Dedicated or Obsessed? Deciding when to hunt?

[Steve Sr.]

#4872

I love to bowhunt. LOVE it.
Love dinking around with arrows, EFOC (now ULTRA EFOC), fletching, shooting, reading about bowhunting….all 12 months.

I’m HERE a lot LOL!

EVERY year, a die hard trad deer hunter friend of mine, great person, solid family life, etc, etc…absolutely KILLS HIMSELF hunting EVERY single morning or night and often all day, and pre rut is just starting.

Oh yeah, he RARELY shoots a doe and only does for meat for a freind or family. He is from the “old school” of “DONT SHOOT MOMMA DEER”, but getting better. Doing so BEFORE antlers are on the ground is lunacy to him.

Also every year, he has snide remarks, directed at me, because I DONT hunt EVERY single day and EVERY year, he end’s up “shooting something to get it over with”.

Yes! Undoubtedly the more we are out there, the more chances we get to take one or two. However, should the electicity have a glitch and his alarm don’t go off?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! :shock::shock::shock::evil::evil::evil:

I’m in the bitter sweet position of not working, so have lots of time, and physical limitations just flat makes EVERY day hunting a painful experience.

I also am a STICKLER for aging my venison and 60 degree weather is NOT hanging weather.

Long season here. I’ve got the best of it coming really soon and will hunt all I can and season lasts almost solidly, except for 5 days, till a day or two into January.

His constant harrassing comments on MY hunting frequency sometimes gets under my skin (hence this post) and I also feel sometimes it has a NEGATIVE effect on how much I go ( being bullheaded 😀 ) and often decide I’m going to go the next morning, then he says something and then I DON’T go.

Pretty much makes BOTH of us wrong. LOL

His INTENTIONS are top of the line and meant to help so I often keep my yap zipped closed, but as his friend, I REALLY want to point out to him how MUCH and OFTEN he is going and KNOWS he is NOT going to enjoy it, but to “git er done” each and every year he “has to”. I feel saying anything would pretty much put ME in HIS shoes though and I don’t feel I have ANY right to say a word. I also know how he will take it and the aftermath that would follow.

NOT shooting a nicer buck with his recurve is NOT AN OPTION and while his “have at it, go, go, go”, attitude DOES regularly provide more chances at big bucks than I have……I really think I enjoy season a lot more than he does, and certainly hunt LONGER each fall.

It’s like he has to PROVE something..maybe? That’s something I’ve never been burdened with so don’t quite understand.

SINCE the temps are falling, the bucks are starting to move more and during daylight hours. My frequency to the hunting areas I have is picking up and will go into “oh yeah, BABY!” mode pretty dang quick here.

No one decides for each of us when we will go. When working two jobs, yep, I went ever opportunity just because they were danged few. It is not that way now and I feel much less pressure and stress, something none of us want or need (see quote below my signature 😀 ), and really enjoy my hunting MORE, yet his actions effect me, effect my decisions (right or wrong), and it has had me thinking about how many of us work ourselves up into a frenzy over season.

PLEASE don’t take this as any kind of Negative subject. It is simply food for thought looking at our own deciding factors of when to hunt… and IF someone else is attempting to dicate that for us individually.

I think there are few not having other obligations to have to be anywhere. My own are dictated some by my sons wanting to visit, or me to come over, a friend asking for assistance I can provide sometimes too.

Sometimes, I just want to stay home, sit back, pet Dewey the Wonder Mutt and read a good book. (OLD AGE? 😳 )

I guess I’m asking for your opinion on if I’m somehow messing up and should run full blast, hunting 100 percent of the time I have and putting all else on the back burner??

If you have any, your advice too, on how to gently discuss this with my dear (deer, lol) friend and at the very least, convince him that his hunting son and I are NEITHER, his clone nor “have to” hunt every single day, for any reason.

This man’s friendship is priceless to me and has endured over 50 years. Losing it would be a true disaster. Even though I feel right in my decisions his comments still draw blood, so to speak.

Feel free to blast me, I’m tough. 😉

God Bless!
Steve Sr.

[SteveMcD]

#34706

I don’t think either of you are wrong on your positions on this. Your friend is obviously motivated and driven. But what drives him? The “I Must Hunt Every Day” attitude I believe will eventually lead to burn out. As the old saying goes.. “everything in moderation”. Obsession is not healthy.

[Steve Sr.]

#34716

Agreed, Steve.

I see him do so every year but don’t understand that he don’t recognize it.

Steve Sr.

[Steve Sr.]

#34717

Double post……….:oops:

[Mark Turton]

#34824

Hi Steve

I have a good friend who’s marriage went wrong a few years ago, now without any responsibilities (takes care of his girls) he no longer works during hunting season September-end of February. For six months he just eats sleeps and hunts, for the rest of the year he works all hours and has never been happier.

It’s always good to see him and have the occasional trip but it’s all a bit intense for me.

So I guess it takes all sorts, as the saying goes ‘you can’t please everyone so be sure to please yourself’
Mark.

[lssa]

#35321

i have a friend here in delaware who is retired that hunts every morning and evening but by now he gets so burnout he comes within an hour in the mornings and doesnt get in the stand till the sun starts setting in the evenings.
being a farmer i dont hardly ever go this time of year.
good luck to everybody

[Rogue]

#35443

Steve the only difference I see is that you and your friend have a different definition of sucess when it comes to hunting.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was a mirror image of your friend. I measured sucess by the inches of antler on the ground. My ideology had to change or I was giving up hunting to play golf…

I believe that your friend will eventually burn out, when that happens it would be great to have a friend like you there to show him the simpler pleasures and a different measure to a sucessful season.

[johnny2]

#35953

I woke up at 4:45 this morning with all intentions of being in the woods by 6:30. When I stepped onto the porch to pee(yeah, I’ll walk past the bathroom to pee off the porch, thank God I’m a country boy) first thing I noticed was the whipping wind. I no longer have the desire to sit in the woods in very windy conditions. I have even taken to placing some of my treestands to appreciate the views instead of primarily killing a deer. Come Halloween through November I get a little more serious but I still take an afternoon just to enjoy autumn with my family or kill a few squirrels with my daughters.

Some guys approach hunting as a mission, I did myself for a while, almost cost me my marriage one turkey season, but that’s a story for another day(I don’t think she was serious, but she contends to this day it was).:roll: Did the same thing with 3-D tournaments till one day it seemed like a second job instead of a fun hobby. Now I consider my outdoor pursuits as way more than hobbies, they are my families lifestyle. But there are so many ways to enjoy this lifestyle that sometimes get lost in the need to succeed. I now look at all my outdoor activities as an escape from the competetive, results oriented rat race of life.

Your quote about not hurrying through the day is something I’ve tried to live by since my Dad passed away a few years ago.

Just do your thing, I know that I enjoy time in the woods or on the water now more than ever. The day will come for your friend as well.

[William Warren]

#44034

I think I’m more like you Steve. I have always been a working man and have not been able to be choosy about anything hunting related, I have killed some decent deer. But a long time ago I decided size did not matter to me. I had friends who held state records and it changed them in a way I did not care for. People have begun to place more value on the notariety and endorsements that taking a record head can bring. That is just not the focus of my outdoor activities and I have come to dislike what hunting has come to represent. I’m glad we as traditional bowhunters have chosen the path less traveled by. We are an example to those who will soon turn away from the hype just as we did, looking for a more enjoyable experience. I too, think Steve’s friend will burn out but it may take time.
In the mean time, I hope we all have a happy hunting season free from feeling like we just HAVE to kill a decent buck. Instead we could just thin out some does!

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