The Bright side of Hunting

[hoochiepapa]

I agree! You've jogged my memory. When the first elk was killed, we always took the liver and soaked it in salt water overnight, then in the morning, we had omelets with the liver and onions in the eggs. Man, that was living! Elk liver doesn't taste like beef liver, it's much milder, and you could confuse it with steak.

 

[Robby]

Good Job Eric! :thumbsup: :hatsoff: . I was coming out of a thick woods one time and could see a pile of international orange way up in an alfalfa field. I thought, oh Lord some guy humped up and died from a heart attack, or was maybe shot. Well, I already have enough bloody images that I don't want to recall, but I knew I had to check it out, and walked that two hundred yards getting an unsolicited slide show of images that for some reason I couldn't keep in their compartments. I swear, the closer I got the more I could make out parts of a human form until Probably thirty yards away, I realized I had know idea what the heck I was looking at. Turns out it was a weather balloon. Yeah, I was pretty relieved, and used the excess adrenaline to drag it out of the farmers field, and back to my truck. I even called the number that was attached to let them know where it was found.
All in all I have had a wonder filled hunting career, with some success, but always entertained and sometimes awed by what just occurs naturally in the wild.
Robby

 

[Zip]

Gawd, I love these stories! I feel sorry for those who don't hunt, who may camp and backpack in the woods but don't actively partake in the natural cycle of life and death.

For example, I have a good friend who loves to hike and backpack. She even gave me a book of all the wonderful hiking trails in Northern California. I thanked her, realizing that she really had no idea what trails I follow when deer hunting. They are a hill's contour lines, faint cloven-hoofed tracks wandering through soft forest duff, narrow paths influenced by gravity and geography linking stands of timbered cover and hidden waterholes. There are no sign posts or rock cairns or orange surveyor tape pointing the way.

There really is a difference between being an observer who appreciates Nature and being someone who does all that but also enlists in the woods' and mountains' harmonic rhythms of survival.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Paul, I've been around you too long, I'm gettin' wordy.
Eric's post reminds me of a time my dad and I were looking for elk in all the wrong places. (Isn't there a song that goes something like that?) We had gone to Boulder for lunch, and were driving a four-wheel road that I don't even know exists anymore. You could drive from the paved road starting at Baseline up windy Flagstaff Road, which turned into a four-wheel road that went on to Gross Reservoir or Magnolia Road where my folks lived. The four-wheel road was just wide enough for one car, and steep. We got just a mile or so from the easy part, and lo, and behold, there was a sedan sitting in the middle of the road, with a woman in fancy street clothes standing next to it. You could tell by the angle her car was in in relation to the road that she had tried unsuccessfully to turn around. I can't remember which one of us got in her car and gunned it to get it started around, then both of us heaved on the rear end of the car in small increments until we got it turned around. She got in her car and drove off, waving and thanking us. We never did find out why she was there.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Words paint pictures. Never apologize for using enough to paint a complete picture.

I am always "cutting" sign, and reading tracks- animal, people, and vehicle tire tracks. So, going out with me is ALWAYS an adventure, if I take the time to show you, and talk to you about what I am seeing. If people with me don't want to know what I am doing, and seeing, they find themselves frequently having to stop and holler back at me to " Catch up".

Just ask my brother, Peter. He's been doing that most of our lives. About 20 years ago, now, he finally RELENTED, and let me show him and tell him what I was seeing, and what the sign and tracks meant. He finally became a "Believer" when I showed him three parallel scratches in dirt and gravel under a fence gate, made by a fox, and then pointed out the fox tracks in the tall grass we were walking in. He could not see any of this until I pointed them out one by one, because he was not trained to see them, nor to recognize gait patterns.

When I showed him step-by-step, each track, and took him across a paved road to pick up the tracks on the other side, and show him where the fox went into a drainage culvert under an interstate highway, that came out in the next County, he lightened up, and admitted that I had some " Unique"( rather than Peculiar!") skills that made walking with me a lot more interesting than walking alone. This is not the first time I head tracked for him: This was just the "straw that breaks the camel's back" that convinced him that I had mastered some skills he didn't have.

My brother shares our love of the outdoors, and of hunting. He just finally came around to realizing that I had found a wonderful way to enjoy the time I can hunt- whether I see game in range or not- and have more fun. :wink: :v :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

He now better understands what I do when working crime scenes, but has never gone with me when I have done so.

 

[Dave K]

Yes, there are many good times for me as well. Being with my daughter and then my son-in-law when they got their first deer. But there is one that always makes me smile. I was 32 yrs. old and a good friend asked if I wanted to go with him and his Dad to Pa. to hunt deer in the Bradford area. I was pumped! I had never hunted out of state before. It was Sunday when we got there and I spent the rest of the day on my feet looking all the hunting ground over. I also saw many deer and one really nice buck. Next morning I was where I wanted to be. Soon a group of does with a fork horn in the rear go by about 50yds. from me. I had a good rest and the little buck stopped as if he was surrendering. At the shot he whirled and ran past me, through the creek and out of sight. But, I could hear his hooves clattering on the shale. So I waited until all the sounds stopped. About then, there was a shot and it was much closer than I thought another hunter was. I get up and follow the trail of the buck I shot. Soon I see him, down and out and there is what appears to me, as about 14yr. old boy, just beaming from ear to ear. I walked up to the deer and I could see my aim was true as it entered right where I wanted. But, I never said a word. That kid was so high on excitement, it was great to be there! He just knew he killed that deer and I told him, "great shot!" I then asked if he needed help with anything and he said he was sure his Dad would be along soon. So I did help him turn the deer around so it could be feel dressed. That kid was like someone walking in tall cotton. It was fun to just see that kid have such a great day. For me, I didn't get a deer. So what, I was able though to keep on hunting instead of sitting around in camp.

 

[Bill Hall]

Oh, I like that story. The thing is, as that kid grew older, he might have pieced together how the events really unfolded, and felt the obligation to be the unsung hero for some other kid. :thumbsup: Bill

 

[Robby]

Great story!! :hatsoff:
Robby

 

[Zip]

Yep, that ones a winner Dave. Thanks for the telling and giving that young lad a break. That shines for sure! :v

 

[armymedic.2]

I had just agreed at the last moment to take my daughter with me squirrel hunting. I had been telling her no for a month, but she was beggin me every time i went. She had only just turned four, but i decided she might be old enough so i'd give it a try. No matter what, keep it light keep it fun, and i didn't really care if i shot anything anyway.Main thing was i really didn't want to push it on her, but she was begging me so i agreed.

We hopped on my fourwheeler to head to the back of our farm where i knew some bushytails like to hide out. I reminded her that we needed to talk quietly and try not to step on big sticks as we walked in. She was doing great, really stealthy at 36 lbs!!!
I sit down, she plops on my lap and we begin waiting for a squirrel to come out of the trees. She seems genuinely interested, and i'm in heaven!

As we are sitting there, both looking up into the trees, she suddenly stands up, grabs a stick, and starts whacking the nearest tree with it! I starting laughing, and said what are you doing? "playing" was her response. I explained that we needed to be patient if we wanted to see a squirrel, but that we could go on an "adventure" and walk around looking for them too if she wanted. So we went on an adventure "just like dora the explorer" (kids cartoon)

we walked around for about a 1/2 hour, and one squirrel had mercy on us and let me shoot it. She was very excited about it since "she saw it first". She stil talks about it, and now that she is 5 years old ill be taking her again and im sure she will do much better. That was the best squirrel hunt of my life, tramping through the woods on an adventure, and then finding the dumbest squirrel in the county :grin:

 

[hoochiepapa]

:applause: :applause: :applause:

 

[Robby]

Wow Army, that brings back some memories, working with the grand kids now :grin: . Great photo! :thumbsup:
Robby

 

[Dave K]

Awesome way to keep the spirit alive and a very memorable day for both of you!

 

[Vaino]

Have had many "bright days" of hunting and in fact I don't recall a "dark day". Introduced both my 2 sons at 16 yrs to hunting and after each of their deer kills, it was evident who of the two was the hunter. My hunting partner today is my oldest son and after 2 deer kills, my youngest son was asking himself..."why am I out here?" and it was quite visible that hunting wasn't something that held any priority w/ him. He mainly went hunting w/ me in deference to his "Dad" and the family tradition. Seeing I'm very "open minded" as to what people do, I no longer encouraged him to hunt and instead he went to college, rec'd his bachelor and masters's degrees and is presently studying for his PHD. Would I wish otherwise...no. His older brother, my hunting partner, "lives" for hunting and fishing, married a very bright woman who manages the household,the family finances,the 2 children and him. Both sons chose their "lives" and both are content w/ the chosen path they took. I'm just a lucky Dad.....Fred

 

[Robby]

"Both sons chose their "lives" and both are content w/ the chosen path they took. I'm just a lucky Dad.....Fred"
Me too Fred. :thumbsup:
Robby

 

[dc7x64]

What a beautiful daughter Army! If she wanted to hunt I could not say no! Im a softee! Heres my bright side...30 years ago we went on a special muzzleloader hunt in Oakamulgee National Park in Alabama. We drew an area ,parked the truck and set out on foot. My friend and I, bothe 12, hung together. We walked up and down the hills all day. Even ran into a guy sittin on a dove stool "huntin"! We picked out a spot on a hillside, he sat down and I went a little farther down the hill. About twenty minutes later he fired his .45 cal T/C Hawken. I stood up only to be standing next to a spike whitetail rolling down the hill. I looked up to see him trying to reload his rifle! He hollered out, "shoot that deer!" I ran over to the deer who was back on his feet and stuck my .50 cal Navy Arms Morse rifle right into its side and pulled the trigger. He immediately hollered "Dont shoot my deer!" The deer had smoke rollin under his fur! I was a good sport and let him claim the deer, although I had never killed one! That was tough. Great memories and a LOT more since then!

 

[inthex]

If any of you boys ever float the river squirrel hunting and your boat gets stuck in a log jam, you may want to look to see if your buddy in back of the boat is sitting or standing before you shove the boat loose. Water was only about two foot deep but don't much matter if you land flat of your back! Yes there's a lot more good than bad, lots of things money can't buy. :thumbsup: