Am I wierd or just loosing it?

[Anaconda12]

After waiting all week to get back in the woods and in my favorite stand (crabapples) I settled in this evening with a goal to shoot a doe or two for the freezer when in fact I had seven different adult does stop by and offer a broadside 8 - 10 yard shot along with a small 8pt.  and I never shot a deer!  Not that I couldn't have but just didn't feel like killing one when the time presented itself!      I suppose I will probably not get another opportuntiy like this again this year but for some reason, that I cannot figure out it does not bother me in fact I am fine with it!  Therefore please someone tell me this happened to them before!

[Killdeer]

 
Sitting up on Mac's Ridge, back up against a tree, bedding area behind me, 7mm-08 in my lap. Along came an eight-point out of the bedding area, on his way to the next, cruising for does. He wasn't any bigger than any I had shot before, and I just watched him amble along and over the lip of the bowl.

Difference between you and me was, once he was out of sight, I thought to myself some very uncomplimentary things, accused myself of snobbishness, activated my primitive chase instinct and went after him.

Never laid eyes on him again. I think he laughed himself invisible over the incident.  :D  

Sometimes, a place and mood are so peaceful, you hate to break it up. Ya just gotta go with the flow at the time, and your flow was happy and mellow. What a great memory to have in your hoard!
Killdeer

[JAG]

All the time.  I don't hate deer as much as I used to, so I don't try to kill 'em all!  Just enjoy it.

[Adirondackman]

Sometimes our inner voice just tells us that it's not the right time to make the shot to harvest game. When I look back at these times I find them much more rememberfull and enjoyable compared to some of the memories of taking game. My wife says that I'am just getting old.

[the not so straight arrow]

my dad has done that more than ounce. he's a pretty spiritual guy and he says that sometimes killing that deer just "doesnt feel right". i myself have not had that happen yet, i havnt spent near as much time in the woods as he has but i can see how it makes sence and i see absolutly no problem in letting a deer walk for no other reason than that it "doesnt feel right", as my old man would say. i think that this along with choosing traditional tackle is part of what seperates the hunter from the killer.
-cory

[PastorSteveHill]

Around here, we won't get that many opportunities all season... I know what I'd have done...

[5deer]

Bullseye to you- not so straight- and amen to your dad he sounds like my dad. Don't worry anaconda,your
time will come.

[Soilarch]

I have to admit...not taking game just because I didn't feel like it hasn't ever happened to me.

BUT I have passed on game because when the moment came I realized I just really didn't feel like cleaning/dressing it.

[Steve H.]

Are you a vegetarian?  (LOL)

[robtattoo]

Just because you carried your bow into the wood doesn't mean you have to use it  

Sometimes it's just a pleasure to sit and watch nature do it's thang. Good for you bud!  

[sweet old bill]

Opening day in southern tier NY was 10/18 I had two doe mom and there fawn near my ground blind. I will not even consider taking up the bow, why, herd size is down in our area and I sure hope they all make it for another season and all have fawns of there own. I want to leave some for the next generation of hunters like my grandson who is 12..
Bill

[Panzer II]

I did the same thing Saturday morning on a small 6pt. I just don't like shooting small bucks, and that's just my own choice. I might feel differently about it and drop the string next time, just depends on how I feel.

[adkmountainken]

i do it all the time man! when the little voice tells me its time i take them, think that little voice is getting fat and lazy though!

[tippit]

This week was our season opener.  I was out three times and saw my old friend twice...Radio Collared Doe.  I have seen her for the past 6-7 years and we have a pack...I won't shoot her even though she has been right beside my tree on numerous occasions.  I just think she has enough burden with that collar     She's a smart one too as once or twice a season she finds me!  This year she has twins last year triplets.  It just makes my season to see that she is still around.  Besides she has brought a few does and a buck by me that tasted great...Doc

[bowless]

I'll admit I'd have taken a shot.  I consider myself lucky to get one chance in a season.
But watching one or more walk by without them knowing your there is a rush.  I think that's the part a non hunter doesn't understand, it's not like "gee, I saw one on the way to work today".

[MI_Bowhunter]

The hunt is more fun then the kill.    

[blueslfb]

Nothin wrong with being a spectator sometimes.

[GingivitisKahn]

Yep, you're weird.  Heck, you are a traditional bowhunter who, contrary to what we see on the TV hunting shows, seems to see the hunt - not the kill- as the goal.  You are practically a mutant, but dang it, you're in good company.

       

Many years ago, my family was going to be out of town so I decided to camp in my favorite hunting spot for the weekend.  This was during our deer gun season (which happened to coincide with part of our duck season).

The plan was to take the shotgun (I know - but it was *years* ago - I'm reformed now) for some duck hunting and my recurve for the whitetails.  For some reason, I also brought some deer slugs.  Anyway, in Ohio, if you have your bow with you, you can't have a gun so I was going to need to take two trips from the car to the campsite.

On the way out to my campsite in the evening, I walked across the rolling bean field ran up next to the little lake and pine grove where I intended to camp and hunt ducks.  Passing around one of the little hillocks, I saw four does at about 40 yards - easy shot for the shotgun I had with me (should have taken the bow on the first trip).  Bear in mind - at this point in my life I had yet to take a shot at a deer, this would be an easy first.

I hunkered down and watched them for a bit.  End of legal light was quickly approaching and there was no way to get get back to my car, get my bow and get within bow range in the time left to me. There was a slug in my shotgun and the shot would have been an easy one.

I stood up and walked to my campsite - letting the does saunter off behind me.  Frankly, I didn't *want* to kill a deer with the shotgun and if I had, that would have screwed up the really cool weekend I had planned.

As the weekend turned out, I had a ball taking ducks from my impromptu blind (that turned out to be right over a muskrat den - I could hear them down there jumping around all morning).  The rest of the hunt had me stillhunting a riverbottom with my recurve and though I saw no more deer, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

[Montyc]

I'll admit to passing on several deer over the years both bucks and does. I think these are times when my spirit simply was not ready to kill another of mother natures creatures.  As stated earlier to me it is the hunt, not the kill that I love. Enjoying my time with mother nature, and her creatures up close and personal feeds my soul.
That being said I am a hunter gatherer, and I like having meat in the freezer.

[BLACK WOLF]

I personally do it all the time. In a sense it forces me to hunt more, longer and harder. My goal is to not shoot a bull smaller than the bull I shot previously...so every bull gets bigger and bigger and harder and harder to kill.

If I want elk meat...I have enough friends who fill their tags with the first elk that crosses their path and happily share it with me and their other friends.

For me it's just a personal decision I've made. I don't think anything more or less of it. If bowhunting or hunting in general was my only means of supplying meat for myself or my family...I would do things differently.

Ray