The year of "cast and blast"

[Lil-Rokslider]

As I've been doing my research this application season, I've found myself planning more "cast and blast" trips with friends than ever before. It feels like older I get, the more excited I get about a trip like that with friends, and the less I care about spending the whole trip finding the biggest set of antlers. I am just as excited about the possibility of spending a couple days standing in a river with a fly rod, and seeing friends have hunting success alongside me. My thinking about how to spend my points in different western states has shifted away from best trophy potential, to the best experience with friends (not that a guy can't have both!).

Is this just the wisdom of more years? Do a lot of you guys see a shift in your mindset about hunting over the years?

 

[Swamp Fox]

As a hard-core hunter, one can let people slip (even good friends) and fishing will take a back seat.

Then one day you wake up and you realize the clock is ticking, and that you miss fishing and have been not-such-a-good-buddy for a long time ---and/or that you all could be better buddies now---

Not sure that one's mindset about hunting changes.

But the mindset about friends and time and how to spend it does.

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

As a hard-core hunter, one can let people slip (even good friends) and fishing will take a back seat.

Then one day you wake up and you realize the clock is ticking, and that you miss fishing and have been not-such-a-good-buddy for a long time ---and/or that you all could be better buddies now---

Not sure that one's mindset about hunting changes.

But the mindset about friends and time and how to spend it does.

I think that is an accurate take! @Swamp Fox how old are you? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Wyo_hntr]

That's the great thing about hunting, you can make it what you want. As long as you're having fun and following the rules/regs, get after it.

 

[eshunt]

It is all an ebb and flow for me. The last few years I have had fewer high country archery elk trips with my core group of hunting buddies and more family oriented trips with my dad, brother and wife. I want to get back out on a good september archery hunt with the boys this coming year though. But definitely looking at using more of my accumulated points to hunt with family in the future. I usually keep the fishing separate from the hunting though. I prefer to concentrate on one or the other.

 

[Swamp Fox]

I think that is an accurate take! @Swamp Fox how old are you? If you don't mind me asking.

In my mind I am 28, but I tell the girls I am 42 because I know math is hard for most of them. --LOL

“Math is hard!” (Barbie™, 1994): Responses of Threat vs. Challenge-Mediated Arousal to Stereotypes Alleging Intellectual Inferiority (Chapter 9) - Gender Differences in Mathematics

Gender Differences in Mathematics - December 2004

tinyurl.com

For the prettiest ones I try not to make any references at all to growing up...

(They'll figure out I *never* grew up soon enough, I figure ...)

However, the smartest ones of those know I'm shining them on and I just try to keep my mouth shut about most of the 20th century whether I experienced it or not.


My two favorite uncles (on my mother's side) went paws-up at 70, and that's not the worst in the crystal ball.

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

In my mind I am 28, but I tell the girls I am 42 because I know math is hard for most of them. --LOL

“Math is hard!” (Barbie™, 1994): Responses of Threat vs. Challenge-Mediated Arousal to Stereotypes Alleging Intellectual Inferiority (Chapter 9) - Gender Differences in Mathematics

Gender Differences in Mathematics - December 2004

tinyurl.com

For the prettiest ones I try not to make any references at all to growing up...

(They'll figure out I *never* grew up soon enough, I figure ...)

However, the smartest ones of those know I'm shining them on and I just try to keep my mouth shut about most of the 20th century whether I experienced it or not.


My two favorite uncles (on my mother's side) went paws-up at 70, and that's not the worst in the crystal ball.

This is the answer I was looking for!

 

[regulator795]

I've always planned my hunts around what the best experience will be. If I ever find a booner, great, but I just like the time away from work and spent with friends. I don't have kids (or plan to) but my friends are all starting to have kids so hunting trips for me are more about spending time with "the boys".

 

[Amos Keeto]

@Lil-Rokslider
Had to enlarge your avatar photo.
Hand (forge?) made shoe.
Toe clips.
Good, clean hoof!
Nice job!
Spent a LOT of my youthful summers following my dad around shoeing horses.
Tough way to serve the Lord!

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

@Lil-Rokslider
Had to enlarge your avatar photo.
Hand (forge?) made shoe.
Toe clips.
Good, clean hoof!
Nice job!
Spent a LOT of my youthful summers following my dad around shoeing horses.
Tough way to serve the Lord!

Yes sir! Handmade plain stamp hind. Hand drawn quarter clips. Lots wrong with it!
Tough way to serve the Lord is right
But somebody's gotta make their money the dumb way.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Yes sir! Handmade plain stamp hind. Hand drawn quarter clips. Lots wrong with it!
Tough way to serve the Lord is right
But somebody's gotta make their money the dumb way.

When my dad started shoeing (1950's), he got $3/trim and $5/shoe.
Diamond Brand box shoes and a 2 pound box of nails. Every shoe was hand shaped. He never used a forge.
Last time I had a horse shod, the farrier was a friend and cut me a deal, $125!!!! '00 or '01.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I am to the point I really don't care a whole lot about antler size. In fact, this year I’m hoping to draw a cow tag and pair it up with some bird hunting, either mountain grouse and/or chukars.

Have fun. Enjoy the experience. In the near future I plan to get a 14’ raft and do some blast and cast and blast, ie bird and big game hunting along with fishing.

 

[Jason Snyder]

When my dad started shoeing (1950's), he got $3/trim and $5/shoe.
Diamond Brand box shoes and a 2 pound box of nails. Every shoe was hand shaped. He never used a forge.
Last time I had a horse shod, the farrier was a friend and cut me a deal, $125!!!! '00 or '01.

When we first bought horses in 1999 I was paying $60 per head. A year later it took a big price jump to $90 and all of a sudden I learned a new hobby. 1.5-2 hours per horse but it was a lot cheaper.

 

[Amos Keeto]

When we first bought horses in 1999 I was paying $60 per head. A year later it took a big price jump to $90 and all of a sudden I learned a new hobby. 1.5-2 hours per horse but it was a lot cheaper.

Yes sir. We rode 5 miles into town (1954?) to have horses shod at a blacksmith shop.
The farrier was laid up in the back, sleeping of a drunk!
Took dad about 4 hours to shoe two horses!
You can call it a "hobby" if you wish! LOL!
I've shod 2 or 3, just to prove I could. Never picked it up as a "sideline"!

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

When we first bought horses in 1999 I was paying $60 per head. A year later it took a big price jump to $90 and all of a sudden I learned a new hobby. 1.5-2 hours per horse but it was a lot cheaper.

Yes sir. We rode 5 miles into town (1954?) to have horses shod at a blacksmith shop.
The farrier was laid up in the back, sleeping of a drunk!
Took dad about 4 hours to shoe two horses!
You can call it a "hobby" if you wish! LOL!
I've shod 2 or 3, just to prove I could. Never picked it up as a "sideline"!

it's my full time gig, and it's been good to me. Sometimes when it's 100 degrees or 0 degrees, I dream of being a banker. But most of the time I'm just grateful for the freedom to make my own schedule and make money working with my hands.

Doing it as a side hustle or just doing my own would be a tough deal. It took me a full year after shoeing school for my body to get used to it. It uses a unique group of muscles for sure!

 

[11boo]

I always work in some cast, but technically don’t blast.

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

View attachment 664438View attachment 664440I always work in some cast, but technically don’t blast.

Ya, I should say I don't typically blast either. September is the best time of year for a trip like that.

 

[Rich M]

We did some fishing after our antelope hunt 2023. Trout were small but it was a nice place to spend a day.

I don't think I would take a trip without sight seeing and fishing - the hunting is getting more competitive and harder to come by (get tags). We did antelope hunts, fished a bit, hit couple national parks, geological formations, and such. A lot of driving but one of the better vacations I've had in a long time.

 

[flathead#2]

One decent whitetail this year scratched that itch for me.
I've got to the point I like to mix it up and hunt different critters, and FISH.
Not just the same ole grind.

 

[Dos Perros]

Mostly likely Wyoming is my best shot to shoot a big antelope, but instead I'm going to burn my points on a decent unit where the rifle season starts earlier in September, take my 9 y/o boy, shoot an average buck on day 2, and then finish the week fishing in the mountains. That sounds like a blast to me.