pretty good argument when you take a look at the tons of monster bucks they've killed from public-land wilderness, in an area with low deer-density.

Others say southern deer hunters are some of the very best. Super-thick habitat, heat, swamps, high hunting pressure from man and dogs. If you regularly kill good bucks in the South, you're among the predator-elite.

Where do you think hunting for big bucks is the toughest?

not to be disrepectful to the Benoits.........they are GREAT hunters up there..............but I know alot of folks down here in good ole Georgia, who have the woodsmanship skills to adapt to hunting deer up there in Maine/Vermont..............you put the Benoits down here , and I do not think they would do very well....... .........the best deer hunters are the ones who put the time in the woods, and can harvest a mature deer in whatever state they hunt in.

 

[W4DSB]

I agree, I have read all of the benoit books and they're a amazing family. But.....99% of their bucks are stalked in the snow......I thinkthey would be lost in 100+ degree august heat with the ground so hard a sherman tank wouldn't leave a track to follow. No disrespect ment to them just you're better in your home environment.
I think the best deer hunter anywhere is the one who knows his quarry and its habits where ever he is

 

[bull0ne]

The toughest terrain is from the upper costal plain region of Ga. south into Fla. and the further south you hunt the tougher it gets.

Snakes, bugs, gators, industrial pine forest too thick to see a deer at 10 yards are a few of the stumbling blocks a hunter must deal with.


The toughest Deer to hunt live in the conditions that i stated above but are hunted by those who don't use any form of scent control,disregard wind direction, stomp through the bedding area and in the end the deer that do stay on the property are forced to go nocturnal.

Just my .02 worth.

 

[CPiper]

I know one that lives in York, SC !!!!!!!

All over! All depends!
I know guys that are GOOD hunters that seldom kill anything. I know guys that kill deer all the time but are POOR POOR POOR hunters!! Just because a person does or does not KILL deer, does not make them a HUNTER or a good hunter.

The Benoits are GOOD!! Id even say GREAT, but what they know, they know and if I was to take them and place them in some areas in SC, they might go empty handed or if they killed a deer, it might be the dominant buck. Same as Id be out of place in all tha COLD frigid snowy weather!!
Hunters dont HUNT now days - we wait!! We sit in our stands that over look a food plot or bait pile and be still and patient enough until a deer walks past. Very few hunters actually HUNT - remember that thread I started about how I dont believe hunters now days REALLY pattern deer? This kinda goes hand in hand, IMHO.
And with the size of todays deer herd nation wide, most "hunters" stand a good chance of seeing and killing deer, and add all the improvements and developements with deer foods and nutrition as we hunters gain knowledge and an avg hunter stands a good chance of growing a big buck all by himself!

The deer are different also - where the Benoits hunt there is a low human density and big large woods. Places I hunt have a human density of 7400 humans per sq mile, LOL!
Weather, predators, human activity, developement ... all sorts of things come into play on how deer behave to make them difficult to hunt.
Some of the bucks the Benoits have killed may have been exposed to a deer only 1-2 or maybe 0 times their entire life. The deer I hunt see/hear/smell 100+ humans every day!



I like to play this hypothetical scenerio out:

Hunter A: He has hunted for a total of 7 years and has a grand total of 4 bucks under his belt.
Hunter B: Has hunted for 42 years and has 172 bucks and 214 doe deer under his belt.
Which is the "best" hunter???? (yes, it is a trick question, think hard)