To the beasts who didn’t get the buck

[MsDeltakilla]

To all the beasts who gave it all and came up short.. You didn’t fail! The months of hard work weren’t wasted, just stored. This came from the book, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. Read the attachments

[greenhorndave]

Gotta pay your dues to eventually get the payout.

[Tim H]

Thank you for posting this! It's a good reminder to enjoy the journey and not always focus on the end results.

I think about the end goal a little too much myself. Even my wife says to me that I need to take a step back and find the enjoyment. She says that I get too stressed about getting a buck and that if I'm not enjoying myself, what's the point?

The last week of this month I'll be able to get out for a last ditch effort to get it done in southern WI. I'll try to remind myself to have a good time and enjoy the moment.

[G-Patt]

Great post! Many of us are walking through the Valley of Disappointment.

[PublicLand]

Thank God I can do what I can when I can.

[MsDeltakilla]

Its frustrating when you are on a good buck and he runs off and gets killed or something unexpected. Just find joy in the grind. Continue to push yourself and don't give up. Stealing a quote here, but imagine youre in a room and say its 25 degrees. you have a ice cube on the table, you raise the temperature... 26..27..28..30.. 31. then all of the sudden bam at 33 degrees it melts. Don't quit at 32 degrees fellas.

[thepennsylvanian]

Finally had my first encounter with a true big buck this season. Had him at seventeen yards, and he never gave me a shoot I watched him walk off...... havent seen him since, but I did get a few night pictures the week after.... it took 2 years to have that encounter, and it was a big blow to my mentality, at first. I started realizing that I got that close because I was doing the right things, I found him, was patient enough to wait for the right conditions and actually saw him and very well could have gotten a chance. That is still a huge accomplishment in my book. Now I gotta learn how to keep doing that and itll happen.

[greenhorndave]

I had the best opportunity of my life at a really good buck during opening week of this bow season. I was weaseling through tight cover where it was a lot of work to contort without breaking things with my sticks and platform. I couldn’t see above my waist and didn’t have an arrow nocked. Sign was HOT. Well, me and Mr Buck surprised each other. He didn’t see me and I didn’t see him until he was walking at me face-first at 10 yards. He never turned away from me so there was no way I was going to nock a 200-grain stainless broadhead without him seeing me. All I could do was watch him walk into a window at 5 yards and stare at me for 15 seconds before busting.

I’ve thought about it ever since. Haunting me.

But I have a few days left to see if I can break through that time curve up above.

[Ryan549]

These are wise words for life, not just hunting

[Boogieman1]

Good read, but I don’t believe I fall into this category. I set a goal and did not accomplish it so I don’t see how I can say I didn’t fail. Now I learned things and still had fun all the way to the bitter end. For me there is nothing wrong with failure, heck I made a life out of it. The only failures that ever really eats at me for a long time are the ones that I know I didn’t give my all and kinda just went through the motions. No shame in doing the best u can and coming up short! The shame is people to scared to ever really give something a legit best shot.

When it comes to hunting I intentionally handicap myself and create high odds for failure. A serious risk of failure increases satisfaction at least for me. Believe I’m a bit nutty in this department.

[greenhorndave]

Good read, but I don’t believe I fall into this category. I set a goal and did not accomplish it so I don’t see how I can say I didn’t fail. Now I learned things and still had fun all the way to the bitter end. For me there is nothing wrong with failure, heck I made a life out of it. The only failures that ever really eats at me for a long time are the ones that I know I didn’t give my all and kinda just went through the motions. No shame in doing the best u can and coming up short! The shame is people to scared to ever really give something a legit best shot.

When it comes to hunting I intentionally handicap myself and create high odds for failure. A serious risk of failure increases satisfaction at least for me. Believe I’m a bit nutty in this department.

No, you’re setting a high bar. It’ll make the success sweeter.

[Dewey]

When it comes to hunting I intentionally handicap myself and create high odds for failure. A serious risk of failure increases satisfaction at least for me. Believe I’m a bit nutty in this department.

So refreshing to read that. Your not the only nutty one here. One thing I never want is the easy road or having something handed to me. I had a lot of offers over the years to be put on particular bucks but that’s just not my style. I like when the odds are severely stacked against me and doing the hard work myself. Nothing satisfying at all about taking the easy route.

[MOtgrinMI]

Good post. I had a high bar to clear as well this year. Had many opportunities to shoot bucks just below that bar and passed. To me it would have been a failure to settle. I put myself on the mature buck I was targeting five separate times in the same 100 acre block of timber setting up in different spots for different conditions and I never got a shot I would consider ethical. Although it feels like I took a big L, I’m not sure I can say it was a complete failure because I learned a lot about this buck and how he uses the property, I made some pretty good decisions to be able to get on this deer so many times with drastically different conditions. I just needed that small thing to break my way to get it done so the way I see it I’m right at the precipice of success. Last year I took two great mature bucks in three days of hunting so I have had seasons where things break my way with way less effort! I think sometimes when one has a tough season they are too quick to decide they don’t know what they are doing all together because of the end result. Even though there are always things to improve on, I think a lot of times one can be doing almost everything right and just need to make some minor tweaks to tip the threshold to success. On the other hand, I think when people have a season like I had last year they sometimes overlook some of the things that could be improved due to thinking they have it all figured out. In other words, it’s risky to paint a season as a success or failure simply based on whether you got a buck or not. It’s way more nuanced than that!

[Wetfoot]

When it comes to hunting I intentionally handicap myself and create high odds for failure. A serious risk of failure increases satisfaction at least for me. Believe I’m a bit nutty in this department.

So refreshing to read that. Your not the only nutty one here. One thing I never want is the easy road or having something handed to me. I had a lot of offers over the years to be put on particular bucks but that’s just not my style. I like when the odds are severely stacked against me and doing the hard work myself. Nothing satisfying at all about taking the easy route.

Exactly! It's the journey we take to get there. What fun would life be if there were never any challenges? Aside from that, there are no failures, only learning opportunities. Besides the only true failure is quitting on yourself and those that rely on you.
Enough soapbox cliches from me, LOL.

[KPillinois]

I missed a nice 8 point public land buck at less than 15 yards from my climber this year on public land 9 a.m. on Halloween Day with a stupid crossbow because i couldn't get my camera moved and turned on.....tried to shoot and raise up to look where the shot hit. Would have been my first "big" buck. Have taken the compound ever since. After moping a few days i read the all-time tactical threads and posted up on a spot like described in the thread but decided to move 80 yards over so i could have an observation day for the does as well. I'll be darned if one of those bucks you guys call a slob didn't walk right thru where i should have actually been at 10 a.m. ........getting me a lightweight mobile setup ready for next year and hoping it is gonna be my best ever year.