I think I have terminal oldhunteriasis

[Conan The Librarian]

Old hunter syndrome: where you still like hunting and go hunting, but hardly ever kill anything anymore. I think I've got that. Nowadays I will often leave the gun at home and go still hunting or glassing, always looking and always seriously hunting. But not really interested in killing. A big part of it is that I've lost my interest in red meat for the most part, but there's more to it than that.
 
When we were blood thirsty teenagers my buddy's dad used to make us question his sanity because he'd get good opportunities to take deer but he really would rather take a picture of it than kill it. He had taken many animals in his early years.
 
Same situation with fishing, but I do regularly kick myself for not having a cooler along when I catch a particularly perfect eating size specimen.
 
 

[scotsman]

It must something contagious I think I have it too. I still go and still want to go hunting. I still carry a rifle but more and more I don't use it. There isn't much better than a cold frosty morning and seeing through the brush a deer move or an ear wiggle. If I do kill a deer it is a spike or forked horned young one for the meat. When I see a good rack I still throw up the rifle and watch and usually think you ought to be more careful next time old boy.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  I just turned 65....I guess it hasn't hit me yet...

[Dee]

I'm workin on bein 63 years old. I've had it for several years. Sometimes I forget to get a huntin license until winter is almost over. I used to listen to guys that talked about gettin buck fever, or gettin excited about a big deer and missin. I never did that. Killin a deer was a simple matter of just killin the deer. I've called in coyotes and never fired a shot, but then, I've been callin coyotes since 1970, so I guess that explains that.
I only have two rifles now, and two shotguns. I sold'em all, cause I just got tired of'em. I'll never sell my Model 94 Winchester, but I've been thinkin about the other rifle, and I've been thinkin abou the other shotgun too.
I still like deer meat, and prefer it over beef, but I ain't payin the prices down here in my part of Texas to hunt a 150lb deer. Hogs have been here all my life, and the farmers here hate'em, and want'em killed, but they whine, and criticize the hunters for not bein any good at it. My attitude about the "spoiled rich farmers" here, says: I hope the damn things carry you off.
I'm at a point where I like a good soundin guitar, have fell back in love with motorcycles, and have the 3 or 4 "certain guns" that I've always loved, and don't care much about the rest. I think my past profession may have a lot to do with it, but huntin just to kill was never why I hunted. Fishin is startin to look better in my old age though.                                                         

[powderman]

I enjoy hunting but have never killed game for the thrill of the kill. I meat hunt, it plays an important role in our diet. We eat a lot of venison when we have it. I do enjoy watching the critters and I do it a lot, but when season comes in all I see is food. POWDERMAN. 

[spikehorn]

+1 with powderman
 

[bobg]

   I think i have it too. My passion was rabbit hunting. In later years i just wanted to hear my beagles run. Didn't care if i killed one or not. Never was much of a deer hunter. Think i have killed 6 or 7 in 50 years of sometimes hunting them. It was for the meat. The last venison i had was some spikehorn sent me. Best venison i ever had. Thanks spikehorn.

[Swampman]

I'm 56 and looking forward to deer hunting this year.

[kennyd]

Last elk I saw were a calf and cow, 50 feet.  I looked at that calf staring at me and couldn't pull the trigger.  I remember both orphaned calves running lost (cow shot), and cows coming back looking for the calf..  Had my brother been at my side we may have taken both.  I have passed up antelope that were so scared they trembled coming in to the water where I was hidden.  That would have been 20 feet.  I also remember the buck antelope I shot at long range, hitting a leg, then the second took him thru the neck, I walked up and looked at the fear in his eyes and cut his throat.


Non hunters can't understand how we can love hunting but not killing.  I still love the meat when I get it.

[dukkillr]

I wrote the following in November of 2007, here:  http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,117361.60.html
 

I'll be honest, I don't get it. To me meat is a marginally unwanted byproduct of hunting. Don't get me wrong, I don't waste meat, but it doesn't motivate me either. I've always suggested that I don't think hunting is an economical source of meat. I shoot does for population control, and otherwise I only shoot mature animals. I haven't shot a jake or spike in years. The day my heart doesn't pound in my chest when a big buck walks under my tree, is the day I'll hang it up. For me that's what hunting is, chasing a rush. Honestly, I feel sorry for those who don't feel that, because it's incredible.

I think the comparison above to mountain climbing is a good analogy. While I'd never risk my life in an extreme climb, I suspect the rush those people get from doing what they love is similar. And there's no question the stakes only get higher. I grew up duck hunting. I'd get the rush when a group of mallards piled in or a huge bunch of canadas got dead right. Then I started deer hunting and I got the rush whenever I got a buck in my scope. Then any deer with a bow, then any buck with a bow, then any mature buck. After hunting caribou, elk, hogs, turkeys, mulies, and whitetails in the last 15 years I can say that getting that same high has been increasingly difficult. The animals seem to get bigger and more far flung. But yesterday when that great big buck came and ran off that nice 8 pt, I can promise you my heart was pounding. You can't buy that feeling, and if you've never felt it that's a loss.

The rush seems to be directly related to the difficulty in getting the opportunity. For instance, a 400 class bull in a fence repulses me somewhat, while drawing on a 400 bull in the wild would make my heart explode. A 110 class buck is pretty common, and it doesn't get me too excited, however a 160 class buck is a different deal. Getting a great show from a mature tom is great, and sneaking one is a distant second. I can't really explain it beyond that. It seems to be that the harder it is to accomplish, the greater the thrill.

When I can't get that feeling anymore, well, maybe I'll take up mountain climbing.

Since I wrote that I've only upped the pursuit.  This fall I'll buy hunting licenses in at least 5 states and I'm headed to the arctic again to chase caribou with a bow (6 weeks away!).  Every year is a little different in terms of opportunities, but I've seen no drop in the need to chase that rush.  I guide turkey hunters a little more each year, giving up the opportunity to kill them myself.  I seem to get at least the same rush from guiding on turkeys.  That is not the case with big game animals.  Based on my 65 year old father (who trains year round to be in shape to chase elk in the fall, and chases the rush at least as hard as I do) I doubt I ever will lose the feeling.  If I do, I'll hang it up and let someone else enjoy it.

[hillbill]

it is odd the transformations that hunters make thru their lifetimes.originally i was a meat hunter,then i was strictly a trophy hunter, would not even raise my gun if a buck wasnt bigger than the biggest one id taken to that date.now im a combination of both.ill not shoot any buck under 150 inches, i save them for my son.but i will pick out the smallest most tender deer in the bunch and shoot it.and shoot as many of them bow and gun as the law allows to fill the freezer.

[tuck2]

I ll be 77 years old by the time big game season starts this fall.  Shot my first mule deer in 1953, first elk in 1957, and pronghorn in 1963. Havent shot any big game for the past two years, not that I dident wont to,but some of my old body parts dont work very well.  I still can get out to the prairie dog towns with the 17 Hm2, 17 HMR, 17 Fireball, and 204 Ruger rifles. I m looking forward to getting me a 17 Hornady Hornet with a Leupold  6-18 AO scope, reloading dies, and shooting supplies when they become available. Got a Rem 700 ADL 25-06 at a garage sale this past spring, the stock inletting was as pore as I had ever seen so its on my workbench for glass bedding , free floating the barrel, and adjusting the trigger. As long as I can, I m going to do whatever my body  can do.