Thats a toughy! After 30 plus years with a Bow I think it boils down to stages in my life. I dont get excited on every Deer any more but a gagger tears me up. But on the flip side I watched my youngest son kill his first Deer last season and it was a Fawn. We both needed an oxygen bottle as it was going down. Loved that feeling but personally I like it just how it is now. If I got that feeling on every Deer now I wouldnt have more drive looking for a Trophy that fits my Trophy qualifactions.
When I was newer to bowhunting I pretty much killed just about anything with antlers which meant many of my seasons would be over pretty early. Now that i'm choosier on the size of bucks i'm going after...I get to spend much more time on stand each season and that is something I really enjoy. I don't fill my buck tag every year like I used to but i'm ok with that...shooting a young/smaller buck would not bring me much satisfaction at this point...to me it's fun just to observe them.
Im still in the bloodletting stage... i dont think it will ever change either. Every deer i kill i shake like im 10 yrs old again, every group of geese that comes in im hooping and hollering when were picking them up, and ever close turkey gobble lights up my senses like the first day i stepped in the woods.
I've killed a LOT of deer and a LOT of big bucks. Through the years the goals change, but the passion hasn't. I get excited with every single deer I see whether I intend to shoot it or not. I hope that feeling never changes. Hell I get excited with everything involved from hanging a new stand, trail cams, practicing, washing my clothes, getting the butchering stuff ready, etc...... At the end of the day ... yes ... killing a mature buck is on my agenda. But, I get excited about everything along the way just like it was day one. Now that my boys are into it with me took it to another level I cant' even explain.
I am a lot like Tim and Buckeye. I don't remember the little bucks, does, cows, calves, sow bear and cubs etc. I remember the big boys, the old dogs. Don't get me wrong, I like watching them all and learning from them all, but the ones that leave an impression on me, a memory fused into my mind, get my heart rate to jump... are the critters that have been around the block several times. The ones that are very careful and are hard to kill. I am a meat hunter as well. I target elk and does if need be... to fill my freezer. Cows or Bulls I don't care, they have to be at least 1.5 years old. I will take a cow over a young bull if they are standing together though. I won't shoot a calf unless my family was starving. There is something about fawns and calves, I just can not shoot them. I get excited knowing I am providing for my family with elk and or does. But its a different sort of satisfaction. Its NOTHING like the feeling I get when I kill an old buck, bull or bear. They mean more to me when it comes to the "hunting" side of it, because of all the strategy and planning, all the prep work, etc. put in while trying to get a specific one killed.
I never claimed to be accompished but every deer that I see still gets my heart pumping. I do my darnest to calm down too if a shot presents itself. But the ol heart just wants to jump out. I think I would quit if this stopped happening.
Must be a Minnesota thing. I'm 100% with ya Hoyt!! Rybo, Maybe It's time to re evaluate your hunting and get what your missing back.
These days, 95% of how I tthink, , scout, and hunt involves trying to arrow a 3.5+ year old buck. Although I have not been very succesful at that quest, I love every minute of it. Something about seeing an old buck slip through the cover gets my heartrate to 300bpm in a split second. The huge expanse of woods that I am sitting in 20 feet high condenses into one deer, one buck, one shadow that creeps through the woods and fills my hunting dreams. That being said, I am an equal opportunity hunter and really enjoy arrowing does, especially now that I hunt with a recurve.
