Are you driven by success or failure?

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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Ghost Hunter » Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:58 am

Mud on your boots will get you too.


I'm reason they call it hunting and not shooting.
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Master Chief
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Master Chief » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:00 pm

dan wrote:Thats like saying you win every basketball game you play because you enjoyed playing... I too leave the woods smiling and enjoy every hunt. But.... You bet I fail. A sound at the wrong moment, a rushed shot, getting to close, staying back to far... If you can't recognize your failures, you can't fix them and strive to be better.

Some guys have a boot that squeaks and they say "bad luck"... And they say, dang, when that boot squeak gets them the second or third time... My drive for success don't stop me from having my boot squeak "once" but the problem gets figured out and fixed.


One correction to my last post-there is one way I can fail and that is to wound a deer.

Anyways... The "strive to be better" is the clearest indicator of all. What is a "better" hunter? Hunting isn't a basketball game. Killing a deer is only comparable to winning a game if you are so blind to think hunting is just a game itself. If you truly love hunting you will realize that if kills are the "success" that motivates someone, they are hunting for pride.. not passion.

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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby dan » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:31 pm

Maybe Im a bad human, but I am hunting deer to kill them, just like my ancestors. Success is not required, but its what Im striving for.
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby stash59 » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:37 pm

WOW!!! Talk about deep. I'm kind of an all or nothing type of person. With my disability and having moved back to Wisconsin from Montana. With no land of my own. I assumed because of the high amount of pressure that public land got that there was no way a mature buck would /could be found there. I'd rather not hunt than shoot small immature bucks. "The Beast"/Dan showed that they can and do exist on public land. Plus he's shown me tactics to use to harvest them. Even though I'm finding out not all marshes are created equal. I've found enough big buck sign to keep me interested. For me as far as hunting goes yes success does breed more success. I learned years ago that scouting was the key to success. Although I didn't SCORE back then I had enough shot opportuneities to feel successful in finding big bucks. I just needed to learn that traditional equipment wasn't for me. Even though many of my hunting idols of the time swore by it. All of my failures just make me want to finally be successful. What I mean by success is to first get a true Pope and Young class buck with my bow. On my terms. Meaning that I put in the hard work scouting. Used my brain to figure out how best to get set up. And finally used what talent I have to make a clean shot. Owe and on the way enjoy all the little but important things we as hunters get to experience that most non-hunters only see on TV.
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Master Chief » Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:03 pm

dan wrote:Maybe Im a bad human, but I am hunting deer to kill them, just like my ancestors. Success is not required, but its what Im striving for.


There is nothing bad about killing deer and in no way did I imply that.

The sad thing is you think the only way to have success is to kill the/a deer. There are many hunters out there just as successful as any member on this forum and they have never even killed a mature buck.

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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Hawthorne » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:00 pm

I'm driven by success the more I think about it. I want to kill more big bucks. I have been blessed to kill a few big bucks with my bow. That motivates me more than the ones I've missed or wounded or going many sits without seeing a shooter.

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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Bucky » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:28 pm

Phade - interesting insight

I think I'm intrinsically driven 100%. If I'm not challenged I get bored... one major reason I enjoy whitetails.

Success drives me 100%.... I HATE to loose/fail... always have since I was a wee lil one. Although I do understand there are certain physical limitations to what I can excell at...

I will also say that I rarely do activities without a goal/plan/intention/meaning

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"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values, with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." Fred Bear
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Stanley » Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:35 pm

We may all have some kind of idea on what success/failure is. I know a lot of hunters and the majority of them want to kill a big buck. the reason I know this is because they tell me that. I also know many hunters and the majority of them don't kill a good buck. I also know a few hunters that almost always kill a good buck.

I am pretty sure I know and understand why some guys do and some guys don't. I will tell you this, they all carry a weapon and none carry just a camera. So when they tell me it's because they just enjoy nature and being outdoors and don't need to kill a good buck, I start looking for that camera they are carrying instead of the weapon. ;)
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby mtmaggard » Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:22 pm

Im driven by success. But failure leaves me questioning why, how, etc (with everything in life). Failure helps me improve.
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby DeerDylan » Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:52 pm

I am driven by both. I want to progress into the hunter that I want to be. That progression involves success and failures just like most things in life. You win some you lose some but there is always a lesson.

I can and do enjoy a hunt without a kill and like most people that is the majority of my hunting, not killing. If I never needed to kill a animal I would just hike and nature walk without a bow or gun.

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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby dan » Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:01 pm

Master Chief wrote:
dan wrote:Maybe Im a bad human, but I am hunting deer to kill them, just like my ancestors. Success is not required, but its what Im striving for.


There is nothing bad about killing deer and in no way did I imply that.

The sad thing is you think the only way to have success is to kill the/a deer. There are many hunters out there just as successful as any member on this forum and they have never even killed a mature buck.

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What I saw as implied was that a hunter who believes success means actually meeting a goal of killing a target buck is missing the point somehow... If that makes me a bad person, so be it. You do need to be a little selfish, and strive to kill target animals to accomplish filling a wall with head mounts... Im not a perfect human being. However, I dislike the idea that everyone is a great athelete just for being in the game... The loosing baseball team lost. They are not winners... Period. Vince Lombardie once said "second place is just a 1st place loser"... Might be harsh, but "looseing" is what makes me strive for success. And while I enjoy nature, and enjoy hunting, my success "if im allowed to call it that, is because of the intense effort I put towards succeeding in what I believe success is. Why hunt at all if everyone had the exact same success?

aND, i may appear "sad" but I don't believe success only comes from killing a deer, yes, you can accomplish goals without killing.... But why are are we out there hunting for a buck if the main goal, the main success is not killing that animal.... I am out there to kill a certain buck. The main measure of my success is whether or not I get him.

Measure your success any way you like, I just worry about me, to each there own. But for me, success is reaching a goal, and when hunting deer, killing that deer is a measure of success and the ultimate goal. "For Me"
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Bowhunter4life » Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:45 pm

I'm definitely driven by failure. In the beginning of my deer hunting days I could not seem to connect on a big buck. Everytime I had an encounter with one something went wrong. For 7 to 8 years of hunting hard when I was young I just couldn't make it happen and I put more and more pressure on myself. I'm a very confident and stubborn person at the same time so I was determined to connect on a nice buck. I hunted harder and harder each year and would scout 3x more than any one else I knew. The hard work and scouting paid off and I started to read the sign better in the woods each year. I have continued to scout and hunt hard each year cause I know for myself that's what I have to do in order to stay in the game. Don't get me wrong each time I shoot a buck the success drives me and makes me want to shoot an even bigger one the next hunt but failure is what lead me to be where I'm at today.

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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby mauser06 » Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:51 pm

Great post....


I agree that I completely enjoy JUST being out there...HUNTING..

But like Dan said...my objective IS to kill...I'd b lying if I said otherwise..

I've always tried to "take time to smell the roses". That's part of hu ting that I do love...I have thousands of sunset, su rise, scenery, other animal pics etc from the years....

I've had sit on the edge of your set hunt the woods were on fire and I came home with a heck of a story...

I've had the alarm go off and shut it off out of sheer frustration...woke up a few hours later right at day break and went out and scouted because I needed to fix what wasn't working...

Anyone that has followed my posts has probably realized I've struggled here at home...Dan brought it to my realization that I can do better elsewhere...I PROVE that to myself eveytime I hunt somewhere different...yet I would always fall into the same ole same ole..seeing a few deer..maybe a glimpse of the one or 2 big ones on all the land I can hunt and small bucks...

I've made it a personal goal to find many more spots and of us my hunting efforts there....I've scouted more this year than I ever have before...I'm onto bigger deer than ever before...

My failures have driven me there....

Success does have a certain drive...but its a double edge sword only having 1 buck tag...kill your buck early and you are done...I won't lie...my drive to go back out diminishes greatly...I find myself small game and fall turkey hunting..

This year learning new land...I've decided if I do smoke a buck I'm going to push myself to keep at it...maybe doe hunt...maybe sit in stand with a camera...maybe scout hard the rest of the season...probably all of that really...

Killing a buck early this season in the marsh will be great...but was it luck? What did I do right? What did I do wrong? How are the other spots I had picked out?

Staying out there and learning will lead to future success...


If something doesn't lead to success the failure drives me to figure out why and to change it...even in the passed it always has...


Dan is a prime example of someone with a similar mindset IMO...out of my league...but in his younger years he sounds like he thought a lot like me...adapt and change and overcome until success is found...figure out what works and drive on...


I once hunted s longbeard I called "the king of the hill". I never did shoot him...I hunted him nearly all season..it was a sick addiction to the point I was getting up and hunting before highschool...going to class with mud on my boots and morning dew on my clothes...working 2 jobs till 10 or 11pm and doing it all over the next day...I learned more from my failures than I would have EVER learned had I killed him that first day I found him...and I had my chance to kill him the first day we crossed paths..I had him within 30yds that first day....I was enjoying " the show" and just loving life...the heifers charged him and he was gone...what I learned the rest of the season was priceless...


Same goes with deer hunting...if it were easy I probably wouldn't find the joy in it....

And once I start reaching a level of success I throw the bar up another notch and set goals and limits that start leading to failure again..I was on a streak of killing 2.5yo 90-100" deer...I set goals of bigger bucks...or only bucks of those caliber if taken different...in my case I have goals to learn to still hunt and track deer and kill bucks with the flintlock..my last 2 bucks have been oddly my biggest 2...both with the flintlock..

If I wanted success I'd keep that bar on the last rung and i can confidently say it wouldn't take me but a few days each season to fill my tag with just any ole buck..

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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby dan » Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:19 am

When I think back to my biggest learning curves, or the biggest game changers in my hunting career, they came from failed attempts to kill a certain buck. One of the biggest bucks I have ever shot I hunted for several years and had all his sheds, the drive to finally connect on that buck is what made me really start keying in on bed hunting, being mobile, and the die hard hunt every day attitude that has ultimately lead to my success...

Here is the story about the buck I consider my mentor:
viewtopic.php?f=166&t=3880
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Re: Are you driven by success or failure?

Unread postby Master Chief » Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:59 am

Dan-"Why hunt at all if everyone had the exact same success?"

Because if you truly enjoy hunting, you would not care what others are doing. It's a shame you only hunt so you can feel superior to others. You hunt to prove your worth. That is comical.

And FYI-I never said anything to you earlier.. I mentioned the word ego and you must have taken that as me referring to you, but I wasn't. I wasn't worrying about what you do as you say in the last part of your post. You disagreed with what I said first SO why don't you worry about you and I'll worry about me? I'll keep hunting because it's what I love.. If you want to keep trying to impress people, have at it.

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