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Battling Burn-Out

Mescalero

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Starting at Thanksgiving, I've been burned out. It usually doesn't hit me until around Christmas time. Haven't been able to get my butt out of bed at zero dark thirty and by the time late morning/afternoon rolls around, I find it too easy to think of an excuse to not hunt. I think this year there are a few reasons why. I opened my season with the archery opener. Next year, I'm waiting until mid-October to begin. The middle TN weather usually starts improving a bit for hunting around that time and delaying two weeks will at least get me through Thanksgiving before burn out starts setting in. Having to only hunt public land, no kills, few sightings also works against getting motivated. But also hunting by myself doesn't help. The camaraderie of a hunt club/lease also helps.

Next year, I think I will delay my archery season until October 15ish and look to schedule an out-of-state outfitted/semi-guided hunt on good ground for 5-7 days in November while mixing in the TN public land hunts the remainder of the season. What does everyone else do to fight burn out? Maybe you don't suffer from it or maybe you just fight through it.
 
I don't start hunting until I can have a firearm in my hands, hence I don't start until MZ opener. But then I hunt so hard during our local rut month, that by the weekend after Thanksgiving, I'm definitely burned out. Plus, our rut is winding down then, so odds of seeing an older buck decline dramatically as well. Burn-out, plus low odds, only gets me back in the stand a couple of times before the end of the season.
 
I understand how you feel guys been there before. This has been a weird year for me got some good sits in during October but nothing since last weekend in October. Can't get out this weekend due to the storms either. Hopefully I will be able to get out next weekend and maybe get five more sits in before the season ends.
 
I'm in the same boat right now, but I'm tagged out and have to drive to Kentucky if I want to try for another buck. And work schedule is crazy this time of year so traveling anywhere right now is almost impossible. I've been hunting hard since the velvet hunt, then KY opener on sept 4, then an early archery hunt the week before TN opener, and so on. It's been a great season. I'm about to load up now and take the 30-30 in search of a fat doe.
 
I wouldn't put at "start date" to it. Just wait until the weather cools off in October before going. About mid December is when I'm ready to call it quits. It's at that time I start thinking about the next year and what I need to do different and what to change. That's what keeps my excitement going.
 
I try not to make a "job". I like to hunt the mornings most of the time. I switch it up after thanksgiving weekend. I'll sleep a little later do some chores then hunt 10-2 or 12:00 till dark. Hunt on the ground. Move from place to place, cover some ground if you can. Mix it up and just enjoy the season.
 
First 2 weeks of December are the low point of the season for me. Rut is over on TN, and bucks are still in bachelor groups and nocturnal where I hunt locally. But I'm pumped up for TN 2nd rut, then 1st and 2nd rut locally.

Had that little front come through yesterday and temps dropped down here. Saw 7 does this am, but they crossed the powerline too fast for a shot. Going to hunt a plot that hasn't been touched all season this afternoon looking for a doe.
 
Remember, nobody is making you go… if you're burnt out then take a little time off. Try different places, different tactics, and different times of day. Don't focus on the kill or antler size. Try taking a kid, or your spouse. Try butchering your own deer, and try different cuts of meat and new recipes.

The above is how I've learned to treat hunting and make it fun again. Except my wife won't go with me…
 
I don't know how to explain it either. But I have been physically exhausted most of this year after having pneumonia early in the year.hopefully things change for me. Cause I'm tired of being tired with 0 motivation
 
I definitely get burned out about December. But by then I've hunted hard since August. But I get the fire back by taking people. It's something about seeing that sparkle and a tear on someone's eye. That me myself hasn't felt in years. I don't care how many big deer I kill. There's nothing like a first buck. And to be able to give that to other people drives my last season.
 
In 2019, killed one of my better bucks on December 14th. We had a big bodied mature 8 around that was probably 20 inches inside. He was chasing does, secondary rut. He went through that morning right at legal shooting light, but I couldn't get a shot on him. Then he chased through the gully behind me too quick for me to get a shot. About 30 minutes later I had what I thought was him steady walking from where I had first seen him that morning. I dropped him, only to discover it was a different 8 that we had gotten no pics of until that morning. Turned out to not be as wide(17.5 inside), but had longer beams and was taller. Guess my point is, you never know this time of the year when you may get a new buck move in.

I stay home more of the lousy weather, but this time of the year here, I have had some pretty good sits. When conditions are right and leading into the secondary rut this time of year, I will go when I can.
 
Gosh I can't wait to go. Our rut is not over. It's just now peaking big deer on their feet. The layer it gets in the year the more i like it. I will say this the property I hunt makes a tremendous difference. If I hunted a place that had been shooting does with firearms I'd be burned out too. No fun not seeing deer.
 
The older I get the quicker I get burnt out. I have not hunted a single afternoon this year. It used to drive me crazy to miss any opportunity to be out there. Just don't have the desire to get after em like I used to.
 
The older I get the quicker I get burnt out. I have not hunted a single afternoon this year. It used to drive me crazy to miss any opportunity to be out there. Just don't have the desire to get after em like I used to.
I'm with you. I've hunted one afternoon this year.

I think it really matters about seeing deer. Having opportunities.
 
I think the important thing is to keep that "fun" factor in there somehow. Sometimes I can go down a rabbit hole in pursuit of achieving my objective in the deer woods. every once in a while I have to remind myself that this isn't work! There aren't any deadlines and no one is here evaluating your performance except you! This is your passion so enjoy the heck out of it!
 
I start hunting when ML starts thru Thanksgiving so i can maximize my time in the woods at prime time then, i usually lay low until 2nd rut around Christmas.
 
I like to mix it up when I start feeling burnt out which is usually after thanksgiving. I will usually sleep in until daybreak and go "squirrel hunting" (scouting and occasionally shooting a few squirrels) in a completely different hunting area. This allows me to see a few new potential deer hunting areas, and I can usually bag enough squirrels to make some squirrel and dumplings.
 
I normally take a week or so off from hunting after Thanksgiving. It seems that every year where I hunt the mature bucks get up and get moving the 2nd and 3rd week of Dec looking for those young does coming in. I actually had 4 mature bucks show up yesterday on camera that I haven't seen all year.
 

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