Saw a very nice buck yesterday evening but didn't get a chance to pull the trigger on him. I decided to take the open-sighted 30-30 because I was hunting an area with heavy cover and expected the shots to be close. But as often happens, Murphy raised his ugly head when a large buck walked out just as the final daylight was giving way to a bright moon. When he finally turned where I could see the width of his antlers, it was just too far to chance a shot with my 57-year-old eyes and no scope. Not sure I would have taken one with it.

20 years ago I would still be kicking myself over it. Today, it doesn't bother me any more than taking a whiz and hitting the edge of the bowl.

It happens.

Last week on Saturday (first day of the season) I topped a ridge walking back from a blind in the evening and jumped a very big bodied, BIG mature 8. He trotted, stopped, and looked back. I had him dead-to-rights with the .280 resting on my walking staff at about 60 yards, broadside. We looked at each other for, it seemed like, 5 minutes. I didn't really want to shoot my "trophy" buck on the first day (again), so I talked myself out of pulling the trigger. In spite of comments from my lease mate and resident "expert" like "You blew it" and "You'll never see him again", I knew I'd made the right decision. And, I DID see him again the next evening, same area, looking down over the bowl that the feeder is in. I passed again on a 200+ yard neck shot.

I'm having a blast and stretching out the season.

I've gotten to that point too.
I have always left the big deer for the ladies and kids. I figured I would pull the trigger on a monster, but I rarely ever did.
I have watched many big deer walk by and then I would have the wife or a kid over there trying to find him later.
Now I get the kids to shoot does for me, so I only shoot a few a deer anymore. They get to enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and feel like they accomplished something for me, I get the meat.
When I was a teenager I never thought I would be this way, but I have done my killing. I have plenty of trophies on the wall.

I can relate. I watched a wide 9 point chase doe and destroy the same mesquite tree twice yesterday evening for an hour and never lifted my rifle. I just watched him go about his business. After getting the buck I was after last season, I made the comment to my brother that he might be the last one. I love just being there and soaking it all in.

Could not agree with all of you more.

I saw the buck from a ladder stand that I was hunting for the first time. I put it in an area of private land that others overlook for their feeders and food plots. After finding a scape line, I thought it would be a good place just to see a good buck in the old fashioned way. Finding success in that alone feels good and always will.

Looking back on my youth, I realize how lucky I was to grow up with access to a ranch that was wanting to cull 200 does a year. It was never a question of 'IF' you'd get a doe but, 'how many do you want?'. I was raised to eat what you shoot. So, when I got 'big-buck-itis' in my 20's. I put off taking my year's meat until the end. Made Christmas break busy processing 2-4 deer.
I now have the chance to hunt on a MLD 3 ranch. Seems almost like my youth with all the does that need to be taken. I still just sit and watch 140-160 class deer walk by and enjoy the view.
This year I took a doe axis on opening weekend back in October. I haven't been back since I took a nice elk and don't have the freezer space for any more. Just not that 'mad' at the whitetail.
Now, it's more about watching my grandson learn to hunt and watching his enjoyment in everything outdoors. Life's better this way. At least to me.

Well, I still like taking a nice buck and think I always will but it does seem the older I get the more enjoyment I have with just being there getting to see the magnificence of God's creation. My oldest daughter is coming to visit and hunt with me for the first time, she's 27, and I must admit I have never been so excited! And now that I have a grandson I'm very much looking forward to being able to take him hunting with me in a few years! And so I can identify with what you gentleman are saying.

I can't relate to carrying an open sited rifle, but I completely understand letting an animal go when you're not in the mood to deal with it. We have hogs come across our land often enough that it used to be exciting to get one, now it's just a chore dealing with them. Most of the time I just walk up to them to scare them off, or drive closer so they run away. My wife gets a big thrill out of getting one, but she's not out on the land as often as I am. I'm also hoping she gets her first deer. She has shot a few other big game animals, but so far, the whitetail have outsmarted us.

I'd put the hogs down and let the Coyotes and buzzards dine on them.

Yes sir I can relate to this new attitude we get grow older. I still get excited about deer especially bucks...but is not the same as it use to be. Last year I watched a 10 pointer 2-3 times and let him go with hopes he would survive as we have hunters on all sides. This year he is a 11 pointer, I let him walk once but took him the other day. If we were on a property where he might have lived I sure would like to have let him go.

I don't shoot anymore. I've had the good fortune of hunting some fine south Texas ranches years ago and have taken many big deer. Got couple walls full in my man cave
But I have never enjoyed hunting as much as I do now with my grandson. Theirs no feeling like it.
Just hope my health gets better so we can go this year. It's killing me we can't head out.

I'm just glad to still have the ability to romp around the river bottom.. and you are right! not much in the way of taking a buck matters to me just as long as I get the buck on camera

Yep, I'm about to be 55 and it takes a lot for me to kill a deer. I kill one on average of every 4 years. I'm a pig and coyote molester now. And most of all just enjoy special time in the deer blind and watching nature and taking pics.

Having a lot more fun with friends and family up at the farm but....I still enjoy hunting for the old guys that get away every year....at least one a year for our freezer.

This is the furthest I have ever hunted into the season since I moved to Texas, but it is now about my son getting his deer and not about me getting mine.

Same here fellas. Like you guys, I love to see a nice buck. But it seems as if I look forward to the camp and coffee and talk than shooting a nice buck. Will I shoot one? Sure but I also enjoy my wife shooting the big buck each year. That's where the true memories are made. Kids will begin next year and I can't wait.


Shawn

Yes, there are times when I take a rifle not because I'm expecting to kill something, but only so I can say I'm hunting.

I passed up a beautiful chocolate-horned 8pt Saturday evening. I was definitely excited but he was standing in the middle of a CRP field and the depth of the grass prevented me from accurately judging his age. As it was I got to watch him and his doe for several minutes before they ran off. I still had a great hunt and if a neighbor or someone else gets him I'll be glad for them. Hopefully he bred the doe.

I've never been a trophy hunter and my cartridge rifles seem to stay in the closet these days. For the last few years I've hunted with nothing but frontstuffers and enjoy the hunt more than ever. You just have to do what's right for you and care not for what others think. (Heck, at 72 years of age my hearing is so bad I usually don't even know what others think.)

I have about a dozen muzzleloaders from .45 caliber to .58 caliber and tend to use different ones for each hunt. Two deer a year is about all of the meat I can use and I usually take one buck and one doe. So when hunting every weekend as I do, I spend a lot of time watching them eat and just enjoying being out there and still above ground.

Huntin ain't like fishn where you can catch and release, i won't even think about pulling the trigger if the kids aren't around to clean the deer. Needless to say I've let quite a few nice bucks walk.