Hunt For The Experience, Not For Title

Why Do I Hunt?

Hunting whitetails has been a family tradition for many generations for my family and I. And I'm almost certain that the majority of you reading this can relate. And for you readers who may not come from a family of hunters, my hope is that you gain a greater understanding of my perception of why I hunt deer and why it lead me to helping so many others chase their passion by helping enhance their own personal experience.

How it all started!

One brisk September day in 1984, at the age of just 6 years old, I was invited by my father and other family members to help complete a home made tree platform project for a great-uncle of mine. I was always up for an adventure with my uncles and cousins, and especially my dad. This project would inevitably set off a spark inside of my soul that now burns inextinguishably. 

After the project was completed my father and I returned to the farmhouse, which at the time was my grandparents. My father proceeded to go up the stairs to his old room as if to get something. To my surprise he returned to the kitchen area with what was his first bow given to him when he was a child. In his left hand were clinched about 4 arrows tipped with blunt field points. To say I was excited was a total understatement.

Dad set me up and taught me how to shoot at the homemade target set up near the dairy barn of the farm where my grandfather was setting up for afternoon chores and milking of his 30 Registered Holstein dairy cows. He, too, took a few minutes to be entertained by my awkwardness of shooting a "real" bow and arrows for the first time in my life.

Shortly after, and before I knew it, I was dressed in camo and headed to the woods with my father for an afternoon/evening hunt. This was my first taste of a hang and hunt type of setup. My father had one portable Lock-On tree stand that he setup and tore down on almost every hunt. I was in total amazement.

He set me up next to a big black oak tree surrounded by sparse white pine saplings. He set his bow case down on the ground so that i would have a place to sit without getting dirt all over myself when I sat down. Then my father set up in another black oak tree about 30 yards away but where he could see me on the edge of the hill we were set up on.

To my knowledge today we were setup on a natural travel corridor deer would use from their bedding area to the farm field about 100 yards away.

I'll stop here and spare the daunting details, but this setup lead to me witnessing my dad run a perfectly place arrow through the lungs of a small "fork horn" buck! And in my excitement I realized that in that moment my dad was the "Ultimate Warrior" of hunting. My hero, if you will.

I've been hooked, or more likely, obsessed ever since that brisk September day of 1984!

What I Learned in My Youth

Like many of you reading this, growing up in the 80's and 90's, and even long before for a lot of you, I recall a time when everyone in camp, at the deer check in stations, the local processors, the taverns, small town restaurants, and so on patted your back and congratulated you even if the deer you killed was a fawn or a just a spike buck.

It was a time when all neighbors got along, willingly opened their farms up to most all neighbors who asked permission, made deer drives together, and much more. Sadly, in many parts of this great country, those days have long faded into history, I'm very blessed I was able to live and experience the tail end of that once great era. 

What happened?

In my opinion, and I'm not trying to rip anyone apart here because I too am now part of the shift that started to skyrocket in the 1990's, it was the increasing commercialization of the industry and TV personalities pushing the "Let 'em go, let 'em grow" mentality. A paradigm shift that actually took me years to consciously accept and discipline myself into developing the habit of letting younger deer walk.

But along with this shift of the masses has come a lot of shaming on the shoulders of those who hunt solely for the sake of providing food for their families and friends. Along with the comradery that hunting season brings to so many of us who hunt whitetail deer.

I have witnessed and experienced this ridiculous act from others all too often. And it's even worse when it happens to a child. Children are so vulnerable and impressionable. It's a shame people cannot see beyond their own ignorance to the obvious simplicities of life. We as hunters wonder why so many youngsters don't want to continue hunting anymore. And that's a terrible shame.

I know I am going off on a tangent. And I too have followed the masses in pursuit of the largest mature bucks I possibly can. I see so many of my fellow hunters who have turned this beautiful sport into a measurement of manhood rather than the true purpose of what hunting is meant to actually be about. Check yourself in the mirror after you read this if you have shamed another for what they have harvested. You cannot lie to yourself.

Why Did I Shift?

Simple! Harvesting a small buck was no longer a challenge for me. I wanted to up my game. I wanted to learn to match wits with the oldest deer in the woods. To watch a buck grow with time and to strike when his age reached the age restriction I had set forth for the properties my family is blessed enough to call our own.

I love to study deer. Whether it be through trail camera intel or in person observations. I love to build a personal relationship with a particular old bruiser. I want to know his tendencies and know why he does what he does given the weather conditions and other factors of nature. It becomes personal. A feeling hard to put into words, but one that many of you reading this can relate to, I'm sure!

So for me, it's simply the challenge. I could really care less of what other hunters kill. If you are happy with your harvest, then hey, I am genuinely happy for you.

My business is based on helping individuals achieve their own personal goals for their own property or the public grounds they hunt. Not for what others out there think they should only be killing. Hunting is about individual preference, NOT to appease the masses.  

In Closing! 

As hunting seasons across this great land start to open let's not forget WHY we hunt based on our individual beliefs, not what will make Tom, Dick, and/or Harry happy. Hunting is about your happiness and fulfillment. Isn't that enough? 

Sure, I have killed many a large bucks that easily will make Pope and Young records. But the one thing you will never find is my name in any of the known record keeping publications out there. I could care absolutely less about those titles. My only title I want is FREEDOM. The freedom to choose what gives my complete fulfillment and to hopefully pass this mindset along to my clients to help them achieve their own individual goals and dreams of their own pursuit of whitetail deer.

Nothing in the world of deer hunting makes me happier than when a client, or my own family members share photos and stories with me about their harvest. NOTHING! And that is why I succeed in my consulting business that so many wish to see fail. And my response to those individuals....well, I'll leave that up to your imagination. 

Good Luck to all of you this fall!!!