I have a mixed bag.

Family

My older brother is close to my level but he is lazy to put it bluntly. He doesn't want to spend the time in the offseason to make his season more productive. Once the season hits he is very serious and I love hunting with him because he understands more about what to do and not do during the season. I just need to light a fire under his butt to get him moving sometimes. My oldest brother is totally opposite end of the spectrum, he is careless in many ways and his chances suffer because of it......he frequently wonders out loud why we all kill so many deer and he doesn't and uses the term "luck" a lot........whatever, I don't care, he is my brother and I love hunting with him. My dad is as tough as nails and is as serious as he is old school........he has mentioned getting back behind a bow this coming year so that should be interesting. I have never met his equal with a shotgun..........for a ground hunter using a smooth bore open sighted slug gun he has done very well for himself. My dad has ALWAYS had an innate ability to put himself in the right place at the right time, when I was young I thought it was luck.......now I know better.......I LOVE hunting with my dad and I do my best to do the leg work that he can't do as much of anymore. I owe him 1,000 times more then that.

Friends

My best friend "thinks" he is very serious about hunting but in reality he is anything but. He will outsit anyone.......I will tip my hat to him on that. He hunts as much as anyone I know and he kills VERY few deer. He refuses to believe that he is his own worst enemy. He will sit in the SAME tree day after day after day and his scent control is minimal, and I just can't get the little details into his head like realizing you are hunting from the second your truck pulls up until it is gone........he is a door slammer and lous talker kinda guy. Some spots this is OK because we are 3/4 mile from the woods at the truck.........but some spots we are not. It never fails though he wants to sit at the truck and tell me about his whole day........I always tell him to shut up and get in the truck and we will talk on the ride home. I honestly think he doesn't believe this effects anything. He is a great guy and I have known him since we were toddlers but sometimes I wonder if the deer are smarter then he is [8D] Can't ask for a better friend though so I will hunt with him until we are old and grey. One day he will get it.

Our other friends come and go in and out of our hunting parties and we all hop all though the woods of NY with different levels of interest. It's all good in my book and every one of them is welcome at my campfire. I do very well for myself in within the conditions I have to work with and I enjoy EVERY minute of it. I have absolutely no doubts that I would do even better if I was a loner with land all to myself..........it is VERY difficult to go out to small plots of land with 3-5 guys day after day and not educate the deer..........especially when some are not on their A game.

I don't care.........I love hunting with all of them and I wouldn't trade the memories we share for anything. I wouldn't be angry if a couple of them took things a little more seriously though. Hunting is so much fun for me though it is hard to get upset about it........besides I am FAR from perfect.