Opinion on small contest


Recommended Posts

I would like to set up another deer hunting contest. We would still have the regular contest as we do every year but I would like to try and host another little one with people sign up but I will group them in their home state or were they will be hunting if they were from lets say Indiana it would be Team Indiana or from Michigan it would be Team Michigan or what have you. If I get enough people and get the O.K from who I need to talk to I will get the rules and what ever set.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What if we end up with 5 hunters from Indiana, 10 from Iowa, 12 from Oklahoma, and only 4 from Tennessee. How would you do the scoring? You couldn't just add the totals together. It also seems like year after year, bigger bucks come from the same areas. I just don't think this would be a very good base for a contest. I'd be willing to put money on it right now, that the saskatchewan team would win it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest okla_bowhunter

Sure sounds like a good idea to me, but how would you score the teams? Just take an average of the deer entered.

Good idea, but alot of thought gonna go into it.

And i really don't think any state would have a distinct advantage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And i really don't think any state would have a distinct advantage.

I certainly do. Some states just don't have the numbers of 5x5's or NT's like other states or Canadian provinces. In some states it's rare to see much more than 4 points or 6 points while in others you'd pass those up without a 2nd thought. No offense to our Vermont members but killing a 6 point buck there is comparable in difficulty to killing a 150 class buck in some midwestern states. Also for whatever reason in some states the deer just don't seem as wary as they do in other states.

I certainly wouldn't be going to hunt certain states outside of my home state each year if my odds were equal at killing big antlered bucks at home. For example, out of 12 different week long bowhunts I've made in Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, and Missouri over the past 9 years, I've had only 2 hunts where I didn't at least see one 150 class buck. On those 2 bowhunts I did see 140 class bucks though. More often than not I've seen more than one 150 or better class buck with the biggest being the B&C typical I killed in November, 2004 in Kansas. I've never even seen a 150 class buck on the hoof here at home and less than a handful of 140 class bucks. I've only spent a fraction of my hunting time in those states compared to all the time I've put in here at home. Also Texas carries a good number of 5x5's too. I've made 5 hunts over there and I've seen some good 5x5's on most of those hunts.

So far I've only referred to whitetail, throw in mule deer and that's another story.

I can only speak from personal experience but I've deer hunted in Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Wyoming, Alabama and in my home state of Mississippi. I've also turkey hunted other states that enlightened me about their deer herd from local hunters. I've heard enough about Montana, Ohio, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kentucky, along with areas in Canada to tempt me to hunt them too and I sure wouldn't be tempted if my odds were even on big bucks here at home. I can promise you some states and provinces will have a distinct advantage over others, especially with whitetail and mule deer in the mix.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the scoring system would be based a little like the other deer contest 5 points for does and one point for each point on the deer. We could set it by region like Bowtech says. The biggest part for me kinda wanting to do this is so that members from the forums have a better chance to hunt with each other from the same state.

Also for diffrent team numbers who ever had the lowest number of entries for the hunt say only 4 people join from one state the that would be the limit for the rest of the teams so its really first come first serve for each state.

Also I would give out prizes to the biggest deer or would you all rather have a money contest who ever wanted to join the money contest would enter $1 and who ever end up winning or getting the biggest deer that person recived the money. Every one would just send the money the to winner so not one person was holding all the money if their is a tie then the money would be split.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well what would intrest you all the most and would like to give a shot. One we can have a State Team hunt, Two have a Region hunt, Three people who want to be part of it chip in a Dollar and at the end who ends up with the biggest deer gets the pot witch will be not a group thing just individual or can become a group thing where the team throws in a dollor witch ever team wins gets the dollar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm with Rhino(wonder why?), there is no doubt some states/regions would have an advantage on others. Just watch hunting shows, or for that matter, look at the deer entered into the contest, you will see what i mean. Saskatchewan deer are very different from Mississippi deer. Many factors factor into that, but they are.

However, It sounds fun and might possibly get some competitiveness flowing. You will definitely have to figure out a way to average the points or either each state nominate a few guys, but that wouldn't really be fair.

I would definitely enter regardless of the fairness of the states. There's always a chance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i dunno, i think i'll stick with the regular old deer contest we have been having. state by state would be cool, but it would be a little lop sided from one state to the next as far as deer size AND the amount of hunters. regional is fine, but if you go that way, then it really isn't that much different than the regular contest..still end up with a couple people from the same region, along with getting to talk with people who hunt a different region than you. As for the money, nah...i don't bet on hunting or hunt for money, i enter so i can have a chance to meet different people and learn about the hunting in their area. good ideas, i just don't think it'll fly with everyone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's always nice to see someone trying to put on a contest to get everyone togather, but i am not sure how good this one is going to work. The part of first come first serve is the one that gets me. I am almost certain that you are going to have one region that may only have a few people join and then you are going to have another region that alot of people are going to be out. What you could possibly do is make up region teams for those regions with larger numbers.

Lets say Region 1 has 5 people and region 2 has 13 people. This is how you could break it down with everyone realizing that you may have one team short one player. It is only a fun contest and nothing nobody needs to take to serios. You could then have the teams rename there teams with a name fitting for there region.

Region 1 5 hunters

Region 2-1 5 Hunters

Region 2-2 4 hunters

Region 2-3 4 hunters

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's a great idea to get members together, I also agree that certain states will have an advantage. One thing you could do in order to offset teams not having equal amounts of contestants is to only use the 3 highest scoring bucks from each team. That would give every member a chance to contribute and you simply cull like you would in a bass tournament. I am for the state contests myself, but it would probably be best to create regions for all fairness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a different suggestion and it might bring a lot of us together in a very fun way. If we were to have a regional or state separated contest then why not film hunts? My idea is to get two or more hunters together from one state and have one film the other's hunt and then switch. This allows people to participate as much as they want or allow time for and the video's can be posted on Youtube.com. Everyone can then watch the videos and post a score on not just the deer but the quality of the hunt. The links can be managed by the mods and you can't score your own state's hunts. Each state can elect a person to rep them from their state team, discuss what they think the score should be and post it as a state score instead of everyone posting an individual score. The mods average the scores and post the winners at the end of the season contest. If their is only one person in a state or they can't find anyone to film them from their state then they can always select a volunteer to film them ONLY on a hunt or hunts. You can only submit one hunt for each team member but anyone can win and you do it for your state. We could make like a trophy or a gag gift to be passed on each year to the next year's winner like a bobble head deer or a license plate from the previous winner's state or something that is big enough to be signed by the winning team members for each year. Just anything to hold in your hands to show that Illinois is the #1 state for deer! LOL. Seriously though, I see this becoming a tradition and something unique to be proud of like Buckee the Door Slayer!!! Just a thought and I think it would be fun and bring a lot of members together in the true spirit of hunting tradition. Didn't mean to hijack this thread but I was on a roll.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

If you want a second competion I think it can work, but you need to change the scoring to suit the competition and try and keep it fair. Example....

Have teams broken up by state, but only allow 4-6 per team. Leaving you with Ohio a,b and c teams etc....

Each team picks 1 scoring Big Buck per team - 5 points plus number of antler points

Other bucks taken - 10 points regardless of size

Does - 7 points.

This would level the playing field and keep it fair since a big buck can show up anywhere at anytime.

so a team of 6 who shoots a ten pointer would get 15 points and if everyone else on the team shoots a buck would get 50 more points for a total of 65.

It can't hurt to try and if done well will be a nice addition. I'm willing to give something a try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.