I'm pulling the plug

[rebel]

After about 40 yrs of hunting and fishing I've decided that's it, I'm done. I've enjoyed hunting and fishing but it's no longer worth the time, expense or energy. Anyone else feel the same? It feels weird. Getting old sux.

[BENESSE]

After about 40 yrs of hunting and fishing I've decided that's it, I'm done. I've enjoyed hunting and fishing but it's no longer worth the time, expense or energy. Anyone else feel the same? It feels weird. Getting old sux.

What are you gonna do instead?
I've occasionally felt that way about skiing especially when I'd hurt myself or fork out too much on a piece of gear but overall, the good has outweighed the bad. So far.

I think if I ever stopped I'd have to find something else (active) to do or I'd feel as tough I was going to seed.

[Camp10]

I didnt know that feeling was possible Rebel! I sure hope I dont catch that bug!

[rebel]

Well, Ms. B. I was hoping to gracefully transition into an old person. I'd say with dignity but, we know that will not happen. For awhile, I'll probably enjoy cooking and crafts a little more. Then again, I could father a few children in my golden years. Because, I'm so special.

[BENESSE]

Then again, I could father a few children in my golden years. Because, I'm so special.

What a great idea!
That's just the thing to do if you wanna save time, expense and energy.
I'm sure Mrs. rebel is overjoyed.

[rebel]

What a great idea!
That's just the thing to do if you wanna save time, expense and energy.
I'm sure Mrs. rebel is overjoyed.

Want pictures?

[2dumb2kwit]

I haven't hunted in many years. It's gotten to the point around here, that to have land to hunt, you have to join a hunt club.....and they hunt with 15 guys and 20+ dogs at a time. That's just not my thing.

[BENESSE]

Want pictures?

Let me pour myself a double first.

[BENESSE]

.....and they hunt with 15 guys and 20+ dogs at a time.

That ain't hunting, that's a lynch mob.

[rebel]

Let me pour myself a double first.

Well, get me one too! There might be a mirror.

[BENESSE]

Well, get me one too! There might be a mirror.

Where there's a mirror there's smoke too.

[rebel]

Where there's a mirror there's smoke too.

Smoking already! Sh!t, I haven't started!

[BENESSE]

Smoking already! Sh!t, I haven't started!

I was thinking smoke and mirrors here.
As far as smoking, I'd rather go blind.

[rebel]

I'd rather go blind.

Me too! Who's there?

[FVR]

Ah, I keep a log and today I made the 2009 end of year entry.

Hunting, once in Feb. for hogs, spent a few hours in the woods. End of March hunted turkeys and hogs, felt a pain in stomach, left woods. Next day had an emergency hernia operation.

Sept., 3 hours hunting squirrels, had so many shots and did not take one. I don't like to eat tree rats.

That is it. I question who I am if I don't hunt but looking at my log, it's been down hill more and more each year.

Did attempt 5 bows and had 3 success'.


I renewed my license in December and the lady made a mistake and I now have a two year license. So, ah........I will grab the bow and venture into the woods for walks. That's what I enjoy more anyway. Come spring trout fishing starts and I am planning to do more this year. Did none last year, did a little the year before and the year before that caught 8 or 9 on diff. trips. The stream is right across the road.

[rebel]

Ah, I keep a log and today I made the 2009 end of year entry.

Hunting, once in Feb. for hogs, spent a few hours in the woods. End of March hunted turkeys and hogs, felt a pain in stomach, left woods. Next day had an emergency hernia operation.

Sept., 3 hours hunting squirrels, had so many shots and did not take one. I don't like to eat tree rats.

That is it. I question who I am if I don't hunt but looking at my log, it's been down hill more and more each year.

Did attempt 5 bows and had 3 success'.


I renewed my license in December and the lady made a mistake and I now have a two year license. So, ah........I will grab the bow and venture into the woods for walks. That's what I enjoy more anyway. Come spring trout fishing starts and I am planning to do more this year. Did none last year, did a little the year before and the year before that caught 8 or 9 on diff. trips. The stream is right across the road.


To be honest, I'd enjoy sitting on the bank with a cold one and watch you pull in a big trout.

[Camp10]

This just seems like such a strange concept to me. Hunting is such a big part of me that the idea of just walking out of the woods, hanging up the gear and calling it quits seems impossible.

[rebel]

This just seems like such a strange concept to me. Hunting is such a big part of me that the idea of just walking out of the woods, hanging up the gear and calling it quits seems impossible.

Well, it did to me too. I saw it with my pop and grand pop. Same as you, I didn't think it would happen.

[Camp10]

Well, I wish you well in whatever takes its place!

[rebel]

Well, I wish you well in whatever takes its place!

LOL. There is only one place taker. Hopefully it'll be awhile.

[FVR]

It is the stages of hunting. Some come full circle faster than others. Some never even complete the circle, it's really of no concern. It is just where you are in life.

The best part of trout fishing is smoking that cigar after the catch and maybe if it's early enough in the day, cooking it over an open fire in the woods somewhere.

I've hunted since I was 8 years old. I have looked forward to it almost all my life, I'm 47 now. I've killed more deer than some, alot less than others, same goes with rabbits, pheasants, ducks, and hogs. I've made up more reasons not to take the shot than I can remember.

This does not mean that I won't grab my bow and take to the woods. If I get a shot and everything is right, than I will follow through. But if the shot does not present itself, I am more than happy to just watch.

I watched my grandfather take this route. He told me when I was a boy that it would happen to me oneday. I just poopoo'd it, but look where I am today.


I still have the dream of hunting elk with one of my selfbows or my 54 Hawken and will still slowly get my gear and prepare for the primitive hunt. It will happen oneday.

Everyone has to cut their own path through the wilderness, to follow the path of another is to cheat yourself. I'm on a new side trail, I may venture back to my main path once in awhile, but I can not stay on it, as it has lost what I consider it's challenge.

[Ted]

Yep, me too guys, I've gone less and less over the years, did even bother getting deer permits the last two years. Paid 75 bucks for a fishing permit at a local strip pit and only went twice this year and the place is only half mile from my house.

[cowgirlup]

What kind of extreme fishing were you doing?
I didn't know it was possible to be too tired to fish...

JK:)

If you don't enjoy it anymore then I guess it's time to do something else....

[Sourdough]

I didn't know it was possible to be too tired to fish...JK:)




Commercial fish a 36 hour opener.

[Sourdough]

I still carry a firearm most everyday on wilderness hikes, I just am not hunting, everything is the same, but I am watching the animals, mostly I am exploring, looking for mining or native artifact signs from 100 years ago.

[oly]

I gave it up do to the rules and regs.. and thinking of picking it backup again.

[Ted]

cowgirl, who said anything about being too tired?

[BENESSE]

LOL. There is only one place taker. Hopefully it'll be awhile.

God-A-Mighty, hope you're not talking about buying a farm!

[rebel]

God-A-Mighty, hope you're not talking about buying a farm!

No! For the right price I'll sell one.

[rebel]

I'll stick around for the oh-hums, what-evers and how's that working.

[rwc1969]

Say it ain't so!

I went out today and got 5 squirrels, my limit, 3 fox, 1 black and a red. I had three more get away, two greys and a black. Got home, cleaned em up, froze em and fried up the hearts and kidneys. MM good.

I don't hunt like I used to but I don't think there will ever come a day I quit for good. ah, probably will but until then....

I salted the tails and 1 skin and am gonna try to make something out of em. Cordage for a bow drill maybe. The rest of the skins, heads and feet went in the trash and the livers, guts and tail meat went to the neighborhood cats and crows.

[klkak]

I actively hunt Black bear and deer every year. I explore every chance I get which is pretty often. I love it when its getting close to evening and I come on a spruce hen, grouse or snow shoe. I also have a small salmon stream that I camp near on occasion and let me tell you, fresh caught salmon over an open fire of alder is some good eat'n.

I am 47 in April and I don't see myself slowing down any time soon. Besides I have a lifetime hunting and fishing license.

[DOGMAN]

I understand what your saying.
I have lost the love of the hunt, and I've lost the lust for the kill....but I still hunt and harvest. Its food for my family. I look at the kill as an unpleasant part of life (kinda like changing a diaper) but still a nesessity... I do love watching animals, and learning about them.
Also, i look forward to sharing the ritual with my son when he is a little older. I think harvesting your own meat is a good way to understand the natural order of things and the web of life...Life is essentially cold, brutal and short- killing helps me remember that, and keeps me celebrating life until the inevitable happens to me. Killing is living

[Beo]

I will never quit hunting, and to me its more the chase (stalking on the ground) then the thrill of the kill, of course I only hunt what I will eat and use most of the animal, but it does become work sometimes.
Trapping has became nothing but work so I stopped, didnt trap at all in 2009.

Beo,

[Ole WV Coot]

I don't hunt much either, not many people do and it's too darn easy now. I have hunted 60yrs and I have never seen as much game(except quail) in this part of the country and deer are plentiful. I get my license free and don't have the urge to shoot anything in the yard. I roam the woods, mostly get way out on an ATV then walk and enjoy it. I always carry a firearm so that's not an issue. My beagle will flop on the deck and just watch deer go walking by along with turkey, way too many to chase or bark at. Now that we have rattlesnakes in this area I hunted for them last year and will again, just for the skin. I don't enjoy the meat like I did and I have nothing to prove. I might take a few pics or hunt small game with a handgun if I want a bunny fried. Too much game just takes the fun out of it, and "garden fed" deer don't taste the same.

[trax]

I've always hunted for the food, probably always will. Fried deer slices and 2 eggs sunny side up for breakfast this morning, that was mighty fine deer.

There's a fella out this way who's got a few years on me, well about 18 years on me.He's hunted all his life. We were going to go out together this past fall and he was having some troubles with his feet, he's diabetic, so he didn't come with me. He just had a couple of toes amputated last week and some other chunks off one of his feet someplace, doesn't look like he'll get to go tramping around out in the bush much in the future. I don't even like to consider that. I mean I do plenty of tramping around out there that doesn't include hunting, but to him hunting was everything. Fed his family from his brothers and sisters when he was a kid, to his own kids and grandkids and now he probably won't be able to go. I don't think he ever hung onto a trophy in his life, either.

[Sarge47]

I used to hunt small game for food, but don't hunt at all right now; mainly because of where I live. If I had the opportunity to hunt Rabbits & Squirrels for food you can bet your sweet hind parts I would! I'm not a big fish eater, but I am partial to Blue Gill & other pan-fish! Given where I live you'd think I'd be a big Cat-Fish eater...but I'm not! Don't really care for them or Carp! (Carp is mis-spelled, BTW; it should be "CRAP!":innocent:) :cool2:

[hunter63]

I guess we all slow down as we get older.
The desire to hunt is still there, but isn't as strong as it once was.
Getting harder and harder to get up early, freeze my butte off.

Haven't stopped yet, probably won't, just slowing down.

Note: got any gear for sale?
Have gotten some real good deals on gear from guys that decided to "hang it up", only to get the itch later, and have start all over again.
So I would sell them back their stuff.....(just kidding, trying to tell you, don't do anything rash.)

[rebel]

I guess we all slow down as we get older.
The desire to hunt is still there, but isn't as strong as it once was.
Getting harder and harder to get up early, freeze my butte off.

Haven't stopped yet, probably won't, just slowing down.

Note: got any gear for sale?
Have gotten some real good deals on gear from guys that decided to "hang it up", only to get the itch later, and have start all over again.
So I would sell them back their stuff.....(just kidding, trying to tell you, don't do anything rash.)

Your words are wise.

[cowgirlup]

cowgirl, who said anything about being too tired?

He said it took too much energy.
:)

[FVR]

It's not so much energy or tired, it's just plain old don't want to kill anything anymore. In our family there is only one person who eats venison and that is me. My daughter will eat a little bit of wild boar if it's smoked.

Heaven forbid I bring home a rabbit.........I miss eating rabbit. They would eat duck but finding ducks in N.Ga mountains is not only difficult, but expensive.

Then there is the time factor. You get in the woods and instead of enjoying it, it's more have to get here to set up to try and get a shot. Screw that.

My thing now is go into the woods with my bow. I don't even take the muzzleloaders anymore as I have to get the gun, grab the poss., load the gun, carry the 10lbs of wood and steel, then afterwards pull the ball, empty the powder, and clean.

With the bow you grab a light piece of wood, grab the quiver with arrows and you're done. It's light to carry and honestly much more enjoyable and relaxing. I've even made a small fishing pole out of an old hickory ramrod that accompanies my arrows. Tie on a string, a hoog, find a grub and I'm fishing.

As I've said before, if and when I move to the coast.........I will give up deer and hog hunting and strictly hunt ducks.

[Camp10]

This thread still amazes me everytime I read through it! I hope that I can be an exception to what seems the rule here. I enjoy all aspects of the hunt. I really enjoy the meat and do my very best not to waste anything. I also like watching the animals pass their days, it is great to watch them interact with each other and see the work they do to prepair for the winter. I enjoy all the work that goes into harvesting the animal after the hunt is over. I hope to enjoy hunting as much when I am 70 (should I live that long) as I do today.

[BENESSE]

This thread still amazes me everytime I read through it! I hope that I can be an exception to what seems the rule here. I enjoy all aspects of the hunt. I really enjoy the meat and do my very best not to waste anything. I also like watching the animals pass their days, it is great to watch them interact with each other and see the work they do to prepair for the winter. I enjoy all the work that goes into harvesting the animal after the hunt is over. I hope to enjoy hunting as much when I am 70 (should I live that long) as I do today.

No judgments, just an honest question:
Does this alone not give you any pause for killing them if you don't have to?

[FVR]

There is no rule here, it's just what some of us do.

I've had a pair of does walk within 4' of my groundstand which was a bush. I had a 7pt jump clear over my ground blind, I've had piglets while hog hunting run right up to me not knowing what I was. I've had so many close encounters with animals, it's just awsome.

I don't think one of us has said we don't like the outdoors, we have said that we have grown tired of the killing of animals. We are not against the killing of animals, and many of us chances are will still make a hunt or two a year. If given the opp. we may just kill the critter.

My question to you, when you do kill a deer for example, what do you do with it?

Last deer I killed, tanned the hide, leg / back sinew dried and used for a bow, brains used to tan the hide, hooves boiled down and used for glue (yuk), the small rack was used to make tools, the skull and jaw dried bleached and painted, jaws used for knife handles, and a few leg bones used for knife handles and tools.

Oh, I ate the damn thing to, including the heart and liver.

I am a firm believer in using the whole critter.

Don't take this the wrong way as it's not intended that way.

I feel damn lucky to fall into a group that have open minds to say, Hey, tired of killing critters, I'll pass. This time.

[Camp10]

No judgments, just an honest question:
Does this alone not give you any pause for killing them if you don't have to?

It's a legitimate question..I know you are vegan and I have great respect for that however, I am not. To eat meat is to accept that animals are going to die. It's that simple for me and I get no pleasure out of killing but it is dishonest to think that because I let someone else do it (kill the animal)that is is somehow better. Nearly all the meat that I eat is from animals that I have harvested. I dont see that as any different than picking up a pack of steaks from the store to cook for dinner only I know what is in the package I am pulling out of the freezer.

[Camp10]

FVR, I hope that I didnt come across as thinking that there is something wrong with the decision that some have made, just that is seems strange to me. I have quit doing things that I didnt really like (like playing on a softball team) and I have even quit things that I liked because I had to for whatever reason (like skiing, I hurt a knee to bad to keep trying) but to just decide one day that I dont like something enough to keep doing it just doesnt fit my makeup.

I also use as much of any animal that I take that I can use. I am careful with shot placement and I have lost sleep over animals that I have hit but never found. You would have a hard time painting me as a close minded killer if you ever hunted with me.

[aflineman]

I can honestly say, my largest frustration with hunting has been other folks. The number of them, the unsafe acts, and the flat plain disrespect for the sport. I find more and more that I start to pick the harder to hunt areas and the seasons that many folks don't go for, just to reduce my exposure. I have almost given up on it a few times, but figure why should I give up on something because of what other folks do.
I still enjoy bird hunting, not so many folks out there. Cougar and coyote is all year long now, so I can be out there in peace. Deer season can be very busy, so I just choose harder to reach areas, or hunt at a friend's place. Elk season, I choose an area that is hard to hunt, and traditionally not many apply for.
I may come home with empty tags more often than not, but I tend to enjoy myself quite a bit more than otherwise.

My Grandfather pretty gave up hunting after his hunting partner died. Having almost lost my friend and hunting partner to a heart attack, I can relate.

[aflineman]

No judgments, just an honest question:
Does this alone not give you any pause for killing them if you don't have to?

Sometimes. I have passed on many an animal. In my book, there is a vast difference between a hunter and a killer. I take much more enjoyment out of the memories I create and the stuff I learn when I hunt, than I ever will from killing an animal.

[BENESSE]

Sometimes. I have passed on many an animal. In my book, there is a vast difference between a hunter and a killer. I take much more enjoyment out of the memories I create and the stuff I learn when I hunt, than I ever will from killing an animal.

Thank you for an honest answer.
I can certainly understand where you're coming from.

[DOGMAN]

I am reading a really great book right now, called "Shopping for Porcupine" by Seth Kanter its about this guy who grew up with his parents living like Eskimoes in Arctic Alaska. and, he is discussing this very thing... The differences between hunting and killing, and how things weigh on us, such as how the animal was harvested and the manner it was handled after death and how that effects the experience. He has really intereststing insights, because he HAD to hunt for his entire youth, now he has options, and so he is wrestling with the ethic of killing. Great book, I'll tell more as I read it...

[AKS]

All this talk of being to old to hunt reminds me of a man I met in Noorvik, Alaska a few years back. He was a skinny little wrinkly guy sitting in the front of an open top river boat all wrapped up in blankets with nothing showing but his smiling face. He had shot gun leaning against the seat next to him and a bunch of geese at his feet. He didn't speak a word of english but his grandson, who was driving his boat, said the man was 92 years old, had never missed a goose hunting season in his life and "caught a moose" every other year cause that is how long it took him to eat one. I asked the grandson how much longer the he thought man would be able to keep going out hunting like that. He said "My grandpa will never stop hunting, unless he dies." This man could have let his family or the village hunter fill his tags by proxy or bought his meat from the local store but hunting was part of his way of life and something he enjoyed doing. I want to be like him when I grow up, outdoors doing the things I enjoy until the end and still smiling.

[BENESSE]

I want to be like him when I grow up, outdoors doing the things I enjoy until the end and still smiling.

The operative word here is enjoy (it's less about age, if I read people correctly.)
If you enjoy it, do it. If you don't, you don't. You find something else instead. What's right for one person may not be for the next.

[AKS]

After about 40 yrs of hunting and fishing I've decided that's it, I'm done. I've enjoyed hunting and fishing but it's no longer worth the time, expense or energy. Anyone else feel the same? It feels weird. Getting old sux.


Well, Ms. B. I was hoping to gracefully transition into an old person. I'd say with dignity but, we know that will not happen. For awhile, I'll probably enjoy cooking and crafts a little more. Then again, I could father a few children in my golden years. Because, I'm so special.


I guess we all slow down as we get older.
The desire to hunt is still there, but isn't as strong as it once was.
Getting harder and harder to get up early, freeze my butte off.

Haven't stopped yet, probably won't, just slowing down.
[/SIZE]


The operative word here is enjoy (it's less about age, if I read people correctly.)
If you enjoy it, do it. If you don't, you don't. You find something else instead. What's right for one person may not be for the next.

These guys were whom I was refering to as speaking of old age. As for the enjoyment part, I am only speaking for myself in that I hope to continue enjoying when I am old one of the things that I enjoy now...clean, healthy, fresh harvested meat. It is part of my way of life and I am not asking for everyone to run out and try it. I do however believe that everyone should know where their food comes from and what is in it.

[rebel]

These guys were whom I was refering to as speaking of old age. As for the enjoyment part, I am only speaking for myself in that I hope to continue enjoying when I am old one of the things that I enjoy now...clean, healthy, fresh harvested meat. It is part of my way of life and I am not asking for everyone to run out and try it. I do however believe that everyone should know where their food comes from and what is in it.

MMmm. Well, it's not like the picture you're painting.

[AKS]

I was just sharing an experience from my life that yall reminded me of weather you ment to or not. My train of thought doesn't always follow the tracks. If you have something else you would like to say to "set me straight", feel free.

[rwc1969]

I hope I never get too old too hunt, or too bored to bother.

The way I hunt and fish these days, especially ice fishing, it seems like work, but it's a labor of love and hopefully that don't change.

Sometimes I'm more tired and beat from hunting or fishing than I have been for a 16 hour day of work.

[FVR]

Last night I sat with my 7yr old daughter and she asked about my deer hunting. She wanted to know about some of the deer I have killed. After the first two, I sensed that she was not getting what she wanted.

So I started telling her about the deer that I did not kill. The three fawns that popped out when I was ready to shoot the doe and their antics, the two young deer who had just lost their spots who walked right up to me, not 2' away and damn near kissed me while I was waiting for the big doe to make a presence.

There was the spike that tricked me, the 10pt who looked over my shoulder when I was cleaning a nipple on the muzzleloader, the doe that I made a perfect shot on only to realize when she walked away that it was the perfect shot on the sapling, oh and the little buck who busted me when I tried to take the second shot. Oh, and the 6pt and doe that I crawled through a swamp to get at, set up, only to hit another sapling and watch my arrow shoot straight up.

Oh, the fox, while bowhunting in Md that had me rolling in my treestand only to look left and see a big ol 8pt watching me watching the fox.

The frown she showed quickly went into a smile as she sat there re-living my miss' and close calls. The 7pt that walked right up to me on a trail during muzzleloading season, he stopped looked up, I moved off the trail so he could walk by, and the 6pt who jumped right over my ground blind, so close I could have stabbed him with my arrow.

Yeh, the kills are great. The antlers become tools and the meat is eaten. But the kill stories are not as great as the passed shots, the misses, and the close encounters of the wild kind.

For me it's not getting old as I'm in great shape and put younger men to the test. It's not about not going into the woods as that is where I belong, it is more of a change of priorities. I don't need to kill animals to have a good time in the woods. Most who know me here know that a hot cup of tea made the primitive way in the backwoods does it for me.

[rebel]

Last night I sat with my 7yr old daughter and she asked about my deer hunting. She wanted to know about some of the deer I have killed. After the first two, I sensed that she was not getting what she wanted.

So I started telling her about the deer that I did not kill. The three fawns that popped out when I was ready to shoot the doe and their antics, the two young deer who had just lost their spots who walked right up to me, not 2' away and damn near kissed me while I was waiting for the big doe to make a presence.

There was the spike that tricked me, the 10pt who looked over my shoulder when I was cleaning a nipple on the muzzleloader, the doe that I made a perfect shot on only to realize when she walked away that it was the perfect shot on the sapling, oh and the little buck who busted me when I tried to take the second shot. Oh, and the 6pt and doe that I crawled through a swamp to get at, set up, only to hit another sapling and watch my arrow shoot straight up.

Oh, the fox, while bowhunting in Md that had me rolling in my treestand only to look left and see a big ol 8pt watching me watching the fox.

The frown she showed quickly went into a smile as she sat there re-living my miss' and close calls. The 7pt that walked right up to me on a trail during muzzleloading season, he stopped looked up, I moved off the trail so he could walk by, and the 6pt who jumped right over my ground blind, so close I could have stabbed him with my arrow.

Yeh, the kills are great. The antlers become tools and the meat is eaten. But the kill stories are not as great as the passed shots, the misses, and the close encounters of the wild kind.

I'd like to add, the doe who's tail wagged when the squirrel fell from a broken limb as though a laugh. The chickadee who tried to land on the hunter. Then, I go negative with the ignorant and that is why I say no more. It's not only with the hunter / fisher but , also the recently small farmer or hunter and fisher. Do it right or don't do it.

[DOGMAN]

For me it's not getting old as I'm in great shape and put younger men to the test. It's not about not going into the woods as that is where I belong, it is more of a change of priorities. I don't need to kill animals to have a good time in the woods. Most who know me here know that a hot cup of tea made the primitive way in the backwoods does it for me.

Word..here here, I agree well said

[AKS]

Last night I sat with my 7yr old daughter and she asked about my deer hunting. She wanted to know about some of the deer I have killed. After the first two, I sensed that she was not getting what she wanted.

So I started telling her about the deer that I did not kill. The three fawns that popped out when I was ready to shoot the doe and their antics, the two young deer who had just lost their spots who walked right up to me, not 2' away and damn near kissed me while I was waiting for the big doe to make a presence.

There was the spike that tricked me, the 10pt who looked over my shoulder when I was cleaning a nipple on the muzzleloader, the doe that I made a perfect shot on only to realize when she walked away that it was the perfect shot on the sapling, oh and the little buck who busted me when I tried to take the second shot. Oh, and the 6pt and doe that I crawled through a swamp to get at, set up, only to hit another sapling and watch my arrow shoot straight up.

Oh, the fox, while bowhunting in Md that had me rolling in my treestand only to look left and see a big ol 8pt watching me watching the fox.

The frown she showed quickly went into a smile as she sat there re-living my miss' and close calls. The 7pt that walked right up to me on a trail during muzzleloading season, he stopped looked up, I moved off the trail so he could walk by, and the 6pt who jumped right over my ground blind, so close I could have stabbed him with my arrow.

Yeh, the kills are great. The antlers become tools and the meat is eaten. But the kill stories are not as great as the passed shots, the misses, and the close encounters of the wild kind.

For me it's not getting old as I'm in great shape and put younger men to the test. It's not about not going into the woods as that is where I belong, it is more of a change of priorities. I don't need to kill animals to have a good time in the woods. Most who know me here know that a hot cup of tea made the primitive way in the backwoods does it for me.


I'd like to add, the doe who's tail wagged when the squirrel fell from a broken limb as though a laugh. The chickadee who tried to land on the hunter. Then, I go negative with the ignorant and that is why I say no more. It's not only with the hunter / fisher but , also the recently small farmer or hunter and fisher. Do it right or don't do it.


I am only speaking for myself in that I hope to continue enjoying when I am old one of the things that I enjoy now...clean, healthy, fresh harvested meat. It is part of my way of life and I am not asking for everyone to run out and try it. I do however believe that everyone should know where their food comes from and what is in it.

Once again I don't explain my self properly and people seem to get offended. When I speak of hunting I am not thinking mainly of killing but of the outdoors and past experiences in it. I think of all the days I have spent with my father learning about different animals and their habbits. I think of the time I have spent in nature in different parts of the world, of time spent alone in the wild and times spent with friends. I think of how I have taught my children to respect nature and the creatures living in it. I don't forget that most of the people on this forum don't know me and could easly take my comments out of context. Unfortunately I usualy don't have more than a few minutes at a time to post on here so I tend to make short abbrupt posts. You all can think what you want about me, and you will, but when I am talking about hunting I want you to know it is the whole experiance, not just the unsavory task of killing things that I deal with for the purpose of feeding myself and my family that meat we like so much. Any way, I am done with this thread. Have fun hunting, fishing or making tea to what ever extent you decide to do it or not.

[rebel]

I don't know what changed in me but, after the Marines, the 4 leggers weren't a challenge and the city hunters look like fools.