It's Official!!!

[blacktailer]

I officially suck!!!  First year in 25 years I have not tagged out on deer.  Hit it pretty hard late season.  Could have shot a fork horn at 4:00 this evening but let him go in hopes he'll be around next year.  Very frustrating season.  I hate the thought that after all of the anticipation, it's all over.  Start planning for next year I guess

[wrangler]

ok, soooo you let a buck walk at last light on the last day after tagging out for 25 straight years? thats an impressive streak i would think you would have wanted to continue... 

[MHWASH]

Sounds pretty successfull to me.

[Axle]

I know how you feel. I passed on a small two point BT buck. But not to worry, there was this yearling spike on my neighbor's property and I had made a promise to shoot a legal deer when possible on his place. Well, it happened, and the arrow did its job. The deer ran back to my yard. 53 lbs of meat later, I was feeling much better (and so was my 86 year old neighbor). Biggest yearling I've ever put in the freezer. Talk about tender! That little dude had eaten a lot of apples.

[Gutpile]

Bummer. I got skunked a few years back. had not been skunked since I tagged my first one about a dozen years prior. It's a bitter pill to swallow.

[squeeze2drop]

I ate some tag soup this year also, and i dont have a valid excuse, i missed 5 times!(go ahead and laugh, i deserve it) ive NEVER missed a deer that i have shot at, ive missed, but every deer i have shot at, i killed. 150 yds, was on the move but never in a sprint, and there was no trees around, what sucks is the sagebrush was so thick around him, that i couldnt see where my shot was, so i couldnt make any adjustments, oh well, its gonna be a looooooong wait till next year to redeem myself         

[elkaholic_74]

I hear you guys, No deer for me as well this year, first time in 8 years that I dont have a deer in my freezer. I passed up a couple spikes and small 2 points during general season cuz you cant shoot the big ones if you shoot the small ones first. I did get an elk so the season was a success none the less.

[searchnfor]

Hey Nathan, I  know the effort you put out this season, having an opportunity and making the dessicion not to take him sounds like it a successful  season to me. congrats on the long streak! Good for you letting the forky grow for a year.

[PolarBear]

Hey Nathan, I  know the effort you put out this season, having an opportunity and making the dessicion not to take him sounds like it a successful  season to me. congrats on the long streak! Good for you letting the forky grow for a year.

No, you don't suck!
It's better to let one walk that you might not have shot during the regular season than to drop him just to keep a streak alive or fill a tag.  Good job!

[Tikka Bird Dog]

its tough when you dont get tagged out, but i agree with you one hundred percent on letting a two pt go. i did the same thing on the last day last year and ate my tagg. the thing about if fellas that you might not even think about, if blacktailer has shot a deer 25 years in a row im guessing that he's shot some good deer! my opinion is, whats one more two pt?

[Tikka Bird Dog]

if more people had more self control and passed on smaller bucks to let them grow up, dont they realize that there would be more mature bucks around? i just want to say good job blacktailer and more people should follow in your footsteps and take a little bit of management into there own hands and stop complaining about not seeing any mature deer! STOP SHOOTING THE FIRST ONE YOU SEE JUST TO GET ONE!!!

[Blacklab]

Sorry to hear your streak had a hicup 

This yr was a bust for me as well which is okay. What I'm having a problem with is the only deer I seen were from my truck  8 total does and yearlings with one spike. I've had the dredded tag soup many times but have never experienced the absence of game when I hunted these areas. That's whats got me scatching my head. Anyway next year is on the way  and I'm going after wiley coyote till then.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I heard that Scout, your dad and brother were successful! That's great!

Like you, I'm eating tag soup save for some Grouse this year. Just odd....

Nathan, You don't suck. Those that know you, know you've got very good hunting skills. Shane and I hunted hard this year; nothing to show for it except stronger muscles, mental stamina and increased respect for mother nature. She won this time.

I still hope to get in the hills more this fall/winter for some varmints, and look forward to spring. It's in our blood!

-Steve

[sdwwaverider]

Out of the 7 buddies I hunt with 5 tagged out. Not a bad season just not mine, lots of great times & memories though.  Just glad late elk starts Wed., takes some of the sting out of it. Took my brother out on the last weekend of modern elk and if it had been late archery which is cow only for the unit I'm hunting I would have tagged out 10 times over. That may be a little over confident but I sure would have been slinging arrows. At least a dozen elk within 25 yards. Hope it repeats its self during the season. Good luck to all those still hunting. For those that aren't and also didn't tag..... there's always next year.

[SkookumHntr]

-Nothing wrong with letting the littleguys go and not notching the tag, I passed up at least 10 shot opportunities this year including 2 on the last day. If you shoot the small ones you wont ever get a big one, spikes and 2 points are for women and children as far as I'm concerned