Let me offer an analogy to what the hunt is to me. As stated before, blood, sweat and tears. PAIN is part of the effort. This is found when hunting mountain goat at 64 years of age. Intuition and expectation of the results. Realm of wonder of the mountainous terrain and topography. Difficulty of access and habitat that I have overcome or accepted as gospel. Researching same to find another route of access whether successful or not. Lack of access does not ruin my hunt. Learning how to deal with difficult terrain and what I must do physically to get into rugged country. Cannot set on the couch ten months of the year and hunt the “breaks country”. Let us ponder the shot. How much time is spent at the range shooting area in all positions. The solid shooting benchs are not always available. Not many, to my knowledge, in the mountains. How about familiarization of ones firearm or bow and the ballistics of such. Is this part of hunting?
Let us say that a person is successful. What about game preparation and means of getting the reward to the table? Part of hunting? Does a person need to know about safety, what to do if turned around, have to spend the night, how to read a map? What happens when your GPS does not work? Compass and map? Is this part of the hunt?
There are so many parts, beyond pulling the trigger, that encompass the “hunt” itself to regard. It all adds up to the full range of being a hunter and the reward of adventure.
BTW, this not meant to be a lecture, but an eye opener to those who seek adventure and quality of experience.
When mentored or asked to accompany as a fellow hunter, it should be valued and enjoyed. Then, it helps to pay this forward to keep our sport viable for succeeding generations.
I have been fortunate enough to be an outdoorsman who has hunted many lands and exotic, to me, places. I have matured by success and failure. My memories are fond with experience of adventure. These, and more is what hunting represents to this aging sportsman. MTG