Curious when the last 7-14 day backcountry (not 1/4 mile from the truck where your electronics are locked) hunt was? Do you normally truck camp/hunt or do you backpack in? Are you married or do you have any living family that you care about?
Most of us all go into the backcountry to get away from electronics, but GPS makes me a better hunter, and the ability to call for help and text my wife, or better yet for her to text me makes those 7-14 day trips accessible. You might think you are superman but emergencies happen both in the back country and at home. I have aging parents, would hate to miss their funeral.
I for one hate technology and if my hunting spot ever got cell service I would find a new one. But no matter how bad ass one thinks they are, shit happens and you arent immune.
I would recommend checking out the Hunting Backcountry podcast episode 104 where a former Army Ranger went for a birdhunt in a spot that he knew well and tore up his knee so bad that he had to be air lifted out. But then again it may not apply to you because podcasts arent broadcast on AM radio.
Well, I don't know where to start with this, so I reckon I'll go point by point. The last 7-14 day back country hunt was 8 years ago. Mainly because I fill before the season is over..... I do not truck camp except for fishing trips and LR matches, nor do I backpack much anymore. Too old, so I cheat and wheelpack. The backpack is only used to get meat to where the wheel can do the work. I'm divorced, but when I was still married, the wife and kids knew the area where I'd be, and who to call to find me if I didn't check in on a schedule. My boys now have that duty, if they aren't with me. Nobody(including me) has said I was superman, and emergencies will be handled as best they can accordingly. A little backstory on aging parents... in '02 my dad had a massive heart attack at 7AM. I'd left for elkcamp at 4:30 that morning. My wife knew my schedule and where I stopped for fuel at the approximate time. She notified CSP and they pulled me over to inform me 250 miles from home. Luckily I knew another rodeo friend in the area and dumped my horses and trailer at his ranch in Hayden and gassed it back the Denver hospital where Pap was. I made it in time for his openheart surgery, and he lived. Put the kibosh on elk season that year, but hey....Dad loves hunting as much as I do, and the family would have froze him until the funeral, if they could't have got me turned back.
I am just a little feller, with NO illusions of bad-assery, and am very familiar with Mr. Murphy AND my lack of immunity to his shenanigans, as something happens about every year. Hunting seasons are sometimes remembered by the bad stuff, injuries or wrecks that happened that year. Like the year my wifes horse colic'd and died in camp, or the year I frigging near cut my thumb off, or the one where I spent 3 days in a tent puking. If they all went smooth, when you get old the'd all just kinda run together....Gotta have SOMETHING to liven things/memories up.....grin
As for listening to 'podcasts', to be honest, I don't even know what that is......
