Spend 2 years learning and improving your skill. Finally decide to apply your skills in the open by getting your first hunting license. Wife convinces you deer are a hard target for a first hunt. Never see deer in the entirety of your county. Opt out of a deer tag. Have the most frustrating day at the range trying to sight in. Buck walks on to the range to graze. Stop shooting and start filming. The wind was perfect blowing east between us. I was able to get to less than 20 yards between us. They were less than 100 yards away from a very small zone that would have been questionable but safe and technically legal. NONE THE LESS This was an amazing experience. I hope this was a foreshadowed blessing on my upcoming turkey hunt next weekend.
Keep pushing forward. Every experience no matter how small is a stitch in the fabric. Its all of these experiences that make you a sportsman and a better hunter. Expect failure, strive for success. Dont give up.
Expecting failure is a newer mind set for me. It's frustrating. Been scouting for fall turkey for the last 3 weeks. HAVE NOT SEEN ONE! in all the places I had seen them during the summer, cannot find them now. I've got 3days set aside for opening weekend and I have yet to see a feather, hear a purr, find a dig... NOTHING. I also missed the last 2 months of NWTF chapter meetings. I am going in so blind and so inexperienced, all I can hope for is failure and a good weekend in the woods away from work and wife. I know it's not going to be easy. I'll keep putting in the work until the bell rings on this season. Then it's back to Coyote and rabbits until spring. (Which I still haven't had success at).
You will figure it out! A guy with your ambition will not fail in the end. Failures along the way will happen (alot). But every failure is a building block towards a success. People are so afraid of that word. Failures should be embraced. Its what we do with our failures that count. Thomas Edison said it i think. In the end i have not failed, ive just found 10,000 ways it wont work. Finding out what doesnt work and what isnt efficient are necessary lessons towards your goal. Keep grinding man. Oh yea, have you ever met Joe? Swampstalker? Dude is a warrior. He grinds harder than almost anyone on here and does so in an area with low animal density. You should really reach out to him. Very friendly dude.
Thank you again. No I have not met Joe, what area is he in? I keep that quote as a reminder for work. I also like the quote, "we didn't lose $1000 because of a mistake, we spent a $1000 to teach a lesson not to repeat." (I manage an HVAC call center. its applicable to so much). Taking up archery has taught me more patience and discipline than I've gathered from 14 years of marriage. It really is preparing the way to learning the hunt. More than anything I love getting outside and being in the woods. "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work". I'm keeping that same mentality with hunting. Thanks again.
Agi. one thing about hunting is animals have a brain. They wanna eat/drink/breed /and just Live. Over time, you will learn those habits. Remember them and capitalize on that.
I'll admit that is not something I had consciously thought about. I still have more of a fisherman's approach and clearly it's not working. (eat, survive, sleep, survive, repeat).
