re: Hunting lesson you learned the hard way?

LOL go on...

quote:

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Go on

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I was probably 15 or 16, my brother 12 or 13. He shot a spike with his bow right before dark. Poor shot, but the deer bled and after about an hour we were face to face with the deer in a briar thicket so dense we were just crawling on deer trails following him. I was in the front, brother behind me, each with a flashlight. The deer was bedded and shaking like he was shivering, but really he was just dying. Between the two of us we had one locking folder buck knife. It was starting to rain and had it not been for that, we would have just backed out and came back later. I remember thinking that deer could die in 5 minutes or 5 hours, and I didn't have 5 hours to wait. It was a Sunday night too, so we had school the next day. In what now I recognize was a significant lapse in judgement, I told him I'd just get up to the deer and cut his throat if he'd hold the lights on the deer. Solid frickin plan yeah? Well as i'm crawling up to this deer I get about 5 feet from him and the deer stands up. I stand up too, in the briars with flashlights behind me. Can't see a damn thing. About the time I thought I was going to think of something clever to do, the deer made the decision for me when he plowed right into me and knocked me off my feet. So there I am in the dark with lights flashing around me with a deer that's thankfully weakened, briars tearing into my nostrils and ear holes, and I'm trying to find some part of the deer to stab that won't result in putting the knife through my own leg. I finally get on top of the deer, while his back legs are kicking and shredding my clothes and back from my arse crack to my shoulders, I get the knife into his throat and just kinda lay on him until he stops kicking me. All the while my brother is saying how awesome this was. I hope he enjoyed it, because I couldn't really see anything. When the deer quit kicking I got my light and walked back to the truck while he pulled the deer out with his belt. We showed up at home a couple hours late on a school night soaking wet from rain and blood, and momma had to tend to my wounds that thankfully weren't as bad as they could have been. That deer kicked my arse.

Practice shooting all year if you can, like killing hogs and other vermin at unknown distances.

Make sure there aren't skunks hiding under your john boat before flipping it over.

That’s horrible but hilarious

You can never have to much clothes.
Tide falls out faster and sooner than it comes in.
Never go in the woods without a loaded gun.
Deer do not like pretty woods only hunters do.
God made sloughs and creeks one inch deeper than the yellow line on a pair of lacrosse boots!!!

Bullets bite... really hard

don't hunt with dumbasses that have little to no regard for safety. technically I didn't have to learn the hardest of ways or I'd be dead but I came close enough to learn that lesson.

Make sure all the foil is of you hostess cupcake if you eat one before sunrise

Don't put the space heater next to your sleeping bag, especially if you are 10 years old.