Something Isn't Right

[DirtTime]

I only had a couple hours this morning to get out, and with some vehicular issues I'm not going far. I'm sitting there and felt like I was forcing it. This was only my 4th bow hunt so far this season, and I have sort of felt that way each time. It feels like, man I don't know how to explain it, just like going through the motions. I have always loved to be out with the bow as much or more then a gun. This year even just shooting to make sure things stay dialed in wasn't as much fun as it used to be for me.

 

The 5 days I was in the NZ carrying the ML and then the 7mm-08 I was stoked as hell to be out there. Next weekend the wife and I will be back up north toting rifles, and I can't wait.

 

I think I'm loosing my drive to be out with the bow. I've been through some nasty health issues in the past few years, but that seemed to drive me more to be out, especially last season, so I don't feel that's the problem. I think I'm just starting to prefer to be out with a fire arm.

 

Any of you have any advice to offer on this one?

[suburbanfarmer]

Just dont do it and the drive will come back to bow hunt.

If you are not physically fit for bow hunting the brain starts playing weird games. I have toggled back n forth in my short 20yrs of hunting.

[Moho81]

If your not enjoying it stop doing it and wait for the rifle season to come around. I may sit in the rain and complain about it but I still like to be out there.

Not to compare you to a kid but one thing that I always tell my daughter when we sit together is “let me know if your not enjoying this any more and we will head back in because there’s no point in being out here if your not enjoying it”.


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[rachunter]

I bow hunted for 30 plus years and wouldn't change a thing,but now i'm in an area where i can use firearms and find the bow on the hook more and more i didn't even pick it up this year.I get in ruts right now its all about the cap/ball muzzle loader,but next year it might be the crossbow or a rifle. I've been looking more forward to smallgame hunting then deer hunting the last 2-3 years.

[wolc123]

I don’t miss bow hunting at all.  I have not done it since 2013.  I much prefer going up north with my ML and rifle in Mid-October.  I am really looking forward to southern zone crossbow opener this Saturday though.    
 
I would say that my average venison harvest, prior to the opening of regular southern zone gun season, has more than doubled, since I quit the bow, picked up the crossbow, and started the early northern ML/rifle trips.   
 

The additional benefits of giving up the bow are massive time savings, not needing to maintain proficiency with it year round, and much less wear and tear on my shoulders.   
 

The crossbow was a God-send, and I don’t even mind that the season is only two weeks long.  Those were always my favorite two weeks of archery season anyhow (peak rut) and that saves me even more time and gives me an excuse to go up north for early ML and the rifle opener.

I will take the early antlerless gun season that they gave us this year, over full inclusion of the crossbow any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by wolc123

[Jeremy K]

I cant get out enough !!!

[grampy]

I've been bow hunting every year since the early 80s. The last few years, I've had my share of medical issues too. And I say every year now, this will probably be my last year. Only because I find it painful and difficult to shoot my bow now days. But even on my worst day in the bow hunting woods, I'm thankful to be there. Even on a day like today, when I saw zero deer. On the drive home, I thanked God for just giving me the opportunity and time to be out there. It's not about what I kill anymore. It's about being an active participant, in something I truly love. I have always told myself, if I ever lose that love, I'm done. My body will give up before my love dies.

That said, my flame for hunting does not burn near as brightly, as it did when I was younger and healthier. But it does still flicker. I pray the flame never goes out completely. 

[Trial153]

I am the opposite, I have zero desire to hunt with a firearm and haven’t in the past 15 years. and honestly before that when I would occasionally take out the rifle I got hardly any satisfaction from it, despite my success.
I started bowhunting in 1990 when I turned 14 and was lucky enough to harvest a buck. I was hooked before that string dropped. I Made my first trip out west in the 1995 with my bow and killed an elk, and haven’t missed a year traveling someplace yet.
The last ten years or so I leave for out of state bow hunt the day before our gun season just to get out of here and not deal with any of it. My properties go unhunted except for the trespassing slobs that wander though every year and show up on my cams.
The best buck I ever saw, including hunting in some of the best whitetail states was on our lease In Ohio. It was during the MZ season in jan and I was bowhunting, the buck came out into cut corn field and was out there feeding. That night my buddy said take out my MZ he will probably come back out tomorrow night, I declined and went back out with the bow. Sure enough he showed up and was too far for a shot but would have been in easy MZ loader range. I never regretted it at all and am thankful I had the opportunities that’s I have had. Hopefully I can keep on making memories.

[rob-c]

Could it be because your wife is with you toting the guns and not bowhunting ? It happens though  my drive to hunt this year is down also. I have come to realize that I would rather choose quality over quantity hunting, as I get older I’m finding I get burned out easier so I tend to only hunt when the wind / conditions etc. are right.  

[Nytracker]

I have had years where I found my enthusiasm lacking . This year could be one of them . I am currently  debating whether to hunt this coming weekend or steelhead fish. Just not into the warm rainy weather. I think somebody played a nasty trick on me and moved me to Seattle back in June.

[DirtTime]

4 minutes ago, rob-c said:

Could it be because your wife is with you toting the guns and not bowhunting ? It happens though  my drive to hunt this year is down also. I have come to realize that I would rather choose quality over quantity hunting, as I get older I’m finding I get burned out easier so I tend to only hunt when the wind / conditions etc. are right.  

Nah, I enjoy hunting with my wife, but I also love my time out alone. At least 70% of the time I spend in the woods is alone with the exception of camping- I like having people to talk to around the fire.

 

I hunted more last year then any season in my life. 28 hunts, not counting a few where the hunt was sort of nuked by other hunters, that's something I have just come to accept when hunting public land. Looking back I enjoyed the firearms hunting more then the bow hunting last season too, but I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to be out there last year. I took each day for what it was and enjoyed them all.

 

I'm hoping this is just an off season and that having a ton of things on my mind are just putting me in some sort of funk for bow hunting. I can't see me hanging up the bow for good until I can't draw it any more. My plan for this season was to actually upgrade my bow, but then I went with the CVA instead.

 

 

[Gobbler Chaser]

I understand where you guys are coming from. I was on the stand yesterday afternoon and only one hr in the stand a neighboring property owner starts rapid firing some kind of big bore rifle. Well that drove off two yearlings I was watching and even though they stopped shooting I climbed outta my stand and went home and had a beer.

[Swamp_bucks]

Maybe just change up how you bowhunt? Maybe spot and stalk might re kindle the flame, a different property, maybe recurve?  When I get in a  new spot it always gets the blood pumping just because of the unknown.

[DirtTime]

2 minutes ago, Swamp_bucks said:

Maybe just change up how you bowhunt? Maybe spot and stalk might re kindle the flame, a different property, maybe recurve?  When I get in a  new spot it always gets the blood pumping just because of the unknown.

I would love to try out a recurve. Won't be this year, but I have been giving it a lot of thought. My biggest issue is I can't shoot instinctive worth a crap. I would need to mount a site on it, which sort of defeats the purpose.

[wolc123]

2 minutes ago, Gobbler Chaser said:

I understand where you guys are coming from. I was on the stand yesterday afternoon and only one hr in the stand a neighboring property owner starts rapid firing some kind of big bore rifle. Well that drove off two yearlings I was watching and even though they stopped shooting I climbed outta my stand and went home and had a beer.

I can’t say for sure that it bothers the deer, but it definitely puts a damper on my archery season hunts, when a neighbor starts target practicing with guns.  I can’t remember ever seeing a deer after that gunfire had started.

in order not to subject others to that same bs, I try to finish checking the zeros of all my firearms by early September.   Most of my target practice before that, and all of it after, is with BB guns.

[Gobbler Chaser]

2 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

I can’t say for sure that it bothers the deer, but it definitely puts a damper on my archery season hunts, when a neighbor starts target practicing with guns.  I can’t remember ever seeing a deer after that gunfire had started.

in order not to subject others to that same bs, I try to finish checking the zeros of all my firearms by early September.   Most of my target practice before that, and all of it after, is with BB guns.

Me too. I won't do any recreational shooting on my property till after Christmas

[Swamp_bucks]

14 minutes ago, DirtTime said:

I would love to try out a recurve. Won't be this year, but I have been giving it a lot of thought. My biggest issue is I can't shoot instinctive worth a crap. I would need to mount a site on it, which sort of defeats the purpose.

Still might give you that spark back

[fasteddie]

I prefer bow over gun hunting . I had to drop my bow poundage down to 55 pounds this year . It's rough getting old but it beats the alternative !

[Otto]

37 minutes ago, DirtTime said:

I would love to try out a recurve. Won't be this year, but I have been giving it a lot of thought. My biggest issue is I can't shoot instinctive worth a crap. I would need to mount a site on it, which sort of defeats the purpose.

I can’t shoot instinctive either, I have been gap shooting with a fair amount of consistency. I am hoping with some more practice, I will be able to shoot instinctive.  I plan to use the recurve in my bow league this winter. I’ll keep hunting with my compound for now. 

If you are happier with the rifle or MZ, then do that!  No reason to force yourself, you may end up not wanting to hunt at all! 

[crappyice]

Is there something unrelated to hunting that you are postponing? I have had that feeling of it just not being right for me to be in the woods and it is typically because I am either putting off something I don’t want to do (chores, dr appts, grading papers, etc) or my priorities got twisted and I was hunting over a family thing and feel bad about it.
It also is only just starting to feel like hunting season so don’t bag it yet!


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[rachunter]

30 minutes ago, crappyice said:

It also is only just starting to feel like hunting season so don’t bag it yet!


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This is exactly how it was during the muzzle loader season,so much so I turned it into a fishing trip.

[Daveboone]

I have had days when I just couldnt " get the groove". Just saturday pm, we went out on stand (NT rifle). It was very warm, I was out primarily to let a buddy (a novice hunter) get out. I only have a buck tag, and really do not want to shoot anything so early in the season. I want to be out alot more, and I enjoy the later colder season much more. I sat for about ten minutes in my tree, and said enough is enough. I went for a nice long two hour slow stroll through the woods, casually spotting for sign and just enjoying the evening. I got back to the cabin about dark. The next a.m. was foggy and misty. I had a bunch of little critters scurrying about, and enjoyed myself much more. 

As warm as it has been this season, I have had difficulty motivating. This week it is coolinig off nicely. Even if I am unlikely to take a deer yet, it is starting to "feel" like hunting.

[DirtTime]

Alarm's set for the AM. If I still have that feeling in my gut I'm probably done in the SZ until the regular season.

 

My wife thinks is a culmination of my health and still missing Miko every day. She always had to sniff my gear when I got back from a hunt, especially my bow hunting stuff, so it feels like somethings missing that should be there.

[Lucky118]

Havent not hunted yet this yr in NY or PA. Hunted my whole life, use to love bow. This yr i could care less. Might drag the crossbow out to PA this week and glass and stalk but the compound is probably going to stay home this yr again.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Take up salmon/steelhead fishing


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