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

psedna

UAEC
Both for sure, but I also enjoy the overall experience - the "getting ready each year", the work on the property, the the cameras and the strategizing, and I have been accused of being a deer watcher not a deer shooter. I passed up two pretty good eight points the last Friday of the season last year, because I had shot a 210 lb nice mature nine pointer earlier that was bigger so I ended the season with the one deer. Grandson can take the does...

Just ordered the Tacta Cam 6.0 camera and bow mount - I try to share my "stories" with friends and families, but you cant really capture what you saw with others, so hopefully the new camera will add a totally new additional dimension to an already outright passion (and I have been doing this a long, long time).i
 

psedna

UAEC
I think my real thrill is getting really close to big bucks, sometimes probably too close. To have a good one walk under your tree and you could drop an acorn on their back is just awesome - bowhunting and shooting good bucks within twenty yards or less is my passion.
 

MYRX

Senior Member
Hunting a trophy mature buck hands down is why I hunt. Scoring on a mature whitetail is a huge part of why I go.

I pass up plenty of deer each year. I enjoy planting crops and growing deer, (thats the experience for me year round). I enjoy seeing deer in the wild, that's another wonderful experience.

I don't need the meat even though I enjoy it, but I enjoy the fish I catch more. As much as I love hunting and I go often, I am still some.what tender hearted when it comes to taking an animals life, although I have taken many in my younger days. These days, I am about trying to score on a target buck. The challenge. Even if I get him in my sights, he may get a free pass. Last years did.
 

fireman32

"Useless Billy" Fire Chief.
In my youth it was all about the kill, I had no idea my pops was making memories with me. It took until my mid 20’s before I started enjoying the woods and all that’s in them. I’ve got a couple of mounts on the wall and I do enjoy the chance at a big buck, but I’ve never really defined my hunts as trophy or kill hunts. Watching the woods come alive in the morning, knowing what critters are making what sound. Figuring out what flew through that got the squirrels all frantic. Wondering what deer may ease by any minute now. And the peace of mind of having nothing to do but enjoy nature.
Then there’s your kids, watching them shoot their first deer and turkey and showing them how to track and clean their kill. Processing game, sighting in rifles, sharpening knives teaching and learning plant types and different habitats.
Yeah, the experience is the greatest. The kill is just icing on the cake.
 

Waddams

Senior Member
For me - it's the moment of success. When I shoot and then it either drops or I go find it and it's down. The experience leading up to the accomplishment.

Not having success is more along the lines of frustration as part of the experience but that makes the successes even sweeter.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
For me, it is the experience of the animal. I can go out hunting any day of the week and kill something. But I like to find out what's on my property and I figure the most mature bucks are going to be the hardest to kill and the greatest challenge. All about the Chase for me.
Not always being successful makes it even more satisfying when I am.
After my muzzle loader kill last year, I spent the entire rest of the season chasing one particular buck. I was more satisfied that I didn't pull the trigger on anything than I was disappointed that I didn't shoot something.
 

JHannah92

Senior Member
I flat out love the experience of hunting. The scouting, prep work, early mornings, sunrises, sunsets, the peacefulness of being alone in the woods. But that experience is heightened 100x knowing that I'm there to kill a deer, to make all the preparation pay off, and knowing that it could happen at any time. In that respect, killing an animal is completely intertwined with all other aspects of the experience; I couldn't truly say which is the more important aspect because neither matters much without the other.
 

ddd-shooter

Senior Member
Experiences.

BUT, as I sit here remembering, I realize it takes special moments to remember experiences. If you want to hear a detailed story about my experience, it'll most likely be a kill. Can't really recall the average Saturday morning where I was skunked. Unless something else memorable happened.
 

Mason Jar

Senior Member
To me, it's about the hunt, not the kill. Just My two cents worth.
 

antharper

“Well Rounded Outdoorsman MOD “
Staff 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.
It’s hard but it sure is rewarding when you hear that shot from their direction. Then seconds later you get a phone call with an excited kid on the phone ?
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
It’s hard but it sure is rewarding when you hear that shot from their direction. Then seconds later you get a phone call with an excited kid on the phone ?

I’m sure you’re right. I’m still the excited kid on occasion myself! My dad is always at the top of the list of people to hear about a kill.
 

Todd E

Senior Member
I don't hunt for the experience. I hunt to kill. Bottom line. No sugar coating period for me.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I don't hunt for the experience. I hunt to kill. Bottom line. No sugar coating period for me.
We are polar opposites, then.
 

mizzippi jb

Welcome back.
I don't hunt for the experience. I hunt to kill. Bottom line. No sugar coating period for me.
So you don't enjoy it at all? There's no enjoying time in the stand it looking forward to that time? That's the "experience" part of hunting. Just to kill something huh? ..... You a bad dude ?
I envision a robot. (robot voice) "wake up.... Get dressed.... Go to woods.... Must go kill something....."
 

Todd E

Senior Member
I don't tip toe through the lilies. I go camping, spend time with family, etc for the experience. Sure, I soak what I see while hunting.

Problem is.....a high percentage of you all sugar coat it. If you're not in it for the kill, then why keep going? You just won't admit it. LoL

I admit it. You try to pick at it.
Guess what.......I don't give a flying flip about your opinions.
 

Big7

The Oracle
I hunt for meat.

Same for fish.
 

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
I don't tip toe through the lilies. I go camping, spend time with family, etc for the experience. Sure, I soak what I see while hunting.

Problem is.....a high percentage of you all sugar coat it. If you're not in it for the kill, then why keep going? You just won't admit it. LoL

I admit it. You try to pick at it.
Guess what.......I don't give a flying flip about your opinions.


Understood.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I don't tip toe through the lilies. I go camping, spend time with family, etc for the experience. Sure, I soak what I see while hunting.

Problem is.....a high percentage of you all sugar coat it. If you're not in it for the kill, then why keep going? You just won't admit it. LoL

I admit it. You try to pick at it.
Guess what.......I don't give a flying flip about your opinions.
If I never killed anything, it wouldn't be hunting, and I wouldn't enjoy it the same, sure. But killing something or getting meat isn't the only thing I enjoy about hunting, by a long shot.
 
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