• Help Support TNDeer:

The flame is burning low

I turned forty-four this year. As many of you know, I lost my father in January to covid. I started hunting at the tender age of 5. I can't remember missing an opening day until this year. My dad and best friend just always had the passion for hunting. Opening day was like Christmas time. Last year on 11/20/2020 he killed a trophy west tn buck, He called me after he walked up on the deer and sounded like he had buck fever and was ecstatic. He dropped by the house at lunch for some pictures and congratulations! This was the last picture taken of him before he passed. We took him to the ER on Christmas eve never to see him again. He fought covid with vengeance and gave up on January 12, 2021. One of the toughest guys I've ever met. So I missed opening day for remembrance of one of the best to do deer hunting in my lifetime! Love you Dad and see you on the other side. Hunting just isn't the same without you..
 
Monk74 said:
Just wondering if I'm alone. I'm 47 now. Killed my first deer, a small buck in 1984. Instantly hooked. This is year 37 for me. When on to walk away ( not the smartest decision) from a college baseball scholarship to go out west and be a guide. Guided in Montana, Idaho, Colorado and even South Georgia for quail, hogs and turkeys. However, each year it gets a little harder to get outta bed etc, etc. As a kid opening day was better than Christmas. I used to look at people during season and wonder why aren't theyhunting today. I have always wondered, why the fire burns out and sworn it'd never happen to me…. But it is.
Click to expand...
You're not alone! You put a kid in an ice cream parlor and he will eventually get sick and tired of ice cream. Balance is the key to enjoying ice cream for life. You hunt every day rain or shine. Anyone would grow to detest it. Have to go, not want to go. As we age ( I'm 64), the desire to kill diminishes. Life is more fleeting and therefore precious. Even though we enjoy many of the aspects of hunting, our priorities change. Killing something, even a trophy, is much less important. Take a break and find your balance. For me, God is constantly refining my priorities.
 
I just turned 67, I've deer hunted for 55 years, as old age sets in I find the desire is not there anymore, the thrill of a kill is gone except for a big buck. And the older I get the more I love to sleep
 
Wish I could be like you guys.. I was raised in the city and didn't learn about hunting until over 30. I now live in Nashville and try my hardest to get into hunting. Its not the easiest (especially when alone in the woods every broken branch is hiding a mountain lion..lol) I will keep at it though. I wan to fill my freezer with healthy meat. Hoping even if a spike or a doe I can harvest something before eaten by the local brown bears or lions lol
 
My 2 cents on the subject is how hunting n general has changed. 30 years ago there were millions of acres spanning most counties in Tennessee that were available for access by the hunting public. Now most is leased. What was lost was the ability to gather family and friends to hunt together or just take someone new. Leased land can't do that for the most part. No more looking forward to swinging by the check station to see what maybe hidden by a tailgate. No more listening to the story in such detail with such excitement that you feel as if you were there. Yes we have a better deer herd statewide now. Yes with social media we have access to more information information, pictures, and stories. But people are meant to be with other people and hunters are meant to tell and listen to stories. For many these things that are for the most part gone are taking fuel from the fire.
 
I guess I look at somewhat different. To say I'd get burnt out on hunting would be like saying I'd get burnt out on eating ,drinking, sleeping, taking a dump or any other natural function. I may get physically tired and wore out and need a break but the idea of being burnt out on hunting never occurred to me.
 
Iglow said:
I guess I look at somewhat different. To say I'd get burnt out on hunting would be like saying I'd get burnt out on eating ,drinking, sleeping, taking a dump or any other natural function. I may get physically tired and wore out and need a break but the idea of being burnt out on hunting never occurred to me.
Click to expand...
I thought the same thing you just mentioned but father time and changes are going to happen. I'm 67 and have hunted more this year than the last several. With that said I do feel the desire diminishing . With a bad back , knees and shoulders it is a struggle just to go . When I lost my last lease in Giles I took it alot better than I thought I would but the drive (200miles) was getting to me , last couple years we had it I only went 2 to 3 times . But with that said you had a chance at a decent buck each time you went , great place . Now all I have is my 10 acres and the place that joins me which is around a couple hundred acres here in East Tennessee but nothing like hunting middle Tennessee. My hunting friends has all but quit and my grandson injured his leg so I go each time by my self which is no big deal but the comradirie is missed . Those of you thats young had better enjoy your time afield going as much as possible because there will come a time you won't have it due to circumstances. Used tomlet those young bucks walk but after a few years not killing anything I finally busted a young seven point which I should have let walk but I know my time is drawing near.
 
I'm 76. Been deer hunting since I was 16. The only place at that time in my area that had any deer was the mountains. Hunted and learned from some men that had lost count of the deer they had killed in Tellico and Ocoee. They are all gone now but I still love to hunt the places we hunted. Can't get to some of the places that I used to but hope to keep going as long as the Lord allows.
 
I'm 48 and been deer hunting for 35+ years. I still enjoy going and still get an itchy trigger finger from time to time but I enjoy the time around the campfire with buddies as much as anything. Unfortunately we're all on different schedules in life right now so those days haven't happened and are few and far between. I hunted opening day of muzzleloader by myself and instead of camping Friday night I drove an hour and a half that morning, hunted all day, killed a 10-pt just before dark, and drove back home. Left at 4:00 am and returned at 10:00 pm and I was whipped. This weekend is the first rifle opener I can recall missing. I was out of town all week getting home Friday evening after 5:00 and nobody else was gonna be at the lease so I've spent all weekend with my wife. Having killed one during muzzleloader has definitely scratched the itch but I do hate I missed it. The weather wasn't good today or I may have slipped off. Oh well it is what it is.
 
I've only been deer hunting 12 years and I'm 49.
I love getting out a few days a year with my muzzleloader, sittin in the tree and just chillin out.
I'm far from a die hard.
This year sucked because I lost my dad in August and every year on the way home I would call him and let him know how hunting was.
Sitting up in the tree this year helped dealing with that loss and all the other crappy things this year threw at me.
I did call my mom on the way home and stopped off at the cemetery to visit the old man and let him know how it went.
I could just hear him now." The Environmentally Safe hunter strikes again"
So @buckbstr_1 , sorry about your old man. It sucks but I'd keep hunting if I was you.
Maybe just ease back into it.
 
This will be the 42nd season I have hunted deer. I really haven't lost the drive to be in the woods and enjoying this time of year. Although I have lost the drive to kill them like I use to. I enjoy scouting and taking friends and family. I still enjoy trying to figure out and killing mature bucks. We just got back from LBL and I did all the scouting for 5 of us. I didn't care if I seen anything or not. Spent all day Friday taking the other 4 in and hanging their stands. We had two good bucks on the ground by 10am and by the time we got 2 deer and stands out on Saturday. None of the other 3 went this morning, the weather was crappy anyway.
 
As I type this, I'm lying in bed with an ice pack on my lower back. I woke up at LBL at 4am and could not stand up from my muscles clinching. Slept in till 8 and struggled to pack vehicle and drive 6 hours home. I avoided some delay in Nashville and probably avoided a lot more delay in Chattanooga. Ive learned to drive around the interstate waits.

I enjoyed the hunt, but I'm not going by myself again. I've got nothing to prove.

I'm going to lose some weight and get in better health. I have great aspirations of taking kids on youth elk draw hunt, but at this point I'm kidding myself.

I have a busy week planned which includes Laurel Hill on Friday morning, trying to kill a couple of nice bucks at home on Thanksgiving, and a weekend hunt for the kids that we really love.

I still have the fire, but I will need a huntIng partner in a few years. Perhaps, I will just pick one weekend a year like normal people and that's it.
 
For those of us whose Dad got them hunting, it changes everything when he dies. I lost my Dad in 2010 when he was 86. Polio and heart trouble kept him out of the woods for the last several years of his life. The highlight of every hunt was calling Dad and giving him a report. Every deer or turkey I killed the first call was to him. It's been over 11 years and I still miss not making that call.

I'm 54. Deer hunting is better than ever. I see more deer than I dreamed I ever would when I was a teen. And killing means less and less with each passing year.
 
The trick is to get into other related things like sausage making, jerky etc. That way you have something else to give you the urge to get some deer.
 
Omega said:
The trick is to get into other related things like sausage making, jerky etc. That way you have something else to give you the urge to get some deer.
Click to expand...
I've started playing around with tanning. Working on my mule deer now, and still have a lot to learn :)
 
gtk said:
I've started playing around with tanning. Working on my mule deer now, and still have a lot to learn :)
Click to expand...
I haven't tried yet, but I do want to try one just to see if I can. Doesn't seem to be all that complicated, tedious maybe, but not complicated. I might try a small hide first, maybe a squirrel, fox or something like that, or maybe just a partial hide, about the size of a rifle cleaning mat, for photo backgrounds.
 
I think what many hunters don't realize or are hesitant to accept is that "what we want out of hunting" changes with age and experience. And that's not only perfectly OK, but also normal. I'm almost 60 and been deer hunting since I was 17. I've killed more deer than I can count. I've killed a bunch of top-end bucks for my area. Although I still have a great passion for deer hunting, now it is more about the gathering of family for opening hunts. The telling and retelling of old stories. The camaraderie of old hunting companions. In addition, now I get more pleasure from working with the land, experimenting to see what I can do to make a property better wildlife habitat and better hunting. This year I've probably spent ten times the hours working on the land than I have actually hunting it. And I enjoy it.
 
BSK said:
This year I've probably spent ten times the hours working on the land than I have actually hunting it. And I enjoy it.
Click to expand...
I got my first tractor, bush hog, and disc this year. I got more enjoyment out of that than I have hunting so far. It is so much fun to work the land, improve the land, then see the fruits of your labor.
 
BSK said:
I think what many hunters don't realize or are hesitant to accept is that "what we want out of hunting" changes with age and experience. And that's not only perfectly OK, but also normal. I'm almost 60 and been deer hunting since I was 17. I've killed more deer than I can count. I've killed a bunch of top-end bucks for my area. Although I still have a great passion for deer hunting, now it is more about the gathering of family for opening hunts. The telling and retelling of old stories. The camaraderie of old hunting companions. In addition, now I get more pleasure from working with the land, experimenting to see what I can do to make a property better wildlife habitat and better hunting. This year I've probably spent ten times the hours working on the land than I have actually hunting it. And I enjoy it.
Click to expand...

Very well said
 
BSK said:
I think what many hunters don't realize or are hesitant to accept is that "what we want out of hunting" changes with age and experience. And that's not only perfectly OK, but also normal. I'm almost 60 and been deer hunting since I was 17. I've killed more deer than I can count. I've killed a bunch of top-end bucks for my area. Although I still have a great passion for deer hunting, now it is more about the gathering of family for opening hunts. The telling and retelling of old stories. The camaraderie of old hunting companions. In addition, now I get more pleasure from working with the land, experimenting to see what I can do to make a property better wildlife habitat and better hunting. This year I've probably spent ten times the hours working on the land than I have actually hunting it. And I enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Absolutely great post. My "flame" still burns but the "kindling" that keeps it going has changed significantly. Working towards habitat improvement and just working on the land is where i get most of my "kindling". Another huge portion is taking my kids. I get more excited than they do when they kill a deer, but i dont get nowhere near as excited when i kill one.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top