sleepyone
Member
This is a very long post, but well worth it; IMHO
I need some feedback from some fellow High Roaders to see if my frustration and concern is warranted or if I am being unrealistic and unforgiving. I invited a co-worker, whom I don’t know very well, to hunt on my in-law’s 200 acres. I just started this job in August and came to learn he was a hunter; or so he said. The close friend who has gone with me the past several years was out of town and I do not like solo hunting for various reasons. The hunting is excellent and when weather conditions are right you are pretty much guaranteed a deer. We have a lot of deer. The rules are guests can take a doe but only family are allowed to take a buck. Everyone we have ever invited is fine with that.
Well I thought I would invite this guy since he said he has no place to hunt but has supposedly hunted hogs, deer, turkey, geese etc. in the past. He asked me what to bring, so I told him all he needed to bring was two bags of deer corn, a bottle of scent killer (my stand is 50 yards from the feeder), and whatever food and drinks he would need except for dinner on Friday night since I was grilling burgers and had already bought everything for that meal. He could split the cost with me on dinner. I live on a tight budget. We also planned on some hog hunting at night, and I told him to bring appropriate equipment for that. He said he had hunted hogs before, so I did not bother to suggest a light for his rifle.
Something inside me told me to take separate trucks in case he needed to leave early or I wanted to stay another day. That turned out to be a very wise decision. Anyway, we get to the farm and I asked him for the corn since I needed to put some out. He said he did not get any because he did not have time. It was Sunday and I told him on Thursday. He said he was at Wal-Mart that day and saw the deer corn but did not have time to get it.
He said we could run to the store and get some, but the closest store with deer corn was 20 miles away. I then asked about scent killer. I had a bottle for myself but I go through it pretty quick. He said he looked in the detergent isle but could not find any and had never heard of it. I am not making this up. I politely explained what it was and where he would have found it. I asked him if he had any food that needed to be put up. He had not brought any food or drink. 
So then I asked what gun he could be using to hunt hogs at NIGHT. He said his Remington Model 770 .30-06 which he had only fired once. He had no light for it, so I let him borrow a really nice flashlight that has 144 lumens but I did not know how it would handle the recoil being taped directly to the barrel of a .30-06. My AR has an awesome green LED light that shines out to 250 yards, but I use a pressure switch to activate it which does not help him when he needs it, and the beam is not wide enough for two rifles when the hogs start spreading out.
We did not see any hogs, but we saw a skunk in one of our pastures about 200 yards out so this guy says he is going to shoot it. Fine, whatever. Well he shoulders his rifle with my high-dollar, high-powered flashlight on his barrel and squeezes the trigger. Nothing happens. He starts messing with the bolt, the safety, the box magazine and keeps squeezing the trigger. Still nothing happens. All this time, the skunk is coming straight for the light, and us, so I tell him we either need to shoot the skunk or leave because we are downwind from him in a pretty strong breeze and I really don’t want to shoot him if he gets any closer. So I start to shoot at it, and I’m so disgusted at this point that I can’t hit the broad side of a barn. Fortunately for the skunk and us, I missed four shots before quitting.:banghead:
The next morning we go deer hunting. I told him he could have the first doe since he was the guest. I would help him harvest the deer, take it back to our trailer and hang it so he could field dress it and quarter it while I went back to the stand to wait for my doe. Of course, he had not brought any knives to dress his deer with but that turned out not to matter. About 7:30 four doe come to the feeder. Three are shooters. The biggest one is a little nervous and goes into the woods and returns a few times. The other two stay the entire time. The second largest one is not nervous at all and stands broadside for several minutes if not 15, but this guy does not shoot. He was waiting for the largest one to turn broadside but it was not going to happen. I “suggested” he take the other one because she was not much smaller than the other one, but he did not. I tried to hint politely that this may be the only shot he gets. It was almost 60 degrees and they were not going to be moving much longer. Just two days earlier when I was hunting by myself it had been 34 degrees and I saw 13 doe by 8am and five of them were nice shooters. So far we had only seen four doe and one button buck, and it was 26 degrees warmer, so I knew this might the only chance for him and me. Well, he had his rifle shouldered for a long time but farted around until they all left. That was that. The funny thing is he had asked if he could harvest 2 doe the night before, which I thought was presumptuous, but he can’t even pull the trigger on one.
Later we are walking down a road where I used to have a stand and was showing him the deer trails. I saw the hind end of a deer flash about 40 yards in front of me, so we knelt down on the road in case more deer were following. A big eight point steps out in the road and sees us. He does not run but turns and walks directly towards us! He was still in rut. He probably came within 30 yards, and stared directly at us. We both had time to look through our scopes a few times and talk about him before he calmly turned and walked away in the woods the direction of the other deer. I had just taken a really nice eight point two days earlier, so I was done for the season as far as a large buck. Our county allows for two bucks per season but only one can have an inside spread greater than 13 inches. My friend suggested that I shoot the deer and use his tag. I'm sure he thought he was being kind, but that comment sealed the deal for me. Inside I wanted to explode, but I calmly said “No, I have my buck, and I will leave him for the family or for next year if he makes it.” At that point, I was done hunting and just wanted him to leave. As it turned out, he had to leave before the afternoon hunt, so we went back to the trailer and began to clean up. I washed dishes while he read my NRA hunting magazine and ate my food.
My wife thinks I over-reacted to him suggesting I shoot the buck and use his tag. She says he just may not be convicted about that yet. I think his statement speaks to an overall character flaw that reflects his overall worldview. There were so many issues with this guy that I don’t know where to begin. Not bringing what he was asked to bring, not being able to operate his weapon, not shooting a doe when he had ample opportunity, not helping clean up the mess he helped to make, suggesting I take a deer illegally, etc.
So fellow High Roaders, am I being unrealistic? As my guest, should I be expected to feed him, clean for him etc. even when he had been told ahead of time what he needed to bring. I was never intentionally rude to this guy, but I’m sure my body language let on that I was put out. I had just shot a large eight-point two days earlier, so the only reason I went on this trip was I had already invited him and wanted to honor my word. You really get to know someone when you go hunting.
I need some feedback from some fellow High Roaders to see if my frustration and concern is warranted or if I am being unrealistic and unforgiving. I invited a co-worker, whom I don’t know very well, to hunt on my in-law’s 200 acres. I just started this job in August and came to learn he was a hunter; or so he said. The close friend who has gone with me the past several years was out of town and I do not like solo hunting for various reasons. The hunting is excellent and when weather conditions are right you are pretty much guaranteed a deer. We have a lot of deer. The rules are guests can take a doe but only family are allowed to take a buck. Everyone we have ever invited is fine with that.
Well I thought I would invite this guy since he said he has no place to hunt but has supposedly hunted hogs, deer, turkey, geese etc. in the past. He asked me what to bring, so I told him all he needed to bring was two bags of deer corn, a bottle of scent killer (my stand is 50 yards from the feeder), and whatever food and drinks he would need except for dinner on Friday night since I was grilling burgers and had already bought everything for that meal. He could split the cost with me on dinner. I live on a tight budget. We also planned on some hog hunting at night, and I told him to bring appropriate equipment for that. He said he had hunted hogs before, so I did not bother to suggest a light for his rifle.
Something inside me told me to take separate trucks in case he needed to leave early or I wanted to stay another day. That turned out to be a very wise decision. Anyway, we get to the farm and I asked him for the corn since I needed to put some out. He said he did not get any because he did not have time. It was Sunday and I told him on Thursday. He said he was at Wal-Mart that day and saw the deer corn but did not have time to get it.
He said we could run to the store and get some, but the closest store with deer corn was 20 miles away. I then asked about scent killer. I had a bottle for myself but I go through it pretty quick. He said he looked in the detergent isle but could not find any and had never heard of it. I am not making this up. I politely explained what it was and where he would have found it. I asked him if he had any food that needed to be put up. He had not brought any food or drink. So then I asked what gun he could be using to hunt hogs at NIGHT. He said his Remington Model 770 .30-06 which he had only fired once. He had no light for it, so I let him borrow a really nice flashlight that has 144 lumens but I did not know how it would handle the recoil being taped directly to the barrel of a .30-06. My AR has an awesome green LED light that shines out to 250 yards, but I use a pressure switch to activate it which does not help him when he needs it, and the beam is not wide enough for two rifles when the hogs start spreading out. We did not see any hogs, but we saw a skunk in one of our pastures about 200 yards out so this guy says he is going to shoot it. Fine, whatever. Well he shoulders his rifle with my high-dollar, high-powered flashlight on his barrel and squeezes the trigger. Nothing happens. He starts messing with the bolt, the safety, the box magazine and keeps squeezing the trigger. Still nothing happens. All this time, the skunk is coming straight for the light, and us, so I tell him we either need to shoot the skunk or leave because we are downwind from him in a pretty strong breeze and I really don’t want to shoot him if he gets any closer. So I start to shoot at it, and I’m so disgusted at this point that I can’t hit the broad side of a barn. Fortunately for the skunk and us, I missed four shots before quitting.:banghead:
The next morning we go deer hunting. I told him he could have the first doe since he was the guest. I would help him harvest the deer, take it back to our trailer and hang it so he could field dress it and quarter it while I went back to the stand to wait for my doe. Of course, he had not brought any knives to dress his deer with but that turned out not to matter. About 7:30 four doe come to the feeder. Three are shooters. The biggest one is a little nervous and goes into the woods and returns a few times. The other two stay the entire time. The second largest one is not nervous at all and stands broadside for several minutes if not 15, but this guy does not shoot. He was waiting for the largest one to turn broadside but it was not going to happen. I “suggested” he take the other one because she was not much smaller than the other one, but he did not. I tried to hint politely that this may be the only shot he gets. It was almost 60 degrees and they were not going to be moving much longer. Just two days earlier when I was hunting by myself it had been 34 degrees and I saw 13 doe by 8am and five of them were nice shooters. So far we had only seen four doe and one button buck, and it was 26 degrees warmer, so I knew this might the only chance for him and me. Well, he had his rifle shouldered for a long time but farted around until they all left. That was that. The funny thing is he had asked if he could harvest 2 doe the night before, which I thought was presumptuous, but he can’t even pull the trigger on one.
Later we are walking down a road where I used to have a stand and was showing him the deer trails. I saw the hind end of a deer flash about 40 yards in front of me, so we knelt down on the road in case more deer were following. A big eight point steps out in the road and sees us. He does not run but turns and walks directly towards us! He was still in rut. He probably came within 30 yards, and stared directly at us. We both had time to look through our scopes a few times and talk about him before he calmly turned and walked away in the woods the direction of the other deer. I had just taken a really nice eight point two days earlier, so I was done for the season as far as a large buck. Our county allows for two bucks per season but only one can have an inside spread greater than 13 inches. My friend suggested that I shoot the deer and use his tag. I'm sure he thought he was being kind, but that comment sealed the deal for me. Inside I wanted to explode, but I calmly said “No, I have my buck, and I will leave him for the family or for next year if he makes it.” At that point, I was done hunting and just wanted him to leave. As it turned out, he had to leave before the afternoon hunt, so we went back to the trailer and began to clean up. I washed dishes while he read my NRA hunting magazine and ate my food.
My wife thinks I over-reacted to him suggesting I shoot the buck and use his tag. She says he just may not be convicted about that yet. I think his statement speaks to an overall character flaw that reflects his overall worldview. There were so many issues with this guy that I don’t know where to begin. Not bringing what he was asked to bring, not being able to operate his weapon, not shooting a doe when he had ample opportunity, not helping clean up the mess he helped to make, suggesting I take a deer illegally, etc.
So fellow High Roaders, am I being unrealistic? As my guest, should I be expected to feed him, clean for him etc. even when he had been told ahead of time what he needed to bring. I was never intentionally rude to this guy, but I’m sure my body language let on that I was put out. I had just shot a large eight-point two days earlier, so the only reason I went on this trip was I had already invited him and wanted to honor my word. You really get to know someone when you go hunting.
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