ridgetops
Very Active Member
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Some times I wonder why and are asked the same thing by others.
Why do I get up at 2 or 3 am, drive for hours and hike into the backcountry for several miles to the point my body hurts for days afterwards?
Hike into the backcountry during a mid-summer heat wave to get eaten alive by gnats and mosquitoes. Wait out a severe lightning storm under a tarp or poncho or have a close encounter with an anger rattle snake. Sprain an ankle or twist a knee miles from the closest trail head. Only to push through the pain and do it all again the following week. When I have a hunting season like this past one, then it's all worth it.
2015:
This year my hunting partners had some very close calls with some really nice bucks on the archery and muzzleloader hunts but it wasn't until the rifle hunt that things really came together. (Except for my cousin John's son, who shot a 20" wide 4x4 two days after he turned 12 on the muzzy hunt.)
During the rifle hunt I was able to help pack out four different big bucks, each being a minimum of 1.5 miles from the road.
Each was the biggest buck that the hunter had taken in their life.
Why do I get up at 2 or 3 am, drive for hours and hike into the backcountry for several miles to the point my body hurts for days afterwards?
Hike into the backcountry during a mid-summer heat wave to get eaten alive by gnats and mosquitoes. Wait out a severe lightning storm under a tarp or poncho or have a close encounter with an anger rattle snake. Sprain an ankle or twist a knee miles from the closest trail head. Only to push through the pain and do it all again the following week. When I have a hunting season like this past one, then it's all worth it.
2015:
This year my hunting partners had some very close calls with some really nice bucks on the archery and muzzleloader hunts but it wasn't until the rifle hunt that things really came together. (Except for my cousin John's son, who shot a 20" wide 4x4 two days after he turned 12 on the muzzy hunt.)
During the rifle hunt I was able to help pack out four different big bucks, each being a minimum of 1.5 miles from the road.
Each was the biggest buck that the hunter had taken in their life.