The animal or the experience...

What do you remember most about a past hunting trip?

  • Animal taken

    Votes: 11 11.3%
  • Experience

    Votes: 86 88.7%

  • Total voters
    97

Sixes

Senior Member
I'm a hunter, not a killer. And I'm proud of that fact.
There is a very fine line between hunters and killers.

I walk that line, meaning, I love to hunt (no matter the game) and I hunt as much as I can, but when the right time and opportunity comes along, I switch over to a natural born killer.

My killer instinct never leaves but I keep it in check until the time is right.
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
Both. I love to kill and eat deer. But sometimes huntin ain’t all about the kill.

I’ve realized that with age. Especially as a dad. NOTHING better than hunting with my kids. I’ll be depressed once they’re old enough to hunt without me.
 

earlthegoat2

Senior Member
Probably both. One begat the other.

Here is my biggest buck taken. It was around 2007. I didn’t have trail cams or any technology back then. I hunted it hard for an entire season when I saw him the second day of bow season. I saw him twice more that bow season and he disappeared for a few weeks and then gun season started.

I let several bucks walk and several more does. I will usually shoot anything with size once gun season starts. The deer became spooky real fast after the first few days back then, so if you want freezer meat, you best come out shooting. Well I didn’t because I was waiting for that one.

On the third or fourth day it was raining. My dads stand had a roof and he wasn’t going to hunt in the rain so I took his spot for the evening. I sat for maybe half an hour when I heard a snort and a crash behind me. I grabbed my shotgun (shotgun zone) and was ready. I saw a buck jump the fence directly to my left and knew it was him. He ran in front of me 15 or 20 yds and I just yelled at him to get him to stop. I think I yelled, “Hey”. He stopped and I dropped him where he stood.

In less than 7 or 8 seconds (about) from hearing the snort to taking the shot the great hunt was over. No happiness. No relief. No excitement even. It was just another deer. I changed my entire hunting philosophy that day. I stopped hunting ”target bucks”. When I hunt, I only watch deer and try to get meat from some of them. I like sitting in the woods and watching the squirrels and birds and watching the sun rise and set.

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Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
I think both are equally important.
 

Raylander

I’m Billy’s Useles Uncle.
I like being in the woods. I’m in them almost everyday. But my left leg still shakes just a bit after I let an arrow fly..
 

Mexican Squealer

Senior Member
I imagine the experience will take a sizable lead for me going forward and having Alpha Gal. I’m a horn hunter now. My family will enjoy the meat and I’ll probably do a lot of deer watching….which i dig. Because deer are cool….not duck cool but cool.
 

Tight Lines

Senior Member
The experience is my attraction. My memories of the past are about the people, the places, the landscape, the environment...the game taken is just a byproduct of all of that...

I remember a great grandfather walking in his overalls and leather uninsulated boots, and a Sears & Roebuck side by side...the same grandfather fishing with a Zebco 202 and an old fiberglass no name rod, and shiners as big as your hand for huge SE OK largemouth bass...

I remember shivering in the bitter Kansas cold, dressed in my K-mart hunting outfit, waiting on that big buck to walk down that cold snowy trail...

I remember the cackle of a thousand pheasants at sunup over too many years to count, and the eggs, sausage, pancakes, and coffee at the VFW breakfast...

I remember my Dad teaching me to squirrel hunt under a massive walnut tree, in my camo jacket that my Mom hand sewed, with my Ithaca single shot and a new hunter safety card in my pocket...

I remember catching the prettiest of browns in the Piney high above Vail, brookies in the Shavers Fork high in WV...

I remember those kids sitting beside me in the stand and the blind more days than I can count...their first deer, and their first trout...

I don't have anything in the record books, and don't really care...my memories of all of it are my record...literally...
 
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Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
I’ve realized that with age. Especially as a dad. NOTHING better than hunting with my kids. I’ll be depressed once they’re old enough to hunt without me.

I started taking mine when they were very young. My best hunts were sitting with them. I didn’t carry anything but binoculars. I learned more during those years than I ever did. Watching an 8 point walk to you and you got nothing but binoculars telling an 11 year old boy to breath easy……..pretty cool experience.

They’re grown, I got back to taking a rifle to the woods and hunting by myself. My brother passed away last year so now I get to do it all over again with my 13 year old nephew that lives next door with my mom. About the time he’s hunting on his own, I get to watch my son and son in-law teach my grandsons, and get to take part in sitting with no gun just watching them. They’re are 2 1/2 and 2.

Life is good in the woods with kids.
 

Jimmack

Member
I love the experience more than the kill. With that being said I love eating all sorts of wild game but I'm also very picky about what I shoot as well. I gotta feel like I earned him/it before I squeezed the trigger so if I hunt hard all week and only see a small buck chances are hes getting dropped.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
There is a very fine line between hunters and killers.

I walk that line, meaning, I love to hunt (no matter the game) and I hunt as much as I can, but when the right time and opportunity comes along, I switch over to a natural born killer.

My killer instinct never leaves but I keep it in check until the time is right.

Yes sir. I haven't killed one in a couple of years now. Not because I haven't seen one but because I haven't seen the one I want. My venison is all gone now so I suspect I'll see one I like pretty soon now.:bounce:
 

rugerfan

Senior Member
It is both for me. I am out there for both. I like to watch the deer, I like the quiet time, but when it is time to pull the trigger it is time to pull the trigger.
 

bany

Senior Member
I’ve realized that with age. Especially as a dad. NOTHING better than hunting with my kids. I’ll be depressed once they’re old enough to hunt without me.
Mine still want to hunt with me so don’t worry new hunts are coming!
 

JustUs4All

Slow Mod
Staff member
Yes sir. I haven't killed one in a couple of years now. Not because I haven't seen one but because I haven't seen the one I want. My venison is all gone now so I suspect I'll see one I like pretty soon now.:bounce:

I have killed 2 in the last 10 years. My freezer gets replenished now mostly by my Grandson. Last year he and I were together in a tower (built by a friend who hunts with me sometimes) and I was whispering in his ear when he killed a nice 8 point. He has never killed a deer with a bullet that I did not make -- and the memories continue to build.
 

bany

Senior Member
Like a lot of things age and experiences changes your outlook. I lean toward the experience most of the time. Alone time, hunts with kids and grandkids or friends.

We eat lots of wild things so some hunts are all about filling the cooler or maybe a big buck or exceptional hog for sausage.
 

JB0704

The Original JB
Experience even when it involves killin'. I wouldn't enjoy a guaranteed hunt for a monster buck in a high fence type setting. Such would mean nothing to me. Also, the size of the antlers only hold value relative to scarcity from my perspective.......which is to say killin' a big ol buck where there ain't many is more valuable than killin' a big ol buck where nobody shoots the little juans. The experience leading up to such holds greater value.
 
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