Why you dont hunt with some people anymore

[Moserkr]

Thanks @RS3579 and @Scoot You guys are spot on. I dont want to be responsible for my own demise or someone elses. @TSAMP We did have some serious talks when he did each one of those things. They all happened within the last 2 hunts, with the fire and discharge being the last straw. Over 5 years ago but it just has to be a no. Cant forgive negligent, purposeful firearm mishandling.

Its just a personal situation - my ride or die buddy I hunt with a lot, his wife is best friends with the guys’s wife. Not only that, guy and his new wife HUNT TOGETHER…. Im sure she doesnt know why we dont hunt with him anymore. Anyway… overly complicated. Ill tell him no and let my RoD buddy deal with the fallout lmao. Im not one to throw him under the bus in front of his wife. Ill keep it private, up to him to explain.

 

[Rifleman86]

Poor judgement - almost burning down camp and several thousand dollars worth of my gear after doing something I told him not to do.

Suggesting/doing/promoting illegal behavior- “You should’ve just shot one of those elk, you could’ve put my tag on it.” I’d already filled my tag and was after deer.

Not being prepared, to the point of not bringing binos. I asked him how he planned on glassing… “I’ll just use my scope.” Otherwise completely ignoring the very lengthy email about what gear he needed, or at least could get by with. It took me years of research, trial and error, etc to dial in my gear and he pretty much chose to ignore everything and ended up being miserable.

Other dude was a know it all more concerned with taking pictures and off roading in his truck than killing elk. I passed on a perfect standing broadside shot on a bull opening morning because this guy had his tripod busy taking a time lapse of the sunrise instead of being ready to spot elk. We had put to bed the elk in that basin the night before and knew they would be there. He didn’t have a tag, had never hunted out west, and only killed one deer in his life and said he wanted to come along to learn. Then when he showed up was telling everyone how to hunt, what gear they need, what to do with the meat, etc. I might share a base camp with him again but our personalities clash too much I guess.

My number one thing is poor judgment. Even with modern GPS messengers you can be in a bad way in the mountains really quickly doing everything right. Add in some people prone to do dumb shit and it’s a recipe for disaster. This goes into illegal behavior too.

 

[Rifleman86]

I’ll say this, finding a good hunting partner, particularly for western hunting is like finding a good spouse.

I dated a lot of people before my wife. They all didn’t work out for one reason or another. Most weren’t bad people necessarily, we just didn’t jive.

I feel similarly about most guys I’ve tried to take hunting. I’ve got one guy who is always game to go tag or no tag. We just get along well and always have a good time. The rest seemed to cause more headaches then they are worth.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

No I would not let that slide, screw that guy, sounds like he should have been sent home sooner.

My buddy finally hit his limit with Bad Santa this week. You won't believe what this asshat did to his top secret mulie honey hole. https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/count-down-to-a-pig-hunt.244347/

 

[Moserkr]

My buddy finally hit his limit with Bad Santa this week. You won't believe what this asshat did to his top secret mulie honey hole. https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/count-down-to-a-pig-hunt.244347/

Damn!! Sorry to laugh at y’alls misfortune but thats funny.

 

[QuackAttack]

I’ve been fortunate to hunt with a lot of older gentleman that showed me the ropes, arrive early, know where you are meeting up specially, bring your own gear, be able to get there if it required a boat or ATV, and never freeload or be lazy.

Lot of guys I hunted with never got that memo. Went to Canada on a bear hunt with a group of firemen who went to Canada to get drunk and shoot into the woods. That ended poorly. Couple duck hunts that guys couldn’t get out of bed for as they were up until 3 drinking and trying to call girls to come over…ended poorly. Unsafe boat running with no life jackets in water with ice on it…never again. Gun safety violations galore….sighting in a deer rifle the night before season in the headlights of your truck…in the front yard of camp at 11 pm. Guy who was obsessed with deer meat, as if it was gold bullion…and accused people of stealing his meat…odd dude, kicked him out of camp.

I hunt alone mostly. Now that I’m older, I tend to like to set a plan and go to work without having to deal with drama. I wish I had more guys to hunt with as I’ve got more stands than buddies, but it’s nice to have peace.

 

[Zappaman]

I'm lucky as the few I chose to hunt with (4 guys) over the last 40 years are all 100% respectful, sober (during the hunt anyway, as myself), and they ALL know the etiquette needed to enjoy a week out in the woods with other hunters. We all reload and we all solo hunt a lot too... that's a tale-tell to me.

But we did have one guy that after 20 years, he suddenly just lost his shit. Turns out he was drinking and smoking a lot (turning into a hermit) with EVERYTHING going for him. Damn shame, but he "self eliminated" himself from our small group and we had to "let him be". I can't explain it... none of us can; and we all still wonder (at camp) how he's doing. But we ALSO all know it's best to let him alone until he (maybe) makes a call and asks to come back.

Life is too short to deal with "hunters" who aren't really hunters. Great friends don't always make good hunting buddies (even if they get all interested in the sport-- for a while)... and better to let them go when they aren't really into it. Bottom line: you are there, on time, loaded and sighted in, and have your shit straight.

That said... I give some leeway to younger hunters here (there have been a few I've take out). But if they can't put the phone away and HUNT... I drop them off after day one because my time isn't worth trying to fix "whatever". I will say there are just some people who ARE hunters... since birth. I've guided TWO in my life (youth). The rest just didn't have the ATTENTION required to be in a hunting situation (in MANY ways).

But I am saddened that MOST of my nephews (I gave guns to) aren't into the sport-- which to me is more a life choice and WAY to live-- more important than all the BS they seem to be more interested in. But I applaud them when they are HONEST and we do "other" non-hunting stuff... so it's cool.

If they REALLY bug me (a lot) I'd give them a go IF they show me they have done the prep work. But I now know to let them be if they just want to "act" like they want to hunt... but don't show the "signs" of someone who has prepared-- like buying the gear and practicing with it for a good while.

Hey, if my wife's boss asked me, I'd take him out. But I'd expect the worst and be a "guide" for a day and expect they'd not come back for day #2.

 

[WyoKid]

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.

Definitely agree. That is my criteria as well with safety, trust and reliability being at the top of the list.

I was good friends with a guy from our time together in military....I thought he was solid and we hunted upland birds together. We went on a late season big game hunt together and we got separated on a mountain. It got dark and he went back to the truck. I was a few ridges over and making my way back in the dark and luckily an old couple in a Jeep picked me up on the road to give me a ride. I got back to the truck at 1130 on and my friend said he was going to wait until midnight and then go back to the motel until morning....WTF....he was going to leave me out in the woods overnight in the winter! Never hunted with him again....apparently he did not internalize the motto: Leave no man behind. I was OK and prepared to spend the night on the mountain if I had to but it taught me that this guy was not reliable or trustworthy.

I wouldn't have left anyone out in the mountains in the dark in the winter. I would have built a fire to help guide the guy in if he was still making his way back, and would have waited up all night for him. If he wasn't back an hour after sun up, then I would make a call to the Sheriff's Office for a search party.

 

[Drewby]

Had a guy we deer hunted with in Wisconsin. He'd sit in his stand for MAYBE an hour and then get down and "scout"...which was him just bumbling through the woods spooking every deer in the county. Not mention this property we had permission on wasn't that big, about 80 acres. He also gut shot 2 bucks and never found them until the following year. He still put their racks up on the wall lol

 

[sasquatch]

They’d go back to my hard earned and learned spots with their other friends, not even asking me


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[686]

I don’t hunt with my old man much anymore, because he pulls some shenanigans that some of the notes in this thread remind me of. But, here’s a time where his antics worked out to my benefit.

He’s under contract to sell a small ranch he’s had for several years, and we’ve spent tons of time fixing it up (that’s a different story). Anyway, he calls me up in mid December and says hey, I’m selling the ranch next Monday, why don’t you meet me down there this Saturday and let’s shoot some deer? So I say OK, I’ll be there at 7am. I live two hours from the ranch and he lives 45 minutes away.

As I’m approaching the ranch at about 6:45 on the morning of the hunt, he calls me and says, “hey I’m running late, but can you wait for me, I want to hunt in a different spot and I want you to help me make a brush blind.” Ugh… ok I guess? He’s relentless when he wants to do something so no point in arguing with him. Well I wait 30 minutes for him to roll in and we go back to the northeast corner and make a blind. I know this is stupid and he’s not going to see anything with all this activity, especially now that it’s after first light. Anyways, after he’s tucked into his brush blind l head over to my box blind on the other side of the ranch (maybe 3/8 of a mile away), and as I get in the blind after 8:30 I know this whole trip was a waste of time, it’s too late, we made too much ruckus and spooked everything. I lean my rifle in the corner and get the phone out to read some news. About 15 minutes later I look up and the biggest buck ever seen on the ranch is walking right at me at 40 yards. I grab the rifle, make a good shot and he’s down. Ok cool, that was unexpected. Well, I walk back to the camp, get my truck, drive over to my setup, load up the buck, and here comes my dad, asking me “how big is he?” It’s maybe 9:30 at this point, and I’m thinking, you made me help you with that brush blind and you didn’t stay in it but for a little over an hour? And of course he didn’t see anything. Oh well, worked out for me (this time at least)!

 

[Ca_Mike]

Dumped a few, no big issues, mostly not being prepared or way to much whining. Have a great hunting partner who I have hunted with since about 2008 for deer locally and has been going to Colorado for elk with me since 2012 and we're on the same page. Lost my dad in 2018, really miss hunting with him.

 

[long hunter]

686, hunt with your dad as much as you can, mine was my best hunting partner, even with his ways of doing things (just like us all) he passed 3 years ago and there is not a hunt now that I do or go on that I do not think of him, and whish he was with me. Who cares what you kill it's the time spent with dad (and that is limited)?

 

[686]

686, hunt with your dad as much as you can, mine was my best hunting partner, even with his ways of doing things (just like us all) he passed 3 years ago and there is not a hunt now that I do or go on that I do not think of him, and whish he was with me. Who cares what you kill it's the time spent with dad (and that is limited)?

I hear you. That hunt was ten years ago, and we’ve done a good amount of hunting since. He’s in his 70’s now, and I’d happily hunt with him more under certain circumstances. He ended up scaring himself a few times with “oops” moments in the last few years. He put a .270 Win round down a 7mm Rem Mag rifle, had some brass come back and cut his face up. Also he negligently discharged a rifle about 2’ from a guide’s head while we were on a hunt.

He has a nice little ranch now and really likes watching the deer from the porch and doesn’t want any of the bucks shot.

 

[long hunter]

There comes a time in a hunter's life when you know now is the time to back out of the hunt, sounds like dad has made that decision.

 

[Huntindog45]

i just have a hard time finding people who take game laws as serious as I do. It drives me nuts how many people tend to think of them as simple guidelines ... its amazing how many people whine about poachers but in the same breath talk about doing things like filling partners tags, party hunting, and just other areas that skim the outer edges of the game laws and think nothing of that. its all poaching. all of it.

 

[686]

There comes a time in a hunter's life when you know now is the time to back out of the hunt, sounds like dad has made that decision.

Exactly. He never really liked shooting for practice or recreation, and I think likes the idea of hunting more than the actual endeavor. I had to get pretty forceful with him to come practice with me before some of the hunts he was going to go on with me. Shooting is a perishable skill, and he just wouldn’t make the effort to keep his skills up the last several years. I was hoping he would want to teach my kids how to shoot/hunt; but he hasn’t expressed any interest in that, and honestly, I’m a much better outdoors teacher and trust myself much more with firearms and kids together; so it all worked out.

 

[686]

i just have a hard time finding people who take game laws as serious as I do. It drives me nuts how many people tend to think of them as simple guidelines ... its amazing how many people whine about poachers but in the same breath talk about doing things like filling partners tags, party hunting, and just other areas that skim the outer edges of the game laws and think nothing of that. its all poaching. all of it.

This reminds me of another of my dad’s shenanigans. We’re down hunting on his ranch years ago and we both shoot deer. I’ve got mine broken down in an ice chest (south Texas) and am prepping to leave (it must have been a Sunday). He’s got his deer gutted and hanging. He asks me “hey you wouldn’t want to take my deer to the same processor you use would you?” And I say, that I like to age mine for a week or two in the ice chest before I take it in, and my processor doesn’t take deer with the hide still on. He’s says he think’s he has an ice chest, so we break his deer down and get in on ice, and load it in my truck. I then ask him for a tag I can give the processor with his meat. His answer: I didn’t buy a license.

Dad W.T.F???!!!??? Damnit man.

I had an extra tag for his deer (we were allowed 2 bucks 3 does in that county and never shot near that many, but still, come on man).

 

[Bubblehide]

My buddy finally hit his limit with Bad Santa this week. You won't believe what this asshat did to his top secret mulie honey hole. https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/count-down-to-a-pig-hunt.244347/

Oh, I hit my limit at the time of the trip you were on Bruce. I was pretty much there before that actually. However, The nephew of the owners wanted to continue to have him at the ranch (he views him as useful); and I had a ton of gear there at the ranch and needed time to get it out, without it being burned up. Thus I simply kept quiet. By the time I got all my gear out, I simply figured I missed the window. However, his constant lying, minimizing and misleading finally just got to me and I had to speak up. I really wish the other site didn't delete the thread, as he continued to lie, particularly saying he never described my honey hole.

The guy actually gave a very descriptive write-up about the spot on another site; so I simply took a small portion and quoted him to exhibit he was clearly lying. Bottom line is the guy will never change.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Some people just can't tell the truth. They don't know the difference.