entropy
Member
I believe that get back what we put in wether we measure success in terms of taking game orgy watching game walk away to grow bigger next year.
Just what sort of deer camp was this?
I believe that get back what we put in wether we measure success in terms of taking game orgy watching game walk away to grow bigger next year.
Just what sort of deer camp was this?
Interesting opinions one and all, been hunting now for 56 years and counting. I have to say we all see it in differing ways and for some maybe the joy of the actual kill fades away and is replaced by the excitement of seeing the wild animals in the woods. I cam deer all the time fall to winter but when I go out to get the winters meat with my son that rush I get when a mature buck walks into view has never gotten old or lessened even a little. Guess that could change at some point but I'm not thinking it will......when I sit down to that plate of fresh tenderloin there is nothing I'd rather enjoy! Woods
I am now an old hunter that is very conflicted. I love to be in the woods, I love to hunt deer but, I could not care less about killing an animal.
Last year, I let all the deer I could have killed walk telling myself that I would take the next animal; I never did and none of my tags were filled. I loved walking thru the wood and fields with my favorite tack-driving rifle, I tell myself that I cannot miss which within reason is probably true. All of the youthful excitement of seeing a deer, placing the crosshairs and making the shot is all gone. All of the excitement leading up to that moment is still there.
Last year, I spotted many deer (including some very nice bucks) moving in and out of a cornfield. It was a managed muzzleloader hunt and I had the entire property to myself (provably due to the 18” of fresh snow on the ground). I could have easily moved into a shooting position and killed one of those animals but I talked myself out of the long haul with a dead carcass in the deep snow - I was very happy passing on the deer and walking to my truck to head home empty-handed.
In my youth, if any legal deer walked into my shooting range, it was killed with great excitement - I felt accomplished. Now I let them walk and I feel accomplished. Maybe I am not conflicted - maybe I am just in a better place - I now just enjoy my time on the hunt, I still carry a rifle and I still chase deer but something has grandly changed when it is time to pull the trigger - very strange to me.
The Bible speaks explicitly of this very subject, Steve S.
Ecclesiastes 12:1 is the primary verse, but the thought carries through to its conclusion at the end of the chapter. (I prefer the KJV)