As a kid, I started out hunting squirrels and rabbits because that's about all there was to hunt. In the early 70's I started deer hunting but they were scarce where I hunted. I can remember hunting every day for a week and would only see 3 or 4 does during a bucks only gun season. I bought a bow as a way to extend my hunting season for deer and I learned more about deer and their habits by sitting in a stand with that bow in my hand than I could ever learn while gun hunting. I killed my first deer, a 10 point buck, with a bow in the early 80's. Since then, and now that deer are plentiful, I've lost count of how many deer I've taken with a bow, and probably have taken just as many with my rifle. I think bowhunting taught me a lot of patience and also give me a chance to relax and enjoy watching all the other critters as well. Since my retirement, I've lost interest in bowhunting and started using my muzzleloader for deer and then got into long range spot and stalk. I've taken several deer with my Knight inline from 100yds out to 200yds. I still squirrel hunt but instead of my Ithaca 12ga., I use a pellet gun. I have found myself trying to sneak past a deer to get a shot at a squirrel. I have no idea what stage I'm in but sometimes when I go hunting, I take my camera along and never load my gun. Before my retirement, I thought I'd be hunting and fishing every day and that held true for a couple years but since then, I just don't feel the need to kill things.....lol. I guessing my stress levels have dropped tremendously. At one point, I was into trapping pretty heavy but I haven't done that in a while either but still enjoy scouting and looking for sign. I never get tired of being outdoors, whether it's hunting, fishing, riding my mountain bike, hiking through the woods or out working in my lawn and garden.

I don't know of I'll be able to do what my Dad does still at 81 , he still Deer hunts with Rifle and Crossbow.

He also has had only one functional arm since 1944 when he had Polio.

I still enjoy hunting, but for the past several years I've found that I get more enjoyment out of taking other people hunting. Not just as a paid guide, but young or first time hunters. That's so much more enjoyable than just hunting for myself.

Dennis, the guy in these pictures had never hunted before this bear hunt this past May. What a blast this hunt became; ups and downs, excitement and disappointment, ending in success, on many levels.

I’ve always been an obsessive hunter. Thinking about it all year long. I was a terrible student because I’d just stare out the window wanting to be in the woods. On more than one occasion I faked sick half way through the day and headed to the woods knowing id be in trouble when my folks found out I didn’t go home but instead jumped in a treestand or set a dozen duck decoys. Always said the fresh air made me feel better. I’ve been lucky enough to harvest lots of animals but I also am losing a little drive these days. I used to go out morning and evening but now want to hit the couch and watch football. I’m lucky I have a 13 year old son that has as much or more drive then I had. He begs me to go check trail cameras and to get out hunting opening day which was yesterday. We had a great evening hunt together and of course it lit a huge fire in me again. We saw a really big deer because of his hard work and we’ve been giggling and planning tonight’s chess match with our deer. I’m so thankful for this time with my son and he is keeping me from letting getting older slow me down as much.

I have killed more deer since I turned 70 then I ever killed when I was younger. Know that I'm In my 80s I'm more patient and take advantage of those comfortable shooting house's and the adjacent food plots.
My 60 year old friends gut my deer and haul them out for me. Life Is good.Know If I could only talk someone Into skinning my coyotes . LOL

Definitely more value to me of being with friends and ridiculing their missed shots. After nearly 50 years of moose hunting I don't ever want to do it again. So many years of having to be successful or being hungry really spoiled it for me.

Pheasants, turkeys and quail are all that interest me now.

I enjoy seeing wildlife much more than harvesting it any more. If I needed to I would take wildlife for food but as long as there's chicken and beef available I'll let the wildlife reproduce.

Can't stand crawling up the side of tree anymore, to sit for several hours, but I don't mind setting in the ground blind. However, my wife is way more aggressive than me, when she is in the stand. I swear she has a bladder bigger than a basketball. LOL

Be 75 in Jan, and I havent hunted for game since my teens, and even quit calling yotes because of all the callers now days. I have been a lifelong hardcore trapper, and will die as one! Number of times (2-3) I have bought a deer license, and never went, too busy twapping!

I still enjoy hunting quite a bit, mainly bow deer and turkey, once in a while I'll go out for small game, but not much. When I was a teen and in my early 20s though, if it was in season, I was after it, no matter what it was. Last 10 years though my focus has shifted to mainly bow season and spring gobbler, and the last 3 years I've really gotten deeper into running a trapline like I did in high school.

Been hunting for 50 yrs and I find that freezing my butt off ain't near as much fun as it used to be!

I have been hunting for 28 years since age 13. I would rather see my son fill a tag than me personally.

Probably alternate between the method or sportmans phase.

Squirrel hunting is what I started doing and seems to draw me back to it more and more each year.

Big dollar deer leases or and bucks with names don't interest me

I am 65 and still chase everything. I am a lot slower and if I ever kill an elk again I will be calling friends. Every piece of meat I eat is wild game except we raise chickens. I can't imagine ever stopping. Right now there is a snowshoe in the Instapot and a half a dozen grouse breasts in the fridge.

Yup

70 and on my 2nd pacemaker here. Still love to hunt but only small game alone. Big game if I know help is available.

47. Hunting is about my boys at this point. We're dove hunting right now and they have guns. I don't (I will this evening).

I still kill deer but I am more into killing lots of nuisance hogs and trapping now.

I am 64. Started hunting at 6. Trapping at 9. I hunt with bow and gun.
Today I am retired and hunt every day for 4 months in the fall. Plus every day of the spring turkey season. I fish a couple days a week in the summer.
I check traps for several weeks in the morning and then hunt evenings.
Basically if I have a tag I’m in the woods. I hunt small game too.
Only change is I hunt mostly from the ground. I still use a climber at times.
I hunt National Forest so no ATV’s. In fact I don’t own one. I drag or pack everything out by myself.
My trapline is all on foot.
I have as much desire now as ever.
Most people lose some of the drive as many have posted.
For me I doubt I ever change.

Yes. When I was a teenager I lived for hunting. Couldn't wait for deer season. I still shoot a deer now and then, but it feels a whole lot more like work than it did when I was a kid. I still love squirrel hunting. If we had birds like pheasant or quail to hunt I would probably still love that as well. I do like running a coon with a hound, but once or twice a week in winter is plenty for me, I have no desire to go every night like the young folks do, lol. I guess trapping is and always was my favorite. I don't feel right at all if a season goes by without setting any traps.

I like hunting the most when I can walk a lot which is why I like grouse hunting or pushing pheasants. (I don't have dogs so it is just move and flush). I like still hunting or small push driving deer but one needs to wait until the end of the season more or hunt in areas with fewer deer and fewer hunters. I like rabbits with our son's beagle. Don't do much waterfowl hunting. My grouse hunting has moved to mid October as when the bear dogs and baits are active too much opportunity where I grouse hunt for interference etc.

Bryce

I am 68 and have been hunting, legally anyway, since I was 12. Have too admit a few bunnies met their demise before I was 12 but I was hunting alongside my Dad and brothers for years. I have always been a die-hard waterfowler and still am, living here on the Mississippi. Since around 1977 I hunted almost every day of the duck season. Took the deer season off of duck hunting and killed a pile of them in my life, however at the time we did not have enough money and I was hunting to feed my family.

Nowadays, although the love of the hunt is still as strong as it always was, I find I have slowed down and am not as physically capable as I used to be. Have had a few scares while hunting alone on the Lake and they tended to make me more cautious about how I do things out there. In my life I have killed more ducks, geese, and deer than most and enjoyed the hunts but also enjoyed eating them. I am at the point I don't worry at all about needing to take my limit of anything.

All I need now are the sights and smells of a day in the marsh, but a brace of Greenheads will always be icing on the cake. I was raised in the thought that we hunt deer for meat, but once in a while I knock one down with bones on his head, some really nice ones, too.

I need to keep at it because I have a couple fine Grandsons coming up and I want to share the hunts with them and their Dad. He started duck hunting with me when he was 3 and has turned out to be a fine, ethical, and efficient hunter. The best hunting partner I could ever ask for. So, I will keep at it but at a slower and less frantic pace to make meat. I love it, and always will. It is so deeply ingrained in me and my family I could never leave it entirely.

Moosetrot