Deer hunting.

[HardDrive]

6 days to go and I am so geared up I can't sleep. I can't express how much I love deer hunting with my Dad.

My family...not a peaceful past. Terrible conflict, divorce, other nightmares I would rather not mention.....

To be approaching 40, and still have by dad healthy and strong, and a hell of a sportsman to boot.....it means so much. We get in his F350 in Ann Arbor and drive 12 hours to a place outside Crystal Falls, MI. Where we hunt is only a few miles from the WI border. Its hard, cold, northern hunting. No fat corn feed deer in these parts. But we go don't go there to kill the biggest deer. We go there because we have a deer camp of men. Serious hunters. Guys that like to have fun, but are really there to kill deer. No one going to strip clubs, casinos or that kind of crap.

I guess every guy has a few touchstones in life. The points that attach you to the earth and everything in it. For me, its my wife and child, and that 12 hours drinking coffee and talking to my dad as his trucks diesel engine chews up the miles. Rolling through the gray hills of Michigan, watching the landscape change.

I don't have a son of my own. Hunting will likely die with me. The last of the men in our family that carry my fathers name. It does not make me sad to see hunting go cold in our family. But it makes me sad to see a ritual die. An ancient ritual, of men around a fire in subfreezing air, drinking wine and telling stories. Men who know how the earth smells, and know about death. Know it not as some glamorous bit of visual porn on a movie screen, no, men who know death up close. The black orb of a deers eye reflecting the cold gray northern sky as you stand over it, panting to catch your breath, your hands trembling. The smell of viscera. The sound of Coyotes fighting over entrails. For that I am sad.

What does the modern young man get in its place? The plastic click of a video game controller, as he kills his millionth digital foe? And we wonder why the boys are violent. And we wonder why they can't 'focus'. A million years of fire, and struggle, and death, replaced in a single generation with a hollow fascade, the pale blue flicker of an LED monitor like a single candle compared to the sun.

I best stop.

[dhoward]

There's not much better in life.

[adrian jaye]

Deer Hunting,


thats a nice start

but spelt wrong

whouldn't it be


Dear Hunting,

then your letter , blah blah blah

finished with

Yours truly

blah bah blah

[rouxroux]

Thay are really moving down here since the cold snap this weekend. We saw 8 (1 live doe, 7 assorted road kill) between Carthage and Houston this weekend on HWY 59.

[charleskieffner]

use to hunt/fish w/my dad. just small game and birds. lots of quail and dove hunts. deep sea fishing off calif and baja. grew up with guns.

always wanted to go deer / elk hunting with dad. asked him a billion times. always said no. asked him why? "i have seen enough death." but what about the birds / squirrels/fish we have killed? he stated "you'll figure it out someday." " i like seeing things alive." " " plus you have the basics to feed yerself if it ever is needed."

well as i got older and figured things out, fully understood what 5 years straight in the pacific war does to a man. the light bulb went on. new guinea luzon saipan biak was hell on him and his mind. he lost a lot of friends and killed alot of the enemy.

so the ritual doesnt end with me......i have gotten both my sons in to hunter safety classes, and hunted deer/elk/birds/small game/varmints.

18 days to go for my younger sons first bull elk hunt(we got 3 tags). bought him a new marlin 45/70 stainless long barrel with 3 x9 leupold and QD rings. has shot the hell outta gun at range. has shot hell outta .22 ruger for practice, shot hell outta rws .177 w/3 x 9 scope for practice, has shot hell outta rws 5g pistol for practice. practice practice practice. kid is a born elk assassin.

been packing last 3 weekends with him. every gear bag inspected/updated. rifles pistols cleaned and lubed. tow vehicle organized, 18 ft dual axle trailer organized, new tires etc. quads gassed/oiled/lubed. survival bags updated. clothes washed in no scent with juniper branches stuffed in garbage bags. bullets made on press. elk calls honed. im amazed a herd of elk hasnt crashed thru my property and coyotes arent climbing thru my windows for all the calls emitted from my house!

younger son stated " i never realized how much time and effort goes into a elk hunt!" i commented back........."wait til its 330am and its (0) ZERO degrees out and we are heading out of camp to our sniper hides and tell me all about it!"

we brought enough material and tents to build 3 separate sniper hides, and enough howitzer camo netting to hide a HOWITZER, so 4 separate places we will set up 2 days before hunt. walking this unit is akin to baghdad iraq door to door house to house searches. juniper really thick. very little elevation areas except south end of unit. 450 bull tags handed out in lottery and 445 hunters will be in south end of unit. we will be north at our secret spot. hunted this area for literally last 25 years. know it like back of hand.

FOAMING AT THE MOUTH TO LET MY MCMILLIAN WINCHESTER .338(.559 groups) 26" barrel with 4.5 x 14 leupold tactical scope RIP ON SOME UNWARY BULL ELK!

[blk911]

HardDrive,

You have it right my friend. So many guys down here in Texas now spend upwards of $20,000 a year just trying to take the biggest rack. It's all distorted, high fenced ranches, breeding programs, protein feeding budgets that would build a helluva Porsche engine, but they have lost the "soul" of hunting. Not slamming those guys, for them, that's their thing, just not for me.

I love the old stories in Field and Stream and long for the deer camps like you describe.

Vaya con Dios

[pookie]

I hunt with my buddies in SC. I could go for years and never take a deer or rabbit (our other hunt trip), but I wouldn't miss a trip to hang out with my closest friends.

Some people will never understand there is more to hunting than blasting anything that moves.

[Oh Haha]

Didn't hunt with my Dad but I did cherish the times spent with him. Glad you found soething you liek to do together.


they are calling for snow up north this weekend!!!!!!!!!


I don't hunt but good luck to you and Dad. Have a safe trip up to the camp.

[Zef]

I'm 44...my dad is 63...He learned me how to hunt the deers since I'm 8...Each October...it's a pilgrimage for both of us...A real dad and son love affair...And I love that.

[targa911S]

You guys have made me miss my own Dad who died about a year ago. I still hunt, but it is not the same. I still savor the crisp fall ohio mornings we spent in the fields together. Shooting will most likely die with me. I have a son, but he has no interest in shooting, or hanging with me for that matter. His pals are Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, and his Old Grand Dad. Maybe he will wake up some day as I did. Until then I feel I don't have anybody to leave my families guns to that will cherish them and the moments they represent. Sad.

[Oh Haha]

targa-Sorry to hear about your situation, man.

Hopefully your son will realise what he's missing and reconnect with you. I went through a period of time where I was doing my own thing. Never had any conflict with my Dad but didn't do much with him, either save for family gatherings.

As I got older, I reconnected with him as a man not just a son. I miss him every day.

hang in there.

[targa911S]

Thanks. I still try to connect with him. We are both musicians so at least we have that in common. I KNOW he wants my guitar collection when I kick. You may be right. I think most of us meet Dad head on in our lives, then we become him.

[9dreizig]

Hunted hard for a week in Northern AK this fall,, nothing like it, never killed anything and that was ok,, nothing bonds like a good hunting trip

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by targa911S

You guys have made me miss my own Dad who died about a year ago. I still hunt, but it is not the same. I still savor the crisp fall ohio mornings we spent in the fields together. Shooting will most likely die with me. I have a son, but he has no interest in shooting, or hanging with me for that matter. His pals are Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, and his Old Grand Dad. Maybe he will wake up some day as I did. Until then I feel I don't have anybody to leave my families guns to that will cherish them and the moments they represent. Sad.

You can only do what you can do.

But never give up. I think I was 35 before I got my head removed from my tailside. Each person has seasons in life. He might come around.

[targa911S]

One can only hope. I will never give up. My Dad didn't, and I miss him every day.

[azasadny]

My father , who is 71, will be taking my 17 year old son deer hunting again this season. I don't care if they get a deer or not, it's the time together that matters and this is a "fall ritual" with my family.

[Jeff Higgins]

Great perspective, HardDrive. Good luck to you and your dad. I would tell you to "savor these moments" with him, but it's obvious you already know that.

[Zef]

Originally Posted by azasadny

My father , who is 71, will be taking my 17 year old son deer hunting again this season. I don't care if they get a deer or not, it's the time together that matters and this is a "fall ritual" with my family.

You got a point Art....it's the essence of hunting.

[competentone]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

We get in his F350 in Ann Arbor and drive 12 hours to a place outside Crystal Falls, MI. Where we hunt is only a few miles from the WI border. Its hard, cold, northern hunting. No fat corn feed deer in these parts. But we go don't go there to kill the biggest deer. We go there because we have a deer camp of men. Serious hunters. Guys that like to have fun, but are really there to kill deer. No one going to strip clubs, casinos or that kind of crap.

I grew up in the UP (Menominee county); the Indians have their casinos, but I wasn't aware there there was much in the way of "strip clubs" -- of course, as a kid I wasn't paying too much attention to that.

I never got into hunting -- and actually didn't like deer season as one had to stay out of the woods during that time (always a few crazies willing to shoot anything that moves).

Most all the deer were "corn feed" in that area -- from raiding the farmers' crops -- when I was growing up.

[RoninLB]

e-mail


Moose Hunt in Maine


Give a Moose a beer and you never know what will happen. Must be Moosehead Beer !

This actually happened with some guys from Maine .

They dressed the truck up with the guy dummy spread eagle on the roof of the truck.

The driver and passenger put on Moose Heads.

Down the Maine Toll interstate they went causing about 16 accidents.

They went to jail.