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2023 goals

Lose weight and get HEALTHY is my Biggest goal in 2023. I would like to get down to 225 by thanksgiving next year.
I need Try to learn to like myself and it will help a lot of my mental illness.
My goals for hunting next year is to like this year keeping it simple and most importantly scout with gear on back and bow in hand.
I definitely need to be in the woods more next year.
Setting up in the right spots on the right sign is going to be key. If I don't find it I need to keep on going.
I also want to hunt some more mornings early season and especially during the rut I have spoken to several people about how to go about this and the best way I have heard is from Garrett , its simple mark a tree, walk a complete circle around it 30 yards or so, look at where you can an cant shoot, trim and prep if allowed, and take a picture of the tree and set to waypoint.
It a great simple way to setup up future morning spots. this way i dont have to wait for gray light to head to area i want to setup in .
This i think will help tremendously.
I want to really work on my recurve this year and would love to finally harvest a deer out of my saddle with my recurve next season.
these are all very achievable goals and it just a bit of work and dedication to achieve.
 
After ten hunting seasons, I’ve yet to find a shed antler. 2023 is my year.
beds will produce sheds brother look inside those thick nasty areas where bucks will hit their loose horns on nasty brush briar holes are great for sheds the small nasty little thickets out in marshes or swamps are other good spots
 
Lose weight and get HEALTHY is my Biggest goal in 2023. I would like to get down to 225 by thanksgiving next year.
I need Try to learn to like myself and it will help a lot of my mental illness.
Take up martial arts! Any martial arts. Been training/teaching various MA for 30 years and it’s been my profession for the last 12. If you need any help finding something that might work for you, send me a PM. I’m pretty good at helping navigate the options, of which there are disgustingly many, and I may know someone who knows someone in your area because most of my experience is in the mid-Atlantic martial arts community. There’s a lot of BS out there in martial arts but if you get onto some good stuff, there’s a lot more that can help a lot of people in many ways.

beds will produce sheds brother look inside those thick nasty areas where bucks will hit their loose horns on nasty brush briar holes are great for sheds the small nasty little thickets out in marshes or swamps are other good spots
Noted! I seem to have found another buck bedding area this year. I know where I’m going first.
 
Take up martial arts! Any martial arts. Been training/teaching various MA for 30 years and it’s been my profession for the last 12. If you need any help finding something that might work for you, send me a PM. I’m pretty good at helping navigate the options, of which there are disgustingly many, and I may know someone who knows someone in your area because most of my experience is in the mid-Atlantic martial arts community. There’s a lot of BS out there in martial arts but if you get onto some good stuff, there’s a lot more that can help a lot of people in many ways.


Noted! I seem to have found another buck bedding area this year. I know where I’m going first.
I will thnks man
 
Honestly? For hunting not to cost me an arm and a leg next year.

I keep track of every dollar I spend. I recently looked at my hunting folder and it almost made me sick. No reason it should cost that much to kill deer. I don’t have many bills and or other stuff I spend a bunch of money on but still.

I would be more fine if the money was spent on experiences not just items.

With all this said I’ll still probably spend an arm and a leg next year.
 
Kill the big buck I've spent two seasons cahsing, would really like to kill him with the stickbow.

Kill a buck in October. They elude me all October till the rut really kicks in.
 
Lose weight and get HEALTHY is my Biggest goal in 2023. I would like to get down to 225 by thanksgiving next year.
I need Try to learn to like myself and it will help a lot of my mental illness.
My goals for hunting next year is to like this year keeping it simple and most importantly scout with gear on back and bow in hand.
I definitely need to be in the woods more next year.
Setting up in the right spots on the right sign is going to be key. If I don't find it I need to keep on going.
I also want to hunt some more mornings early season and especially during the rut I have spoken to several people about how to go about this and the best way I have heard is from Garrett , its simple mark a tree, walk a complete circle around it 30 yards or so, look at where you can an cant shoot, trim and prep if allowed, and take a picture of the tree and set to waypoint.
It a great simple way to setup up future morning spots. this way i dont have to wait for gray light to head to area i want to setup in .
This i think will help tremendously.
I want to really work on my recurve this year and would love to finally harvest a deer out of my saddle with my recurve next season.
these are all very achievable goals and it just a bit of work and dedication to achieve.
As someone whose second biggest hobby is fitness and bodybuilding behind hunting, I can't commend you enough. You have to have a solid goal and something to work for and a strong reason to do it. My reason evolved over the years. I was a 260lb pork chop until my early twenties. My reason then was I simply wanted more attention from girls. That wasn't a strong enough reason to keep me going.
It didn't click for me until all my great aunt's, uncle's, and grandmother died one after another year after year because they never took care of themselves. They were the highlight of my childhood how fun they made holidays and family get-togethers. It devastated me. I said f that. I want to be healthy and live, not just be alive, but live till the day I die and fitness is a tremendous part of that. Good luck
 
Honestly? For hunting not to cost me an arm and a leg next year.

I keep track of every dollar I spend. I recently looked at my hunting folder and it almost made me sick. No reason it should cost that much to kill deer. I don’t have many bills and or other stuff I spend a bunch of money on but still.

I would be more fine if the money was spent on experiences not just items.

With all this said I’ll still probably spend an arm and a leg next year.
I have more respect for the guy that shows up with older gear, dialed in, spends a lottta efficient time in the stand, decent hunting clothes but nothing fancy…. and gets it done. But it’s hard to become that person especially with the deluge of content and gadgets we’re swimming in. So we keep farting around with gear, wasting our time surfing threads and watching youtube, and spending our money.
 
Hoping 2023 will get me to double digit deer. One last year, two this year so far, hoping for a few more this year and next. We shall see, it feels a bit lofty of a goal at the moment, hopefully by this time in 2023 I'll be laughing at how easy it was
 
Here are my goals, subject to change based on the rest of this year!
  1. Kill my first crossbow deer
  2. Kill a buck in October on public land
  3. Scout scout scout scout this next spring instead of fishing late ice, as much as I love that bite!
  4. Get my daughter on a deer for youth season - might work on getting private permission for this
  5. Buy a compound and shoot it regularly. I don't mind my crossbow when shooting it, but I want a bow now!
 
older gear, dialed in, spends a lottta efficient time in the stand, decent hunting clothes but nothing fancy…. and gets it done. But it’s hard to become that person especially with the deluge of content and gadgets we’re swimming in. So we keep farting around with gear, wasting our time surfing threads and watching youtube, and spending our money.

As a recovering gear nerd myself I can say it's so nice to stop buying and just use what you have. Doesn't mean I never buy anything but once I got off the hamster wheel and realized most of what I was buying didn't make any difference to my enjoyment of the sport, it became a lot easier to ignore the gadget-of-the-day excitement
 
Scout the hell out of the 100k+ acres of public land within an hour of my house. It’s steep and thick but there are some big deer back there, just need to find them.
 
All this talk of scouting has me thinking…
I hear southern Ohio has hogs. I should go scout/hunt me some in the off-season and use it as an excuse to break in the truck bed tent and kayak, too. Then 2023 different ways to cook wild pork will be my new goal.
 
I have more respect for the guy that shows up with older gear, dialed in, spends a lottta efficient time in the stand, decent hunting clothes but nothing fancy…. and gets it done. But it’s hard to become that person especially with the deluge of content and gadgets we’re swimming in. So we keep farting around with gear, wasting our time surfing threads and watching youtube, and spending our money.
Amen. I should put this in my signature as a reminder.
Use the forum only to get efficient off of the forums….
 
Scout post season and find more pre rut, and rut locations for next season.

Scout a permission property I have been dragging my feet on and set up some dialed in preset spots for the rut next fall.

Acquire more permission property. I have to get off my butt on this one. I want more ground to hunt closer to towns. I feel like the deer numbers are higher there, which leads to the next goal.

Find land that simply HAS MORE DEER. Where I am now is about 4 to 6 deer (of any variety) per square mile and it is not uncommon at all to go days and days without ever seeing a deer from the tree. I am 8 days now without seeing a deer. This has to change. Thinking about selling my house and moving to a better area if that's what it takes. Man, I am fed up with low deer numbers.
 
Scout post season and find more pre rut, and rut locations for next season.

Scout a permission property I have been dragging my feet on and set up some dialed in preset spots for the rut next fall.

Acquire more permission property. I have to get off my butt on this one. I want more ground to hunt closer to towns. I feel like the deer numbers are higher there, which leads to the next goal.

Find land that simply HAS MORE DEER. Where I am now is about 4 to 6 deer (of any variety) per square mile and it is not uncommon at all to go days and days without ever seeing a deer from the tree. I am 8 days now without seeing a deer. This has to change. Thinking about selling my house and moving to a better area if that's what it takes. Man, I am fed up with low deer numbers.
Finding deer numbers was never the issue for me, but finding the density is always a challenge.
 
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