With regardto bowhunting, is the fun mostly in the race as the old adage suggests?
As an example to expound a little more: I just finished my third seasonbut I'm really just getting started. First year I didn't know anything about bowhunting. I just walked into the woods with my buddies and climbed a tree. Skunked that year. Second year, I paid a little more attention to what I was doing and finally got my first bowkill, a7 pointer. This year, I actually took bowhunting as something to really work at. I bought a new Vectrix and I treatedbowhunting likeit was a new trade being learned.I harvested a button buck, aphysically maturedoe, and a 4-5 yr old 10 pointer as a result.
What I'm gettin' at is that each of those steps I've made alongthe way has made bowhunting more and more exciting. That first deer felt incredible. Buying the new bow proved more commitment. Harvesting 3 deer this year had me hooked even deeper.Climactically at the end of this season, being on the ground with the bow drawn and having a B&C stand 25yds away with a frontal viewthen not getting to shoot it haseven had me dreaming about him andwaking up with the adrenalin pump going. At this point itseems things can only get more exciting as I slowly mature as a bowhunter.
What I want to ask you guys is to think back to the "rookie" days and tell me where you've gone from there. Does it get better, meaning does the high get higher? -or- Does it plateau at a certain point? I've read that some guys have gotten to the point where just simply seeing deer or even simplythe deer they're targeting on camera already does it for them. How have you progressed or matured? How do you view bowhunting as compared to when you started? How is the rush now compared to then? What does it take to "do it" for you? -or-Was most of the fun in the race, meaning the rookie days?
Anything and everything pertinent is what this thread is about.
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I like big bucks and I cannot lie
im kinda kicking myself for killing my buck this season...in a way. why? just because it killed the learning expirience. last year i ate my buck tag....but i learned SO much...this year, killing my buck kinda, proved that i learned last year i guess. still proud and happy with my kill.
now its time to learn to hunt bucks of a little bigger caliber..not hunting monster bucks, but bigger than this years.
always gotta keep learning. if you quit learning, and quit having fun and looking forward to the season, its time for a new hobby.
cant really compare anything to my "rookie days" because ive only hunted 2 seasons and killed 1 deer with my bow..im still a rookie in my eyes...but can say that i look forward to next season....already been scouting...trying to get on better deer for next year....i want to start learning more about deer and habits of deer etc...
i been a rifle hunter all my life...didnt need to know much more than how to locate a funnel or bottleneck and shoot the deer i wanted to when they came through...10 years of hunting and im just now realizing how little i know about deer...i can find their sign, know what they eat etc....but theres alot to learn for me...
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>>----Give 'em the shaft!--->
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RE: The fun is in the race!?
Quote:
ORIGINAL: GregH
I can't wait for next season, I'm already preparing for it. If it wasn't exciting each year I'd take up something else.
For me it's like Christmas morning, I can't wait to see what's under the tree!
Yessir! Well said!
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A Trophy is highly personal and is often determined by the circumstances, events, and the individual feelings of accomplishment and not by a score card. - Greg "Doc" Caldwell
for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks!
Well, what I'm asking is if that excitement is the same as during your "rookie" years when everything was "new and exciting" -or- if it is less or more or plateaus.
I guess I wrote too much junk complicating my question. LOL that's OK, I'm sure it'll always be exciting regardless.
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I like big bucks and I cannot lie
Well, what I'm asking is if that excitement is the same as during your "rookie" years when everything was "new and exciting" -or- if it is less or more or plateaus.
I guess I wrote too much junk complicating my question. LOL that's OK, I'm sure it'll always be exciting regardless.
For me the next season is newer and more exciting than the last! learning what I learned from the year before and putting it to use!
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Big River Longbow 66" 52# @ 28"
Big River Longbow 66" 47# @ 28"
Big River Longbow 62" 52# @ 28"
Big River Recurve 56" 52# @ 28"
NewWood Longbow 58" 45# @ 28"
I'm going on 23 years of bow hunting next year and I think I get excited more now then I did when I started. I really get into it when I'm out there bow hunting! When I see that deer coming down the trail or when I see that bear coming into the bait and I know I'm going to try and shoot it I get worked up, I really get worked up after I shoot! My biggest bear and my biggest buck had me dry heaving the whole way back to the pickup after I shot them. I get excited and I love it!
It never ends, the hunt/kill,just a part of thepuzzle..its a365 day a year life long quest.. hunting whitetails..they never get boring.. never get sick of them, cant get enough and can never learn too much. Its the deer that really teach me..not the books.. or anything else. The more time you spend with them the more you learn..
I've always said/felt if I was aselfish manand asingle man, I'd sell outhere, move to Sas Canada where the land is vast and people are few..ina way I really like being alone.. reclusive... I'd buy what land I could and live out my days hunting big bush bucks..probably die in a ground blind..or on a shed hunt..wolves would probably eat me....along the way I'd have a beer or two with my bud Hia now and then..but mostly just devote all my time to learning the whitetail.
now back to reality and what the big man upstairs has planned for me..I'll do his will..and be better off..I can't complain though..I get to do a lot more than many have the time too..
All my bowkills have been cool experiences. Some more than others.....and the first wasn't the most (special). It wasn't even a buck (the most specialexperience, deer hunting)...and it wasn't this season.
Still.....if I didn't get excited....I'd find something else to do with my spare time.
The fun IS in the race. The best part of this race is that it never ends, it just has a lot of cool pit stops. It gets better every year, it never lets up. I find that its grip on me gets stronger with time. I love to kill deer, dont get me wrong, but it has nothing to do with killing deer, if that makes any sense. I think I get more worked up now when I see deer coming in than I did when I first started. Probably because I now know that seeing those deer isn't just luck, its everything I've learned over the past season, sacrifice, commitment, dedication, and hard work. Man I love it.
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A small buck that's dead will never be a big buck that's dead.
The fun is in the race!?
