2010 was my first big game season in about 15 years. I grew up hunting pheasants like a job and whitetails on the side in Iowa. Fast forward through college and the 10 years I lived in Colorado without applying for anything (think of the points I could have banked now if I were smart then!) and finally got back on the horse. My excuse was that the scouting and hunting would be good preparation for ski season, which I've gone into a little worse off each of the last several years. Maybe this year I'll ski to get in shape for hunting!
Thanks for all the lessons and stories in your posts, and thanks Randy for the best outdoors sports show on TV. I mostly just read this board, but all the great stuff you guys have shared helped out in the dry times. I've hung it up for this year without any meat to show for it. My best (only) good opportunity came at 10 minutes into opening morning when a 3 point cruised by exactly where I should have expected him, but I wasn't ready and never even got the safety off. I think the 60+ shots I heard in the area over the next 3 hours scared them all into nocturnal mode since I find myself each morning since sitting smack in the middle of fresh sign when its light enough to see it. I got the exercise I was hoping for, saw some great sunrises and -sets, remembered why I loved to hunt as a kid, and I'll most definitely do it again.
Here are some lessons I take from this adventure:
- I hate all squirrels with a passion, not just the ones who drop pinecones on me in my own back yard
- I smell bad
- I make too much noise
- I don't think I can see as well as I thought (there had to be some game, somewhere, that I missed right?)
- Western hunting is a 180 deg. difference from flat ag land
- You guys make it look way, way easier than it is
- Wind sucks
Thanks again, guys. Who has the best recipe for tag soup?
Thanks for all the lessons and stories in your posts, and thanks Randy for the best outdoors sports show on TV. I mostly just read this board, but all the great stuff you guys have shared helped out in the dry times. I've hung it up for this year without any meat to show for it. My best (only) good opportunity came at 10 minutes into opening morning when a 3 point cruised by exactly where I should have expected him, but I wasn't ready and never even got the safety off. I think the 60+ shots I heard in the area over the next 3 hours scared them all into nocturnal mode since I find myself each morning since sitting smack in the middle of fresh sign when its light enough to see it. I got the exercise I was hoping for, saw some great sunrises and -sets, remembered why I loved to hunt as a kid, and I'll most definitely do it again.
Here are some lessons I take from this adventure:
- I hate all squirrels with a passion, not just the ones who drop pinecones on me in my own back yard
- I smell bad
- I make too much noise
- I don't think I can see as well as I thought (there had to be some game, somewhere, that I missed right?)
- Western hunting is a 180 deg. difference from flat ag land
- You guys make it look way, way easier than it is
- Wind sucks
Thanks again, guys. Who has the best recipe for tag soup?
