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Poll - how much satisfaction do you get from killing a deer on your hunt?

What percentage of your enjoyment is actually killing a deer?

  • 10%

    Votes: 10 8.8%

  • 25%

    Votes: 25 21.9%

  • 50%

    Votes: 40 35.1%

  • 75%

    Votes: 29 25.4%

  • 100%

    Votes: 10 8.8%
  • Total voters
    114
kyler1945

kyler1945

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
6,913
Location
Willis, TX
Following on from this poll - if you haven’t voted here yet please do.

Does most of your satisfaction from deer hunting come from climbing the tree - a poll

Simple question, don’t overthink it. Yes there will be more polls to add more context. Yes I have an agenda. Play along. It’s fun. Ok - do you get more than half (+50.1%) of your satisfaction, enjoyment, rocks off, happiness, contentment, accomplishment, whatever you call it, from climbing a...
saddlehunter.com

Another very simple question. Let’s not overthink it. What percentage of your happiness pleasure contentment accomplishment etc comes from actually killing a deer?
 
That is an amazing question. It made me deep dive into thinking about all the little things I get enjoyment out of leading up to the fact of killing the deer. So it actually fell pretty low on the list to all the other things I love about that being the end result
 
100% satisfaction. Some guys hunt to get out in nature, some to get away from it all and some guys are just hobbyist. I hunt to put deer meat on my table. If I wanted to get away from it all or just be in nature I'd just hike. I didn't spend thousands of dollars on hunting equipment, or hundreds of hours scouting / hunting not to kill deer.
 
The satisfaction in knowing everything I did to put myself in that situation to take that deer. The dissatisfaction is knowing everything that comes after the kill. Basically the same as processing. It's miserable work but it's cheaper, I get the cuts I want and only my hands touch the meat from kill to table.
 
100% There's nothing like killing and grilling the deer that YOU put so much time into to get it. :cool:

Everything around the kill, is part of the kill. The time spent scouting, setting up in a particular location, making the shot angle happen, all the practice throughout the spring and summer months, tuning your bow to perfection...along with the arrow build, cutting out a select piece of meat immediately after the kill...cooking it and eating it...moments after it was alive. :)
 
I vote 25%.

And I love killing deer. But when I think about it, most of the joy for me is learning an area, applying my knowledge of game habits, placing my chips on the table, and calling them critters' bluff.

Case in point, I hog hunted yesterday. Figured the unseasonable cold front and high winds combined would lead to critters eating the acorns falling from the trees during daylight. I was right. Saw 3 deer. All under feed trees. No hogs, but I made a correct prediction and had a shot opportunity at a doe.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I vote 25%.

And I love killing deer. But when I think about it, most of the joy for me is learning an area, applying my knowledge of game habits, placing my chips on the table, and calling them critters' bluff.

Case in point, I hog hunted yesterday. Figured the unseasonable cold front and high winds combined would lead to critters eating the acorns falling from the trees during daylight. I was right. Saw 3 deer. All under feed trees. No hogs, but I made a correct prediction and had a shot opportunity at a doe.
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That’s exactly how I look at it. I am a meat hunter 100% but the actual act of it is low
 
I voted 50% cause it still matters. In my younger days the percentage would have been much higher. Success would have been a much more black and white proposition. I guess my success criteria has changed as I've aged. A successful hunt/sit for me doesn't need to include a lifeless pile at the end of a blood trail anymore. I find nowadays I'm pretty satisfied most days by the gray area between. Making all the necessary steps and having it all come together without actually loosing the arrow is okay with me now.
 
If the question is if you kill a deer on that hunt, what percentage of your overall satisfaction on that hunt is the kill, I'm saying it's a major portion of it. There would be some other satisfying things about that particular hunt, but the most satisfying part would be that I killed the deer I was after. I'm celebrating that everything lined up and the plan actually worked.
 
I find great joy in seeing the fletching on my arrow disappear through hide exactly where I wanted it to go. It does not reach the 100% level so picked 75. The moment that arrow has done its work there is also the recognition that I have ended a life. I am not sad about it or remorseful, just cognizant of the act I have completed and thankful for the meals that animal will provide.
 
MNFarmHunter said:
The satisfaction in knowing everything I did to put myself in that situation to take that deer. The dissatisfaction is knowing everything that comes after the kill. Basically the same as processing. It's miserable work but it's cheaper, I get the cuts I want and only my hands touch the meat from kill to table.
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This right here. Only thing that has changed over the years for me is how long I'm feeling great about the kill...the late nights processing the deer hit a little harder the older i get

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk
 
I voted 25% and I am a meat hunter and like to meet my quota to feed my family each year but thinking about it from start to finish I thoroughly enjoy prepping for the season, getting my equipment ready and myself, I really despise sitting in a tree waiting on dinner to come walking by, I feel like I should be doing something more productive with my time. The few minutes of the kill is exciting but then all the work sets in between the deer on the ground and putting it in my freezer. I would say the most enjoyable part for me is opening the freezer at the end of the season and the satisfaction of knowing my family will be eating well until next season, that feeling keeps coming around every time I open the freezer and lasts all year.
 
I picked 25%. It’s nowhere near 100% or I wouldn’t be carrying a stick bow. Started to pick 50% until I thought of the several encounters I had with good bucks last year that didn’t end with me releasing an arrow. I wasn’t that disappointed in the outcome so I realized 50% was probably a little high also.
 
Jagger0502 said:
I voted 25% and I am a meat hunter and like to meet my quota to feed my family each year but thinking about it from start to finish I thoroughly enjoy prepping for the season, getting my equipment ready and myself, I really despise sitting in a tree waiting on dinner to come walking by, I feel like I should be doing something more productive with my time. The few minutes of the kill is exciting but then all the work sets in between the deer on the ground and putting it in my freezer. I would say the most enjoyable part for me is opening the freezer at the end of the season and the satisfaction of knowing my family will be eating well until next season, that feeling keeps coming around every time I open the freezer and lasts all year.
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I voted 50%. I initially thought it would be much higher but I definitely enjoy scouting pretty much just as much as a hunt where I make a kill.
 
I voted 25% because I love the hunt 75% more. Watching the sun rise with the frost sparkling the fields, the critters moving through the timber, the sun setting with the deer slipping out of the woods to feed. Putting one down quickly is just the icing on the cake for me.
 
I entered 50%. It couldn't be more or I would shoot a lot more deer. I let many deer walk every season just to keep hunting. We usually want 2 a year for the freezer so I target older bucks so I don't tag out too soon.
But it couldn't be less than 50% because I enter the woods with the full intention of killing a deer every time.
 
50%. The kill is the just the culmination of the scouting, the hike and all the effort that goes on year long to shoot one. I love the whole process.
 
To me it's a plan coming together. I put in the work/scouting/actually guessing correctly what the deer will do. Just like when I'm duck hunting. I scout, find a decent concentration of birds, get permission, and actually have success.

Missed a doe with the recirve last year, 15 yards and she ducked the absolute crap out if it, I drove home with a smile on my face that night.
 
I actually changed my vote to 100%. Thought about this question last night and my more accurate answer is that I view the shot as a different event from the hunt. Everything leading up to the shot is the hunt. Once the shot process begins, that is the separate act of killing. I have had countless phenomenal hunts that did not involve killing. That said, when it comes to the killing act, I take great pride and pleasure in cleanly and efficiently killing. Some folks dont really like the killing part and I can respect the reasons for that, I suppose I just have a different perception of the act. I see it as mastering the hunt and mastering the kill. Either one can certainly be done without the other but those days when they both come together are special and should be celebrated.
 
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