Or find a new wife!

or get her hunting. i hunted before we were married and she knew i was not going to stop or even slack off.

or get her hunting. i hunted before we were married and she knew i was not going to stop or even slack off.

I made it a pre-nuptial requirement. If she tries to stop me, she's history. But grandma (my mother in law) stays. One heck of a cook.

Here's my hunting philosophy.

When I stopped Trophy Hunting. Copyright John L. Sloan 10-2010

It was a still, frosty morning in Iowa. The sort of morning of which hunters dream. Visibility was good and the frosty, fallen leaves made it almost impossible for a deer to sneak up on you. I saw him coming from almost 200 yards.
One look told me he was not a monster buck but certainly a “shooter”. Back then, I considered myself a trophy hunter. I don’t know what day it was but the year was 2002. It was the last year I ever worried about “trophies”.
He kept right on course and when he passed me at 26 yards, I sent a broadhead through his ribs and heart. He ran about 40 yards and dropped. By the time, I had him on the ATV; it was just 7:45. By 8:15, I had him hanging in the garage. My IA tag was filled. However, I also had a Nebraska tag and could be in my NB stand in 30 minutes…and I was.
It was just after 11 when the three does came by at a trot and acting “hinky”. I let them pass then slowly stood up with my fingers on the bowstring. He came at a slow trot. I seldom try to stop a deer unless they are really moving. Back then, I was that good. At 12 yards, I put the pin on his shoulder and relaxed my fingers. He dropped inside 50 yards. He too would exceed record book minimums.
Two book bucks in two states in one morning.
Later that fall, I sat in the same NE tree with my muzzleloader. I counted 18 different does before I saw antlers. I knew he wasn’t a very big buck but for some reason, I did not much care. I dropped him in his tracks at 60-yards.
I checked him in at the sheriff’s office and had him hanging in the garage just about lunchtime. My friend, Rob then reminded me, I had a bow tag left in Missouri. I could be in one of those stands in 20 minutes.
I climbed the tree at just past three and for some reason it started getting foggy…I mean very foggy. I could barely see 30 yards even though the hardwoods were mostly open.
He came like a ghost, just drifting in and out of the fog. I could see he had antlers but I could not tell much about them. Just as it had been that morning, I didn’t care. I judged the distance to be 35-40 yards and held the pin for that. I heard the arrow hit “something” and the deer ran off. Then it got very quiet.
I waited about two minutes and climbed down to look for my arrow. I assumed I had hit a tree. While searching all the trees around I stumbled over the dead buck. To this day, I have not figured out what that arrow hit nor did I ever find it. I guess it hit something on the far side of the buck because the shot was perfect right behind the shoulder.
I had done it again, two bucks in one day in two different states. Since that year, I have killed one more big buck and have never worried about killing another “trophy”. To me, now, they are all trophies.
Funny thing is, I enjoy hunting so much more now than I did when I was so serious about it. I am just as likely to shoot a spike or a doe, as I am to sit all day waiting for “Big Daddy”.
There is a lot of discussion today about trophy hunting. Some hunters are “eat up” with it and look down up anyone who would shoot a small buck and some hunters, like I am now, just go for the enjoyment of the woods and wildlife and are happy to shoot whatever is legal and will taste good.
For me, during those years I “trophy” hunted it never occurred to me that every deer I had ever killed was a trophy. They still are. Antlers do not define trophy. Due to my job, I was forced to hunt for big antlers. Sometimes the pressure to kill a big buck was tremendous. That pressure is now gone.
My office is full of mounted heads and bear rugs etc. However of the animals I have killed that would qualify for one record book or another, not a single one has been sent in. Many actually hang in various hunting lodges and other people’s homes.
I have seen so many young hunters swayed by the trash on television outdoor programming it almost makes me sick. I have seen hunters who are crushed if they do not kill a big deer every year. In my opinion, that is not what hunting is about.
I still let a lot of deer walk because I just don’t want to shoot them. Given the choice between a fat doe and young buck, I’ll take the doe every time. But if a young buck walks by me and I feel like shooting him, I will. The last deer I killed was a monster, 3-pt, trophy. I wanted some meat, he was fat, and I knew I could make clean, humane kill.
What a trophy!
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Cutlines:
#1- These two were both killed with archery equipment on the same morning in two different states.
# 2- These two were killed the same day in two different states, one with a muzzleloader and one with a bow. The one on top is the bow kill.

i won't let any coyotes go by