Brad Lamont wrote:Stanley wrote:Southern Man wrote:Suprisingly, I feel fairly confident in the red zone.... once I get there. I'm comfortable waiting for the shot, angle of the shot doesn't bother me, and I will rush the shot if I need to. Not to say I'm not nervous or that my blood isn't racing thru my veins like a freight train and I have made a bunch of mistakes at the moment of truth. For me age is getting to be the biggest obsticle on getting to the red zone. My vision isn't what it use to be, my drive is starting to wain, and things are getting harder and harder to do. The want to is still there but the execution is lacking. I think alot of that comes from knowing that I don't have to kill anymore. Not saying you guys feel like you must "kill" to be sucessful. But I put alot of pressure on myself in the past to get it done with only 1 acceptable outcome, to kill. I don't feel that way anymore.
The young guys may not understand but I sure do.
I know this feeling, I am seeing myself progress towards this, especially the past two years. I use to want to kill every single deer I saw, I would fling arrows any chance I could, or fling lead the same. I think as said that its a natural progression, at first I just wanted to kill to get my numbers up, I judged my season by the kill tallys. Then I wanted to kill big bucks, and I have a few. I still want big bucks but I don't seem to put as much pressure on myself, especially if things went wrong. I have a haunting moment from back in 2007 when I wounded a buck that would push Boone and Crockett, I still cringe on that buck when I think of it. When I missed the 150" this year I was sick to my stomach for about 10 minutes, I felt like I let my season down. Then shortly after that a calming feeling came over me and I told myself the buck did exactly what you anticipated when you set this stand, you got the shot, you beat the deer, you just didn't kill him, or something to that extent. It was almost like I knew that good was coming my way and soon if I didn't get too ticked off at myself, and then 2 hours later I got a different buck.
I guess what I am trying to say is now I do not feel like I have to kill a deer, I still love to and hope that never goes away, but now I enjoy watching and learning from the deer, and I feel more emotions out there, its not just kill kill kill, now its more focused, and I have more sympathy for the deer, like i respect taking a life now more than I used to, and I start to feel a little remorse after I have killed them, not enough that I ever see myself giving it up, but I realize my actions in the woods effect things, including another living creatures lives. I no longer judge success by kill marks, I judge it by if I am learning from each trip. My most successful hunts this year did not result in a kill, but I learned more on those hunts and they will help me down the road. I think this site has helped in this regard a lot.
Great post Brad!
Your 2nd paragraph is word for word exactly how I feel. As long as I am having fun and learning something, killing is not as important as it once was.
[ Post made via iPhone ]