I recently read a post by Terry on another thread where he said how he has transitioned in his hunting to challenge himself. I too don't regret the compound years, I had fun. I did end up getting bored with hunting even though I love hunting and archery. I got tired of carrying the heavy bow and all the stuff. I moved back to trad and the love came back and began to grow. Then the desire for challenge grew. I find myself getting away from blinds, less camo, and I have been hunting more aggressively. By the end of this past season I just had my quiver of arrows, my bow and some water. I feel I had a great year just going for it and pushing myself. So, who else is going stripped down, changing tactics and pushing for more challenge? What is it you are doing out there to make your hunt a thrill.

It's always been that way for me... You couldn't pay me to hunt from a tree stand, for deer that is. Bear over bait, well, another story. Store bought blinds, nope! Enough blow downs around to keep me happy. I love the heavy cover for close-in encounters while on the stalk.

Been at it with trad gear for over nine years and have yet to put one down... Still, I love it so! If the gear I need can't fit into my pockets, it stays home. Except, maybe, for my Bison Gear pack that some day will hold my over clothes while I drag a deer out of the woods.   :rolleyes:  Some day.

... mike ...

Hey Jerry

As you know I started hunting with compounds with all the bells and whistles and carrying so much crap and hauling it up into trees. One day I met Reiner and saw him shooting a BW longbow and asked to try shooting it. Soon afterwards I bought my first trad bow, a sweet Hornes 3 piece mountain bow. After I hunted a couple seasons with the recurve from trees, Reiner got me started in hunting from the ground from natural blinds. Now I only carry all I use in a CatII quiver. Nothing like traveling light.

I live in the boonies,27 miles from the nearest grocery store.Our house is on my wifes family farm so i mostly hunt right here by the house,i can walk to all of my stands.So, my hunting is very simple,no need to take much gear with me.Usually just a bow, a cpl of arrows, a small flashlight and sometimes a pair of binoculars.I am a simple man ,or maybe just old fashioned,so i like the minimal way no matter were i hunt.Hunting to me is just a good excuse to be out in the woods so i dont care if i dont get a lot of deer.I dont hunt big game a lot with guns but when i do i use a handgun.I have prolly killed 10 times as many deer and hogs with a handgun as most rifle hunters i know.These days i use a bow even durring gun season.But,i have no problem hunting with others that use guns, compounds or even cross bows.

I just have to Admit, the Thrill Starts as soon as I pull away from the Curb!!     The Thrill Builds & Builds until I put boots on the Ground and wander into My Favorite Woods!! Slosh across the Creek and I am  "HOME"!!       There Nothing like that Feeling in the World to Me!! Doesnt matter if I even get a Shot, just  "BEING"  is the Religious Experience I have become a Junkie For!!    
 To hear the Birds, and Squirrels Chattering in the Trees, and the Soft Breeze rattling through the Last "Hanger-On" Leaves of the Trees is like a Hymn to Me.  

I'm going with less and less, I just got a Waldrop pac-seat to use from natural blinds. Bow, arrows a drink and some lunch or a snack. Carry the lunch in a Haversack that I made from a pair of wool pants. Knife and a drag rope that I hope to use. I hope to see a few deer this year and maybe get lucky. Seems simple is better!!

It is still a remarkable feeling to me to tug on that haul-line to pull up my recurve in the morning dark. It feels like nuth'n on the other end!

Every time I go by a piece of woods I think of how I can hunt it. The mere thought of being in the woods excites me.

I must admit. .  I don't think I use a stick because it is more challenging, but rather cause it just feels right to me. No other reason.  

I don't feel the need to actually kill anything, although I feel a very real need to go out and chase stuff as often as possible.  On the other hand, I don't turn down gifts from above either, if it comes by and offers itself to me, I WILL take it or try.

It just is what it is.
ChuckC

I'm thrilled every time I walk into the woods.

I find the thrill in getting close to an animal.  The kill for me is anticlimactic.  Every other part of the hunt for me is  calming.  Camping, hiking, being in nature with little but a stick, a string, and a sharp stick takes me back to a place where my ancestors lived by their skills.  It is where I want to be every day of my life.

Why would you limit yourself to only hunting from the ground or from a stand?  Are you not hunting when you enter the woods?  The hunt begins when you enter the woods.  Hunt your way to the stand.   See a a deer not within shooting distance give it a try.  Whent he time is right go after it.

I have the heart and the mind of a hunter, the killing is just the culmination of a hunt that has gone full circle and is part of it, a act that takes place once in a while to have hunted. But it is the events that happen in the pursuit that divide us from those that only eat store bought meat or fool themselves into thinking they were meant to be vegitarians, these individuals are not participants in nature but bystanders who will never smell an autumn morning or run their fingers through waist high canary grass, I feel sorry for their loss.

Just being in the outdoors is a thrill for me!      

I started out shooting a longbow just to challenge myself. Now It just feels so natural I don't even view it as a handicap. Other than occasionally taking rattling horns, everything I need for a sit fits in the pocket of my arrow master quiver.

QuoteOriginally posted by lpcjon2:
Every time I go by a piece of woods I think of how I can hunt it. The mere thought of being in the woods excites me.

I thought I was the only one that thought this way.  My wife laughs at me and thinks I'm crazy.  Hunting never leaves my mind, it's a sickness and I love it!

Always a thrill. I quit wearing camo a few years back and still stalk game to close distances. I want to kill a mule deer wearing a santa claus outfit next, or just in my boxer shorts. Just to prove you don't need no "camo".      

Tracy Tracy Tracy. How do you think Santa caught the deer he trained to fly. That santa suit has special camo powers.    

Truth be told every hunt I go on is a thrill. You take from nature what you wish to take from it because Nature has an unlimited amout of gifts to give.

oh ya....  I just love being out there.. where ever out there is.  I hunt in very big woods so I need to be well prepared but I take no more than is necessary to be safe. Water, minimal foods,  a knife warm dry clothes and a compass and map.(and GPS) first aid stuff.

I once read that 'a good mountaineer never gets lost, but they can get confused.  
So you should always be prepared for long periods of confusion.'

Joe Ashton has got it right........Never lost, confused........for hours...  .. .LOL!