I know this is a turkey hunting forum and there are lots of diehards on here that also hunt other game,but has anybody else pretty much given up deer hunting?I used to really love to deer hunt,but turkeys have taken the top spot for me in say the last 5-6 years.I still enjoy deer hunting,but more as a social aspect and a way to just be in GODs great outdoors,more as a spectator than a participant.Really dont care if I shoot one or not.Deer hunting just doesnt do what chasin birds does!
Deer weigh to much!
I gave up deer hunting over 5 years ago. Thinking of turkey hunting while I was doing it. Used to do a lot of waterfowl hunting but don't do that anymore although would do that before deer hunting. What I'd really like to do more of is predator hunting. All about calling in critters. But NOTHING compares to turkey hunting!
Quote from: guesswho on January 03, 2014, 03:59:49 PM
Deer weigh to much!
I tried to convince myself that I didnt like deer hunting because I was getting lazy,but good grief its a lot of work after one is down as compared to turkeys.I did buy a recurve last summer that I would like to bowhunt deer with,but more because its the challenge of a recurve more than the killing of a deer.
I quit over 20 years ago. It just got old. The snow. The cold. I do miss the guys at hunting camp and the venison, but I do not miss the rest of it. I thought that if I took a couple of years off, it would rekindle my desire but I guess I had had enough. I killed lots of bucks.. That wasn't the problem. It just wasn't fun, anymore.
I agree, pretty much only turkey. Maybe a little bow hunting. Then I just listen and watch for birds.
Not yet. Deer hunting is something to do when it's not turkey season, kinda like fishing after 1:00 in Missouri.
It's a habit. I don't necessarily look forward to it, but when I get out there, it's still fun...and a lot of work.
Quote from: jakesdad on January 03, 2014, 03:57:23 PM
I know this is a turkey hunting forum and there are lots of diehards on here that also hunt other game,but has anybody else pretty much given up deer hunting?I used to really love to deer hunt,but turkeys have taken the top spot for me in say the last 5-6 years.I still enjoy deer hunting,but more as a social aspect and a way to just be in GODs great outdoors,more as a spectator than a participant.Really dont care if I shoot one or not.Deer hunting just doesnt do what chasin birds does!
This pretty much describes me to. I still like to go deer hunting but I really don't care if I get one or not.
Quote from: Hognutz on January 03, 2014, 04:35:15 PM
...It just got old. The snow. The cold...I guess I had had enough. I killed lots of bucks.. That wasn't the problem. It just wasn't fun, anymore.
That about sums it up for me too. A few weeks ago, I tagged the biggest buck I've ever gotten. Past couple days been sitting here wondering if I will do that again. Right now I'm leaning toward no.
I hunt everything... including deer. But in my area, the deer become nocturnal after the first week of gun season. They are everywhere during bow season.. but it's hot here in FL in Sept/Oct.
It's frustrating as hell in gun season, you know they are out there.. but they don't come out until 2am.
That is the main reason turkey has always been #1 for me... They aren't sensative to scent and they wake up and feed every morning and go to bed every night like clockwork.
Yep, gave it up 6 years ago. Used to be a big part of my life but burned out on it. The cost, lack of good place to go unless you paid a fortune and competed with a lot of people for it (at least around my area), over emphysis in QDM, pressure to shoot only trophy bucks, pressure to kill every doe you could find, over commercialization, treating of hunting deer as a "competitive sport", all got to me. Still belong to deer hunting clubs but for tukey hunting purposes only now. Fortunately some of the sorriest, least expensive to lease timberland for deer hunting is some of the best for turkey hunting. And you can often have the place to yourself in the spring.
I still enjoy it but I'm not real mad at them anymore. I enjoy preparing for the season and my time in the woods but killing them isn't much of a rush. I still get a little buck fever but not like I used to. When that thrill is gone from deer hunting, so I will be too.
I enjoy duck hunting but I have largely given it up because it's so much effort for so little enjoyment around here. Not many ducks and a ton of work to get skunked half the time isn't fun anymore.
But I'm thoroughly addicted to turkey hunting! :funnyturkey:
"The cost, lack of good place to go unless you paid a fortune and competed with a lot of people for it (at least around my area), over emphysis in QDM, pressure to shoot only trophy bucks, pressure to kill every doe you could find, over commercialization, treating of hunting deer as a "competitive sport", all got to me"
This is pretty much where I am!Just didnt really know how to word it when I started the post.
I look forward to turkey hunting a little more than deer, but I love deer hunting. I think our season is too long, especially our gun season and even though it's not a law to be out there, I find it hard to not go out if the season is open. It's very easy to get burned out on deer hunting but the thought that you might be missing an opportunity is what keeps me going. I'm not a trophy hunter by any means, but I do like the idea of letting the smaller ones walk in hopes that they will grow up and become nice bucks. Having said that, I did shoot a crotch horn with my bow this year and I was just as excited as I would be if it was a 150" buck or a big old gobbler.
It was tough for us this year. There was a period of a month, no exaggeration, where I did not see 1 deer while in stand, and it was pretty much the same for my dad. Then once the cold weather and snow hit, we were seeing 10+ deer every night. To me, just being out there and seeing all of those deer is worth it. I ended up getting a basket rack 7 point with my rifle near the end of the season. My dad still had his buck tag and I had a doe tag. He kept hunting and I still went but I didn't take a gun, just my video camera.
CA don't have many deer. So I just put in for an archery draw. When we draw a good zone we usually have a good hunt. I do elk hunt and talk about weighing to much. You can't even turn them things over by yourself.
TRKYHTR
I gave up Wednesday. Last day of the season. Can't wait til mid September.
Love to hunt deer almost as much as thunder chickens. I get just as pumped over a fawn as a mature buck. No horn porn here. I just love hunting. Deer may weigh more than a turkey, but I can eat on Bambi a lot longer than a bird.
I still deer hunt. Basically the archery opener out of tradition and then the rut for 5 or 6 times. I them will rifle hunt 2-3x. When I gun hunt I am mostly covering new ground and scouting for spring gobbler season. I really don't stand hunt with a rifle. One thing is for sure---when deer hunting spring gobblers are on my mind!
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I love archery hunting for deer. I will never give it up.
I will stop deer hunting one day, because i will be dead. until then i will enjoy it as much as i can.
I do it, but like with a lot of guys on here, it's for the social aspect. Pretty tough hunting around here, and we have mostly buck only where I hunt for rifle and muzzleloader seasons. I sat in a stand, and watched 5 does walk right under on the last day of the season. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching them, but I hate the cold, and walking a mile in the dark to my stand to "deer wait" for a buck to walk by, isn't much fun.
The other reason I do it, is my son loves it, and it's important to stoke that fire.
There is nothing that compares to turkey hunting. I just wish NH fish and game would open their eyes, and let us shoot at least 2 birds.
I absolutely love to bowhunt mature bucks, not so much gun hunt anymore. Its amazing how when a tom is coming in gobbling my heart is pounding as hard as when a great buck is sneaking his way in by my stand. Scoot
I deer hunt and enjoy it. You might say I'm strictly a bowhunter. This is my 26th year and have only taken 4 deer with a gun...all with a muzzleloader. I will admit that it has become less enjoyable. I enjoy my time in the stand, but I'm getting tired of all the commercialized crap that goes on now...."can't shoot a buck unless he's at least 4 1/2 years old" & 140+", "have to shoot does to manage the herd", "have to put in food plots to grow good deer", etc....you are almost looked down on if you don't follow these "rules". Also it's coming to a point that, not long from now, if you don't own land you will: 1) lease land to hunt. 2) hunt public ground(with everybody else that can't afford to buy or lease ground) or 3) not hunt.
I was never into deer hunting , I do love eating deer though -- In Florida deer hunting is extremely difficult , there isn't many places to go public, the private property is out of the reach of the normal persons financial abilities
The best opportunities are with the bow hunting , other than that it's some steep odds as the deer get killed off, run off, or pressured to go nocturnal or onto adjacent properties
the years have gone by I just don't have he time to pursue deer hunting at all
I never thought the day would come where I would enjoy Spring Turkey, more than my Bowhunting deer, but it has came. Always loved bowhunting bucks, and over the years have taken many, but my quest here in PA nowadays is very difficult. After taking several that have made the Record Books with a bow, my goal now is only a 140in. plus buck, where I let many walk and eat many tags.
To the point where I feel I'm wasteing so much time, as these bucks are far and few between in my area, hunting only Public Ground. But the big difference between bowhunting and Turkey hunting is, on any given Spring day on Public ground, I know my chances are really good at taking a long beard. And my chances for a buck I'd shoot now, are slim to none, which has me now favoring Turkey over deer. And I never feel I'm wasteing a minute Turkey Hunting.
I hunt Turkeys, Deer, Hogs, Ducks, Geese. Just about anything I can get on or invited to lol. I just like being in the woods with friends. Turkeys are probably #1 with Ducks 2nd. Geese are fun when you have a couple hundred maybe over a 1000 circling Snows above you can be thrilling. Chief
Have to agree with quite a few on here, the QDMA, tv hunts, 150" bucks or no shoot or you get looked down on. Which is unrealistic ,at least around here.[north Missouri] Letting 130 " bucks go and hardly ever seeing any bigger, let alone getting a shot, just gets you down on the deer hunts.
Real glad we cant see spur length, can you all imagine not shooting that big tom you called into 30 yards and having to pass because the spurs are under 1 1/2" ? Or the beard is under 10"?
I am a Pro Staffer for Tenpoint crossbows and I love deer hunting; I will until the day The Good Lord calls me home BUT if I had to choose between deer or turkey hunting, deer hunting wouldn't have a chance; turkey hunting is my 1st love and nothing can take its place;
I will tell ya'll something though, "IF" I had the money I would kill my deer early (like 1st 2 weeks of October) then I would love to do nothing but travel the country and hunt quail and pheasant from middle of October till end of February, but that's just a dream.
I am fortunate to live in an area with plenty of deer. I love to bowhunt the rut, it can be a crazy time to be in the woods. So every year I bowhunt from the Sept opener through mid November and then switch over to ducks for the remainder of the season. As much as I love spring turkey, I can't imagine only hunting then.
Couldn't say it better myself...it's definitely more social than anything else now
Quote from: jakesdad on January 03, 2014, 03:57:23 PM
I know this is a turkey hunting forum and there are lots of diehards on here that also hunt other game,but has anybody else pretty much given up deer hunting?I used to really love to deer hunt,but turkeys have taken the top spot for me in say the last 5-6 years.I still enjoy deer hunting,but more as a social aspect and a way to just be in GODs great outdoors,more as a spectator than a participant.Really dont care if I shoot one or not.Deer hunting just doesnt do what chasin birds does!
I gave up deer hunting in 2003 and haven't looked back. I chose the birds....grouse and turkey. Those are my passions when it comes to hunting and the outdoors. I've raised and hunted english setters for years now and haven't missed a spring turkey season THANK YOU LORD since I started turkey hunting at 9 yrs old.
God Bless
I'm pretty close to giving up deer hunting unless the odnr will listen to the hunters and not insurance companies and the farm bureau numbers have been dropping every year in my part of ohio I just bought a german shorthair pointer and got hooked on bird hunting its a blast nothing compares to chasing long beards
Turkey hunting is far and away my favorite sport! With that said, I still enjoy hunting for deer, ducks, small game and predators. Any day in the woods is just a bonus for me. Besides, I love filling my freezer with meat from the game I harvest, which is mostly deer. So, while it is boring compared to turkey hunting, I still enjoy deer hunting, and will likely never give it up.
Bucks like this also keep me in the woods in the fall!!! ;)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/RutnNStrutn/TheManCombo.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/RutnNStrutn/media/TheManCombo.jpg.html)
Quote from: jakesdad on January 03, 2014, 03:57:23 PM
I know this is a turkey hunting forum and there are lots of diehards on here that also hunt other game,but has anybody else pretty much given up deer hunting?I used to really love to deer hunt,but turkeys have taken the top spot for me in say the last 5-6 years.I still enjoy deer hunting,but more as a social aspect and a way to just be in GODs great outdoors,more as a spectator than a participant.Really dont care if I shoot one or not.Deer hunting just doesnt do what chasin birds does!
Have to do something while waiting for Turkey season to come again..
Tim T.
:smiley-patriotic-flagwaver-an
I like to deer hunt for several reasons. It gives me something to do in the fall. I like the experience of being outside in the early morning and late evenings in the midst of nature and all of Gods woodland creatures. Also, being at deer camp with my close friends is an memory making experience I look forward to each year. We cook manly meals, have our chosen cocktails in the evening and can act in ways we never could around the women folk.
I try hard to kill a deer mind you, but in some ways it is anticlimatic. Not to sound arrogant, but at this stage in my life , I have killed many trophy deer, as a result, I have become very selective. I let a wide 8 point and a somewhat spinely 10 walk this year and did not regret it. I did enjoy killing a coyote one day, see a bald eagle, watch two small bucks fight almost under my stand and enjoy God's tapestry across the sky at sunrise as a front moved in. I'll continue this annual ritual as long as the good lord allows me the health and opportunity to do so.
I used to be much more into shotgun for deer (shotgun only in our area). Then I started bow hunting and enjoyed that much more. Less people, saw way more deer, woods are quieter. I got burned out on turkey hunting. Then, when I missed this spring, my buddy was upset at me. That kind of turned me off even more. So my list is 1. bowhunting deer, 2. Rifle out west deer, 3. Shotgun at home for deer, 4. Turkey.
Gave it up years ago. An old woman whose property I used to turkey hunt on , told me that deer were only good for car wrecks and hard feelings. I couldn't agree more , athough I do like eating them.
Never!!!! I love turkey hunting and consider it my main passion, but I also could not imagine a life without bow hunting Midwestern whitetails. Especially during the rut. I just wish it hadn't become quite so commercialized and competitive in the last decade.
I didn't give up hunting this 13 pointer we saw 2 times in Oct. Once at 7 yards, my son couldn't draw the bow back, spooking him once, only to freeze & let the deer calm down, only to draw back and spook him. Once in a life time chance I imagine. Saw him the very next day, but he didn't step into my shooting lane, just skirting me at 50 yards (dead with a gun both days!)
I will say this, passing on all the small bucks I did inside 20 yards feels great at the time, but now that the freezer is empty, it is a bit hollow feeling NO matter the argument! About half of the guys hunting the 1000 acres I am on are practicing QDM, but the others, well, they haven't signed on. Hard to pass knowing that some fellas will likely dust em, no matter the size.
Deer hunting sis a good guise for scouting turkey.
I love to be outside too much to give it up although I certainly have changed over the years with going to traditional blackpowder and enjoying a bowhunt from the ground.
It is now more of a hunt and maybe a kill the WAY I want to do it than a notch or a trophy just for the size if the animal.
Good luck in Gods great outdoors!
Wess
Wess I agree,its a good excuse to get outside!I dont knock on doors for deer hunting anymore,just stick to our family 60 acres.If I get one good;if I dont,well lets just say I dont lose any sleep.
I hunt blackpowder only also,and bought a recurve last summer to maybe give a try this fall.I really used to enjoy it,but the way its pimped out and commercialized anymore can barely even stomach to watch it on TV.
I am a passionate turkey hunter but I do love other types of hunting too. I deer hunt every year. But my heart is really with my turkey hunting. But I enjoyed my deer hunting this year. I also got to take a nice hog this year too. I love all hunting and fishing.
I remember when I couldn't wait for opening of deer season. I have hunted with bow and rifle religiously for the past 24 years but for some reason I have lost the fire for it.
I have started bow hunting hogs on WMA's to try to curb the problem with them, but nothing compares to turkey hunting!
In MS we have to deer hunt now to cut the population down. We are over run with them.
I don't really like it too much. But the area we hunt, my dad has been hunting there since he was 14. It's the little bit of peace and quiet he gets away from the hectic life. I mainly go to help him drag his deer and brush for him. Best memories of my life were made in them mountains with him. But I wouldn't really say I'm a deer hunter.
I still love them both equally. Running dogs is my thing now. Don't stand hunt much except in bow and muzzleloader.
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I still hunt for the meet but television is completely ruined deer hunting! 10 years ago you didn't hear people run around Blurton off crap about how many inches this was or that was. I just hope TV doesn't ruin turkey hunting! I know in Indiana we have a low success rate. I know a lot of people that have turkey hunted but can't stand the sport because it's hard and gave up because of their lack of success. I'm with ya, people look at me like I'm crazy because if I had to pick one thing and only one thing that it be spring turkeys!! :agreed:
I quit when the season goes out. I love it. I sure don't pay any attention to what the nerds on tv are doing. I agree though that the hunting shows have caused a lot of people to become instant experts on a variety of subjects.
I am glad it's over. We process all of our own and it becomes work. Hurry up March.
Sorry guys I know this is a turkey forum but If I had to give up one it would be turkeys, maybe its because of the limited oppurtunity for turkey hunters in Michigan ( 1 week on public, 2 on private excluding the all May hunt on selceted public areas) or other factors, but predominantly I hunt Public land for deer and outsmarting other hunters and then the deer Have me eaten up. As many here are with turkeys I am always looking for deer sign while turkey hunting. I am already planning new places to hunt for deer next fall and the season just ended Jan 1. I Love buth sports but the deer have my passion, I agree with so many others QDMA nuts forcing their trophy agenda down everyones throats is killing deer hunting across many parts of the country. My 100 inch 9 pt last year on Heavily hunted state land has raised eyebrows of many people who know how hard SE Michigan public land is hunted. To me that is a better trophy than any farm raised lease only 150 inch monster.
I go deer hunting if I get the chance but certainly don't waste vacation time on it. It's nice to get deer meat (which I love) but it just doesn't get my blood pumping to dedicate time or energy to "outsmart" or luck into killing one
I love turkey hunting more than any other species, but I'd be fibbing if I said I didn't enjoy hunting deer, too. I had actually hung up my bow for the season and given up on filling my buck tag. That is, until I went out coyote hunting this past weekend and had the biggest deer I've seen on hoof come within 20 yards. I've been itching to get back out with my bow ever since...
No way will I give up deer hunting. Love it as well as turkey hunting. Don't hunt turkey in the fall actually like to save mine for the spring. That big buck always get me going. Love to hunt the rut.
i will give up deer hunting when i am 6 feet under...i live to hunt ducks,geese,grouse turkeys,whitetails and black bears...i love hunting..
Never....! Ive taken over 300 whitetails and I still love hunting them. It in my blood I guess.
Not even close....
Lots of places to go, you just have to put a little effort into finding these locations....
With the economy in it's current condition, I have found many places to deer hunt that cost less than a motel room...not the lap of luxury, but beyond good enough....and even an occasional 149" buck in the mix...
But, for sure, turkey is king in the spring!
mudhen
Not sure I could give up deer hunting...maybe the day will come, but I don't see it anytime soon.
I'll never quit until they bury me. I'm not as mad at them anymore and want to kill every deer that walks anymore. I love turkey hunting, but I eat, sleep, and breathe bowhunting whitetails. If I only had one week of vacation a year to take the toms would get a free pass!
I am as die hard a deer hunter as I am turkey.... I started hunting in 2010 so I haven't been at it too long, but I doubt I will quit deer or turkey hunting any time soon. It was turkeys that got me into hunting, but deer almost took over now. But I can't wait for this spring... nothing like a gobbler on the roost or calling a lone 2 year old or stalking a henned up bird...
Not like i use to about the only way I hunt deer now is with dogs .turkey huntin is what I love there is nothing like it to me.