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Hunting Would you rather question.

I can remember actually doing scenario 2 once (less about 40 inches of antler) in a absolute down pouring rain back in my climber days.

I left camp in the truck with the intention of hunting about 1.5 miles down the road in an oak groove. As I reached the fork in the road I almost hit a doe running across in front of my headlights heading south with a decent 8 pt. right behind her. I called an audible and turned south rather than my planned north and ran back into the woods about a 1/4 mile down the road. I quickly headed in about a half mile to a tree I had hunted earlier in the year along the edge of clear cut and climbed up in the still dark morning.

Half an hour later I was seriously questioning my life choices drenched to the skin and cold in the pouring rain and thinking how I would have been more comfortable under the canopy of the oaks. Suddenly a doe ran right to the base of the tree I was in and stopped there with her tongue hanging out. I picked up my bow but forgot to take the protective cover off the red dot sight I used in those days. The buck actually ran by the tree and saw the doe on his way by. She took off back where she had come from and he swung around the tree. I drew the bow as I yelled "HEY" at the top of my lungs. Somehow he stopped at 15yd quartering away looking back at me. It was now I realized I hadn't removed the cover from the sight and, since I was already at full draw, I had to make the instinctive shot. Its probably the best shot I ever put on a deer. He only went 15 more yards before stumbling and collapsing for good. Probably a good thing given the conditions. I must admit, it was a satisfying hunt but I still prefer to beat them in a chess match.
 
woodsdog2 said:
This is how I understood it as well. I guess the quicker I could figure out and set up on a nice buck based on a prediction of his travel pattern from woodsmanship, scouting, sign and terrain analysis the more of a rewarding overall experience it would be for me personally. I think figuring out a mature buck is where I gain the most satisfaction. I guess I interpreted your scenarios as more randomness means less satisfaction to me. Less randomness of the deer because I put myself in a better situation to kill that buck would be the more rewarding buck….. certainly not those rack differences.
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For you and for @raisins a follow up question. Let's say you have been scouting and headed in that Evening on what is a mature 8 point you assume will be on a bedding exit trail with the current conditions. But along the way you catch a glimpse of a slightly bigger buck but maybe not as old You have never seen. It appears something bumped him from his normal routine. So He's headed to different area you are semi familiar with. Would you abound the plan you had for the day? Or form a new one?
 
MattMan81 said:
For you and for @raisins a follow up question. Let's say you have been scouting and headed in that Evening on what is a mature 8 point you assume will be on a bedding exit trail with the current conditions. But along the way you catch a glimpse of a slightly bigger buck but maybe not as old You have never seen. It appears something bumped him from his normal routine. So He's headed to different area you are semi familiar with. Would you abound the plan you had for the day? Or form a new one?
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stick with current

i'd only deviate if a potential slam dunk and not going in half blind without a set position on the buck
 
MattMan81 said:
For you and for @raisins a follow up question. Let's say you have been scouting and headed in that Evening on what is a mature 8 point you assume will be on a bedding exit trail with the current conditions. But along the way you catch a glimpse of a slightly bigger buck but maybe not as old You have never seen. It appears something bumped him from his normal routine. So He's headed to different area you are semi familiar with. Would you abound the plan you had for the day? Or form a new one?
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No, my primary interest is figuring one out and setting up on them but I have not been very lucky on early season mature bucks on a pattern. This year was the closest I came but I don’t have the time to expand on it tonight.
 
I hate that it's like this but as of this moment in life, between kids/life/work/etc, I don't have much time to scout. Compound that to our quota system were u might not find out u are able to hunt a certain wma until just a week or 2 before the hunt and I've gotten to the point were I don't even bother going to scout prior to the dates of the quota. Sure, if I have an opportunity I'm gonna go check it out, but I don't sweat it anymore.....every hunt is a new adventure that I normally strategize on the fly based on what I see. I've had too may times of having preset/planned locations not work out and I never get to hunt them and I wasted lots of time and effort on them....sssooooo, yeah, scenario 1 doesn't really apply....and full disclosure, I've never killed a buck so my way of doing it obviously sux

Kills off the ground are more satisfying to me but I get jacked up regardless of where I may be situated in time and space...bow kills are more satisfying but I'm shaking regardless of the killing tool.....and there is a very nice feeling of satisfaction setting up correctly to allow u to get a shot at a totally oblivious critter
 
I had some of the best hunting ever this year due to the mobility of saddle hunting and keeping mobile throughout the entirety of the season. Two bucks this year, one a three or four year old with Xbow and one a two year old during ML both 8’s. The older buck, although shot from a ladder, I hadn’t been using that stand at all due to saddle hunting which made that stand viable again. I had so many opportunities setting up on different transitions within the same tract keeping them off guard. I had bucks under my setups almost every time I was out this past season. Botched some or didn’t want to take another knowing there were bigger bucks in the area. But again, I would rather learn and key in on an early season Monarch on a pattern probably more than anything else but it’s all good and I feel blessed whenever I can get out there.
 
An intentional elevated setup vs a chance encounter pursuit or spot and stalk on the ground require 2 entirely different skill sets. Honing both sets, a lot of the times, is what separates hunters from killers. I dont think I can say one is more rewarding than the other because of the difference in skills used to close the deal either way. My goal is to excel at both but I still have a ways to go. That's the fun part, there's always more room to grow and learn.
 
MattMan81 said:
W Y R shoot a 140" buck know to the area from a pre determined elevated spot that comes in some what like you planned and predicted.

Or

Shoot a 130" you spotted driving around that after noon, and found a good place to set up and kill him that evening.

What would get you more fired up?
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It all depends on how much room is in the freezer. I guess it comes from my father, but I will take any legal deer that is a sure thing if the stock pile is low. My dad always viewed hunting and fishing as another way to provide for the family while getting to do something he loved. I found I have adopted that same mentality now that I have gotten back into hunting and I have this anxiousness about harvesting meat first.

If the freezer has plenty in it, I'm going for the bigger, more challenging buck each and every time.
 
In both scenarios, you see your effort and skill coinciding for success. The first one is a season's worth of patient work, the second is the culmination of a lifetime of practicing woodsmanship and observing animals and terrain. Personally, I identify more with the latter than the former since I've never felt the urge to target specific bucks, and am generally happy to eat fresh venison.
 
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