Are you average?

[matchset]

According to the MNDNR, only 20%(+-) of us are successful at tagging a deer each fall.....

It got me thinking, of where i rank..... for the past 10 seasons 2002-2011 i was successful at filling a tag 60% of the time!

Where do you rank?

[DonBo]

Geez, I don't remember the last time I didn't tag a deer. Gotta be 30 years ago at least. Where's that put me?

[96trigger]

Yeah, me too, in the last 15 years, I can remember one year where I never got a deer, and I bet it was 5 or six years before that. So the last 20 some years, I have probably went 1 year without a deer. Many years I was able to shoot two. There must be a lot of people that don't shoot anything. It would be cool to see it broken down by area. that number seems pretty low to me.

[matchset]

"Guru" status!

[96trigger]

In our deer camp, we call it "mythical status"

[matchset]

Yeah, it would be cool to see it broken down by area. that number seems pretty low to me.

i agree! In the last 6 years, ive shot 25 deer with my bow........ but i hurt the statistic when i first started bowhunting. I was 12 and it took a few yrs to tag one

[skee0025]

It would be cool to see it broken down by area. that number seems pretty low to me.

It would need to be broken down further to be an accurate number. I know many hunters that bow hunt for large bucks only and will only take does in the firearms season.

[InTheNorthwoods]

Its been a few years since I've filled a tag in MN despite 100% shot opportunity at legal animals over the past 10 years. I guess that makes me "below average" in this category. But then again, I tend to subscribe to the school of thought that it doesn't matter "whether" I fill my tag, but "what" what I fill it with.

[nofishfisherman]

We'll i'm fairly new to deer hunting and haven't tagged a deer in my first few years. I've passed on several but the circumstances just didn't warrant pulling the trigger on them at the time. So I guess I'm helping to even things out for you guru's out there.

[96trigger]

I wonder if they go buy total tags sold vs total tags filled, I bet that would be close to 20%. Every year I buy a bow, firearm, and muzzleloader license and management tag. I have only shot one deer the last two years, that puts me at 25% success rate for the tags I have.

[NTW]

I wonder if they go buy total tags sold vs total tags filled, I bet that would be close to 20%. Every year I buy a bow, firearm, and muzzleloader license. I have only shot one deer the last two years, that puts me at 25% success rate for the tags I have.

I was thinking the same thing...

[harvey lee]

I do not remember the year but I did miss out on a deer about 1982. I did not have alot of time to hunt and went without for the archery season.

Then there were the years in NoDak that we could take numerous deer by means of archery and we did.

[harvey lee]

Geez, I don't remember the last time I didn't tag a deer. Gotta be 30 years ago at least. Where's that put me?

"Natural Born Killer"

[JBone]

1 deer 4 seasons...should be due agian this year then right?!

[deerminator]

I can see it if you are including gun season. Not everyone is as hardcore all fall and winter and those who are, are sometimes very choosy with that one tag. I have tagged one every year since starting about a decade ago but I am willing to take a yearling doe toward the end of the year. Have you ever seen escanaba in da moonlight? It's not a very good movie at all but it's so bad it's funny. It'ss about a Yooper deer hunter trying to break his curse of not being able to bag a buck. Jeff Daniels is the star and his theater company in Michigan did it as a play originally. Again, I reccomend watching it. So bad it's good!

[Finlander]

Most years I am limited to the amount of time sitting in a tree waitng for a decent deer to come by that I would shoot. If I know I have a close place to hunt near home i'll wait for Mr.Big and let the shooters walk on by. So average is hard to determine depending on this falls hunting schedule, so?

But most years I shoot a deer with bow before gun season and always during gun season I get a deer!

[rbs]

I guess it depends on counting all tags or not...I have only shot one deer in archery. The rest have been in Rifle up north. I would suppose that number would be right if counting archery and rifle.

[bigbucks]

No, probably not average. Shot my first deer in 1987. 1989's the only year since I didn't get at least one with some weapon. Although I will say I didn't necessarily tag one all of those years do to party hunting.

I believe the doe I shot last night was my 33rd bow deer, 3 in WI, the rest in MN. I think this is my 21st bow season, started in 92. First bow deer in 94, then not again until 97, at least one every year after that. Shot about twice that with various firearms (shotgun, rifle, muzzle loader).

Young hunters aren't usually consistent deer killers to start with. Those that started in the last 10-15 years are a lot more likely to be though, as there are SO many more deer in MN now.

[sticknstring]

I've been in hunters choice and lottery the past two years now which really limits what you can shoot. I still buy a bonus tag for one weekend in Ripley, but that tag probably won't get punched. I'm sure there are lots of examples like that out there that skew success rates. I've averaged one deer a year for the past decade, but usually have a few tags each year. That's 50% success to the DNR.

[mabr]

I've chuckled at those statistics several times over the years. Like many on here I honestly cant remember a year where i haven't taken at least 2 per year sense moving to MN in 98, Usually its 4. I've eating my buck tag plenty of times but could have always filled it but waited on what my idea of a shooter was instead. I believe I have used that tag 3 times in MN that I can remember. Its worth it to me to take the does for the meat if legal and risk eating my buck tag than saying I got MY BUCK. I hunt 3 properties that are intensive management areas and 1 area where its one deer per year. What I would do if I didn't have the IH areas to hunt? First I would be freaking out, then I'd be going to Wisconsin and other states, We just love deer meat.

[Stratosman]

I would like to know just archery statistics...

I have bowhunted since about '91 I suppose. The first few years were tough maybe tagged 2 deer the first 5 years. Then every year but one after that. Already tagged a doe this tuesday.

[Scott K]

I hunt in a lottery area, where doe permits arent very high. I have been rather fortunate over the years of getting deer, but there are others in my party that dont see a buck to even shoot at, but they will see many does. But no doe permit. The spot I hunt is loaded with does, with I would say a lower number of bucks, because everyone has to try to shoot a buck, because they dont get a doe permit. So if it is of legal 3", it usually will get shot.

I bow hunt the same area, and I have seen probably 10-1 doe over bucks that I have seen this year so far. I dont think we need the lottery in my area, but it is what it is. Being there is a lot of lottery areas around the state, where hunters are forced to find, and shoot a buck, and it has been this way for many years, it tends to thin down the bucks in the area. This will skew the numbers as well.

[Bear55]

I though I saw somewhere (and I am just pulling these numbers out of my azz) that something like 5% of the hunters shoot 75% of the deer. Makes perfect sense to me, you have the diehards that get one every year, probably multiple deer, and then you have some tweeners who shoot some deer and then a whole pile of guys who rarely tag one.

I have maybe not tagged one 2-3 times in the past 20 years, numerous others times I tagged more than one. If you are one of the diehards and don't tag one, I suspect you are like me and passed up 20+ deer looking for the right one.

[certified jumbo]

i've been very fortunate to live in 225 and 227 area. its been fun for a lot of years to put down a couple of doe's every year. my wife and i usually fill multiple tags.

[eyeguy 54]

I'm a legend in my own mind... lol