Was wondering if any of you had any supersticious hunting rituals that you do before you hunt.things like wearing a certain piece of clothing, carrying a medalion or keepsake, eating a certain food , or even putting left sock on first and right boot first type thing. It time to come out of the closet and tell us your rituals.
Not really a supersticious ritual but I always shower (if possible) before going huntig.
My tab and hunting knife. I have a home cut tab...11 years old. If I dont have it I dont see deer. My RIGID hunting knife. If hunting whitetails...I might as well stay home if I dont have it. I also have a rust colored l;ambswool sweater...ugly as hell that improves my odds 80+%.
Laugh all you want, the years have proven this info!
I have carried the same Uncle Henry folding knife on every hunt for the last twenty one years.........got it from my grand pa......will not hunt without it....
Here they are:
(http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/ab246/yornoc/002-3.jpg)
Yup that sweater is pretty unsightly...LOL
The only ritual I really have is usually I'll say a Prayer and give Thanks to our Service Men and Women.
My only ritual is to climb up my tree, sit still for 3-8 hours & then get back down. That pretty much sums up every single thing I do on the average hunt.
Rob I do recal a pic of you sniffing some feces, was that a ritual...LOL
I have a mental checklist of things I'll need...takes about 5 seconds and I'm ready to rock n roll. That's about as ritualistic as I get.
I have a buddy that comes to my place to hunt. If he stops to get breakfast, gas or something else and finds a penny on the ground it's game on because he has 100% success in this endeavor - his story not mine !
I always try to visit the commode before leaving the house. It's much more comfortable than backing up to a tree.
A few years back Roger Norris and I exchanged items. I gave Roger an old Schrade Honesteel and he gave me a beautiful 8x10 photo of Fred Bear drawing back his bow.
I always touch the photo before heading out to hunt. I also carry in my pack or Catquiver, my old Schrade drop finger knife and the alligator sheath Larry Surtees made for me.
Well about half way to my area I usually ask myself - what did you leave at home this time?
QuoteOriginally posted by lpcjon2:
Yup that sweater is pretty unsightly...LOL
:biglaugh: INDEED!
I have a Pittsburgh Penguins terrible towel hanging over the doorway of my bowroom. I always tap it with my bow tip as I leave and return from a hunt.
It doesn't neccessarily bring me luck but after doing it for nearly twenty years I'd be afraid to stop now.
Old Timer hunting knife my father gave me when I started hunting. It has been with me every year since. My only other ritual is to hang my cloths on the line day prior to air.
My old fawn call and my lucky cottontail call,waist of time with out them. Ask my dog if its going to be a good day to call. He's right most of the time.
I have carried a special knife that was my dad's. I started to carry a medicine bag with some stuff I have found on different hunts. Lucky hats, prayer and just about everything but sacrafice of a chicken, nothing has worked so far as I have had only 2 shots in 32 years.......one of those was with a compound 10 years ago while a I had breif trip to the dark side! :dunno: I keep plodding along, maybe someday if I live long enough!
QuoteOriginally posted by lpcjon2:
Yup that sweater is pretty unsightly...LOL
I am thinking the deer feel sorry for you in that sweater is why you see more. That or they are telling their friends to "come get a load of this guy!" :biglaugh:
I used to use the same arrow to take my first two deer and a raccoon. It has since been retired. I would reuse the arrow I took my last deer with but I couldn't find the arrow. I also put my left sock and boot on before the right. It has brought good luck.
coffee and a honeybun. a few minuets leanes up to a tree before i go to the woods helps me sit more still and longer.
I use to change wich arrow I grabed out of the quiver if I need a change in my luck ( like useing arrow #2 instead of #1) but as I started this year with the same thought prosess on LUCK, I changed things up! Now I grab my first arrow every time as I say "The Lord is my provider" to remind myself that LUCK has nothing to do with my sucses :thumbsup:
Pray.
(I had a Bible college prof who used to say (in his scratchy voice), "You can ALWAYS pray!".)
For 20 some years I've had a old Schrade folder that Is always on my hip when I go hunting.Also have a ritual of cleaning up,re-fletching and re-sharpening the arrow & broadhead I just killed a deer with to try and take another.Worked this year as I took a doe and buck with the same arrow in 2 weeks.Mojo you think...or am I just reading too much into it? ;>)
I always try to forget to bring at least one necessity on each outing and I do a pretty good job of being consistent with it. So far I havent forgot my bow or arrows but Ive come close. ADD is a helluva predicament. :knothead:
My father and hunting buddy passed 21 years ago this December. For those 21 years I have carried a photo of the two of us with a the first and only deer he harvested in my back tag and I carry his compass in my pocket with me on every hunt. He's with me on every hunt!
I was taught to do the "last bite" with a hemlock sprig by the leader of our gun hunting group (the father of a college friend) in 1980 and have kept it up. I still do this, after giving a prayer of thanksgiving to God and a prayer for the deer's sake. The deer gets a sprig and the hunter gets another dipped in the blood and worn in his hat brim for the rest of the hunt; or at least back to home. I understand this is a Germanic ritual. His last name was Bristol - hardly German - but it could have been passed along from who knows who in his past.
Note the sprig in this year's doe's mouth. This, for me, was deer #39 and, amazingly, EVERY time I have shot or arrowed a deer there has been a hemlock tree within a few yards. I just find that interesting.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Stumpkiller/Bowhunting/HPIM2650.jpg)
Another tradition, that I think is brilliant, is that you do not clean your fist deer. Someone else always did that in our group for a newcomer. Seeing as how usually the first timer was shaking like a leaf this was a great plan. And then they always had a demonstration for how it should be done.
I don't really have a bit of "lucky" or long-time gear that makes the hunt. Though last year I dug a Snicker's bar out of my pack to munch on and it was the color of cork and tasted like a tongue depressor. Have to remember to rotate the inventory.
Sit still
See Deer
Kill Same
Normaly I say, "Todays going to be the day." Then at the end of the day I normaly say, " Tomorrow is going to be the day".
Schafer
I keep all my hunting clothes, bow, gear, etc. in the back of my truck all season long. Every evening sometime after I'm home, i get my backpack ready for the next day with whatever extra clothes i deem neccesary, another snickers bar and refill my water. I try to wear as few of my hunting clothes as possible on the ride there and put my boots on when i open the gate to park my truck. I try not to be annoyed at my hunting partners complete lack of concern for my scent control methods as he usually does none of these!
AH.....Opening day is always cold meatloaf sandwiches. Doesn't do anything but fill me up.
Ok you guys do all of that stuff that you do to bring yourself luck and say
"This one is for M.E.B." as I am having the worst season I have ever had in many, many years and nothing I have done has worked.
Say a prayer too if you feel led to as I only pray for others to be successful not ever for myself. THANKS! Mike.
Mike, I'll only speak for myself, but my rituals very rarely feel lucky to me. I've seen a total of 1 deer all seasons long from my treestand, and that was a spikehorn which we're not allowed to shoot!
VTer, we must be hunting the same type of area. I have seen 1 flag and a deer at 60 yards. Maybe we should sacrifice a chicken....LOL!! :biglaugh:
Keep using the broadhead that killed your last deer until you loose it or it wears out. It's experienced and knows what it needs to do... :)
I have my whitetail huntin' cap and another that's my mule deer huntin' cap. Silly old superstition but it's mine & important to me.
If I'm successful I always give thanks to God and to the spirit of the animal. Also I do an old Indian ritual of placing a last bite of food in the animals mouth for it's final journey.
Oh yeah, and how do we survive w/o peanut butter and apricot jam sandwiches???????????
Pasties and Leinenkugel beer at deer camp.
ChuckC
especially if I hunt in the mountains - a cliff bar and a liter of water in the jeep.
Other than shooting just over the top of whatever it is, I have no other rituals.
Missing...oh you meant before hunting...lol
After losing my hunting buddy and friend Carl last year to leukemia I always talk to him a bit since i know he is with me hunting.
My camp consists of my brother and I and sometimes another friend. We always have a toast "to the hunt" before we start -- that's the night before, not the morning, we go out.
Eat a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a half gallon of coffee, and some cold pizza slices- smoke a big fat cigar- fuel up the truck after I get dressed, then head to the woods for some quiet time- just me and the Gameboy playing Call of Duty in the stand!
Get down out of stand about 900 am- nature call- about 50 feet away should be ok, huh?- (this is usually when I kill most of my animals, so I always hold my bow in my left hand while I'm taking care of business, if you know what I mean)then back to teh stand for another hour or two.
Then break out the limburger and liverwurst sandwiches with great big raw onion slices, a can of cola, bag of potato chips and get my drink and my snack on!
Then its a 45 minute nap....gotta get that in. Then its up and at em - till about 30 minutes before sunset when I get down and call my buddy on the cell phone while I'm walking across the big field to my waiting pickup.
I love huntin'!!! :bigsmyl:
I've got a hat I've had for bout ten years now that has to on my head!
For an extended trip (more than a couple days) I always bring a little bit of flour, salt & pepper, and a couple onions-just in case there is a chance for fresh liver and onions.