Excitement-better now or when you were a kid
 

I just wanted to see how many of you get more excited for the hunt now at your current age or when you were a kid; and the second part of the question would be WHAT did you like more then and WHAT do you like more now? I myself think that I get more excited now simply because the options that are available to me but I know on thing for sure, when I was a kid hunting at twelve I thought elk and deer were pretty dumb, and nowthat I know more I am beginningto think they are smarter than me.[:@]

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

Waaaaay back when I was a kid there weren't really any deer around. I spent my time chasing raccoons, squirrels, wooly mammoths and the occasional hold-over pterodactyl.

I do like my hunting better now. There are more choices.

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

You know I just heard yesterday that there are more deer and elk across the United States then at any point in our recorded history, I probably should already know this but was plesantly surprised.

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

I can sleep the night before hunting now. When I was younger I couldn't. I kind of stagnated for a few years and lost some of the excitement. I have taken on some new approaches and the excitement has returned. I love the anticipation that comes with hunting. Never knowing whats going to happen. It's like Christmas morning wondering what your going to get.

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

Its a little bit different, but I think everything was more exciting when I was a kid. Christmas, the end of the day (release from school), summer, dogs, baseball.... everything.

Now that I know more about the world, there is less mystery and suprise about it. I still get plenty excited, though for different reasons, but its not the same as being a kid.

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

It only gets worse for me but I can sleep better the night before bow and gun opener.

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

Bowhunting has always been exciting to me regardless what age I was.

When I started bowhunting in "68" there really were not many deer around. Quite a bit different ball game then than it is now.

With the explosion of the Deer herd has also came a lot more Bowhunters, and that's good.

Dan

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

I haven't noticed the change yet. ;)

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

I think I was more excited as a kid for that "week" of deer season. Now the excitement is different, it's not the excitement of a few days of hunting, it's more the excitement of outwitting the game. As a youngster, I had NO patience, and even less knowledge. Now as I've gotten older and gained knowledge, I enjoy the GAME of it more. Arrowing a deer on the ground, in the open from 11yds after it just walked past you at now more than 8 yds IS EXCITING. As a youngster, I'd have never been afforded that opportunity because I was too stupid to not blow it.

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

I still find it hard to sleep the night before opening day of archery season.

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

Still cannot sleep well the night before the hunt. I hope that I never get to the point where it is not that exciting for me.

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

its better now;)

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

if i ever lose the passion, excitement, and interest, that is when i will call it quits

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

You being 13 can say that;)

Always keep the Fun in it and you'll always feel like the best Hunt you ever experienced is the one you are on.

Dan

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

Excitement? Was definitely more when I was a kid mainly because it was a BIG deal and I didn't have all the other things un my life that I do today. Just like Christmas was a bigger deal, etc.

Now as far as actual enjoyment- That would be today. Why? It is more of a release and an opportunity to put all my other worries/demands away for a period of time and I get to hunt a lot more often than when I was a kid.

Also, because I bowhunt as an adult, whichI enjoy so muchmore as compared to gun hunting that I did as a kid.

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

I am still a kid so, now is the best times for me:D:D

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

I like now. I have more knowledge. It doesn't happen as an accident now. I can plot and plan and have the skills to figure it out. When I was young it was excitement and chance more than anything. Now... it's I win or I loose. My sweetest memory of hunting was loosing. I can enjoy that and charish it. When I was young, it devistated me. I like now.

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

I get just as worked up now as I did when I was 13 years old and shot my 1st deer. Heck at times I think I'm worse at 34 years old!![8D] Honestly I hope I never loose that incredible nervous excitement one bit.

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

The excitement has not decreased one bit. And at 33, I have a helluva lot more knowledge than I did when I was 13.And the appreciation has increased along with the success rate ;)

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

Jackflap and David describe how it is for me.I am much calmer and sleep fine the night before opener's and when I travel to hunt.Am I excited?You bet,but it is different now.I see it more as a release from the the stress's and strains of all the other things going on im my life.
Also while I am much more likely to be successful at the current stage of my hunting life,I am much less effected by the out come.I am going to enjoy every moment of my time while hunting,I will give it all I got and what ever happens,happens. I believe for me it is a matter of life experience,there are so many things that are more serious in the scheme of things than my success hunting.Yes I am dissapointed if I don't have the success I wish to,but the biggest enjoyment for me is realizing it is a gift to be out there!

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.

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

As a kid I had trouble sleeping before the hunt. Like many I have to say there were few deer and just to see one was a big deal. I think it is just as much of a "rush" as it always was but it is different now. It was always about getting a buck on the ground. Now that I am older (53) there is a lot more to it than that. The sunrise, the friends, and the family time with my kids and grandkids as we all hunt is more important to me than the shot. don't get me wrong though, I still work hard and I still get the shakes and get excited just like I did when I was a kid. I still get bent all out of shape when I miss or blow a shot. That is why I bowhunt. Always have and always will.