But... You don't understand!

[wind gypsy]

Poor guy must either have mental health issues or is just a giant pussy.

Not sure how far you were from home but if any appreciable distance I'd have dropped him at an airport, car rental center, or uhaul and wished him luck.

 

[MallardSX2]

I had a friend leave on me one time due to chest pains. He never even crossed the Mississippi River again. lol

People are weak. And most of them are weak minded.

 

[11boo]

Sad. Did you not know this person very well?

Your friend would blast the ceiling with a shotgun if he saw this I assume?

 

[Z Barebow]

I had a related conversation with some of my buddys. (Running friends) I explained that even though they might have mental toughness, (we all have completed multiple marathons), I am not sure I would invite any of them on a backcountry hunt. One of them stated he would ask me to drive him to the nearest hotel/airport after 3 days. I explained. "No, you will need to Uber from camp. I am not taking time away from the hunt to taxi your @ss unless there is bone sticking out."

Not hard to figure out why I hunt solo.

 

[Billy Goat]

Did you only have 2 packs of Ramen and a cold egg mcmuffen?

 

[Htm84]

Meh. People are scared of what they don’t know. Just like a lot of guys here would shit a brick if they had to go spend a week on the south side of Chicago. Meanwhile little kids and old lady’s just live there comfortable as can be.

 

[BBob]

It's kinda vague what actually happened. Can you tell us more about your hunting partner and why he wanted to leave and what yall actually did?

It sounds like your friend is someone who you shouldn't go on any kind of extended hunt with again

Sad. Did you not know this person very well?

Squirrel is a for hire llama packer. The guy and others referenced in his stories were not friends but clients.

In a way this situation seems like a bonus to a packer. Squirrel got paid for 10 days but only had to do the prep work and spent less than 24hrs in the field

I hear about this from packers/guides all the time. Lots of people just can’t handle it.

 

[5MilesBack]

He set that up when he wouldn't drive to the T/H because his truck would be vandalised, hence "you have to hike out and take me home now..."

That would be a big negative.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

I've found that a lot of guys are in love with the idea of hunting. They want the glorious grip and grin. They want the majestic mountain top vistas to post on their social media. They want to tell the story of their conquering nature. Then there are some of us that just like being out there. Most of that first type of dude are only good when the hunting is good, weather is good, etc.

My favorite memories of hunts are when we are getting our butts absolutely handed to us by weather, gear failures, etc, and we are huddled in the tent laughing at ourselves for being such idiots to put ourselves into that situation. Those are the trips that make the best stories over the next campfire.

 

[Scoot]

Squirrel is a for hire llama packer. The guy and others referenced in his stories were not friends but clients.

In a way this situation seems like a bonus to a packer, Squirrel got paid for 10 days but only had to do the prep work and spent less than 24hrs in the field I hear about this from packers/guides all the time. Lots of people just can’t handle it.

Well hell... this is definitely a huge bonus for him! 9.5 free days and he should be paid fully for it. Win-win!

 

[SonnyDay]

My main worry is what's happening back at home versus what might happen to me in the woods. When I first got my InReach I sent a message to my wife to let her know we were OK and she didn't reply for like 36 hours... I was about to pack up and head out (imagining all the horrible things that could have happened) when she finally checked in.

We have a much clearer set of rules about replying and checking in now!

 

[woods89]

Same on the Bigfoot thing. People make jokes and everyone says he's not real, but all I can think when I'm outside my tent in my undies at midnight with my boots unlaced is... what if?

Agreed. I'm a pretty skeptical guy, but something about laying in a tent makes a guy a lot more openminded.....

 

[Sherman]

Agreed. I'm a pretty skeptical guy, but something about laying in a tent makes a guy a lot more openminded.....

Insert Brokeback Mountain joke.....

 

[woods89]

Insert Brokeback Mountain joke.....

Not what I had in mind, but yeah, I walked into that one..........

 

[hunterjmj]

When my head hits the pillow it's lights out. Especially during hunting.

 

[307]

"We suffer more in imagination than in reality"

Seneca


I'm guilty of an overly active imagination at times as well. My brain can come up with all sorts of random crap to worry about. It's usually the night before I leave or on the drive out. After that, it tends to be full focus on the experience. I can imagine some don't get that far and allow the imagination to win before the experience can take over.

 

[NB7]

Squirrel is a for hire llama packer. The guy and others referenced in his stories were not friends but clients.

Ah, well that changes things quite a bit. I was under the assumption this was just a friend bailing out. Sounds like a 10-day paycheck for one day's work then.

 

[wind gypsy]

Squirrel is a for hire llama packer. The guy and others referenced in his stories were not friends but clients.

In a way this situation seems like a bonus to a packer. Squirrel got paid for 10 days but only had to do the prep work and spent less than 24hrs in the field

I hear about this from packers/guides all the time. Lots of people just can’t handle it.

Interesting context. I knew he rented llamas but my initial reading of the post was that he was personally there to hunt in this case. Makes a little more sense if he was there as the hired llama wrangler.

My dall sheep guide a few years back told me stories of a client losing his shit when it was time to hop in the super cub and another losing his shit immediately after getting dropped off by the super cub. Now that would be an expensive mistake.. I'd love to hear those guy's conversations with their wives when they got home. "So you spent $20k to fly to alaska and return 2 days later because you were scared to camp in the mountains or fly on a supercub?"

 

[sodaksooner]

Interesting context. I knew he rented llamas but my initial reading of the post was that he was personally there to hunt in this case. Makes a little more sense if he was there as the hired llama wrangler.

My dall sheep guide a few years back told me stories of a client losing his shit when it was time to hop in the super cub and another losing his shit immediately after getting dropped off by the super cub. Now that would be an expensive mistake.. I'd love to hear those guy's conversations with their wives when they got home. "So you spent $20k to fly to alaska and return 2 days later because you were scared to camp in the mountains or fly on a supercub?"

That's crazy...Guys might add a flight in a small plane to their training if they have never done it before... It is different if all you have ever flown in was an airline. Hard to fathom that they'd lose their shit for that. I'd much rather be in a cub than a 737...

I consider myself fortunate in that I grew up with my hunting partner and our dad was a pretty tough dude. We were never allowed to quit something once it started and it stuck with both of us.

 

[jacob_ski4]

Best one I’ve got is someone dropping out the morning we’re supposed to meet for a 4 day hunt because they only had 7 hours of sleep and not their usual 8, said it wasn’t safe to drive the 3.5 hours on that little sleep. Pretty sure a warm body next to him in bed had something to do with that one. Never had someone flake during a hunt though luckily.