Have you ever lost your motivation

powdergun

powdergun

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I am starting to get on the older side of life and it is getting really tough to get motivated this year. All the good friends I regularly hunted with have passed away and my son seems to have lost interest in hunting for now.

It isn't that there are no good places to hunt around me and for the last few years I've gotten used to hunting alone but for some reason I just couldn't give a crap this year.

Should I take a year off ? Have any of you older fellows gone through this as well ?

When I was in my 40's and younger I just could'nt wait for the season but hunting alone just is getting tiresome.
 
Nope, some mournings I just sleep in ..........just because.
Yesterday rather than going fishing I loaded up the new to me fur (Kodiak)
and went for a run.
An area a bit further east than where I normally go.
Dang Nuvi 550 was being a pest.
I took with me my new to me and put together an old Winchester 69a.
Put a Weaver 4x Classic on it purchased here and a set of short legs.
It fit well on the side of the quad in them rubber coated sling shot style holders.
Got out in the bush.
Found four black bears, a mulie, bunch of grouse, a gut pile which them black
kakkl'in things gave away.
Bunch of sunshine and no one else out there.
Felt pretty good with my bore sighting on the rimfire too.
She got covered in dust, but narry a complaint from her.
Now to find a 15 shot mag for her.

Powdergun, don't stress yourself. Git yer arse out of bed late and go for a jaunt.
Take a gun for a walk.
No one will care whether you shoot or not.
The hike is good for the soles..........errrrrrrrrr................soul.

:wave:
 
Thanks for this thread, I think the discussions to follow will benefit a lot of us and I admire your honesty and candidness in discussing this topic.

I'm still in my early 30's and get excited for the seasons but I can relate to your post because I have found that for me hunting has always been something I enjoy for the activity itself but the richest experiences were generally when I had companions to plan and hunt with. Lately, more and more of my main hunting companions have focused more time on marriages, children and even trap lines, leaving them with little or no desire to hunt. The more I have had to resort to hunting alone, the more I feel my motivation and desire wane. It's unfortunate, however, I think I know the answer, at least for me.

My suggestion would be to see if there is anyone you can get back to planning and hunting with. The right relationship of that kind may give you the motivation and revived excitement you are looking for. Last winter, I hunted a couple of times (predator season) with members of a local forum and it was great. This fall, my excitement comes from planning a series of trips with a good friend. Reconnect with any hunting buddies you can talk to or maybe look for new ones. It's a surefire way to help the motivation and enjoyment.

Best of luck!
 
How about finding a youth hunter to mentor? I'm sure you have experience that you can't find on google that would be invaluable to someone just starting out.
 
I'm only in my 30's and I find it hard to become motivated.
Have only seen one deer, one time since april, no fll turkey season here though I have seen a few, no rabbit sign, a few ducks and geese around but only on the lake which is habitated with citiots. No one to hunt with, my land doesn't hold any game anymore, no motivation.
 
Things change. Why are you worrying about that fact.

All my life I have moved on from old hobbies and activities and started new ones. Some have survived for over 50 years (like hunting), but some others have just found less and less time in my life until, in truth, I have stopped doing them. But I never feel bad about changing what I do for fun, because whatever I'm doing for fun is always fun. That is the point, is it not? If you are having fun, just enjoy it. If you are not enjoying it any more, move on. It is a complete waste of your life to cling to old habits simply because they are old habits, or to try to force feed something that has lost its appeal (for whatever reasons).

You will lose everything you have or love at some point. Better be willing to accept that, or life will be pretty disappointing.
 
My main problem is that no one around me hunts and any old friends that do are in other provinces. Like a lot of us time constraints and obligations limit what we can do. The death of a couple of great hunting friends over the past few years has also taken its toll as well.

I take the dog out every evening for a good hike and we always see waterfowl and we even saw a doe with triplets. But that feeling you typically get when you see game and you hunt just wasn't there. It is like hunting has become something I have to do rather than something I want to do.

One of my fears is that if I stop I will never go back to it and I am not ready to give it up.
 
I am experiencing the opposite of you.

I am now in my 50's and have been really ramping up my hunting in the past few years. This year I hunted Turkey in the spring, leave for a week of Moose Hunting on the 18th of this month.

Three days after getting back from the moose trip I will be in my bowstand because archery deer starts. And on one hand I hope I still have my deer tag in November so I can spend a week on the gun hunt - and if someone in my bunch has a tag left and wants to go out, we usually sit in the late bow until it's too cold (because while still motivated, we are getting "soft" and like to be comfortable - I won't freeze anymore or get soaked "just to hunt"). But in the past two years it has been nice sitting the stand for a couple of hours on New Years Eve.

And in between there will be some bird hunting, coyote's and maybe even a black bear if one gets in the way.

Why the renewed interest on my part? I blame it on my father.

He started taking me deer and moose hunting before I can clearly remember. As I got a little older not only did he take me out of school for a week in November, I also got to carry a "gun" while we were deer hunting (ok, it was a 22 pump, but I was "cool") :)

By the time I was a teen life had got in the way for my Dad - work, community groups, other commitments plus the "new" hunting restrictions (pool systems, regulated deer hunts) plus all the "private land" had put a damper on his hunting endeavors.

He always said that when he retired @ 55 years of age he would get back into some "serious hunting".

Well, he just turned 80 last June and hasn't hunted a day since him and I last went out 30 some years ago. He retired early at age 53 because his diabetes was so advanced that they were considering amputating one of his legs. He never got back into any kind of outdoor pursuits, never mind our remote moose trips or deer hunts over dogs.

So for me, as I approached 50 I realized my days could also well be numbered - at least my hunting seasons. So every year that I'm able to walk the woods or climb into the stand I WILL be there.

I figure there may well be many years when I "can't" hunt that I'm not going to toss away the ones that I can. And when I'm lying on my death bed I just can't see myself thinking "I'm sure glad I didn't go hunting back in 2015 - I had a much better time laying around the couch for that week".
 
powdergun said:
I am starting to get on the older side of life and it is getting really tough to get motivated this year. All the good friends I regularly hunted with have passed away and my son seems to have lost interest in hunting for now.

It isn't that there are no good places to hunt around me and for the last few years I've gotten used to hunting alone but for some reason I just couldn't give a crap this year.

Should I take a year off ? Have any of you older fellows gone through this as well ?

When I was in my 40's and younger I just could'nt wait for the season but hunting alone just is getting tiresome.
Click to expand...

I'm hunting alone too. It's hard to find someone willing to take a day off for the purpose of hunting but there's plenty of weekend hunters. Are you from SK?
 
The motivation comes and goes for me, and I'm just a couple years short of 7 decades. I still enjoy a day out, love to see the sunrises and the sunsets, breathe in the dank musty smells of the autumn woods, feel the warm afternoon sun on my back, and the cool evening breeze on my face. Most of all, I think I enjoy the camraderie that comes with spending time outdoors in the company of family members and long time friends.

For me, the actual "thrill" of the hunt though, is definitely no longer what it once was ... pretty much to the point of me not really caring whether there is game to bring home at the end of the day. That lack of excitement and drive, combined with the sweet, alluring comforts of home, often make it difficult to engage in all the preparation required for several days, or even a single day out hunting. Yet it is very difficult to give it up altogether, because it has been an integral part of what has defined me, both for myself and for others, for so many years.

Before retirement, I was also defined by my work, and until my early sixties, by the fact that I played hockey(though not especially well). My children are all grown, and are raising families of their own, so the "dad" role, while still there to be filled, is nothing like it once was.

Nowadays I'm a grandpa, a hockey spectator, a Blue Jays fan, a reloader, a gun "tinkerer", a gardener, a cook, an avid reader of non-fiction outdoor adventures and Canadian history ... hell, I even go to the symphony. My personal rule is "It's gotta be fun." My hunting this year will include weekday outings (pleasant weather and good roads only) within 50 or 60 Km of home, one 4 day stint with good friends in the Peace River country, and ... I never thought I would be doing this next one ... a two day "canned" upland shoot in Alberta with a couple sons and a friend of theirs who has a pair of fine setters. The evenings will feature hearty meals, fine whisky, story telling, and much laughter.

Hunting is still a part of me. It's just a much smaller part than it once was.

Apologies for the verbal dia....a.
 
45+ opening mornings...

I've been retired for a couple of years and have the opportunity now to spend way more time in the field, so I have been. Mostly alone, my long time friend and best hunting partner passed unexpectedly a month ago, I like the company.

I really like the wild game table fare and will take it when it comes but at the end of the day getting something really doesn't much matter anymore. Being out there, the chase and anticipation, is still great fun.

Must admit, this gets me going without fail.

View attachment 34004
 
Good thread, sure is nice to read a thread where everyone knows how to spell and use punctuation for a change.
I'm looking forward to getting out this year, was out the year before last and got a bird(Grouse) for my first time in over 20 years.
I always enjoyed hunting, family life has taken a lot out of me for the past 5 or 6 years, was working a lot of call and 2 jobs.
Decided to quit the 2nd job, spend more time with the kids, and am going to get out every chance I get this year, even though I will
be driving a long ways to hunt with my oldest and best friend. All of my fondest memories were hunting with the gang when I was a teenager,
now its time to make some new ones.
 
I lost all motivation when my daughter was born. Now she is 7 I'm am slowly getting back into hunting. As a matter of fact just went on my first grouse trip this morning, got skunked but I'm looking forward to next weekend, gonna do it all over again!
 
ciphery said:
I'm only in my 30's and I find it hard to become motivated.
Have only seen one deer, one time since april, no fll turkey season here though I have seen a few, no rabbit sign, a few ducks and geese around but only on the lake which is habitated with citiots. No one to hunt with, my land doesn't hold any game anymore, no motivation.
Click to expand...

This makes Ontario sound like a post-apocalyptic wasteland... :eek:

Is it really that bad? In BC we think nothing of an all day (18hr) drive to go hunting, at least the folks I know, but even where they are leaving there are still animals. I have trouble envisioning a place the size of Ontario being so desolate and dead, even if on rural acreages and not crown. I chat with an Ontario hunter now who's taken more bears and moose than I ever will- and many mighty impressive ones. I think you just need to get out there, truly out there, hunting isn't easy and that's why we love it.
 
Ice dog I think you have described it perfectly. We will have to see what this season and the ones to come will bring. Personally my struggle now is to find out what I want to do compared to what my past experiences say I have to do.
 
No, not at all.

In the last ten days ive seen a wonderful 3~ year old bear rolling around in the oat field like a puppy. Ive got lots of deer on the trail cam. Ive got moose more moose droppings and tracks around camp then you could shake a stick at. Grouse flying every which way. Ducks on the pond. A small but steadily rising population of turkeys.

Life is good for a hunter in my little corner of central ON
 
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