How likely are you to shoot a buck that qualifies for the Boone and Crockett record book in your lifetime?
It varies depending on where you live and hunt of course, but according to B&C your overall odds are approximately 1 in 20,000. Some 10 million deer hunters enter about 500 whitetails a year into the B&C records.
Keep hunting and keep the faith. While your odds of shooting a book buck aren’t great, they are a lot better than your chances of winning Mega Millions!
BD, I understand brother. When I broke my back in ’15 I thought my hunting career was over. In fact, I felt weird about it practically the entire year after. It did a number on my mind, and I kind of lost my zeal for writing, scoring bucks, etc. as well. Then I finally decided to go hunting on Nov. 2, 2016. I was in a blind at my buddy’s property and saw a mature 9 pointer presumedly tending a doe and I WAS RIGHT BACK IN IT BABY!!!
Now, I’m a jokester, but even I was blown away at how the sight of that buck propelled me right back into the thick of my whitetail hunting “passion” (my wife would say obsession…I’m guessing you understand that).
As long as I’m able (as you stated in your post) I will be out there, chasing Mr. Wonderful, until the good Lord decides it’s my time to exit stage left.
Happy Hunting!!!
Dean: I am in my mid 60’s healthy enough for hunting though my sheep hunting days are long past, I did them up in the Brooks range when they were truly wild. Three week horseback trips deep into the Brooks and Prophet River country chasing dall and stone sheep are now memories as I look up at the mounts on the walls. But I plan to keep chasing whitetails for many years to come. Somewhere Mike wrote about the median age for hunters to hang up the shooting irons is around 65 …not for this old Irishman! As long as I can hobble into the woods and sit on a stump my pre ’64 Winchester mdl70 30-06 will be by my side. The day will come for sure when it is over but the sight of a nice rack buck sneaking along the edge of a swamp still cuts my breath short and speeds up my pulse.
In Christ Rev. T.
I can’t shoot the world record whitetail……I thought Milo Hansen already did?????
All kidding aside. Big Daddy, I hope that you continue to hunt, kill, and enjoy all those wonderful whitetails. I am impressed by your story. Carry on sir.
I have been hunting since 1966 most of those years in multiple states and Canada during various seasons an have killed 3 B&C bucks in all those years. I have killed several over 150″ (the old min. for B&C) and believe it or not 5 bucks that missed the book by less than 1″.
If I could average out the hours spent chasing whitetails over the years I guess it would equate to 8,500 hours of actual hunting time per B&C on the ground. How did I get that number: 50 days per year/10 hours per day/51 years/3 B&C bucks…now that is my life’s accumulation of hunting whitetails…so far.