Does it excist for you when it comes to bow hunting deer? If you dont score on a certain buck is it failure? Is failure even in your vocabulary? If it is what do you consider failure then?
Failure to me is not having opportunity to harvest a deer. Several deer pass under my stand and I decide if I take a shot. If I don't like the shot I have, I pass but I still have the opportunity. Some of my most memorable days resulted in watching the deer and never taking the shot.
Failure is not in my vocabulary. Just by being out there, putting in the hard work to do the best you can do, is not failure. Sitting there for countless hours, days, weeks, or months and not harvesting anything is no failure. Failure is thoes who dont put in the time or effort and just sit in some random stand that he hung with hopes of bagging a 170-200 class buck and then complains to everyone at the end of the season that they didnt get anything or see anything during the short time he "hunted".
Thats not failure. Youve put in the time and the effort to be there, you have the heart, youve done your homework, the time just may not always be right. Thats not failure.
For me, failure is failing to capitalize on an opportunity due to some fault of my own. Whether it be a missed shot, poor shot, etc. Something I did that was within my control that caused me to not be successful. Hunting hard and not coming home with an animal because the opportunity was never presented is all part of the game. That's why it's called hunting. Hunting hard and coming home emptyhanded because I screwed up is how I would define failure. And it sucks.
I just don't take it that seriously I guess. Don't get me wrong, I'll hunt as hard as anyone I know (harder than most I've ever met), take it seriously when I need to, and try to hunt as smart as I can every time I step into the woods.............but I just don't see anything as a failure when it comes to hunting. I can blow a shot at a deer or ruin a hunt due to my own fault and laugh about it. Worst thing that can happen is you get harassed about it back at camp for a bit, or maybe your shirt tail cut off. I don't really look at it as a failure, it's all part of the game and I enjoy every minute of it. If I don't go, don't have fun or don't enjoy myself.................then I've failed.
This is exactly how I would define calling myself a failure.I have missed or spooked many deer because of trying to cut corners in my scouting,shooting practices,etc..If I have done my homework and put the practice time in and something goes wrong then it doesnt bother me much it only makes me try harder.
Failure to me Is when I don't put my all Into It. In most cases you get what you put Into It, just like life.
no such thing, to me its just as rewarding being out there and gettin skunked as it is filling my tag...
I agree! Failure and hunting is never mentioned in the same sentence by me. I am blessed EVERY time I'm in the woods hunting or just walking around with my son checking nature out!
These days failure to me in hunting only happens when or if I cut myself short and don't put forth my best effort. Whether I kill an animal or not, I can always walk away loving the experience, looking forward to next hunt etc, as long as I did everything in my part to put forth my best effort.
The only failure would be if I ended up hunting for something or someone other than myself. There is no failure in going buckless. Sure no one wants to do it, but to me it's not the most important aspect of the hunt. The contests are fun, but too many people want to make a contest out of hunting to the point of ridicule instead of congratulations at that point the "fun" is gone.
