What to you remember about your hunting partners?
03-28-2009 | 10:23 AM
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What to you remember about your hunting partners?
Thsi is from T.R.
Hunting Partners
by T.R. Michels
One of the reasons I enjoy guiding is because of the people I meet. My hunters have included businessmen, truck drivers, doctors, sports personalities, doctors and children. They have been as old as seventy, and as young as ten. There have been first time hunters, and those who have hunted for years; deer, pheasant, duck, goose, squirrel, turkey and elk hunters. They all have something in common. They all enjoy the sport of hunting, not for the killing, but for the challenge, the love of nature and the friends they make. All hunters have hunting friends, and sooner or later some of those friends become hunting partners. Hunting partners are the ones you choose to hunt with, the ones you respect and trust, the ones you enjoy being with. Often the only thing hunting partners have in common is hunting. I know of one set of hunters in which one is young, likes to party, and is a pipe fitter, the other is over fifty, religious and a veterinarian. They have very little in common, except their love for the sport of bowhunting.
Hunting is much like any other love, it knows no bounds; it crosses all barriers. It is something deep within our very nature that beckons to us to do the things that non-hunters cannot comprehend. Why would anyone get up at 3 AM to drive two hours on an icy road through a snowstorm on the off chance the storm will break and the geese will fly, or the deer move? What causes a hunter to get up early on a cold spring morning, walk through the woods in total darkness and sit on the cold, wet ground waiting for a turkey to gobble? What causes otherwise sane men to carry heavy, wet sacks of beat up decoys many yards through a smelly, damp cattail swamp in hip deep mud and water to hunt ducks? Why does a hunter, who loves the taste of venison, prefer to hunt with a bow when his chances of getting a deer are much better with a gun? They do it because they enjoy the challenge, and the discomforts are forgotten in the joy of the hunt and the beauty of nature. When the joy is shared with a friend, a hunting partner who feels the same way, it makes it even better.
I have been lucky enough to have several hunting partners since I began hunting. My first partner was the same one many hunters have had, a father. He carried me on his shoulders into the duck slough when I was seven or eight. He was there when I shot my first duck. He taught me to hunt squirrels, bought me my first bow and took me bowhunting for carp. He also taught me to enjoy hunting and the value of sharing it with someone else.
Since then I have hunted many different states and met a lot of hunters. With each one of them I have shared something. Much of the time it was only the sunrise, the sounds of the animals, or a view I would not have seen had I not been hunting. On many hunts nothing was shot, no meat was taken home. But, it didn't matter because the time had been spent with another hunter, someone who enjoyed the time we spent together as much as I had.
Bud Nelson, my instructor at the Wilderness Guides and Outfitters School, showed me a herd of elk on the continental divide east of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Alan Newcomb, one of the owners of Federal Cartridge, Peter Mitchell, his hunting partner, and I shared a beautiful snow covered September morning in the Salmon River Wilderness in Idaho while elk hunting. Bill Barzydlo and I shared a sunrise on the Niobrara River in north central Nebraska with turkey gobbles echoing down the canyons. We also shared a spectacular northern lights show in one of my goose fields north of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Tom Zibble, Bill Habedank and I shared a rose, pink, purple sunset near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota with thousands of snow geese, tundra swans and Sandhill Cranes flying overhead, their calls ringing over the grassy prairie. Call makers Dave Edlefsen, David Haleand I looked over an immaculate white, snow covered cornfield while hunting giant Canada geese in Rochester, Minnesota. Dick Ray of Lobo Outfitters took time to take me to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise as it's light bathed the snow covered peaks of southern Colorado. Bud Grant, former MN Vikings coach and Football Hall Of Famer, and I shared the beauty of the Brazos Cliffs one evening while elk hunting in northern New Mexico.
Recently one of my hunting partners died. I hadn't known him long. Not long enough to enjoy the elk hunt we talked about near his home in Montana, not long enough for the turkey hunt we planned the next spring. But it was long enough for him to shoot his first giant Canada goose in Minnesota, long enough to hunt pheasants and quail together in southern Iowa. Long enough to become hunting partners. We spent long hours discussing hunting techniques, favorite hunting spots and hunting memories. The first night we met we talked politics, religion and children. I think we even came up with a plan to save the world.
When I received the letter he wrote to his fiends before his death I had a hard time holding back the tears. It was the first time one of my hunting partners had died, and I felt a very real sense of loss. I wish now that I had taken time to go on that elk hunt, taken time to hunt turkey with him. When we are doing what we enjoy with our friends we often forget to take the time to tell them we appreciate them and the time spent together. Then, after they are gone, we realize there are things left undone, things left unsaid.
Even in his passing this partner is with me. Every story I write, every goose and elk hunt I go on I will think of him. His death has given me the inspiration to keep hunting, to share the sport with others and to pass it on to a new generation, so they have a chance to enjoy this special friendship called a hunting partner. In his letter he wrote, "We've celebrated life, not just lived it, and I ask you to continue doing so." I intend to.
He was known to many hunters, his stories have been read by thousands of people. I first got to know him through his articles in Field and Stream magazine. His name was Norman Strung, and I am proud to have been considered one of his friends. I loved him and I miss him dearly. But, I know that when I cross to the "Other Side" as he called it, he will be waiting, just as he put it in his letter, "with an extra Martini, double dry, two olives, and lots of ice." Then we can ride up the mountain together; hunting partners again.
What to you remember about your hunting partners?
God bless
T.R
by T.R. Michels
One of the reasons I enjoy guiding is because of the people I meet. My hunters have included businessmen, truck drivers, doctors, sports personalities, doctors and children. They have been as old as seventy, and as young as ten. There have been first time hunters, and those who have hunted for years; deer, pheasant, duck, goose, squirrel, turkey and elk hunters. They all have something in common. They all enjoy the sport of hunting, not for the killing, but for the challenge, the love of nature and the friends they make. All hunters have hunting friends, and sooner or later some of those friends become hunting partners. Hunting partners are the ones you choose to hunt with, the ones you respect and trust, the ones you enjoy being with. Often the only thing hunting partners have in common is hunting. I know of one set of hunters in which one is young, likes to party, and is a pipe fitter, the other is over fifty, religious and a veterinarian. They have very little in common, except their love for the sport of bowhunting.
Hunting is much like any other love, it knows no bounds; it crosses all barriers. It is something deep within our very nature that beckons to us to do the things that non-hunters cannot comprehend. Why would anyone get up at 3 AM to drive two hours on an icy road through a snowstorm on the off chance the storm will break and the geese will fly, or the deer move? What causes a hunter to get up early on a cold spring morning, walk through the woods in total darkness and sit on the cold, wet ground waiting for a turkey to gobble? What causes otherwise sane men to carry heavy, wet sacks of beat up decoys many yards through a smelly, damp cattail swamp in hip deep mud and water to hunt ducks? Why does a hunter, who loves the taste of venison, prefer to hunt with a bow when his chances of getting a deer are much better with a gun? They do it because they enjoy the challenge, and the discomforts are forgotten in the joy of the hunt and the beauty of nature. When the joy is shared with a friend, a hunting partner who feels the same way, it makes it even better.
I have been lucky enough to have several hunting partners since I began hunting. My first partner was the same one many hunters have had, a father. He carried me on his shoulders into the duck slough when I was seven or eight. He was there when I shot my first duck. He taught me to hunt squirrels, bought me my first bow and took me bowhunting for carp. He also taught me to enjoy hunting and the value of sharing it with someone else.
Since then I have hunted many different states and met a lot of hunters. With each one of them I have shared something. Much of the time it was only the sunrise, the sounds of the animals, or a view I would not have seen had I not been hunting. On many hunts nothing was shot, no meat was taken home. But, it didn't matter because the time had been spent with another hunter, someone who enjoyed the time we spent together as much as I had.
Bud Nelson, my instructor at the Wilderness Guides and Outfitters School, showed me a herd of elk on the continental divide east of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Alan Newcomb, one of the owners of Federal Cartridge, Peter Mitchell, his hunting partner, and I shared a beautiful snow covered September morning in the Salmon River Wilderness in Idaho while elk hunting. Bill Barzydlo and I shared a sunrise on the Niobrara River in north central Nebraska with turkey gobbles echoing down the canyons. We also shared a spectacular northern lights show in one of my goose fields north of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Tom Zibble, Bill Habedank and I shared a rose, pink, purple sunset near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota with thousands of snow geese, tundra swans and Sandhill Cranes flying overhead, their calls ringing over the grassy prairie. Call makers Dave Edlefsen, David Haleand I looked over an immaculate white, snow covered cornfield while hunting giant Canada geese in Rochester, Minnesota. Dick Ray of Lobo Outfitters took time to take me to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise as it's light bathed the snow covered peaks of southern Colorado. Bud Grant, former MN Vikings coach and Football Hall Of Famer, and I shared the beauty of the Brazos Cliffs one evening while elk hunting in northern New Mexico.
Recently one of my hunting partners died. I hadn't known him long. Not long enough to enjoy the elk hunt we talked about near his home in Montana, not long enough for the turkey hunt we planned the next spring. But it was long enough for him to shoot his first giant Canada goose in Minnesota, long enough to hunt pheasants and quail together in southern Iowa. Long enough to become hunting partners. We spent long hours discussing hunting techniques, favorite hunting spots and hunting memories. The first night we met we talked politics, religion and children. I think we even came up with a plan to save the world.
When I received the letter he wrote to his fiends before his death I had a hard time holding back the tears. It was the first time one of my hunting partners had died, and I felt a very real sense of loss. I wish now that I had taken time to go on that elk hunt, taken time to hunt turkey with him. When we are doing what we enjoy with our friends we often forget to take the time to tell them we appreciate them and the time spent together. Then, after they are gone, we realize there are things left undone, things left unsaid.
Even in his passing this partner is with me. Every story I write, every goose and elk hunt I go on I will think of him. His death has given me the inspiration to keep hunting, to share the sport with others and to pass it on to a new generation, so they have a chance to enjoy this special friendship called a hunting partner. In his letter he wrote, "We've celebrated life, not just lived it, and I ask you to continue doing so." I intend to.
He was known to many hunters, his stories have been read by thousands of people. I first got to know him through his articles in Field and Stream magazine. His name was Norman Strung, and I am proud to have been considered one of his friends. I loved him and I miss him dearly. But, I know that when I cross to the "Other Side" as he called it, he will be waiting, just as he put it in his letter, "with an extra Martini, double dry, two olives, and lots of ice." Then we can ride up the mountain together; hunting partners again.
What to you remember about your hunting partners?
God bless
T.R
03-28-2009 | 03:22 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Joined: Oct 2008
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From: Camp Lejeune, NC
RE: What to you remember about your hunting partners?
ORIGINAL: SteveBNy
Either the bromance is showing strong, or the fact you never post an original thought proves you are tr himself.
Thsi is from T.R.
Either the bromance is showing strong, or the fact you never post an original thought proves you are tr himself.
