Have you ever considered quitting hunting?

[GeauxLSU]

Obviously our numbers are evaporating. Of course youth are not joining our ranks as they were in the past, but I also know and have met quite a few folks that 'used to hunt, but don't anymore'.
Have you ever thought of quitting? I have. This year is probably the first time the thought has actually entered my mind. A LOT of different reasons. No I'm not about to quit and I can't really imagine not escaping to the woods but it just struck me as odd that I even gave it a moment's thought. :

Hunt/fish safely,
Phil

 

[Toliver]

I went 5 full years without stepping foot in the woods. It was because of my job, lack of money, and lack of place to go. It almost killed me. Glad that's overwith!!!

 

[BROWNING7WSM]

Ive thought about it once.. .I then slapped myself for thinking such crazy thoughts..

 

[stumpman]

If it wasn't for me wanting my boys to experience what I did when I was younger. I don't think I would hunt but 1 or 2 times a year. Maybee go on a couple of trips may not even do that. Hunting today isn't the same as it was when I was younger. Now it's all about money and giant racks . Everybody wants a nice racked buck but thats not what hunting is or was all about. It was about spending time in the woods with your dad or grandad or uncle and if you saw or got a deer that was something special. Now if you don't see 50 deer when you sit everyone complains about it. It's just not the same anymore. and the cost is getting outrageous.

 

[Meriwether Mike]

No! As long as there is game to pursue I will pursue until I cannot go any more.

 

[Nick_T]

I went 5 full years without stepping foot in the woods. It was because of my job, lack of money, and lack of place to go. It almost killed me.

Quit - No
Changed things - Yes

Hunting has just got so expensive that I couldn't blame someone for throwing in the towel. I hunted waterfowl pretty much exclusively for 14 years, and this season I haven't even been. One reason is the lack of birds, inwhich I really have started to look at the financial strain v/s my enjoyment of hunting ducks. This year I finially threw in the towel on waterfowl and replaced it with a more affordable game to chase. Be it that crows ain't as pretty as a woodduck cupped over decoys but I don't have to tend to a boat, drive long distances, or buy special no-tox ($$) shells. Everything is more leasured, and more to my enjoyment. Do I miss waterfowling? A little, but I haven't missed it near as much as I thought I would. I would do a little if things picked up with the birds and the finances, but I doubt that I'll ever be the duck hunting machine that I was back 10 years ago.

Nick T

 

[Georgiaastro]

I guess you could say I quit about 4 years ago. My dad had gotten where he could not hunt because of his health and we were about to lose the lease we had hunted since 1968. Both boys are grown with families and they are teaching there kids to hunt and fish. They had been hunting with other clubs for several years. I just didn't really care to hunt by myself and without my dad.

What I thought I would never do was to quit fishing but I had to give that up 2 years ago this coming March because of health problems myself. I have my health back now but the money it cost to hunt and fish now days, I thought could be better spent on my wife and grandkids.

I hope and pray that hunting never comes to an end!!!!

Larry

 

[Kdog]

Phil/others, yes I have. This year as a matter of fact. Don't know why, but I just lost it. Have not gotten it back 100% yet, but hope that it comes back soon. Maybe next year, although, I did have my most exciting hunt this year.

Kdog

 

[RCCola]

I went from hunting with my Dad in VA in 1978 of not hunting until 1986 going one day in GA going with a friend from work. It was 80 degrees that day and that was my last day hunting in GA until 1999.

My wife wanted me do something to get out of the house and a neighbor invited me to go hunting. I've been in the woods ever since. My wife cannot believe the passion that I have for hunting.

 

[HT2]

Phil.......

I don't think so.......

 

[Todd E]

Yes, I have and it won't take much more for me to throw in the towel and put it all up for sale in the swap shop. My dad instilled the love of hunting in me at an early age and it has been a passion. That passion is dwindling away. It has gotten too expensive, too aggrevating, and too time consuming with no yield. No yield, you say : Yes, no yield in harvests. I can go camping and get my outdoor visual enjoyment. That's what will replace my hunting for enjoyment.

 

[denny]

Running a club, and the numberous headaches that come from it every year has taken its toll on me. Its a thankless job, that will ruin your desire to put up with the whole thing.

 

[W4DSB]

WHAT YOU TALKIN BOUT WILLIS ?

 

[Jim Thompson]

Yeah right.

Jim

 

[Paymaster]

To be honest, I tried to quit this year. I love fly fishing and just wanted to do that. But my son and all my sons in law and nephews said to me to give it one more year and I did. I had no idea that they would light into me when they got me in the woods. We were at West Point this year and were camping . They sat a chair near the campfire that first nite and had me sit. Then one at a time chew me out royal for teaching them all about the ins and outs of hunting and then abandoning them. They told me about how important is was for me to be there with them. Man it really made me feel special. So I will hang in with them as long as they want me around. I must done something right.
God Bless them all. Sorry for the long post.

 

[stumpman]

Great post paymaster hang in there they will appreciate it.

 

[Junebug]

Not quitting altogether...

...but I have changed my focus over the years:
1) From mostly rifle to mostly bow. (Primarily because of the challenge)
2) Going to different states. (Yeah I get to hunt less often, but new scenery and better opportunities make up for it)
3) Getting others involved. (Hunting was more fun when I was learning; or as the case is now, being a part of others learning)

 

[matthewsman]

i guess

I would hunt ants,wasp, hippos,jacklls,blackbirds,whip-poor-wills,or even kitty kats.............If there were not other more attractive,more edible solutions out there..............There's just something in me that drives me.....I get threatened with bodily harm from my wife for going too much.I get in trouble for being evil around the house when I can't.
Some peoplehave to try hunting and try to like it,or ,in others, it awakes primal instincts ;hair standing on end,nostrils flaring,breathing that odd breath of late August cool air knowing Sept is around the corner....................If you don't know what I'm talking about,quit,.........or come with me...........donnie

 

[stumpman]

Donnie you sound as bad as my son. When we go dove hunting if there are no doves he wants to shoot dragon flies.Ya'll just like killin something.

 

[TurkeyCreek]

Nope...