frustrated

E

evan9201

New member
well i looks like im not getting a deer this season because of my truck ****ting the bed these last couple of weeks and my work, muzzleloader ends the 31.
im so frustrated i feel like a failure and its not like i wasnt patient i would sit on stand for 6 hours in 25dg weather, i never shot a a sound in the bushes,i tryed several different stands that i set up and i hunted as much as i could.
i have been doing a lot of small game hunting since i was little and im now just getting into big game hunting these last couple of years, i miss how small game was so fun and if you missed a rabbit you just shrugged it off. i love hunting and killing is not necceary for me to have a good time but to my so called " friends" need to kill. they like making fun of me for not getting a deer and i feel like **** all i wanted was a doe and some venison. im sorry to rant guys but i need some people to talk to.
 
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I understand your frustration. I got skunked this year in 3 states, but I still enjoyed the hunting. I agree that killing is not necessary to have an enjoyable hunt, but it is the killing that makes us part of the hunt. Otherwise we are just spectators, comfortable with our store-bought food and in simply watching the seasons change. In order to become part of the life-and-death cycle of our game, we must participate in the hunting and taking of our quarry, but it is not necessary to kill each time we hunt.
 
It happens. If it makes you feel better, my brother missed not one, not two, but THREE nice bucks, all in one day this year. Never got another chance and his tag went unfilled. Don't let it get you down.
 
i wouldn't feel so bad or angry or even frustrated. i've hunted since i was 11. i am 34 now. i finally got my first deer back in 2002. it was a case of i would see them 60 yards out during bow season. jump a few in brush at 30 yards during shotgun or muzzleloader right when i was getting to my treestand. during shotgun season without a permit for either sex i wouldn't shoot. unless i saw antlers. muzzleloader and shotgun seasons until this year was either sex with 1 permit. bow was always either sex. now if you want to shoot antlered. its another permit on top of the first. with a cutoff date for that one. its a bunch of games with the f&w div. and the state. just another $28.00 to hunt bucks.
i think back about the years gone by , as time well spent with my father. and my grandad when he went until the last 4 years he was here. i wouldn't trade a day out in the field with my father or grandad for anything. i have a few uncles that went out for deer and small game years before i started. they still have their guns. but lost interest in hunting. let yours friends laugh all they want. its when you wind up getting that monster buck that you'll be laughing right back at them. i suppose the time will come when you will get what you've been waiting for. you just need to be patient.

hell i even enjoy target shooting with my dad. i have a friend around the corner that hunted years ago. he wants to go again but wifey don't like guns.:rolleyes:
 
People miss shots and people get skunked. If hunting were easy or a sure thing, everyone would do it. As far as buddies ribbing you, who cares? They've been skunked before too.

I thought I might get shut out this year myself. Didn't see any thing opening weekend. Second weekend, I passed up a shot at doe at 80 yards. It was through heavy brush and I didn't want to risk a poor shot on an animal that I might not recover so I let her walk. To me, an ethical shot is important. Granted, even the best shots will end in poor hits and wounded animals, but you owe it to yourself and your game to take the best shot you can. I'd rather be shut out than wound an animal that I can't recover.

So ultimately, you got skunked, but as you mentioned, its not about killing, its about hunting and hunting ethically. You hunted hard and I'll bet you learned a few things this year. Next year, use what you've learned, take cleans shots when your chance arrives and you'll get your deer. You'll also enjoy your deer knowing what you went through to get it. After all, being a predator means suffering like a predator.
 
I feel your frustration. I'm 39, and have hunted since I was 17. I was 26 when I shot my first doe. Wasnt until this year that I harvested a decent 8pt. Meanwhile, where I live now, guys are killing everything that walks. And to top it off, they hunt only for horns, no one eats them, or donates them to a "hunters for the hungry" organization.
Really takes the fun out of it here. Almost like if you see one, you better shoot or else someone else will, and waste it. I like to think you take what you can eat and leave some for someone else.
I guess I am more of a shooter than a hunter, and for me its getting out and enjoying the peace of the field, some good company, and sharing the days events. We all know we can buy alot of steaks for what we have invested in gear. But alot of it has to be kept in perspective.

Oh, and I too have blown great shots and gotten busted alot of times by these eight toe wonders.

Jusy mt $0.02, and hope everyone has a great Holiday Season.
 
well i looks like im not getting a deer this season because of my truck ****ting the bed these last couple of weeks
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You must drive a Toyota :p

I couldn't make it out this year on account of work and not wanting to miss a Colts game.
 
All I can say is hang in there, some years will be better than others and sometimes you just hit a dry spell. I can tell you this one animal will make up for a whole lot of bad years. I haven't been able to fill and elk tag in the last two years but I still get out there and see what I can find.
 
I started hunting deer at 10 y.o. and finally killed one at 23. It wasn't for lack of trying. Since then, I've missed four deer at ranges from 120 yds out to 300. Two of them fell on the second shot and the other two got away.

Don't get discouraged. There's a reason they call it "hunting" and not "shooting". You always have to believe that it you will get one next year.
 
Good News!

Yes, there is good news, and that is that "next year is coming"!:)
Never too early to start planning for next season. Put in the time and do the pre-scouting, target practice, etc.
And YES, I got skunked this year too. But ya have those years when things don't work out. I started hunting at age 12 and over the years have taken 56 deer. (I've been keeping track of 'em) Mostly stuff to feed the family when they were home, but a couple wall hangers too.
Just hang in there and do your homework. Next year is a whole different game!
 
According to all the processors I have talked to, the deer harvest was down about 50% of what it was last year. Lots of hunters got skunked this year, so I wouldn't feel to bad about it. ( I lied, yes I would) better luck next year.:)
 
I feel ya....

Hey, I smell what you're steppin' in.....Last year I got 4 deer. This year, none! Today is the last day of any kind of rifle season, and so it's too late, unless I get a doe only with bow before Jan 15th. It happens. It does suck. No meat. But hunting can be feast or famine; hot or cold; rain or shine. Funny thing is, I SAW more deer this year than last - just fewer chances. I probably saw twice as many as last year, but they were super wary this year it seems.

I'm sorry to hear that, but likely next year you'll get one or maybe 3 or 4 or 5 - who knows.... A lot of hunting is luck. You just have to try to get better and better at scouting, better at using the wind and controlling your scent, better at staying alert, and just trying to get more time in the woods, so that luck eventually turns in your favor. I can't sit still for very long, so usually I sit on the ground or in a stand for the first hour to hour and a half of prime time AM, and again for an hour and a half at most in prime time PM, but in between I'm stalk hunting, very slowly through the woods, occasionally stopping to shed layers, drink water, or just sitting in ambush for half an hour here, 20 minutes here, 45 minutes there. I wish you better luck next year. Yes, big game hunting takes a lot more patience and is more frustrating than small game hunting. Try to mix it up and do a little of both. You want action - go hunt waterfowl. You want an exercise in frustration many times, interrupted by the occasional successful exhiliration, then go big game hunting. You have to just enjoy the hunt for the hunt, because unless you live on a private ranch or where game is very plentiful, you will get skunked occasionally - it's just a matter of time.

Also, you CAN do some big game hunting outside of fall season if you can find a place to go for feral hogs or non-game feral species (like fallow deer or audod in Texas).
 
well it looks like im not getting a deer this season...
im so flustrated i feel like a failure.........
they like making fun of me for not getting a deer....
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If you did kill a deer every time you went it wouldn't be much fun, would it? No challenge to it at all. And what would you do with all that meat? I'm over 60 y/o, been hunting deer the better part of 50 years. The years that I have not killed a deer far outnumber the successful ones, but the next year, I'm right out there opening day! Yes, I have passed on some deer, but I sure am not a trophy hunter. We have a lot of deer down here, but the joy of the hunt is always greater than the killing.

As for those "friends", it may pay you to find some a bit more sporting. ;)
 
Do your homework before season starts. Find out where they're going and how they're getting there. Find rubs and scrapes. Just because a stand looks like it's in a good spot doesn't mean it is. Use something to cancel your scent or wear rubber boots even if you're just walking to a permanent stand. If they cross your scent trail they'll go another way. A new permanent stand is worthless the first year it's up. They'll spot it for something new and steer clear of it. Don't tromp through the woods like a bull in a china shop. Take two or three slow steps and stop and listen and try not to break twigs. Deer won't pay much attention to rustling leaves if they think it's just another animal browsing. Deer aren't the smartest critters in the world but their instinct for survival is very strong. If you jump a deer and he runs try a loud whistle, they're curious too and may stop long enough to give you a shot. BTW I'm skunked so far too but I've still got time.
 
"... hunt only for horns, no one eats them, or donates them to a "hunters for the hungry" organization..." That'd get them arrested up here. Allowing game meat to go to waste is illegal.
"...never shot at a sound in the bushes..." Good for you. Shooting at sounds is incredibly dangerous. It's how hunters get shot.
If every hunter got a deer every time he went out, it wouldn't be called hunting. It'd just be called shooting.
 
I was frustrated this year for a different reason.

Oregon is a "1-deer" state (OK, there are some exceptions - but mainly 1-deer/year).

All year long I am looking forward to going hunting. We got drawn for tags that we had gotten shut out of for a few years.

Opening morning - 30 minutes after shooting light, I shot a big bodied muley forked horn.

Season over 30 minutes in.

So I cut firewood and managed camp until my buddy tagged out.

It was just really wierd, getting done that quick. But the freezer has meat.
 
Oh Boy do I feel YA! I have not hunted in the last 2 years. This season I was over a friends house. She was having hog trouble. Problem is she lives in a small town within the city limits. While visiting 2 bucks came into the yard from the woods in back. A 10 and an 8 pointer with a doe. This was a week ago. Today I talked to the sheriff and he gave me permission to trap the hogs and shoot them for transport. I mentioned the bucks, he said that if it was him and if he had the safe shot he'd take it and winked at me. Season is not over here till the 20th. Wish me luck and I hope you get one the next season.
 
This year marked my third season(s) for deer and spring turkey.
My first year of deer I spent a week in the woods for one doe. I was supposed to go on another hunting trip with a friend in another state but cancelled because I was so sick of seeing nothing while sitting through foul weather. Last year I got two does at the same time very last-minute, saw virtually no deer the rest of the time and was lucky for what I got. It was so last minute I had to drive the deer 3 states for proceessing because I had no time to butcher or even to get them to a processor. My first season of turkey I froze during cold rain in the late spring and got nothing. Second season got a small jake, again an 11th hour save for an incredibly frustrating season.

This year I shot a nice ten-point buck a few minutes after legal shooting light. Earlier this year I had a huge gobbler walk in on me 15 minutes into my second setup on the opening morning.

And you know what? While excited that I finally got "trophies," it was not as rewarding as I'd expected. The previous years, where I'd fought the elements and dealt with repeated frustration and misery to try and get some meat in the freezer, the success was all the sweeter from having dealt with failure.

So think how you're going to feel next year when you run out of tags?

That's the attitude you've got to have. Sucks that you got skunked this year, I feel for you, but you're going to appreciate success so much more next season, especially when you can turn the ribbing around on your friends who cashed in on their luck this season.
 
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