When is it time to stop pulling the trigger?

pyscodog

Active member
I just read this article, (Titled the same) from Field and Stream. About a guy that has hunted most of his life but the thought of killing just didn't interest him much anymore. He said instead of a rifle, he is now using a camera. I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind. I'm 70 and soon to be 71 and every year it gets a little harder to get into the woods. I usually hunt alone and dragging two deer out of the woods by myself this year was tough. I hunt public land and no ATV's allowed so its walk in and walk out. Dragging a 130lb buck and all my gear was a chore to say the least. It took a few trips. So....any of you ever give it the same thoughts? I love hunting but seems the drive and will power is starting to lessen.
 
73 here, I quit big game hunting years ago as my wife doesn't care for game meat and I'm not about to cook two different entrées. I still duck hunt and eat most in the field or with my breakfast. I can't see quitting coyote hunting, I save fur so it is kind of a job that I love plus I enjoy experimenting with rifles and cartridges. I even bought a MC this season, it's almost as fun exploring all the back country as it is hunting on it.
 
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I agree, doubt I'll ever completely quit. I may change my tactics a little. I killed a nice buck with a rifle and and other nice one with muzzle loader. I didn't archery hunt at all. I actually like archery the best so I may have to rethink the 2020 season. Two deer will last me all year so killing more is just a waste to me. I like hunting coyotes to but seems I didn't even do much of that this year. Sometimes going alone just isn't as much fun as with a friend. Hopefully I still am able to keep going even if it is alone.
 
My Dad, 70 has slowed down quite a bit.

Me, at 50, I have slowed some. I have thought of buying a nice camera, but I like to shoot a lot. Although bi-focals suck !!!
 
I moved to South Texas thinking it would be the Mecca for hunting and golf. Boy was I wrong. Can't find places to hunt, farmers b-and moan about the "hog problem" until YOU want to hunt them then they are precious. Had a lease for awhile just loving to hunt hogs and coyotes. But the other people on the lease would shoot hogs and let them lay. Have given up hunting. Archery was my passion but cant find a range. Now I pretty much just go to the gun range.
 
I hunt, shoot and take pics.
With no plans to let up, reality may change that someday.
Ranchers and farmers around here are still driving equipment and carrying several firearms in each rig into mid eighties.
They may forget which one or where it is sometimes.
One saw a cougar and it ran off while the guy was deciding which gun to shoot.
I'd rather freeze to death waiting for a good shot than waiting for a tough nurse to give me a shot
 
Originally Posted By: tripod3I hunt, shoot and take pics.
With no plans to let up, reality may change that someday.
Ranchers and farmers around here are still driving equipment and carrying several firearms in each rig into mid eighties.
They may forget which one or where it is sometimes.
One saw a cougar and it ran off while the guy was deciding which gun to shoot.
I'd rather freeze to death waiting for a good shot than waiting for a tough nurse to give me a shot

Amen !
 
With the Zombie crisis in full swing I have decided to go call Coyotes tomorrow!

Coyotes are now educated and probably not too anxious to come into a call, however we have had a blizzard and cold temps the past two days.......

Here goes nothing;-)
 
I have to chuckle a little when I hear Hog Problem. Seems the problem is letting us hunt them for free. Then I guess it isn't as big a problem as they let on. I'm not paying someone to fix their problem.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogI have to chuckle a little when I hear Hog Problem. Seems the problem is letting us hunt them for free. Then I guess it isn't as big a problem as they let on. I'm not paying someone to fix their problem.



Exactly!!!
 
I figure that it's probably just about like everything else. When t starts to lose it's luster, I'll probably hang it up. Kind of like sports. When I was on the field thinking about something else, it was time to hang it up and walk away. It happens. Sometimes we don't have a choice of when that happens. A broken ankle, two blown tendons and a plate in the leg slowed my competitive pistol shooting down a bit, but I just transitioned into more of the training aspect and find that I enjoy that. Sure, I like to drop hammer and burn powder, but watching my squad utilize what we work on is very rewarding.

So I guess hunting will be the same. I really enjoy sharing our sport with others, it's not that I have grown bored with dropping the hammer on predators, but getting to see a new hunter learn to enjoy our sport is rewarding.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogI have to chuckle a little when I hear Hog Problem. Seems the problem is letting us hunt them for free. Then I guess it isn't as big a problem as they let on. I'm not paying someone to fix their problem.

If you're a land owner, the street has lanes running both ways. Some people you can allow to hunt for free and they take care of your investment in your land. Others, after one hunt, truly can't pay a land owner enough to hunt his land again simply because they have no respect for being a guest on his land. They leave behind messes of all kinds, some of which are costly in the long run and others that are just a PITA for the rancher to deal with using up his time.

As a result it becomes kinda' like tax payers and those who don't want to work. The tax payer pays his taxes and the guy who won't work or pay taxes expects a free ride.
 
Harvesting a deer with a rifle or muzzle loader has become pretty easy for lack of a better choice of words. With most of my rifles, if I can see it, I can hit it. I've taken deer with a conventional compound as well as a crossbow. I've killed hogs with a compound bow and a long bow with ash arrows. That was fun!! But in all my years of deer hunting, I've never killed a deer with a recurve. Maybe thats my new challenge for 2020. Might put the excitement back in it. Its sure going to be hard not using the new Beretta Mato 270 that I just bought though. LOL
 
At 68 and retired for six years now I don't see myself slowing down. Glad I have some deer and bear meat in the freezer now with all that's going on. My Dad shot his last deer at 79, and was hunting three weeks before he passed at 83. I would drive him as far back in the woods as I could, and he'd walk out of sight with an oxygen tank, a Browning auto 5, and pockets full of twinkies and ring-dings. Four or five hours December weather was all he could take, but he loved it. I'm committed to sending some game up to Heaven to Dad every year.
 
I'm 72, and it is getting harder!
My hunting buddy is 67, everywhere we hunted this year we made sure that we could get a deer out with a deer cart. Without that deer cart there is no way I would want to drag deer out of where we were hunting, we both have homemade carts with 26" wheels on them, what a difference getting deer out. I can hunt deer on my property and did get a buck there 2 yrs. ago, at least I still have that option if things really go downhill!
Might add, my buddy may have stopped hunting without me to go with. He had a back operation and wears a patch for pain, new patch he feels pretty good, next day some pain, and the 3rd day he's really in pain, then time for a new patch. I don't know if I would even want to hunt anymore if I were in his situation, sure doesn't sound like fun.
 
Going to be 60 before elk season(hoping for a Wyoming tag) college ball and years of amateur baseball/softball have left me with a left shoulder that is day to day with my bow. Black bear,antelope, many whitetail, the mystical flight of the arrow still has me out of breath and shaking. I probably won't bow hunt out of state anymore, shoulder cuts into time. Stalking is a passion, wind,the cover under foot, the animal whether fur or food. Give me a sleeping pair of coyote,soft snow and a slight breeze. Can still drag 3 if fortunate, the hunt will end probably the last drag.
 
I'm 83 and will be hunting the first turkey season here in Iowa.
It may be my last season? Hate to give it up - love to here gobblers in the morning, and the challenge of bringing them in.
So far have "scored" the first day! Its the walk and getting up and down off the ground that my force me to quit - some day?!
 
I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I'll hunt till I can't any longer. I'm lucky I guess. I'm still in pretty good shape physically. Although some of the things my head thinks I can do, my body is saying "Hold my beer". I think Toby Keith had a song...I'm not as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I ever was.
 
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I am 75 and I haven't hunted deer in a few years. My best friend who is 80 now had to give it up as he has trouble walking due to three back operations. I still hunt ruffed grouse and woodcock each year for 20 to 25 days each season. I have hunted with Brittany's since 1976 and I have a new one who turned 10 mos old yesterday, he will be my last one probably. I got out 8 days with him last fall, not that he knew what he was doing but we had fun.
 
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