Why I Love Hunting

[Robert]

I am sitting here are 0400 watching Meat Eater on Netfix and find myself dreaming of the fall when I can venture out into the mountains in search of an animal that I am convinced only live in Estes Park and my mom's front yard (where I can't shoot them). Elk.

I love being out there. In the rain, the snow, the cold, the hot, all of it. I love sitting on a ridge or hillside that I just spent 3 hours climbing and glassing the valley and far side below me. The wind in my face, the sun (or snow) beating down on me. Spreading my maps out, I'm a map guy, and whispering about we we should head to next. Because hey, there may be an Elk near by and I'd hate to spook it.

Spending all morning climbing high up the side of a mountain to where they should be, only to hear shooting going on way down in the valley floor where Elk have no business being. Reaching the top, feeling dejected and grinding out the return trip. Even if Greg is trying to drop into a drainage that will bring us out miles from where we want to be. I won the day on that and kept us on course. Humping my 10 lbs rife up and down mountains, ridges, drainages, hills and valleys when the internet says anything other than a 6 lbs rifle will kill you.

The feeling of wandering into camp at the end of the day, after dark, wore out but content with your effort that day. Light the camp stove, or the cook fire and fixing a dinner and talking about the highs and lows of the day. Maybe sharing a drink before retiring to the tent or camper. Sharing great times and experiences with a great friend. I've only been hunting for a few years and have yet to take an animal but I spend most of my off season planning for a week of hunting in the fall. Why? Because despite all the pain and cold and miserable time spent sitting on the side of a mountain waiting for an animal that does not seem to really exist, I love it. All of it.

 

[Captcurt]

I understand. I spent 2 hours last night trying to get a deer out of a Hell hole. Took a 20 yard shot at a big deer right at dark. Had good blood on my arrow, but the hit had been a high lung hit. The antlerless buck went 200 yards down a 30 degree grade. I went back to my truck to fetch a rope and ran into a farmhand who was about to go home. He offered to help and the 2 of us finally drug the deer to the truck. I said last night that the next one would be in the middle of the road and I would head shoot it.

You would think that a man who has spent 65 years on this earth would have a little sense, but no-o-o. I feel pretty good this morning. In fact, I think that I'll do it again.

 

[Art Eatman]

Yup. BTDT. I feel sorry for those who don't hunt, who have no concept of the satisfaction in one's soul of a day in the out-of-doors. Hunting is a tie to hundreds of generations of ancestors--and you don't get that in an apartment.

 

[MCgunner]

I just enjoy watching the sun rise over a duck marsh or rice field, watching the stars in a cloudless winter sky when I'm on the tree stand before sun up. I used to hunt rough country in New Mexico. I loved the spot and stalk game when I was in my 40s. Now that I'm about medicare eligible, I'm not so athletic. I have my memories, though, and I'll let the youngsters make memories of their own. I just love being in nature to this day, whether I'm hunting or not. But, those early morning flights of teal make getting up early worth it.

But, it's fast becoming time to fish. I have to get the boat ready to run lines on the river, a trip to the lake, or maybe back down to the coast where the fishing is better. I've always fished in summer to supplement my time in the outdoors when there was nothing to hunt. I never got excited about spring turkey until we moved here. We actually have turkey here, in abundance. I called in and shot my second turkey EVER last May. Life is good.

 

[CoRoMo]

I've said it many times, elk are phantoms; absolute ghosts that can evaporate into, or materialize out of thin air. They can be as silent as the grave, or as loud as a train wreck. They sometimes seem to be psychic, omniscient, knowing all the things that I can't understand, predict, or figure out. Then other times, they are as dumb as bawling cattle and can't manage to keep themselves from getting killed. I've watched a bull smell me, startle, stumble around before settling down and grazing right back into my scent stream to do it all over again. I've also seen a bull read his cows like a magician; his cows caught me while he was out of sight, screaming his face off. Their change in direction and absolute quiet movements told him everything he needed to know. He disappeared into silence and nothingness as if he were never there and I imagined the whole thing.

For me, the thing I love most about elk hunting is that one moment, it can last several minutes in fact, that instant where I see my quarry and I realize, "I've outsmarted them!!". I beat them in their own habitat and I'm about to fill my tag. That sound, the twig snap, the leaves crack, I turn my head and see the ghost of my prey emerge from the morning haze. I chirp one last call and the devil steps right into my lane and I'm breathing like a racehorse as I move the front sight just aft the shoulder.

There is no feeling like that one.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Spending days in the high country. Muscles are weary, bones creaky. My spirit is strong and my hunters soul pushes me on. Last light of the last day I am given the gift of a sorel colored hide amongst the oak brush.

I finish packing out the last load well after the stars are bright and the cold air fills my lungs..

Love is too mild a word for how I feel about hunting elk in the high country.

 

[J-Bar]

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks to all of you.

My hunting experiences are more brief; an afternoon chasing rabbits, a day following bird dogs trying to find a covey of quail, hunkering in a fence row waiting for doves, a few hours in a deer stand after getting off work. Safaris and high country pack trips are unlikely for me, but my quick trips to the field are precious nonetheless. I'm delighted that love of hunting does not depend on the number of hours invested, and that the experiences of others are almost as enjoyable.

 

[Robert]

Dove hunting is a totally different animal. Clustered in little groups in a friend's field on opening day listening to the stories and lies told about the hunting trips from last fall and the trips to come is absolutely one of my favorite events. Don't so much care for the taste of dove but I love the comrades.

I was still watching Meat Eater before bed this morning, I work nights, when my wife wanders by and sees he is turkey hunting. She asks me, why don't I take up turkey hunting? I don't have a shotgun at the moment and when I tell her what a 930 or 935 would cost she says, "that's not much" and maybe I should look into turkey hunting. She likes turkey. OK baby, if you are going to twist my arm...

 

[Captcurt]

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks to all of you.

My hunting experiences are more brief; an afternoon chasing rabbits, a day following bird dogs trying to find a covey of quail, hunkering in a fence row waiting for doves, a few hours in a deer stand after getting off work. Safaris and high country pack trips are unlikely for me, but my quick trips to the field are precious nonetheless. I'm delighted that love of hunting does not depend on the number of hours invested, and that the experiences of others are almost as enjoyable.

 

[Captcurt]

I cut my teeth on quail back when we had quail. I had a friend whose father had connections in Mexico and I was invited to go with them a couple of times. We went for 2 weeks and got to hunt 10 days. Had to limit ourselves to 2 boxes of shells a day so we had to leave the doves alone. I remember one day we hunted 2 1/2 hours with the two old men only hunting about an hour each. Four of use killed 43 birds. There is a weird bird there called a chachalaca that we finally figured out a way to take. We would hear them cackle or crow early in the mornings. We would send our guides around them and let them drive them to us. Line up along a road and bust them when they flew over. Just like driven pheasants except for the mesquite, cactus, and rattle snakes.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Reaching the top, feeling dejected and grinding out the return trip. Even if Greg is trying to drop into a drainage that will bring us out miles from where we want to be. I won the day on that and kept us on course.

Hey! If you would have done it my way we would have gotten an extra 16 hours of "hunting" in while we tried to find the truck. And at least we found out what was at the top of the mountain. A major road.

 

[Milt1]

Robert, the next time you go hunting I hope Sasquatch gets you! Just kidding as I've been in your shoes. Eventually, I reached a point in my hunting where I decided that life was precious to all animals and therefore gave up hunting but there was time when hunting captured my heart for a long long time. I get a lot of satisfaction out of punching holes in paper now but I remember the peace of sitting on a stand and watching nature happen around me. Great feeling! By the way keep an eye out for Sasquatch!

 

[BigBore44]

I'll say this.... To those that have never experienced hunting, I truly pity them. I realize it's not for everyone. But there is a comfort and peace in hunting that I truly do not believe can be experienced any other way. And I thank God that I live in a country that affords me the freedom to experience it.

 

[huntsman]

Back when I was a duck hunter I used to love being in the swamp at dawn, watching as the world came alive again and the sweet smell of decay, but I had more success in the evenings in late fall when the low cloud cover and rain/snow made everything dark wet and miserable.

Upland bird hunting with a dog was my favorite because I could wake up at a decent hour have breakfast and get to the coverts about 9:00am, the mornings were cold but then the dog and I kept moving. The late morning/early afternoon were the best, a beautiful high blue sky bright sun and colors beyond description(especially in the low lands). Stop about 1:00 for lunch and smoke my pipe while the dog napped in the leaves, hunt a couple more hours a be home in time for dinner.

Deer hunting to me is a mixed bag of enduring the cold/snow and enjoying what few nice days we get for late November and early December, I don't get the same rush as I used to at dawn (as I did in the duck swamp) I don't know maybe because I'm older and less tolerant of the cold.

 

[MCgunner]

I'll say this.... To those that have never experienced hunting, I truly pity them. I realize it's not for everyone. But there is a comfort and peace in hunting that I truly do not believe can be experienced any other way. And I thank God that I live in a country that affords me the freedom to experience it.

There's often moments afield that are priceless that you could experience without a gun, but that you wouldn't be there if you WEREN'T hunting. One trip up the "Bonal", a creek/marsh that comes off a huge ranch on upper Lavaca Bay, going duck hunting, I witnessed an Osprey catch a fish, swooped down off a perch on a fence post. I'd not seen that before or since. This year, laying in the goose marsh, we saw a bald eagle. The guide says they've become common around here in the last decade. Who knew? I've gone and seen nesting eagles a couple of times when I was told they were there, but never witnessed one in the field like this. THEN, a huge roost of geese came up over a rice canal from us, came over out of range. Guide says they probably got spooked by an eagle. Seems eagles eat a lot of snow geese around here. Sure enough, as the last of the flock moved over us, here comes an eagle looking for stragglers. There are lots of wounded birds during hunting season, thanks to steel shot.

We shot some birds that morning, not alot, but a few. Not enough wind to get 'em interested in wanting a place to sit down. We did a lot better the next day. BUT, seeing those eagles chasing geese made my day. You just don't see that sort of thing sitting in your living room.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Hunting takes you off the beaten path. Into the less often traveled back country. That is where you see some of the most amazing things nature has to offer. When visiting a national park and confined to the trails I always feel like I'm in the Disney version of nature.

I've watched with my own two eyes a pride of lions take down and kill a Cape buffalo bull. They were about 50 yards away we were on foot in honest goodness wild African back country. Not some game/ national park viewing the event from the safety of a zebra stripped turoid mobile.

I've been charged by wild elephant in the Jesse bush. I've been face to face with brown bears and grizzlys and black bears at spitting distance. I've seen all assortment of wildlife doing what they do naturally. I've had a badger waddle to within feet of me and my daughter while we were still hunting bears. I've seen various birds of prey make kills. I've watched a mother grizzly and her two cubs repeatedly slide down a snow bank just for fun. These are all things are a completely different experience and feel when you are alone or with a couple of other hunters and they occur at random in real life wild country. I can go up to Estes Park and watch the elk rutt with 500 other people. It's cool but it's not even close to the same feel as watching true wild elk doing the same in the back country with a bow or rifle in your hands. And having packed in and finding these critters is way different than paying an entrance fee at the park then driving to the known elk viewing area. One is an honest outdoors experience the other feels prearranged and generic.

 

[jmr40]

I'm an outdoorsman 1st, hunter 2nd. Many times I leave the house and tell my wife I'm going hiking with a rifle. When hunting season is not open my wife and I spend as much time as possible outdoors hiking, backpacking, kayaking and fishing. But when doing that I feel that I'm visiting nature. When hunting I feel that I'm part of nature.

 

[hps1]

Oh yeah! Can't match sights like this on the TV set.





















Sunset always comes too soon.

Regards,
hps

 

[MCgunner]

A guy I used to work with was a nature photography nut. He sells his photos to magazines and such, anyone wanting 'em. He's sold one that made the cover of National Geographic. He has hunted with me, doves and ducks. I don't think he's ever shot a deer, but he's a pretty good wing shot.

His work is at ... http://jhersey.zenfolio.com/

 

[H&Hhunter]

Oh yeah! Can't match sights like this on the TV set.





















Sunset always comes too soon.

Regards,
hps

Gotta love Texas! I sure do miss having my lease down there!

 

[Robert]

Hunting takes you off the beaten path. Into the less often traveled back country. That is where you see some of the most amazing things nature has to offer. When visiting a national park and confined to the trails I always feel like I'm in the Disney version of nature.

I've watched with my own two eyes a pride of lions take down and kill a Cape buffalo bull. They were about 50 yards away we were on foot in honest goodness wild African back country. Not some game/ national park viewing the event from the safety of a zebra stripped turoid mobile.

I've been charged by wild elephant in the Jesse bush. I've been face to face with brown bears and grizzlys and black bears at spitting distance. I've seen all assortment of wildlife doing what they do naturally. I've had a badger waddle to within feet of me and my daughter while we were still hunting bears. I've seen various birds of prey make kills. I've watched a mother grizzly and her two cubs repeatedly slide down a snow bank just for fun. These are all things are a completely different experience and feel when you are alone or with a couple of other hunters and they occur at random in real life wild country. I can go up to Estes Park and watch the elk rutt with 500 other people. It's cool but it's not even close to the same feel as watching true wild elk doing the same in the back country with a bow or rifle in your hands. And having packed in and finding these critters is way different than paying an entrance fee at the park then driving to the known elk viewing area. One is an honest outdoors experience the other feels prearranged and generic.

You hit the nail on the head. When we were camping in RMNP last year I was totally disinterested in the elk. It was canned to me, total spam. I get it, folks from overseas or other parts of the nation may only getting see them once in their life and for them it was amazing. And don't get me wrong they were beautiful and amazing, but it was not the same. It was like driving through a safari ranch in TX...Just not the same.

 

[Skeet 25]

I love to hunt , done it all my life. Time alone in the outdoors always leads my thoughts to our Maker. The miracles of nature are present everywhere. I'm always thankful for a harvest , mushroom or game animal. I too, feel sorry for those that have never hunted because they don't understand hunting from killing. I don't know a single person that hunted for the first time and didn't enjoy it. Maybe it was the candy and lunch they enjoyed the most but so what. Happy hunting and take a new one as often as possible.