Grit

[180ls1]

This has always interested me. Every hunter I know says they hunt hard. I've never really found hunting that "hard," maybe because I enjoy it so much.

I don't worry about being gritty. I focus on the fundamentals and putting myself in winning positions where it's easy/default for me to do the right thing. People who rely on summoning some internal beast remind me of guys who think they can fight because "all i see is red and destroy everything in my path."

 

[Sanchez]

Little different line of thought here. I've heard guys talk about the "grind" of hunting. Like its something they're doing because they have to. I figure theres 2 kinds of guys out there. The kind who are "grinding" for the glory of that grip n grin and the status they think another kill will bring them. Then theres the guys who are out there because they love it. Plain and simple. Its no grind to do something they love. The worse or harder it gets they smile because those are the memories that will get them through the next 9 months of work until they can get back out there where they belong. All that to say, it seems like some guys have it and some guys don't. The ones that don't are always searching for that motivation. Sounds like you had it in the past, a wife and kids sure change us but I don't think you lose that part. The butterflies are your old self who can't wait to get back out there and see if you still got it.

That sums it up for me.

I hunt long and hard much more so than anyone else I hunt with. They get tired, discouraged, homesick, etc., and go home. They think I have "grit" because I stay much longer, not stopping until the season ends or I harvest something. Nothing is further from the truth as I am thoroughly loving the hunt as long as I can make it last whether I get anything or not.

If I needed "grit" to motivate to hunt I would figure out something else to do.

For me it takes "grit" to deal with the in-laws over the holidays with a smile on my face, but that's something I don't have a choice on.

 

[5MilesBack]

Is this something someone can train and cultivate?
If so, what do you do to give yourself that never-quit, mindset?

Pretty sure I was just born with that. Just ask my parents (if they were still alive). There's a stubbornness and attitude that come with it, that I'm not sure one can just learn and then use. You have to have that "grit" to start with to even follow through on all that.

Apparently, from the time I could crawl I had that never-quit, never-lose mentality. Whether it's just a competition, fighting with an inanimate object that is attacking me (which amazingly happens a heck of a lot more often than it should), or just life in general......I refuse to lose.

From a hunting standpoint, my buddy kind of summed it up for me last year. There we were 10 days into "his" elk hunt, and I was pretty beat up. I was nursing a torn labrum in my right hip that has given me fits for some time now. Both my knees are bone on bone, and I twisted one of them a day earlier so it was swollen like a cantaloupe. We were going out for a morning hunt and it was still dark. I stepped out of the vehicle, put my pack on, and walked around to his side and stepped into an unseen depression about 10" deep with my right leg (the torn labrum side). I went down hard in excruciating pain. Finally got to my feet and he thought I was done for the season. Then a couple minutes later a bull bugled a couple hundred yards above us. My buddy tells the story, "he heard that bugle, and he's gone.......racing up the slope, and I'm the one with the tag". You just do what you gotta do, pain or not.

 

[43.6N]

Thank you to everyone who’s contributed so far.

This might get a little philosophical, but I personally see hunting as a reflection of life. Nothing is guaranteed, and your approach reflects your inner self.

People who cheat, will cheat. People who work hard, will work hard. No guarantee of success, only of an opportunity for someone to capitalize on. How people respond to that opportunity reflects what they are made of.

We have another post on this forum filled with stories of hunting partners who quit. The theme ends up being that wherever their line in the sand was, ultimately it was crossed. The next thing you know, these people started acting irrationally. Their focus of concern shifted to getting back to their comfort level at all costs.

I recognize that this is just a hobby. That I’m blessed beyond measure that this is how I get to spend my time. I also recognize that hunting looks differently for a lot of people on this forum. That your motivations may be different from mine.

But for people who have challenged themselves, who found the point where they were both excited and scared because they recognized that they had passed beyond their comfort zone, please keep sharing what drove you to persevere.

 

[Beendare]

David Goggins quantifies and exemplifies it better than I can ever describe, "Can't hurt Me"

link to his book on Amazon, HERE