When to quit?

[Jpsmith1]

Have you considered still hunting? Doesn't seem like the waiting game is your cup of tea. If deer won't come to you. Start covering ground. You'll mess up alot but might bump your spirits having more action

I have in gun season with the same luck

 

[4rcgoat]

"Let it go,if it comes back it was meant to be.........if it doesn't come back,hunt it down and try again."

 

[def90]

Really dig deep on what they are doing, they may think they aren’t doing anything special but there is probably something there. Are they getting out there at 4am while you are getting there at 8? Are they spending the whole day vs you are getting lunch back at the truck? Are they practicing good odor control, And so on…

Maybe switch to a shotgun rather than bow so that you don’t have such a tight distance limitation. Also, maybe sitting in a stand just isn’t your thing, I know I couldn’t sit in a place for more than a half hour without getting antsy and leaving early. Some people I know really are just lucky, my cousin from Wisconsin came out to do an OTC elk rifle hunt and he literally just walked in to a bull elk 40 minutes in to the first day and shot it.

Try a western hunt where you are doing more glassing and stalking rather than sitting in one place all day or even do a guided hunt or two and really spend a lot of time with the guide asking them what they are doing and why.

 

[flathead#2]

Bout to head out on probably my only deer hunt this season.
Going to do a week of muzzy deer/ fall turkey then come home
to duck hunt with my son the rest of the season.
In the near future I may be just fishing and maybe duck hunting.
Or maybe just fishing.
Seems old age comes in larger increments the older you get.
I joined a deer lease last year for the first time in probably 30
years. Found out I absolutely despise sitting in a stand or box
blind.
Trying to mix it up some from now on.

 

[Jpsmith1]

Really dig deep on what they are doing, they may think they aren’t doing anything special but there is probably something there. Are they getting out there at 4am while you are getting there at 8? Are they spending the whole day vs you are getting lunch back at the truck? Are they practicing good odor control, And so on…

Maybe switch to a shotgun rather than bow so that you don’t have such a tight distance limitation. Also, maybe sitting in a stand just isn’t your thing, I know I couldn’t sit in a place for more than a half hour without getting antsy and leaving early. Some people I know really are just lucky, my cousin from Wisconsin came out to do an OTC elk rifle hunt and he literally just walked in to a bull elk 40 minutes in to the first day and shot it.

Try a western hunt where you are doing more glassing and stalking rather than sitting in one place all day or even do a guided hunt or two and really spend a lot of time with the guide asking them what they are doing and why.

The one in particular I'm thinking of usually takes 5+ deer a year with a Marlboro hanging out of his mouth. Most with a bow. Couple hours in the morning, couple hours in the evening. Me? I wash my gear with the magic soap, wash my a$$ with the magic soap, spray my gear down... considered brushing my teeth with doe piss but I didn't want it THAT bad.

I get 2 weeks of rifle and I hunt that as well. Sitting is tough. The phone and a book help.

I've done 2 guided hunts. I drew an elk tag here in Pennsylvania and was skunked. Didn't see an elk. And I went hog hunting in SC This summer and I did take a hog with a handgun. I've been saving and training for a western hunt but they're SO d**ned expensive, I don't think it will ever happen.

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

he’s legally dead but refuses to get hearing aids

I just don't think hearing aids will help a dead guy be a better hunter.

 

[pacoalcracker]

even in a tree stand, you have to sit still and be quiet....thats why I went to still hunting and my luck not only went up, I wasn't so bored either. even still hunting takes tactic such as slow going and slow movements....quick movement catches a deer's attention. maybe try ground blind hunting where movement isn't such a deal breaker. I watched a live seminar in January at the sportsman show in Harrisburg Pa by those brothers from Maine that shoot monster bucks all the time while still hunting, as do their clients. They have some really good tactics that are proven to work. I'm trying them out this year but haven't got out all that much yet....but rifle season i'm going to be out for the entire 2 weeks of the season. Maybe catch one of their free seminars.

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

To be snarky, in my experience, the people saying stuff like this and stuff like "ya can't eat the antlers" are guys who fill tags regularly.

I'm not sure if Willie and Merle are/ were hunters?

 

[pacoalcracker]

I definately do not use my cell phone during hunting, on a stand or not. It gives off light and signals you cannot see/hear but deer might be able to. put that thing away...same for movement while reading a book...no, deer are very wary...put those things away. It isn't bad luck..it's doing things that alert wary deer. Think like a deer.

 

[bowhuntercoop]

I killed my 118 deer with a bow last week and I’m only in my 30s. If I wasn’t on deer consistently I would find another hobby.

I love shooting my bow in the off season, but if i take it in the woods it’s to kill critters not take it for a walk.

What state are you hunting? Sounds like low deer density areas. If you’re repeating the same tactics over and over and getting the same results it’s time to change something.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I definately do not use my cell phone during hunting, on a stand or not. It gives off light and signals you cannot see/hear but deer might be able to. put that thing away...same for movement while reading a book...no, deer are very wary...put those things away. It isn't bad luck..it's doing things that alert wary deer. Think

Sightings and opportunity have gone uo since i started that.
Turn page slowly read page. Scan woods.

Keeps my ass still and planted in the stand.

 

[Jake T]

Take next year off. Don’t sell or give away any of your gear, just take next year off. That should tell you how you feel about the whole thing.

I’m like you in that I’m very unlucky in the killing aspect. And every year as the season ends I say the same thing, ‘why am I spending all this time, money, and effort on something that produces no results?’

And every year about 2 weeks after the season I find myself chomping to get out and hunt again. So I go out again the next year.

Maybe you just need a break so you can reevaluate things?

 

[HbDane]

I just don't think hearing aids will help a dead guy be a better hunter.

Deaf

 

[Jpsmith1]

I killed my 118 deer with a bow last week and I’m only in my 30s. If I wasn’t on deer consistently I would another hobby.

I love shooting my bow in the off season, but if i take it in the woods it’s to kill critters not take it for a walk.

What state are you hunting? Sounds like low deer density areas. If you’re repeating the same tactics over and over and getting the same results it’s time to change something.

Pennsylvania I've hunted high and low density areas based on statistics. Late 80s and early 90s were the highest densities this state has ever seen and I was not seeing deer

Even with somewhat lower densities, I see more deer now than I did as a kid.

 

[pacoalcracker]

There are a LOT of deer in Pa.....there is no such thing as low density anywhere in the commonwealth. If there is an acre of ground, there are deer that cross it.

 

[Jpsmith1]

Take next year off. Don’t sell or give away any of your gear, just take next year off. That should tell you how you feel about the whole thing.

I’m like you in that I’m very unlucky in the killing aspect. And every year as the season ends I say the same thing, ‘why am I spending all this time, money, and effort on something that produces no results?’

And every year about 2 weeks after the season I find myself chomping to get out and hunt again. So I go out again the next year.

Maybe you just need a break so you can reevaluate things?

By October, I'm excited for the season.

I've got spots picked out, backup spots picked out got half a dozen bucks on camera that I'll never see...

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

You could take a break. If you miss it then go back.

As each season transitions I start obsessing about whatever I'm allowed to hunt. Fly fishing drives me mad until September. Then I obsess over anything I have a tag for. Especially elk.
October hits and the rifle comes out. Bear and lions start to cloud the mind.
November comes and the AR comes out. Furbearer hunting starts living rent free in my mind and any opportunity to be sitting over a call is cherished.
December and January are now either sand hill crane or Barbary. If we don't draw we try to do a desert trip for javelina in January.
Then the cycle resets.

When I take breaks in between each species my brain transitions to the next thing and I crave being out there.

I have a feeling if you took a year off you wouldn't get very far into October before missing the quiet moments in a stand.
Killing shit can be pretty anticlimactic end to great time. And I feel social media has made people forget the process is the best part.

 

[Jpsmith1]

There are a LOT of deer in Pa.....there is no such thing as low density anywhere in the commonwealth. If there is an acre of ground, there are deer that cross it.

I'm speaking relative to historical densities

 

[hereinaz]

Sucks to work hard and not see animals, let alone not fill many tags. When I wasn't having success and eating tags without seeing anything it was because I was in the wrong place and I was doing things "wrong" or not doing the "right" things. I didn't know what I didn't know. I also had to deal with ADHD, lol, and find ways to sit still and keep my eyes in the glass.

As an adult onset hunter, I felt behind the curve and felt pressure to kill. Eventually, I found some success and realized that hunting was awesome and less of a grind when I opened my eyes to how lucky I am and how amazing it is to be outside in nature. The fun is now in the adventure and not whether I kill or not. Taking the pressure off seems to have helped me keep my mind in the game and fill tags.

This year, it was only 13 days, but I was beat down, tired and discouraged. My brain was resisting, but I hunted hard to the last day and filled my tag the last morning.

I really hope something breaks your way and you get some success.

 

[jimh406]

First rule, hunt where the game is.

It’s a hobby for most people, so how much game do you kill in your other hobbies?

However, if you aren’t having fun, I say quite for a while.