I usually average 50-60 hours in the stand before I loose an arrow at a deer.So yes,I let alot of deer walk.This year,though,I' m out of deer meat so I may have to fill a tag early.

Sure I let them pass in the past, now I got a bow so watch out spikes just kidding.
I got my first bow in Feb. this year, have been practicing almost every day, spent all summer weekends at 3D shoots, and now is my first hunting season. By the way I' m 47, and feel way too young to be that old[8D]
Bow_Nut

I have to admit , my freezer is empty also and we desparately need to remove a few doe from our land.

It' s kind of hard to describe. Any other time in the past I would have had a nice doe or two for the freezer. But for whatever reason I just wasn' t in the mood to kill this time. I dont know if it was everything else on my mind or what.

It came over me about 3 years ago. The thrill of the hunt was there but I found myself letting more and more walk. It gets worse when you start nameing the ones that you see often. There was one that I called scruffy and I would toss orange peels and hit him on the head. He was pitiful.
I bow hunted for the 1st time on Wednesday
and it was a hoot. I didn' t see any deer but spent the time learning. U know, what to do with all that stuff, Bow, bow quiver, butt pack, calls, ropes hanging everywhere, and a release hanging on my wrist.[X(] But I' m more prepared for Saturday, and who knows, I may let a couple more walk.[:-]

The older I get the more I do the same thing

Same here the older I get the more and more I let go by. I know what your talking about last year on the first day of rifle season I had a small 6 point walk by at 20 yards I didnt even pick up the gun just watched him, he bedded down about 30 yards away for about 3 hours then got up and carried on with his daily routine. I could have shot anytime, but just decided to watch him. Ended up not getting a buck last year, will I do that agian this year I guess if the mood comes over me I would. Happy Hunting.

I have no idea what makes me tick........but I pass up deer all the time. I have passed on many small bucks and does .........and probably 10-11 deer this year already (passed on a doe last night) including a couple of nice mulies on my first ever mulie hunt.
But tomorrow I may shoot a small doe if I feel like it..........who knows ?

One thing I have learned bowhunting though..........never pass on a deer that you' ll regret later.....be it a doe or whatever.....if you feel like shooting it...shoot it and to hell with anyone else......

.....if it brings you no satisfaction to shoot it though ........then it' s better to leave that one for somebody else that' ll appreciate it or leave it to grow !! My $.02 !!

I have let a few walk over the years, but I am down to 2 packages of venison in the freezer and the kids get POed if they don' t get their rations of jerky, so the first 2 without spots will go down unless they are spikes.

Absolutely. I do it many times each season. I usually do drop the string on a few, but it' s only when I' m in the mood. When it' s warm....I' m not shooting anything but a big buck... mainly because I don' t want to have to mess with them. I enjoy the time out, regardless of whether I bring home anything. Heck, just knowing I passed the opportunity, is a great feeling.

Yes I pass on deer, but its usually cause they are too small. If I have a tag and the right size doe steps out, she gets shot. There was one time quite a few years ago now, that I was hunting a strange place, and was going to have minimal time to hunt that year so I went into the hunt shooting buck or doe. And for some unknown reason, I let a good doe walk by, only to shoot a buck 15 minutes later. That' s probably the only time I remember not having a reason why I didn' t shoot.