No longer hunting?

[Blockcaver]

I'll be 70 this year. Spent 35 days bow hunting AZ Coues deer DIY, mostly solo this winter....'21 and '22 archery tags. Didn't get bored, even after 50 yrs of bowhunting all over North America. I do really enjoy bird hunting with my wife and our Vizsla. Just bought 13 OTC tags for BC...ranging from lynx and wolverine up to moose and elk, including sheep but not goats....done with goat hunting with two nice billies arrowed years ago.

Didn't book any out of province guided hunts this fall. After seriously hunting and finally completing the archery super slam last fall, I wanted to take a bit of time to decide what I really want to hunt out of province. I don't feel any pressure or desire to add to the species list in Europe, Asia, Africa, New Zealand or South America....but an Asiatic buffalo in Northern Australia does sound interesting.

Can't imagine ever stopping hunting. But I've been a hunter all my life, its not a passing fancy or a fad I got caught up in. YMMV

 

[5MilesBack]

I stop hunting as soon as I have a good shot angle and situation, then I'm shooting.

My uncle gave up on the draw system when CO changed all it's stuff a few years ago, but he still gets OTC or leftover tags. But the only other people I know that have stopped altogether, stopped because they got too old to keep doing it. I give up on it when it gets too crowded. That's just not fun for me. Most all of the public areas I used to fly fish I've given up on because there's always someone else there anymore. Part of the reasons I hunt and fish is to get away from people.

 

[idelkslayer]

Hunting is all I ever wanted to do. I started losing interest recently and can't figure out why. The best I can figure, it started on a Friday. I had just left the doctors office after my vasectomy and...

 

[Glendon Mullins]

My Dad hasnt deer hunted in 2-3 years now, he's 68, says he cant handle the sitting out in the cold anymore with his arthritis, he worked 30 years in coal mines and has had a couple back surgeries and neck surgery as well.

He has shifted to squirrel hunting with dogs, lots of fun, your constantly moving so your not getting cold etc. no heavy game to carry and/or drag etc. him and my uncle killed like 175 squirrels this year lol

 

[Still Hunter]

At the edge of this now.

 

[Mosby]

I think a lot of people quit when they run out of people to hunt with. Hunting for some is a social event and when they run out of people they hunted with for years they simply quit. I get it. I am 62. My brother is 10 years older than I am and he is slowing down. We just put in for elk tags and I might go to PA this year for deer season but I don't see my brother hunting more than a couple more seasons. I figured that out a couple years ago. The day is coming that I won't have anyone to hop in the truck and hunt with and the older I get the more I am hunting by myself. It can be depressing.

Then you have everyone telling you that you can't do it anymore. It's dangerous to be out by yourself. It's not fun to be out by yourself. You're too old. It's easy to start doubting whether you should or shouldn't. Easy to get talked into quitting or convincing yourself you're not having fun anymore. You're one bad trip from being done.

To me it comes down to quitting or adapting. I'm adapting. I am back lifting and walking miles a day. I want to extend how long I can keep going. I bought a started GSP in 2020 and a 8 week old Vizsla pup a couple weeks ago. We walk every day. Work on training every day. They always want to go hunting and I win most arguments. There might come a day where I can't get my elk meat out or drag a deer out by myself but as long as I can drive and walk, I can bird hunt with my dogs. Bird hunting keeps me in shape for elk and deer and extends what seasons I have left. When you run out of hunting buddies....buy new ones. Gives you a new purpose. Living is about adapting.

 

[EastHumboldt]

It means different things to different people. For me it’s about being with my son and or my brother and soon my grandsons out in the weeds. (Nothing against the ladies here… just none of em in my family want to go). Chasing fish and deer is a good excuse to be out there. Don’t get me wrong… I’m still carrying my rifle and I’m still excited to have a shot at a decent buck. But it doesn’t sting like it did when I was young if I don’t fill my tag. If I couldn’t hunt with them… I would have to think hard about what I want to do.

 

[Super tag]

I’m 60 and have hunted and fished my entire life, I hunt because I love being in the woods, there’s nothing that compares to nature and the outdoors, it brings peace of mind and frees me up for a while, to escape from reality.

I hunt and fish to be with my boys and my son in law, and my wife, she loves fishing and being on the boat. I love to help them be successful. I find so much pleasure in teaching younger people the things I have learned.

We hunt big game, upland and waterfowl, and we hunt a lot, nearly every weekend when the seasons are open.

We use this time together to bond and it’s really time spent that can’t be duplicated any other way. We have hunting camp each year in the same location and its a tradition we all look forward to with great anticipation.

Taking game is a bonus, birds are fairly easy but I won’t take big game until they have all filled their tags.

I also enjoy being out in the field alone, im getting older and it’s difficult to break down an elk on my own, I can manage deer still but will call in the boys when I need help.

I will hunt and fish until the day I die, in this world with all its troubles, im really greatful we still have the opportunities and I couldn’t imagine life any other way.

 

[Fatcamp]

What an odd thread.

I will always hunt, even if it comes down to stalking yard sales with my walker.

 

[KurtR]

Sitting here watching the sky for the white devils to show up then will set 50 doz decoys by my self if no one else will go. If I kill just one bird and get to watch the dog bring it back it will be a success.

@Fatcamp have they got in your part of the state yet? Heard a bunch pushed through Yankton the other day.

 

[Fatcamp]

Sitting here watching the sky for the white devils to show up then will set 50 doz decoys by my self if no one else will go. If I kill just one bird and get to watch the dog bring it back it will be a success.

@Fatcamp have they got in your part of the state yet? Heard a bunch pushed through Yankton the other day.

Hey! Saw our first birds off I-29 yesterday 40 or so miles south of Sioux Falls. Probably 5000 snows and a bunch of miscellaneous birds in the area.

I was telling my wife we should find someone for her to go with to experience it once. Such a cool thing to see. Maybe later in the season we could help you out and she could see it firsthand. I think those later flocks are easier to kill birds on, but they're snow geese, so who knows. We work hard and have money for gas.

 

[KurtR]

Hey! Saw our first birds off I-29 yesterday 40 or so miles south of Sioux Falls. Probably 5000 snows and a bunch of miscellaneous birds in the area.

I was telling my wife we should find someone for her to go with to experience it once. Such a cool thing to see. Maybe later in the season we could help you out and she could see it firsthand. I think those later flocks are easier to kill birds on, but they're snow geese, so who knows. We work hard and have money for gas.

Ya they are so un predicable but getting in on just one spin is worth it. I will be down in Sioux Falls running a field trial at Sioux valley next Saturday so figured I would scout the whole way back to Mobridge that evening. I will shoot you a pm if I find a feed I think would make it worth your drive the more the merrier when it comes to the snow geese.

 

[kda082]

It burns a little dimmer with my son off to college. Hunted snows a couple weeks ago without him and just didn’t feel right, but want to get my lab out for some work.

 

[timekiller13]

I know a lot of people who have quit hunting, mostly due to age. My Dad hunts very little anymore. He didn’t start hunting until he was nearly 40, that’s when I started as a teenager. Last year he whitetail hunted 4x. He went to Colorado with me but didn’t get a tag, he went along as “camp chef.”

I know a handful of younger (less than 40) people who have quit hunting. They quit due to job or family obligations. But they weren’t serious hunters. Of all the people I know who were truly serious hunters, the only ones that have quit have done so because of age or health, and all of them are over 75.

Kids and careers make you prioritize hunting. I used to chase whitetails 40 days a year. And then I’d small game hunt another 15 and then I’d trout fish 40-50x a year. I’ve cut that back. I hunt deer about 12-15x a year and then go out west twice a year, once for hunting and once for fishing.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

It really is kind of sad to read all these comments and realize hunting is a dying family tradition, at least for me it was. We always waited with high hopes and great anticipation for opening day. first it was pheasant and upland bird season which carried on until deer opened. Archery opened first then in Nov. rifle season, which only lasted a week in Wis. The many Weekend mornings waking up early to head out hunting with my dad and brothers, were no other time of the year. They are all gone now, as are some of my old hunting friends, but as I mentioned in previous post, I will continue hunting what and when I can until my body won't let me. that will be a very sad day for me.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

Well this is the most depressing thread ever. What’s the point in living if you’ve lost the passion to hunt & fish?

 

[DooleyVT]

Well this is the most depressing thread ever. What’s the point in living if you’ve lost the passion to hunt & fish?

And that's s exactly what I worry about with my old man and has made me realize so many things when he said he was done hunting. If he loses his passion and motivation for the things he loves he will lose his will. It is exactly what I enjoy most about hunting It pushes me to be better mentally and physically and can't picture myself without it. It forces me to do things I may not do without it. It changes the way I eat, drink, exercise, and my overall work ethic and shapes so much of who I am today. I feel like it has made me not only a better sportsman and have more respect for the animals I chase but also a better and stronger family man and human being. It is the definition of living.

 

[ODB]

Slow down, maybe - stop, never.

(C) ODB 2022

 

[GSPHUNTER]

And that's s exactly what I worry about with my old man and has made me realize so many things when he said he was done hunting. If he loses his passion and motivation for the things he loves he will lose his will. It is exactly what I enjoy most about hunting It pushes me to be better mentally and physically and can't picture myself without it. It forces me to do things I may not do without it. It changes the way I eat, drink, exercise, and my overall work ethic and shapes so much of who I am today. I feel like it has made me not only a better sportsman and have more respect for the animals I chase but also a better and stronger family man and human being. It is the definition of living.

An old guy I use to hunt with, the father of my current friend, hunted until he was 85. He lived to be 98. He told me many times, every day I wake up, is another day I have to miss hunting. He told me on more than one occasion he was ready to die.

 

[Kimber7man]

Pure definition of irony.

Old white men complaining that hunting is dying. And in the same thread slamming and demeaning young folks who are just getting into hunting with their 6.5 Creedmoor and wearing their hats the way they like.