Wandering Aimlessly
Patience and Persistence Gene
by Phil Burkhouse
The spike and a group of does came in slightly above me and started milling around. I raised the 300 Savage and steadied the crosshairs on the neck of the spike, the end of another successful season. I was in my mid 20s, and a short time later I glanced up and saw Dad looking down on the scene. “Another spike,” he said. Dad never said much.
I kept shooting the first legal buck I saw until I was in my 30s. I finally began sparing spikes, but small bucks were out of luck if they had three or more points. In my 40s I became more selective and wouldn’t shoot a buck unless it had a rack. Some years I struck out, but I was finally okay with that concept. By 50 I became quite restrictive and limited myself to rack bucks with eight points or better. Those self-limitations definitely cut down on my shooting. Given my experiences, it is amazing to me that my grandkids have developed so much buck selectivity at a very young age.