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Every...Single...Year

I think it’s very much a primal thing most all men have (and women too?) whether they’re in tune with it or not. I know mine never truly shuts off either. If anything I feel it strongest by around the end of each deer season. Feels like I never did enough or got to have enough fun with it and knowing I have to wait a long time again for it to come back around. Every year around now I start to feel how fast the time is counting down and really get excited again.


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New to the forum and 1st year in the saddle. Long time archer! I always get amped up! This year it's bumped up a BIT! It was time to change it up! Sit those prehungs less for sure!

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I'm in the same boat. I got shot the sideways glance this weekend by my wife while I was looking over my hunting gear which means she acknowledged what time of year it was. House projects that take over 30 min. are put on hold, going out consists of kayaking and fishing (which turns into scouting missions) and conversations go something like this: Her, "I was looking into getting new curtains for...." Me interrupting, "I wonder how big that little basket rack 4x4 will be this year." I then apologize for interrupting and she tells me, "Well at least you have a hobby and you're not going out partying till 4 a.m. So what color curtain...." Me, "I bet he'll be a 130-140." Her, "Ugh, nevermind."
 
Nutterbuster said:
It's 3am. I only have 3 days left to get 5 days of work done, since this Friday is a holiday and I took an honest sick day last week due to respiratory issues that I haven't caught up from. The grass isn't cut. The yard isn't clean. The basement remodel isn't finished. I have a truck and an outboard in the shop, and I have suspicions that it will cost more than I bargained for to get them repaired...

And I'm sitting on this laptop looking at google earth and the 7.5 topos. Looking at old pictures. Combing through local facebook outdoorsman groups and hunting forums. Trying to pull-start my memory and get it to run all the known locations of deer in previous seasons. I told the wife I'm sitting up until it's daylight so that I can go run the boat out and maybe bump around a piece of high ground I've somehow overlooked for 10 years. Better than catching 4 hours of sleep and then having to go straight to work, right?

I told myself I wasn't going to do it this year. Every year, I get antsy right around July. Brain short-circuits. Temper flares over trivial things, like people asking me if I have birthday plans. Why would I care? Don't they know it's almost DEER SEASON!?! Wasn't going to do it this year. I was going to raise chickens, run trotlines, and work on the house. Relax, and enjoy summer on the river. Hang a hammock and sip beer and watch the alligators swim.

Complete and utter buffalo dung.

I knew it was coming on early after I hung up the phone with the local outdoor paper's editor last week. We recorded a podcast on early season hunting and mobile (saddle) hunting. Then John Reed (JX3) called to touch bases. We talk a couple of hours every few months ever since we stayed up late and watched @denots and @Deltahuntr wash black iron pots at saddlepalooza. Then I went for a harmless, post-work canoe trip, and casually parked on a sand bar to take a leak and "just happened" to walk a few yards further ashore than was maybe necessary. Looked down...saw a deer track. Looked up...mature oak trees. Scan in front of me...palmettos and blowdowns. Did I mention I'm heading out in a couple of hours to look at a piece of high ground?

I honestly don't know what the heck it is about deer that gets me so fired up. I love everything to do with the outdoors, but those eastern woods goats cause me to absolutely lose my mind. It's gonna be a long 3 months.
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I Understand, It's so hot you cant breath and I cant wait to shoot something. Carp are fun but I need a deer.
 
I'm already making plans on how to escape the house for quick hunts. Fortunately I've got a wma pretty close to the house. Extended trips to the lease are gonna be difficult this fall. First year with a bow. My brain visualizes a perfect arrow in the heart when I close my eyes. Shot groups on target are a fist at 25 yards. Past 25 yards is not so great but practice continues.
 
I feel ya'll. I'm obsessed, and I know it. I think about it every single day. I think about hunting or hunting related "things" constantly. It's about gear, it's about tinkering with things that I have no need to be tinkering with. The old saying, " if it ain't broke don't fix it" doesn't really apply to my deer hunting. Ok, so it ain't broke and I'm not really trying to fix anything........ but if I make some changes here and there I can IMPROVE certain aspects to make myself a better hunter then what's the harm. Lucky for me this year they did some drastic timber management on the WMA I hunt so I've been looking at the margins of the cut to see how it's going to change patterns, and where and how the deer will use it. That's like finding a new piece of ground to figure out. We got a puppy this spring after our 17 yr old lab/golden mix passed, and he needs frequent walks.....so let's go check out the "new woods".
 
You all should get your significant others into bowhunting. Then you can make a ton of major life decisions around hunting. Career choices, living location, wedding dates, vacations... It's like being married to a much more attractive, more well-spoken, just generally better me lol. But our yard is neverrrrr mowed and we have to rotate who drives and who spots deer and places to ask for permission. It's really tough.
 
I “fixed” my pre-season deer excitement by taking up elk hunting. Total game changer: it really helps me to stop thinking about deer hunting so much. Focus on off-season deer scouting in February-March, then flip the switch on April 1 (April fools day, appropriately) and am pretty much entirely focused on elk hunting until coming back from the mountains sometime in September. By then the deer season is open....and bingo! My deer ”problem” is solved! Replaced by another, more consuming (to me!) activity - elk hunting!
 
This summer is the worst I have had it...

I woke up at 2 a.m. one morning recently and without any prior thought to the matter, I planned and scouted 2 out of state trips before leaving for work at 5. I have spent some more time honing these plans but I am now planning on making my first two out of state trips this fall, early season to Wisconsin, and late season to KY, before and after our season here in VA.

I purchased OnX for the first time this year, and I'm pretty sure I have looked at every inch of public land in the state of VA since I did. Switching to a saddle this year is opening up a BIG new world of opportunity and variety in where and how I can hunt deer and I am really excited about it. October cannot come soon enough.
 
Thanks for the memories and reminder. That Saddlepalooza was great. Just like the last few seasons I’ve let fishing monopolize my summer. I spent 2 nights and 4 days tuna/snapper/grouper fishing last week, about 80hrs in the gulf. My hunting prep has fallen way behind. There are scooter platforms to build, scouting To be done and cameras To be set. July really is late but par for me, I’m always behind. You should come hunt Louisiana with us this year. Plenty of black squirrels and does to be shot in Tensas. Good luck and be safe this season.
 
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