Just recently joined these forums, so hey everybody, haha. I was just skimming the topics and when I saw this, I laughed pretty hard, because it reminded me of a very unpleasant experience I had on my very first hunt. I was 12 years old (currently 17, so almost 5 years ago).
My uncle, who lives in Kentucky, asked me if I would be interested in going deer hunting with him behind my grandparents' house when he saw me playing a cheap Deer Hunter game on my grandparents' computer. We were visiting relatives there, and we had come from Chicago, so I asked my parents if I could. They said sure, so I got all the stuff taken care of beforehand, like permits, shooting practice, what not, and a few days later, I was ready.
Well, my stomach was messed up from traveling, hadn't been on a "schedule" in a while, and the anxiety that the hunt brought with it gave me a killer stomach ache when we got to the stand. I was freaking out cause my uncle and grandad were with me, it was actually a tiny homemade ground blind that fit all 3 of us, and I was suffering so badly I couldn't even think about the hunt. I knew there would be no going back to the house in time. And the worst part of the whole ordeal was, my uncle was joking the day before as he held up a roll of toilet paper saying "This is the most important thing you'll need in those woods." Well, he didn't have any, when I finally asked for it. It was inevitable
I was pretty ticked off at the fact I was in the woods without that simple thing I'd ALWAYS taken for granted. I ended up having to use some leaves. Looking back on it, it wasn't horrible, especially considering I shot my first buck about 10 minutes later. Ever since then, I've been waiting for the big one, and considering I only get to hunt with my uncle once or twice a year, that's a huge challenge for me every time I see a rack. The motto I've adapted to is "Let 'em go, let 'em grow" and I'm sticking with it until I find what I'm looking for!
But yeah, every time I pack for the trip I've waited for all year, toilet paper's definitely among the first to be thrown in my bag. Lesson learned. And now I've got a funny story to tell, been hooked on hunting ever since. I base my success off of the fun that I had, not what I bag. Otherwise, I wouldn't be very successful.