I realized that my head wasn’t in the game. I was legitimately getting worried at how dehydrated I would become if I stuck it out another night and morning with 4 miles still to hike back to the trailhead (where more water was waiting for me). I also realized I was no longer having ANY fun. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fully aware that there are plenty of un-fun moments in any given hunt, and things should get difficult and uncomfortable along the way…it’s part of what makes the sense of accomplishment so high. But, it was no longer about adventure or the potential for success…I was ONLY out there because I hadn’t killed anything yet this fall and felt like I had something to prove. I was now officially out there for the wrong reasons!

As the days drag on and success evades you, it can become so easy to get discouraged. “This will never work!” “What am I doing out here?” “I am just a terrible hunter and my family is going to starve!” Anyone else have these thoughts running through their head out there? That alarm goes off early in the morning, and you lie there arguing with yourself about how it’s a waste of time to even bother…why not just stay in your sleeping bag and save yourself the embarrassment of taking your bow for a hike today? But, I try to keep the following three thoughts at the front of my mind on any hunt, and it drastically changes my ability to be successful.