Hunting as you get older.

Has anyone else stopped caring about hunting as much as they did when they were younger? I mean like changing directions on hunting to say only small game vs deer hunting and everything else? I to the point about the only hunting I want to do is some squirrel hunting and some trapping. My days of climbing trees to shoot Bambi are definitely over.
The more laid back pace of squirrel hunting and a small hobby trap line are more my speed these days.

I’d like to hear anyone’s opinions on this.

I enjoy a squirrel hunt more than a deer hunt nowadays, but I still deer hunt. Seems I have more patience deer hunting now verses when I was a young man but it's just more painful to sit for hours now.

I could never find the appeal of sitting in a tree stand for hours. For me hunting is a quiet walk through the woods and the odd bambi thrown in is a bonus. These days I am not for packing a deer out for miles though for sure so I just hunt on my own property, where I can get them back to the boat with the tractor.

BKS; When I was a teen, I was well in with a gun shop owner. One day he mentioned how he'd bought a place in the country and mentoned as he'd come home at night, " Mr Badger and Mr Fox " would be mooching about.

I was foaming at the mouth, with bulging eyes. " Why don't you shoot them?!? ". He just smiled and said, " Naah. They're doing me no harm. I like to see them. "

Fast forward a lifetime of mayhem at every opportunity? I now feed 'My' fox religiously. Buying her day old chicks by the crate. I Love seeing her, sat waiting Then rushing up to me.

My lust for trapping is satisfied by legally trapping and banding birds. I even catch, band and happily let go crows. Once swore I'd Never spare them.

Feral though? My moth foams and my eyes bulge!

I hunt from houses on the ground or a few with stairs. Avoid vertical ladders now. My shots are closer. ,I drag deer back to camp with my ATV because I can’t load them on my ATV. I don’t hunt as long. I read a kindle in by shooting house. Don’t go out without a Thermocell. No longer need magnums.

I’ll be 75 this year. Had four abdominal surgeries in last three years. Lost some strength.

I think what you're experiencing is normal.

FIVE STAGES OF A HUNTER

Hunters change through the years. Factors used to determine
"successful hunting" change as well for each hunter. A hunter's age,
role models, and his years of hunting experience affect his ideas of
"success."

Many hunters may fit into one of the following five groups. In
1975-1980, groups of over 1,000 hunters in Wisconsin were studied,
surveyed, and written about by Professors Robert Jackson and Robert
Norton, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The results of their
studies form a widely accepted theory of hunter behavior and
development. Where are you now? Where would you like to be?

SHOOTER STAGE

The hunter talks about satisfaction with hunting being closely tied to
being able to "get shooting." Often the beginning duck hunter will
relate he had an excellent day if he got in a lot of shooting. The
beginning deer hunter will talk about the number of shooting
opportunities. Missing game means little to hunters in this phase. A
beginning hunter wants to pull the trigger and test the capability of
his firearm. A hunter in this stage may be a dangerous hunting
partner.

LIMITING OUT STAGE

A hunter still talks about satisfaction gained from shooting. But what
seems more important is measuring success through the killing of game
and the number of birds or animals shot. Limiting out, or filling a
tag, is the absolute measure. Do not let your desire to limit out be
stronger than the need for safe behavior at all times.

TROPHY STAGE

Satisfaction is described in terms of selectivity of game. A duck
hunter might take only green heads. A deer hunter looks for one special
deer. A hunter might travel far to find a real trophy animal. Shooting
opportunity and skills become less important.

METHOD STAGE

This hunter has all the special equipment. Hunting has become one of
the most important things in his life. Satisfaction comes from the
method that enables the hunter to take game. Taking game is important,
but second to how it is taken. This hunter will study long and hard
how best to pick a blind site, lay out decoys, and call in
waterfowl. A deer hunter will go one on one with a white-tailed deer,
studying sign, tracking, and the life habits of the deer. Often, the
hunter will handicap himself by hunting only with black powder
firearms or bow and arrow. Bagging game, or limiting, still is
understood as being a necessary part of the hunt during this phase.

SPORTSMAN STAGE

As a hunter ages and after many years of hunting, he "mellows out."
Satisfaction now can be found in the total hunting experience. Being
in the field, enjoying the company of friends and family, and seeing
nature outweigh the need for taking game.

Not all hunters go through all the stages, or go through them in that
particular order. It is also possible for hunters who pursue several
species of game to be in different stages with regard to each
species. Some hunters feel that role models of good sportsmen,
training, or reading books or magazines helped them pass more quickly
through some stages.

I love deer hunting, but in Michigan the antler hunters have all but ruined it for many. They have done what many groups should do, band together and infiltrate conservation groups and the state DNR. Laws for Deer hunting are a cluster of regulations. Our Trout fishing regs are also the same. One step on a certain creek with the wrong tackle gets a ticket. So yeah I do a lot of hassle free squirrel hunting myself, until the tail size become a trophy thing...

We love venison or I probably wouldn't hunt deer any more. It's all about harvesting the first yearling meat buck I find so I can go fishing. Same with elk - It's just a lot of work but we like the meat.

I did enjoy a dove hunt yesterday mostly jumping them in the sunflowers. But those doves seem to be adapting. I used to hear them flush and now their flushes are more stealthy so I really have to be on my toes. Good thing my eyesight is still keen:)

I’ve been in a combination of the limiting out stage and the methods stage for many years lol
The methods that we prefer in hunting effect our level of effort tremendously.

I just trap now I bow hunted for many years but now it has become a hassle the wife’s family farm/ranch is 1600 acres I have 4 stands in 3 acre draw that I can’t hunt in now as everyone that hunts there parks in the draw that I hunted they even use my stands.

One of our older neighbors/cousin told us boys that there was going to come a time when we would get tired of chasing deer. As a young man we didn't believe him but now I fully understand. I would much rather get everything ready for everyone else to hunt than hunt anymore. I spend many hours bush hogging, plowing and planting and won't hunt 3 times. But I enjoy watching everyone else hunt.

How about the "I'm going to shoot the next trespasser on my property stage" ?.....After encountering an accumulative army of poachers over many years I think I'm between the method and sportsman stage, but ready to revert back to the shooter and limiting out stage on the next interloper. Lol.

When I was in my teens I was after everything as much as I could be. Now I have a short-hair and mostly chase phesants, I enjoy squirrel hunting, and I do trap alot that will never change. But I have given everything else up pretty much. This year however things will be ramping back up I have an 8yr old boy who's ate up with hunting and trapping, he inherited 2 beagles this summer from an uncle that passed. So here we go! It's coming up fast too. My dad use to also be hard on everything ducks deer turkeys and everything between now he just fishes hasn't huntes in years.

At 71 yrs, I can relate to the main post and all that follow.

I hunt all things I did as a young man, just not to the extent I did back then. At 72 my mind says I can, but my body says don't do it.

I have a buddy who is in his 40s who drives all over North America to duck hunt and all over SD to pheasant hunt. He only wants to hunt with 10-15 guys because you can “kill more”. Hes been stuck with that mindset as ling as ive known him. Ive never liked pheasant hunting with more than a couple guys. Shot a couple deer but never got into it. Seeing all the leased ground and bucks with names on tv has cheapened it and made people critical of bucks that other guys shoot. If you want to watch some young guys with a passion for deer hunting public ground i suggest “the hunting public” on youtube.

I can relate at 69. Squirrels are the only thing I hunt anymore. More time is spent fishing out my boat and shooting my longbow at targets and having fun with grandkids

Thanks for the replies.

I have an obsession with calling coyotes. I have all types of game where I hunt., but only care about fooling mr. coyote. I am 71 and remember all the phases

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

I find my reverence for life has increased year in and year out for the past 50 years. Yet I still love to hunt and trap.

Almost 80 and just bought a doe license for the first time in many years. I had trapped sort of hard and last year took to ice fishing instead fo trapping once the ice formed. I just enjoy being active in the woods with a gun or bow or traps in hand.........jk

I still get up at 4:00 Am on opening morning of rifle deer season. I just never wake up 5 times to check the clock.
Still stay in a tree for hours looking around , spend a few more reading a book.
Our home is in the woods so most of my stands are within a couple - three hundred yards of my house.
This allows more time in the woods and less travel time, not as much stress trying to get somewhere.
Seen a lot of things over the years, be it in a tree, on foot along a river, or on a quiet hunt in a canoe.
I still like to kill things, likely always will. I enjoy the field to table aspect.

zim

I’m a die hard trad archer and still enjoy deer hunting. I’m 63 and when I was younger I wouldn’t have dreamt of sitting in a stand. Now I enjoy sitting, reading a good book, and waiting for dinner to serve itself at my feet! It is my quiet time to just enjoy being out of the house or workshop.

I really started hunting deer at 13 with a bow. That's when I could pull back the 35lb bow requirement. I was raised by a single mom that did not like guns so got my first little bow at 5. My boys finished wearing that one out.
I had an uncle that hunted but he hunted for himself. I would get a ride to his house and my cousin and I would walk a 3 mile radius to hunt by ourselves. I killed my first several deer with a bow sitting in the forks of trees not deer stands. After 2 years my grandfather and dad bought me a loggy climber.

At 15 I bought my first shotgun a single shot Steven's at a farm auction. My mom hit the fan the gun was keep at my grandparents. I fought and work extremely hard to get to hunt. Raised in an apartment in town by a single mother that is a hairdresser. Read every magazine and watched rented every video on hunting I could find. Infacr a video is how I learned to gut deer not from my uncle.

I started trapping in my early 20s fir a few years then quit. Starter again a few years ago to teach my kids.

I used to live to hunt and fish. Today I'm 41 I still love it but mainly take my kids. I don't take a gun or bow but every now and then. I did shoot one rabbit last year and one dove. I can't stand sitting in a stand hunting for me ( to much else to do) but I will sit there all day hunting with my kids.

I never got really into antlers. Sure they are nice but I would rather eat doe. Last year the boys shot 5 deer the year before that 6.

I enjoy hunting more now than I did when I was younger. Its just not that big of a deal if I don't harvest anything.

Good post. I used to be manic about it - hunted everything from opening day to season close. Now I don't need to kill anything but still enjoy getting out and experiencing the outdoors with someone else.

Brian

Hunting has been my passion since I was a kid. Been at it for forty-five years. The passion is still there but the legs aren't.

I have several deer rifles but I decided this season to just use my Rem700 7mm-08. It is a LVSF fluted light varmint with aluminum bedding blocks, and a Trigger Tech trigger. It is a shooter. Low recoil and very accurate. Whitetails hate it.

A 7-08 is about all the recoil my 75-year old shoulder can stand, after two rotator surgeries.

I'm with you. Nothing more infuriating to work so hard to keep a cattle farm going, then go on a winter day for a hunt to enjoy the land. Only to find someone has already been through.

Have some fun with that, Zim! Good luck!

Moosetrot

Dang forgot about Turkey hunting that is the only hunting I still do I tried hunting about every critter and ways to hunt them and Turkey still lights my fire mostly because less people are out there.

You start realizing your own mortality and appreciate life a lot more. As a kid I would shoot songbirds with my red rider daisy for shucks and giggles. Now I don't enjoy killing unless the animal is bothering my standard of living and causing problems. I kill 2 deer a year off of my 155 acre farm because that is what my family uses each year. I don't celebrate it like I did as a kid. Just a shopping trip. Now when I kill something it's for neccecity , not for fun.

^^^ This.

i don't have the drive to hunt deer as much as when I was young. but I believe it all about having some one to do it with , if you have people that are really into hunting then it make's it better for you , I have two uncles in there middle 80s that still love to hunt ,go to camp, they have son, and grandson that go for a week or two , since my dad died in 07, his friend quit hunting and so did some of mine , I sold camp was just not using it , I have great hunting right at home ,

Well all this talk about hunting had me step out back for a sit amongst some hickory trees. No limit but it will do.

nice !!

My hunting has slowed a little as I get older. I find it more fun to go back to the old ways-recurve-flintlock. All the new stuff to make everything easier does not sit well with me.That being said I leave for an elk hunt tom.for 2 weeks and will be home for a few days and then off to NoDak for ducks for a week. Been taking the grandsons to ND and it has been a blast!! I have never slowed down on the trapping-LL my whole life.

I miss hunting in groups and the comradery. now everyone has big buck fever and wants to hunt alone in some fancy blind. i still do it for food, but the most enjoyment i get is hunting with the kids

Things have changed for the worst many animal populations are way down and tags are hard to get for big game. Rules are changing all of the time now it seems never ending trapping not impacted as much so far but it’s coming.

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.