Jesse's 2017 Hunting Debacles

Time to wrap this thing up.

I’ve struggled with my love/hate relationship with deer over the past few seasons and this season would have moments that played to both aspects of that dichotomy. There are guys on this forum that are simply content with just sitting in a tree, but that’s not me most days. Bowhunting for mature whitetails stokes my competitive fire and that causes some issues when it comes to my enjoyment of a pursuit I’d still label a “passion”. Sure, I appreciate some quiet time in a tree; but my life isn’t one that creates a need for “just” quiet time. Besides, I get the same sort of “Zen experience” via a lot of other pursuits in my life including meditation and exercise. I also spend a ton of time outside, so I scratch that itch many times over throughout the year, leaving little need to do only that come deer season. I’m motivated by the opportunity to accomplish difficult tasks and winning; a fact of my personality that creates a lot of my “hate” when it comes to bowhunting. Bowhunting is about failure. As a bowhunter, you will failure FAR more often than you succeed and while I know how to fail, and actually respect failure for the great teacher it is, no one enjoys having their noses rubbed in failure. Coming into this season, I was confident I’d made a crucial adjustment that would ultimately allow me to find more enjoyment in my bowhunting pursuits: I’d finally removed my identity as a man from the results of my bowhunting pursuits. More importantly, I realized I enjoyed being a generalist far more than I did being a specialist.

I still experienced some frustration this season, which will never go away because I’m too competitive for that to be a non-factor. However, I enjoyed this season more than most in my career. I also hunted harder than ever before. Not measured by total hours, but measured by the quality of the sit. I sat longer per hunt for more than an hour on average, spending more time glassing, observing and staying engaged than I have at any point in my career. I didn’t skip hunts to sleep in, avoid bad weather or stay with the girls. (Ok, maybe a couple times, but that’s just being a good dad right?!?) I walked the extra few hundred yards to hunt the right stand. I made smart calls on where to hunt and when to hunt there. Simply put, I grinded all season. Had I hunted like I did this year my entire career, I’d have a few more good bucks to show for my efforts. Knowing this lends itself to my overall satisfaction: I know that I gave it 100% all season, even when I was frustrated or taking the “easy way out” by hunting over corn in my backyard. I put forth the effort and that in itself was satisfying.

A few days after I shot my buck, I had one of the best goose hunts a man could ever experience. Comparing and contrasting the two hunts reminds me that nothing can replace the feeling of seeing a big buck, of knowing you are about to get a shot, to calming the nerves and executing the shot. The feeling I get when I latch hold of a nice rack and begin dragging satisfies a primal urge buried deep in my soul in a way no bird will ever do. No waterfowl, turkey or small game hunt will ever put my heart in my throat the way a shooter buck will and that feeling is what I will chase the rest of my career. I may no longer place my value as a man on my achievements as a bowhunter, but I know that to my core, I’m a bowhunter for life. For all the frustration and failure this realization may bring me throughout the remainder of my days on this earth, I’ll gladly trade it for the rush of an encounter with a mature buck and the satisfaction of executing the shot during the moment of truth.

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2017 Stats

Antlerless Sightings: 100
Bucks Sightings: 25
Different Bucks: 15
Shooters Seen: 4
Total Sightings: 125

Deer Killed: 1

Morning Hunts: 12
Evening Hunts: 18
All Day Sits: 5
Skunked Hunts: 6
Total Hunts: 35

Hours on Stand: 141

Average Time Per Hunt: 4 Hours 2 Minutes
Deer Seen Per Hour on Stand: <1

cspot said:

Nice Write-up.

Only thing I would add is that the best hunting experience for you are those yet to come. Not sure of your daughter's age, but I would guess that she is getting close to being able to be in the shooter's seat? Anyway those future hunting experiences will be far and away better than anything you have experienced to date. I know with my kids, I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.

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She turned 5 on New Year's Eve. She'll be shooting a crossbow this year and might make her first hunt in the late season if she can demonstrate proficient shooting skills under realistic practice conditions. I've been looking forward to hunting for someone else since the day I knew I'd be a dad! She has a very firm grasp of life and death has seen more animals killed, butchered and eaten than most of the 350 million people in this country will/have in their entire lives. The debate is always "when are they ready" and IMO, it's when they understand what taking a life mean and to her, it means food. Good enough for me.

I am stoked about what's ahead of me and if I never shoot another buck, but my girls stack them up, that's fine with me.

I learn best from my mistakes, as well as the mistakes of others, so share away! I don't mind letting myself down, but letting my kids down isn't an option, so when it does happen, I can imagine the internal strife!