Forgetting The Details
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Bowfreak
17-Nov-23
Has this happened to you yet? Walking through your trophy room or your garage or shed where you keep your dinks and you look at a rack and can’t remember where you shot it or any of the details. I honestly can’t believe that my mind has regressed this far as I age or maybe I’ve shot enough deer to loose track. I never thought this was possible. I always thought I would remember every deer, where I shot it, where I hit it, how it was oriented, the details of the hunt, etc. I do believe I can jog some of my memories by going back and looking at old pictures, but I never thought I’d need to do that.
From: cnelk
17-Nov-23
It gets worse... way worse
From: TonyBear
17-Nov-23
Write it down, talk with friends in your hunting community-they will remind you of your failures and successes.
From: Bowfreak
17-Nov-23
I’m not sure why this is surprising, I forget to zip my pants about once a week now. Lol!
From: Catscratch
17-Nov-23
I've always been able to remember the exact spot, orientation, how buried under leafs, and how chewed by squirrels vor every shed antler I've found. I've noticed the last couple of yrs that I can look at my pile of sheds and not be sure on some of them. Frustrating and maybe worrisome to be honest. Watching the future come at ya.
From: 12yards
17-Nov-23
The ones that I put on a plaque or did a Euro mount of I remember. The ones thrown in a bin, I won't remember. Should have written something on the skull plate.
From: Bill in MI
17-Nov-23
As 50 looms this year, I feel it. I've been really out of hunting for about 7 years now (only occasionally get out now after launching a new business and getting remarried). What used to consume me, dreaming of hunts (past and future), planning hunts, preparing for hunts, hunting multi-seasons all over the country, resetting after hunts, land owner relationship building, target shooting...all seemed to keep those memories at the fore. Now, with life distractions and growing kids, expanded family...those specific memories that were burned into my consciousness have faded some.
From: RonP
17-Nov-23
yep, i forget too. some days i have to use the gps to find my way home.
From: buckeye
17-Nov-23
Yes, with each passing season it gets a bit more foggy.
From: fuzzy
17-Nov-23
Honestly, no. I may forget an occasional "dink" but anything I kept I remember
From: Medicinemann
17-Nov-23
That's why I have posted many of my hunts on Bowsite. Some of the ones not posted are in a journal....somewhere.....
From: deerhunter72
17-Nov-23
Mark, I can still remember it all right now, but I have noticed that I do have to think a little harder on some of them. I’ve known a few 90+ people with amazing recalll and also people 40 years younger that struggle. I’m afraid I’m in the latter group. The mind is such a mystery. I have a list written down of several deer with scores and locations but I haven’t kept up with it in years.
From: GFL
17-Nov-23
Deer no Elk yes
From: scentman
17-Nov-23
I can still remember my first doe and buck taken with archery back in '82, '83 respectively... Kolpin broadheads , essence of skunk cover scent... boy did I educate the local Whitetail's back then!
From: drycreek
17-Nov-23
The firsts are hard to forget, it’s the “in-betweens” that fade away.
From: t-roy
17-Nov-23
I was gonna post a comment on this thread……but I can’t for the life of me, remember what it was!
From: Vonfoust
17-Nov-23
A few years ago I started noticing the same thing. That year I took masking tape and wrote the year down and attached it to the antlers. Not sure it will help in the long run but for now it really jogged the memory.
From: greg simon
17-Nov-23
Just do like me and don't kill much. Makes it easier to remember.
From: Brotsky
17-Nov-23
What's unfortunate is I never seem to forget where work is.
From: Beendare
17-Nov-23
Yeah, hard to remember all of the critters I’ve shot…but I can picture a bad miss on a 330” bull from 25 years ago clear as day.
From: Charlie Rehor
17-Nov-23
Since I started bow hunting in 1981 I’ve kept a log book of all bow killed deer. I put in enough info to recall each and every one. As I age I’m really glad I did it.
From: badbull
17-Nov-23
I never thought that I would forget about any of the details of any of my hunts but at 85 years old I think that I may have been wrong. Regarding my mounted animals I can remember details vividly and how I felt on those hunts. Other antlers that I have around not so much.
From: Jaquomo
17-Nov-23
I've had it happen to me with elk racks in the garage rafters.....and women...
From: t-roy
17-Nov-23
How are you getting those women up into the rafters, Lou?…
From: tobywon
17-Nov-23
What was the question??
From: Bowfreak
18-Nov-23
Troy,
Don’t you remember the “hip” x-ray? He scares them into the rafters.
From: Thornton
19-Nov-23
Never forgot a single detail of 28 years of deer, elk, and pronghorn hunting. Only regret is getting all these shoulder mounts I can't put in the barn to make room for the new ones. I wish I'd have done Euros. That being said, the emphasis they once held has certainly declined. My urge to hunt has not. I have begun to prioritize what I hunt, putting more effort in joining friends to make memories and taking my dogs out rather than idolizing these stupid deer that can consume one's life. I figure when I'm old and on my way out, the only important memories regarding hunting will be friends, family, and my dogs.
From: drycreek
19-Nov-23
Good point Thorton. I went to an early Thanksgiving lunch yesterday and saw some guys I hadn’t seen in twenty years. We had a great time remembering hunting and fishing that we did together. It was also a good reminder to keep in touch.
From: badbull
19-Nov-23
Thornton, you are correct regarding "important hunting memories" involving family and friends as they are by far the most important ones for me, Badbull.
From: Bake
19-Nov-23
I write almost every hunt down. Every fishing trip. I also wrote down interesting scouting trios (if I learned something). Things that are interesting to me.
Sometimes I forget. I do a lot of short excursions before and after work. Sometimes I’ll go make one coyote set, or take the dog down one fence row or something for 15-20 minutes. I forget to write those down sometimes.
I can remember a lot. But not all of them.
I even take notes on OnX for where I found birds, or where turkeys roosted consistently, things like that. Helps me remember and who knows when that stuff might be useful ;). Probably never, but it’s a part of the process that I enjoy.
