Success for me ishaving encounters with mature bucks. Obviously, I want to kill a nice buck every year, but I don't consider the season a failure if I don't kill one. But when you do get that big boy...it sure is nice!

I wouldn't say so, this year I only saw one buck and one doe together the entire season and I was out every single weekend of firearm season, and I even took a few Fridays off here and there. I enjoy spending time in the woods anyways, I live a very stressful life so It's real nice to just get out in the middle of nowhere in solitude. By the way I didn't harvest the buck or doe, they were well out of my confident accuracy range and they were in a god damn swamp.

nope, for meat i'll kill all the does i can, if a decent buck walks up, i will take him if possible, our buck doe ratio is so out of whack we need to kill 10/1 does for a few years anyway

I have always said the harvest is icing on the cake andI truly believe that. BUT when you set forth to harvest a buck and don't then how can it not be deemed a failure of some sort. I ate my 1st buck tag this year it wasn't whatI wanted to do at the onset and I did feel like I failed to a degree though with the negative feelings of that failure comes many positives. I learned, I stuck by my intial plans/goals and feel very good about the season as a whole. I won't lie hadIclosed the dealon the buck I was chasingI would feel better, though onlyabout the end result not the season itself. I passed up a number of good bucks, someI hope to meet in the future, enjoyed company of friends and nature.

True failure to me is regretting pulling the trigger!! I have felt the feeling of settling in the past and not tagging a buck isn't even in the same ballpark. Ihave since realizedthat tag soup is part and parcel of the wayI enjoy to hunt and expect unfilled tags along the way. All it does is fuel my desire more.

If I manage to make it into the woods during deer season, it is a success. If I fail to harvest a deer, it is a success. If I harvest a deer ,whether it be a buck or a doe, it is a success. As long as I am out in the woods during hunting season, it is a success.

Ron

You bet...

I guess that depends on why you value hunting. Me personally, I passed on every buck I saw this year because they were young. Instead, harvested several does. Not so much about the kill as it is about the whole experience in the woods. I'm learning something everytime I'm out there.

heck no....I'll hold out the first season for a buck. the second season after thanksgiving I'll have two tags to fill if I don't use the first one. a buck is nice to get but I don't loose any sleep over it by taking a doe.

The buck is just the end result of the adventure and pursuit. My desire and enthusiasm never wanes. It's with me as soon as I set foot in the woods. It's God breathed.

Then you go fishing...

Nope.....Did you have fun and enjoy the outdoors? Well you answered it yourself.