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Not hunting anymore

My wife's grandfather stopped hunting after he married her grandma. Not sure what else I'd do in the Fall if I didn't deer hunt. Fishing slows down and it doesn't get cold long enough to ice fish safely. Do more camping I guess.
 
Honestly, all jokes aside I know a guy that stopped hunting because of an accident, I reckon if I experienced something like that the stir of echoes might cause me to give it up I guess depending on the circumstances.
 
My brother quit hunting due to someone taking a big 8 pt that he doubled lunged with an arrow. The deer crossed our property line, but we got permission to trail it but the trail ended with drag marks. From time of shot to end of trail was 45 min. I followed the drag to the road where it was loaded and gone. He took it very hard and hasn’t been in the woods since.
 
WVGunner said:
My brother quit hunting due to someone taking a big 8 pt that he doubled lunged with an arrow. The deer crossed our property line, but we got permission to trail it but the trail ended with drag marks. From time of shot to end of trail was 45 min. I followed the drag to the road where it was loaded and gone. He took it very hard and hasn’t been in the woods since.
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That’s a shame. There’s always an A-hole around every corner. Shouldn’t let it get the better of you though IMO.


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I can tell you I’m not as mad at them as I was 5 years ago. Moving to a new state, away from my hunting buddies, new start in a new area and not knowing anyone to hang out with while learning new areas, taking last year off to build a house, and now watching deer in the yard everyday that I have no desire to shoot and and I’m sure getting older and lazier doesn’t help, I just lost the fire that made me get out every weekend. I was just telling my neighbor that this afternoon. I just don’t hunt like I use too. My wife knew it was hunting season and I was going at every opportunity. I never had to ask if I could go hunting. It was just understood I was hunting and she would ask if we could go to an event if something came up. I find myself making more quality hunts now. Spend a week out of state somewhere a few times a year instead of gone every weekend. I really think seeing deer in my yard everyday has taken the fire out of me. Knowing I could kill them all if I wanted to. I now hunt from the recliner next to the fire in my pajama pants with a pair of binos. Lol I like managing my woods for habitat, foodplots, trails, running cameras, and setting up stands for my kids and watching my herd grow. I’ll hunt a buck here if he’s worthy, but I got other places to get meat.
 
swampsnyper said:
I can tell you I’m not as mad at them as I was 5 years ago. Moving to a new state, away from my hunting buddies, new start in a new area and not knowing anyone to hang out with while learning new areas, taking last year off to build a house, and now watching deer in the yard everyday that I have no desire to shoot and and I’m sure getting older and lazier doesn’t help, I just lost the fire that made me get out every weekend. I was just telling my neighbor that this afternoon. I just don’t hunt like I use too. My wife knew it was hunting season and I was going at every opportunity. I never had to ask if I could go hunting. It was just understood I was hunting and she would ask if we could go to an event if something came up. I find myself making more quality hunts now. Spend a week out of state somewhere a few times a year instead of gone every weekend. I really think seeing deer in my yard everyday has taken the fire out of me. Knowing I could kill them all if I wanted to. I now hunt from the recliner next to the fire in my pajama pants with a pair of binos. Lol I like managing my woods for habitat, foodplots, trails, running cameras, and setting up stands for my kids and watching my herd grow. I’ll hunt a buck here if he’s worthy, but I got other places to get meat.
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I'm gonna have to drive up there and light a fire under your coonazz. You're within spitting distance of some fine public land and it irks me knowing you're sitting there in your footie pajamas letting those deer grow old. They're too far away for me to properly harass, you gotta keep'em in line!!
 
neonomad said:
This thread would be a good spot for a testosterone replacement therapy ad.
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I noticed a big difference in energy and focus around late thirties. It's no joke.

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I’m a new hunter (5 years or so). First year I didn’t have a doe tag and had does galore in front of me. I’ve had doe tags since and only time I see deer is when I’m small game hunting. Couple years ago I was walking around, wearing street cloths, not even being quiet. I was grouse hunting and sat to take a break and a decent buck walked by 2 min after I sat down, probably 20 yards away. It was the only deer I saw that year.

Sometimes I plan to go hunting, I get all excited, but in the morning I lay there thinking “what’s the point of wasting my time”.

In the last couple years I’ve had more land opportunities and getting into saddle hunting has re-ignited my hopes of bagging a deer.

I don’t feel the same with small game. I have some minor success but mainly I just enjoy taking my shotgun for a walk.
 
robstewart said:
I’m a new hunter (5 years or so). First year I didn’t have a doe tag and had does galore in front of me. I’ve had doe tags since and only time I see deer is when I’m small game hunting. Couple years ago I was walking around, wearing street cloths, not even being quiet. I was grouse hunting and sat to take a break and a decent buck walked by 2 min after I sat down, probably 20 yards away. It was the only deer I saw that year.

Sometimes I plan to go hunting, I get all excited, but in the morning I lay there thinking “what’s the point of wasting my time”.

In the last couple years I’ve had more land opportunities and getting into saddle hunting has re-ignited my hopes of bagging a deer.

I don’t feel the same with small game. I have some minor success but mainly I just enjoy taking my shotgun for a walk.
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Yes we have less deer in Ontario

I have hunted for five years. Five deer. Lucky. Plus I had a friend help me start. I think we have a few more deer than you have in your part of Ontario. I can get one archery doe tag and my original tag in Huron county.

Don’t quit keep learning. I want one trophy buck before I quit.
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Nutterbuster said:
I'm gonna have to drive up there and light a fire under your coonazz. You're within spitting distance of some fine public land and it irks me knowing you're sitting there in your footie pajamas letting those deer grow old. They're too far away for me to properly harass, you gotta keep'em in line!!
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Well hell, I killed 4 deer and a hog with fewer hunts than normal. Going this last weekend just for the heck of it. Maybe I just hunt smarter now than harder like I use to. Plus with the kids deer, I got more meat than I need.
 
swampsnyper said:
Well hell, I killed 4 deer and a hog with fewer hunts than normal. Going this last weekend just for the heck of it. Maybe I just hunt smarter now than harder like I use to. Plus with the kids deer, I got more meat than I need.
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I'm just busting your chops. My dad has killed two nice bucks this year with pretty minimal effort.
 
If it wasn't for archery I wouldn't have even started hunting. Saddle hunting has had a similar affect in keeping me hunting. Both have such hobbie characteristics that I feel allow you to constantly change, challenge yourself, and piddle. Basically, I like shooting bows and climbing trees and if I wasn't doing one of those I probably wouldn't be hunting deer. I would say I am mad at deer right now. I am constantly scouting and learning what it takes to take down that mature buck, but when I am in the woods I'm still enjoying myself.

I have heard folks say that switching to traditional archery or saddle hunting methods have rekindled the joy of hunting for them. Neither are necessities to hunting but rather means to hunting. Sometimes all folks need is to be shown a new, different or challenging way to do things. There are those that struggle to change and those that struggle to stay the same. I feel like I fall more into the latter.

All in all, once I get fed up with deer, ducks will be the next to have it, I guarantee you that.
 
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
 
I thought about giving up hunting after I hit a deer in the femoral artery. Lots of blood but the deer was laying down with its head up at the end of the trail unable to get up. I only had one arrow left but I missed the deer. My buddy shot it in the lungs and it choked on it's own blood. I thought it was cruel but realized I would have to give up eating meat since paying someone to kill my meat for me was the same thing. Then I realized you cannot eat a carrot without killing it. I kept hunting.
 
bj139 said:
I thought about giving up hunting after I hit a deer in the femoral artery. Lots of blood but the deer was laying down with its head up at the end of the trail unable to get up. I only had one arrow left but I missed the deer. My buddy shot it in the lungs and it choked on it's own blood. I thought it was cruel but realized I would have to give up eating meat since paying someone to kill my meat for me was the same thing. Then I realized you cannot eat a carrot without killing it. I kept hunting.
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I hit the doe I shot last weekend high on the leg, under the ribs and out the other side of the ribs without snagging vitals. She was laying there as you described with her head up just blinking. I put another arrow in her but it didn't end her suffering quick enough so I had to pin her down and cut her throat. It truly was sad. I hate to injure an animal like that. I plan to honor the deer that I caused to suffer by eating the heart for the first time.
 
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