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Does getting older diminish the urge to hunt?!
asop
Member Posts: 8,972 ✭✭✭✭
Used to duck hunt every week-end, deer all the seasons not to mention pheasant etc. Haven't been out in 5 years now! Just sorta lost interest🤨
Comments
not just the getting old for me as much as the loss of hunting buddies, down to only a couple of us now from about dozen or more, its just not as fun anymore at least for me. and I was like you never missed a chance to go, and kept the freezer full of anything that wandered in front of me back then...............
when some part of you hurts every waking minute of the day then H------l yes makes it harder to get off your back side and go out
Yes it does. I am not deer hunting this year and just don't have the "urge" right now. Plus other personal things gong on it adds up to nope.
Desire-No
Ability-Yes
After all the years of hunting and killing many deer,in my elder years I would rather see them alive than dead.I still might kill one of these deer behind the house to put meat in the freezer.
I truly enjoy hunting.... I thought I was going pass on last year when health issues kept me out of the deer woods for all but 3 hours. The main thing I enjoy about hunting is just being outside in God's beautiful creation. I spend far more time hunting now with a camera than with a gun.
I still try to keep the freezer filled and enjoy eating venison more than beef or pork... It has gotten harder to get up and get going, but I am generally happy once I get out there !!
What changed for me is getting something isn't the priority it use to be just getting out in the woods and enjoying nature. But then I'm a country boy that got stuck in the city to make a living I enjoy the outdoors much more now than when I grew up on the farm.
Like montanoejoe, the ability is somewhat lacking at times. No more climbing stands in inhospitable swamps
It certainly does deminish the ability, which in the end dampens the desire. So I hve been told.
No not yet anyway. I still enjoy hunting, and look forward to it. I thank the lord every day for allowing me to be able to do the things I still enjoy.
My list
Lack of places to go A big reason
My body doesn't take kindly to the hunting modes any more
And I guess getting older I have softened up to . live let live well for the most part
I have no trouble dispatching Animinals
But I don't need them for food or trophy hunting
I remember early scouting trips & going out pre-dawn in the freezing cold, etc. I always wanted my own acreage to hunt on. But now that I have it, there's no challenge and little desire. We see them all day in the yard & they're so used to us, 20 yards would be a long shot.
My dad grew up they had to hunt to help feed the family any thing was fair game l
Many years later .
He told me one day after living in town 40 yrs or so
Just watching the squirrels playing in the back yard and even coming in the back door to get free food mom had them doing that
Their is no way he could ever shoot one again and felt bad about the ones he killed even though it was a nessicty
I think old age had got to him that all life is precious and a lot of other older men told me similar stories when I was young
One gets in a routine and then that's that. Then you get fat and lazy (I know I did). At least the stack of ammo don't get low and no gun cleaning.
I hunt deer and coyotes. These hunts don't require the physical effort that upland bird hunting does. No elk hunt this year so maybe can weasel my way into a South Dakota or Iowa pheasant hunt where I can be the 'stander'.
I was always a solo in everything: hunting, fishing, golf, etc. A few years ago, a friend of mine went out on his ranch to hunt deer - and never came back. They found his remains the next Spring. That really got to me.
I gave up hunting soon after. I'm now physically unable to walk much and have given up golf. Stopped shooting when I quit the writing business because it had become work and not fun. I still get in my boat and fish, but not as often as I'd like to. It's tiring and there always seem to be appointments and such keeping me home.
Aging has more effects than just slowing us down.
We eat fish and venison primarily, and occasionally some beef.
My wife has taken a liking to hunting, as my passion has dwindled. She typically gets a couple deer each year, so I don't have to work at it as much as I used to.
My true passion is fishing. We put around 600 filets in the freezer this year, plus the ones we cooked throughout the summer.
The only issue I have with spending a lot of time on the water, is dealing with people, that's where hunting has an advantage, since we hunt private property and don't have to deal with idiots.
I suspect that losing a close hunting/fishing/gunshow hopping friend, affects us more than we'd like to admit. I lost my close friend a little more than 11 years ago. One moment he was brushing his teeth..........the next.......it was over.
I haven't fished or hunted much since.
But I'll also admit that getting older sure doesn't help.
It seems that the older I get........the more my get-up-and-go.......got up and WENT!!😖
Still do my own oil changes...........always have.😉
Getting old diminishes more urges than you can imagine.
Joe
The last three years, I lost a lot of interest in hunting and fishing. Getting to the point where I have killed so many deer, it just kind of loss its appeal to me. I just don't have the desire to sit in the cold and rain to kill a deer, when I can just call the farmer next to me, and he drops one off in the driveway. I do miss sitting in the tree and just watching nature though. I do like to coyote hunt once in a while. I didn't buy a license this year or last. I found my interest are more into target shooting and reloading. I enjoy collecting different calibers and admiring the craftsmanship of some nice rifles and handguns.
I might hunt again someday, but for now, I just don't have the interest or desire.
For me , other than the hunt, was the comorodity of simply getting together. Came across a photo of the 6 of us standing outside a tavern. Two of those friends are no longer here. Hunted from Canada down to Gueydon, La. and lived for these moments. I miss those times.
the killing gene was in me for 55 years. nearly every critter afoot or a wing fell victim to my genetic makeup. upon retirement, i decided i have killed enough, now i rather enjoy making sure those same critters have enough food, suitable habitat, and space to keep the populations healthy and successful. the son and grandson now have the family hunting genetics. life is good