7mag, to increase the spark and enjoyment of what you do, may I suggest taking kids hunting. If you don't have kids of your own, look at nieces and nephews. If you don't have any there, look to children of friends or family. Years ago, a divorced friend of mine had a boy that showed interest in hunting and fishing and his father was not in the picture. This was before I had a boy of my own, and I took him multiple times. We have become good friends, and he is now 23 years old. It was a great experience taking him out and introducing him to the outdoors when he had no other way of having those experiences. He still calls me Uncle Bubba just like my own nieces and nephews.

I remember my parents having a pic of me on a camp cot in diapers while they were camped out in the Davy Crockett forest.For many years afterward I grew up in them woods huntin rabbits and squirrels and then deer.It was all about the hunt.Even after I was older and workin for a living and hunting on deer leases and going on corperate hunts for exotics and such it was more about the hunt.Now I'm going off into my 60's and it's about being in the woods.No stands or foodplots anymore just creekbanks n hardwood flats.More about what I get to see than what I may take.

I get tired of this too.


I can't stand to watch hunting shows anymore. I hate that hunting has become the competitive sport, all the Instagram "look at me" posts and the commercialization of the sport making it like the NFL.

I can't stomach the tough guy hunter image that is so prevalent nowadays.

I live and breath for it. I love everything about it. I hate to think about the things I would not have learned if I wasn't a hunter. Matching wits with nature and sometimes winning is the ultimate competition.

Funny how our lives evolve - grew up hunting with my Dad in Central Texas. Anything with horns on it was a trophy. Meat was the goal back then - and nothing was better than my Mom frying up backstrap for dinner. My Dad would drop me off at a blind at dark and point the direction of where the blind was - I had never seen the blind. He would tell me "if you cannot find it and it starts getting daylight then sit down against a tree and hunt". I would then still hunt my way back to the camp later in the morning.

I would lay in bed at night and read the Boone and Crockett book and dream of ever seeing a buck like some of the ones in that book. I was blessed to get to shoot a book deer a few years back and it was the highlight of my hunting life (so far).

Now I hunt on a highly managed, awesome ranch. Yes it is different but still exciting and a challenge.

So yes - hunting like everything else in life will ebb and flow. Does not make it bad or wrong - just makes it an interesting life IMO.

When I started deer hunting it was in East Texas pine timber

my kids look at me funny when I tell them we see more bucks in one sit on our low fence hill country lease than we did all season back when I was their age. They will probably never know how tough that hunting was

I still enjoy the hunt. My first deer was an Arizona mule deer in 1967. There really weren’t that many deer in Texas back then. However, I don’t enjoy the kill as much as I once did. I hope my Grandson and Nephew get big ones but it’s no longer a big deal for me. I take a paperback book with me to pass the time.

I’ve gotten 6 kids started hunting over the years. I own the land so have the luxury of bringing kids. Only 2 of them are still around and hunting. None of the 6 has gotten into drugs so I’m glad about that. We will be filling feeders this weekend to prepare for bow season. Of course, with my arthritic right shoulder, it will be the xbow for me and I hope to see a lot but killing won’t be a big deal.

so how was the mule deer hunting in 1967?


That was the golden age of Mule Deer.



I've heard stories from Guys that used to hunt there in the 60's....they bought their tags over the counter 2 at a time and would bring home absolute giants

Grew up hunting in Venezuela, where we had the smallest and most skittish whitetail you can imagine. Even Coues deer are bigger than what we had back then, mostly because hunting was unregulated and unmanaged. Finding a deer was a source of celebration and finding a buck was really, REALLY rare. I couldn't believe the amount of deer I found in Texas when I moved here, and the sight of a big 8 still makes my heart race.

What I love about hunting is the challenge itself, the opportunity to test my mettle and my patience and my determination and grit. Cold weather, rain, difficult terrain, I love it all, and the opportunity to take a shot (even if I decide to pass) is the rewards for all of the preparation and angst.

I don't know if I will find a big buck this year. Maybe, maybe not. I'm mostly a meat hunter and so happy to shoot a couple of nice fat does for the meat, but I still dream of seeing that big boy come out of the mist ans give me a broadside shot. I've also apparently acquired a curse against hogs. I never see them, never get a chance to shoot at them even in ranches that are infested or where others are regularly seeing them. I must have pissed off the Hog Gods somehow!