I have been hunting sinse I was about 10. I am now 34 and have killed around 35-40 deer. Every deer I encounter (especially bowhunting) I get SO excited that I have trouble making the shot that I practice all summer for. It honestly takes me a few shots at deer to settle down to the point I can shoot one. Do you guys still get that much excitement at bowhunting?

Sometimes i do,especially on a biggen.If i can make the shot pretty quick i do better,if i wait forever to get the right shot i get it more.I think the older i get the worse it gets....Most hunters i have talked to say they do get excited and when they ever stop they will quit hunting... I think its also from only shooting at deer a couple times a year,if ishot at them on a daily basis it wouldnt be so exciteing...I read a article about the famous hunter warren page shooting a rare glacier bear and he couldnt lite a cigerette after makeing the shot from shakeing.if you really want to get the shakes try a 10 ft,shot sometime on the ground,treestands are great help here.Hope this helps and good luck hunting!Have fun!

I think it is good that you still get excited, I think when the excitement goes away it is time to hang it up.
I am almost 50 and a big deer will rattle me. An elk not so much, it might be the work involved after the kill, packing it out on your back tends to take the excitement out! As for a deer I can still move one in two trips on a frame.

LOL The reason I posted this question is yesterday evening I FINALLY got the chance to get in my treestand. Right before dark a little doe walks out about 25 yards away. I drew and MISSED. I shoot 5-6 inch circles everytime in practice. I aimed behind the shoulder, missed the deer to the front by a couple inches. I missed my aiming point by 18 inches!!!!

Kudo, I've never hunted elk, but I've shot some pretty big whitetails a LONG way from the truck. I still drag them but have been strongly considering packing them out. How do you cut a carcass to best pack it out?

I've been hunting whitetail since the year you were born and I hope the excitement never stops.

I too am almost 50 years old an all I have to do is hear a deer coming through the woods and my heart rate goes WAY up. This coming weekend my number four(youngest) son and I will be hunting in a youth hunt here in Kentucky and I can't wait. He and I went last year and had a great time. We had several big does within 100 yards and we were waiting for a shot when my son said "dad my knees are shaking". There was also a very nice buck chasing the does and grunting like a pig when he was doing it. We couldn't shoot the buck it was does only for us. We are hoping he will pick a buck tag this year. There is nothing better in the hunting world than being with your child when they take their first deer. Bryan

I must be lucky, I am 54, and I don't get all that excited about seeing a big deer... at times I am more in awe....

I think shooting varmints half the summer, which can be into the thousands ( sage rats & prairie dogs) kinda takes the "buck fever" out of it....

The only time my blood pressure goes up, is when I want to go out and hunt and the "responsibilities" of life, or the wife or being involved in my son's Boy Scout troop.... keep me from being able to go out and hunt...

I take two quarters and one back strap per trip. I have been doing the gutless method the last few years since it became legal in Wy. I also cut the rack free of the head, and take out the tender loins. I can carry two quarters, and back strap on my frame then either the tender lions or horns in one hand, leaving one free while I walk.

I take one front and one hind quarter on an elk, with a head,backstraps, and trimmings it takes 4 trips some times.

I use an open pack frame, alaskan model I beleive. I have recently aquired a game cart and it is quite handy when the terrain is good. I have done a whole elk in one trip with it, but the terrain was almost all down hill.

I made my first deer hunt at 32 which happened to be the year you were born and the first buck I saw I just stood and looked at him then he turned and walked away and that happened to be in wyoming. Nowadays I don't get excited till drop the deer. That first one was a mule deer and it was in 2002 that I finally got my first mule deer buck. Sometimes the high from killing a deer can be incredable, better than any drugs that I could imagine.

Rad

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Kudo, I've never hunted elk, but I've shot some pretty big whitetails a LONG way from the truck. I still drag them but have been strongly considering packing them out. How do you cut a carcass to best pack it out?

Apply and come out and find out! I will show you around if you draw!