I Didn’t Kill a Buck This Year, and That is Okay

For the second consecutive deer season I’ve gone buck-less. No mounter, no gathering around the tailgate, no friendly visits to the taxidermist. 

Oh wait, I did gather around a tailgate on opening day of gun season. The neighbor dropped by to show off his wife’s 17-pointer. Almost forgot about that.

Tough Season

The deer season has closed here in my home state of Kentucky. Dozens of hunts from September to January, I just never had a nice buck appear while I was in the stand.

Occasionally, a level of anxiety about going buck-less hits me during deer season. It becomes a discourager and even a deterrent, if I let it. I suppose I’m not the only one with those feelings. It’s self-inflicted anxiety and I don’t always know what brings it about.

I don’t worry much about the score of a deer and I certainly don’t attempt to outdo others. That’s not even close to what hunting means to me. My goal every year is to wait on a buck that would become my personal best and/or be right around the same size as my biggest buck on the wall. 

Those deer have eluded me the last two seasons, and to be honest, I think that’s where the anxiety comes from. It’s frustrating that I’m not seeing any nice bucks. I’m not getting a chance and I know some nice bucks are in the area.

Reflection

Despite going buck-less, I had a pretty great deer season. I saw deer almost every time in the stand. During the October youth gun weekend, my son and I saw 13 deer in one morning. I was fortunate to get a small doe during the October muzzleloading season, and another small deer during gun season. I saw a lot of small bucks during rifle season too, a great sign for the future.

Passing the bucks up will allow them to get older and grow bigger. This is positive step in the management of our little family farm. It took discipline to not shoot one of those bucks that I saw. I can take some pride in that I didn’t shoot one of those bucks just to fill my tag. Why shoot a basket rack 8-pointer if it’s not what you’re waiting for? Am I shooting a buck just to prevent going buck-less?

Big Picture

Hunting is about watching the sun come up. It’s a bout hearing a turkey gobble in the distance, or watching a squirrel stretch up in its nest. Hunting is about listening to the woods, hearing acorns click and clank off branches as they fall to the ground.

Hunting is about being good stewards of the land. It’s about the conservation of natural resources. When I start to feel that anxiety about going buck-less hitting me, I remind myself to think about why hunting is so special. In most cases it’s never about the harvest. I need to enjoy being out there getting after it and I can’t rely on getting one to validate the fun.