How to Make Deer Hunting Not Fun

In 2021 I discovered the secret of hunting Not fun, and let me tell you, it’s not something you want to do. Here’s how I made it possible and how you can make sure you don’t follow in my footsteps.

My fall from the deer-hunting paradise was a long process of preparation and the result of a long list of diseases that combined became poisonous. And based on conversations I’ve had with many other die-hard deer hunters, this isn’t just the case for me.

But let’s get one thing straight. I love deer hunting. And I still loved it for most of last season, despite a few weak moments. My problem might be that sometimes I loved it too much. i love things difficult.

About 15 years ago, my passion for deer hunting took a turning point in the fast lane when I dedicated myself to successfully hunting adult bucks and began documenting my experiences on my Wired To Hunt platform. All of this led to my passion becoming an obsession.

For years from January to December I read, watched, listened and then wrote or talked about deer hunting every day. My time in the field was also extreme. I wanted to spend as many days as I could exploring, preparing, or actually hunting every single hour possible. My then girlfriend, now wife, could attest to that and to the fact that it not only burned me out, it almost ended our relationship.

As the cliche goes, you can have too much of a good thing. I’ve encountered this reality time and time again over the years, but have rarely learned my lesson. At some point, the hunt went from something I just loved doing to a mission I was committed to at all times and at all costs. Twenty-one days in a row? Thirteen hours in a tree? Nine different states? Too much was never enough.

Do you want to do deer hunting Not Fun? Walk so hard and so long that you burn out yourself and your loved ones too.

I make my hunt all about the outcome. It is a trait of mine to be goal and performance oriented. I like passing the test, winning the trophy, being the best and I’m rarely satisfied if I’m not. It’s a ride that’s helpful in many ways, but again, too much of anything can be a problem, especially when it comes to an occupation like hunting.

As I am, I set high goals for myself every year when it comes to hunting and put my heart and soul into achieving them. That’s not a bad thing in and of itself, but when your happiness, contentment, and identity depend on whether or not you kill a deer (something that’s often out of your control), it can be a recipe for disaster. All of this led to a lot of stress, worry, and self-pity when things weren’t going so well in the whitetail woods.

It sounds silly in hindsight to let something as trivial as a deer hunt affect my sanity, but it did. And I know I’m not the only one feeling this way. I’ve heard stories from dozens of die-hard deer hunters whose pursuit of whitetail success has kept them in a near-constant state of stress every fall.

Do you want to do deer hunting Not Fun? Be concerned with the outcome of your hunt rather than settle for the process.

Much of this is the result of internal turmoil, but the influence of external voices cannot be ignored either. With the proliferation of hunting television, YouTube videos and social media, the community of deer hunters you compare yourself to and may receive criticism from has grown astronomically. All of this can make it seem like you’re hunting in front of an audience. And that’s a dangerous thing.

The first symptom here is Facebook or Instagram envy where you compare yourself to other successful hunters you see on social media or TV and set an impossible bar for yourself. It’s all a lie, of course, but say that to your gut at 10:00 p.m. after a long, unsuccessful day of hunting while scrolling through dozens of “hero pics” in your feed.

The second danger is letting what these others think influence your hunt. Do I get screwed if I shoot this young buck? Will people think I suck if I don’t kill anything on another trip? Whether you’re killing a big buck, screwing up a shot, wearing the right hat, or using the right bow, all of these are subject to outside criticism these days. The Monday morning quarterbacks and online trolls are more common than ever on social media, forums, YouTube comment threads and sometimes even the local pro shop.

From personal experience over the years, I can tell you that if you put your mind to it, it’s an absolute poison pill. It’s ridiculous to add the pressure of what other people will think of your hunting success, but it’s an issue that’s all too real for many hunters — whether it’s the opinions of your close group of hunting buddies, fellow hunting club members, or commenters on Facebook or Instagram.

Do you want to do deer hunting Not Fun? Let outside opinions influence your hunt.

This combination of excessive drive, an obsession with killing, and a vulnerability to outside opinion has forced another final nail in my coffin. And that was the loss of my hunting community. When hunting was about success, making commitments, and impressing others, making time for others suddenly became difficult.

Meet the crew for breakfast? Spend three days at Family Deer Camp where deer are few? Dropping in at lunchtime to party with a mate who just shot a buck? No, no and no.

If it didn’t get me any closer to killing a buck, it wasn’t something I felt I could do anymore. So I missed wild camps and meeting up with hunting buddies and hunting trips with my dad and tracking jobs with friends. In turn, I missed out on one of the core virtues of hunting, the relationships and experiences shared with friends and family. One of the best things about hunting and I was too busy for that.

If you want to do deer hunting Not Fun, get so focused on killing deer that you don’t have time to enjoy it with other people.

Last year, as I hunted nine different states, filmed two different shows, and tried to fill ten different tags, I began to realize I had lost sight of what makes hunting fun. I was too goal oriented, too overwhelmed, too stressed out, too worried about what other people were thinking and too busy for others. And I hated it.

As the season wrapped, I took stock of what had happened and what I could learn from it, and then turned my attention to changing things in 2022. My new approach is simple, but hopefully very profound.

I allow myself to back off the gas a bit and focus on enjoying my hunts for once instead of attacking them like a military mission. I will focus on the process of my hunts instead of obsessing over the outcome. I’ll turn off the noise and hunt my own hunt. And I will finally return to my hunting community, even if it means a little less bow-in-hand time in the woods.

Sure, it’s great to fill in your tags and I want to do it the same as the next guy. But not at the expense of the joy of hunting.