Question On Your Hunting Goals/ Standards

[Huntbear]

I hunt for the serenity it brings me.  For the relationships I have forged with family and friends.  I hunt because of the tradition handed down by my dad, before he passed away.  For the thrill of a buck busting me in the brush and I hear him run off, with only a quick glimpse of his horns, but no shot.

I have shot does, spikes and I have shot some nice racks as well.  Does it matter?  As I have grown older, yes.  I am more selective and will only shoot branch antlered.  Mainly due to my growth as a sportsman and a steward of the wildlife, so that the younger generation in my family can carry on that tradition that my dad passed down to me.

However, last weekend of the season, those little forkies better be careful, cause I also love to eat venison!!!!

[MAGhunter]

There is no better feeling than that opening day morning of the hunt, the expection, the rush and when you spot that first animal, or when you get to see someone in your family shoot there first buck.  Those are things that a person will never forget!!

[robb92]

When I go hunting it is for meat for my family. Every deer I have ever harvested has been a trophy in my eyes. I also enjoy having by daughter out with me hutning, she loves to listen to the birds and see the wildlife. She know and understands why hunting is an important part of our heritge and way of life. I know she will carry the hunting tradition on with her kids someday.

[mhadix]

as the old saying goes........i can't eat horns. now that i am older i understand what that means. but at the same time i will not take a spike, let the little guy grow up. the first mature buck i see i shoot. i hunt for the sport, when i don't take a deer i am just as happy to have been hunting as if i had got one.

[Bigshooter]

The first ten years of my big game hunting it was all about killing.  I was blood thirsty.  I didn't care how big or small it was, I just wanted to kill it.  Someone said that we or he was never a killer, and that he only hunted for meat.  I think most of us started out with bb guns killing every bird that we could find, I only ate one of those birds that I killed with a bb gun.  Hunting birds with my bb gun was all about killing for me.  Now I am more of a selective hunter.  I don't want to kill anything until the last day of the season, unless it is big.  The reason being is that I love to hunt, and I want to hunt the entire season.  The more time I spend in the woods the more I enjoy life.

[redjeepgirl]

I hunt mostly for the meat/bone. I don't get nearly enough time in the field to be overly fussy, but I won't kill small bucks. Part of it is an good excuse to get outdoors, hike around and enjoy the challenge, so really, there is so such thing as a bad hunt in my book.

[h2ofowlr]

Until I moved up to the NW corner of the state the Battle Ground unit of SW Washington offered either sex hunts.  I typically shot what ever deer I ran across when out duck hunting.  I mainly hunted for the table fare, so does, spikes and plenty of 2-points.  I try to not spend to much time in the field hunting deer as it takes away from my 90 day waterfowl season.   

[Pathfinder101]

Wow, that's some hardcore waterfowlin'

[DOUBLELUNG]

I hunt because it is what I am - a hunter.  it would be unnatural for me to not hunt, it would be denying a big part of myself.  I want meat, and I want "trophies", but both are less important than hunting itself.  I hunt to have hunted.  Some of you will understand.

I put trophies in quotes because horns, antlers, hides and mounts are more momentoes - visual cues to bring good hunts back to the front of my mind.  Telling stories and letting other people see them are fine, sometimes fun, but not the reason I have/keep them.

Non-hunters ask why I don't just photograph animals if I don't need the meat.  I don't tell them it is in order to have hunted; they can't understand.  Instead, I tell them birdwatching/photography is to hunting, what watching a ballgame is to playing in it.  In one you are an outsider observing, in the other a participant.  Both are good, but the one can't substitute for the other.

[Pathfinder101]

When I was a teenager I read an article in either Outdoor Life or Field and Stream entitled "Why We Hunt".  I can't remember who wrote it, but I will never forget a certain quote that has stuck in my mind all these years.  I think it sums it up.

"To hunt is not to kill, but to kill is to have hunted."

[buckhorn2]

I think I started out like a lot of other hunters do by shooting it when I saw it. Now the trip the friends the planning all seem to be almost more important than the shooting. Instead of the first one to the stump now I have the camera or spotting scope but I still love the hunt. I still get my deer and elk but it is different than before and the  watching family or friends shooting is the most fun. There will come a time for most that you have a shot but for some reason hesitate and don;t take it maybe it;s old age respect or something but it happens. For me it was a cougar. It was 30 feet up a tree dogs under the tree me with a permit and all of a sudden I did;nt want to. It was absolutley beautiful a 160 pound male it;s eyes were green it;s nose orange its teeth white it was something to remember for a lifetime. The elk and deer meat are special bt the memory;s for me are what it;s all about.

[Alan K]

I always laugh when I hear the ol' "You can't eat the horns!" line. . .

Bigger bucks have bigger bodies!  You get the best of both worlds by killing a bigger buck! Sure it's tougher etc. but you see my point.