Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

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Treejunkie
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Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Treejunkie » Sat Feb 13, 2021 3:36 am

First of all I will say I am not hardcore in the least when you look at guys like Dan and others here or anywhere. I do take my bowhunting extremely serious and do my scouting, food plots, daily bow practice, hunting and devising ways to be a better hunter. I am a solo whitetail hunter and like it that way. When it comes to out of state hunts I have friends who always were up to go. Fast forward to our early 50's and now I am the one who has to almost beg and push these guys to commit to out of state hunting.

Yes we are older but we also can afford to go more than ever. All of us have very good engineering jobs, thank God for that. I work out about 4x a week to stay in shape and fight old man time. For me it makes my goals of hunting regardless of climbing my tree stand or walking 10 miles elk hunting a lot easier. My girlfriend is BIG into running and we always are doing 10k's during the summer. Most of the time she kicks my but every once in awhile I come across that finish line first. :D

Anyways what stared out as 6 guys going elk hunting this fall in Utah has now turned into 2. Had lunch with a buddy of mine yesterday and he was no.3 after the other 3 dropped out. I was already planning on driving so that's not the issue. Never thought I would have to be the one leading the charge to go. Some day I will only be able to watch these hunts from my couch due to age or injury but right now is not the time.

Anyone else have hardcore friends who have changed so dramatically?


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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby dan » Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:39 am

My best hunting friend, and really, just all around best friend, who has been at my side since we were 6 or 7 years old, and did everything together, went thru a divorce about 7 years ago, and just disappeared. Every now and then I track him down... But he just gave up on everything. But, outside of that, its important to note, hunting is a pretty much "alone" thing that means different things to different people, and the way we hunt, why we hunt, the motivation to hunt, the amount of confidence, our mind set, etc... All vary... No 2 are alike. There is no one who will be 100% like you...
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:46 am

The weird thing about some of my friends is they’ll walk 50 miles on a week long out of state trip without issue, but back home a one mile walk one way is an eternity.

I’ll never understand lol
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby buttonbuck » Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:59 am

I created a hunting buddy this year. My very good friend expressed interest in it so I taught him how to shoot a bolt action rifle accurately. Then opening day I put him in the blind with me, he spotted the buck I killed before I did. I shot it and then immediately put him in my seat and said "they'll be more". 5 minutes later a doe walked out right where the buck did. He got his first kill and was hooked. I then hunted down a nice buck and let him kill it. Then I spent the season in a blind letting him kill every other deer. Right after season was over I said "time to get off the tit", I'm prepping tree stand locations and no more blind hunting. On with the adventure and we'll see what the future has in store. I will say, hunting with another person is far superior as to what you can observe.
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby MichiganMike » Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:05 am

I never really had friends or family that hunt as hard core as I do. I was fortunate growing up to have a dad that was somewhat into the outdoors and would take me and my brothers hunting and fishing. My dad was never hardcore but he really let us do whatever. He would stay back at camp and let us do our thing. My brothers kind of fell off on the hunting and fishing and I continued and became more hard core over the years. I have a couple friends that hunt pretty aggressively but they go to family owned farms or public land that is quite far from me. We do keep touch on Facebook etc. and share stories, but we never connected on hunting together. Honestly, I think we all prefer it that way. It may be selfish, but I do prefer to hunt alone. Its my time to get away from the noise and hustle of work and enjoy the peace and quiet. If someone were to ask me to take them hunting though, I certainly would. I took my step daughter on a youth hunt a couple years ago and she enjoyed it. We didn't see anything but it was a joy to get her into the outdoors and into the sport a bit. I do hunt with my second oldest brother occasionally (Im the youngest BTW) but usually its during gun season and we'll do 2 man deer drives.
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Tim H » Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:15 am

Gosh you are all so lucky to have friends. ;)
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Dewey
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:17 am

Unfortunately age tends to trim down the friends who take hunting seriously anymore and really put a lot of work into it. For various reasons they all just fade away. I don’t even consider myself a hardcore but have yet to find anybody my age who still puts as much effort in. The rest around here all took easier roads a long time ago. Good thing there are a lot of like minded individuals here at that Beast that can understand being serious and actually enjoying the hard work. We are a rare breed.
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby hcooper84 » Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:27 am

I have found that I have become the hardcore hunting friend. My best friend and one of my best hunting partners went to the army for a few years. During that time I discovered the Beast and THP and really have become much more aggressive. I dont really hunt like most of the people I grew up around anymore. I have a bit of a jump on him since hes been in the army the last few years so I know I need to be patient and hopefully he gets to the place that I am in.

We hunted real hard the last weekend of the season and it was alot of fun, we performed many stalks. But there were moments I was thinking why would you go that direction or try to be quiter. I realize that i just need to be more patient the dude hasnt hunted like this really ever and its been 4-5 years since hes gotten to actually hunt a decent amount.

I have also found that I definitely am starting to enjoy hunting more on my own. I am attributing this to my stubbornness of thinking I am right all the time. I feel this with my dad alot. Hes not bought into the beast tactics as much and I am getting to the point sometimes of feeling "well see ya i'll go hunt somewhere else where I can do my thing."
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Chuck B » Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:37 am

My friends are starting to get older with everything in life, not just hunting. I am the same age as them but they seem to be aging much quicker. Not sure what the reason is, but it saddens me. I have vowed to my wife to not slow down until my body simply won’t let me continue.
If you aren't green and growing, you are ripe and rotting
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Sailfish_WC » Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:55 am

I don’t think I have one that enjoys it as much as me.

I’m good with that though.

What would be neat is a once yearly meet up at a hunt camp on opening day in the Midwest.
Or a annual/biannual out west type thing as a group.
I have one or two that would do the out west thing but Our home state in FL....they don’t enjoy it much.
Sailfish_WC <-- Deer watcher
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Ryan549
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Ryan549 » Sun Feb 14, 2021 1:13 am

As I get older, my circle is smaller. Lack of patience for drama has really made me reconsider who I allow in my life. My brother and I used to hunt all the time together, now he has a wife and a young daughter, his priorities changed, I don’t blame him for making that decision, but there is a balance that can be had.
I now have one hunting friend. We are both serious, we put a lot of time into our woods. He has nearly 100 acres and that is where he hunts- I have almost 15 acres. We share a lot of the same bucks as they cruise around- but I mainly hunt public land and really only hunt my place during the rut.
He’s a good friend, honest, hardworking, trustworthy. But he wants to stay on his land, while I want to take adventures. No harm, no foul.
Ryan
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Hodag Hunter
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Hodag Hunter » Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:54 pm

Friend circle shrinks as we age. Main two buds one is a great top 1% hunter and the other a great fisherman in the top 1%. I lie the the middle of the two and if not for them I would suck at the two sports. :lol:

Work gets in the way far too much for me but rely on each good friend to keep me in the loop during each perspective season.

Wish my hunting bud lived closer.....he's two hours away and fishing bud is 15 minutes. I keep trying to get him to move north, someday maybe.......
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby PK_ » Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:49 am

Having like minded buddies is easier than having like minded buddies with a schedule that matches yours.

It’s just how it is.
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
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Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal
Treejunkie
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby Treejunkie » Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:51 am

Dan,

I am wondering if you are talking about Greg? I remember meeting him at the Lone Wolf video seminar and a few times at some hunting shows.

Divorce is tough and that stopped me from being serious and had to focus on my kids. Now that they are older the seriousness of hunting is gripping me once again.


dan wrote:My best hunting friend, and really, just all around best friend, who has been at my side since we were 6 or 7 years old, and did everything together, went thru a divorce about 7 years ago, and just disappeared. Every now and then I track him down... But he just gave up on everything. But, outside of that, its important to note, hunting is a pretty much "alone" thing that means different things to different people, and the way we hunt, why we hunt, the motivation to hunt, the amount of confidence, our mind set, etc... All vary... No 2 are alike. There is no one who will be 100% like you...
dan
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Re: Having hardcore/serious hunting friends

Unread postby dan » Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:55 am

Treejunkie wrote:Dan,

I am wondering if you are talking about Greg? I remember meeting him at the Lone Wolf video seminar and a few times at some hunting shows.

Divorce is tough and that stopped me from being serious and had to focus on my kids. Now that they are older the seriousness of hunting is gripping me once again.


dan wrote:My best hunting friend, and really, just all around best friend, who has been at my side since we were 6 or 7 years old, and did everything together, went thru a divorce about 7 years ago, and just disappeared. Every now and then I track him down... But he just gave up on everything. But, outside of that, its important to note, hunting is a pretty much "alone" thing that means different things to different people, and the way we hunt, why we hunt, the motivation to hunt, the amount of confidence, our mind set, etc... All vary... No 2 are alike. There is no one who will be 100% like you...

Not Greg...


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