I recently read a post by Terry on another thread where he said how he has transitioned in his hunting to challenge himself. I too don't regret the compound years, I had fun. I did end up getting bored with hunting even though I love hunting and archery. I got tired of carrying the heavy bow and all the stuff. I moved back to trad and the love came back and began to grow. Then the desire for challenge grew. I find myself getting away from blinds, less camo, and I have been hunting more aggressively. By the end of this past season I just had my quiver of arrows, my bow and some water. I feel I had a great year just going for it and pushing myself. So, who else is going stripped down, changing tactics and pushing for more challenge? What is it you are doing out there to make your hunt a thrill.
It's always been that way for me... You couldn't pay me to hunt from a tree stand, for deer that is. Bear over bait, well, another story. Store bought blinds, nope! Enough blow downs around to keep me happy. I love the heavy cover for close-in encounters while on the stalk.
Been at it with trad gear for over nine years and have yet to put one down... Still, I love it so! If the gear I need can't fit into my pockets, it stays home. Except, maybe, for my Bison Gear pack that some day will hold my over clothes while I drag a deer out of the woods. :rolleyes: Some day.
... mike ...
Hey Jerry
As you know I started hunting with compounds with all the bells and whistles and carrying so much crap and hauling it up into trees. One day I met Reiner and saw him shooting a BW longbow and asked to try shooting it. Soon afterwards I bought my first trad bow, a sweet Hornes 3 piece mountain bow. After I hunted a couple seasons with the recurve from trees, Reiner got me started in hunting from the ground from natural blinds. Now I only carry all I use in a CatII quiver. Nothing like traveling light.
I live in the boonies,27 miles from the nearest grocery store.Our house is on my wifes family farm so i mostly hunt right here by the house,i can walk to all of my stands.So, my hunting is very simple,no need to take much gear with me.Usually just a bow, a cpl of arrows, a small flashlight and sometimes a pair of binoculars.I am a simple man ,or maybe just old fashioned,so i like the minimal way no matter were i hunt.Hunting to me is just a good excuse to be out in the woods so i dont care if i dont get a lot of deer.I dont hunt big game a lot with guns but when i do i use a handgun.I have prolly killed 10 times as many deer and hogs with a handgun as most rifle hunters i know.These days i use a bow even durring gun season.But,i have no problem hunting with others that use guns, compounds or even cross bows.
I just have to Admit, the Thrill Starts as soon as I pull away from the Curb!! :thumbsup: The Thrill Builds & Builds until I put boots on the Ground and wander into My Favorite Woods!! Slosh across the Creek and I am "HOME"!! There Nothing like that Feeling in the World to Me!! Doesnt matter if I even get a Shot, just "BEING" is the Religious Experience I have become a Junkie For!! :archer:
To hear the Birds, and Squirrels Chattering in the Trees, and the Soft Breeze rattling through the Last "Hanger-On" Leaves of the Trees is like a Hymn to Me. :pray:
I'm going with less and less, I just got a Waldrop pac-seat to use from natural blinds. Bow, arrows a drink and some lunch or a snack. Carry the lunch in a Haversack that I made from a pair of wool pants. Knife and a drag rope that I hope to use. I hope to see a few deer this year and maybe get lucky. Seems simple is better!!
It is still a remarkable feeling to me to tug on that haul-line to pull up my recurve in the morning dark. It feels like nuth'n on the other end!
Every time I go by a piece of woods I think of how I can hunt it. The mere thought of being in the woods excites me.
I must admit. . I don't think I use a stick because it is more challenging, but rather cause it just feels right to me. No other reason.
I don't feel the need to actually kill anything, although I feel a very real need to go out and chase stuff as often as possible. On the other hand, I don't turn down gifts from above either, if it comes by and offers itself to me, I WILL take it or try.
It just is what it is.
ChuckC
I'm thrilled every time I walk into the woods.
I find the thrill in getting close to an animal. The kill for me is anticlimactic. Every other part of the hunt for me is calming. Camping, hiking, being in nature with little but a stick, a string, and a sharp stick takes me back to a place where my ancestors lived by their skills. It is where I want to be every day of my life.
Why would you limit yourself to only hunting from the ground or from a stand? Are you not hunting when you enter the woods? The hunt begins when you enter the woods. Hunt your way to the stand. See a a deer not within shooting distance give it a try. Whent he time is right go after it.
I have the heart and the mind of a hunter, the killing is just the culmination of a hunt that has gone full circle and is part of it, a act that takes place once in a while to have hunted. But it is the events that happen in the pursuit that divide us from those that only eat store bought meat or fool themselves into thinking they were meant to be vegitarians, these individuals are not participants in nature but bystanders who will never smell an autumn morning or run their fingers through waist high canary grass, I feel sorry for their loss.
Just being in the outdoors is a thrill for me! :bigsmyl: :thumbsup:
I started out shooting a longbow just to challenge myself. Now It just feels so natural I don't even view it as a handicap. Other than occasionally taking rattling horns, everything I need for a sit fits in the pocket of my arrow master quiver.
QuoteOriginally posted by lpcjon2:
Every time I go by a piece of woods I think of how I can hunt it. The mere thought of being in the woods excites me.
I thought I was the only one that thought this way. My wife laughs at me and thinks I'm crazy. Hunting never leaves my mind, it's a sickness and I love it!
Always a thrill. I quit wearing camo a few years back and still stalk game to close distances. I want to kill a mule deer wearing a santa claus outfit next, or just in my boxer shorts. Just to prove you don't need no "camo". :readit: :laughing:
Tracy Tracy Tracy. How do you think Santa caught the deer he trained to fly. That santa suit has special camo powers. :biglaugh:
Truth be told every hunt I go on is a thrill. You take from nature what you wish to take from it because Nature has an unlimited amout of gifts to give.
oh ya.... I just love being out there.. where ever out there is. I hunt in very big woods so I need to be well prepared but I take no more than is necessary to be safe. Water, minimal foods, a knife warm dry clothes and a compass and map.(and GPS) first aid stuff.
I once read that 'a good mountaineer never gets lost, but they can get confused.
So you should always be prepared for long periods of confusion.'
Joe Ashton has got it right........Never lost, confused........for hours... :notworthy: .. .LOL!
I like to mix up my hunting. I get bored hunting from tree stands sometimes.It is a great way to waylay a big mature buck though. I love to hunt from ground blinds{ Blowdowns{}however. But my favorite way to hunt is still hunting when the conditions are favorable. Shot a young buck last year from 22 yards after a 45 min. stack. My proudest deer kill of my life. A true trophy is how you shoot it, not what you shoot.Pleasure is in the prospective.Oh yea, with a long bow and woodies.
the thrill to me is not only being outdoors but the chase, not so much the kill anymore. Just enjoying Gods woods.
I have gone exclusively to hunting from natural ground blinds.
I'm not a hardcore hunter like some and I often fall asleep when hunting and I like the fact that the fall from my stool of the ground is only a couple feet.
I have killed deer every year and do not miss all the bs of having to hang stands, wear harnesses, etc...
I've never hunted with a mechanical arrow launching device so all I know is the stickbow. My shots are generally 15 yards or less so I don't need much in the way of high tech.
I wear Woolrich plaid shirts, carry my arrows in an old Delta quiver with a strap for hanging over my shoulder.
Sit on a three legged chair.
I like to keep it pretty simple but if other fellow hunters like all the gadgets, more poser to them.
I believe Shakes described it Best, there is no better feeling when I can carry my bow and arrows into my favorite woods too. :archer:
What other past time is there that you can roam around in the woods, climb trees, hide in the bushes, sneak up on wild animals, get dirty, ride horses, 4 wheelers, 4 wheel drives, mingle with wildlife, shoot stuff...course it's a thrill every time I go and when I don't go my mind is there anyway.
Depends on the situation for me.
Where I live, about 1/2 mile down the road, I can bowhunt small feral pigs. I only take a my bow, broadhead tipped arrows, hunting knife, a chair and my cell phone (for an emergency) and use natural cover for a blind.
But, when I go on a package hunt 300-400 miles away, I take what I stated above, but I take much more such as a commercial pop up blind, both of my recurves, bow stringer, extra bowstring, a few RPS inserts, hot melt cement, compass or GPS, first aid kit, nocking piler, nockset, etc.
Everytime I step into the woods is special to me. All the stress and hustle of work and such fade away and a "new" life comes in. It can be a week long trip in the swamp or just a couple of hours in the swamp behind the house and Life is good.
I enjoy the gift God has has given of being able to appreciate the life outdoors. Birds singing , flowers blooming...etc. But make no mistake about it, when I take to the woods with my bow to hunt. Thats what I do and killing something is my main objective. I`m not bloodthirsty or a game hog by any means. My family was raised on wild game and is our preferred meat be it fish or fur bearing. But I`m not a guy that is content with hunting all year and not killing something. I could wear no camo or face paint and hunt strictly from foot and with my lack of skills I would kill very little down here other than maybe a few pigs. Deer are tuff to kill like that and my hat is off to you fellas that get it done...I don`t on foot very regular.
But the main question was " is your hunt a thrill"? You better believe it is.RC
Good stuff from everyone. Shakes, I agree, I feel home out there. It's not what you take along, or use tree stands etc. I just changed all that for me. Though, I've been known to carry a pack full of clothes if the weather requires it. RC, you just keep up the killin' cause I like the stories!
I love it in the woods and only take what I need. My hunting stool, arrows, bow, and a quart of water. Where I hunt you can go in any direction and be at a road in 15 to 20 min.
p.s. and my Chew :goldtooth:
I tend to get bored in a tree stand and also worry more about falling out of a tree as I get older! Have not been in a tree for about eight years.
I only carry what I need. On an elk hunt that gets to be quite a bit of stuff. On some hunts not much is needed at all.
The woods has been my happy place since ten years old. Just as exciting now as then. Does not matter to me if it's a bow, rifle, fishing rod, etc., the tools of the hunt don't change the excitement or anticipation!
I too started with a compound bow about 33 or 34 years ago. It was quite a challenge and more fun than I could have imagined. Over the years I have increased the challenge by changing to recurve and finally making my own selfbows to hunt with.
It all elevates the level of challenge, but what that really means is: each time I make it just a little harder to bag a deer, the more rewarding and memorable it is when I do get one. Through each progression: rifle to compound to longbow, you have to penetrate a deer's defenses getting closer and closer to make an accurate shot. That means more and more chance of error or wayward scent allowing the deer to detect you and evaporate in a flash of white tail.
It wouldn't mean a lot to me now to shoot a deer that stepped out on a field 200 yards away with a rifle. How tough is that with modern firearms? But, shooting one so close I can count the hairs on his chin without him even knowing I was there and with a bow that I made from a tree and with a wooden arrow fletched with turkey feathers from the turkey I shot last spring..... I'll never forget that!
WoodsyDave
I love it when my doctor asks "what I do". The look on his face is priceless when I reply, "climb trees".
He even once suggested (sore shoulder) that at my age I should consider giving it up. As long as I can crawl to the tree, I'm climbing it. I love the view!
This going to basics is a good trip. I've always been a stalker and don't spend much time in tree stands.But i still like wearing a plaid shirt or something to break up a solid blob moving through the woods, and I still do use my predator cammo a lot. (15 years old and still going!)
as far as going into the woods with just minimum gear.... NOT! i never leave the road without my day pack. i like having a first aid kit and my basic survival gear at all times. I hunt alone way too much to not be prepared.
have fun.... challange yourself....Hell, hunt naked if you want....but be safe, and use your head while you are at it. a broken ankle could cost you your life if not prepared. Kirk
Just knowing I'm going on a hunt starts the THRILL for me.
I gave myself the challenge of shooting only a mature buck this year. Im 23 been hunting since I was 9 and enjoyed and learned more this season than any season past. But every day above ground and out hunting is a thrill. :)
I took two gun hunters with me rabbit hunting. They tell everyone that I am a fart in a skillet when hunting. Looking under all the brush moving to cut off the hill climbers and sprinting along trails. I get ever more excited when hunting big game.
Do not feel that excitement in fishing or rifle hunting. The longbow makes me hunt, rifle allows me to kill