# Giving up on hunting.



## Former grunt (Feb 26, 2018)

Not really, made that joke last weekend after shooting a squirrel that I was done hunting for good, selling my equipment and guns, joining PETA. Just had a thought after that I don't know anyone personally to have just quit hunting all together for whatever reason. Just wondering if anyone knows someone who stepped away for hunting besides for health reasons.


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

Lots of them.

Too much effort for them


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## skipper34 (Oct 13, 2005)

I had a friend who up and quit and sold his crossbow and guns. Never gave me an explanation.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

I quit deer hunting about 15 years back. No matter how hard I tried, I could never make the horns everyone was after taste good. I tried boiling em, pressure cookers and the works. The whole idea of planting food plots for bait when I could just drop some veggies seemed like too much work for me too.

I love it when the deer hunters leave the woods and I can squirrel hunt in peace...


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

With my daughter aged out of the youth hunts and getting ready for college, I just don't enjoy duck hunting as much without her around as I do with her. Probably time to take a few seaons off and get into all that fall fishing I've missed out on.


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

I just had a friend drop out. Age and health related.


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## stickbow shooter (Dec 19, 2010)

A couple cousins have stopped hunting .One moved to South Carolina the other cousin stopped because of no baiting . My FIL stopped hunting because of the bait ban also. Other guys in our old camp just stopped because they just lost interest in it ,health reasons or death.


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## Southsider1 (Dec 22, 2014)

Gave it up a few years ago. I wasn’t for lack of success, I just got to the point that I didn’t enjoy the reward vs the time spent anymore. Constantly dealing with trespassing didn’t help my attitude either. Coupled with the fact age has made me less and less tolerant for dealing with people’s BS 

I would rather spend my free time on the water. 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Drakedog (Feb 28, 2019)

Yes I have known a couple, but why would that cross your mind after a squirrel? And what exactly was the joke??


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## Sasquatch Lives (May 23, 2011)

I know one guy quit it for fishing, another because no more baiting and he didn't see any deer and another's kid after he realized that there is not as much buck action during regular gun season as during the youth hunt.


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## carpetbagger (Jun 12, 2015)

Didn't give up hunting but scaled way back. The aggravation that comes with habitual trespasser's no longer makes it as enjoyable as it used to be. Plus, most of our legacy hunting members have died off and we could not successfully recruit the younger generation. I'll still get out there, but I'm more focused on being in the grandpa business.


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## Wolverick (Dec 11, 2008)

I didn't go as much as usual. Not to go into too much detail but my business has been on the decline due to factors beyond my control. It`s hard to sit in a blind when you have so much presure weighing on your mind. The good news is I have made adjustments (found a job) and things are looking up. Once I`m through the required training things should be pretty good. I`m already thinking about adding food plots and brush piles so this Fall I can live as I was intended to.

The whole baiting complaint is BS to me. I have taken just as many deer without it as with. For guys who have to travel it was a huge time saver, concentrating deer into marginal habitat and reducing legwork. I understand the frustration but come on, get out there and hunt! Sorry, just my opinion and not intended to troll/flame.


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

My dad and all of his brothers. November 15th 1960. That was the day their mother and my grandmother was raped and murdered in Lansing. 
My dad and uncles were at deer camp at Lake George. They all blamed themselves for not being home when it happened. My dad got me into rabbit hunting and beagles when I was 12 but never really hunted after that


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

I have never given up hunting but I have certainly changed the game I am after many times. When I got into bow hunting I loved that way more then gun season. I went through a phase where duck season was all I could think about. Bow hunting became a two weekend/1 week ordeal. Rifle season took precidence then. The years i have drawn a bear tag it has been all out bear hunting. My turkey seasons have gone on and off with steelhead fishing. Lately my main focus has been upland hunting. I have a bird dog that has been outstanding the last two seasons and I cant get enough of it. I hunted 5 straight weekends and took a 9 day trip to the UP with him. Only bow hunted 2 days this year. I also had a couple years recently where trapping was my main passion. 

I have been promarily a walleye fisherman the last decade but the last 2 years i have been coaching highschool bass fishing. That consumes alot of my time, money and passion. Absolutley love it though.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

reddog1 said:


> My dad and all of his brothers. November 15th 1960. That was the day their mother and my grandmother was raped and murdered in Lansing.
> My dad and uncles were at deer camp at Lake George. They all blamed themselves for not being home when it happened. My dad got me into rabbit hunting and beagles when I was 12 but never really hunted after that


WOW.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

The guy I hunted with both in and out of state for a dozen years. Great guy, had the best gear and firearms but after a successful moose hunt in 2014 he said "I've killed everything I've wanted to kill" and simply quit hunting. He sold his 50% interest in his camp to his BIL the next year. Every couple of years he makes some noises about going out west or after deer again but it never goes further than that. FM


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## bobberbill (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm pretty much retired from hunting. Got a new lab pup, so I've been taking her to the woods and fencerows. Predators have wiped most everything out. Gets us both out for exercise. Kids are grown and gone, and a couple old hunting friends have gone fishing, too.


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## Former grunt (Feb 26, 2018)

Drakedog said:


> Yes I have known a couple, but why would that cross your mind after a squirrel? And what exactly was the joke??


I was just joking with my buddies after I shot it, pretending that I was some newbie hipster that decided hunting wasn't my thing and the 20 guage shotgun was too loud and scary. The only way I ever see myself giving up hunting and fishing is by death or something seriously medical.


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

I have not given up on hunting but because of back issues I did not deer hunt this past season. I did however run hare on the Island in October but that was mostly from a chair. I'm having surgery in 2 weeks so I'm hoping things will get better


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## chemjunkie (Sep 16, 2015)

I quit in 1987 when I moved out of state and had kids. Restarted in 2017 with my first time deer hunting. I'm sorry I stopped but happier that my friend invited me along for a deer hunt. All it took was someone to push me a little.


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