Do you get tired?

[rogerthat]

Oh man we have a long hunting season here in Montana. Archery starts in September and rifle ends here this weekend. There is a week break in the middle. "Wearing out" does happen to a lot of folks. I always feel for the out of staters who only get that planned weeklong trip to hunt. You have to push it every day and in a year like this one, you are climbing to the top of the mountain every day. We always find that staying in the game mentally is the biggest game changer. You don't want to hang it up knowing that you could have pushed yourself a little more. But when you are done, be okay with that and reflect on all the memories you made that season because the next season is coming fast. That is the truth and you recognize that the older you get!

You forgot round ball season, shoulder seasons, wolf, mountain lion. No reason to quit this weekend.

 

[RyGuy]

I’ve never been fortunate enough to hunt until I was “hunted out”. Just have never had enough free time. I can see getting tired of hunting something specific, like an elk tag when it’s been many days without seeing one, or pheasants here in Colorado where the public opportunities are limited and often swarming with other hunters.
But every time I’d get tired of one thing, I’d just switch to hunt something else.
Maybe one day I’ll hunt so much in a year that I’ll have to stop. I look forward to that year

 

[atlas]

Maybe one reason I don't get burned out is that, outside of the initial drive to get my elk tag filled, for me hunting deer has become a cerebral/leisurely activity. Having abandoned the mule deer in my geography, I'm more in the willows with a shotgun now than the mountains with a rifle, and don't care if I fill my buck tag.

Summed it up entirely for me. Except that I still look for the muleys around me.

Elk is a grind and so rewarding. If I've shot a bull, getting a nice buck is just a bonus. If I only see dinks that's alright.

 

[Khunter]

Thought I might get tired in 2021, but did not

24 days archery elk at treeline packing in various spots in Sept
13 days bison hunting pretty much seeing zippo in Oct.
6 days archery deer wishing I had more days in Nov.


In 2022 logged 30 days hunting two moose tags and 9 days archery lope

Guess looking at it not that much compared to a lot of guys as I am not a fisherman, waterfowler nor upland bird guy. Can see how that could really boost days afield.

Numbers would sure be higher yearly if not for having a darn job.

 

[88man]

sorta been tired of all the trophy/ camera talk when it comes to whitetails. In all honesty the past few years when it comes to whitetails it only seems fun when I take kids hunting. Western game well the adventure is still there for me.

 

[rjthehunter]

I hunt and fish a lot. Occasionally, with fishing if it's tough and I've been out days in a row. I'll take a day off fishing to tend to some things at home...

If I ever feel like I'm spending ALL of my time hunting/fishing, I realize the season will be over soon and I'll have to wait 6-11 months to do the activity again. That usually gets me going again!

 

[Salmonchaser]

I started when I was 6 up in Alaska. My year, My life calendar can be tracked by hunting season. This morning was perfect; two old dogs; one old man, old shotgun, one hour, one shot, one bird.

 

[Salmonchaser]

This is the first year that I have ever struggled to find motivation to go hunting. I took a week off, hiked nearly 50 miles, saw very few deer, saw tons of people, witnessed a lot of jackass behavior, and it just became really frustrating. There were a few really nice mornings where it felt like old times, but overall I feel like the quality of the experience in my area has really diminished significantly the last few years. I’ve just struggled to get the same enjoyment this year for some reason that I can’t identify.

I was going to comment in my earlier post but after 30 MT non resident licenses in my life I was really wondering what’s up Montana. I didn’t call HW because we went down to Broadus This year.

 

[Nick87]

why I've stopped duck hunting other than occasionally jump shooting them. I'm just over the agro bro rage in the parking lot, on the river, people peppering you, walking in on your set up etc.

If I had to deal with that I'd definitely be done. We waterfowl hunt private here and people on neighboring properties are enough to make me threaten throwing in the towel. Duck hunters are jerkoffs for the most part me included more than likely lol.

 

[Mtnhunter1]

Hunting is just like climbing a mountain. Sometimes a person just needs to stop and catch their breath. As I get older, I've realized that additional stops are needed throughout the many hunting seasons.

In my younger years, it was 1000% full steam ahead. I'd jump from state to state soaking in all the amazing adventures that I could fit into the dates on the calendar. By mid January I was worn out but would immediately start planning for the next round of seasons.
Having kids and a house payment slowed things down a bit but at the same time the Western States started changing the allocation of tags.

Now I just hunt when I can here in Montana but without any expectations of filling any of my tags.

I agree with @Huntingwife that things have surely changed and that has factored in with my decision to punch a tag or not.
I now find myself "hunting" but with a camera in my hands and the bow or rifle strapped to the pack.

 

[bigsky2]

I don’t ever get burned out from hunting too much. I will say though, the last few years here in MT I find myself wishing the big game season ended earlier. The last couple weeks I get sick of seeing deer stacked in the beds of pickups, jackass behavior, and seeing vehicles at every piece of accessible public nearly every day. I start to feel sorry for the deer anymore.

 

[undercover]

Tired of waterfowl, lot of work setting up dekes by myself, crack of early beeting other hunters to decent spots on public, been doing it 35 years or so. lost a few hunting partners from different work schedules, also had several years of shooting antlerless deer under crop damage permits issued by Michigan DNR, became to be a lot of work, lost its mojo. experienced wyoming hunting 2022 and that’s all I am consumed with, childhood dreams. Chasing steelhead? This will never get old and tiresome,

 

[GlockZ]

My season starts early September, fall bow season for deer, and a few other seasons, shotgun, muzzleloader, then I do an out of state rifle hunt with some friends after Thanksgiving, then back for 6-day fireman, in early December, and by the end of December, I'm worn out...then it's time to start getting ready for spring turkey and these last few years, I've been blessed with being able to go on a spring bear hunt.

 

[np307]

As always, Col. Tom Kelly has a great quote about this.

 

[Slm864]

I use to get burned out when I was a bit younger. By the time musket season ended in mid January I was always ready for a break.
Anymore I feel I get to hunt so little due to work, young kids, kid activities, and just normal responsibilities that I’m actually screaming inside how bad I want to get out there. Even just getting to walk in the woods is a major enjoyment.

 

[cgasner1]

The repercussions of hunting as much as I want to at home are much more exhausting than anything else these days

 

[Mudranger1]

Usually every year around the first of December I've had enough. Starting the first of September and going nonstop is hard. I don't know if I'm tired of hunting tho I would say it's the grind of constant going but who knows. Usually a week off and I'm bored with no tags or anything to do. Luckily it's Christmas time and the family time. I've come to realize over the years there are much tougher people than me and I'm fine with that lol. I've been going hard since June this year and just last week I told my dad I was pretty run down. You'd have thought I told him I was dying of cancer

 

[bayoublaster7527]

Not the actual hunting itself but if you are traveling long distances I could see that wearing you out.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Now retired and solo hunting with my labs exclusively I enjoy hunting more than ever.
Hunting every weekday, I rarely encounter any other hunters.

I hunt each weekday morning, alternating labs here in Montana.
I enjoy the dog work, the sunrise, and each morning is different.
For example, yesterday morning we were in a field and flushed over 50 short-eared owls (migrating).
The morning before I watched a family of otters as we hunting a cattail slough for roosters.
Monday morning I got beat by 4 wise roosters but the dog had fun and I got in 8 miles of hiking following pup.

For me the 2 saddest days of the year are Dec 31 when upland bird season closes,
and mid-January when waterfowl season closes.

 

[crock239]

Appropriate timing, this thread, for me...

I've been saying I'm losing my zeal for whitetail hunting, and I've got conflicted feelings about it.

I live in a whitetail state with some of the best whitetail hunting anywhere, so I feel like I SHOULD do it. Ive hunted whiteails for 30 years, i think. But I'm pretty burned out on sitting alone in a tree. I've been successful plenty before and so I think the challenge aspect of the endeavor is diminished for me.

Also, now that i have a dog I've trained for bird hunting I'd rather be out hiking and chasing birds with her. It's new to me, and I've always got a hunting partner with me.

These days, I feel like I want to do one out of state big game trip a year (elk, deer, antelope etc.) and then just turn my outdoors time and attention to bird hunting.

Helps to know other folks here sometimes get burned out too...