One more and done!

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Hokkmike

Hokkmike

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I have been hunting a long time. I have harvested a fair number of deer in the last 40 years. I keep saying, "One last big buck and I am done!"

Anyone else here feel that way?

Hey, you want a GREAT deal on a SAKO Swede in Finnlight invite me to hunting property where the big fellow roams....
 
Some of my most memorable hunts didn't result in me getting deer at all. The most recent all I got was a lousy coyote, but I got to deer hunt with both of my sons at the same time, and they unwittingly worked together to get a deer. (Son #2 kicked up a doe, and she ran by Son #1, who promptly dropped her.) My deer hunts with my Dad are all great memories, the ones I didn't get deer, as well as the ones I (or he) did. The Moose hunt was literally a once-in-a-lifetime hunt. (Minnesota allows one license per lifetime, and 4-6 hunters on one license; My Dad got the bull on his 50th BD) As for the next buck, meh - I prefer does, they taste better.

The one that brings a smile and a chuckle every time is when Son #1 was old enough to hunt, but #2 wasn't-but he wanted to come with so bad. So I put him on the ground under his brother's stand. I was facing the field, they the swamp. I heard the deer behind me, and Son#1 was just lining up to shoot when #2 yells, "HEY LOOK! THERE"S A DEER!" :rofl: Son #1 grabs a slug from his vest and nails #2 on top of the head with it, #2 runs over to me crying and I say "Hey, I'd have done the same thing.." :p
 
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Here in ny where i am we have very nice deer. Most years i get a 8 or better and i hunt for meat not horns. Last year i had a deer come out all i ciuld see was 16 points i have no binoxs with me i dont use them when i hunt with my recurve bow. he was in the field for about an hour he came in to about 50 yards. I hsve a old shakspear bow with 60lb at 28 in i draw 29 inch. I did not shoot. Walking back to my truck i was kicking my self for not brining my compound. He looked to be in the 270 lb range. we get doe over 200 here. i saw him last week cross the road looked even bigger. Your welcome to come by to hunt. My dad about 20 years ago had a even bigger buck he was trying to kill. Only saw his for seconds then he be gone. Did this for about 5 years no one around here shot him. Id look every year for his drops i have 2 he must have died from old age. Ill dig the drops out and post.
 
troy fairweather said:
Here in ny where i am we have very nice deer. Most years i get a 8 or better and i hunt for meat not horns. Last year i had a deer come out all i ciuld see was 16 points i have no binoxs with me i dont use them when i hunt with my recurve bow. he was in the field for about an hour he came in to about 50 yards. I hsve a old shakspear bow with 60lb at 28 in i draw 29 inch. I did not shoot. Walking back to my truck i was kicking my self for not brining my compound. He looked to be in the 270 lb range. we get doe over 200 here. i saw him last week cross the road looked even bigger. Your welcome to come by to hunt. My dad about 20 years ago had a even bigger buck he was trying to kill. Only saw his for seconds then he be gone. Did this for about 5 years no one around here shot him. Id look every year for his drops i have 2 he must have died from old age. Ill dig the drops out and post.
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We had one on the family farm that me, my dad, and my cousins were after for so long that it had to be multiple deer. We all have the same stories about those 5 second encounters. We called him the gray ghost because he would appear from nowhere and vanish without a trace. Between the 4 who hunted him, we each got to watch him at 75ish yards during bow season, we each spooked him shooting a doe with our muzzleloaders, and we each had a single encounter at bad breath distance while we were “getting rid of the morning coffee”. I am the only one lucky enough to claim that I got a shot off at him...running...in the woods before daybreak... at about 5 feet, and it was a dandy kill shot. Killed that cedar tree deader than a hammer. Stories like that bring me back to pallet nailed up in a tree overlooking a frosted field. Nothing to worry about other than pacing myself on the thermos of coffee and moving my feet enough to keep them from freezing. That is my true happy place.
 
WestKentucky said:
We had one on the family farm that me, my dad, and my cousins were after for so long that it had to be multiple deer. We all have the same stories about those 5 second encounters. We called him the gray ghost because he would appear from nowhere and vanish without a trace. Between the 4 who hunted him, we each got to watch him at 75ish yards during bow season, we each spooked him shooting a doe with our muzzleloaders, and we each had a single encounter at bad breath distance while we were “getting rid of the morning coffee”. I am the only one lucky enough to claim that I got a shot off at him...running...in the woods before daybreak... at about 5 feet, and it was a dandy kill shot. Killed that cedar tree deader than a hammer. Stories like that bring me back to pallet nailed up in a tree overlooking a frosted field. Nothing to worry about other than pacing myself on the thermos of coffee and moving my feet enough to keep them from freezing. That is my true happy place.
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Sounds like we hunt in similer ways just i dont climb trees lol. Wired we called this one gray back. That big one made my hart sunk when i heard a gun shot about 15 min after he walked in the the woods. It was 3rd day of bow. Happy to see him this year.
 
Meat supplements my larder, so I guess I will hunt as long as I am able.

Course my hunting is more akin to shooting. I have the luxury of sitting in the loft and shooting from there. Our lessee has soybeans planted this year, easier than when he has corn planted.
 
Ive known some guys who have stoped after getting that last BIG, buck. Usually they have been burning out, and just not enjoying the hunt as they had before and really just needed to end on a high note. I see nothing wrong with that.

My largest deer in body (and until recently in antler length), was the first deer i shot. Ive seen, and shot a few, that probably equaled him, but none that were larger. I quit being a horn hunter after that day, dont really have a reason why.
Now ill quit when its time to quit, maybe there will be a last "big one" for me, maybe there will just be a last hunt, who knows.

I also dont hunt like i used to even 3 years ago. I would go almost every weekend before my a daughter was born. Now i might go once a month, if that.
Then I supplemented a lot more of our meat with wild game, now its more of a treat....heck I have shot a goat in over a year....guess its time to go get one again.
 
I've killed my share of does and little six-points, but I commonly kept an eye out for Ol' Biggie.

The problem with "the biggest buck in the pasture" is that you have to find him twice. That is, you have to compare a bunch of bucks to see which is the biggest. Then you have to find Ol' Biggie a second time. Big bucks maybe make one mistake a season, and you may have already used up his only mistake. :)

So, given that Ol' Biggie thinks like a deer 24/7/365 and I can't, I see him as a challenge. That's why it's called "hunting". :)
 
I'm 75 and I'll hunt until I'm not able to continue.
Now I have two young grandchildren who pester me (not really) about taking them hunting. My granddaughter has 2 spikes under her belt but my grandson is only 5 and can't keep quiet or still for more than 30 seconds. It will be a few years before he's calmed down enough.
 
I never was a trophy hunter, can't afford it. All it takes to take a trophy is lots and lots of money to get on the right hunting ranch. They have all sorts of ways of charging, usually a minimum, then by the inch or by the point. I've had free range deer since I bought my first place in 1988 and hunted 'em for meat. I've been in hunting clubs, taken day leases, but it is best to own your own land in Texas, if it's in the right area. You really don't need a LOT of land if that land is in the right spot. I have been hunting mostly pigs anymore, though, as I prefer pork to venison. BUT, nothing like a hot bowl of venison chili on a cold afternoon, not that we get many of those. I dream about cold afternoons when it's August. :rofl: As for the sport, yes, I'm getting a little bored of deer hunting and MUCH prefer my bird hunting. I'm getting too infirm to hunt the duck marsh much anymore, what I once LOVED to do, but I still like my dove hunting. That's coming up soon. Deer hunting, especially bragging about shooting the big rack, never appealed all that much to me, well, not since I shot my first one 54 years ago as a kid. I was ate up with it when I was young. Now, I just enjoy watching 'em. I think it's probably a natural evolution.

I'll pick on the pigs, though. I don't get tired of smoked pork. ;) I'm hoping my bud in Waco will want to come down this year and shoot geese. That's cheap and lots of fun, guided, imagine that! A GUIDED hunt a po boy can afford! :D
 
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LoonWulf said:
Ive known some guys who have stoped after getting that last BIG, buck. Usually they have been burning out, and just not enjoying the hunt as they had before and really just needed to end on a high note. I see nothing wrong with that.

My largest deer in body (and until recently in antler length), was the first deer i shot. Ive seen, and shot a few, that probably equaled him, but none that were larger. I quit being a horn hunter after that day, dont really have a reason why.
Now ill quit when its time to quit, maybe there will be a last "big one" for me, maybe there will just be a last hunt, who knows.

I also dont hunt like i used to even 3 years ago. I would go almost every weekend before my a daughter was born. Now i might go once a month, if that.
Then I supplemented a lot more of our meat with wild game, now its more of a treat....heck I have shot a goat in over a year....guess its time to go get one again.
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It is a nicer hunt when u dont care if the big one steps out. Antlers make bad soap to.
 
MCgunner said:
I never was a trophy hunter, can't afford it. All it takes to take a trophy is lots and lots of money to get on the right hunting ranch. They have all sorts of ways of charging, usually a minimum, then by the inch or by the point. I've had free range deer since I bought my first place in 1988 and hunted 'em for meat. I've been in hunting clubs, taken day leases, but it is best to own your own land in Texas, if it's in the right area. You really don't need a LOT of land if that land is in the right spot. I have been hunting mostly pigs anymore, though, as I prefer pork to venison. BUT, nothing like a hot bowl of venison chili on a cold afternoon, not that we get many of those. I dream about cold afternoons when it's August. :rofl: As for the sport, yes, I'm getting a little bored of deer hunting and MUCH prefer my bird hunting. I'm getting too infirm to hunt the duck marsh much anymore, what I once LOVED to do, but I still like my dove hunting. That's coming up soon. Deer hunting, especially bragging about shooting the big rack, never appealed all that much to me, well, not since I shot my first one 54 years ago as a kid. I was ate up with it when I was young. Now, I just enjoy watching 'em. I think it's probably a natural evolution.

I'll pick on the pigs, though. I don't get tired of smoked pork. ;) I'm hoping my bud in Waco will want to come down this year and shoot geese. That's cheap and lots of fun, guided, imagine that! A GUIDED hunt a po boy can afford! :D
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I’d disagree with you on the trophy thing and all it takes is money and the right ranch. That’s an extremely Texas centric point of view and an extremely whitetail deer centric view.

Try that on a big Yukon moose or even a Shiras down here in the lower 48 and you’ll be sorely disappointed. Same goes for a big western mule deer. You can cheat on a mule deer but it’s not readily available, the primary cheatabke trophy critter in the USA is the whitetail.

When it comes to true trophies such as Mt Goat, Bighorn, Moose, elk, mule deer, bear. The vast majority in the west are taken on public land and are hunted fair and square in wild and tough country.

That’s how I and all of my buddies do it anyhow. You won’t find me paying the big bucks to shoot a trophy buck off a feeder in Texas.

I’ve got no problem with guys who want to do pay to hunt quality deer on a private place BTW. But for me a huge component of a trophy hunt is the blood, sweat, toil, and tears that go into a putting a big mature critter on the ground. Heck the blood, sweat, toil and tears that go into putting a cow or a doe on the ground in wild country make them into trophies for me too
 
I can afford a high fenced ranch before I could afford the Yukon for moose. :rofl:

As you remember, I HAVE hunted Lincoln Nat'l Forest in New Mexico. It's a LONG drive from here and I've only done it a couple of seasons. Loved hunting there, but the logistics were a might daunting for a solo personal hunt there. I went with a buddy, but he's a busy man with his rental property. That country would KILL me now days, so I will stay at home. Around here, concerning whitetail deer (which is what I thought this thread was about), money talks and you know what walks.
 
I'm a meat hunter not a trophy hunter so I suppose I'll quit when I lose my appetite. Or when old age and bad health makes a trip to the deli sound better than a trip to the deer stand.
 
Go to Google Earth. Type in the search box, lefthand shutup. That's the dry creek that goes through my back-country 40 acres. Follow the creek to the left, upstream, until you see a north/south dirt track. Then enlarge and you can see the tin roof of my hunt camp. A little bit south of the creek, a little bit east of the track.

I've meddled around that general area since 1972. Better country for blue quail than deer, though. Still, having a private-lands playground of some 30,000 acres around my camp made the buy-in price very worthwhile. :)

Very few people ever go back there, 20 miles from the pavement. Critters hardly know what people are. I've called coyotes that come up and just stare at the truck, maybe barking in complaint that I lied and there really isn't a rabbit for lunch. Mulie does that just stand there 10 or 15 yards away and keep on chewing their cud.

Fun years, many great memories.
 
Why quit, unless it is some type of burden to you? If you just don't want to kill any more deer yourself, have you ever thought about mentoring some younger, or up-and-coming hunters new to the sport? Also, there are organizations that take disabled veterans hunting that would be grateful for your experience.
 
Mn Fats said:
I'm a meat hunter not a trophy hunter so I suppose I'll quit when I lose my appetite. Or when old age and bad health makes a trip to the deli sound better than a trip to the deer stand.
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"Old age and bad health" are already taking their tolls on my wife's and my hunting days. Luckily we've been blessed with a daughter and 3 grandsons who all love deer hunting. So I figure on enjoying my wife's chicken-fried venison steaks with biscuits and gravy for a few more years.:)
 
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