you have my respect

[chrisg]

There you go! Ray has it in a nutshell. Called "bush eyes" out here. Newbies seem always to stumble on rocks, get caught on thorns, step on dry sticks and never 'see anything' yet they walk the same trails as an old hand. No judgement here but you just have to keep on 'doin it wrong til you do it right' to paraphrase The Band, (Downsouth in New Orleans...)Best part is; it's a beautiful journey    
Chrisg

[TimZeigler]

Geno, hang in there brother.  I've been hunting with bow and arrow since I was 12 so that makes it 21 years now and I've still come up short taking a deer or any game larger than a groundhog for that matter.  I connected on a doe while shooting a bare bones compound when I was 16 but inexperience led to a failure in recovery so that doesn't count other than another lesson learned.  I hunt for the love of it, harvest or no harvest, and if you do it for any other reason and fail then I can almost promise you that you won't hunt this way for long.  Although I get frustrated at times with a bare freezer, I never come away empty handed.  Last year I saw a few deer, got starteled by a cottonmouth, found some cool old trees, and harvested a couple dozen good cane shafts, all in all a good season.  Its gotta be about more than the kill.  Its about the journey not the destination.  Motto I live by.  Good hunting.  Tim

[Dave Lay]

My dog has also tracked me down, I had him in the house when I left and the wife let him out a hour later, danged if he didnt track me down, and laid at the tree base..  bet the day was better than a day at work...

[Ray Hammond]

Tim, no offense..but when you are just starting out, and even when you are an old hand..you NEED to go out with the intent of killing something every time you go.

If I didn't do that, I wouldn't be sharp enough to do it when the opportunity arises. I go to SC and pig hunt at least once a month...it is very rare I do not come home with something. Not bragging..but it is do-able. I hunt deer in metro Atlanta...I see deer every hunt...I pass up a lot...but I see them nearly every time I go out..and about every other hunt I have a shot op.

Know that you can do it...its like SEEING your shot before you take it... see it in your mind...see yourself getting a chance, and MAKING the shot. It will happen for you...I don't think I give up too much to gun hunters..in fact, there are people that gun hunt right next to our property where I hunt hogs. I take more stuff over there than anyone I know.

Time in the woods is great...and birds are great, and other critters are fun, hearing the wind in the trees, etc....but believe me, I wanna kill something every time I go...to have hunted...instead of just walking in the woods. Go with that as your plan, your mission..I promise it will change your percentages for you.

[TimZeigler]

Ray no offense taken. I agree, you do need to have a goal, and the goal is to take game, thats why we call it hunting and not observing or hiking.  

My only point was that all to many times when our focus is strictly on the kill and we fail to achieve that goal we tend to look for a more efficient, possibly easier way of achieving that goal.  Especially when someone has had regular success in the past by other means.  Theres gotta be more to it other wise we would travel the path of least resistance, kinda like electricity.

[Ray Hammond]

agreed.Once you have taken something with a bow, a gun kill will seem a hollow victory, though.

[TimZeigler]

Only deer I ever took, I killed with a gun.  Ended up being a about a 10 yard shot(read-bowrange), didn't feel like I thought it would. The topper was when I told my father about my 1st kill his first words were "did you get it with the recurve ?"        Talk about hollow victory.  After that I sold the gun, sold the compound, and went back to hunting my dads recurve that he gratiously handed down to me when I was younger and never looked back.

[geno]

[Bonebuster]

One day, maybe soon, maybe not, it will all come
together, and you will be standing over a deer you just killed with an arrow from your bow. All the effort will make sense.

Good luck.

[Bonebuster]

I forgot to add: You know it won`t be easy, and you are gonna try anyway. You have my respect!