Good point on keeping the fun in it. I went through a phase in my life where the search for the big one, and the minsicule odds associated with it due to a conflicting schedule, made my hunting not fun. I had just aquired an instant family, was in the process of teaching two young boys and a wife how to hunt, and was having to learn how cope with the fact that my time guiding them was making my old style of hunting impossible. I got it worked out, got my priorities in line, and started having fun again. But I had to change some things to do it. I'm not wound quite so tight anymore, and it all works out.

Ihelped my 11 year old spend 5 days hunting a specific buck this year, untill he got it. It was a good buck, and he earned it. I didn't push him into it, he did it. He would have spent 30 days trying to get it, because it was the one he wanted. He did shoot it with a rifle, but it was total free range, no blinds, feeders, food plots, fences, anything. Hours and hours laying on his belly in a 300 acre wheat field. You should have seen his face when he connected.

You asked about you future as a hunter Jeff. Let me tell you, the biggest trophy I have is in the smile of a child...