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Gratitude For The Deer That Are There

Nameless Range

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Location
Western Montana
Lots of bellyaching about the state of deer in Montana. The crowding, the structure of the age class, the disturbing trends. I jump in and do it too, almost always based on a juxtaposition of what I remember when I first started hunting from around 1995-2010 - my own "Good Old Days". I have not shot a mule deer in the hills I grew up hunting since this thread 6 years ago.


I am blessed with family and friends, and this hunting season has been 90% hunting with them. My son shooting his first deer, a childhood buddy from the midwest who drew the nonresident deer/elk combo and came out with this father, hunting with my dad - that's been the last month.

Someday I plan to formalize an argument against the adage of "Don't pass on the first day what you'd be happy to shoot on the last". I don't think it's logical, doesn't take into consideration different attributes of experience like what's desired given what's likely to be possible, or the fact that sometimes you just wanna keep going. Looking at my work/family schedule, I had 3 days to hunt a permit I drew. Kind of a bummer, but things like my buddy coming out came up and I prioritize that over my permit, and so though I passed on deer larger than this buck on the first couple days, on the evening of the last day I pulled the trigger, and was perfectly happy.

1731594939792.png

Montana certainly does offer opportunity, and after work one day before we stole daylight from the evening, I filled a WT doe tag as well.

1731595046126.png

My son is 10, and this was his first year to hunt deer. I think when the youth season first started I had mixed feelings about it, but getting to go out with my boy during those two days was wonderful - one large reason being the hills weren't overrun, and we could take our time without really having to think about competing with other hunters. For the boy’s first deer hunt with him behind the trigger, I took him for a pretty challenging hike in the morning. We saw many deer but no bucks. Regrouping at lunch, I didn’t want to burn him out and told him that we’d spend the afternoon glassing and grousing. We found the grouse first. In between snow squalls limiting visibility to a couple hundred yards, I thought I saw the phantom of a small buck on a ridge not too far off, and I asked him if he wanted to try and he said yes. We crept to within about 100 yards, I lined him up on him and he said he was ready. I told him to take his time and watched through the binoculars.

After a minute of nothing happening I looked down. He’s steady on the birds, but leveled on the buck the scope shook as if in the hands of human mid-seizure. “I can’t stop jittering”, the boy whispered. I comforted him with the fact that as far as the IQ of God’s ungulates goes, the only beast dumber than this young mule deer buck would be this young mule deer buck a month from now. We stayed concealed in the trees and snuck another 30 yards closer. He said he was ready and I wasn’t so sure, but he made a great shot and adhering to my code that the bullets fly till the spirits in the sky, followed it up with another. He was as happy as I’ve seen him and some combination of passion and innocence and knowing it's all temporary made me a bit misty, and as happy as I could be myself .

1731595681150.png1731595692852.png


My dad is 75, and I am now at an age where my friends' folks seem to be disappearing a bit. I enjoy they hell out of driving around and looking at deer with him. Every year it's the same country and conversations, and they never get old. "Remember when your brother shot that buck over there? Remember that terrible storm we drug that deer out up that gulch?" We just drive to glassing spots, look at deer, and move on, unless he sees one that tickles his fancy, and sometimes he does.



IMG_6360.jpg

My friend and his father arrived a week ago and our plan was to hunt elk every day - I have no recipe for hunting elk other than hiking up mountains I have shot them on before and seeing if they are there. In the evenings when all were bushed we'd glass hillsides for deer. We found some elk which was awesome, but I most enjoyed the evenings. We probably saw 120+ deer over 5 days, and maybe 7 or 8 were bucks, and only two of those bucks weren't two points. I was kind of lamenting this when my buddy and his dad chimed in about how much they were enjoying what we were seeing. I tried and started to enjoy it with them, and when they took their bucks, my joy for them was as real as the joy they felt in their success.

1731595797062.png

1731595870427.jpeg

I am hopeful that the work that folks on HuntTalk have done will change the direction of conversations around mule deer and hunting in Montana. I don't like where we are headed, and I think there's possibility for something different and special. That said, there is actually some really interesting science around gratitude - how it changes your brain, your happiness, your health. Being mindfully grateful is something everyone can do to better their station. It's easier said than done but it's real.

Due to my schedule, other than a couple mornings, I am mostly done hunting for the year. On one hand, I hope for a different future and will continue to speak up in favor of it, but on the other, I feel like a guy bitching about a stubbed toe in front of another who just lost both his legs.

There's no doubt in my mind - it's been beautiful out there.
 
Lots of bellyaching about the state of deer in Montana. The crowding, the structure of the age class, the disturbing trends. I jump in and do it too, almost always based on a juxtaposition of what I remember when I first started hunting from around 1995-2010 - my own "Good Old Days". I have not shot a mule deer in the hills I grew up hunting since this thread 6 years ago.


I am blessed with family and friends, and this hunting season has been 90% hunting with them. My son shooting his first deer, a childhood buddy from the midwest who drew the nonresident deer/elk combo and came out with this father, hunting with my dad - that's been the last month.

Someday I plan to formalize an argument against the adage of "Don't pass on the first day what you'd be happy to shoot on the last". I don't think it's logical, doesn't take into consideration different attributes of experience like what's desired given what's likely to be possible, or the fact that sometimes you just wanna keep going. Looking at my work/family schedule, I had 3 days to hunt a permit I drew. Kind of a bummer, but things like my buddy coming out came up and I prioritize that over my permit, and so though I passed on deer larger than this buck on the first couple days, on the evening of the last day I pulled the trigger, and was perfectly happy.

View attachment 348980

Montana certainly does offer opportunity, and after work one day before we stole daylight from the evening, I filled a WT doe tag as well.

View attachment 348981

My son is 10, and this was his first year to hunt deer. I think when the youth season first started I had mixed feelings about it, but getting to go out with my boy during those two days was wonderful - one large reason being the hills weren't overrun, and we could take our time without really having to think about competing with other hunters. For the boy’s first deer hunt with him behind the trigger, I took him for a pretty challenging hike in the morning. We saw many deer but no bucks. Regrouping at lunch, I didn’t want to burn him out and told him that we’d spend the afternoon glassing and grousing. We found the grouse first. In between snow squalls limiting visibility to a couple hundred yards, I thought I saw the phantom of a small buck on a ridge not too far off, and I asked him if he wanted to try and he said yes. We crept to within about 100 yards, I lined him up on him and he said he was ready. I told him to take his time and watched through the binoculars.

After a minute of nothing happening I looked down. He’s steady on the birds, but leveled on the buck the scope shook as if in the hands of human mid-seizure. “I can’t stop jittering”, the boy whispered. I comforted him with the fact that as far as the IQ of God’s ungulates goes, the only beast dumber than this young mule deer buck would be this young mule deer buck a month from now. We stayed concealed in the trees and snuck another 30 yards closer. He said he was ready and I wasn’t so sure, but he made a great shot and adhering to my code that the bullets fly till the spirits in the sky, followed it up with another. He was as happy as I’ve seen him and some combination of passion and innocence and knowing it's all temporary made me a bit misty, and as happy as I could be myself .

View attachment 348983View attachment 348984


My dad is 75, and I am now at an age where my friends' folks seem to be disappearing a bit. I enjoy they hell out of driving around and looking at deer with him. Every year it's the same country and conversations, and they never get old. "Remember when your brother shot that buck over there? Remember that terrible storm we drug that deer out up that gulch?" We just drive to glassing spots, look at deer, and move on, unless he sees one that tickles his fancy, and sometimes he does.



View attachment 348982

My friend and his father arrived a week ago and our plan was to hunt elk every day - I have no recipe for hunting elk other than hiking up mountains I have shot them on before and seeing if they are there. In the evenings when all were bushed we'd glass hillsides for deer. We found some elk which was awesome, but I most enjoyed the evenings. We probably saw 120+ deer over 5 days, and maybe 7 or 8 were bucks, and only two of those bucks weren't two points. I was kind of lamenting this when my buddy and his dad chimed in about how much they were enjoying what we were seeing. I tried and started to enjoy it with them, and when they took their bucks, my joy for them was as real as the joy they felt in their success.

View attachment 348985

View attachment 348986

I am hopeful that the work that folks on HuntTalk have done will change the direction of conversations around mule deer and hunting in Montana. I don't like where we are headed, and I think there's possibility for something different and special. That said, there is actually some really interesting science around gratitude - how it changes your brain, your happiness, your health. Being mindfully grateful is something everyone can do to better their station. It's easier said than done but it's real.

Due to my schedule, other than a couple mornings, I am mostly done hunting for the year. On one hand, I hope for a different future and will continue to speak up in favor of it, but on the other, I feel like a guy bitching about a stubbed toe in front of another who just lost both his legs.

There's no doubt in my mind - it's been beautiful out there.
Great, great post! Thank you for sharing.

There is something special about hunting with family. Our first grandkid is expected in the next week or so. I can't wait until he or she can come with us. Probably next year 😁
 
I love every bit of this. I am grateful for the states that can still provide general hunting for residents. Yeah, a few tweaks can always be implemented, but the legacy of deer camps I saw in Idaho last month and the generational stories told by some of those hunters once again impressed on me the importance of these opportunities.

Experiences such as that in this post, and happening thousands of places across the country each year, are priceless.
 
Finally, a positive thread about deer hunting in Montana. I’m glad you had a good experience, I do every year regardless of deer numbers and complaints.

I am glad to get out with my sons and grandsons and hope to find some deer, elk and birds. It has been a great fall and am truly fortunate to live in Montana…



IMG_6962.jpegIMG_6960.jpegIMG_6951.jpegIMG_6889.jpegIMG_6894.jpeg
 
"some really interesting science around gratitude - how it changes your brain, your happiness, your health. Being mindfully grateful is something everyone can do to better their station. It's easier said than done but it's real."
Bearfoot's 2 cent rant

Thoughts present, past and entertained become manifest. This can be very slow, or karma. The key is to act on what excites you the most. Think good thoughts! We have been endowed by "ALL THAT IS" to create from our each, separate point of view. We manifest what we focus upon. Positive or Negative. Being grateful for experience screams to "ALL THAT IS" I WANT MORE! However it comes!
 
Congrats, you’re doing it right. Thanks for sharing. My oldest turned 10 two short years ago. We were just having those same experiences. He’s a different hunter already - wish I could slow it down.

To your point, as my mom often said, life is what you make it.
 
Great post @namelessrange. While I’ve noticed along with other hunters here in eastern region 6 who’ve lived here a lot longer that it’s the worst we’ve ever seen for deer and that changes are needed, you still have to get out and enjoy the time together in this awesome state and don’t have to kill a deer to enjoy it. I admittedly struggle at times with having that positive perspective and need the occasional reminder.
 
Great hunting with your family and friends, and being thankful for those times is what it's all about too. I know the hunting in Montana is not as great as everyone wants it to be. As a NR who has hunted there since 03 and just got back, I can tell that it is different. But I have truly always had a great hunting trip, taken quite a few animals and birds and met folks who have always been nice. Even made friends with a couple ranchers who still let me hunt their land. I know changes are coming and that's fine with me, as I really love hunting there and really appreciate any tag I get. I would be hunting just like you are in that beautiful land, congrats! too for your son.
 

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