I love to hunt and I love to fish, But without some gratification it wouldn't be the same....I catch a LOT of fish so I dont mind getting skunked....I did however grow up in an area where we had 20-40 deer per square mile, and shot my limit without problem for years....now the herd is in better check and it still seems wierd to see 50 deer a season when my first firearm opener I saw 80+ deer in ONE day!! If I go multiple hunts without seeing deer I get down but I wont quit!!! I still love it!

I love being in the woods. Sitting in the stand is the thing that makes me relax the most. There has been times in the last 10 years I went at least 2 weeks without seeing a deer.( maybe 10 to 15 sits)I just decided I want to see more, so I do alot more work to make sure that happens. With all the workit gets me out in the woods more so for me it's a win win situation.

I guess to answer the question simple if I didn't see deer for weeks on end ya I would be fustrated but to make or break no it doesn't.

Last year i decided to start taking bowhunting more seriously and i was trying to get my first deer with a bow and it seemed like everytime i came out of the woods i was frustrated and pissed off. Either because i didn't see deer or something else went wrong. And it seemed like i was in a competition with all my friends at school which was the reason i was getting mad.I finally gotmy first deer with a bow and i got another doe this year. But before this season i asked myself, why am i going to do something that supposedbe fun(hunting) when im pissed off all the time. So this year i decided not to let it become a competition and ive been having a lot more fun and ive really enjoyed my time in the woods.

i love every minute of hunting....

tonite i didnt see a deer...but had a owl hooting within 50yds of me...it was AWESOME....beautttttttttiful evening as well.....


but i still am out there to see deer....and in the end, kill deer.

i enjoy it all....but if i didnt want to see or kill deer, i wouldnt go DEER hunting. hearing an owl that close is awesome, but seeing a glimpse of a deer 100yds away would got the heart pumping...having a deer 20yds away would had it pumping hard....getting a shot would had me shaking like a leaf.....if i didnt wanna see and kill deer, id find a new pasttime......

i try not to let the little things pass me by and take them for granted....i enjoy the outdoors ALOT..probably more than many people....if i died up there in my treestand, well...that would be a dang great place to go...(dont wanna hang from it...and dont wanna die...but if/when i do die, in the woods would suit me perfectly) just who i am..i love it all...but im out there for a reason...

the guys that are super serious are usually the ones that "get it" more than anyone because they spend a ton of time out there...gotta love to be out there...if your only out there to see and kill deer, your gunna have alot of dissappointing hunts....im sure the guys that seem crazy about it, are like me and realize that theres alot of awesome stuff to see and hear out there...thats kinda part of my strategy of staying alert is finding something of intrest and watching it or taking pics of it etc...i can do that all day and it will keep me actively looking and alert...if i sit there "looking for deer" im bored and ready to go...

To me i dont think that its all about seeing deer to shoot. I love to sit in my stand and even if there a hundred yards out i love to just watch the animals. Its more than just the kill.

Depends if I saw something (other wildlife) cool that hunt. Otherwise its wasted. I can and do go sit in the woods for no reason when no hunting seasons are in to enjoy nature. When I am hunting, I am still enjoying nature, but I am there for a deer.

I think people naturally get caught up in it as they progress in hunting. Then you'll eventually reach a point and realize you were obsessed at one time in your hunting career. Me, I'm on the down hill swing of it all now. I just can't get into it this year.. I've gotten up more mornings to go hunting and said, "Ah, it's too nice a day to spend it in a tree. I think I'll golf, or fly fish or go visit Donnie or something". I've bailed on more hunts this year than I've gone on. Just can't get into it. I'll save myself for my Ohio trip.[&:] Tomorrow they start shooting smoke poles around here and next Saturday regular firearms season starts. A 17 day season for bows sucks. It rained for 5 days straight and then went into the 70s yesterday. I'll have to move to the Southern Tier to avoid the guns.

This is the exact point we differ from, to me it will still be a successful hunt. I may have not taken a deer, but I probably learned something and I was able to have a good time - to me that is a success. I understand the way you're looking at things I think. Now if I could only understand some others' views on this [&:]

This was the kind of answer I was looking to see from the beginning

I understand people get frustrated sometimes, and that seeing deer every trip is great. But the very fact that this is hunting says that we just won't normally see deer every single sit of a season, it's just how is for most of us.

So why does not seeing deer on a couple sits have to ruin an otherwise good time? I don't see that it has to. You were still able to get to the woods (better than work or school), you may have been able to spend some time with family or close friends, you'll have learned something new about the land you're hunting, and you'll have memories to back unto in the years to come.

Read some posts on peoples' trips out west on some of the Elk trips. Some of them have spent serious cash to go out and take those trips and they come back empty-handed but are absolutely glowing because of the great time they had with friends and family. Just a thought. Any others guys?

This is a great response and this was essentially what I was trying to get at in the original post - I think some people just make too big a deal out of this and then it isn't fun anymore. Great post Mohunter!

Interesting point of view on this and I think you also got to the heart of my original post without intending to

Ditto. I work my tail off in the off season. Seeing deer makes the sit more enjoyable and exciting......Just because I see deer doesn't mean I'm going to shoot everytime, I just enjoy watching them close by knowing that I have done my job correctly especiallywhen they are within bow range. You can learn alot just by watching deer. Getting skunked means nothing as there is always tomorrrow exception to that for meisopening day.