Quitters

[The Hedgehog]

Everybody's thrown in the towel a time or two. Any regrets? Let's hear it. This is THE place to make fun somebody you know for being a total lame ass quitter. Or maybe you were able to talk them out of it..

Sheep, goat and moose permits come to mind, special deer or elk, etc..

Some people (LOTS of them) seem to tally up excuses well before the going gets tough, and even before they leave to go on the first trip. My job, my wife, my kids, my vacation, the price of gas, my sore aching ass, my fear of bears, my terrible gear, etc..

 

[Flatbrimmer]

A sore aching ass

I’m proud to say I’ve made a few excuses, only to myself- I’ve never scratched on a plan with others, and it has NEVER been due to a sore aching ass!
I’m sorry someone scratched on you for that! Take it easy, killer!

 

[Keep on]

I quit junior high football when they told me there was practice every afternoon and Saturday during the season. That didn't leave any time to hunt.
Never quit on a tag or a planned hunt. I don't go out as much as I did in my youth, but I sure do enjoy when I am out.

 

[MTTW]

I threw my fishing pole in the Jellystone river once. I never really cared for fishing the river though.

 

[Hem]

I threw my fishing pole in the Jellystone river once. I never really cared for fishing the river though.

I ONCE gave up fishing cuz I lost my one fly box that day. Be damned if I was going to turn rocks looking for worms.
" thank you Sir, may I have another"

 

[TheGrayRider]

I quit buying Nonresident Wyoming moose points!

Clarification: I never started buying them years ago. Happy hunting to all, TheGrayRider.

 

[Irrelevant]

Everybody's thrown in the towel a time or two. Any regrets? Let's hear it. This is THE place to make fun somebody you know for being a total lame ass quitter. Or maybe you were able to talk them out of it..

Sheep, goat and moose permits come to mind, special deer or elk, etc..

Some people (LOTS of them) seem to tally up excuses well before the going gets tough, and even before they leave to go on the first trip. My job, my wife, my kids, my vacation, the price of gas, my sore aching ass, my fear of bears, my terrible gear, etc..

I've not killed a lot of really big bears because I was too weak sauce to pack them out.
I've bailed on a couple of extended backpacking trips because it just wasn't fun anymore.
But the good thing about WA is that you never have to worry about regretful actions with a special permit, because you never draw any permits.
I also could have held out for one more year of collegiate eligibility, but I was over it and "quit" track when I was just starting to get kinda fast.

 

[GrantK]

I shot a small 6-point bull on day one of a pretty decent CO muzzy tag years ago because the big bull I had scouted got shot at first light by a guided hunter who didn't have a clue that it was the biggest bull in that half of the unit and happened to stumble on it in a wallow 5 minutes into legal light, my friend who was along to help pack decided he was out the next morning and I panicked and shot the first decent bull I had a chance at because I was scared to hunt solo, I've regretted it every single year when I realize I will never get enough points to hunt that unit again, I've killed bigger bulls elsewhere now but it still stings, on the good side it made me realize that if I wanted to consistently kill good bulls I had to take responsibility for it myself and go solo if that was the best option...

 

[Fire_9]

I've laid up on a couple hunts and I've shot early on animals that I should have passed for various reasons. One was a MT goat tag that I didn't even come close to doing justice. I shot early in the hunt and the justification was that I was with friends and family. If I every get the opportunity to have a special permit again, I will spend as much time on it as I possibly can.

 

[BuzzH]

I have a regret regarding goats. In 1995 when I hunted sheep in Alaska with Dan Montgomery I could have added a goat hunt after my successful Dall Sheep hunt for $1500. What an idiot to not just slap the $1500 on a credit card.

Wish I had that one to do over again.

 

[seeth07]

We left the Kentucky Cow tag hunt we went on 1.5 days early. After 5 days of full hunting working our asses off, we never saw an elk. We had enough and more specifically had enough of the rule breaking atv riders being where they shouldnt.

 

[Rzrbck918]

I quit junior high football when they told me there was practice every afternoon and Saturday during the season. That didn't leave any time to hunt.
Never quit on a tag or a planned hunt. I don't go out as much as I did in my youth, but I sure do enjoy when I am out.

I quit my girlfriend because she gave me a hunting or her ultimatum. We ended up getting back together a couple of years later. Haven't quit her since (27 years).

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Me: random excuse insert here
Grandpa: oh my sore aching ass, let's GO!

 

[FREAK]

Grizzly Bears seem to be a big one. Just last weekend my hunting partner of 13 years bailed on me at 9:30pm the night before our hunt because his new wife decided she doesn't want him hunting bear country anymore. It takes a lot of self-control on my part to not tell him to grow a set and lay out some ground rules. I can't think of a time he's bailed on a hunt, and we've spent plenty of night out in griz country together, so I know it's coming from his wife.

 

[Rzrbck918]

I was bear hunting in New Mexico a few years ago during archery season. I had hunted hard for three days where I knew bears had been moving. My friends were mule deer and/or elk hunting and I decided on Wednesday, more out of frustration and boredom than altruism, to help one of my friends by calling for him. I had left a camera set up on the trail and sure as the sunrise, a big boar came through at about 9 am with my stand visible in the background. Never saw him again.

 

[atlas]

I got out of my treestand 20 minutes early last night

 

[Hnthrdr]

Never quit on a hunt but I have felt like I copped out… a couple times once in 2021 and muzzy this year. Left the Misses kind of high and dry in 2021. No kid but she needed my help we were under contract on a house. Ended up shooting the first 4 point I saw instead of holding out and hunting more.
This year on a muzzy hunt. I popped a rag horn on a pretty solid draw tag with what I thought was 2.5 days left to hunt, but it turned out I lucked out since my child care had gotten sick so I was essentially done hunting for the season, kind of salty about that tag. I also shot and missed at a giant opening morning so mostly pissed at my lack of skills in the heat of the moment

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

My personal favorite excuse while holding my fly rod in one hand, a beer in the other, and a little Debbie in my pocket midday during September archery. "It's to hot elk won't be moving"

 

[MTGomer]

Oct 2017

@EYJONAS! told me the snow was “ankle deep at 9,000 feet”
Probably was where he went. 15 miles away it was a different story, I would learn.
I planned to spend 3 or 4 nights in a spot where I thought migrating rams may be.

I thought I could pound out the 9 trail miles and couple off trail miles in about 6 hours.

I started in the dark and before long was post holing. I nearly made the end of the trail by nightfall, exhausted, dehydrated, cramping and freezing cold in a blizzard. Mid thigh snow most of the way. I couldn’t even do it now. I was in excellent shape that year by that point in the season. Set my tent up on a flat spot I made in the trail.

Tried to reach the alpine the next day and ended up over my waist and exhausted from the day before.
Went back to camp, made a fire, ate some food, drank water and rested. Packed out the next day. Thank God it was all downhill.
The morning after the first night, I was convinced I was hallucinating, hearing a wolf howl close outside my tent. The track confirms that it actually happened, so at least I wasn’t going crazy.

 

[gouch]

I was going to go up to the lake and do some fishing this weekend while watching the solar eclipse. Then just today, the weatherman said it was going to rain. I got to thinking that I still haven't even replaced my raingear since the fire three years ago. Screw it, I can not see the eclipse from my warm dry house just as easily as I could not see the eclipse from the lake, and the fish will still be there when the sun comes out.

Damn, I have become such a woos in my old age.