Why you dont hunt with some people anymore

[Buffinnut]

One guy was lazy and out of shape, hiked half way in the day before opener and quit on the trail before opening day because hiking sucked he said. He left me in the woods and spent the week in town staying in a hotel going to the bar every night and wouldn’t help me pack out my bull 5 days later. Don’t even talk to him anymore

Another guy shot at a bird with me in the spread and I’ve still got 6 steel shot BBs in my face because of it. Not friends anymore at all

Damn I think I would have killed guy #2.

 

[seww]

Back in Sweden, you mostly hunt in teams, and size depends on the size of the property and other factors. I've been lucky to hunt with my uncles and cousins, usually about 12-13 of us to share maybe 3 adult moose and 3 calves.
But lately I've lost interest and the biggest reason being the drinking. I don't drink ever and I don't care or mind that others do, but when it gets to a point where they can barely speak, can't even read the cards in the cabin or start going off about some negative rant, it just gets old...
We used to have a guy on the team who kept changing the rules to fit his selfish agenda. One rule we had was that the first moose kill, we'd take the filet (sirloin) and cook it together over the fire with potatoes and what not. Then his son's girlfriend shot the first moose, and he thought she should get to keep all of it. They got kicked out and hunt by themselves now.

I still hunt with my best childhood friend even though we're physically different. I've spent my life playing sports and he didn't so he cannot keep up with me, but I really don't mind. Being out with him has been the best, even though we don't kill anything. I rather be out with him just because of it, than to kill something.

I have always looked forward to solo hunting, where the only limitations is myself. Used to hunt solo with my dog, but since moving over to Idaho I didn't bring him. So now it's all me. Excited for this fall as I'm heading into the mountains with a bow!

 

[Rich M]

Worked with a kid that convinced me to go archery hunting with him. First year wasn't terrible. The only thing that annoyed me was he would set limits on himself then complain when he didn't meet them. He would always say 4 points only for opening weekend, not shoot anything all season then complain he didn't kill one. I am not talking "complain" in the sense of "Man, I really should have shot that 3 point opening morning, that was dumb of me" that we all do with a grin. It was legitimate complaining. It was annoying but not unbearable.

Second year. He got a job after applying for hunts and had to move about 1.5 hours away. Not a big deal, I did most of the scouting. Found some new areas that had better deer so we hunted there. I killed my deer the Monday after opening day. I packed it out with another buddy that was with us and we met him at camp. I get to camp and he calls me on the radio and asks me to pick him up at the bottom so he doesn't have to hike up the road. I go get him, he throws his bow on the coolers in the bed of my pickup, slams his backpack on his bow, which vaults it out of my pickup and onto the ground. He picks his bow up and spikes it in between two coolers. Slams my pickup door shut and says exactly 0 words to me driving back to camp. We get back to camp and I am putting my stuff away so I can take the deer back down to the valley to get it processed. He never once asked about the story or to see the deer. Just mopped around and all I got was "cool" when I put the deer head in before I left.

Fast forward to Saturday and my other buddy that helped me pack out my deer kills one. I am helping him pack it out and he is using my backpack because its better than his. In Utah, you have to have your concealed weapons permit to carry a side arm while archery hunting and my handgun was on the belt. We get about 1/3 mile from the pickup and I tell my buddy that I am going to run and get it and drive up the road to save some walking. I took my handgun so if he got stopped there wouldn't be an issue and took off jogging. I get to the pickup and the other kid (one that wasn't happy for me) is already there. I am running down the road and he asks where the other kid is and why I have my handgun? I say he shot a deer and is packing it out and I took my gun so he doesn't get a ticket. We hop in the pickup and the entire 5 minute drive all the kid does is tell me that I am stupid because "Utah doesn't care if you have a handgun and no concealed" and "that I was stupid and could have left it on the pack and been fine." To me, it was easier to not destroy the high of killing a deer with a stupid ticket.

We pick the other kid up and drive 20 minutes back to camp. Once again, the kid never asked about the story or looked at the animal. We get back to camp and I tell the kid that killed his deer to pack up and take his deer out and to go enjoy the next day with his wife before heading back to work. He worked like 80 hour weeks, so I was 100% ok with him not being there for the next day to help. I tell the bitchy friend that I can stay and hunt with him Sunday but needed to be back to school on Monday. He sits in his chair like a 4 year old that got his candy taken away for about 20 minutes. I said **** it, and started taking my camp down. He looked at me was like, "I thought you were staying?" I told him, I wasn't going to stay if he was going to act like that and that he wasn't happy for me or the other kid killing deer so why would I stay to help him? He gave me some sob story about how he hasn't killed a deer in 4 years and deserves one and that he is just frustrated and that he lost his GPS and how he couldn't afford a new one...something something. I told him that is the way it goes and that he should just be happy for other people. He told me " I could go **** myself" and that was that.

Never hunted with the kid again. He has issues and is still friends with the other kid but nobody can stand him. Honestly, I feel bad for him more than anything but I have enough shit in my life, I dont need his.

I thought I had a good partner a couple years ago but then his wife started telling him he had to be home by 8PM which is pretty hard when you are 3 miles deep and legal shooting light ends at 745. So that season was spent hiking out early everyday so he could be home by 8 with a 45 minute drive one way. My god you should have heard her the time we were checking cameras and got stuck in the canyon due to road construction so he didn't get home until 845.

After that most of my hunting partners have gone separate ways for various reason but mostly I cant find someone that is dedicated enough and I am not that dedicated. They all get married and then "have to check with the wife" and she says "No" or some bullshit.

Heck of a story. I LOL-ed a couple times.

The wife guys - if they are gonna let lil momma dictate everything they do it's tough. I've discovered that it is not good to fish with a guy who takes his wife out fishing on a guy's trip. Almost every time, momma makes the rules and calls the shots and you catch little or nothing while it still costs the same for gas and such cause she & he come as "one". Make me barf!

A good wife is gold. If your wife has ever said - "Go hunt or Go fish" you got something good there.

 

[WhiteOak]

One guy shot a hen pheasant and then asked another dude to take the ticket for him.

I nicknamed a guy "bumper dumper" after I calmed down one morning in the elk woods. We had driven to a spot to start a hike, and elk were bugling their heads off the second we parked the truck. He said "wait here, I have to poop". He came back 10 minutes later, and I walked to the back of the truck to grab my pack. I turned on my headlamp because of the stench, and my boot was about an inch from his steaming pile of dung. He had walked around to the back of my truck and leaned against it while he took a dump.

I had a guy invite me on a horseback hunt several miles into a wilderness hunt. Once we were in, he told me that I had to hike out because he decided to stay a week longer than I could.

Had a guy pretend to shoot himself when his son and I left camp early after he and the son got into an argument.

Had a guy arrow a cow elk and then want to leave her to chase a screaming bull. I tried to convince him to track down his cow and bring the meat home, but he said "I'll just put your tag on it. I want that bull". Party hunting is illegal in my state.

Oh, these were all the same guy by the way. The first two instances were on 2 trips, then the rest were all on the last and final trip with him. I need to get better at cutting people out of my life.

Gunnersdad i remember when you posted about that hunt with the father and son when the guy snapped. You had hiked out with the Kid and extended a branch. Do you still keep up with the kid?

 

[Rob5589]

Oh, I also flat out will not hunt with super fit, go-getters. The kinda guy who insists on hiking 6 miles, when there's a much easier, half mile route. Nothing against em, but i'm a fat bastard & the only thing I hate more than someone spoiling my vibe, is the thought of me spoiling someone else's.

Lots of truth here for me too

One thing I learned, a great friend doesn't equate to a great hunting partner. So I'd rather solo than ruin a friendship.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Gunnersdad i remember when you posted about that hunt with the father and son when the guy snapped. You had hiked out with the Kid and extended a branch. Do you still keep up with the kid?

I do. He and his dad have mended fences to a degree, but the kid is still cautious about getting too involved with him again. He (the kid) is growing into his own man and has made some good friends through hard work jobs (like roofing and construction) that he hunts with now. I still haven't talked to the dad, and have no desire to.

I did have a mutual friend forward me a podcast that the dad was on. I laughed out loud at his rendition of events.

 

[CorbLand]

Heck of a story. I LOL-ed a couple times.

The wife guys - if they are gonna let lil momma dictate everything they do it's tough. I've discovered that it is not good to fish with a guy who takes his wife out fishing on a guy's trip. Almost every time, momma makes the rules and calls the shots and you catch little or nothing while it still costs the same for gas and such cause she & he come as "one". Make me barf!

A good wife is gold. If your wife has ever said - "Go hunt or Go fish" you got something good there.

My wife is really good about it. We don't have kids, so that does help but she has said that she will still support me and my hunting if we do have kids. I always joke with my wife that I must not love her as much as some of my friends do because damn, I do a lot of stuff without my wife.

She has only been frustrated with me once and it was a miscommunication that I will take the blame for. I thought she said I needed to be home by 5 and it was 4. She was understandably frustrated but we talked about it and it all worked out.

I haven't been married for long, 2.5 years so I am far from an expert but my suggestion to anyone that gets married is make it clear who you are and what you do before hand. Like, extremely clear. Also, don't ask your wife if you can do things, tell her what you are going to do.

I always say "hey, do we have anything planned for XX day(s)? No. "Ok I am going hunting/fishing."

I don't do anything but hunt, fish and scout. I don't play Xbox, I don't go to the bar or anything which I do think helps out a lot. Most of my friends will play an hour or two of Xbox a day while their wife takes care of the kid and then are like "my wife wont let me do this or that."

I don't know man, I must have a very different outlook on marriage because 95% of my friends that have gotten married all do this. I love my wife and wouldn't want to live a day without her but damn, if she told me what time I had to be home when I was hunting, I would seriously contemplate if she was worth it.

 

[seww]

Heck of a story. I LOL-ed a couple times.

The wife guys - if they are gonna let lil momma dictate everything they do it's tough. I've discovered that it is not good to fish with a guy who takes his wife out fishing on a guy's trip. Almost every time, momma makes the rules and calls the shots and you catch little or nothing while it still costs the same for gas and such cause she & he come as "one". Make me barf!

A good wife is gold. If your wife has ever said - "Go hunt or Go fish" you got something good there.

I have a friend like that too. He "gets" two weekend per year or something. So one year he had to choose between ice-fishing in January or hunt ptarmigans in the mountains. He couldn't pull both off between a few weeks apart. Sad state of affairs...

 

[seww]

My wife is really good about it. We don't have kids, so that does help but she has said that she will still support me and my hunting if we do have kids. I always joke with my wife that I must not love her as much as some of my friends do because damn, I do a lot of stuff without my wife.

She has only been frustrated with me once and it was a miscommunication that I will take the blame for. I thought she said I needed to be home by 5 and it was 4. She was understandably frustrated but we talked about it and it all worked out.

I haven't been married for long, 2.5 years so I am far from an expert but my suggestion to anyone that gets married is make it clear who you are and what you do before hand. Like, extremely clear. Also, don't ask your wife if you can do things, tell her what you are going to do.

I always say "hey, do we have anything planned for XX day(s)? No. "Ok I am going hunting/fishing."

I don't do anything but hunt, fish and scout. I don't play Xbox, I don't go to the bar or anything which I do think helps out a lot. Most of my friends will play an hour or two of Xbox a day while their wife takes care of the kid and then are like "my wife wont let me do this or that."

I don't know man, I must have a very different outlook on marriage because 95% of my friends that have gotten married all do this. I love my wife and wouldn't want to live a day without her but damn, if she told me what time I had to be home when I was hunting, I would seriously contemplate if she was worth it.

You gotta work together. My wife and I have separate lives/friends. She's planning a weekend out to Wendover for some gambling with her friends, while I'm taking our son to our aunt probably.
But she knows I'm going hunting a few weekends or so this fall. But planning is obviously key.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

I'm very picky about who I hunt with, and I'm sure I'm very annoying when it comes to the grind and secrecy. I like going over the next ridge, and I want to know I gave it my all.
I am an A-hole, but part of it comes from getting spots ruined and experiencing bad partners.
If someone is scared to hunt alone. I wont hunt with them. I can't rely on someone who can't take care of themselves in the wilderness.

Had a cousin that isn't from here decide he wanted to start "guiding" in a unit I showed him and asked him not to. All he said was "to each their own". So I cut ties with him.

Had a good turkey spot get the "invite more guys treatment". Cut ties with all of them.

Long story:

Offered to help a guy on his archery elk hunt after he had some bad luck. Came to find out he actually had some other guys call in a bull opening day in a different spot. He shot and killed it, but I guess didn't look very hard for it. The other guys found the carcass at a later date apparently.
We took him into a drainage to look for a bull, and about 400 yards up the first ridge from the car he says "Oh I forgot my rangefinder and binoculars". Told him to run back and we'd wait. He said it was too far to go back..

We get to a glassing point. My other buddy and I commence glassing. With the tagholder just watching us. We decide to make a play on a herd about a mile away. He asks how we are going to get to them. Both of us say we walk.
He begrudgingly agreed, and we started. About half way down the glass spot a bull cracks a bugle. We lay eyes on a 300 class bull cruising through. I attempt to call it in, but its more interested in the real cows up the ridge.

Decide best play is run after him, and try to cut him off when we get closer to the cows. Tagholder had to stop every 50 yards to catch a breather. I knew we were F'd on the bull.

I asked if he'd shoot a cow, and he agreed. So we continued into where I knew the herd was hanging around. Told him to be ready when we hit the thicket because most likely he'd get a shot at a cow close. Told him to stay right on our heels for the stalk (we were moving real slow at this point).

We stalk through the thicket, and sure enough there's a cow walking through. It stops broadside, and I range it. 15 yards. My other buddy whispers "You can shoot her" to the tagholder. We look around and realize the tagholder is 30 yards behind us breaking sticks huffing and puffing.. The cow bails out of our lives.

Oh well figured we would get another chance. We continue hiking. Come to a section that opens up to a clearing. Hear a bull bugling, and tell them to walk up in front of a bush for a call in. (Other guy has to go with tagholder because he didn't go back for the rangefinder). Told them don't call, or anything just be ready to shoot.
I start my calling sequence. I hear the bull bugle again closer, and know its a done deal on the call in. He was charging in like some primos s***t.
Then I hear a cow call from the tagholders stupid hoochie mama. Bull keyed in on them before it got in range. Walked out of our lives. Just hear a hoochie mama squealing over and over from beyond the brush as he saves himself..

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

Darkness hits, and we sit down to take in the bugles in the night. Get our headlamps out to head back to the cars.
Tagholder says "we should go this other way, my girlfriend will pick us up and take us back to the cars. It'll be faster" I disagree and say lets just walk back the way we came. He insists. Now he has all the energy in the world to hike out before it gets too dark. I get pretty irritated thinking "If only he had that pep in his step earlier we'd be cutting up an elk".

We get to the car, tagholder is waiting for us with his girlfriend. She drives us to the forest road entrance (cars are far away from the entrance). She says "I can take you all the way to the cars". Tagholder insists we walk because he doesn't want her to hurt her car on the maintained road..

So we walk x2 as far as we would have if we just went back the way we went in.

Still friends with the tagholder, but will never hunt with that guy again. Just writing all this stuff made me on edge. LOL

I don't plan on getting any new hunting partners anytime soon, but I think rabbit hunting would be a good vetting process. How serious they are about it is a solid sign that they'll put the time in for big game as well. If the only place we can get into cottontails is some nasty thorny stuff... Then they best be ready to take some thorns home with them.

 

[Rich M]

My wife is really good about it. We don't have kids, so that does help but she has said that she will still support me and my hunting if we do have kids. I always joke with my wife that I must not love her as much as some of my friends do because damn, I do a lot of stuff without my wife.

She has only been frustrated with me once and it was a miscommunication that I will take the blame for. I thought she said I needed to be home by 5 and it was 4. She was understandably frustrated but we talked about it and it all worked out.

I haven't been married for long, 2.5 years so I am far from an expert but my suggestion to anyone that gets married is make it clear who you are and what you do before hand. Like, extremely clear. Also, don't ask your wife if you can do things, tell her what you are going to do.

I always say "hey, do we have anything planned for XX day(s)? No. "Ok I am going hunting/fishing."

I don't do anything but hunt, fish and scout. I don't play Xbox, I don't go to the bar or anything which I do think helps out a lot. Most of my friends will play an hour or two of Xbox a day while their wife takes care of the kid and then are like "my wife wont let me do this or that."

I don't know man, I must have a very different outlook on marriage because 95% of my friends that have gotten married all do this. I love my wife and wouldn't want to live a day without her but damn, if she told me what time I had to be home when I was hunting, I would seriously contemplate if she was worth it.

I been married 22+ yrs and wife has asked me to stay home once. So far so good.

 

[Still Hunter]

I could write a book on this subject. Better question is "why DO YOU hunt with someone",
#1 is Safety,
#2 is sharing the load of all the required activities ( that's a big list) to make all hunts successful ( a successful hunt does not always include a harvest).
#3 Because they can be trusted
#4 They show up and do what they say when they say they will do it
#5 When all the chips are down and it is a life or death situation you know they are there.

Now if you can find more than two people like that in the entire course of life, then you are a very fortunate man.

 

[Will_m]

Whew....where do I start...

guys who “need to kill”’ something

Guys who swear all the time - see the first lite video and the sheep - low vibration intelligence

Guys who can’t handle and rifle safely

Any more than three guns in a group

Any guy I catch lying

guys who don’t understand time

guys who bring “friends” at the last moment - he’s a “good guy”

inch-chasers...

guys who give every animal a nickname

guys who use their kids as an excuse to shoot first

I could go on...

And yes, I generally hunt alone or with one guy...

I’ve never understood why people had problems with swearing between adults. That being said, I agree 100% otherwise.

 

[Mosby]

There are a number of guys that I don't hunt with anymore. I am an older guy and as guys get older they don't seem to want to hunt hard. They don't want to get out of bed. They don't want to hurry so we can get to the trailhead before dark. They don't want to leave the truck until daylight. They don't want to climb or hike. They definitely don't want to sleep on the mountain. Its always too wet, hot, cold, windy, steep or far. I am always open to hunting with other guys but they normally don't come back after they go once. I ain't what I used to be but I still enjoy being on the mountain. They don't. Their loss.

 

[Cheechako]

Some of those stories are harrowing. My god.

I tried hunting with a number of people when I was in college that were really into it,and it never really worked out. Some were fine and others were shit shows.
Since then I either hunt alone, with my Dad, or with friends who aren’t hunters and want to get into it.
In my experience my buddies who are new to it are the safest, most conscientious and most helpful. They also appreciate the experience the most.

 

[ThisIsMyHandle]

My father died January 2011. I’ve only hunted with 2 guys since then and it was way back in 2012 duck hunting. I haven’t hunted with anyone since nor have I duck hunted. I’m open to go out for deer with someone but other than my uncle, I don’t know if I’ll seek that person out. My dad was my hunting partner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Newtosavage]

Amen to that!! You learn a lot about yourself too.

True. I learned that I value my solitude when I'm hunting more than I value having a hunting partner - even a good one. I can't shake the sense of responsibility for whoever is with me if I'm not alone. I can only truly relax and enjoy myself if I'm hunting solo.

 

[longspeak74]

I bowhunt whitetail 100% solo as many of those hunts are spur of the moment and really weather based. I don't have time to wait for another guy to figure it out. A lot more work, but worth it.
I have a hunt partner for out West, but he's much more about the time away than actually hunting. Shares travel costs and camp chores and I know damn well I can count on him to help pack out or if something goes South.

 

[jwelch1103]

Took a new guy first time hunting. Fidgety guy. Put him in a safe place where he is shooting down into dirt if he sees a deer. 2 hours in- kaboom. I can see what he can see and there was no deer. I asked him what happened. "Wasn't much room behind the trigger compared to my pistol, tried to open up the action but had to turn off safety, pulled trigger to see if the firearm had a problem because almost no space behind the trigger" OK so you you turned off the safety and pulled the trigger! I don't know if he ever hunted again. I hope not.

Had this happen on a hunt with two of my brothers-in-law. One, call him B, was an experienced hunter, the other, call him C, not so much. C was a super macho guy, you couldn't tell him anything, he knew it all already. There we are, it was just starting to get light but not quite shooting light, sitting in B's duck blind on a private small lake, prime duck territory, all of us with our shotguns pointing straight up between our legs. All the sudden BOOM, C's shotgun went off, both of us say WTF are you doing C? I was testing the safety, its an old shotgun! B and I look at each other and despite the dim lighting we shared the same look, can you believe this guy kind of look. He gets his shorts in a knot after we tell him there is no need to "test" a safety especially without telling anyone and double especially without pointing the gun away from everyone. So I ask C, was the safety on when you pulled the trigger? No I took the safety off then pulled the trigger. B laid into him then, how does that test the safety C? He had some BS about he knows how to handle a gun, blah blah blah, just typical for this guy. Needless to say B never took C hunting again.

 

[Mt Al]

I need more counseling after reading all these stories, some really good ones. My list:
-Someone who has to be in charge all the time. F-'em.
-Someone who says "I got you a deer last year" "I got my daughter an elk" "I got my son's friend's dad a deer". Vs, say ,"we hunted together and my son got a deer!' Crazy control issues.
-Know it alls
-NO OFFENSE but ex-military who hunted long before they entered the military, then treat hunting like an "Op" vs hunting. Did that one time. Said, "um, hey, we're hunting, not 'pulling security' on this ridge, you're not a Sergeant today, I'm not your bitch and I'm not on 'overwatch' ,I'm glassing. Let's leave."
-Wife's friend's husbands who want to hang a rack on the wall but don't want to do time learning.
-People who, after an unsuccessful day, have to go back over " 'member that one tree, you know? The one with branches? Yeah, I was thinking we should have gone East, but I didn't want to tell you that, yeah....East would have gotten us into some good country. No, I've never been there before, but, yeah, I know stuff."

I could go on, I hunt alone (80%) or with my kids (20%) in Montana. Hunt with friends out of state just to hang out. Time is the most valuable asset and you never get it back and hunting is sacred and not worth doing with anyone who's not solid. My opinion.

Keep 'em coming!