Marriage advise

[Irrelevant]

There so much more to learn about oneself when they are the only ones to talk to. I'm a firm believer that everyone should spend a 4+ consecutive days alone in the woods, it's a cheap counselor.

 

[Carnage2011]

This was a great episode!

One thing you guys touched on very briefly was taking them with you. Half the reason my wife and I get along so well is that she goes on most adventures with me. I enjoy her company, and she's a legitimate asset to the hunt. She can pack, hike, and has no problem being in the woods by herself. It makes me a hair nervous when she's headed to the Madison or Gravelly's by herself well before daylight, but we recently picked up an inReach to curb that issue.

I will say that even though she loves to hunt and fully supports my addiction, she still wants to take some trips/buy some things here and there and I always oblige!

 

[MTGomer]

The InReach is the solution you’re looking for.
I take mine everywhere. Even on long drives. Never know when you might come across a wreck in a canyon with no service.
Your husband might not do the best job field dressing for the first time, but he’ll figure it out.
When I hunt alone I just send a check in message in the morning and evening and occasionally a text in the mid day if it’s slow.

 

[WyoDoug]

My experience with women I dated before I got married, is that most really wanted to go hunting with me until they watched me skin and clean my first deer or antelope. After that, they never wanted to go again. My wife loves wild game, but she has zero interest on going hunting with me and that is fine. Hunting and getting out in the field is my stress reliever and I prefer to be alone even if I hunt with a group. It is hard enough to stalk wildlife, imagine how hard it is when you have a partner. My experience is the noise is more than double and so are the odds that they smell you when you have a partner close by.

 

[Ajax2744]

I'm very fortunate that my significant other wanted to learn to shoot archery and as soon as she did she realized it was so.ething she wanted to dive in to. So we got her a bow and shot a bunch and she said she wanted to try hunting. Well last year I called in some bulls to her and while she didn't shoot she had a blast and wanted to go this year. We plan it so I get to hunt a few weeks in September with my brothers and dad and then she and I go and spend a week hunting together. It honestly strengthened our relationship and I get more joy watching her hunt than anything else. That being said I like Randy's advice of if I get a week she gets a week of vacation and that is our deal and it's working great so far haha

 

[kad11]

I think it’s way too risky because (1) he’s only gone hunting 3 times, (2) has never made a kill, (3) hasn’t dressed an animal in the field, and (4) is hunting boar in an area with bears and mountain lions and with a bow so he’ll have to get in close for the kill.

This was my first game animal of any kind. Aside from Youtube I had never seen an animal gutted, butchered, quartered, etc. I think it took me about 4-5 hours to get all the edible meat off of him, but I got it done and he tasted great! First-hand experience is the best teacher. For reference, it was a single digit temps day in south-central MT (high predator population) and I was about 5-6 miles from my car. One of the biggest things I remember learning that day (other than how to do a better job quartering next time) is that if you take your ski gloves off to dress out an animal, put them down your shirt rather than on your pack...yep, they were frozen stiff when I finished and I walked out with my hands in my pockets



If your husband does the prep work ahead of time I see no reason to be worried. Going solo will likely just increase his preparation since it will all be on him.

 

[WyoDoug]

I'm very fortunate that my significant other wanted to learn to shoot archery and as soon as she did she realized it was so.ething she wanted to dive in to. So we got her a bow and shot a bunch and she said she wanted to try hunting. Well last year I called in some bulls to her and while she didn't shoot she had a blast and wanted to go this year. We plan it so I get to hunt a few weeks in September with my brothers and dad and then she and I go and spend a week hunting together. It honestly strengthened our relationship and I get more joy watching her hunt than anything else. That being said I like Randy's advice of if I get a week she gets a week of vacation and that is our deal and it's working great so far haha

I take my hat off to women who really like hunting. My wife loves to eat wild game but does not like the hunting part of it which is fine with me. She still goes camping and fishing with me and keeps talking smack about the bigger fish she caught. Nothing wrong about not shooting everything you see either. I will probably have both bull/buck and cow/doe tags for deer, elk, and antelope this year. My freezer meat will come mainly from the female version of the species while the bulls and bucks, I am looking for a mature, nice, not necessarily B&C grade, but nice and mature. As for elk, I really want to get a royal or better.

 

[Irrelevant]

This was my first game animal of any kind.

Nice work. I can't imagine having to figure it out real time in a situation like that as a "first timer"

 

[Ajax2744]

I take my hat off to women who really like hunting. My wife loves to eat wild game but does not like the hunting part of it which is fine with me. She still goes camping and fishing with me and keeps talking smack about the bigger fish she caught. Nothing wrong about not shooting everything you see either. I will probably have both bull/buck and cow/doe tags for deer, elk, and antelope this year. My freezer meat will come mainly from the female version of the species while the bulls and bucks, I am looking for a mature, nice, not necessarily B&C grade, but nice and mature. As for elk, I really want to get a royal or better.

Yeah it worked out. Luckily her expectations were just to see an elk bugle for her first hunt. She really had no pressure to shoot if she didn't want to which helped. But we were in bugling bulls every day and came close to getting her one 3 or 4 times. It easily was one of my favorite hunts I have been on. And I took her to a sporting clays shoot a week ago and now she wants to duck hunt, which is awesome haha

 

[WyoDoug]

Yeah it worked out. Luckily her expectations were just to see an elk bugle for her first hunt. She really had no pressure to shoot if she didn't want to which helped. But we were in bugling bulls every day and came close to getting her one 3 or 4 times. It easily was one of my favorite hunts I have been on. And I took her to a sporting clays shoot a week ago and now she wants to duck hunt, which is awesome haha

My first experience elk hunting was when I was 18. I am approaching 63 now so you can guess how far that was. I was seeing elk in the Indian Hills area of Colorado where my family hunted deer years straight. I come from a family of hardcore deer hunters and we almost always tagged out on deer. However, elk was different. The following year I bought an elk tag over the counter which you could back then, not sure how it is now because I only hunt Wyoming where I live now. My dad ripped into me and said I was wasting my money and that i would never see an elk let alone get close enough to shoot one. Well I shot a 4x5 bull barely legal range from the road and he told me he was never going to tell me I can't buy an elk tag again.

 

[Jmnhunter]

i really enjoyed this episode as well, made me reflect on my time and how I feel like I can get selfish at times. My wife listened alittle bit with me and she also enjoyed it.

 

[Cheesehead]

Do you mind giving me some insight as to why?

Hi @OliveTree , great question. I also want to say I appreciate your thoughtful response in this thread.

Speaking as ‘the guy’, I would say 1) we are probably better mates/fathers/partners if we have a bit of space to recalibrate with the reality that nature brings
2) life is more honest when we better realize our sense of place in regards to it (ie, Bob is less likely to be a jerk when he realizes the frailty of human existence and will therefore be more likely to respond kindly to frail humans)