The older I get the less I need to pull the trigger. I still get a lot of enjoyment out of hunting but less and less enjoyment in pulling the trigger, especially on my ranch. I don't have a problem with my friends/lease hunters killing animals on the ranch, I realize it has to be done to control population for a healthy herd. I haven't killed a Doe in a very long time and will never again unless it's a mercy type killing, I let my hunters take care of them.

I've been hunting a long time (45 years) and have fulfilled about all I've wanted. I've hunted all over Texas, Mexico, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, I've killed a lot of good quality animals. I'm just not sure where to go from here, still love to hunt, not saying I'm not going to kill again, just that it's just not that important to me. My Dad went through this in his late 50's and at the time I didn't quite get it, I do now.
I had 2 long term goals I wanted to accomplish and was able to do that this year, got no more goals and no real desire to set new ones. Maybe one more real nice Mule Deer is about the only thing close and will probably book that hunt this year, but after that I got nothing.
I started taking a camera with me a few years ago when I sit here at the ranch, so I have that here. I still love to sit and watch the animals.

Anyone else getting to the point that pulling the trigger is no big deal anymore?

I understand, especially on whitetails that I grew up hunting on the family ranch where I lived. I killed my first one 55 years ago while hunting by myself and still enjoy going and looking for an old mature buck but don't have to kill one as I once did.
I have found that calling predators in the daylight is much more challenging and therefore rewarding. In the last few years, I have been spending a lot of time chasing lions with hounds in some of the most beautiful country in the Southwest. At this time, I would have to say that is the most challenging and fun hunt that a hunter can experience. I wish I had started hunting lions many years ago as I am not sure how many more years I can do it at age 62.
But any day in the woods hunting anything beats a day at the office.
Adios,
Gary

Yes Sir...

But we have a extensive Management Plan ...if I'm itching I will shoot a Doe

Last year, I pulled a shot (purposely yanked my rifle upward) at the last second, while the gun was pointed at a nice buck about 50 yards from me. I have never done that before. I already had a good doe at the processors, and he had told me he has unclaimed deer in his cooler. So, I suddenly decided to buy the unclaimed deer meat, while NOT shooting a second deer. I don't know how I'll feel this year. I love hunting. I love to use my collected rifles. I love to look forward to my hunts and to sitting up in a tree watching the day's progress and the happenings in the woods. I also love to cook my own deer meat.
So, what's the answer? I don't know....I guess I'll learn it when I'm sitting in the tree again this season (late January).

I guess i'm on the other side pf the fence. I turn 50 this May. I have shot a few deer, nothing that screams "omg". I love to hunt and still look forward to it every yr.

With that stated I may need to save my pennies and do a "guided south Texas hunt". Since my wife started hunting with me I let her have first dibs at deer.Oh btw I love venison, that's the plus. I still have the itch to deer hunt. It's a passion and an addiction!

I have not lost my drive and passion to hunt. It is worse now than it has been in my 50 years of hunting. I shoot what I like and put them on the wall. I still have a lot of empty wall space for WT and MD from Texas and out of state.

Im not old, but I have been pulling the trigger for about 25 years or so. I haven't lost any drive for pulling the trigger, but am much more willing to wait and let younger bucks pass. There was a time I would shoot a deer just because it had a drop tine, or just because it had 10 points etc. don't feel that way anymore, more looking for a good mature deer.

I killed my first deer in 1968 and have taken well over a hundred over the years. I still hunt a lot and will shoot a doe or two every year for the freezer, but I rarely pull the trigger on a buck. Its more about the going, doing, watching and enjoying. Shooting is way down the list.

Don't get me wrong guys, I still love to hunt and look forward to it every year, just find it harder to pull the trigger. I find it especially hard to pull the trigger here at the ranch. I think for me it's one of those things that has to build up over a few years. I shot a buck on my ranch this year, it was the first one since 2009. I could easily go several years before I do it again,,here. It doesn't bother as much to do it somewhere else.

Yep, getting harder for me as well. I still get pumped over the biguns, but I have to make myself drop the doe. Its gotta be done and not many do it. When I first started hunting dad and I had to travel, because there weren't any deer in the county I reside in. When they were first sighted, she was protected and the bucks were too. But now they have a good toe hold and need controlling. Proof in that is how many we lost a couple years ago during the worst part of the drought. When you watchum starve to death, or the yotes take um down, cause they don't have the energy to out run um, it WILL change your mind about it.

I will always enjoy the life at camp, gotta pass that along to the kids and grand kids. The family group is what this country was founded on, and satin is buzzy attacking it. Anyway, thats my take, and I do a bunch more crappie fishing than hunting nowdays...

I am almost 74,I hunt most week-ends. Love going out during the year to fill feeders etc. I guess age has got me to look for better bucks now than in the past. Don't mind shooting a doe for the freezer at all. Never hunted South Texas so that is on my bucket list.

I won't change my mind about me killing Does, but I have plenty of folks here to take care of that for me. I won't let them get over populated to that point.

For me it's enjoying the outdoors and the group of buddies around the fire.
Shooting a deer is just a bonus.

I have not shot anything larger than a spike WT, a WT Doe or a spike or two year old Axis in many a year. I shoot those just to make sausage and fill the freezer.And the main reason I only shoot those is because they are about all I can load. Before and during the season I go out just abut every afternoon and sit and watch the deer. I have people out to try to manage the WT but it seems like I am getting father behind each year on getting it where it needs to be.

Thats just it. Pulling the trigger isnt fun. Never has been. Too easy. Bow and arrow for me and I promise it will never get old. Doe or buck. I love it! BTW im 47. I dont have anything against gun hunters. Rock on!

A good read John. I haven't reached that point yet since I'm on my Mule Deer kick. As Kayla grows up I'm hoping to be more of an observer than shooter. For now, I'll keep touching the trigger .

I am kinda in the same boat but since we eat venison year round I do still harvest deer.

My grandad and now my dad have said the same thing. As long as your passing along your wisdom and stories to the next generations then you've done your duty as a man and hunter.

i dont shoot much anymore either but i still like to hunt. im more about hunting a quality deer now, aka big old buck. im only on a small tract of land but nobody around us hunts so we have the luxury of letting deer grow. like the buck i took this year, we let him grow up and this year i picked him to harvest, he gave me a challenging hunt.its pretty cool trying to get particular deer. we have tons of game, its nothing to see 15 deer 5 hogs and 20 turkey on a sendero and feeder at one time

I know exactly what you mean. I still love to hunt. Have I slowed down on the trigger? Yes. I've taken just 4 bucks off my place in owning it 10 years. Let some deer walk my 30 year old self would have said I was nuts for doing. But I reserve the right to shoot one when the feeling hits.

Still would love to kill another ram or two before I am too old to make it up the mountains anymore. And would love to take a big mountain mule deer. Oh, and a really nice buck with my bow (only been trying 35 or so years).

So I have slowed down for sure. I am way more of a watcher than a shooter now and have learned to slow down and enjoy it all. But am I done? Not unless He calls me home.

Interesting discussion, and I'm pretty much with you guys. My hunting focus is more on coyotes and pigs, with an annual spike or cull for the freezer. And every now and then I'll see a special buck that I'll take.

The really nice 8 point that the grandson shot was right in front of me at 30 yards on the afternoon before. Gorgeous animal, but I wanted to save him for the grandson, and it worked out. The grandson was thrilled, as was his mom, dad, sister, and my wife. He did the entire skinning/de boning with only a little direction from me. The meat goes off to college with him, and he'll probably feed his fraternity brothers with it. That means he'll be back here for more meat pretty soon.

So, I guess that I've come to a place in my life where it's not all about me and my hunting. I'm comfortable with it.

I could have written that. Just switch the authors name. Still love watching the animals. I will admit to still getting excited before the trigger pull though.

We're short on does, always have been. This year they are particularly scarce. I've been on point now going on close to 40 hrs now. Haven't seen a single doe. Seen 4-5 legal bucks. We've never taken a doe on 400 acres, and won't be doing it anytime soon.

The does are somewhere. Mother Nature gives us a birth ratio of 105 males to 100 females. The bucks you are seeing came from momma does.

Right now all I'm seeing is bucks, and not many of them. Acorns are on the ground, so my corn feeders are almost completely ignored. The does are in the thick woods, looking for acorns. The bucks are roaming and checking their scrapes, so I'm seeing some of them at odd times. I was covered up with bucks and does prior to the rut. Now you'd wonder if I had any deer on the place.

Stompy,

I have been wanting to reply to your thread here for a couple of days, I had to go find it. I agree 100% with your thoughts here. I am 50 now and just getting out into the woods, listening to the sounds, watching wildlife and the peace and quiet mean more to me than harvesting a deer. I have not shot a buck in over 15 years, still take doe for the freezer and will knock pigs and yotes down but pulling the trigger is not what the experience is about for me any more.

Now if I see that 150 incher I will not hesitate to take that deer but just being in the beauty of mother nature is what is all about for me.

Excellent post and thoughts amigo.

4W