Had to make a decision today
 

I had to decide if I was going out for fall football or bowhunting. It was a really hard decision. I chose Bow Hunting this fall!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

same here brother

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Yeah, being 41 I also chose Bowhunting!!!!!!!!!!;);)

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Haha i had the same delima when it came to college...i also chose bowhunting. I did stick it out through high school and it was an experience ill never forget...

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Agreed!!!

Rest of your life to bowhunt, playing any HS sport is a great IMO

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I wouldn't give up my memories of high school football for nothing. Maybe you could play football and still sneak in some hunts. I'm not knocking your decision,I just remember how great it was to play. When it was gone it was gone!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I wouldn't have traded high school sports for anything, including bowhunting. You have the rest of your life to hunt, but you only have 4 precious years of high school to enjoy (5 in some cases).

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I chose the hunting route back in highschool instead of sports and I sometimes have my regrets.

Don't get me wrong though; I have some great memories of being in the woods while others were out knocking the crap out of each other.:D

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

ya but its not just that i want time to do other stuff plus i dont really even enjoy the game that much

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Here's proof you can. I killed this buck on the first Monday after footbal season was over :D

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

That is cool

You do form some great relationships. My coach coached for 30 years about 2 years ago he died of cancer. His wife called me and he wanted me as a paul bearer. Out of all the playerscoachedask 6 and I was one of them. I still can not believe this day what an honor is was for me to be ask. Coach was great; I loved playing for him.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Man, has to keep his priorities straight.... that would be bowhuntin' ;):D

Unless there is the possibility of a future NFL contract, who cares! :)

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

College Scholarships!! ;)

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Hate to sound like a dad but I tell my son the same thing. You have your whole life to bowhunt so enjoy sports (in his case wrestling) while you can.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Thats mostly the reason it was such a hard decision. But when Im older I wont be able to hunt every single day like I can now. I played in 7th grade and never got to play plus im pretty small 5' 6" 115 lbs so I really got knocked around. Last year I decided to try bowhuntin instead of football and it was awesome! Get home from school everyday and go hunting! Heck ya. I think I will go out my junior and senior year when football starts to get serious. Thanks for your thoughts guys. Like I said it was a really hard decision that I had to make in about 30 seconds. I dont think im gonna regret my choice though.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

With games on Friday and Saturday & Sunday to hunt, I was able to balance football and hunting, although I'd say I was more enthusiastic about football and sometimes to sore the next day to hunt.

I did miss out on some great hunting & fishing oppertunities withthe familythanks to sports. If my son would rather hunt than play football, then I would back that decision all the way. Thememories Ihave with my family hunting and fishing WAYOUTWEIGH the memories of my highschool sports.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Size isn't everything. When I was a senior in H.S. one of our teams best backs was about 145lbs., but he could run like he**. He had to because the guys chasing him were 190 + .
I'm w/ the majority of the guys here. You won't ever forget H.S. football memories. You're only in H.S. once...I hope.
Just my opinion.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

MH, Sweet hat!

Diehard, sounds like you made a good choice to me. It ain't fun and won't be good memories if you don't get to play.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I remember visiting my high school friend in the hospital right after he came out of knee surgery. They were able to tie the tendon down with a carbon fiber. They had his leg in a machine to keep it moving so that it wouldn't lock. He was puking from the morphine drip they had going to kill the pain.

Lots of guys get through highschool ballwithout an injury.

The call is up to you.

I took the hunting route.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I have a 2 year old daughter right now, but I don't think I will ever push her to do one thing or another. I will open her mind toa bunch of experience's and let her have them. She can draw her own perspective's from those experience's and once she make's up her mind I will back her up 1000%. If she was to choose football, hunting, chess playing, or another sport I know I would become the world's proudest dad. Through your experience's and your own perspective's I applaude you for making your decesion and sticking to it.
By the way, I also choose bowhunting over fall sports, but I did give up some ice fishing time to wrestle.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

My high school didn't have football but I did play basketball in the fall/winter. I would make the same decision today if I could turn back time. The memories are priceless.

BTW-My freshman year in high school I was 5'3" & 130lbs. My senior year I was 6' & 180lbs. Don't base your decision on your current size...you'll grow and you need the experience if you are going to play your junior and senior year.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Hhhhmmm.....I don't know about your decision. I played four years of football and bowhunted on the weekends. I wouldn't give back those memories for anything. You can bowhunt from the year after highschool until you can't shoot even a crossbow anymore, but you won't be able to play football again...nor will you have those memories with your high school buddies/teammates. It is your personal decision, I just don't want you to regret it the long run.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

You like that? Walmart special! I know...pretty professional huh [8D];)

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

On the record.....

If not for baseball.....I would NOT have gone to college.

At least not right away. It was my only chance "out" of the town I grew up farming in. I liked to bird hunt, back then, but it would have NEVER kept me off the field of play. I GRADUATED high school at 5'9"/155#'s......went to college (on scholarship) as an outfielder......played a yr at 3rd base and 3 yrs.as a catcher (@ 6'/215#'s).

You just never know........unless you're on the field.

And I also began deer hunting at the age of FORTY. I don't regret what I "missed" during the years I didn't bowhunt, either. I wouldn't do ANY of it, again, differently.

If you can still get on the team......just listen to some of what you're reading. MY advice would be to BEG to play.

Good luck.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Do what makes ya happy..Bottom line is, you can't live your life for someone else. As long as you made the decision from your heart and head. It's a big decision now.... but later, will prove to be very insignificant. Don't listen to all the armchair quarterbacks who tell ya how great theywere or could have been..They are living in the past... you my friend know the improtance of here and now!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

GR8:

You're a good friend....and we can disagree.....as we do, here.

I'm not "living" in the past. I'm telling him he can never go back and change this...once he's made his decision. He seems to be asking us if he might regret not playing HS sports. I just think he will, one day.

I wouldn't want him to play......if he didn't want to. But......he has his ENTIRE life in front of him....and ONE chance to play HS football.

I don't "live in the past". My past is part of and lives through me. Big difference.

Have a great day....

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Do the have Golf?:D

Dude no one here is living in the past, just letting you knowmost of usenjoyed playing football or any HS sport. If you can do it in college more power to you.

Being small can be an advantage, just run around those big lugs:D Either way it is 100% your choice

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

If I had it to do over again - I'd be a male cheerleader! I used to laugh at them; man - those dudes knew some stuff...

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

It's your decision and it is great that you love hunting so much! I think everyone is just trying to make sure that you are positive that you made the right decision for you. No one seems to be trying to talk you out of it. Just remember that many of us have "been there" and we just try to give you a little extra information to base your decision on. Best of luck this fall! I hope you enjoy every minute of it!!!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Let me second that, huntingson. I'm happy you love hunting so much. THAT is encourging, too.

Just have fun!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I would have never traded hunting for sports in high school, or college. I played football at both levels and those are experiences you will never be able to get back, no matter what you do as a hunter. Football is a game that you can play for only a very limited number of years. There is no neighborhood league football like with basketball/baseball/soccer. I hope you don't like football too much, because you will regret your decision. There is so much more than just the game aspect of it. Football taught me a lot, teamwork especially. You have the rest of your life to hunt and only a couple years to play football.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I was faced with the same delima. I wasreally intoH.S. sports, but hated how it effected my time of being able to hunt. I stuck it out through HighSchool and played football every year and I don't fully regret my decision to play football. I was a KS state wrestling champ twice and varsity as a freshmen, butended itduring my Sophmore year. For the first time the coach wouldn't let me skip one practice for opening day of deer season, breaking the my hunting tradition.That's a hunt I'll never get back, spending time with my grandfather who has since then, passed on. It was too "serious" for me and wasn't worth it.

I heard the saying, "You will be able to hunt for the rest of your life, but only play HS sports for 4 years", a million times. But on the other side of the arguement, when in your life would you be able to hunt everyday like you could when you were in Highschool? Are you going to be able to hunt with your loved ones for the rest of your life? Sure I likedHS sports, but now that I look back on it, I was "living the life" being able to hunt like I did. It's hard to trade that for any HS sport.

I can see it either way... just depends on person.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

I gave up all sports after my sophomore year in HS. I spent most of my free time hunting, fishing and working for my parents businesses. Do I regret any of it? Absolutely not. Its because of the knowledge I gained about the outdoors and the people skills I learned while working for my parents that I am where I am today. Without those I wouldn't be able to live my dream of owning a hunting and fishing resort and do it successfully.

I also believe that not playing sports and spending time in the outdoors with friends and family gave me an appreciation for the little things in life.

Enjoy your fall!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Amen!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Well said ...AndDan_ below him also expressed my sentiments very well.

I wasn't on the offensive at any ONE individual..I was just expressing that REGRET is a two-way street.. You can play sports, and for-go something else and then regret having made that decision also.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Hey Dan...

Just discussing (not arguing) ....because I think you're right...in YOUR (and obviously others') circumstance.

I think sports/teamwork/competition has help mold me into the person I am at my job and at home. BUT....I likely missed out on much of the college "experience" by being bound to that sport. I never had a Spring Break. I had my afternoons tied up when the others were at the lake. I had every spring and fall weekend taken up for practice. I missed graduation and recieved my diploma on the field after a regional tournament.

Heck....I wouldn't change a thing, either.;)

There's no "wrong" avenue, really. There's something to be said for both.

What a great discussion this has been. LOTS of good advice....and I learn more about you guys, every day. Good stuff.

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

You beat me to the big AMEN!

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Here are a few more things for you to think about.

- Can you afford to pay for college with no financial assistance?
- Do you have the skill/tallent/potential to earn a college scholarship?

HS football and HS sports for that matter are more then just sports. They taught me many life lessons that i think have made me a much better person in life. If you feel like the sport you are playin in isnt your best tallent and you can afford college without it then i probably would worry about it.

All i know is that when you graduate HS its hard to argue with free education! :D;)Especially when its so vital in being successful in todays world.

Also, another side note. I played HS and college sports and was still able to get where i am today in my hunting career so if your thinking it might hold you back i wouldnt worry TOO much about it. Also, Jeff, the owner of HeartlandBowhunter, played college football for Oregon and was still able to get pleanty of hunting in afterwords!

Bottom Line: Its your decison and nobody here is telling you what to do. I think we are all just giving you advice from our experiences. You have to weight your personal circumstances and make the decision. Either way i dont think you can go wrong! I love both Football and Bowhunting!!! :D

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Also, i forgot to add that my loved ones did not hunt as seriously as i did (only rifle) so i didnt have to give up spending time with them in order to play HS football...

RE: Had to make a decision today
 

Growing up, both my dad's and my mother's brothers were (still are) whitetail/turkey hunting/trapping maniacs. The problem for them, however,was that hunting has became an obsession that wrecked their lives. It started when they were kids, and continued to the present. They're almost all divorced, they've lost/quit good jobs over hunting time, they have bad relationships with their kids, and it's almost all attributable to their unwillingness to pass up treestand time in lieu of family/work/social obligations. They all lead pretty empty lives at this point.

My dad was never much of a hunter - more of an athlete -lettered in3 sports in high school, still plays softball and volleyball leagues. Obviously, when I was growing up, my dad took time to make sure I was involved ina milliondifferent sports, learning everything that comes with those experiences (people skills, sportsmanship, etc..). Long story short, he tried everything in his power to make sure I never started hunting, and got sucked into the same obsession that his brothers, and my mother's brothers did. I was always a woods rat, though. He knew he couldn't stop it, just hoped that he could control me long enough to show me that there is life beyond deer season, that living in a treestand will land you nowhere but divorce court and the welfare line.

He made me stick with sports and work through high school, really did a lot to keep me out of the woods and keep my head in the books. I'm thankful for that, b/c if he didn't do that, I know where I'd be. I would've hunted every second of my young life away if I was the one pushing the buttons.

My 2 besthunting buddies are as hardcore hunters as I'll ever meet - those guys hunt 24-7-365 - but they have lives that I wouldn't trade for. One is divorced (for the reasons outlined above) - and the other is unhappily married (2nd wife), has a child that he never sees, and is on his way to living a long,empty life. The treestand is the only place these guys find true happiness. I'm out there as much as they are nowadays, but in the meantime, I managed to squeeze out a good education and suckered a girl (who is way out of my league) into marrying me.

So yes, it's true - you have your whole life to hunt. When you're young, you have to find a balance, b/c you're surely not gonna meet the girl of your dreams sitting in a treestand. You're not going to develop those people-skills that you'll need for the next 60 years camped out alone on a mountain inside a turkey blind. You won't find a college degree at the end of your trap line. It's all about balance.

You're only young once, and in those formative years, there are certain social skills that you need to develop. You can still find time to hunt here and there, but it doesn't have to be every day.

Like Joey said, it can go both ways, too. There are situations where school sports can encompass your entire life as well, and that's no good either. It's the same extreme, where you're forced to miss out on life experiences b/c you're totally consumed with a sport (wrestling, football, hunting, baseball, hockey, etc...)