ORIGINAL: Jimmy S
I am not asking if you had a good time.
I am not asking if you learned anything.
I am not asking if the comrauderie was great.
I am not asking if you loved being close to nature.
I guess that depends on if a person measures success or failure on the mere act of the kill. These things that your ruling out are the basis for success or failure. Harvesting an animal is a goal and seperate from success. How many folks have had deer 10 yards under their stand, just lounging around for a long amount of time, more than enough for a shot? If you decided to practice what everybody is preaching around here about QDM and you wind up with fewer or no deer for the year, I see no failure. How many deer have been harvested from knowledge gained from a previous day/week/month/years hunting "failure"? My goal this year was to harvest only mature animals, of which I harvested 3 out of 4 tags. My goal was achieved. I got an opportunity to go into the woods to pursue these wonderful animals, my year was a success.