What do you rank as most important?

[Goose]

ORIGINAL: Nubs

Anybody can show up and hunt that is easy. But when you are out there and the deer comes by but you can not hit the broad side of a barn what good does showing up do you? If you show up and the deer smell you what good does it do you? If you show up and your stand is in the wrong place because you didn't scout but just put it up in a tree what good does showing up do you? I am not trying to be mean don't get me wrong I just think there is so much more to hunting then just being out there. However being out there is the fun part IMO.

I like the point about mental strength, I missed out on a few opportunities over the years because I gave up to early. Thinking about being back at the warm house or getting home in time for the game has cost me at least 2 big bucks over the years. If I would have stayed just 5 min longer I could have had great shot opportunities on both of them.

[quote]


Alright that didn't come out the way I wanted. I bet you we all have not shot bucks because we have not been on stand for one reason or another. You increase your odds 100% by being out there.

If you cant hit the broadside of a barn with your equipment you shouldn't be out in the woods. Bottom line.

[Goose]

Sorry that didn't work out the way I wanted, the comment on the bottom is my post.

[Woods Walker]

IMO, the weapons proficiency part should aleady be a GIVEN, like saying that one of the important things should be having a hunting license, which of course we all know EVERYONE should have before they set foot in the woods.
 
Unfortunately we all know that not everyone is up to par with their weapon, or only shoots within their own known abilities.
 
This is where the ethics part comes in. In my mind, the #1 ethical thing we ALWAYS need to do, regardless of weapon choice, is to become as proficient as humanly possible with our weapon of choice, and to take ONLY high percentage shots that are within our personal effective HUNTING range.
 
Until someone knows what these are, they have no business even thinking about the other important things.
 
Here's another take on this............
 
Hypothetically,in your opinion, what's MORE important, your HUNTING ability, or your shooting skills?  No "BOTH" answers for this one.
 
For me, if I had to choose, I'd rather have better hunting skills (meaning being able to get close undetected), that superior shooting skills. I can always make up for my shorter range by being a better hunter, but it's much tougher to compensate for poor hunting skills by blasting away at game at 300 to 400 yards, where the risk of a bad shot increases significantly.
 
As stated above, I have no trouble with someone limiting him/her self to 12 yard bowshots, as long as that's that person's effective range.

[JPH]

Hunting ability, hands down.

I am a far better hunter than I am a shooter. That says more about my lack of shooting skills than it does about my hunting ability, but true nonetheless.

[passin through]

Hunting Ability--- No Question at all.  To make that clearer: I define hunting ability to as being able to get within range of your prey, connect & kill with whichever killing instrument you have, then recover the prey in a reasonable amount of time and process it for consumption.  I know lots of "shooters" who can take your money at the range but cant seem to get within 100 yds of a deer.  My favorite modern day quote about this subject reflects that...."Its not about how far ... Its about how close"  apologies for the paraphrasing.  

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: passin through
I define hunting ability to as being able to get within range of your prey, connect & kill with whichever killing instrument you have, then recover the prey in a reasonable amount of time and process it for consumption.

I'd say that's a pretty darn good working definition!

[Goose]

I agree with hunting ability, without that your chances are slim at best.
Passin through you summed it up well.

[dtrain56]

all the above

[Woods Walker]

ORIGINAL: Goose

I agree with hunting ability, without that your chances are slim at best.
Passin through you summed it up well.

 
Yes he did! And in MUCH shorter words thanI could! [:)]
 
A salute to you passin'!

[Nubs]

Woods you make an excellent point, I would also have to go with "hunting ability"

I was thinking about something the other day, a fair amount posters on this thread mentioned mental strength as an important factor in their hunt. I would agree that mental strength or preparation is important. How would one go about conditioning them selfs in this area? Are there any techniques that add in mental preparation?