Faced with creaking joints and a growing aversion to delving into a carcass in the dark, cold and wet, I let a lot more late in day deer walk away now than I ever did. But I am always glad to be there to see them with a gun in hand.
As a rule I don't use tree stands or feed plots or other bait so most of those I see are because I know the terrain I hunt and ambush them where and when they move. Those deer that pop up out of nowhere usually see or hear me as I'm snooping around and go into after burner. That is not me giving them a pass that's just them beating me.
I love that game and recognize the killing as the logical end and point of it all. The whole endeavor would be meaningless w/o the end game mix of sorrow -- not regret -- and elation at taking part in a cycle as old as time and 'truer' than the empty satisfactions of modern gadget-based life. The venison on the table seals the deal.
1B
