"C'mon in", was his reply.
I walked into his house and he had 3 whopper bucks hanging on his wall, surrounded by coyote mounts, a turkey mount, and his newly purchased bow on the bar. I just met the man, but we talked for 45 minutes about hunting and different tactics like we had known each other for years.
As I got back in my truck and headed home, it amazed me, that one simple question could break the ice like that, and I could feel the hunter's bond with a guy I had literally just met. It was so neat listening to him recount the story of how he shot his biggest buck and when I would ask him questions such as what part of the season it was, or how the wind direction was, etc., it seemed to fuel his enthusiasm because he could tell that I wasn't a weekend warrior that dabbled in hunting, archery consumed my life.
Hunting is more than a hobby, it's a way of life. I have no doubt that if I ever ran into the majority of the members on the Beast, that with one simple question like that, we would start a terrific discussion/relationship. In fact, I hope to someday meet a lot of the members of my online hunting family: the Beast!
