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Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

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Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 02 27, 2019 •  [Post 1]

Good, bad, or huh? Let's hear some outdoor (hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, etc.) lessons or even just sayings, that are ingrained into our heads from our pops 8-)
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Swede » 02 27, 2019 •  [Post 2]

"Hunting success come from being in the right spot at the right time." He sometimes would remind me of that when I spoke about reading something in Outdoor Life or Field and Stream. He would have never come onto a hunting forum as he would have considered it a waste of time.
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Lefty » 02 27, 2019 •  [Post 3]

My dad was a behind the shoulder in the crease shooter,.. always, no exceptions
I was lucky most open water weekend we were at the lake and fishing. Most lessons were learned at the lake, hunting fishing and trapping, they were life lesson

Honesty isn't a virtue, it is the expectation.

My dad was a fan of heavy bullets or brush busters 220 gn 30 caliber.
My dad had a strange way for fishing large northern pike a long cane pole with a bait casting reel. We would troll with a Herters Lucky shamrock spoon. If a big fish was hook he would set th lock, then toss the whole thing in the water and let the northern pull it around the lake,.. then retrieve the fish.
He also loved fishing big fall storms on the windward side of lakes wit sandy gravel open beaches casting spoons.
My dad was also a dry ground mink trapper he had over 95% male to female mink catch. Ive started writing an article on my dads trapping techniques.
My dad also enjoyed life and hard work.Maybe a little different type of lesson. But we worked extremely hard when young,.. and just thought that was normal so we approached hunting fishing and trapping the same way.
Again maybe not hunting and fishing, but the expectation was to treat all women with respect, no matter what.

Wow I need to think on the specifics.
I ll share this story my dad was on his last run with lung cancer.Maybe a never give up , hard work is good for you lesson. He had been deer hunting with a crossbow from his truck and seemed physically spent. But how he loved trapping.
He gained permission on a few hundred acre lake to trap muskrats. He started out slow . My mom often supervising from a small ridge near the lake..( I sometimes wonder if something happened what could have she do anyway :?: ) While we all still believe his intention was to work himself to death he got stronger . B y a normal trappers numbers he had an incredible season and really quite enjoyed it .
That fall he still caught over 100 mink, 50 coon, 1600 muskrats. That spring my brother and I put the dock out at the lake. with plans to take Dad. He made the comment. "I wont make it till Saturday".. He died on Wednesday
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 02 28, 2019 •  [Post 4]

My pop was “full” of guidance but he also wanted to let us boys learn as we go..... One of the ones I remember best is “slow down” He said that a lot; “listen, look, and smell for elk more than you walk”. I’ll share how he used us as bird dogs for wapiti later :roll:
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Lefty » 03 06, 2019 •  [Post 5]

"One good shot"
Only one good shot, always one shot: And if it wasnt still on the ground, another good shot.
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Elkduds » 03 06, 2019 •  [Post 6]

A bright light in the cold air outside the frosted little face hole in my mummy bag, Coleman lantern hissing. "Time to get dressed if you're coming hunting. I know those boots are cold, you'll warm up when we start up the mountain. Got license, knife, canteen? Lunch is in my pack. Stay in my tracks so you can see the flashlight." Wish I had a nickel for every one of those mornings. I'd pay any price to hear that again, Dad's hunting days are past. He'll still tell the story of killing 2 deer w one shot from his open-sight '06, across a sage-covered valley west of Ft. Collins CO. I'll gladly listen every time, even though I was there to see it.
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 03 07, 2019 •  [Post 7]

"Well, don't follow me so close".... pop said after I got whacked in the eyeball with a branch (pretty much was blind in one eye the entire morning). :lol:
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Swede » 03 07, 2019 •  [Post 8]

"Point your gun the other way" "Do not point at me or anything you should not shoot." My son probably thought I invented those lines, but dad said it to me too several times when I was a lad.
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby pointysticks » 03 07, 2019 •  [Post 9]

None. my dad took us out to shoot a few times.

but for the most part, i was self raised in the outdoors. i got my first .22 at 11 and was given all the ammo as well. i was fairly responsible at that time. friggen miracle actually.
he died two years later, and i was really on my own. but i never got that "one bullet at a time" training from dad. i remember reading the gun safety "laws" to my brother over and over until we memorized them.

figured out fishing and hunting..just me an my brother. an occasional stranger teaching us a few trick.

get this. my mom (out of her mind), bought us a boat when i was 16. she had it checked out by a mechanic and that was it. we towed it with an early bronco to a lake. no boating safety, no boating mechanics..lake was 2.5 hours away. no cell phone!! man..do that today and she would be explaining to child protective services!!

i am rabidly independent now. OCD almost. always on time. always dependable, and i can get myself out of a lot of sticky situations. tiny problems fluster me..big? i do okay.

i almost sunk that boat the first minute. "eerr..what boat plug?" and the carburator clogged...i fixed it out on the lake!!
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Lefty » 03 08, 2019 •  [Post 10]

WapitiTalk1 wrote:"Well, don't follow me so close".... pop said after I got whacked in the eyeball with a branch (pretty much was blind in one eye the entire morning). :lol:

Wow I think that is a close memory and quote what my dad said to me once while looking for mushrooms when I was 6 or 7
Thanks for bringing that memory back
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Trumkin the Dwarf » 03 09, 2019 •  [Post 11]

I've learned a ton from hunting with my dad and grandpa. The lessons blended together a bit, and had plenty of overlap. Some memorable ones:

"Always carry matches, and know how to light a 1 match fire"

"always look for the backdoor when you bust a group of does. The big buck won't follow them"

One they never told me, but I learned through experience. They'd drop anything to help their kid out of a jam on the mountain. They also limited their hunting so I could be with them when I was young. I didn't know it then, but it means the world to me now.
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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Fozziebear2000 » 03 10, 2019 •  [Post 12]

Dad’s advice on my being thirsty during a hunt when I was 7 - “Suck on a rock.”

My feet are so cold I’m miserable at dawn one morning the next year. “You go back up over that ridge and walk in circles until your feet warm up.” He came along to find me in an hour.

Late one afternoon, “So which way do we go now, son.” We follow my lead for an hour and come out onto a forest road very near camp. “Is camp left or right?” I don’t know. “Miss on purpose next time. Go wide. Pick right or left of camp ‘til you hit the road. Then you’ll know which way to turn.”

In my teens, he say’s ”You sit here and pick your lanes. I’ll be across the way pushing a little buck through the brush there, in an hour.” “Pick your shot and squeeze it off. With me over there a clean kill is best.” He did his part and I did too. That was my first deer.

500 yards into a 40 mile drive down a rough dirt road when I was 15, he pulls over. “You drive and I’ll sleep.” I never saw him sleep on the way into camp before or after that day. But sleep he did. I learned to drive.

“There’s a little mouse in the wood pile, and your dog is on it.” We chuckled about that for days as the collected wood was tossed on the fire. My dog continued to worry and point as the pile got smaller. Sure enough, when the last stick was tossed, a field mouse no bigger that a quarter hit the ground running.

4 years ago I chased elk with Dad for most of a week. Our time in the woods was ending, and under a half moon I realized that my Dad was quietly weeping. “Perhaps this is the last hunt for me.”

"NO" says I, “NOT the last hunt…” “never the last hunt."

But Dad had shed his tear. He passed away before the next hunting season.




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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Fozziebear2000 » 03 10, 2019 •  [Post 13]

Dang, I didn’t mean to stop a good conversation with melancholy. Sorry about that.

I learned the value of patience when glassing from my dad. He used to carry these big old 10x50 Bushnell binoc’s and use them a lot. Every once in awhile I would hear him say “There ya go”, and the hunt was on.


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Re: Outdoor Lessons from our fathers..........

Postby Swede » 03 10, 2019 •  [Post 14]

Fozziebear2000 wrote:4 years ago I chased elk with Dad for most of a week. Our time in the woods was ending, and under a half moon I realized that my Dad was quietly weeping. “Perhaps this is the last hunt for me.”


Knock it off Fozzie! Those dang tears can ruin a good keyboard.
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