The Hunt is On

[MNElkNut]

The weekend is getting closer! Excitement levels should be building. Equipment should be rechecked 6 or 8 more times!

One thing I forgot to add is the enjoyment of aspects of the hunt other than just the kill. You have heard it before I am sure, but really focus on the sunrise, seeing a grouse, interpreting sign, taking pictures, etc. You can have a really successful hunt and never even see the game animal you are hunting. My kids have a hard time understanding this, but they are coming along.

 

[NKQualtieri]

One thing I forgot to add is the enjoyment of aspects of the hunt other than just the kill. You have heard it before I am sure, but really focus on the sunrise, seeing a grouse, interpreting sign, taking pictures, etc. You can have a really successful hunt and never even see the game animal you are hunting. My kids have a hard time understanding this, but they are coming along.

Yes! The poetry of it all--I have to say, I spend a ton of time being what Randy might call a spectator--backpacking, hiking, wildlife photography, spending a lot of time in the backcountry. That's the aspect that pulled me in to the idea of hunting, I backpacked on the Continental Divide by myself for over two wks (150+ miles) and had some really incredible solo experiences with wildlife. And when I had those experiences, I realized that they were similar to what hunters must experience, and it drew me into the idea of hunting as a way to be closer to the land.

I think for me I might have to pay more attention to the idea of hunting. I look forward to all the things that you're talking about, but looking forward to a kill is the hard connection for me at this point. That's the participatory link that becomes like that Eleanor Roosevelt quote: You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

We're supposed to get a snowstorm tomorrow. My little sedan is no match for gnarly dirt road conditions but if it doesn't hit early, I'll head out in the morning. If it does hit early, I'll be going out on Saturday. And Sunday. And then maybe Monday...if the wkend isn't fruitful. I head to Cali on Tuesday to meet my three month old nephew for the first time, so this is kind of a last chance 2015 scenario for me as rifle season closes here pretty soon. His middle name is Chuchip, which is a Hopi word for "Spirit of a Deer" which I thought you guys would appreciate. I bought him a stuffed elk that bugles for his first stuffed animal, guaranteed he's the only baby in Oakland who's first toy was a bugling elk

 

[MNElkNut]

I too enjoy hiking, wildlife watching and many of those other activities. But the experiences you will have while hunting are different. You are part of it. Just like Randy describes in his spectator vs particpater description. You will look at things different. Hiking with the wind isnt a consideration...you go where the trail goes. And speaking of trails, rarely will you find yourself off trail for any length of time while doing something other than hunting. While hunting, you will shun trails for the most part. Timing is also different. Dawn and dusk take on a whole new meaning. The sights you will see and the interaction with animals just isn't duplicated in any other activity. Photography comes the closest, but again, you are an observer and you dont try to make something happen. Having a bull elk come screaming in to your calls is a priceless experience. I doubt many nonhunters have experienced that.

Then there is the kill. Many of us have strong feelings after the kill. That is okay. You need to balance that with the purpose of your hunt. Were you not to kill an elk or a deer, you would be buying your meat from the grocery. An animal will have to die for that to happen as well. I love the Aldo Leupold quote (paraphrased), "there are 2 inherent dangers in not owning a farm. One is the supposition that heat comes from the furnace and the other is that meat comes from the grocery".

I know my daughter felt emotional after shooting her deer this year. I asked her, how would you feel if you had a friend over and we had tacos and she didnt like it and threw it away? Would it bother you? Confused, she said, "no, not really". I said, how would you feel if the taco meat was the deer you shot? Tthe lightbulb came on. Your respect for the animal is elevated after you kill it, process it, and eat it. After the kill, it is just plain a lot of work! A friend once asked me, "Do you know how to ruin a good elk hunt?". Of course I said, "uh, no.". He replied, "Kill an elk!". I have never in my life bought meat at the store and been excited to eat it. I have been excited to eat a lot of the game I have killed.

I also think the whole experience manifests itself to some people by stoking their conservation fire. People want to help protect habitat once they have experienced the destruction of it while hunting. I know that I strive to make sure that my net impact to wildlife is in the positive. I may shoot some animals, but by my conservation activities I produce more than I harvest.

Sorry for the long post, but I could go on for awhile!

 

[Curvebow]

Nicole - wishing you good luck in your hunts. I wish mine would involve snow instead of sunny skies and 50 degrees!

Advice: 1) Enjoy it; you're not out there to torture yourself.

 

[MT_elk]

Great write up. Thanks for sharing the story.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Nicole, you can do this... if you need a bit of inspiration, Olivia's been doing pretty well this year. Don't overthink it.

 

[Festus]

Loved the story. Taking my sons hunting has helped me to remember many of the things we start to take for granted as we gain experience. Keep after it!

So true^^^

You got this. Like also said above: Don't overthink it.
I'm sure you will have a very 'successful' hunt this weekend and take home plenty; even if it's not meat.......

 

[ihuntelk]

Cheering for you.
One thing I've decided to do with my 4 girls is to expose them hunting every chance I get. I don't care if they EVER pull the trigger but I want them to understand life and death. I think that puts ALOT of perspective on other things in life they will experience. I want them to understand that Chicken strips from DQ doesn't come from the "store". Something has to die for us to live. You can either ignore it or embrace it. I'm glad you're choosing to embrace it. I am failry confident my girls have been around enough that they understand and are fully embracing it. Hopefully it will put perspective on many other challenges in life as well and open their views to what's really happening in the world. At least they're empowered to make their own decisions and not look the other way and assume their "meat" comes from the "store". Probably too long of a rant!. Haven't been on for a week or so but I''ll show this thread to my girls tonight. Thanks for sharing!
-Cade

 

[NKQualtieri]

The rest of the story. Here goes. My first solo hunt.

Saturday morning started at 4:30am for me. My car was packed, my tea was hot, and I woke up realizing that I had no blaze orange. I'd borrowed a vest the wk before and given it back. Crap.

Being that I'm an optimist, I hit the road anyway but had to take a longer route through another town to see if any of their gas stations might carry something, and I got lucky at my second station. And being that it's the last wk of the season, they were half off. Score!

Anyway.

Being that I had to alter my route and hunt down a vest, I was already late to my early morning hunting spot. I've been hunting a block management spot in which you have to sign in, so I pulled up in my beat-up sedan, by myself, in the middle of three big smoke-blowing trucks and asked around for the book. One guy shot me a snide "good luck" and then I beat him to the spot it turns out he was also going to. This was high pressure hunting.

I opened my door and stepped out of my car to get my gear together, and I heard a rifle pop. A guy had a deer down in the field. This is the same spot that three other people I know got deer, it's productive, you just have to be the first one there and I killed that initial chance, but the day was young.

I figured it would be similar scenarios at other spots in this particular area so I sat and watched a ridiculous sunrise over the Crazy Mountains while rifles popped across the valley. Sidenote: I am a night owl. But if I have to get up early, I'd rather get up before the sunrise. Because man is there magic in that.

I spent the morning scouting various locations that were open on the particular unit I was hunting. I found an elk spot in which people could and were hunting from the road, saw three different trucks pulling out elk, weird. It's weird to me that elk can be so accessible. But the area was supposedly only to be used for hunters who were children, disabled, or elderly. I learned later that it's a pretty highly abused and strange situation. A few wks ago, a bunch of people opened fire on a herd of about 70 elk, dropping 13 or so in pretty shitty circumstances, including illegal spikes. Makes me sick to my stomach to think about.

Anyway #2.

Driving around and scouting different spots was actually really incredible. I saw five eagles, golden and baldies, hunting around the valley. I saw two huge rutting whitetail bucks on private property and got some pics of one of them that are fun that I'll share later. The deer were everywhere, moving, shaking, rutting and eating. I saw a herd of mulies with one big forky buck on a ridgeline.

I went back into town and grabbed a quick breakfast thinking that I'd go back at sundown. But then I remembered all the deer I'd seen all day. And I said to myself, you never know. So I headed back then and decided to try out a new spot.

Driving into New Spot, I was about 250 yards from the parking spot when a button buck jumps in front of my car and bounds onto the property that I'm pulling into. I keep driving and see a doe follow him. Holy shoot. Time to move.

I rush to get my stuff together and head out into the field. There's no cover for a quarter to a half mile. I walk slowly, steadily, they're about 250 yards away and care nothing of me. A few times they look, they flag and trot, but they settle in. Suddenly they drop out of view and then I see the draw. They pop out in another little field and I watch them for a bit until they're eating and not paying attention. If I can make it in the draw and come up on the other side, I'll be out of view and in perfect position to shoot.

I go for it, but by the time I get back up, they're gone. I'm not sure if it was me or something else.

In my rush to get ready, I left my binos and a couple other things in the car. I head back to repack and two old-timers are hanging out. We chat for awhile and watch some deer that are about a mile away in the corn fields. They tell me the elk story and some more stories connected to the land I'm on. The deer are spooky. They've been shot at for wks now. But the guys are going to hang in that spot and hunt the field until nightfall and they said that if I downed a deer, they would help me with it.

I pack back up and head out for the draw. It's a really cool spot for whitetails, you can look out over 100s of yards in all directions, lots of cover once you're in it, and there are definitely deer around.

I set up and sit down. I take books with me everywhere and when I'd get tired of scanning the draw and the fields, I'd take breaks reading. It was a nice balance. After about 30 or 45 minutes, a deer is there. Probably 500-600 yards away. I watch him intently. He moves towards my draw, is coming my direction.

I contemplate sitting or moving. He drops out of sight but is still moving my direction. Maybe.

I decide to go.

This is the part of the story where I feel that presence, where all of my senses were heightened and I began to look at things differently. I moved through the shadows of the draw. I kept tabs on every noise, on the wind (in my favor), on the moment. And like the first deer I set my crosshairs on, my little buck was suddenly there and he had me pegged as I was caught in between two trees. He's about forty yards away from me, thirty yards above me, with miles of corn fields behind him.

I didn't even think that I should have been carrying my rifle instead of having it slung over my shoulder. I drop to me knees and my rifle is down next to me. He's still there, head-on. I lift my rifle and chamber a round. He's still there, head-on. I bring the rifle up and he flickers and turns broadside.

BOOM. He takes off.

I run up that hill , I may or may not have used some curse words out of shock and surprise and adrenaline.

Did I hit him? I take the binos out and I watch him trotting and bounding, he's not limping, there's no blood on him. I look around the spot where he was standing and where he moved from. No blood. Clean miss. He's gone.

This, my friends, was one of the most powerful and strange experiences of my life. It's intoxicating, being that present. It's primal, that it in some ways does come naturally.

This little hunt doesn't mimic any of the big, badass hunts that happen, but I felt like it was a microcosm of that experience. The spot and the stalk and the close encounter. It wasn't like last week's hunt, it wasn't just getting out the car and walking around and suddenly having a deer in my scope. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with that, but there was something fundamentally different about this moment. I had to figure out how to become a part of the land, to use it to my advantage, and I had to be willing to make some mistakes. Beginners make mistakes, it's a part of the process.

Don't be perfect. Thank you for telling me this. It's important.

On my way back through the draw heading back to my car, I saw something white on the ground. A big vertebrae--probably from a cow--but perfectly sunbleached and white and wholly intact. I'd seen another large section of the spinal column in a different spot earlier (pictured below) but this particular piece was off on its own. A cool keepsake from my hunt and a reminder of the balance of life and death.

I learned a ton from this day, and I wish that it had happened earlier in the season so I could have more time, but unfortunately my time is short b/c I leave for California today and don't return until next Tuesday so my season is over.

1) I have a lot more shooting to do. I learned that I need to shoot in various situations that are less controlled. Shooting at the range is fun, and I've done some shooting in other spaces, but I feel like learning how to adjust for different situations is important and that I'll do more tactical kind of stuff leading into next season.

2) Hunting is fun. That was one of the most fun days I've had in a long time. And I'm pretty fun. So that says a lot. Between everything I saw and experienced, it was a very rich learning experience. People, animals, land. So basic.

3) I can hunt alone. I don't always want to hunt alone, but I can and I can feel good about it. And once I feel better about my shooting skills, I'm happy to do these easier hunts on my own. I'm glad my friend took me out first. That gave me the boost I needed to go out solo.

I didn't get my deer this year. But I have a framework for next year. And I'm excited about it already.

Thanks to everyone who has sent tips and joined in on convos and connected me to your own stories. This is such a great community, glad to have connected here.

 

[Big Fin]

Great story, Nicole. You expressed a lot of the essence of hunting, whether an animal is taken or not; whether big game or small game. Congrats on going out and doing it.

 

[charliebravo77]

1) I have a lot more shooting to do. I learned that I need to shoot in various situations that are less controlled. Shooting at the range is fun, and I've done some shooting in other spaces, but I feel like learning how to adjust for different situations is important and that I'll do more tactical kind of stuff leading into next season.

3) I can hunt alone. I don't always want to hunt alone, but I can and I can feel good about it. And once I feel better about my shooting skills, I'm happy to do these easier hunts on my own. I'm glad my friend took me out first. That gave me the boost I needed to go out solo.

These are some of the most important things I've witnessed and learned myself in the ~2-3 years since I started hunting. I found a friend/mentor who hunted a lot growing up, and one of the big advantages he noticed in my abilities was that I am a very natural marksman and have some experience in shooting off of a static range (USPSA matches, clays, etc). My first deer was shot offhand with a muzzle loader I had fired exactly once before on a range, my first turkey was at 42 yards with one shot, and this year's antelope buck was taken at around 350 yards using my pack as a rest. It definitely helps to be comfortable shooting prone, building an improvised rest off of a pack, tree trunk, sage brush, what have you.

We brought another friend with for antelope this year and it was immediately noticeable that he wasn't nearly as comfortable behind a gun, couldn't get a stable improvised rest, hadn't shot past 100 yards, and just didn't have the necessary confidence in his skills.

Actually firing a shot accounts for such a small percentage of the actual time hunting, but in the end it can be what makes or breaks your success.

As far as the hunting alone thing goes, I was also right there with you. Hunting for me has/had been as much about the camaraderie and being in the outdoors with a buddy as it was about the actual hunt, and being a newbie I was very apprehensive about my hunting skills. Fortunately, I was 'forced' out on my own this year for our antelope hunt and it was a great learning experience to see that I was a lot more capable than I had let myself believe. It's good to know now that I can go off into the wilderness on my own and be successful.

Congrats on getting out there and not ending up discouraged. I imagine it's a bit easier in MT as opposed to IL to find public land to hunt on, and people to mentor you (words cannot describe how unbelievably envious of your co-workers I am), but it's still not easy to go from zero to hunter in any short amount of time regardless of where you are located and who is teaching you. I still hesitate to even call myself one in comparison to people like Randy and Steve Rinella.

 

[Jwill]

Congrats on a great first season NK and good luck with all the off season anticipation!

 

[TRS_Montana]

Getting close enough for a shot at a whitetail in a high-pressure area on your first solo trip is an accomplishment in itself. Keep being excited about discovering what you need to improve on and working at those things. You'll be amazed at how you eventually start to notice differences in your hunts (i.e. getting closer to animals, noticing more in your surroundings, seeing more game, blah blah blah). Thanks for writing up your experience!

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Great job, I agree that just working your way into an opportunity is an accomplishment to be proud of.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Glad you enjoyed a rewarding experience! Whitetails can be flighty even when there aren't a bunch of people to contend with. Way to get out there!

It's funny how quickly we can get to that mental place of thinking like a predator if we let ourselves. Reading the habitat, and understanding where the animals will be and how they interact with their environment, planning a stalk and executing it with intent, you become a deliberate participant in the natural order. It's a powerful experience on many levels.

FWIW on shooting. ...Practice whenever you can, and in every conceivable position until you find at least a couple that you develop real confidence with. The biggest struggle for new hunters is often getting into position to shoot. If you can get your shooting positions committed to muscle memory, I think you will find it makes a world of difference.

Enjoy your new nephew and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[1_pointer]

Great story to read. Thanks for sharing. I hate to tell you, but your hooked!!

I realize that deer season is over once you get back, but not all seasons are over. I strongly suggest you buy/borrow a .22LR that is similar in operation to your big game rifle. Put a scope on it and go after some small game. Cottontails are a good trainer and very good on the table. It'll make for great practice before next deer season.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

In my eyes you had a successful season. You're going to be just fine. Really like your writing.

 

[NoWiser]

Congrats on getting out there and hunting! I really look forward to reading more stories from you next year.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Awesome job, Nicole. Being out there interacting with nature is what it is all about.

What you are experiencing now is what is going to make success that much sweeter, when it comes.

 

[Nameless Range]

When I started hunting, I was so stricken with buck fever missed the first couple deer I shot at.

Thanks for sharing your story. Hopefully you enjoyed it