Quitters

[HSi-ESi]

I've quit Copenhagen about 1000 times.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Me At Work: So I drew a sheep tag and will need to take the first and last week of September off. I might do a long weekend in the middle as well.

Work To Me: So yeah, we're not going to be able to approve or accommodate that.

Me At Work: Ok so my last day is August 31st.

Work to Me: What?

See, a quitter!

 

[antlerradar]

Your knees probably would feel the same as they do now from all the hiking. I quit football as a 7th grader, and I hunted every night after school if I didn’t have to shovel pig shit, fix fence or work. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and was extremely unsuccessful, I appreciate what I got to see back then though. I sucked at football.

Football and wresting put my knees in a soft cast three times.

 

[JT88]

I didn't quit but I felt like I failed.

In 2012 I was whitetail hunting and one evening spotted probably the biggest buck I've ever seen chasing a doe. If I had to guess maybe 180ish, huge frame with trash everywhere. Anyway I snuck in behind a hill and managed to shoot him. I watched him slide down the hill without the use of his front legs from shock paralysis and he ended up crashing his way into a tree grove below me. I could see his head was head up but couldn't get another shot into him. I very reluctantly decided to back out and return first thing in the morning and get him. That evening I ended up staying up very late helping my brother butcher a 166" whitetail buck he'd shot the same week, in hopes of getting a jump on things since the hunt was over and we needed to be heading home. Anyway the next morning came and we were later than we should have been (maybe an hour after 1st light) getting back to my buck and found that someone had picked him up. This was the middle of nowhere, by the way. I was physically sick to my stomach and it hurts even thinking about it to this day. It was one of the hardest things that'd ever happened to me at that time in my life. I have often thought about the distractions that evening and next morning that kept me from retrieving the buck, and wondered if it would've made a difference, or if maybe the other hunter had watched the whole thing and waited for me to back out

 

[SwaggyD]

I didn't quit but I felt like I failed.

In 2012 I was whitetail hunting and one evening spotted probably the biggest buck I've ever seen (180ish if I had to guess, huge frame with trash everywhere) chasing a doe. I snuck in behind a hill and managed to shoot him. I watched him slide down a steep hill without the use of his front legs as he was sliding and ended up in a tree grove. I could see his was head up and tried to get another shot into him but couldn't. I very reluctantly decided to back out and return first thing in the morning and get him. That evening I ended up staying up very late helping my brother butcher the 166" whitetail buck he'd shot the same week, in hopes of getting a jump on things since the hunt was over and we needed to get heading home. Anyway the next morning came and we were late getting back to my buck and found that someone had picked him up. This was the middle of nowhere, by the way. I was physically sick to my stomach and it hurts even thinking about it to this day. It was one of the hardest things that'd ever happened to me at that time in my life. I have often thought about the distractions that evening and next morning that kept me from retrieving the buck, and wondered if it would've made a difference, or if maybe the other hunter had watched the whole thing and waited for me to back out. Tough lesson

 

[JT88]

View attachment 296638

Exactly

 

[SwaggyD]

Exactly

Sorry to derail, but when I was high school my buddy killed a buck and brought it to town to show me. Took me out to his pickup at a break we had. The buck was gone. Someone stole it outta his bed of the pickup. And it was much much smaller that 180”. I felt terrible.

 

[JT88]

Sorry to derail, but when I was high school my buddy killed a buck and brought it to town to show me. Took me out to his pickup at a break we had. The buck was gone. Someone stole it outta his bed of the pickup. And it was much much smaller that 180”. I felt terrible.

Never understood how they sleep at night. What good would a rack be without having experienced the hunt and worked for it? And it would make me sick to look at and be reminded of stealing someone else's prize

 

[noharleyyet]

Not really quitting but I have had two Missouri Breaks rifle bull tags. Walked away from bulls any sane man would have killed out there. mtmuley

The road back to Mother Texas with an intact tag is long, plenty of time to mull the the coming year of cheap supermarket protein. Lots of if onlys and could've should'ves.

 

[antlerradar]

Never understood how they sleep at night. What good would a rack be without having experienced the hunt and worked for it? And it would make me sick to look at and be reminded of stealing someone else's prize

Most likely stolen antlers are converted to meth in less than 12 hours.

 

[Buckskinbob]

Everybody's thrown in the towel a time or two. Any regrets? Let's hear it. This is THE place to make fun somebody you know for being a total lame ass quitter. Or maybe you were able to talk them out of it..

Sheep, goat and moose permits come to mind, special deer or elk, etc..

Some people (LOTS of them) seem to tally up excuses well before the going gets tough, and even before they leave to go on the first trip. My job, my wife, my kids, my vacation, the price of gas, my sore aching ass, my fear of bears, my terrible gear, etc..

You forgot the classic, "I have no babysitter for my dog!"

 

[antlerradar]

That's an awesome story. 1 of many I'm sure. Not everyone could handle that as a kid but sure makes for some memories.

Scariest part of the walk down was several of the local market hunters from the west side of the river were using the rain as cover to spotlight the river bottom. I was worried that one of them would shine me and start shooting. Times have changed.

 

[rjthehunter]

I regret that I didn't do this. I wasn't that great of an athlete but I still stuck with high school sports become I am too stubborn to quit something I started. Often wonder what kind of mule deer I would have turned up an the sheds I would have found if I had spent my weekends in the hill instead of sports. One thing is for sure, My knees would feel better now.

I understand the push to keep kids active, but there's way too many parents nowadays that think their kid will be a professional athlete... The kids are all beat to hell by the time they're in college trying to compete in sports to "just make it to the pros". I know a few guys that were extremely close to making it into the NFL, and they leveraged their entire lives up until 23 or 24 working on getting there.

He didn't make it. He had a worthless degree, tons of student loan debt, and was totally lost.

The funny thing is, once you graduate college, no one cares if you were a college athlete...

I love that high schools have fishing teams now. I wish that was a thing when I was in school. The only thing I still participated in was the Trap Shooting team. I got it started at my high school and I just recently heard that there is over 40 kids on the team now. I graduated from a school that had about 80-100 kids per grade.

 

[Nick87]

I understand the push to keep kids active, but there's way too many parents nowadays that think their kid will be a professional athlete... The kids are all beat to hell by the time they're in college trying to compete in sports to "just make it to the pros". I know a few guys that were extremely close to making it into the NFL, and they leveraged their entire lives up until 23 or 24 working on getting there.

He didn't make it. He had a worthless degree, tons of student loan debt, and was totally lost.

The funny thing is, once you graduate college, no one cares if you were a college athlete...

I love that high schools have fishing teams now. I wish that was a thing when I was in school. The only thing I still participated in was the Trap Shooting team. I got it started at my high school and I just recently heard that there is over 40 kids on the team now. I graduated from a school that had about 80-100 kids per grade.

 

[Nick87]

hunted every night after school if I didn’t have to shovel pig shit, fix fence or work. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and was extremely unsuccessful, I appreciate what I got to see back then though

Exact same, with the deer herd and the access available to me back then I really wish I'd of known half of what I do now. Had the world by the balls and didn't even know it. Those days are gone and will never return.

 

[rogerthat]

Never understood how they sleep at night. What good would a rack be without having experienced the hunt and worked for it? And it would make me sick to look at and be reminded of stealing someone else's prize

My buddies dad recounted a story where they had setup their annual elk camp in central Montana in November back in the 80s. As expected hunting was tough but they had a great day and had taken a cow and a small bull. The quartered elk rested in the back of my buddies old Ford. The festivities began as supper was cooked. The liquor and stories were flowing as they recounted and relived past successes and failures. All of a sudden they heard a wierd noise from out front of the large wall tent. “Hey!!! What the hell are you doing?” A pickup with Billings plates was backed up to the old Ford. 2 guys stood in the back moving quarters from the old Ford to their pickup. “Oh we are just admiring the elk you guys got”. My buddies dad “well you better put those quarters back in my truck and we better never see you up here again!” I think sometimes people just want the success and to be able to tell everyone. Wonder what story they would have made up?

 

[Nick87]

My buddies dad recounted a story where they had setup their annual elk camp in central Montana in November back in the 80s. As expected hunting was tough but they had a great day and had taken a cow and a small bull. The quartered elk rested in the back of my buddies old Ford. The festivities began as supper was cooked. The liquor and stories were flowing as they recounted and relived past successes and failures. All of a sudden they heard a wierd noise from out front of the large wall tent. “Hey!!! What the hell are you doing?” A pickup with Billings plates was backed up to the old Ford. 2 guys stood in the back moving quarters from the old Ford to their pickup. “Oh we are just admiring the elk you guys got”. My buddies dad “well you better put those quarters back in my truck and we better never see you up here again!” I think sometimes people just want the success and to be able to tell everyone. Wonder what story they would have made up?

It's no different than guys I knew growing up who would bowhunt the entire season them take a rifle out at night and kill a big buck....I mean if that's the route your gonna take it seems pointless to me to waste anytime bowhunting. Never understood that.

 

[marshman]

Quite recent trip actually. Deer hunting region 6 in MT last year. Saw a total of six deer in 6 days including this one fruit basket buck in the total. left two days early.

 

[oxn939]

Any regrets?

Almost had one in CO recently, good example of when it helps to ignore your inner bitch.

Buddy and I were hunting an alpine blackpowder mule deer tag. Saw nothing the first two days, decided to send it way steep and deep on day three. Checked the forecast before we threw spike camp in our packs, said 30% chance of rain for a few hours. Not bad. Off we went.

Fast forward to that evening, and we're talking 50 knot gusts. Then rain. Then the front. Then more rain, for like 10 hours. Woke up with everything SOAKED and temps in the mid 30s. We were both the kind of cold that takes like a week to fully recover from.



Got back to the trailhead to dry our stuff out and even the dudes with outfitter tents had picked up and headed back into town. That was our decision point... either run into town to get warm and dry (quit) or send for a second night of misery. So off we went again. Halfway through our hike in, I spotted a forky through the timber about 80 yards off. Second chance to quit and be back in town having burgers and beers by dinner time. Passed him. Glad I did, too... two hours later, came around a corner close enough to check out this guy's velvet by bare eye.



Moral of the story, the opportunities we get to do stuff like this are too fleeting and precious to listen to that little voice coming up with reasons to quit. Recognize that entire part of your mind for what it is- a bunch of excuses- and send it packing. Worst case scenario, you finish knowing you did your best. Best case scenario, you end up with a memory like this you'll have til the day you die.

 

[SaskHunter]

In 2019, I ate a pretty good elk tag because I got the squirts baaadddd the day before leaving and it lasted a week

I regret not going and just packing extra emergency socks for the #sauce!