Mountain Man
 

I spent some rehab time examining all the new ways of hunting. Decided to forego a lot of the new ways. No group hunting, no lease hunting with members, no fixed tripod condo hunting tree stand, no carry in of corn bait, no trail cam guarding a feeder.

No my rehabs have been walking and hiking and lifting weights. The spring will be for practice: archery and firearms. Fine tune my accuracy. Reloading and fletching on the side. Scouting trips before the season. Several hunt sites selected. An out of state hunt if the gas prices stabilize downward. A carry in and out of my climbing tree stand; my fitness.

No I'm to make it as simple as I can in this modern era. The endurance of the aging mountain man is what I want. Working on it every week, so far this year. The lone eagle; the mountain man.

Sounds like a plan hope it works out for ya

Everyone has their preference for getting enjoyment out of the outdoors and your sounds very healthy. Make sure you read up on wind and stalking so as not to scare the animals away. I sit in a comfy blind thing on leased land because I couldn't do the mountain man thing anymore. We all walk in together and just drop off as we go by our stands. Then we all sit in our stands all day. No moving. The deer go back to their normal habits, even with guns firing on land around us. We've taken some really nice deer hunting that way.

Good luck with your method of choice!! We could put the moniker "Grizzly" before your real last name if we knew what it was!! (Grizzly Johnson etc.).

Amen brother, read my website if you would and give me some feed back. I think we are like minded.

It is not as bad as you think. There are so many guys dropping out of hunting and so many lazy hunters out there that now the bigger public lands are getting less pressure. Come on out. I don't get much time to hunt now and usually go out the second week and do as good as the first week guys.

Puff, Puff, Give!:hail:

That's the way I have been hunting all my life. I don't think it makes me majestic or anything. The eagle doesn't know my name and the bear would still eat me if I piss him off.

Going mountain man fits me better
 

I was never one for a hunt camp. Found out that I was a lone cook and cooking for a camp held absolutely no appeal. I was there to hunt. A lot of hunters were spending time looking for something to eat.

Not only are camp leases getting expensive, the leased hunting ground is getting crowded. I always had this strange feeling, that lease hunting appealed to hunters, just so they wouldn't get lost, or that someone would be there to find them, if they got really lost. Besides, I don't want to be volunteered for farming the food plots. I'm getting too old to do any more farming. Let the deer find their own food. I'll just hunt them.

I can now admit, openly, that I don't do farming food plots. And pay money to belong to a lease to do it.

I always liked to go to big forests. A lot of fellas didn't seem to like it, 400 yards from a trail or road. A ranger, I knew, would sometimes get pestered by newbies about trails and the use of trails in his area. I was his fall back on trails. When they'd wondered if I really knew the trails. "Know the trails", he'd say. "He knows the trails by crossing them in the forest, from mountain to mountain." That usually ended, questions about hiking. They really didn't want to spend any time off a trail and in the woods with the timber rattlers.

Besides, I use to be young. Now I'm getting up near Bear Claws' age in Jedidiah Johnson. Hard for me to believe that Robert Redford, the actor, in now near 75 years of age. I remember when he was young as the movie.

Our lease is on 120 acres. There are only six of us who rifle hunt this land (and about 5 that bowhunt it). The land is rolling hills of oak woods surrounded by marsh and some pines. The bordering land owners years ago made a pact that no one shoots bambies or small doe (which could be a young buck) and only take the large antlered deer or cull out the ugly antlered deer. It's working. We are getting monsters roaming around the land. There is also a wolf pack on the land (thanks Wisconsin DNR) and last year one of the bow hunters saw a huge cougar roaming around it. Of course it's thick with coyotes too. We don't have a cabin and no one cooks. We all arrive before 5:30 am and walk into the woods in a group, dropping off as we go by our stands. There is a dirt road that goes way back in that we can use to pick a deer up with a pickup truck. No one roams around during the day. We sit in our box blinds from morning to closing and then all walk out together. And it costs us each about $250 for the week of gun hunting. Best money I've ever spent.

Don't mistake lazy for old age either LOL!!