RG_Adult_Onset_Hunter
Well-known member
“I can’t guarantee they will be there.” I was tentatively told by the landowner. There always seems to be this hesitation and disappointment about the possibility of coming home empty handed. “That’s kind of the idea though,” has been my typical response.
We had come back every time empty handed thus far. The turkeys just had been there at the same time we had. My wife and I had been out several times on a bit of a his and hers hunt. Bear for myself, turkey for bride. The scheduling and logistics of such and mixed bag hunt are not recommended.
Each time we came to the home the response was nearly the same, “where’s the animal?”, “somewhere out there still, but man that was fun”. Is this another failure, or is it part of the process? I guess it all depends on how you look at it.
I was once told that an artist can’t avoid learning, provided they keep their eyes open while they walk the streets. I think this applies to hunting as well. Each failure brought about a new bit of wisdom. Deer rubs differentiated from one another. Jackrabbit beds began to be apparent. An easier way to climb to the ridge-line was discovered. Elk scat was found, argued about, and confirmed to be exactly that (I for the record was wrong).
The last time we were out there, we came incredibly close to three blacktail does. With no sense of the two armed homo-sapiens within archery distance, it became an interesting experiment in finding out how these deer react to various calls. The knowledge gleaned from this ad-hoc experimentation will be useful later even though it was not what either of us struck out to find.
Tomorrow, will be the last day for both turkey and bear. We will be making one last foray into the woods. I can’t guarantee we will find what we are looking for, but I can guarantee we will find something. After all, it’s OK to come back empty handed, just don’t come back empty headed.
We had come back every time empty handed thus far. The turkeys just had been there at the same time we had. My wife and I had been out several times on a bit of a his and hers hunt. Bear for myself, turkey for bride. The scheduling and logistics of such and mixed bag hunt are not recommended.
Each time we came to the home the response was nearly the same, “where’s the animal?”, “somewhere out there still, but man that was fun”. Is this another failure, or is it part of the process? I guess it all depends on how you look at it.
I was once told that an artist can’t avoid learning, provided they keep their eyes open while they walk the streets. I think this applies to hunting as well. Each failure brought about a new bit of wisdom. Deer rubs differentiated from one another. Jackrabbit beds began to be apparent. An easier way to climb to the ridge-line was discovered. Elk scat was found, argued about, and confirmed to be exactly that (I for the record was wrong).
The last time we were out there, we came incredibly close to three blacktail does. With no sense of the two armed homo-sapiens within archery distance, it became an interesting experiment in finding out how these deer react to various calls. The knowledge gleaned from this ad-hoc experimentation will be useful later even though it was not what either of us struck out to find.
Tomorrow, will be the last day for both turkey and bear. We will be making one last foray into the woods. I can’t guarantee we will find what we are looking for, but I can guarantee we will find something. After all, it’s OK to come back empty handed, just don’t come back empty headed.
