Stoking the fire

[bayoublaster7527]

Great post. I find that many times the planning, preparation, and pursuit are the truly enjoyable parts of hunting.

 

[elkduds]

Over the last 5-10 years, my joy in hunting big game has been largely non-existent. I've had a few fun hunts, but I wasn't really into it. I got a bird dog, and that consumed a lot of time along with running a small business, family health, etc. I've just kind of lost the joy of big game hunting. I feel myself getting softer on killing things, and root for squirrels, possums and skunks, etc. Roosevelt once said something to the effect that the hunter tends to put down the rifle and pick up the camera as they mature - that the killing just becomes too much. I've heard the same sentiment from one of the hardest SOB's god ever made. I think there's some truth to that. but I also think that each person's hunting is an adventure on it's own - that everyone has to come to the place where you recognize that killing things is part of you are, and that's ok - even if you have a soft side that roots for the underdog, or for the coyote to outrun the pursuer.

I've been doing a lot of exploration of new chunks of isolated state land close to me. It's been an interesting few months (Not much snow here in the northern lower), and ticks are out, so make sure your clothes are sprayed & the dogs are covered. What I've found, along with new covers that I likely wouldn't have even guessed exist - is a new joy in the scouting of game. I've got a 2nd week tag for turkeys and while there are a gang of about 5-6 Toms that use our property it kinda feels like cheating, so...

In the last two months we've been finding tons of grouse, lots of new deer hunting spots with minimal human presence detected and we were impolitely escorted off a piece of state land by a very unhappy and protective coyote. There's a joy of being outdoors looking for wildlife that hasn't been there (except for upland) for quite a while. The exploration, pouring over maps & data points, comparing forest overlays, even placing cameras on some public land. I've been fortunate enough to get selected for an enhanced hunter ed school in early May, which I'm eager to do and learn to shoot better, and most importantly - to be a better hunter overall.

Maybe it's being in closer proximity to accessible lands (rural versus urban) but the fire feels like it's back. Maybe it's changing perspectives or removing myself from situations where hunting felt more like gate-keeping, or like there was an air of exclusivity around it - the elite hunter model that seems to have infiltrated all things hunting related. Maybe it's just finally letting go of all that shit and enjoying myself in the moment, not caring what anyone else thought of how I did what I was doing, or why I was doing something.

Maybe it's living in the moment, and not getting wrapped around the axle of every triggering thing I see and maybe it's being in proximity to the impending death of a loved one yet again that helps keep my eyes open to all that is still amazing, beautiful, wild and accecssible.

I don't know. I just know that the off season here is getting $*)Q!#@$ ugly, and we should get some focus back on what makes us all part of the hunting community beyond cartridge size and broadhead weight.

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Reading your post clarified something personal I've been wondering about. I lost the fire for the killing part of hunting some years back, coinciding w leaving full time employment. In all my working years, hunting trips were my personal time away from home and family, a few weeks each year. there was strong urgency to plan all year, research units, calculate draw odds. I had a schedule of weekend scouting and shooting to get ready. There was a budget, shopping, repairing gear, all on a calendar that culminated with This Year's Hunt. There was also pressure to fill the freezer, and a sense that it wasn't a successful trip without a harvest.

When my calendar opened up after leaving fulltime work, I had enough time to chase elk, deer, pronghorn, eagles almost every day during summers and autumns. No worries about draws or tags, take the camera to any unit anytime, and fully enjoy the setting, the animals, the seasons. If it is stormy in one place, just pick another. Not knocking hunting now, I still join family and friends on their hunts. I just seem to have turned a page. It felt like something was lost at first, now I see it as a smaller, more steady fire that I sit closer to.

 

[Tradewind]

Stare at yo gentrified long gun pron much?

Got me wondering....
Are you allowed to shoot turkeys with snooty shotguns. Can they even get the job done?

 

[noharleyyet]

Got me wondering....
Are you allowed to shoot turkeys with snooty shotguns. Can they even get the job done?

You'll have to ask @Ben Lamb and @BrentD

 

[Ben Lamb]

Got me wondering....
Are you allowed to shoot turkeys with snooty shotguns. Can they even get the job done?

Paging @shrapnel

I bet Brent's got a gobbler with a 12 almost as curmudgeonly as you.

There's a great ee cummings poem about spring:

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

• Related

 

[Ben Lamb]

Here we see a young family group of velocipedes. Clearly they youngest and weakest hang at the back of the pack to be protected by the heartier, more mature members up front in case of an attack by Canis Familiarus, or Carus Wreckusupus



Rutting activity of Camperis Americanus Michigandi



And finally: A bone to pick with you people:


Managed to flush a bird about 30 feet from the truck. Walked around for about 2 miles checking out new country. It's always amazing to me how much stuff is packed into the north woods and how easily it all gets swallowed up.

 

[noharleyyet]

Paging @shrapnel

I bet Brent's got a gobbler with a 12 almost as curmudgeonly as you.

There's a great ee cummings poem about spring:

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

• Related

-ChatBS

 

[Ben Lamb]

-ChatBS

There is far more to literature than Larry McMurtry & Cormac McCarthy, my good, dear friend.

 

[noharleyyet]

There is far more to literature than Larry McMurtry & Cormac McCarthy, my good, dear friend.

if you
like your
ee
you can ke
ep
your
e
e

 

[noharleyyet]

There is far more to literature than Larry McMurtry & Cormac McCarthy, my good, dear friend.

one of my favorites Ben...

anyone lived in a pretty how town​

E. E. Cummings
1894 –
1962

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did.

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

 

[Rzrbck918]

This is an interesting place. Wasn't expecting EE Cummings today; but thanks, the day is better because of it.

 

[Ben Lamb]

You continue to surprise, buddy.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Ground sluicing "Paaatridges" with a Winchester 41 is the purest form of outdoor joy.
Just like every Orvis catalogue subscriber started with a can of earthworms.

Fact: Live bait is more environmentally friendly than artificials.

 

[Tradewind]

if you
like your
ee
you can ke
ep
your
e
e

Harley should have been either politician or a realtor.
He can make a pile of poo sound like it's encased in gold, sitting in a bed of roses
and surrounded by unicorns

 

[noharleyyet]

Harley should have been either politician or a realtor.
He can make a pile of poo sound like it's encased in gold, sitting in a bed of roses
and surrounded by unicorns

View attachment 322265

real estate is like kissing

location/location/location

 

[Tradewind]

real estate is like kissing

location/location/location

you're right. The real f'g is where the politicians are

 

[shrapnel]

Got me wondering....
Are you allowed to shoot turkeys with snooty shotguns. Can they even get the job done?

These are all 19th century shotguns with 2 1/2 inch chambers…

 

[Gr8bawana]

 

[Pucky Freak]

Good times. I think I’m 7 weeks with my only outdoor exposure shoveling the front walk. Today a coworker asked how turkey season was going and I wasn’t aware it had started.

Everyone enjoy your free time!!

 

[mtmuley]

Good times. I think I’m 7 weeks with my only outdoor exposure shoveling the front walk. Today a coworker asked how turkey season was going and I wasn’t aware it had started.

Everyone enjoy your free time!!View attachment 322298

Enjoy your time. mtmuley