This should get some good responses. Everyone has their reasons. Tradition, because your buddies do, the score of the deer, meat, what's your why? I'll start.
I started hunting at 8 with my dad in the hay day of west TN public land before clear cuts and leases. This will be my 25th season. Then it was what I grew up in. Couldn't wait to be big enough to go. Got the first deer out of the way and I couldn't get enough. Went through a few years of had to kill the numbers and fill every tag. Anything that had a horn was killed and we were proud of it and to be honest it was some of the funnest hunting I can ever remember doing. No cameras just finding feed sign and hunting it in continuous big timber tracts. After that era I've settled into the sport. Longbow, roundball muzzleloader, whatever new deer rifle I've worked on for the year at hand and most importantly spending the time I have with my old man in the woods. I've never put a tape on a deer. Wouldn't know how to score one without google. Just enjoy it now for what it is. All this new YouTube sensation and talking to new hunters it seems like it's all for likes and publicity. I hate to see the way it's headed. But then again everyone has their why I guess.
I started hunting at 8 with my dad in the hay day of west TN public land before clear cuts and leases. This will be my 25th season. Then it was what I grew up in. Couldn't wait to be big enough to go. Got the first deer out of the way and I couldn't get enough. Went through a few years of had to kill the numbers and fill every tag. Anything that had a horn was killed and we were proud of it and to be honest it was some of the funnest hunting I can ever remember doing. No cameras just finding feed sign and hunting it in continuous big timber tracts. After that era I've settled into the sport. Longbow, roundball muzzleloader, whatever new deer rifle I've worked on for the year at hand and most importantly spending the time I have with my old man in the woods. I've never put a tape on a deer. Wouldn't know how to score one without google. Just enjoy it now for what it is. All this new YouTube sensation and talking to new hunters it seems like it's all for likes and publicity. I hate to see the way it's headed. But then again everyone has their why I guess.