I'm the other way around. LIVED to squirrel hunt. Now can't stand the mosquitoes and spider webs. Not to mention the ticks and chiggers. Never missed an opening day for 40 years . Haven't been last 5 plus.

Still deer hunt but now its. level ground and ladder stands. Joints and back put a stop to climbing hills and packing climbing stand.

If I had to hunt out of a tree stand or a ground blind I don't think I would hunt; regardless how old I am. I don't know how you guys do it.
A huge part of the enjoyment of hunting for me is the strategy, the spotting, the stalk, etc.. In other words actually "hunting".

I find myself changing between focuses slot more now. It will be pheasants for a couple years, then deer, then turkeys, then walleye fishing. Limited time between work and home so focusing on more than one a year is pretty unlikely today whereas I used to do it all. The one that lasted throughout was waterfowl hunting. But I think the one I liked the best was the one that had the fewest people doing it. Nothing ruins a hunting trip like a bunch of trespass problems. Then I picked up the trapping bug and our commie rules just about ensure that it will never be mainstream so its a great diversion from people.

Hunting is now more about process which is not to say that I will pass up an easy limit of pheasants if there is such a thing here. But I will not pursue a pass shoot hunt for ducks, its gotta be over decoys. Ditto geese. Deer, its gotta be something unique now or a meat buck on the last day.

I have been giving this much thought.All my spots for bowing hunting are so far out and my legs are not wat the use to be.I shot a small deer and was soo happy that it wasn't any bigger because dragging it out was killing me.I am only 62 but have COPD and never smoked along with nerve damage in my legs.I think my hunting will be limited to the corn fields outside my front door.

65 this year and we will see what happens, the last few years I have not hunted much but this year I want to put up meat. I can kill half a dozen deer so it is alot of meat. I think food prices will go up more soon so I want to get some put up....

Stand placement is a strategy all in itself. But both B&C deer I killed were shot as I still hunted back to the truck. 85% of the deer I have killed I was walking. My son and hunting buddies call it shrub mode Deer just stare at me and let me walk up on them or pass on by if it’s one I won’t shoot. Got tons of video footage as I pull my phone out and record them but don’t know how to post videos here

Different strokes for different folks and different situations....it all good in the end actually.

Having lived and hunted in Alaska for several years and having done the same in Maine for years has given me plenty of time to reflect on these things. Spot & stalk Alaska hunting is by far easier than tree stand hunting whitetail deer in northern Maine. Glassing an animal two miles away and having a stiff wind to your advantage makes S&S relatively easy. A bear preoccupied with munching on blueberries isn't a hard animal to take.

For sure.

No, I was trying to say I don't have the patience to sit in a tree. Plus, I'm fortunate to hunt in areas where I'm not confined to a particular acreage.

By the way, I do nearly 100% of my personal hunting in the semi-jungles of the temperate rainforests in the pacific northwest; western Washington to SE Alaska. I hunt very little (except guiding) in the open areas of interior Alaska. My typical shot at a blacktail is probably less than 35 yards.

I’ve experienced the “five stages” to some extent but I still love a good upland hunt, squirrel hunting. I shot the largest buck of my life last season as someone who has been a licensed hunter since 1972. Deer hunting lost its flavor (my personal feelings) as the modern day “deer shooters” came to be hip. There’s no matching of wits, woodsmanship, woods craft or hunting skill if you choose go sit in tree house overlooking a giant, deer specific, food plot. I’ve got no gripe with those that harvest their deer that way, just not for me. I would rather skulk around in a thicket trying to get the drop on a bedded buck and have to drag it back to the truck should I choose to take it than to wait for a certain hour of day and pick off one gorging itself on antler enhancing clover. My best days afield come when it’s just me and the setter kicking around a field edge, a warm pot of deer stew on the stove waiting for us to get back in out of the cold. I don’t mean to offend anyone that may take their venison on a cultivated lease or whatever, just my heart felt notions of what has happened to what’s called deer hunting.

This subject was brought up a year or so ago. I was an avid bow hunter for 35 years, the last few I found myself going out more because it’s just what I’ve always done. I’m on year three of my cabin/house build and just enjoy that so much more now. Never thought this would happen. Now I still Turkey hunt about every morning before work and think cause you get to push the action is what I love more?

I only hunt for Grouse and Woodcock now. Nothing else. Used to do it all, geese, ducks, squirrels, pheasants, deer.

I still fish, but only for lake run Trout in the streams/rivers.
I have been doing it for long enough to know when and where to go.
I pretty much only fish at the best times and places.
There are times when you can pretty much guarantee a fish.

I more than likely will give up the hunting end of it first as its more work to get to and do where as the fishing is about 20 minutes from my door.

At 69 I like to think I hunt smarter than when I was young. I usta' shoot bucks 2 miles back in the woods from the nearest road and drag them out to the road. Now when I hunt in those woods I take a backpack and bone them out on the spot, if I decide to shoot one. Most times I don't even gut them, except a small slit to get the tenderloins, and don't even bring out the horns (antlers, to those who don't live in Jersey). Often have a bear on the remains before I get out of sight of them. Have to keep watch when boning out the deer.

I am enjoying the responses and many do show how we change as we age or mature and much not due to being less able, just spending time doing what is enjoyable. It is really good that reward and satisfaction come in many forms for all of us. I have hunted out of an off the ground stand for deer two days out of 58 years of deer hunting. I missed one season while in Nam an another when we took 10 days off to go to Hawaii.

Bryce

I'm with Waggler. I have hunted most ways,but prefer spot and stalk hunting.Where I am,I always thought waiting in a blind for bear was a waste of time compared to spot and stalk hunting.
Most moose hunters prefer calling in early fall.Calling and floating a river in fall is an enjoyable hunt.My favorite moose hunts were in winter on snowshoes doing the semi circle hunt.
I enjoy grouse hunting and beaver hunting in the evenings on the river.Last few years all my beaver hunting has been nuisance beaver.

Come on Boco your not old enough for posting on this thread! Just ask yourself…..LOL

I feel old some days,maybe not old enough yet though.

I still love to hunt big game but I’m getting to the point now where I have more fun rabbit hunting and bird hunting with friends and family. Anymore it’s more about the fun group hunts. We have 2 wirehaired pointing griffons we are training ( our first ever bird dogs) and I’m looking forward to being able to hunt them quite a bit.