I was just thinking about this and figured I would post and see what everyone else thinks.

I was 15 the first time I shot a deer with my bow. It' s was a year and a half old doe that a I made a clean 12 yard double lung shot on. She only went 40 yards and dropped. After the initial excitement of harvesting a deer with my bow died down, the thing I was most proud of accomplishing was the fact that I had done it myself. I had chosen the area I waned to hunt, I had picked out the tree I wanted to put my stand in, I had hung the stand myself, and I had ultimately succeeded in my goal.

Ever since then I' ve always prided myself on doing things myself - my way. Granted the property I hunt on is only so big, and with other hunters being there I can only do so much. I can' t sit my stands all the time, so I do sit in stands that other people have hung. (There' s only 3 of us hunting - myself, my dad, and the property owner and we hunt together so there' s no problem with sitting their stands if they aren' t using them). But I just never feel the same about sitting them.

The same goes for guided hunts or hunts at ranches/farms where they set stands for you, scout for you, etc etc. I just don' t see myself getting as much out of them as I would if I had done it myself. The off-season scouting, preparation, and dedication that go into harvesting a deer or any other animal for that matter is what makes it wall worthwhile for me.

Now I know a lot of people don' t have private land to hunt on so they are forced into situations where they have to go on guided hunts. That is completely understandable. If there is no other way, it' s better than nothing.

But personally for me, I just don' t get the thrill out of being put into a stand and told to wait and see if something comes by me. For example - I want to go on a fall bear hunt in Ontario next year. The only way you can go is through a licensed outfitter who has a bear managment area. They choose bait locations and make sure bears are coming into the baits before you arrive at camp. Then you pretty much just hang your stand up and wait for the bear to come. Yeah, you still have to watch the wind, and remain still and all the phsycial mechanics of hunting, but without any of the background or " leg work" so to speak. It just seems to cheapen the hunt a bit in my opinion, even though there really is no other way around it.

What about everyone else?