# Hunting: A fire borne in the blood...



## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

Been a while since I posted, dealing with some stuff...but need to get this done for a friend, hope you all don't mind...

Every once in a while life catches us off guard, sometimes in a way we can’t seem to handle, or want to try to handle. That can be pretty **** difficult to get through. Someone very dear to me, whom I haven’t met in person, is going through such a time, the worst of times. She asked me to help her remember those things that mean so much to her, those things wild and free, borne of the mountains and the waters running cold and clear. Today I am finally having a good day, one that I need to take advantage of on her behalf. I think the best way to help C remember, is for me to do likewise, for the “things” that mean so much to each of us is the same, as it is for many of us on these forums. Maybe some of you can help relate as well…

I often tend to ramble and become more than a bit too wordy, so heed the warning: this will probably be a long post, my apologies ahead of time…

As hunters and/or fisherman, we belong to a wonderful club. A club that is often misunderstood; and often times, from within our own ranks, taken for granted. We live a lifestyle that is difficult to accurately express in words. It must be lived to be understood to its fullest extent. It is a fire ignited in the blood, most often kindled at a young age and stoked through the years with battle upon battle of predator and prey, until the final glowing embers of memories in our waning years feed our wild hunger to return to mountain and stream.

As a young man learning the ropes of hunting and fishing along side my dad, the adventure was just beginning and the excitement was an addiction to which there was no cure. In the spring, we spent many days chasing trout. Steam side or lakeside, didn’t really matter; we fished and we fished and we fished, not caring about the size or the number in our creels. For me, it wasn’t unlike a fairytale land: a place to lose myself in a world of magic, where the fish tugging against my line pulled me along side, taking me deep into its kingdom where taking out the trash, pulling weeds in the garden, and homework never existed. The skies were never so blue nor the clouds so puffy and white as when we fished. Even bologna sandwiches took on a gourmet taste, washed down with a Nehi…

As much as I loved to go fishing, it was the mountains and hunting deer that fueled my soul. Even at a young age, I knew there was something special, something beyond words that lay atop the peaks and within the valleys hidden far from the city. Pop’s never really taught me with words of advice: He was the strong silent type who spoke with “pictures” drawn from experience. He would simply say “watch”, as he took his time with a piece of rope, moving one end here, the other there, until a knot was completed for its special task. Then he would untie it, and do it again, even slower, until he saw the faint sparkle of “I get it!” in my eyes. It was such with most things he taught me in the mountains. Following deer tracks that were straight and steady on trail until they began to meander, he would stop and look at me, smile and put his finger to his lips with a “shush”, letting me know something had changed, something was about to happen. Sometimes he would look up, point to the clouds and say, “lets find some cover”. Half hour later the rain came, and I would remember the look and feel of the clouds that foreshadowed the storm. These teachings were the kindling that ignited the fire within my blood. After dad passed when I was 16, I began to stoke my own fire and the adventure began…

Being a solo hunter is quite different than most experience with friends and family afield, and as such, holds a different perspective on things to some extent. I could go on and on about my different adventures, but I think to stay on topic I should consolidate some “things” that we share as hunters that few others can relate to, and help C to remember what it is that stokes the fire within us. Dang, this is harder than I thought it would be! Hang in there; I will try to make sense of things.

In my early hunting years, I remember thinking mostly about the kill: using all my skills as a hunter to outwit my buck and making a great shot, feeling that rush of adrenaline. Well, it’s probably dads fault, but that only lasted a few hunts before my perspective changed. The “hunt” began to take on a meaning that I didn’t really comprehend until my late 20’s, when things seemed to come into focus. I began to understand what some of those looks in my dad’s eyes were trying to tell me way back when…

Life comes at us hard and fast, and coping can take a lot out of a person. We need distractions, a way to recharge the batteries to keep going. Back then, after the Air Force, I had a couple of good friends who joined me in the insurance business. It was a fast pace with long hour’s business, but the money was great. These guys would “recharge” their batteries a bit different than me. Their vacations were filled with 5 star hotels and restaurants, Disneyland and water slides, escapades within the concrete jungle that, when their vacation was over, left them worn out and wanting for more…

I recharged my batteries in the mountains: Nothing like the hunter’s moon guiding you through black timber, weaving your way up a mountain trail to a basin you found on a topo map, wondering what it would look like as you focus on the lonesome cries of a coyote off in the distance, waiting for the soft purple hue’s of the dawn to pull the light of morning in tow over the ridgeline; tramping through a foot of snow following tracks of a deer through timber and meadow; sitting down at the edge of plateau where below the ravines and canyons go on for as far as the eye can see; standing at lakes edge watching an eagle swoop down and snatching a trout in its talons; spying on a black bear tearing a rotting log apart for the goodies tucked deep inside; pulling your sight just behind the front leg of buck or bull, finger ready to end its life… Coming back to the grind after my “vacation” has never left me wanting for more the way it did my buddies.

If my health can take it, I want to walk with C somewhere on the south slope and chase an elk, slow down the entangling chains of life’s grind, and listen to the mountains whisper their calming song, wiping away the tears and the hurt and the pain, leaving a soft glow in the heart that can only come from a peace of mind found on the paths chiseled by hoof and claw. I hope you understand what I tried to say C. Maybe some of you good folks can add to what I have a hard time saying... -)O(-


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## pheaz (Feb 11, 2011)

Great post!!


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## stablebuck (Nov 22, 2007)

good words...words anyone would be hard pressed to read and not feel the urge to lose themselves in the outdoors or at least lose themselves in reflection of past experiences that can only be summed up as meaningful...


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

Excellent! Thank you.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

I find myself in need of soothing words of reflection these days and that post was just what the doctor didn't order... Thanks!


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## JERRY (Sep 30, 2007)

Fine work!

You let me know when you and C are up to it and I would love to be the chauffeur! You deserve it!


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Pretty deep post. I hope things work out for the best with "C".


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

stillhunterman- I hope you and C hang in there&#8230;

Great words and they are the way I feel about such things also. Words can never truly convey how some of us feel, but you have come close.

If you don't mind, I'd like to share some quotes from Louis L'Amour&#8230; ones that I like, and hopefully ones that you will too.



> "But you do not know what music is until you have heard the wind in the cedars, or the far off wind in the pines. Someday I am going to get on a horse and ride out there"- she pointed toward the wide grass before them-"until I can see the other side&#8230;. if there is another side."





> How many times have I talked with people who have ridden the trails where I have ridden, yet had seen nothing? They passed over the land just to get over it, not to live with it and see it, feel it.





> The desert and the wild country taught me not only to look, but to see&#8230; and there is a difference.





> Ma'am&#8230; I don't know what it is that you are wishful for in this life, but you set down of a night and you pray to God that he'll let you walk alone across a mountain meadow when the wild flowers are blooming. You pray he'll let you set by a mountain stream with sunlight falling through the aspens, or that he'll let you ride across an above-timberline plateau with the strong bare peaks around you and the black thunderheads gathering around them- great, swelling rain clouds ready to turn the meadows into swamp in a minute or two&#8230; you let him show you those things, ma'am, and you'll never miss heaven if you don't make it.





> I walk in the shoes of men today. I fly their planes, I eat their food, but my heart is in the wilderness with feathers in my hair.





> I want to come out of a morning and look up at those hills and know nothing can be very wrong as long as there's something so beautiful.





> "Until then, Laban, you can read the land."
> "The land?"
> "Look upon the land, Laban- there are stories everywhere.
> Study the sky and the trees, the tracks of animals and the way the birds fly. You can learn things no book will ever teach you"





> The air was incredibly clear. Fresh and cool as it was, one breathed it in like drinking cool water; and always there was a definite odor on it, the odor depending on the direction from which the wind blew: the smell of cedar, and of pines beyond, the smell of sage, or, from the dryer lands after a rain, the smell of the creosote bush.





> Yet we must never forget that the land and the waters are ours for the moment only, that generations will follow who must themselves live from that land and drink that water. It would not be enough to leave something for them; we must leave it all a little better than we found it.


Hunting yes, but much more...


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

To me, this post reflects more toward the true love for the mountains and nature.
And I have a great love for the outdoors,,

The hunting, fishing, camping , exploring are all just part of it.
as I spend most of my time in the outdoors, and on the mountains.


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## rdoggsilva (Apr 6, 2011)

Great post. Takes me back to when I was a kid and up to now. Thanks.


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## fivexfive (Aug 21, 2010)

Thank you stillhunterman.


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

sawsman said:


> stillhunterman- I hope you and C hang in there&#8230;
> 
> Great words and they are the way I feel about such things also. Words can never truly convey how some of us feel, but you have come close.
> 
> ...





> The desert and the wild country taught me not only to look, but to see&#8230; and there is a difference.





> Ma'am&#8230; I don't know what it is that you are wishful for in this life, but you set down of a night and you pray to God that he'll let you walk alone across a mountain meadow when the wild flowers are blooming. You pray he'll let you set by a mountain stream with sunlight falling through the aspens, or that he'll let you ride across an above-timberline plateau with the strong bare peaks around you and the black thunderheads gathering around them- great, swelling rain clouds ready to turn the meadows into swamp in a minute or two&#8230; you let him show you those things, ma'am, and you'll never miss heaven if you don't make it.





> I walk in the shoes of men today. I fly their planes, I eat their food, but my heart is in the wilderness with feathers in my hair.





> I want to come out of a morning and look up at those hills and know nothing can be very wrong as long as there's something so beautiful.





> "Until then, Laban, you can read the land."
> "The land?"
> "Look upon the land, Laban- there are stories everywhere.
> Study the sky and the trees, the tracks of animals and the way the birds fly. You can learn things no book will ever teach you"





> The air was incredibly clear. Fresh and cool as it was, one breathed it in like drinking cool water; and always there was a definite odor on it, the odor depending on the direction from which the wind blew: the smell of cedar, and of pines beyond, the smell of sage, or, from the dryer lands after a rain, the smell of the creosote bush.





> Yet we must never forget that the land and the waters are ours for the moment only, that generations will follow who must themselves live from that land and drink that water. It would not be enough to leave something for them; we must leave it all a little better than we found it.


Hunting yes, but much more...[/quote:2honbwa6]

Thanks much for taking the time to post these sawsman...they are awesome...

And Thanks Jerry for the offer...you are a good man!


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## Hunter Tom (Sep 23, 2007)

Many of us share these feelings. We stand apart from the crowd. I wonder how we became outdoors people other than "borne in the blood". Many people never feel the "fire".


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Good stuff stillhunterman, thanks for sharing.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice, Perry. I always enjoy your introspect. Let me know if there's anything I can do.


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## tigerpincer (Dec 5, 2009)

Excellent thoughts indeed. It must truly be born in the blood for me. My father nor anyone else for that matter ever took me hunting or fishing as a kid. It was just something I always wanted to do so I took myself. Anytime we ever went camping as kids the rest of the family would be off riding motorcycles or swimminig etc... I would hike myself to the nearest lake or river and fish from sunup till sundown. I do hope that things turn out for the best for ya'll and appreciate the time you spent to share your thoughts with the rest of us.


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## elkfromabove (Apr 20, 2008)

Yup!!!!


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

That is an insightful post.

What many non-hunters never understand, and also some hunters, is that to have those same emotions and experiences one must possess the authorization-- a tag -- while doing it. Yes, it is thrilling to call in a mature bull elk or to see a mature buck deer while scouting/camping/photographing, but it is not the same as having a weapon in hand. 

Anti-hunters claim we should "photo-hunt" the animals. It just isn't the same.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

Great post! I won't claim to be going through the same as you, because I don't know what it is. But I have been going through my own afflictions with my wife. We have been for 6 years now. At times I sit down and jsut wonder if I can actually make it. I then feel selfish because I'm not the one in a hospital bed and having surgerys done and Dr not knowing what is wrong. But no matter what the situation has been we know that we can get to the mountains and just sit on a peak looking over the world and be at peace. 
Hunting is my release so to speak. I need it! I don't need the kill, heck I'll admit I haven't got that many animals under my belt. But the hunt is everything to me. 
My wife is just now able to really get out and hunt with me. Unfortunatly she didn't get a tag this year but I told her that I was going down to the La Sals to scout this weekend and that I would be alone. She asked if she could tag along. I am so excited for her to join me. Hopefully we can see some animals and I can imprint some of the "fire" that my dad gave to me in her.


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

mikevanwilder said:


> Great post! I won't claim to be going through the same as you, because I don't know what it is. But I have been going through my own afflictions with my wife. We have been for 6 years now. At times I sit down and jsut wonder if I can actually make it. I then feel selfish because I'm not the one in a hospital bed and having surgerys done and Dr not knowing what is wrong. But no matter what the situation has been we know that we can get to the mountains and just sit on a peak looking over the world and be at peace.
> Hunting is my release so to speak. I need it! I don't need the kill, heck I'll admit I haven't got that many animals under my belt. But the hunt is everything to me.
> My wife is just now able to really get out and hunt with me. Unfortunatly she didn't get a tag this year but I told her that I was going down to the La Sals to scout this weekend and that I would be alone. She asked if she could tag along. I am so excited for her to join me. Hopefully we can see some animals and I can imprint some of the "fire" that my dad gave to me in her.


I agree Mike, and I am really glad the wife is doing well enough to want to go hunting with you! Best wishes and the best of luck to you both!


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