RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

X2........ I think deer hunting even replaced the excitement of x-mas

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

I think the experience is just "different".

I think back to my younger days playing baseball....and how excited I would get the night before a game and even the moments leading up to a big game (and hunting, a camping trip, vacation, etc...were all events that drew this type of anticipation). Fast forward to college and my days in the Jayhawk league.....and the preparation and anticipationwas more methodical. Fast forward to my competitive golf days and I began to mature in my approach.

So....today I'm better at dealing with the anticipation.

I forgot one thing.......it sucks not having those feelings like a kid, again.;)

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

Ill lean toward my younger days as being more exciting for ME. Back then there were alot less pressures in life and the excitement was over whelming. Now days i still love to hunt just as much, but lets face it, there are distractions/ not in a bad way but they are there. Now when i take my kids hunting ;)whole new ball game. The joy i get from watching them is even more exciting than it was for ME in my youth ;)

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

I have to agree with a lot of what others have said. It's just a different kind of excitement. When I was younger the saying "the anticipation is greater than the realization" came into play more for me than it does today. I still look foward to hunting season, but not with the same intensity as when I was a kid.
When I started hunting it was more of, "I hope I can get a deer this year", than "I hope I can get a big one this year", like I say these days. With everything I've learned over the years, it is more of a given that I'll kill deer. This doesn't take away from the love that I have for our sport though. I'm able to have a different anticipation for things like going to Alberta, which I only dreamed about when I was much younger. It's still the thing I love doing more than anything else, much like when I was a kid.;):D

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

For me, the best times will always be when I was young. Deer hunting was a family adventure. My Dad, while he was always there for us, was "larger than life" to me and somewhat difficult to talk to. Really "old school", if you know what I mean. When deer season rolled around, however, everything changed. I knew that "WE" were going hunting! It was that "WE" that made me look forward to deer hunting more than Christmas.

In that week or two before the Missouri opener, I watched my Dad go through a change from that "seemingly" unapproachable, no-nonsense, hard line farmer into someone who seemed to be thinking the way I did. "I can't wait! Let's go!! He seemed to have an almost adolescent air of excitement about him. The preparation, the plans, the talks and the shared daydreams. Getting up at some God-awful hour to make the drive to Van Buren to set up camp. MyDad driving and my brother Roger and myself stuffed into the cab of the truck. My older brother Stan met us there.

My Dad died in 1989, and my brother Roger died just last year. To my knowledge, my Dad never did kill a deer. That never dampened his spirits, though, nor did it ever stop him from expecting to take a "monster" next year. I never managed to kill one growing up either. I didn't kill my first deer until I was 20. Still, my best times "deer huning" will always be those when my Dad, my brothers and myself were all together, sitting around the campfire and dreaming of what might happen tomorrow.

I'd give anything to be able to see Dad just one more time, just like anyone would I suppose. Of all the things I would say to him, the first and most important to me would be "Thank you. Thank you for everything".

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

I hear you LittleChief.This past February was the one year anniversary of my dad's passing.Big strapping man,who was as independant as they come.There was always this mystique about the hunting cabin,we would make the hour drive to it to have work parties in preparation for the hunting season,that was pure excitement for me as a child.An image that is as vivid today as it was 40 years ago is two bucks on a hillside that were fighting about 1/4 mile away from my fathers cabin,when we were headed to the cabin to ready it for rifle season.
I do miss that type of thrill! Although seeing a great buck sneaking through the woods with steam coming out of his nostrils on a cold crisp morning,readying myself for a shot comes extremely close!

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

I think The pressure to KEEP score has taken the fun out of hunt'n' . When I was young I used to bow hunt 1000's of acres of local farmers land. Me, my uncles recurve and my military camo. Every one was happy when I got one!!!! Hunted all the time for free Now there are so many 20 acres lots, keep out signs, and tree stands right on the property lines. It does take some of the fun out the season , A few years ago I shot a nice 9 ptr The neighbors got mad saying (that was my buck) I replied I shoot trespassers.
I still love hunting mostly with a bow Do love the Wisonsin Rifle Season not to get a deer but seeing the whole gang again I dont mind seeing Orange all over that is how I grew up, But bow hunting was a my time to be alone in the world just me and to the bow. So the Excitemant was more when I was younger for the hunt. But even now when the buck shows up I do love that feeling Thats why I put up with all the neighobrs

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

It is the same for me. Two weeks before the first day, I will have my bags packed and ready. It's been that way since I was old enough to go to the cabin. I get excited in different ways but the level has remained the same.

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

I think I am going to go along with the "different" crowd.
I had fun back then and got excited. I have fun now and get excited, but its for different reasons.

RE: Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

When I was younger the excitement was great, but my chances were not. Now I have a lot more opportunity and better opportunity so the excitement now is even better.

What I did like better when I was younger was the simplicity. Since my opportunities were few and far betweenI just took what I could get and enjoyed the experience. Now I have some outside and self-imposed pressures that take away some of the enjoyment but enhance other parts of it. The simplicity was pure though, and I miss that.