Worried About Myself

[paleoman]

#7352

I’m losing interest in putting anything in the freezer! I’ m only in my youthful 50’s for crying out loud. I really do struggle with the feeling of not being ” out for blood” anymore. But, then I feel kind of free of it all too. Is this good:? Nowhere near the end of my hunting days but can’ t help but notice. Anyone else at this point so we can start a support group:lol:

[Troy Breeding]

#61071

Not to worry my friend. It’s called becoming a mature hunter. At first you just want to kill something. Then later in your hunting life you want to kill everything in sight. After that you become the hunter that only wants something to hang on the wall. When you finally mature you just simply enjoy being in the outdoors and taking what you feel like dealing with.

I reached this stage about three years ago. Now I set in the woods and enjoy watching nature do it’s thing. If an ol” nanny comes by and I think she is still a good mother I let her pass. If a young tender yearling slinks in and I want fresh meat for the grill I wait for the right shot. I only take mature bucks that I feel have reached their prime and they have to be bigger than what I aleardy have on the wall. otherwise, I simply enjoy nature……

Troy

[Ralph]

#61080

Take 12 deep breathes, go shoot 12 arrows, and dream about twelve slow cooked backstrap steaks…….. I can play with 12 stepping as I’ve been there.

Actually, hunting has gotten to be more just a loving to be out there than it has the taking of the game the past few years. I still live on pins and needles as season approaches, I spend hours getting everything ready that already is, sleep little the night before, then I just get tickled that I’m out and about seeing what I can see. I still take game but it’s not the driving force it once was.

50’s gives you a long time to enjoy life while hunting and that can be done way more so with out the kill syndrome dominating.

“Be well my friend” as “The most interesting man in the world” states.

There was a time when empty handed was a bad thing, nowadays, I had a good day cause I was there. Mostly anyway, getting stuck ain’t got many good sides 😆

[wahoo]

#61084

man I used to hunt to kill. I would go out night before and pound the brush till I killed. Then it seemed like a job , now I go hunt hard still but enjoy being outdoors by myself , love hearing bulls bugle and if something happens just smile and move on . It’s just great being outdoors

[lyagooshka]

#61864

Not sure. So far, bow in hand, I’ve spent hundreds of hours in the great (and sometimes not so great) outdoors and have accumulated exactly 0 kills. Seen plenty, just haven’t connected. Haven’t even shot for that matter. I still like to “fill the freezer”, but paying the price of what comes with it has made me wait for the “perfect” shot. I could have taken plenty almostperfect, but didn’t. So far, every hunt has been a success, so I don’t really mind the lack of “killing”. Maybe one day. Maybe in late September in QC? But then I have to field dress, butcher……

Be well.

Alex

😉

[David Petersen]

#61946

This is SUCH a common phenomenon as hunters mature … and we mature at vastly different rates. I could have given up the killing a very long time ago, as, like the antis argue, I too prefer live animals to dead animals. But I doubt I’ll ever be able to give up the hunt, and to hunt is to aim to kill. And while I still want and even need the meat–after 30 years I can’t imagine a year without elk or having to return to factory produced beef. So I want to hunt ’em and I want to eat ’em and I can still deal with killing ’em … so long as the kill is fast and clean; I mean, they go down within sight and die within seconds, not minutes or hours. Thus is the source of my “fanaticism” about the right arrow setup. So long as I can do it right and perhaps influence others to start thinking of the animal first, I feel it’s a net gain. I guess what I’m saying is that rather than quitting the hunt when killing started feeling uncomfy, I have turned that confusion into an ongoing quest for “the perfection of killing,” as I would wish to die: no fear, no pain, no physical or emotional suffering. Because the broadhead is a surgical instrument, the bow and arrow has the capability of being the most humane way to kill. But too many of us have become overly comfy, even smug, with “what usually works” and too few of us are sufficiently concerned with “no such thing as overkill.” A good friend and hunting bud of mine has in recent years lost his ability to kill. But he and his family still love the meat (both are MDs and know its health values). So I do the killing, he helps me pack the meat and he does the cutting and wrapping for part of the meat. Lots of ways to approach life with care, thought and honor.

[mhay]

#62086

In recent years it has turned from ”GOT TO GET ONE ” to a challege of simply out smarting the beast and seeing just how close I can get , or call it to me .

As the poem says ,,,,

‘I DON’T HAVE TO KILL HIM TO HAVE A FINE HUNT ,

BUT THE THRILL OF PULLING HIM IN CLOSE , IT IS THE MOST FUN’

[paleoman]

#62198

It’ s as much fun to run across a huge buck rub and just know they are there. There are fewer and fewer common ” touchstones” anymore that transcend time. What a privledge to walk among these beings more an equal than a dominator.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#63102

paleoman wrote: It’ s as much fun to run across a huge buck rub and just know they are there. There are fewer and fewer common ” touchstones” anymore that transcend time. What a privledge to walk among these beings more an equal than a dominator.

Well said. I didn’t kill an elk with my bow last fall. But there were numerous experiences with elk at very close range that I will never forget. And rarely a day I didn’t come down off the mountain empty-handed, but smiling my @$$ off. And I’m already dreaming about September again – daybreak and bulls bellowing and days spent wandering through golden aspens and dark timber. I truly feel sorry for those who can only define a “successful hunt” as one that must involve taking an animal.

[David Petersen]

#63189

Bruce — I absolutely agree that you don’t have to kill an animal to have a successful hunt. Most of my best hunting memories have nothing to do with the kill. However — and here’s the tricky bit — in order to truly hunt and experience the full depth of emotional and personal possibilities hunting has to offer, we must be doing our best to kill an animal. Years ago I tried my best to become a “camera hunter,” not to replace hunting but as a way to hunt in places and at times I couldn’t really hunt. It did not work for me. So we’re talking two different if largely parallel issues here: 1) Making a kill is NOT essential to a successful and rewarding hunt. 2) However, if we’re not going full-out to make a fair-chase kill (and the fair chase part is every bit as essential as the full-out part), we haven’t truly experienced hunting.

The P.S. here is that hunting is not necessary to enjoy the outdoors and wild nature; there are endless other ways to approach that experience, including merely walking alone into a quiet wild place. Hunting is merely the oldest, purest and potentially (again, depending on effort and heart invested) most satisfying way to experience and enjoy because it is what made us human. Bottom line here, for me, is that fair-chase, heartful hunting and wild nature combine to teach me things about myself that I’ve found no replacement for. This is a good discussion, thanks all.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#63198

Absolutely, Dave. I’m not suggesting we should do less than “give it our all” once the decision to hunt has been made – otherwise I may as well just go for a hike, and leave all those other accoutrements at home. I’m just referring to that temptation to succumb to thinking that one has “failed” if it doesn’t all come together for the kill to happen, despite having given it your best.

[Mark Turton]

#63648

For me bowhunting slows everything down and then if I take time just to sit quite and listen to nature it accepts me and the forest comes back to life.

Its then that I see, hear and sense more I guess I am seeing the fine detail.

I feel the need to hunt and satisfaction when friends and family enjoy the meat served with vegetables that my wife has grown.

I probably enjoy the butchery more than the killing, there’s a weird closeness that we never experience with a wild animal in life.

Beginning to sound like a tree huger, must go shoot something.

Mark.

[RayB]

#64000

MAN!! I thought there was something wrong with me!

I bird hunt with a guy who still gets upset when he doesn’t get a limit. He looks at me like I have two heads when I tell him he should be happy to be here, where ever here is.:D

[Ben M.]

#64044

pothunter wrote: Beginning to sound like a tree huger, must go shoot something.

Mark.

ah-hahaha! That makes me laugh, as I consider myself a bit of a tree hugger. (Though, perhaps “grasshugger” would be more descriptive. There aren’t a whole heck of a lot of trees around here.)

What we’re talking about here is being a complete human; a person made whole by integrating the many facets of an experience into an understanding of existence that transcends the action itself–the act of hunting, thoughtfully. Thoughtful hunting provides a person a way of experiencing existence that can be applied to all areas of life, thus producing a person complete within him/herself; a satisfying way to live.

I agree with you on the butchery, Mark. Butchering is a bonding experience (not to be performed without bourbon). It truly is a spiritual experience to recognize that, in a very literal way, I am my prey.

Now, I know what most of you are thinking (“A pothunter and a grasshugger having an existential conversation on spirituality? Typical.”) but, really, this is the “stuff” of hunting; the thing that keeps us going back for more.

[Col Mike]

#7728

Ben, Mark

Well said, both of you.

Semper Fi

Mike

[Goraidh]

#7754

This is a great thread. My father taught me an appreciation of all things and all aspects of being out in the wild places (I’ll always love him for that), so I’ve never really given much thought to limits and such, though the hunting of and possible killing of an animal is the main reason we go out there with our bows and broadheads. But I, too, have a friend, though I don’t hunt with him because of this, who puts all stock in the end result, mostly neglecting the journey there. He’s the definition of “killer of animals” not of “hunter.” I’m a hunter, tried and true. Love the process from beginning to end, regardless of the end result.

[Ron Roettger]

#9671

I did not get a deer here in Wisconsin this past Season with my longbow or rifle for the first time since 1988. I never thought I was a “got to fill a tag hunter” but when I bought and took a new inline scoped muzzle loader into the woods this year instead of my old trusty traditional muzzle loader, to make it easier. I knew that was exactly what I was. A shame came over me, After that I went out a few times with the longbow, but never took it from the branch from which it hung.

Decided I wanted to go empty handed this year so there would be no 25 year streak to keep added on to this year. I have put the 24 year streak to rest and from here on out I will be thankful when I do put meat in the freezer, but I will not feel like I have to. As for the new muzzle loader it will sit until My eyes are to old to shoot the iron sights on the old gun.

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