posted
I recently read a post by Terry on another thread where he said how he has transitioned in his hunting to challenge himself. I too don't regret the compound years, I had fun. I did end up getting bored with hunting even though I love hunting and archery. I got tired of carrying the heavy bow and all the stuff. I moved back to trad and the love came back and began to grow. Then the desire for challenge grew. I find myself getting away from blinds, less camo, and I have been hunting more aggressively. By the end of this past season I just had my quiver of arrows, my bow and some water. I feel I had a great year just going for it and pushing myself. So, who else is going stripped down, changing tactics and pushing for more challenge? What is it you are doing out there to make your hunt a thrill.
-------------------- I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! Posts: 3020 | From: Stroud Township ,PA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
It's always been that way for me... You couldn't pay me to hunt from a tree stand, for deer that is. Bear over bait, well, another story. Store bought blinds, nope! Enough blow downs around to keep me happy. I love the heavy cover for close-in encounters while on the stalk.
Been at it with trad gear for over nine years and have yet to put one down... Still, I love it so! If the gear I need can't fit into my pockets, it stays home. Except, maybe, for my Bison Gear pack that some day will hold my over clothes while I drag a deer out of the woods. Some day.
... mike ...
-------------------- "To that he bends himself, To that each day allots most time wherein He is indeed the best part of himself."
Euripides
"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
George S. Patton Posts: 3384 | From: new york | Registered: Oct 2006
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As you know I started hunting with compounds with all the bells and whistles and carrying so much crap and hauling it up into trees. One day I met Reiner and saw him shooting a BW longbow and asked to try shooting it. Soon afterwards I bought my first trad bow, a sweet Hornes 3 piece mountain bow. After I hunted a couple seasons with the recurve from trees, Reiner got me started in hunting from the ground from natural blinds. Now I only carry all I use in a CatII quiver. Nothing like traveling light.
posted
I live in the boonies,27 miles from the nearest grocery store.Our house is on my wifes family farm so i mostly hunt right here by the house,i can walk to all of my stands.So, my hunting is very simple,no need to take much gear with me.Usually just a bow, a cpl of arrows, a small flashlight and sometimes a pair of binoculars.I am a simple man ,or maybe just old fashioned,so i like the minimal way no matter were i hunt.Hunting to me is just a good excuse to be out in the woods so i dont care if i dont get a lot of deer.I dont hunt big game a lot with guns but when i do i use a handgun.I have prolly killed 10 times as many deer and hogs with a handgun as most rifle hunters i know.These days i use a bow even durring gun season.But,i have no problem hunting with others that use guns, compounds or even cross bows.
Posts: 245 | From: Repton ,Alabama | Registered: Nov 2010
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I just have to Admit, the Thrill Starts as soon as I pull away from the Curb!! The Thrill Builds & Builds until I put boots on the Ground and wander into My Favorite Woods!! Slosh across the Creek and I am "HOME"!! There Nothing like that Feeling in the World to Me!! Doesnt matter if I even get a Shot, just "BEING" is the Religious Experience I have become a Junkie For!! To hear the Birds, and Squirrels Chattering in the Trees, and the Soft Breeze rattling through the Last "Hanger-On" Leaves of the Trees is like a Hymn to Me. I Just Thank God for being Alive and Able to Be Where I Am!!
-------------------- Proud Member of Christian Bowhunters of America "Life doesn't get Simpler; it gets Shorter and Turns in Smaller Circles." Dean Torges "Faith is to Prayer what the Feather is to the Arrow" Thomas Morrow Posts: 5181 | From: Crawfordsville, Indiana | Registered: Aug 2004
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I'm going with less and less, I just got a Waldrop pac-seat to use from natural blinds. Bow, arrows a drink and some lunch or a snack. Carry the lunch in a Haversack that I made from a pair of wool pants. Knife and a drag rope that I hope to use. I hope to see a few deer this year and maybe get lucky. Seems simple is better!!
-------------------- In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's there are few...So the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner's mind...This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Shunryu Suzuki Posts: 9298 | From: tribes hill , new york | Registered: Jan 2008
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It is still a remarkable feeling to me to tug on that haul-line to pull up my recurve in the morning dark. It feels like nuth'n on the other end!
-------------------- If the mind wanders, so too will the arrow.
Member of various archery organizations. Posts: 3849 | From: Kentucky | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Every time I go by a piece of woods I think of how I can hunt it. The mere thought of being in the woods excites me.
-------------------- Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don’t have that problem. —President Ronald Reagan Posts: 7953 | From: NJ to GA back to NJ =Lost ;) | Registered: Sep 2009
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posted
I must admit. . I don't think I use a stick because it is more challenging, but rather cause it just feels right to me. No other reason.
I don't feel the need to actually kill anything, although I feel a very real need to go out and chase stuff as often as possible. On the other hand, I don't turn down gifts from above either, if it comes by and offers itself to me, I WILL take it or try.
It just is what it is. ChuckC
Posts: 3692 | From: Deforest, Wisconsin | Registered: Oct 2003
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I find the thrill in getting close to an animal. The kill for me is anticlimactic. Every other part of the hunt for me is calming. Camping, hiking, being in nature with little but a stick, a string, and a sharp stick takes me back to a place where my ancestors lived by their skills. It is where I want to be every day of my life.
-------------------- Clay Walker Skill is not born into anyone. It is earned thru hard work and perseverance. Posts: 3246 | From: Vancouver, WA. | Registered: May 2009
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posted
Why would you limit yourself to only hunting from the ground or from a stand? Are you not hunting when you enter the woods? The hunt begins when you enter the woods. Hunt your way to the stand. See a a deer not within shooting distance give it a try. Whent he time is right go after it.
Posts: 271 | From: Indiana | Registered: Nov 2009
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I have the heart and the mind of a hunter, the killing is just the culmination of a hunt that has gone full circle and is part of it, a act that takes place once in a while to have hunted. But it is the events that happen in the pursuit that divide us from those that only eat store bought meat or fool themselves into thinking they were meant to be vegitarians, these individuals are not participants in nature but bystanders who will never smell an autumn morning or run their fingers through waist high canary grass, I feel sorry for their loss.
Posts: 689 | From: Michigan | Registered: Feb 2009
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Just being in the outdoors is a thrill for me!
-------------------- "TGMM" Family of the Bow. "The bowman, to be successful as a hunter, must learn to perfection the habits of his game." -- Maurice Thompson, The Witchery of Archery, 1879 Posts: 5265 | From: Albany, Oregon | Registered: Nov 2005
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I started out shooting a longbow just to challenge myself. Now It just feels so natural I don't even view it as a handicap. Other than occasionally taking rattling horns, everything I need for a sit fits in the pocket of my arrow master quiver.
-------------------- "You can't have NO in your heart"- Joe Dirt Posts: 910 | From: Southern Illinois | Registered: Apr 2006
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The Thrill Builds & Builds until I put boots on the Ground and wander into My Favorite Woods!! Slosh across the Creek and I am "HOME"!! There Nothing like that Feeling in the World to Me!! Doesnt matter if I even get a Shot, just "BEING" is the Religious Experience I have become a Junkie For!! ![[archer]](graemlins/archer.gif)
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