On being a flake

[3forks]

We had a sales kickoff earlier in June for work. They always bring in a motivational speaker, and most of the time nothing of what these speakers have to say resonates with the organization.

The motivational speaker this year was a former Navy SEAL that started a successful business. Anyway, most of what he was saying wasn’t earth shattering, but he did mention a comment that an instructor he had provided that is relevant to this discussion. Essentially, the instructor said something to the effect of “most people want to be SEALs on sunny days and don’t envision what it’s going to be like when you‘re doing the job in the very nastiest of conditions”.

I think there are a lot of guys out there who buy the gear, think they’re prepared, but really don’t have it in them when it comes time for the hunt. Some guys can’t make it out of bed, some guys will fail when even on a nice day - all the gear they have is too heavy to pack around or haul far enough to get to where the animals are, and some guys probably will quit when the weather gets bad. Anyway, it’s an over simplification, but I just think there are lot of guys who like the idea of hunting more than actually doing it when it actually comes time to putting the effort in or enduring the conditions.

 

[*zap*]

Heck, I cannot find someone to just hike with.....lots of hiking trails here and really never see anyone on them other than the ones that are next to the campgrounds and people walk down to the lake on.

maybe it's me..

 

[NDGuy]

My problem is I absolutely hate hunting alone.

This is what kills me with these situations. I get so much enjoyment out of the "deer/elk camp" atmosphere. I can and will hunt alone but I would never choose it over the former. I like the comradery too much.

 

[bsnedeker]

This is what kills me with these situations. I get so much enjoyment out of the "deer/elk camp" atmosphere. I can and will hunt alone but I would never choose it over the former. I like the comradery too much.

I'm almost the exact opposite of this...lol! I do enjoy elk camp, but the main reason I'm out is to kill an elk, not hang out and BS and drink beers. I get up early, gear up, head out, hunt all day, get back to camp, eat, and immediately go to sleep. I prefer to hunt on my own so I can get up as early as I want, stay out as late as I want, take a day off whenever I need to relax, etc.

In my perfect world I'd hunt within about 1 hour of my buddies so I can hunt on my own, then call them to help me pack the critter off the mountain if I actually manage to kill something!

 

[CorbLand]

Even with kids it’s not impossible to make and follow through with plans.

Me and my wife have an understanding - during the winter and spring it’s mostly her time, I’ll do what I can to accommodate her plans. Summer is a mixture of both of us, and late summer/fall is mine and she does what she can to accommodate my plans.

With that said, I think a lot of peoples problem is that they “commit” to plans before actually doing their due diligence… or they overcommit in general and then when Saturday rolls around after working 50 hours they’re tired… big surprise dude you’re always tired after working that long - could you not foresee this? Because I sure as hell can and I commit accordingly.

My wife and I have a running joke that I must not love her as much as some of my friends love their wife.

Some of the kids I have tried hunting with have almost been comical. I hunted with a kid that had to call home at noon every day, not that big of a deal but he literally had to call at noon or his wife would lose her mind. We would go check cameras after work once a month and he had to be home by 8 o'clock or his wife would be pissed. Pretty hard to meet after work at 5, drive 45 minutes, check about 10 cameras in a 4 mile radius and be back down by 8. We got stuck in traffic one time and he wasn't home until 845 and holy shit is all I can say.

 

[204guy]

Here's my thoughts as I've been through this.

I am not saying I'm a bad ass, fat from it.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

, I feel ya man, getting there myself. Just ate about a pound of leftover elk steak, that I packed out solo 3 miles, so I'm conflicted on being fat but also being a badass.

 

[CorbLand]

I'm almost the exact opposite of this...lol! I do enjoy elk camp, but the main reason I'm out is to kill an elk, not hang out and BS and drink beers. I get up early, gear up, head out, hunt all day, get back to camp, eat, and immediately go to sleep. I prefer to hunt on my own so I can get up as early as I want, stay out as late as I want, take a day off whenever I need to relax, etc.

In my perfect world I'd hunt within about 1 hour of my buddies so I can hunt on my own, then call them to help me pack the critter off the mountain if I actually manage to kill something!

This is how we always hunted when I hunted with a group. We would all camp in the same area and hunt by ourselves a couple miles apart. It was mostly rifle hunts so legal shooting hours were more limited and we would get back to camp, eat supper, BS for an hour to an hour half and go to bed. If someone killed something, you called on the radio and a couple people showed up to help you get it out.

 

[wind gypsy]

The only thing that really gets in the way with elk hunting is getting a dead elk off the mountain.. Otherwise solo is great! It's just easier to hire a packing service or rent llamas than coordinate with someone a lot of the time..

Edit - the above is for out of state hunts. Things would be a bunch easier if you hunted a lot in your home state.

 

[bsnedeker]

This is how we always hunted when I hunted with a group. We would all camp in the same area and hunt by ourselves a couple miles apart. It was mostly rifle hunts so legal shooting hours were more limited and we would get back to camp, eat supper, BS for an hour to an hour half and go to bed. If someone killed something, you called on the radio and a couple people showed up to help you get it out.

Good point...I was speaking mainly of archery. Rifle hunting is a totally different deal.

 

[wind gypsy]

I had one friend I could count on, no matter what, for anything. Want to hunt? He'd be on the road. Fish? He'd buy the beer. Need something heavy moved? No questions asked. Best friend and hunting partner you could have.

After a divorce he moved back to his home state and I have yet to find anyone who can replace him.

Sounds like you should have shared him a little more with his wife

 

[CorbLand]

Good point...I was speaking mainly of archery. Rifle hunting is a totally different deal.

Interesting point to think about. The archery hunts here are super early in the year, most start in August and run to the first week of September. I also like to have someone around for the mid day lull of archery hunting. It makes for some long days of hunting if you don't have someone to kill 3-5 hours mid day with.

 

[tdhanses]

This is an interesting thread, so many with the same situation you would think some could find a good quality hunting partner just from others in it. It took me awhile but I have a few good ones and they are honest if they can’t go or have to cut it short. I’ve learned to drive separate then you are in the drivers seat for your own schedule. Schedules don’t always match up but enough days do to hunt but we do mostly hunt solo and just meet back at camp as well.

 

[danwattsmessick]

Sounds like you should have shared him a little more with his wife

Haha! Fair point.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Even up here in AK it’s a problem, I only have two guys I hunt with. One of them is a die hard moose hunter, the other a sheep hunter. I’ve wasted lots of time going with guys who didn’t have the mental ability to go hard when it was needed. I also don’t have time to waste with guys who don’t hunt that hard then say the hunt was a success….because they had fun even though we were unsuccessful.

 

[stdeb11]

Agree with a lot of this thread... something I've realized is people make time for the things they want to do in life.

I used to try to coordinate hunts and scouting trips with friends. Really started to wear me down as people would begin to bail or cut trips short due to work/life/etc. Now I plan out what I want to do well in advance. I'll tell friends what I'm doing if they want to join, but I don't wait or change my plans to cater to them. I'm going and if I'm solo that's fine, almost prefer going solo at this point.

 

[ttucci16]

Oh man, I was just talking about this with my wife over the weekend. It's the one issue that absolutely boils my blood. I constantly offer to take people out hunting with me, the trip is planned a few weeks prior to meet up at 0300 to drive out to the east side of the Cascades, I'll call to confirm...and all the sudden the person will completely flake out. The best excuse I've heard so far is "My football team is playing Sunday so I can't go".

My rule is that everyone gets one chance to cancel on me for some BS. After that, I'll never offer to bring them out . The best hunting partner I have is a 65 year old that gets just as excited as me to hunt chukar without a dog. The guy is an absolute animal. He's always on time, always offers to drive, never complains, and will stay on the mountain all day. My other hunting partner has flown up from out of state two years in a row and is always willing and happy to spend seven plus days in the mountains hunting. (The guy is moving to Washington now because he's so committed to hunting) He never complains and is up for anything.

The younger crowd is truly the worst with flaking out. (People think nothing of texting you at 1130 PM the night prior to cancel) Everyone wants to go hunting until they find out I'm willing to wake up at 0200, and hike 10 plus miles to shoot some grouse, chukar, elk, deer, or bear. It absolutely blows my mind.
I think the only thing worse is trying to mentor someone who wants to get into "backcountry" hunting and they completely disregard your advice on what gear they need in order to stay out and be comfortable for an extended amount of time.

On that note, if you're willing to wake up super early and chase devil birds around Washington, hit me up and I'll take you along.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Oh man, I was just talking about this with my wife over the weekend. It's the one issue that absolutely boils my blood. I constantly offer to take people out hunting with me, the trip is planned a few weeks prior to meet up at 0300 to drive out to the east side of the Cascades, I'll call to confirm...and all the sudden the person will completely flake out. The best excuse I've heard so far is "My football team is playing Sunday so I can't go".

My rule is that everyone gets one chance to cancel on me for some BS. After that, I'll never offer to bring them out . The best hunting partner I have is a 65 year old that gets just as excited as me to hunt chukar without a dog. The guy is an absolute animal. He's always on time, always offers to drive, never complains, and will stay on the mountain all day. My other hunting partner has flown up from out of state two years in a row and is always willing and happy to spend seven plus days in the mountains hunting. (The guy is moving to Washington now because he's so committed to hunting) He never complains and is up for anything.

The younger crowd is truly the worst with flaking out. (People think nothing of texting you at 1130 PM the night prior to cancel) Everyone wants to go hunting until they find out I'm willing to wake up at 0200, and hike 10 plus miles to shoot some grouse, chukar, elk, deer, or bear. It absolutely blows my mind.
I think the only thing worse is trying to mentor someone who wants to get into "backcountry" hunting and they completely disregard your advice on what gear they need in order to stay out and be comfortable for an extended amount of time.

On that note, if you're willing to wake up super early and chase devil birds around Washington, hit me up and I'll take you along.

Unless your friend is actually playing on Sunday, that is one sorry ass excuse.

 

[trazerr]

Man, after reading all of these comments I guess I am pretty dang lucky! I hunt with the same two people that I have hunted with for years. One of my hunting partners is my dad. Even at his age he is still a beast. He always has to be the first one on the mountain or the water. Always early and first to everything. The other is my buddy who I grew up with. His family rifle hunted growing up and my family bow hunted so up until we were 17/18 we never had hunted together for big game. That year we somehow decided he should go bow hunting with us over east instead of rifle hunting around home. I remember being pretty dang worried asking my dad if he could tag along this year ha Fortunately my buddy is the type of guy who will drop anything he is doing to help you. He is a farmer in the valley and works 18-20hr days 7 days a week right up until bow season. Then he loads up and spends his time hunting elk and deer with pops and I. Like my dad he is always early and always shows up if he says he will be there. He never complains and always wants to pull his weight and some of mine and my dad's. The 3 of us were a perfect hunting match from the get go I guess ha He has hunted with us every year for the past 13-14 years.

I've had others try to get in with hunting with us. Some pretty close friends even. However, us 3 are pretty die hard hunters and we know what makes each other tick. Its just too much of a risk to try to bring someone new in that may not be willing to put the effort in that we do. Reading the comments above it seems that's a pretty common issue!

 

[LongWayAround]

Texting/calling your lady from the blind/boat/etc for no apparent reason is also pretty unforgivable. If the kid isn't bleeding profusely and the dog is here with you... There's no change. You're still hunting. Call her later or maybe when you get home... I might call home one time over the course of a week if I take the afternoon off to go to town or whatever. Not every two hours...

I don't like sharing a camp but I prefer to hunt alone. Waterfowl is something of an exception, it tends to be better with company but I can't stand being a guest when the host doesn't have their ducks in a row.

It sounds like we're all about the same.

 

[JeffRaines]

Oh man, I was just talking about this with my wife over the weekend. It's the one issue that absolutely boils my blood. I constantly offer to take people out hunting with me, the trip is planned a few weeks prior to meet up at 0300 to drive out to the east side of the Cascades, I'll call to confirm...and all the sudden the person will completely flake out. The best excuse I've heard so far is "My football team is playing Sunday so I can't go".

My rule is that everyone gets one chance to cancel on me for some BS. After that, I'll never offer to bring them out . The best hunting partner I have is a 65 year old that gets just as excited as me to hunt chukar without a dog. The guy is an absolute animal. He's always on time, always offers to drive, never complains, and will stay on the mountain all day. My other hunting partner has flown up from out of state two years in a row and is always willing and happy to spend seven plus days in the mountains hunting. (The guy is moving to Washington now because he's so committed to hunting) He never complains and is up for anything.

The younger crowd is truly the worst with flaking out. (People think nothing of texting you at 1130 PM the night prior to cancel) Everyone wants to go hunting until they find out I'm willing to wake up at 0200, and hike 10 plus miles to shoot some grouse, chukar, elk, deer, or bear. It absolutely blows my mind.
I think the only thing worse is trying to mentor someone who wants to get into "backcountry" hunting and they completely disregard your advice on what gear they need in order to stay out and be comfortable for an extended amount of time.

On that note, if you're willing to wake up super early and chase devil birds around Washington, hit me up and I'll take you along.

Funny story - I live in Roy so I may take you up on that offer. I’ve never chased chukar but do chase grouse every year. I’ve seen them in a couple of places I hunt on the east side but never bothered actually going out for them.

We’ll have to see how bear season pans out for me as I have a tag here to fill, as well as a Montana tag… and I’d like to chase elk here, then hunt archery deer here as well… and I also have a Montana deer tag to fill.