As I get older, I pass more and more.

I recently realize I Haven’t shot a deer in about 4 years. I will knock down coyotes and hogs.

I put more thought into it. Like, “it’s getting dark”. Or “I’m by myself” as reasons not to shoot a deer.

Anyone else pass on deer more than they used to????

On my lease, I just shoot the next biggest deer so taken 3 bucks in 9 years. Up to 145 now so would need to really giant now. We don't get much bigger and neither does my wall. Kid can shoot what he wants now if I say so of course!! Lol. No young ones and I use excuses all the time. Usually pays off. I love yotes and pigs more than anything. I take more pictures of the sunrise sunset than anything.

Honestly never met a hunter like me. Most of my friends have hunted but either I took them or they have their own place and never shoot anything. Then all the acquaintances you meet only hunt S. Texas and kill monsters....

I hunt quite a bit during the season. I have not shot a WT in probably at least 10 years. Now I just sit and enjoy looking at the animals and when I do take a Deer it is a Axis that is not over 2 years old.

I've killed a ton of deer in my time. I still hunt with my son and grandson, find myself rooting for them. Haven't taken one in several years. Like ya'll said, I find excuses.

I am still hunting them with the same passion I had when I started hunting WT the mid 60's.....killed more deer the last 2 season than I did the two seasons before those. I put 3 WT on the wall from last season with a personal best LF whitetail I took in late season. I have also passed on a lot of good bucks and take way more photos of them than I do shooting deer with a rifle or bow. I still hunt about 120 days per season with MLD.

I don’t have the fire to hunt whitetails like I used to but am looking forward to some bow hunting. That is a different game altogether.

Whitetail hunting with a rifle out of a blind is fun but after killing a few decent ones kind of lost it’s luster.

I’m more of a spot and stalk mule deer guy....I’m still mad at those deer

Im a lot more patient to let a deer go another year, but im very much still in it to pull the trigger or let an arrow fly.

At 70, I go, sit and enjoy the deer.

Have not killed one in 5 years or so, the sitting is more to me than having to kill one.

Will remove hogs when I can.

Yes....or at least...I find myself being much more selective. Not holding out for the biggest buck on the place, jut holding out for a mature animal. I've found I enjoy just watching them as well.

However, I will say now that we're seeing more axis on the place and I've tasted just how good that meat is, I'll be trying to drop a few of those every year in place of a WT.

I've never been a big deer killer, have shot 8-12 total in my lifetime and I'm 41. I shoot pigs whenever I see them but we don't have many on our lease. I enjoy being in the outdoors and sharing that time with my son, my brother and his kids.

I passed up a nice 10 pt (split brows, split G2s) many years ago because I was hunting by myself. No one to help me load him, but also no one to share that experience with. I also didn't know at the time that it was going to be my last hunt on that property, which we had leased for 20 years. Had I known that, I would've shot him.

still have the same passion for hunting as I have for over 55 years ... but I guess I have matured thru all the stages of killing everything I saw to truly managing the herd and trying to let them grow into their potential. I still get a thrill when seeing even a doe or yearling, I just don't drop the hammer near as often. I love being out in nature (thank God for Thermocell) and spending time just watching what the good Lord has provided. I don't look for excuses other than the excuse to go hunting whenever I possibly can.

As I have gotten older, I find that I pass more and more just because ... too late in day, maybe the next one will be bigger/better, it is cold, there is a football game starting in an hour and I want to watch, etc. I still sit every chance I get and enjoy every second, but just not as committed to pull the trigger.

If I was to plot my career "days hunted vs deer taken", those lines would have crossed long ago. I took my personal best whitetail right here on the place nine seasons ago and haven't ground-checked a deer since then. No question that I hunt more and shoot less these days; I reckon I've got less and less to prove to myself or (as my late father observed years ago) I guess I'm just not as mad at those deer as I once was!

Mark

I've only shot one whitetail deer in my life so far because I wanted one to put on my wall for my collection. I have over 40 species in my collection, so another whitetail isn't much of a priority. I own 68 acres that I live on in East Texas and the deer here are not very impressive. There is the exception and my only interest is in finding that exceptional buck that I'm sure exists, but that I've never seen. Hogs are pretty thick and I shoot them year round. The more hogs that I shoot, the more deer that I see. Coyotes are also pretty thick, but I'm lucky to get 3 or 4 a year. Coyotes are the only animal here that get me excited to shoot one. Hogs bore me, but they are such a pest that I have to deal with them. The last couple of years my wife has gotten into deer hunting and she's taken a few spikes and a nice 8 point. We had good pics of him coming in on the game camera every morning and the day she shot him was one of the best days of hunting that I've ever had. We saw him coming in from a distance, and when he was 120 yards out, standing broadside in our food plot, my wife made a perfect heart shot. He jumped, ran into the trees and died about 50 yards away. For me, that's a lot better then if I had shot him!!!!

I've still got the fire, but now with back and hip issues it's something I have to work around, but I get it done.
I've always said that if I had to crawl in order to hunt I'd do it, but in reality I'm almost there now!
You guys that can still do it, don't take it for granted is all I have to say!

It won't bother me if I never shoot another deer. Hogs and coyotes will never get a pass on our place.

90% of the time when I was still hunting, I would just sit and watch, would shoot coyote

Go spend $500 on a decent camera and you're back to shooting. Just don't have to deal with the process that comes after the shot. Might seem a little hipster-ish but it is a lot of fun.

I say that I still have the fire, but a couple of years ago, I noticed that I had not killed anything in 7 years. I've killed one each of the last 3 years. They ate good. I guess I'm just enjoying it more but not in such a hurry to put one on the ground.

The best way to screw up a perfectly good deer hunt is to shoot something.

I usually have one my sons hunting with me which I enjoy watching them shoot more than me shooting a deer. My friend also has a son that hunts and if I'm hunting alone I always tell myself I'd rather one of the kids kill that deer but, I still have the passion to hunt just like I did when I was a kid. My older son is heavily involved in baseball and football and only gets a few days to hunt so I always save something good for him to shoot, he's ate up with the sickness just like I am and so is my younger son. Both of boys typically shoot my deer and my dads deer every year.

I did not shoot a deer last season, for the first time in probably decades...and I was not upset by it at all. I hunted as normal, but did not see anything that I was willing to drop the hammer on. As stated several times above, I am just not as mad at them as I once was. I did get to witness my two oldest stepsons both take an Axis doe, and that meant more to me than a trophy on the wall.

I have basically abandoned the blind as well and now I primarily still-hunt with a handgun for deer. Sitting in a stand with a scoped rifle just doesn't do it for me anymore.

I've killed one buck on my place and no does since I bought it in 2015. I still love hunting and spend more time doing it than most people I know. I am just looking for the "ONE." I've never had the opportunity to hunt in so called big buck country so I do my best to grow the best deer my area can offer. I still make sure my boy and a few of my nephews get something but I am good with just shooting hogs, yotes, and bobcats to get my trigger time fix. One of these days I will cross paths with a buck that peeks my interest but until then I'll just shoot them with my camera.

Once we had our own property instead of leasing the "need" to fill all of our tags went away and management kicked in. I average 1 buck every 3 years now with an occasional doe for the freezer. Between family members we need to take several doe this year to get the ratio back in line and there is one buck that I saw last year that didn't give me a shot that I will be looking for....