WinMag Report post Posted February 7, 2012 Here are my thoughts but what are some of yours? I spend my time in the woods with friends that I consider family. From this I find a brotherhood that shares the same interest and respect of a heritage that has been passed down to us over the years. Everything I do on a hunt or before a hunt is intended on getting my animal but that is not my measure of a successful hunt. If it was I would have burned out on hunting years ago. Its me the outdoors and the animal. This is one of the biggest reasons why I dont use electronics on my hunt or trail cameras as I dont consider that ethical hunting. But that is just my opinion only. My measure of success on a hunt comes in many ways. Learning new things or new methods from people with different experience improves a person who is willing to open the mind. Sharing ideas and creating a solution to achieve a goal as a team builds character. This team is not built in the field but rather in the camp and then applied in the field individually by all members with the same shared goal. Of course it is the time in the outdoors finding out who we are and what we are made of. There is nothing like the smell of a cold crisp morning when the chill gets right down to your bones. Thats when you find out what you are made of. Do you have to stay there or can you go back to camp and sit around the nice warm fire with a hot coffee. Sure you can, but then you will know what youre made of. The feeling you get when you have an animal in your sights sometimes at long range and others when you can smell the animal 5 yards away from you. Your heart beating at rates you cant achieve by running alone, even uphill over long distance. When it snorts and blows snot all over you but still cant see you. Realizing depending on what youre hunting it can turn on you and make you the hunted. Knowing that at any moment even the sound of your breath or a blink of your eyes can scare it away. That is when you realize youre alive and you have a decision to make. Is this encounter worth the shot to call it a successful hunt? At times yes its a no brainer, but the hunt is over and the challenge is gone for that moment. I find my success or reason for hunting in what brought me there. My friends, my family, the camaraderie and an opportunity to know Im alive with the freedom to live my life on my terms. In all honesty, I really could hunt with a Kodak camera and have a successful hunt. . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billrquimby Report post Posted February 7, 2012 I hunt because I must, and I will hunt until I can't. Bill Quimby 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jimmyc Report post Posted February 8, 2012 I hunt because I must, and I will hunt until I can't. Bill Quimby Well put Sir. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swivelhead Report post Posted February 8, 2012 I hunt because I must, and I will hunt until I can't. Bill Quimby Well put Sir. X2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.270 Report post Posted February 8, 2012 What bill said. My wife asked me once, well she actually was yelling at me, why I hunted so much and I said I didnt know it is just what I do. Lark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
runningbird Report post Posted February 8, 2012 I hunt because I love it. Most of the time I hunt without a weapon or the intent to kill something. But I'm still hunting. Then when the season is open I carry my bow and if I have the opportunity I decide if I want to kill or not. Most often I choose not to, but I have still loved the hunt! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pine Donkey Report post Posted February 8, 2012 For some people hunting is what they do, for me, it is who I am. Hunting is a part of me just as much as much as my skin color, my eye color, and my rapidly balding hairline. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azslim Report post Posted February 8, 2012 it's my church...... no matter what is going on in my life a few days in the bushes, shivering on a hill waiting for the sun to come up, sweating up a storm 5 miles from the truck, laughing as I watch fawns or calves buck and jump around, butt heads then trot over to mom for a quick drink, heart pounding like a jackhammer as I try to close the next 5 yards to get in range, coming home with my tag still in my pocket but totally satisfied and at peace and stress free........ then it all goes away the first time some a$shole cuts me off in traffic....... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted February 8, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhcabnNjd1I 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
runningbird Report post Posted February 8, 2012 Thanks for posting that video. I've shown it to people at work often. Many just don't understand anything about hunting. Especially in AZ where so many are form big city's. I have quite a few people from NYC and Chicago that never had anything but a cement playground. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mathews Report post Posted February 8, 2012 it's my church...... no matter what is going on in my life a few days in the bushes, shivering on a hill waiting for the sun to come up, sweating up a storm 5 miles from the truck, laughing as I watch fawns or calves buck and jump around, butt heads then trot over to mom for a quick drink, heart pounding like a jackhammer as I try to close the next 5 yards to get in range, coming home with my tag still in my pocket but totally satisfied and at peace and stress free........ then it all goes away the first time some a$shole cuts me off in traffic....... Well said haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted February 9, 2012 it's my church...... This is how I feel about the outdoors. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted February 9, 2012 I can't help it! It was bred into me! It's my life! Plain and simple! TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted February 9, 2012 it's my church...... This is how I feel about the outdoors. Funny how great minds think alike Bill and Hector. lol Many years ago my Grandmother passed away on Christmas day at the age of 92. I was her first grandson and she spoiled me like most grandmas do. I grew up in a very small town and went to church every sunday except when our family was on a fishing vacation somewhere. As I got older and moved to Az I stopped going to church. Everytime we spoke on the phone grandma would say " when's the last time you went to church? You need to go to church". I would always tell her "my church is when I'm in the woods alone with myself and that's quite often grandma. I don't have to pray as hard to get the message to the lord thru the roof. It's much easier that way". She would always laugh. TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted February 9, 2012 it's my church...... This is how I feel about the outdoors. Funny how great minds think alike Bill and Hector. lol Many years ago my Grandmother passed away on Christmas day at the age of 92. I was her first grandson and she spoiled me like most grandmas do. I grew up in a very small town and went to church every sunday except when our family was on a fishing vacation somewhere. As I got older and moved to Az I stopped going to church. Everytime we spoke on the phone grandma would say " when's the last time you went to church? You need to go to church". I would always tell her "my church is when I'm in the woods alone with myself and that's quite often grandma. I don't have to pray as hard to get the message to the lord thru the roof. It's much easier that way". She would always laugh. TJ LOL! great story TJ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
