What do you enjoy the most?

[AlabamaSwamper]

Over the last 3 years, I have actually grown to enjoy the offseason more than hunting season. Something about the rush of sticking that card from my cameras in the computer to see what is out there. Watching bucks become older and bigger and the fact that I may not ever see them with my own eyes is weird.

I enjoy keeping up foodplots. Seems there is little that is as exciting as planting fields and then checking them 10-14 days later and seeing tall, thick grass in them. All the while knowing that all the wildlife in that area will benefit.

I found myself this year passing on lots of does and two shooter bucks by club rules simply because I enjoyed just watching them. Something about sitting on a foodplot that I spent hours on all summer and fall and watching deer feed on all that good food. Most days, I just couldn't get myself to shoot one of them. The only doe I shot off a plot was actually the 8th deer to enter the field. She was big and mature so I took her and then proceeded to watch the rest of the deer continue to eat until my help drove up and ran them off after dark.

Killing doesn't seem so important anymore. I shot three deer this year and that seems like plenty. I saw one mature buck that didn't offer a shot with a mzl but the FACT that I was even given the opportunity to see a mature deer (only second one on stand ever in TN) was enough for me. HE was shot last weekend by another hunter and I was tickled. Over 200lbs and 135".

Anyway, just something I was thinking about. LOL

 

[BSK]

I think I only keep hunting as a means of collecting management data! I do enjoy the management as much or more than the hunting.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I know I enjoy the management aspect more than the killing. Something about watching those plots and timber stand improvement areas grow and deer starting to utilize them. Trail cams really keep me out there too.

 

[Winchester]

Scouting, deciphering sign, the lay of the land, figuring out where, how to get there, and when to be there. When you do it right and that mature buck walks within 40 yards and never knows your there!!! I still squeeze the release or pull the trigger, but knowing I have beat a mature buck at his game, in his house, is where its at! I do it as many times as the law allows!!!!! However, second to none is teaching my boy's all this and watching them reap the rewards, nothing like it!!!!

 

[Bertman]

everything above plus i have 2 kids that hunt

 

[Bob S]

I agree with everyone above. While sitting in a stand during deer season my number one activity is not looking for deer, but rather trying to decide where the sunlight would reach the ground if certain trees were removed. I find myself looking forward to the start of chainsaw season.

I also love walking through a browse cut, looking at what is growing, and how many of those plants are being eaten by deer. I get just as much enjoyment knowing deer are using the habitat that I have created on my land, as I do when I see deer while hunting.

 

[kholmes]

I love running trail cams, planting food plots, daylighting all equally well. But the strategy of new stands vs. wind etc. and if the stand produces is tops for me.

 

[Radar]

I simply enjoy the outdoors and observing wildlife . I love scouting ,running trail cams , planting food plots . To me hunting isn't a science project or about data collection or photo census , it's just deer hunting and enjoying time spent in the woods .
I didn't have a great deer season this year , but I got to spend plenty of time in the woods and share a few hunts with tndeer members .

 

[CopperHead77]

Love it all, but I am enjoying the offseason more and more each yr. Plus throw 2 small kids in the mix and it makes it all that much more enjoyable.

 

[TN RDG RNR]

The challenge

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

I know I enjoy the management aspect more than the killing. Something about watching those plots and timber stand improvement areas grow and deer starting to utilize them. Trail cams really keep me out there too.

Same here.

 

[FLIPPER]

[size][color:#FF0000]KILLING[/color][/size]



Taking my daughter hunting is more satisfying than any deer I have ever killed.

 

[Greg .]

I'm right there with you, AlabamaSwamper.

 

[hunter drew]

I know I enjoy the management aspect more than the killing. Something about watching those plots and timber stand improvement areas grow and deer starting to utilize them. Trail cams really keep me out there too.

I agree also But i love letting those 6 pointers and 8 pointers walk when they are small just to see what they will be next year

 

[Lucky]

I love everything about the hunt. I enjoy prepping the plots, game cameras, planning the hunt, packing the truck with my kids, talking about old hunts with my dad, and even the harvest. On the last day of the season I got a 10 point, 3.5 yr old buck with my youngest boy sitting on the stand with me. He was so excited he could not breathe. He calls it "our buck" and I love that. After the hunt my wife confessed that our boy had spilled a bottle of some bathroom cleaning agent in the house and he and the entire house, including his hunting clothes, smelled like it. She said she never would have told me if we hadnt killed a deer and told me he had cried about it (all this happened while I was at work and immediately before she brought him to me so we could go on an afternoon hunt). I thought it was hilarious. I never smelled it and would have never known

We even keep a family hunting journal reviewing work on food plots, hunting seasons and tons of funny stories. The best part is the knowledge I am making memories with my kids

 

[MFBAB]

Obviuosly the only time to actually harvest a deer is during the season but there's a lot to be said for open season all year on the observational side. The more I fool around with video and trail cams the more I appreciate that, it's like an extension of the hunting season for me.

 

[TX300mag]

JERKY! :grin:

 

[Slaughter-06]

I like wetting my throat while fishing.

 

[GypsyByChoice]

What I enjoy the most is being with my son. And also the smile on his face when he got his first 2 deer this year

 

[BigGame]

I really enjoy the work that goes into the food plots, the trailcams, observing young bucks and letting them walk. It is all enjoyable and rewarding.

 

[RUGER77MAN]

Having that trail cam memory card in your hand is like a little kid on Christmas morning. You cant wait to see what you got.

 

[BSK]

Having that trail cam memory card in your hand is like a little kid on Christmas morning. You cant wait to see what you got.

Isn't that the truth!

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

I love getting pictures of bucks that I had no idea was there!

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

LOL

Speaking of camera cards.......Some of our guys are gonna be very dissapointed when I show them the pics I'm getting. Does everywhere and shooter bucks still walking around. lol