IS IT JUST ME OR WHAT?

[bigmuddy]

I still love it! When I start seeing the signs that the Whitetail rut is on, I get excited. Love being in the woods in the fall. Don’t go at it as hard as I did in younger days. Now that I’m retired I hunt when I want to, not when I have time off from work. Makes it more enjoyable.

I agree totally with Woody though. I hate what it’s become and also attribute it to the hunting shows. When I was younger we all admired a “big one”, but never remember any talk about “score”. I hate seeing young hunters telling me how many inches they are
(amazingly they can measure them on the hoof) and how they pass them up because the deer didn’t score enough. I’ve been fortunate enough to take my share, but have never put a measuring tape on one and never will. I personally look more to the hunt rather than the “score”. I have nothing against trophy hunters, but when like Woody said when they look down on others I usually make note to not talk hunting with them.

We also really like the venison and have come to count on it.

Dan

[contender]

When I was young,, folks who actually killed a deer were less common. Seeing a deer was a treat. I felt 10 ft tall at 16 yrs old & taking my first deer,, a small 6-point.

But I always put getting the meat as my #1 reason to hunt,, and of course,, I always wanted bigger bucks & all.

Now,, I still get excited at seeing deer,, any deer. I know a lot of my area,, and in my travels,, up & down the roads,, every day,, I still do a lot of "road looking hunting!" I still get excited seeing deer.
If I ever lose the excitement,, I'll quit. But I also still hunt to feed us here. It's still my main reason. I've never apologized for killing does,, or smaller bucks. But I've killed enough to where I quit strutting like a rooster when I got one,, long ago.
I took up handgun hunting in the 1980's,, and found it to be my true comfort zone of methods. Yes,, most of my deer with a handgun have been with a T/C Contender. But others have filled my freezer from an arrow, a crossbow bolt, or a smokepole. It's been quite some time since I even carried a rifle for hunting deer.

But every time I see deer, either in the woods hunting,, or just in a field as I drive by an area,, or heck, standing in someone's yard,, I immediately get an internal excitement.

Maybe someday,, I'll lose that feeling,, but I hope not. It reminds me of how much of my life I've enjoyed & been blessed with with God's bounty & the animals.

[sixshot]

Well, this is a hand gun forum so I think most of us have to get use to being skunked once in a while, even the guy that has a lease. It's never 100% with a six gun, I'm old enough I just never got use to calling them "wheel guns" just my opinion!
As far as leases go I had an opinion change about 1966 when I first went into the military in Texas. At first I laughed & said, I'm not going to pay someone so that I can hunt deer, well I found out different, if you're going to hunt in Texas you're going to pay somebody unless you're lucky enough to know someone who will invite you to hunt their property & they take that right very seriously! As I got to know some of the locals from working in a local Gibson's Discount Center part time I came to realize it was totally different from Idaho where most of the land is public & you can pretty much hunt anywhere you want within reason. I learned to respect that & after a while met up with a couple of farmers that came in the store & kind of took me under their wing & also invited me to their deer lease. I was a very lucky fellow & a few years later took them on a pack in elk hunt in Idaho where 3 of the 4 got elk, it was great times with great friends.
The point is different parts of the country have different laws, you abide by them or you can offend people, be friendly & follow the law & you might have a better outcome. Two of my kids were born in Texas & I'll always consider it my second home, love the friendly people & the easy going lifestyle....and the food! Hunting is a way of life there, whether it's hogs, deer or exotic's, pick your poison but don't give up hunting just because the bath water gets a little cold, even if it's an Alaskan beaver pond.

Dick

[bigbore5]

I'm lucky enough to have 164 acres and permissions for over a thousand more from a few farms around me.

If not for that, I would have to hunt public game land. There's none really close by and the pressure on those is heavy to say the least. I've taken deer on a few of them, but there's too many city people there blasting away at anything that moves or makes noise. I'd lease land rather than hunt public since the population exploded around here.

[Big Bore]

For me I still really enjoy it all. Plus, we live off the venison I kill all year. I process everything myself and we don’t buy any beef unless we get the hankering for a ribeye.

I will admit something though. Since I started going out west chasing elk with a handgun 5 years ago, it has changed my feelings a bit on how we hunt in Texas. I will never give up my Texas hunting, BUT, sitting in a box blind staring at a feeder has lost some of its appeal after chasing elk on foot up and down mountains all day. The weather, the scenery, the smells, the unknown, the physical and mental exhaustion…it’s safe to say that one week a year in true mountains pretty much consumes my thoughts all year.

And as much as I love our Texas deer season, I think I enjoy the off season just as much. I try to plan my off season trips around the other lease members so that I have our place to myself. 1000 acre playground and I can spend the better part of a day just roaming mindlessly with a revolver, a bottle of water, and a pair of binoculars. It sure ain’t the Bighorns chasing elk, but it’s not a bad therapeutic substitution.

[sharps4590]

As an addendum to my first post; About 30-35 years ago, after I'd killed quite a few head of game of various kind, hunting took a turn for me. It was no longer about killing an animal. Actually, after about 18-20 that ceased to be THE reason to go and a lot of successful hunts did not include dead critters. Anyway, I digress. My interest in firearms and cartridges exploded and I wanted to try everything on game, from muzzleloaders to the "latest and greatest, nothing better." It took about 2 animals to learn the latter was so much horse manure. Then I got into obsolete American black powder and buffalo cartridges and cast bullets. That lasted about 15-18 years. Argue if you want but nothing kills any better or quicker.

After I burned through all that interest waned until I discovered firearms from the land of the most blood that flows through my veins. German firearms and cartridges were a whole, new world and, the cousins across the English channel offered another niche' of firearms and cartridges. Guess what? One kills as well as the other.

Today I have rifles I will never blood and that's ok. I still learn from them, when I can find one different enough I haven't worked with something very, very similar and, that situation just arose....and it is a revolver....from Germany....and in a cartridge I'm totally unfamiliar with. It should arrive mid-week! So will begin another exercise in forming, turning, making suitable cases, another bullet mold, a heel type this time and, work up suitable loads. THAT still excites me!

[hampton]

I'm not mad at them any more but I sure appreciate the opportunity to hunt them.  I grew up and still live in rural Missouri where deer hunting is ingrained in our culture.  We close school for deer season.  I shot my first whitetail 55 years ago.  My family has owned a deer camp since the beginning and we still enjoy the camaraderie and fellowship of camp life.  We have far more deer today than ever before.  Today, it's essential to control the doe population.  And taking a big, mature whitetail buck is most challenging and rewarding.  I spend a considerable amount of time, effort, and money in habitat enhancement -- in an effort to provide the best homelife possible for wildlife.  I've been blessed to hunt a lot of different critters in my life and hunting whitetail with a handgun will remain a priority - and cherished opportunity.  My wife and I enjoy the venison and donate the rest to the needy - and Share the Harvest Program.  Mad at them -- not at all.  Love to hunt them -- most definitely!  

Just my 2 cents,

Mark Hampton    

[45MAN]

I LOVE HUNTING, ESPECIALLY HANDGUN HUNTING, AND HUNTING CAMPS, AND WILL NEVER VOLUNTARILY GIVE UP EITHER, BUT IF I COULD HANDGUN HOGS I MIGHT QUIT SHOOTING WHITETAILS OR MIGHT JUST START SHOOTING LESS DEER.

P.S. I HAVE HANDGUNNED 2 BUCKS AND RIFLE SHOT 2 BUCKS THIS SEASON, HAVE LET FRIENDS USE A SPIKE BUG TAG AND 2 DOE TAGS, AND I STILL HAVE A SPIKE BUCK TAG AND A DOE TAG, AND TO THE END OF FEBRUARY TO TAG OUT.

[hampton]

Rey, I agree 100% about the hogs -- I can never get enough of them.  This year I killed 4 good boar in Argentina (FA 44 Mag) one dandy boar in Macedonia (360 Buckhammer) and two monster boar in Hungary (360 Buckhammer)  Hunting hogs with handguns goes together like hot peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.

[nicholst55]

If you want another challenge besides handgun hunting, try big game hunting with a flintlock. I became disenchanted with hunting with a scoped rifle and handgun hunting wasn't an option in that time and place, so I went to a flintlock. It made hunting fun again for me!

[Big Bore]

Oh and I agree about chasing hogs.  Pigs and pistols are a great combination.  

[sixshot]

I agree about the hog hunting, I would hunt hogs every day if I could, and also about the hot peach cobbler & the vanilla ice cream, yippee!

Just made this dutch oven peach cobbler a couple of days ago.

Dick

[zeus]

Been that way for year Rey. I haven’t shot a deer with horns in probably 17 years. And only a few does in between. Son still enjoys it so I take him when we have time. And it sucks…because most of my guns I justified to myself for hunting. Hahahahaha

[Burnston]

I get out no matter the weather, usually alone, from before sunup to after sundown because, as Dick said, it's what I do. I tend to consider, "what would I be doing instead?" and if the answer is tv or working, I go hunting.

Now, if you might indulge my sentimental side; I came to be a father much later than many people do, (33.) Perhaps the roles between my son and I are reversed, because I find myself consistently seeking ways to live up to his expectations, and one of those is going into the woods when everyone else is inside. I remember feeling something inside of me twist when he asked me for the fist time, "Dad, did you get a deer?" and I had to tell him "no." So, I do not have a blood lust, but I am more motivated now than I was as an excited kid to be a good hunter, which often means simply being out there with icicles in my beard, whether the meat comes home every time or not. That applies to whitetail, hogs, or whatever happens to be in season. 

On a side note, I'd rather be hunting in Texas.

[blacktailslayer]

We hunt as a party and push brush with people on stands, its pretty much 50-50 who shoots a buck, folks in the brush or the ones on stands. Always lots of fun hunting with family members and mutual friends. Have almost always hunted deer on private land owned by a few family members that raised timber and Christmas trees for a living. Always been a high point of every year and getting a buck was very important to all of us as they were quite plentiful in the late 70's & 80's. Only one tag a year per person so it is coveted.

Fast-forward to now and the blacktails in western Oregon are not as plentiful. Those of us still hunting together 40+ years later have changed our focus to training the next generation and trying to get them a buck. If one comes our way we will definately shoot it because we share the meat so it is like our duty to do so for the greater good, but we sure wish that one of the kids had a chance at it.

I am more driven to help the youngsters to have a chance at buck than to get one myself. However I do take the last week of season as vacation and hunt by myself to hunt where the big ones tend to hang out just in case they are home. If not, it was a great day in the woods by myself, remembering past hunts and the like.

Kind of wordy to say that I am still driven to hunt but not as much for myself but to help the next generation do it right, be successful and carry on the tradition that our dads instilled in us.


Don D.