Self Confidence?

[Thesouthpaw]

My confidence comes from me knowing that I am eventually going to get on deer. I spend enough time scouting and hunting new areas, that sooner or later, I will find a place that I can get on a good buck. Things change so much when hunting in the mountains of the east, so I find it important to continuously scout, which fits perfectly with the beast style. I do not think I could hunt with any level of confidence if I simply hunted the same spots over and over again. Without a doubt, all of the work that I put in is the main contributor to me feeling like I will kill a buck on my next sit.

[Boogieman1]

My confidence is usually based on acouple things that give me a feeling of confidence. Knowing the property very very well, no for a fact the property holds bucks I care to shoot, knowing when it is best hunted and knowing I'm perched in the best tree on the place. When I know these things I am very confident it's just a matter of time.

Now say you drop me off somewhere I've never hunted and take these things away. My confidence is super low and I'm miserable wishing I was somewhere else. The big reason is I've scouted 100s of places and the overwhelming majority don't even harbor a single buck I care to shoot. So my thoughts would be if I blindly lined up on one it would be pure luck by how much work it took to find the others.

I scout hard to give me the things mentioned, so when season rolls around I believe I'm in the best situation possible for a given day. That gives me confidence!

[Motivated]

Got me thinking a little bit about how different hunter's confidence level can vary from hunt to hunt. This year I was able to share some cool unique hunts in new areas with several friends. All the hunts presented early difficulties of low deer numbers, low numbers of mature bucks as well as time constraints. What I noticed was varying levels of confidence. Some guys panicked fairly quickly when coming to the conclusion there weren't many deer around.. Some turned a bit negative as if it was time wasted and almost talked themselves into accepting defeat. Some guys seemed just happy to be there but didn't necessarily expect success. One guys had more of a systematic approach and kept a positive attitude the whole time.

For me personally I think I tend to focus on a systematic approach in a new area. The goal is to quickly find deer and then slow the process and narrow down to bigger deer. I don't tend to get frustrated or negative too much but feel more like it's just a matter of time until I track them down. I focus on the process and not the pressure to kill something. Sometimes it happens quick and sometimes it takes days but it will happen (at least that's what I believe). Not saying I don't ever get frustrated but the process and the goal never changes.

Confidence is an emotion, so it's not constant and varies with circumstances. The trouble is that most of us are not in control of our own emotions. Andy, I know that you are a physical therapist, as you mentioned it somewhere. I am as well and I had a very interesting conversation last week with a client of mine who's a commercial pilot. I learned something that directly applies to this topic.

On the instrument panel of a plane there is a gauge that looks like this. It's name is significant.



This is an attitude indicator. The attitude of a plane is its position relative to the horizon. Your attitude determines where you will be going. Left, right, up, down--All determined by attitude.

A negative attitude will definitely bring you down, and a positive attitude will lift you up. True in life and in the cockpit. Interestingly enough, your attitude can get off course with external factors such as gusts of wind. Obstacles confront you and your attitude changes. You have to steer it back on track. Or internal factors like fatigue what distraction occur , and you suddenly find your attitude is not where you wanted to be. You drift off track. Again, this is true in life as well as in the air.

Very cool thing about this indicator is that attitude can change quickly, and the skilled pilot is in control of it.

We should all be planes, but in all honesty, most of us are balloons. And that's a problem. Balloons have very little control. Most of us wander aimlessly through life and do not control ourselves or our destination. Our attitudes are determined by whatever the wind does to us in the moment. We let external factors determine our internal attitude. We are not in control of our emotions. We don't steer our attitude back to where we want it to be. We should be planes and have control instead of being balloons.

I think you were seeing this in some of your hunting buddies. Also you mentioned process. I can have confidence in myself but lose confidence in a strategy for a tactic. And I can unemotionally change gears and try a different strategy. That is entirely different then losing confidence in myself based on what is happening externally.

That's all I've got for that. Hopefully that's helpful.

[creepingdeth]

Dont have nearly the experience most on here have, that said, if I get the confidence bug biting me, I dont necessarily go home, but try to analyze whats ailing me. I need to figure out what the problem is before I can fix it and move forward.
This year has been a great example. Seeing deer, want to shoot a buck. I dont have the time in yet to be in the right tree at the right time. That will take a year or two of time in the woods off-season. Simple enough...I want to keep getting better, but it takes time and homework, notes, observation. By the way, I love scouting