Trad Gang

I can't believe I'm going to ask this but here goes. I have been bowhunting sense 1973 it's something I love to do I not a great hunter but I have always enjoyed it. I like it all scouting hunting the gear all of it and still do. But for the last 2 seasons I find myself not going. I'm ready scouting is done blinds brushed up, been shooting better than ever and shooting more. My backpack is packed and setting by my boots and socks. I am in better shape than ever lost 125 lbs and feel good. But when I have to get up in the morning to go I don't. I admit I am not a morning person but always made it to hunt. I don't get it and I get mad at myself and everyone around me before the day is over because I didn't go. Sounds dumb I know but just wandering if any of you other older guys have delt with something like this.
Sorry to ask but I need some help.

Tom

Tom,
Know exactly how you feel. Find you a hunting buddy. Help me tremendously.

Seems like some sort of repressed emotions acting upon your psyche.  Probably originates in a past life as a primitive hunter who left the safety of camp too early only to be eaten by a sabertooth tiger.

I had that problem for a while and figured out what my problem was.  Yours is probably different but I traced it to a desire NOT to kill a deer because then the hunt would be over.  I have always lived in places where only one deer is allowed.  Once I figured this out, I happily went forth and passed many deer by.  Not that I pursue trophys.  In fact I'm the opposite.  Often went home meatless but still happy.

When the plan is to be camped out in your hunt area for nine days, killing a deer just ruins it!

Don't go early, change the ritual. Get up, have breakfast and a coffee and read the paper. Go around 10:30 and stay till 3 pm. See if it makes a difference. If it does make your adjustments and go enjoy your self.

QuoteOriginally posted by Butch Speer:
Tom,
Know exactly how you feel. Find you a hunting buddy. Help me tremendously.

I think your right on the money but no body wants to hunt where I have to hunt, public land. I just don't have the money or time to be on a land leese 5 hours from my home. They will hunt one day and not see anything and all they do is gripe. It's just about killing and if that don't happen it was a wasted day. They won't scout or even go try to find a place to hunt they just want me to tell them where to go and fuss when they don't see anything. I may have just stayed able to hunt to long. To me it's about the hunt not just the kill. Last Saturday I had a doe 5 yards from me on the ground and could not get the shot. I was pumped it was a great day. I was telling a friend at work about it and he said "I would have shot" and acted like I was a fool for not shooting. THERE WAS NO SHOT. IT DON;T ALWAYS HAPPEN THAT'S BOWHUNTING. I would love to have a hunting buddy but not one of them knotheads.
Sorry for the rant.

Tom

Tom...I know that feeling of wanting to stay in bed, believe me. Whether it's the gym or hunting,  I have laid there negotiating with myself. I have even tried to convince myself that hunting in the morning was less productive.

I solved it by kicking myself in the pants,  and then reveling in the awesome feeling of being out there and doing it. Gym or treestand, it feels great when you are there. Puff out your chest a bit and feel privately superior to all those slugs who slept in.

When I was a kid, my Uncle Jack drug me out hunting every Saturday morning,  no excuses. And at some point, on every hunt. ...while the beagles were baying across the swamp,  he would take a drag on his cigar and say "beats the hell outa watching cartoons, eh Junior? "

My best advice. ..just go do it....

QuoteOriginally posted by ron w:
Don't go early, change the ritual. Get up, have breakfast and a coffee and read the paper. Go around 10:30 and stay till 3 pm. See if it makes a difference. If it does make your adjustments and go enjoy your self.

Thanks Ron, I'll try that it sound good. Forget the rule before first light and just hunt. Wow.
I can't wait.

I'm 70 and know what you are saying. I do a lot of evening hunts myself. Getting up at 2:30, driving 3 1/2 hours to hunt and driving back is a killer so instead I do a lot of local evening hunts. Very enjoyable too.

Ron W nailed it. I have never killed an animal before 0900. Its good to be there while they're moving about and not spooking them, but if you change your set up to accommodate where they'll be later in the morning you're good.  If its cold and the rut, people kill deer all day long as you no doubt know. Like Ron said, get up, enjoy the morning a little, then go out - there still out there. Good luck!

I am not a morning person.  Most days I hunt afternoons.  If I am on an "out west" hunt I usually get up with the guys, but not every day.
CHuckC

It's called assitis and I have it. I have been bowhunting since 76. I am better motivated if I know I am hunting a large deer, otherwise I just enjoy the woods when I get there. I have to be in the mood to harvest a big doe also. It has been a bad few years as far as big deer go. I usually do not hunt before October.

Def hunt in the afternoon and evening.  You can encounter just as many critters if the conditions are right.  Heck I was out last night after a rainstorm.  No kills cause nothing came in range but I saw two does, a turkey, and a raccoon, and this was all between 3pm and sunset.

I get like that here in TN after my yearly Kansas trip. It makes it hard to get up and go here, though later I will wish I had.  Taking my nephew or going with my brother helps fire me back up. Even hunting with my buddies who prefer the thunder sticks.... It's become less and less about killing something to me, which makes it a little easier to get out there and sit. Still like to eat them though, so I don't let them all walk.

I'm not very old @42. And I have a hard time getting up and getting motivated to go out... Always have. But hear this...
A body in motion, stays in motion;a body at rest stays at rest...
Some really smart dude said that..
It's not just for literal moving objects. For us as people when we get used to laying there doing nothing it feels good to do nothing. But when we are moving and doing stuff. It feels really good to do that stuff. In you're case, hunting.  
In my job. People hate to come see me. They complain they are tired and don't want to be there. When they leave me. They say...thanks I needed that. I feel much better now!
My advice to you.... When that alarm goes off. Get right up and look forward to every step on the way to you're spot. Take a nap when you get there. But at least you can't be mad that you didn't go.

Thanks for all the help.

Tom

Roger Norris said,

 

Quote Puff out your chest a bit and feel privately superior to all those slugs who slept in.  

So Roger, don't expect this SLUG to have those delicious breakfast burritos ready for you when you come in from your morning hunt at Shrew Haven this year.    :nono:

Just go after you get up, the day is not lost just because you missed the morning!

There's just as much game at 11:00am as at 6:00am. I have to get up early for work. Hunting is fun time for me I go when I go.

I'm only 55 but I find myself not very motivated this year...and it'll get worse once it gets cold.

The only place I really have to hunt is the local state WMA and I just can't get excited about it.

Deer get scarce after the opening weekend rush. All my life I've been hearing this "It's about the hunt, not the kill." stuff. LOL but sitting still in the cold gets old after a while when there aren't any deer around. Heck, paying for the tag gets old when there aren't any deer around.

I can spend time in the woods all year when the weather is nicer and not have to buy a tag. Once I buy a tag and sit through the nasty weather it absolutely is about the kill.

There were almost 50 people signed in at the WMA yesterday (Sat) and the weather was lousy. There will probably be more today. I haven't even bought a tag yet.

It's not just my enthusiasm that's diminished over the years. The quality of the hunting I have available has diminished.

I've been bowhunting since '79 and have occasionally had the same feelings. Some pretty good thoughts above and I'll add a few of my own.

First, I quit hunting from a tree. It is limiting and the view doesn't change. I prefer to be moving, albeit usually at a very slow pace.

Second, I gave up horn porn. After
spending several years focused on antlers, I realized I couldn't eat them and didn't need to prove anything to anybody. And once the meat is in the freezer, I'll be darned if I can distinguish which piece of meat came from which deer.

Third, I quit hunting just deer. I get as much enjoyment from shooting at squirrels, rabbits,
groundhogs, etc; so now I hunt whatever is in season. I recently moved to Texas and hope to add hogs to my roving aspirations.

Lastly, I stopped defining myself as a bow hunter. I have a full, well-rounded life that includes a lot of things that have nothing to do with my recurve. My wife doesn't hunt or shoot, but supports me in those endeavors. I like spending time with her doing other things. Makes my time hunting even more special to me.

Have fun, go when you want and at your pace.

ron w's advice is good. This is my 51st bowhunting season at age 65, and I'm pumped. I've been where you are, Tom, and it will pass. The midday hours are good, too, sometimes better than early when the deer know hunters are in the woods early and late.

Wow! Never thought I would get this much or this kind of response. Just goes to show there's a bunch of good folks here on TradGang. I am going to make some changes in how I think about my hunting. Always been one of those guys that says if you can't be there before daylight your not doing things right. I'm always telling people to have fun hunting, guess I need to take my own advise.

Tom

Anytime out in the woods is time well spent. Last year I went at 12:30 pm to sit for a couple of hours. Got there and the wind was wrong.....moved to another spot and got a shot 40 minutes later. Of course I missed but that's not the point....   :dunno:

It's not very hard for me to talk myself out of going at 3:30am when I wake up..without alarm clock.

Lots of reasons why..
I can hunt anytime I want.
I'm 67 and done his for over 50yrs..the intensity is not what it used to be.
Lots of aches and pains from health problems

But the two main reason this yr are lack of deer
and it's so damn far to walk in up and down ridges to get to the good spots...then pack out the deer if I'm lucky.

Last wk I bought another XOP Hand Climbing Stand another XOP Loc On stand and 4 sections of XOP Climbing Sticks..I think more than anything just to pump myself up. I've got more stands than I can manage already.

I didn't hunt this morning was going this afternoon..and didn't. It's suppose to rain now for about the next 5 days.

But the thing that makes it hardest on my hunting is my dog. He knows exactly when I start to get ready and his whole demeanor and facial expression changes. He gets that sad look and will move to a corner of the bed and turn his head away or will go in the bathroom and pout.
He loves to go run the woods with me and it's hard to leave him. I just explain to him I'm going to get him a deer leg. He gives me a look of disgust..like "That's getting old."
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Iflytrout/Jake/JAKE_zps4f98f527.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Iflytrout/Jake/Jakesnow5_zps56045ba9.jpg)

QuoteOriginally posted by Ron LaClair:
Roger Norris said,

   

Quote Puff out your chest a bit and feel privately superior to all those slugs who slept in.  

So Roger, don't expect this SLUG to have those delicious breakfast burritos ready for you when you come in from your morning hunt at Shrew Haven this year.     :nono:  [/b]

Yup. When I'm seeing all those non slugs cruising back down the drive from the top of banana ridge at ten in the morning I'm sometimes watching deer watch the vehicles go by.  At that point I'm thankful I'm a slug.    :p    ;)

Since 1973 hmmm.
How old are you Tom. I've been in exactly the same situation. I really believe it has to do with age. When I was younger it was "pitter patter up and at 'er". But as I got older ie in my mid 50's dragging my sorry butt out of bed was harder and harder.

The only thing that works for me is to launch myself out of bed. I can create a window of a few seconds where I get up quickly before the moment passes. Once I've done that it's easier to carry on.

PS...it also sounds like you enjoy the preparation and anticipation. So get up and move. As a buddy once said "you can sleep when you're dead."

QuoteOriginally posted by Jock Whisky:
PS...it also sounds like you enjoy the preparation and anticipation. So get up and move. As a buddy once said "you can sleep when you're dead."

I'm 61. My dad used to say "people die in the bed"
He was one of those people that only required about 5 hours of sleep a night. I didn't get that. I got being a night owl from my mom.   :rolleyes:

Tom

When I feel like staying in bed the thought crosses my mind that if I don't go the one I've been after will come through that day. Even after I go and he don't show I feel a lot better because I was there.

I myself have noticed this phenomenon. I used to spring right up and hit the trail. I think part of it is getting older. As I get older, it seems that I have lost a little of my "Killer instinct". In the past it was easy to tell myself that getting up and out there was the only way that I was going to kill a buck and just the thought of that would get me going. Maybe it's a testosterone drop or maybe the fact that I have killed so many deer through the years, it's just more difficult....I still do it but it takes more effort. I notice also that if I'm on a hunt at the camp in the U.P., I don't seem to have the problem but just hunting the farm doesn't do it for me anymore.

I hear you. I have always had the best luck in the morning and thats why I force myself up. Once I am walking around, I wake up, cant go back to sleep and after awhile, I just pack and go.
3 cheap wind up alarm clocks are located in the three adjoining rooms, so I have to get up to shut them all off and I have to do it fast as my wife (works nights) will kick my butt if I dont.  :D

Yep, break the rules. Get out there when you want to. I believe the deer get conditioned to our early and late intrusions as the season goes on. Switching it up on them has to be a good thing.

Read my signature line below!

When I was young I would jump out of bed, throw down a cup of coffee and hit the woods before daylight. Now at 78 years old I love to wake up early, roll over and go back to sleep. I think it's definitely an age thing....   :dunno:

QuoteOriginally posted by Ron LaClair:
Roger Norris said,

   

quote:

---

  Puff out your chest a bit and feel privately superior to all those slugs who slept in.  

So Roger, don't expect this SLUG to have those delicious breakfast burritos ready for you when you come in from your morning hunt at Shrew Haven this year.     :bigsmyl:

And Ray....you can sit longer than anybody I ever met. We both know on a given hunt-day at Shrewhaven you are in the woods way more hours than me....and when the heck did you ever sleep in?

That's it. I'm overloading the woodstove, everyone is up at 3:00 this year   :biglaugh: