I figured since we are all sharing our hunting experiences I would share my only one.
I had a few friends at work that loved deer hunting. They would all gather together and talk about their weekend hunts. They knew I was into shooting (I was a beginner at benchrest and still am) so I got invited to their next Saturday hunt. Well to see how they all love it and my uncle is borderline obsessed I figured I would give it a shot. I told them to call me when they are going and I would meet them at the local Bojangles. I had taken a hunting safety course (mandatory in my family) so I went a bought a licenses. That Friday night I got my stuff together and went to bed.
I remember my phone ringing about 0400. All I could think was one of my friends was in jail so I answered. It was a strange voice telling me to get up and get going. I was very puzzled so I asked who in the world is this? Hey Hunter it's Eddie come on now get it together.
I managed to get up and get dresses. When I went outside (still pitch black) I realized I needed more clothes. I finally got the heat working in my pick up and made it to Bojangles. I was excited at the though of a few country ham biscuits. When I pulled into the parking lot they were waiting. I pulled in and they hollared at me "we ain't got time to eat this is just where we meet up" (man I was disappointed). Well I followed their truck into the woods. We parked and got out. Well I sit in tree stand for several hours, froze my ears off, was still hungry, got bored, and did not see so much as a squirrel. We met back at the truck about 1200 and ate. They said it was time to go back. Go back all right I went back to the house.
I have respect for yall who can get up that early. There is definetally a challenge in it that requires skill. I do love deer meat but my uncle almost always fills his tag so he shares with me (you should try his meat loaf with venison).
Sorry to be so long winded but hey I did try. :D

Hay hunter you got out and tried. There's other ways to hunt than just in a tree stand, but where you live that works most of the time.

There are also other things to hunt. Ground hogs are good game for someone that's into bench rest shooting and calling coyotes is a blast. Most of my coyote stands only last for 15 to 30 minutes and I'll do four or five a day.

I hope you get out and try again, there's nothing like the thrill of dropping your first deer.

What I like most about it was the company. I am fortunate enough to be a member of an outdoor range that usually turns into a social club as the day wears on.
My uncle is also an avid turkey hunter (he lives to hunt and fish) and he has mentioned to me about giving that a try. I do have a New England break action 10ga that would be perfect.
Deer season is an exciting time for me though because when the season starts our range sees little use except for just a few of us.

Hey...
years ago I went hunting with my dad. We went to a private range and shot birds. After a while I thought..this is hunting? It was like shooting fish in a barrel. And I haven't been hunting since. Sorry!

Hunter1911
Try Still Hunting.At first,you will not get many deer,but you will not get bored.You will seemore "tails",and get the lay of the land.
It takes a lot more effort,but it's not boreing.
Frank

Hunter,
Give it another try! And if you still come away with just the social aspect of it, you've still gained quite a lot. But if you don't like the stand hunting - and as Kragman suggested - try some other form of hunting. Make it what you want it to be.

Hunter
I gave up any sort of hunting that requires me to get up at 04:00. The deer is already getting revenge, just getting up that early, and I'm not going to give the deer the satisfaction.
Jim

Hunter,

Hunting is not for everyone - but it sure is for me. It appears from your posts that you have not done much hunting so far in your life. To see if hunting is something that you may want to pursue I would suggest squirrel, dove, and rabbit hunting (in that order). I grew up hunting and would not have it any other way.

Squirrels do not normally get moving about until it warms up in the fall and winter. You could either scout an area for squirrel sign, still hunt, etc. It should not matter too much as squirrels are darn near everywhere in North Carolina.

Dove hunting can be a morning or afternoon hunt depending on the split season. There are many farmers that will let you shoot these "pests out of their corn" if you ask nicely (offer to help with their chores). If that does not work there are many public game land fields scattered all over the state.

Rabbits do not seem to be as prevalent as the used to be. However, if you can find an abandoned farm or a farmer that does not keep the ditches too clean you can work up a mess of bunnies at times.

We always enjoy the hunt and the memories that they bring. For me and mine, if you kill it - you clean it - and you eat it.

Best regards

My first attempt at being "oh great white hunter" was in 1977, at age 16. I had just moved to Utah to go to college, and bought an M1 Carbine (Universal). My buddy ( 7MM Mauser) and I headed to shoot our first deer. My M1 jammed beyond my ability to repair the weapon; and we never saw anything. On the way home, the car in front of us slammed a deer, killing it. We jumped out of the car and asked if he wanted it. He said no, so we gutted it and put it in the nose of our VW beetle and drove home, proud as can be. Never did get the blood out of the front trunk.....

I met a buddy at his house one Saturday night to visit and have a few cold beers. They had been hunting all day and did not even see a deer. We decided we would go do some trail riding in the woods (this was when I was younger). We had got no more than a mile and my buddy in front of me hit a deer with his truck. We stopped threw the deer in the back and went to his house for supper. All was not lost.
Sapguru that was a good story and reminded me of mine.

I think you are born a hunter and if you follow that inborn desire you will hunt. If you do not, you will not. I think the longer you go without it the harder it would be to understand the need for it. This used to not happen because it was a way of life in rural America. I grew up a city boy and if it had not been for Outdoor Life, the magazine, and an understanding by my Dad, I may have lost my desire to be a hunter. Thank God that did not happen. Nothing teaches more about life and death than hunting, unless it is war.

I have hunted and fished for close to every species of fish or game in South Carolina, except for Black Bear. I have pursued tham in about every way there is available from streams to lakes to ocean, from birds to small game to deer. I love it and always will. When I can't walk the hollows or brave the cold and heat anymore I will stop and shoot or sit in a lawn chair beside the local pond and catch bream but until that day comes I will be out there whenever I can. It is when I feel most alive, I dreed the day I can't do it anymore.

Good post Chief. Growing up my father and I usually spent our Saturdays shooting. I always enjoyed being outside but usually at the range. We would camp and spend weekends in the outdoors but never got into hunting.
Most all my friends hunt and so I am never lacking any venison or turkey.

Chief
I too was a city kid, grew up with nothing but baseball 24/7 during the spring, summer and fall. My dad had no use for hunting or guns, still does not.

Had it not been for my wonderful wife and her dad, I would have never had the opportunity to try shooting or hunting. The first time he took me to the range to shoot I was hooked. It seemed almost too natural to shoot and carry a gun.

Ray took me aside, put a couple of great hunting books in my hand, telling me to read them cover to cover to understand the prey. He made room for me in the hunting party that he hunted with. That was 20 years ago. That hunting party is now down to just him and me. Slowly the rest have passed away. I would never have met these wonderful men, learned so much and experience such great times in the woods if it had not been for him. Whether we were scouting, sitting in trees, shooting or just watching, it has been the greatest experiences which I would not exchange for anything.

I hope that in time my son and daughter will be able to join Ray and I in the woods to also enjoy the hunt, start to finish.
Brad S
Hebrews 10:39

I too was fortunate enough to have a father that took me hunting and fishing. About the time I turned 8 or 9 my father went into business for himself and really did not have as much time to take me as often. At the same time my grandfather who lived next door to me retired and I began to run the woods with him. He was born in the late 1800s and had been in the logging business his whole life so he knew our area like the back of his hand. My grandfather and I hunted and fished together until he passed away in 1968. I now have a young grandson and hope I can teach him to hunt and fish as I was taught. I would not take anything for the memories of the time spent camping, hunting and fishing with my father and grandfather. I truly hope to pass the favors along to my grandkids.

scphil.i can understand why. but that kinda hunting is not what i call hunting..gives some fellas
something to brag about on the den wall.but that aint real country hunting,and you are really missing something

Deer move about consistantly ALL day, but it seems that they "appear" more frequenlty in the early and pre-dusk hours. However, I've shot deer at ALL daylight hours. Just when you think you have deer figured out, they surprise you. That's one of the interesting things about deer hunting. You'll also find that some of the older bucks will appear at EVERY time BUT early AM/PM, as they have learned to respond to hunting pressure.

I too was city raised, and never exposed to much hunting or fishing. As a college freshman, I got interested in shooting, and did a bunch with a Single six, Security Six and 30-.06. When i left college, i lost interest, got busy with life and got married. The wife was NOT fond of guns, so i sold them to help pay for the 1st child. Now, some 20 years later, i have rekindled my interest. I don't care if i shoot anything, but man i need to get out in woods every now and then to recharge my batteries. when i do shoot something, that's just icing on the cake.

If you are up to making a trip to South Texas this spring, check out Hogfest III;
http://www.marlinowners.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=23883&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I use to get up at zero dark:30 in the morning and like you I found little fun in doing so. Then as the years went by I found most of the deers taken by our group is right around 8:00 to 8:30+/- or just before dust and at 10 to 2 durning heavy hunting pressure in the area. So now when I hunt with the group I find out where everyone is going to and tell them about where my stand will be and I get there early enough to be in my stand at 7:15 to 7:30 and its been alot more fun than before and it hasn't hendered me in the amount of deer taken as compared to the others. I have also noticed more of the group are starting to do the same. So, I guess what I'm trying to tell you is to hunt like you want and still be part of the family outing. You got to be in the woods to get a chance at a deer!

my dad never deer hunted, but back in the late 50s aerly 60s pheasant hunting in mi was as big as if
not more popular than deer hunting.to this day i can still smell the hoppes, and the the gunsmoke
from the trusted wingmaster. it relly pulls at my gut
every time i think of those hunting experiences.
most of these memories occur as i wait for first light
on opening day of deer season.dan

I used to try to pattern deer with every method known to man. Then when a trail camera was put up near a feeder and remained for the entire year it was noted that deer have no pattern. You can follow the feeding minor and major times tables and they will not necessary be accurate at any given time. Often some deer will become quite recognizable on the camera and it will be noted that it may come around each day seemingly at similar times then you may not see it for a couple of weeks. It will then return for a while and feed at your feeder for a few days. Some deer it seems never leave the area. Some only come once. I have sat in stands from dark to dark and noticed nice bucks in the morning that did not come back the rest of the day yet during the day many small bucks would stick around throughout the day and return everytime another deer showed up. This is all over feed of course at no certain times of the year. I have learned to hunt all day dark to dark as the only way to have the greatest chance at learnin what deer do in an area. I will often sit in one place or I will stalk an area to keep busy. Try stalking all day always mindfull of slow movements and noise control and carefull stepping and you will become so in tune at the end of the day that you will catch yourself continuing to sneak even when you are approaching yor truck at the end of the hunt. You will feel quite silly. I tell my wife when I get home that "I am still in quiet mode". :)

hmmm.. for me this tree stand hunting or whatever you call it is something i would not even contemplate.
maybe it works fine, but when hunting for that perfect rack (in a bar or on the mountain), you gotta get out there and HUNT for it, this requires skill and allertness, and a whole lot of other little things that i've forgotten i knew.
The thrill is in the chase!

ld be ok.might be a whole lot more exciting for you, if you got up and just wandered around a bit, you might see some new country?

new zealand is a land of deer 'stalkers" hence "the deerstalkers association", we may sit around and glass for a while on the mountain, but that next ridge is just soo close, and the bush is too thick for stands or blinds.

Edited by Kdub - remember, this is a family board. Thanks.

Like everyone else here- I'll just say don't give up on hunting. I've tried alot of things that weren't immediately rewarding. And when I finally do succeed at it, I find it much more rewarding of an experience.
I shot coyote as a kid in NH, then didn't hunt them for 12 years till I settled in CO, which is supposed to be all but over run with song dogs.
I even bought a purpose use gun in .22-250 for them.
Then I went out no less than 8 times before even seeing one, and have been restricted to low velocity so often that the rifle collects dust more than hunts (I use my 870 with buckshot then).
I've had them sneak up behind me so close that I could have hit them with a rock----had I known they were there...

All the way back to the truck in increasing darkness you can hear the coyotes barking and howling just out of range, like they are following me to my truck to laugh at me!

If it were just about the killing of game, I'd have quit hunting a couple decades ago. I hunted for deer for more than 7 years before I finally shot one and harvested my own venison.

As crafty as they are- coyote hunting may be more up your alley. Because in most states, it's year round hunting, so you don't have to brave artic temps to hunt. A nice summer day is hunting weather!

It's also pretty quick. Most stands I do rarely top a half hour if I don't see a coyote. Then it's up, back to the truck, move a ways and try again.
I agree that sitting in a tree stand all day holds little appeal for me. But coyote hunting is usually quick stands. I've made 6 stands before an early lunch.

It's light on gear unless you're a gizmo guy like me with all the electronic calls. A couple mouth calls in a starter pack will last you 20 years of songdog slaying.

It's alot like turkey hunting, but faster paced. Depending on terrain, you can just use a 12 gauge set up for turkey hunting. Any deer rifle will work, but will destroy the pelt. Still, if you're not into skinning them, just curbing the population is a worthy cause. Ranchers will thank you.

Just hate to hear someone get frustrated with hunting after one experience. Give hunting an honest try- be it waterfowl, deer, whatever. It's a challenge beyond what most people will ever attempt.