Hunting/overwhelmed.

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You know you guys are absolutely right. I have begun to hunt the way others hunt. I began to care what others thought. I began to worry about what others think when before I didn't care. Something that has stuck with me for awhile was a doe I shot in 2016. She was maybe 1.5yo and the first deer I ever taken. I had my middle brother and a family friend who has killed Moose, deer, hogs, etc. He was ecstatic about me shooting the deer but my brother told me it was small and I shot a baby. Since then I have been selective on size of doe. When I shot the one in the picture (this is the one that dropped in the beans and then ran away) I called it a big 8pt but my buddy kind of laughed and said that not a big buck. That kind of stuck with me. I swear to you guys when I saw him drop in the beans you would have thought someone gave me $1million I was so happy. Yes, I kept his rack because after showing my buddy the blood which was covered in bubbles and bright red and the deer only going 80yards total he said the shot was good, I must have only hit one lung and we just didn't wait long enough to retrieve. I thought about it and called the warden and explained what happened and told him I wanted to use my buck tag on the deer after it was found a week later. He said he would issue a salvage tag and I told him no way! I drew blood and I took its life so I owe it to the deer to use my only buck tag. I had something similar walk out in October and offer me a good shot several times, but I passed. To be honest I knew my other spot held a good buck and my buddies place has come through in the past, so I waited. I have until Feb 8 to make it happen and if its the size of this one he's done for. I didn't know what a big buck looked like until I had a close to 180'' walk under my stand and make me shake so bad I almost dropped the crossbow and my left leg wouldn't stop bobbing up and down.
 

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You know you guys are absolutely right. I have begun to hunt the way others hunt. I began to care what others thought. I began to worry about what others think when before I didn't care. Something that has stuck with me for awhile was a doe I shot in 2016. She was maybe 1.5yo and the first deer I ever taken. I had my middle brother and a family friend who has killed Moose, deer, hogs, etc. He was ecstatic about me shooting the deer but my brother told me it was small and I shot a baby. Since then I have been selective on size of doe. When I shot the one in the picture (this is the one that dropped in the beans and then ran away) I called it a big 8pt but my buddy kind of laughed and said that not a big buck. That kind of stuck with me. I swear to you guys when I saw him drop in the beans you would have thought someone gave me $1million I was so happy. Yes, I kept his rack because after showing my buddy the blood which was covered in bubbles and bright red and the deer only going 80yards total he said the shot was good, I must have only hit one lung and we just didn't wait long enough to retrieve. I thought about it and called the warden and explained what happened and told him I wanted to use my buck tag on the deer after it was found a week later. He said he would issue a salvage tag and I told him no way! I drew blood and I took its life so I owe it to the deer to use my only buck tag. I had something similar walk out in October and offer me a good shot several times, but I passed. To be honest I knew my other spot held a good buck and my buddies place has come through in the past, so I waited. I have until Feb 8 to make it happen and if its the size of this one he's done for. I didn't know what a big buck looked like until I had a close to 180'' walk under my stand and make me shake so bad I almost dropped the crossbow and my left leg wouldn't stop bobbing up and down.

That's a pretty good rack. I've been hunting for over 30 years and have only taken 2 bucks with more than 2 points.
 
To get away from daily life, venison, adrenaline, I like being in the woods because my mind just gets wiped out when I am there.

Ok, now we are getting somewhere. How can you hunt in a manner that puts these things at the forefront, and take all the other BS about who is shooting what, or how big it is, or how many they shot, and throw that out of your mind?

From everything you are writing so far in this thread, it sounds like you are miserable. If you can find a way to focus on why you go, on the things that make you happy, and ignore the rest, your problems will be solved.

If you can't ignore the other things, or put them out of your mind, then the problem is much more than just hunting, it's something to do with you. I hope you find a way to regain the happiness you seem to have had at one point with hunting.
 
I swear to you guys when I saw him drop in the beans you would have thought someone gave me $1million I was so happy.

I love this. That's such a great feeling, and you need to keep life's BS from stealing that joy. Ignore the haters, ignore the critics. If others are taking away from your enjoyment, leave them. Find another place to hunt if you have to. Or, take a good look at yourself, do a self-inventory, and see if you need to adjust your own outlook. Sometimes the change has to be from within. Only you can determine that.

Good luck. Go have some fun in the woods.
 
That's a pretty good rack. I've been hunting for over 30 years and have only taken 2 bucks with more than 2 points.

Yeah. Seriously, if I see a buck like that and it's legal shooting... It's a bummer losing the meat, and others have noted the never-ending learning curve... that's good luck seeing a buck like that, just as is any legal deer you get good meat from. Hey, my first deer was a funny-looking spike, but we ate good off him.

Thinking of honoring the deer... the Germans, Austrians, and the Sammi (sp?) in IIRC Sweden... they all have similar customs in that regard... and the American Indian, too. I think, though, that for most of us stateside that's a heartfelt matter more than a ritual.
 
Me too. I’m very happy with the doe I got yesterday but then one of them turns around a shoots a 150lbs field dressed doe and I second guess shooting her. I passed at least 8 deer this season cause I didn’t like the shot or too small when several years ago they would have met their maker. I love deer meat and do it mainly for food but like today. I spent $100 trying to get both deer rifle loads done, $25 on a tag, $19 for a license and $110 to process the doe. Last nights doe cost me $135 at minimum. I decided to buck hunt tonight and that tag cost me $32. I wanted to end my vacation resting but my buddy is nice enough to let me hunt the lease with them and his truck is in the shop, so he wouldn’t have hunted if not for me going.
Lean how to process your own deer. It really isn't difficult.
As far a hunting goes. I like sitting in the woods. I kill several does every year and try to make sure my wife gets a buck. Unless a buck has a lot of mass, or a deformity, it walks.
Missouri is an any deer tag, so it makes it easier for me to watch them.
 
See every time someone says something it brings another issue I see with myself to light. Its starting to drive me crazy when I see a truck at one of the farms I have permission for. Mostly because those farms are affiliated with a hunt club, in which I am not part of but still have permission to hunt the farms. I would say 95% of these guys never get a slip signed or ask and I have been told by countless farmers they don't care nor have the time to enforce it. I knock on doors around May/June, dress nice, bring them an apple pie, offer to help, shoot woodchucks that are eating beans and then come rut or gun season they decide they are going to hunt there because its on the roster. I run cameras and try and pattern the deer because they are small woodlots surrounded by large fields and I don't want to waste time sitting one 10 acre woodlot when they are actually across the road in another. It actually gives me some slight anxiety when I see someone else hunting there. I used to be happy and grateful when someone bagged a deer on one of the farms I hunt and now I get irritated. Maybe its because I didn't hunt at all last year, so now I feel I have to catch up? If I see a gut pile or stand that just appears its irritating. I don't want to be this way.
My preacher have a message on thing that bother you. He said look at a problem and ask can I fix it. If the answer is yes, get to work. If it's no, pray for strength to not let it bother you.
This helps me a lot.
Or start singing the Frozen theme song in your head.
People hunt our stands on the Government land when we aren't in them. We still shoot deer like this on them. FB_IMG_1543028457659.jpg
 
You know you guys are absolutely right. I have begun to hunt the way others hunt. I began to care what others thought. I began to worry about what others think when before I didn't care. Something that has stuck with me for awhile was a doe I shot in 2016. She was maybe 1.5yo and the first deer I ever taken. I had my middle brother and a family friend who has killed Moose, deer, hogs, etc. He was ecstatic about me shooting the deer but my brother told me it was small and I shot a baby. Since then I have been selective on size of doe. When I shot the one in the picture (this is the one that dropped in the beans and then ran away) I called it a big 8pt but my buddy kind of laughed and said that not a big buck. That kind of stuck with me. I swear to you guys when I saw him drop in the beans you would have thought someone gave me $1million I was so happy. Yes, I kept his rack because after showing my buddy the blood which was covered in bubbles and bright red and the deer only going 80yards total he said the shot was good, I must have only hit one lung and we just didn't wait long enough to retrieve. I thought about it and called the warden and explained what happened and told him I wanted to use my buck tag on the deer after it was found a week later. He said he would issue a salvage tag and I told him no way! I drew blood and I took its life so I owe it to the deer to use my only buck tag. I had something similar walk out in October and offer me a good shot several times, but I passed. To be honest I knew my other spot held a good buck and my buddies place has come through in the past, so I waited. I have until Feb 8 to make it happen and if its the size of this one he's done for. I didn't know what a big buck looked like until I had a close to 180'' walk under my stand and make me shake so bad I almost dropped the crossbow and my left leg wouldn't stop bobbing up and down.
Your buddy should have called it a good first buck. We all start somewhere and I would have been happy to kill that as my first buck.
You now have something to judge the rest by.
As far as being picky on doe size. Smaller taste better is my mantra.
 
The second buck I ever killed was a nice little 8 point. I had no idea what "scoring" a buck was back then. All I knew was that I hunted dawn to dusk for 5 days straight, on a branch I reached by climbing a tree. I didn't eat, and I didn't drink. I was a poor college kid who was teaching himself how to hunt. On the fifth day of waiting like the Grim Reaper that buck walked up right under the branch upon which I stood. I was only about 7 or 8 feet off the ground, so he was right close to me. I shot him at a distance of 7 yards with a 7mm Rem Mag. Then I dragged him, no four wheeler, I dragged him down the ATV roads and across fields until I got back to my car. Yes...a car. I was hunting out of my daily driver 1978 280Z (this was in the early 90's so you can see it was an old POS car). It took me 2 hours to drag him out, but I was so happy I still had tons of energy. I stopped at every gas station on the way home to show him off. The next day I went to the local hunting store where I bought my gear and they weighed him, measured the rack and took a pic.

While my 115 inch buck was on the hoist, a guy in a truck pulled up and said "man, that would've been a good one if he'd had another year or two."

Screw that guy. I didn't care about him then, and I don't now. Plenty of people want you to hunt the way THEY want YOU to hunt. It's not their life, not their hunt, not their rules, and their opinion simply doesn't matter to me. I've gone on and killed a lot bigger, and a large number of deer since, but I still see that attitude on people. They want everyone to pass on smaller bucks so their vision of deer hunting can be the only one that exists.

Hunt the way you want to hunt. Life is too short for anything else.

**this was on public land. If on private land and the landowner has a vision, follow it. I use this story to help illustrate that if it's a good hunt to you, then that is all that matters.
 
Many people who tell others to pass on smaller bucks and let does walk rarely practice what they preach.

There are a lot of conflicting methods out there. Conventional wisdom leads to redneck logic which leads to.....eventually I think most true hunters really just want to put venison in the freezer. They might take a roundabout way (pass on small ones until later in the season) or a straightforward way (get the first one they can) to meet that end goal.

There may be some posturing and pompousness along the way.
 
I absolutely love to deer hunt so I do pass smaller ones early. Our season runs September 28-February 5th so I let little bucks and any doe (cause of babies) walk early but by now time is ticking and I know doe don’t have babies or shouldn’t so I shoot doe with a gun. I love to hunt in January so always save a tag or two for January. I told myself Sunday when I went for deer #2 that I wasn’t shooting a doe unless she’s huge, but any buck was done for. I do think my buddy is sincere when he says shoot what I want. I’ve been yelled at for asking if I can shoot certain bucks who appear. He even told me shoot his hit list buck if he appears. Says he would rather me get than the neighbor or a car. When he passes 100” deer it makes me think I should too so I don’t tick him off but he says he doesn’t care.
 
ohihunter 4014, your post illuminates the reasons why i hunt alone. A lone hunter is not barraged by political trash and the latest whizbang ideas from the deer hunting improvement societies. He don't put up with smokers and is not tempted into competition with anyone. The lone hunter goes out and enjoys nature and the outdoors while hunting.

Every year i kill deer for a couple non hunting families, usually does. In 65 years of hunting i've managed to take three deer that scored over 185 B&C points. Will probably never get another one. In past seasons i've passed on several bucks that scored over 160 points. One was a very old 12 point standing under a tree eating persimmons. His muzzle was all gray and he was not in rut. Another huge 12 point in a nearly inaccessible area of blowdowns; he got a pass too. Counted coup on that buck by firing 3 feet over his head.

Best of luck with your hunting experience everyone.
 
I hope you are getting good things to think about from this thread as there is plenty here. Here's some additional stuff. Not sure how many deer I have taken. On the far side of 80 and maybe near 100. Two have been pretty decent wall hangers. The first was in 1995. I could see enough of his back to knock him down and the tips of his horns to know he was legal. When i walked up I got a big surprise. The point is I was hunting for my reasons and had he been a 4 point I would have been happy also. The second big one was last year. If he had been 10 seconds later I would have already dropped the 6 point that was chasing the same bunch of does and likely would have never seen him. The big excitement wit him was how large his body was. By far the biggest bodied deer I have ever taken. This year I shot a little 3x1 and an hour later a year and a half old doe. The point of all this is I was not hunting to impress anyone and was doing it for my own reasons. I was happy with all these deer and with all the other ones I have taken in the last 41 seasons.
 
I have been debating on it. I stay so busy with work, school, and life I don't have time. The GF just purchased the grinder for her kitchen aid mixer last week. I guess I could do as others do and quarter and cut it up a little each night, but I rent and no where to do it. I could do it at the GF house cause she has a garage, but the ceiling is dry walled so cant hang anything. I will probably get one of those tripod stands to hang it though.
Skin and quarter the deer in the woods where you shoot it. People do it all the time with big game out west. If you're in decent shape, a couple ratchet straps and an over hanging limb are all you need to hang it up. If you have physical limitations or it's a real big buck you can use a small block and tackle to help out. Then you can just bring it home in plastic tubs or unscented garbage bags and cut it up at home. I've packed a couple of deer out on my back when doing it that way. Easier than dragging if you've got far to go. If you're a trophy hunter, processing tools may not be worth it. If you're a meat hunter like me, they're absolutely essential.
 
Been at it going on 50 years hunting now, and my heart pounds just as hard with excitement today as it did when I shot that first doe when at 9yo. When a deer, any deer, comes into range and presents me with an opportunity for a clean shot I get so excited. Doubled on two button bucks Thanksgiving morning and I swear my heart was gonna come outta my chest when they came in at first light along with two other deer. It was over in seconds, but will be another lifelong memory. Butchered them and added them to the freezer along with the 4pt buck from opening day.

The day that excitement leaves me is the day I'll hang it up. ;)
 
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Post #68 reminds me of an account I read somewhere of how a Cherokee hunter would skin and quarter a deer, using the hide as a mat to keep the meat out of the dirt, and using that same hide to pack the meat home. On arrival home, the meat, hide, and other parts were given to the women who didn't hunt to finish processing, but nowadays, it'd be refrigerated to cut up later, and the hide fleshed/salted to finish later or taken to a tanner.
 
This thread has really had some great advice. You hunt for the reasons I do. To get away. To have some peace. To enjoy God’s creation. To just be out there. I have friends who have shot deer way bigger than anything I’m likely to ever shoot. I’ve been there when they did it. And I’ve always been happy for them. I thought I wanted to target big deer.

And it was at that moment that deer hunting became something other than what it had always been for me. Fun. It became a competition. “I have to kill a big buck” I NEED to kill a big buck”. Why? Because someone else did? Good for them. That’s not who I am as a hunter. You know for that year I saw almost no deer? My mind wasn’t right. So I wasn’t doing it right. And that was even less fun. So I told myself I’m going to be who I am. A hunter. And I’m going to hunt for the reasons I always did. The reasons listed above. And I started seeing deer again. Lots of them. And turkeys. And coons. And Bobcats. And Coyotes. And I started really enjoying being in the woods again.
 
When it ceases to be fun, quit. The whole reason to get out into the woods is to commune with nature and , possibly, take home some meat. If you don't take anything it's ok. That is why they call it hunting.

Back in the 90's I got into 3D archery. We had a couple of clubs locally and shot somewhere every other weekend. Then came the bow upgrades. If you didn't change bows or releases or sights it was hard to stay competitive. Someone was always pushing the envelope to the max.
It got to the point that it wasn't fun anymore. I quit and reserved my shooting to practice only. I must say , however, that my shot to kill ratio changed overnight.

As you get older you will realize that you don't have to kill something every time you go out.
When you realize that, you will have peace of mind.
 
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