MichiganWhitetails74

Shultzy....I locked right in on some of those posts you hadin regards to your dad and INSTINCTS....More than ever ....I tend to cherishmemories .....more than cherish what I'm going to do next..and what I will hunt next.....

I understand that the time we have with those we cherish is not forever....My dad and I have such a great time together.....Every year I sit with him....hand him the gun.....the deer come across the field.....he takes a doe or a small buck.....I do all the work...take him for breakfast.....we have coffee ...and he is on the road back home... I wouldn't trade a 200 class whitetail for those fun times....A huge buck on the wall is a tangible trophy with huge memories....but I think the little things with those that mean most are really what makes it real...

Now - On to the hunting thing....Lets do it....remember...if you come east may way.....I'll give you a 100% chance at a doe or a basket rack...maybe a 120 or 130...

If I go your way...judging on your pictures....I will surpass whats on my wall....

Heck....Maybe we can meet in the middle for a Wyoming goat or muley hunt...I'll bring the beer and the GPS... Hold those memories brother....cherished memories...

Brknarrow1970

Guys- this post has brought me to tears literally

My dad is losing the battle with cancer right now, he is in Tampa, Fla and I am in North Carolina -

I see the posts where you guys have done or still do things with your father and unfortunately for whatever reason - I never had that connection - Like Rob I am primarily self taught and the fires were lit in a little barber shop as a young child reading field and stream- It is funny I used to tell my brother that we were going to grow up and I was going to bowhunt and he was going to gun hunt and we were going to travel the world like they did in the magazine

Dad took me hunting when I was 14 and we didn't know anything about deer hunting or the likes ( he never took me again)- I really became addicted when I was 17 - I could drive and would bowhunt the hogs in the swamps but never could sneak up on a deer - finally at the age of 23 - I used a summitt stand and took my first doe in Alabama- with my bow -

My relationship with my father started to strengthen in the early 90's as I was married with a daughter - I would always go bass fishing( he loves to fish)every Sunday - until I moved to NC in 1997 - and up until my brother told me pops had cancer aug of last year - We sort of lost our connection again - I went and saw him In August and he is a shell of what he used to be - but he is one of the Tuffest people I know - But at least I have memories and even a few pics of us fishing - treasured memories indeed -

joshw020

I have been hunting since I was old enough to tag along with a bb gun, but it didn't takelongto realize that a bb gun wasn'tgonna cut it[:@] I graduated to a 410 H&R single shot at age 10. A couple years later, it was all about the beloved stick & string! that my Dad had bought me forChristmas. Like Rob, I got a Black Bear II.The greatest thing about hunting is what it has done for my Dad and I over the long haul. Likealot of youngsters, I put it on the back burner for a numberof years while my energy & focus werespent chasing skirts instead of deer, picking up beer instead of bow. But after the dust settled, my Dad, like always, was waiting for me withthat "lets go huntin" look on his face. Now, at age 33, I'm closer to my Dad than I have ever been. . and closer to him than anyone elseever couldbe, my sis, brothers and stepmother included. It's not that I'm Dad's favorite. It's just that we share something that we're both so passionate about. We live for it. The others see it, but they'll never fully understand it. It's an awsome thing when your father truly is your best friend.

MichiganWhitetails74

now thats a great post josh....really cool...

MichiganWhitetails74

Big prayers from Michigan....Big Prayers

TexasBowHunter

Wow,
This post has hit home for me too, I lost my dad in 2000 with the cancer, brknarrow you hang in there and keep god close to your heart. My dad was truly my best friend too (josh) I understand exactly what you mean about the rest pf the family not being able to understand. For you guys that have your dad's, I say do everything that you possibly can with them while you have the time, I think as humans we don't realize how quickly time goes by and for those of you (michigan) who truly cherish those times, you won't regret it(not even for the world record buck).
My dad did start me hunting, every since I can remember my dad would lease hunting land for us to hunt almostevery year. Now my dad wasn't a big hunter, he liked the poker table, camp fire, cooking, and just the fellowship but he got me started. Once I had the fever I went absoltely crazy, hunting everything I could. One year we didn't have a place to hunt and I had never shot anything and I drove my dad crazy about hunting, well we lived on 40 acres and he put me out back in the engine compartment of an old pick-up with no motor(this was my stand) he walked back to the house, and in about 15 minutes I shot and missed a good buck. The buck was about 25 yard from me and all I could see in the scope was hair, i was so excited and that moment has made me the hunter that I am today. Not real interesting story but thats how I got the fever and you can ask my wife (I am sick with it)......To all you guys gods speed and live every minute with the ones that you love close to your heart.

Schultzy

Excellent post Patch!! My dads my #1 hunting buddy, always has and always will be.

BowHuntingFool

My Dad brought my brothers and I up North Michigan every chance he could, which was like every other weekend from Detroit! Some of the best times of my life I'll never forget! He introduced me to the outdoors! We would go up for the weekends cut firewood, fish, shoot guns, hunt and just hang out with his buddies! We did this thru out my youth! I got the itch one day to try bowhunting, saved my money and bought my own bow, none in my family bowhunted, my buddy and I would go out and bowhunt, not know what the hell we were doing, just doing it! I pretty much taught my self how to bowhunt and shoot. I can say I've came along way, I just wish my father was still around to enjoy the outdoors with my son and I, he passed away 2.5 years ago! Sure do miss him! We talk everytime I'm on stand!

PABuck_HNTR

Well we had a post like this a few months back where I asked guys to give their stories. Here is one that I posted then.



The biggest influence in my hunting and fishing lifestyle comes from my grandfather. Ever since I can remember he's taken my cousin Greg and I out fishing on Lake Erie for Walleye's. At age 12 he bought me my first deer rifle. It was a Savage 30-30 bolt action with a Weaver 4X scope. It was used by a friend of his Phil's wife for a few years and was mint. Hehad me get my hunters education course the summer before my 12th year, so I could hunt that winter. He taught me how to pull the rifle to my shoulder and find my target in the scope without losing the target. He taught me how to sight in my rifle and how to shoot it for 1 1/2 groups consistently at 100 yards. Hitting a pie plate at 100 yards wasn't good enough. "We owe it to the deer to make clean kills" he'd say.

Thedrive we'd make to Ridgway evey year would teach me alot too. I'd listen to those deer hunting stories of his year after year on those trips. I think I can tell them as good as he can now. I never got tired of hearing them. I could tell by the passion in which he spoke of those times that they were very special to him. He loved to hunt deer in the big woods. It came out in every story he told.There were a few things about PaPa that make me laugh when thinking back on those trips. How he and my dad would get Charlie Horses in their legs on the long ride back to Erie after a long days hunting. We'd have to stop and strech and Greg and I would laugh because they looked like a couple cowboys who just got off a horse, hobblingaround in a parking lot of some resturaunt on the way home.

The up side was we always ate well coming home. There was something special about stopping at those strange resturaunts along the way too. Seeing all those other hunters and overhearing their stories of the day was exciting for me. I also learned from my Grandfather how to try and be the best person I could be. Be honest, obey game laws, be respectful to others and to love God.Being aPastor in a Nazarene Church for most of his life, he gave me strength in troubled times. He never pushed me into religion like you'd think mostPastors would of their Grandchildren, but accepted my decisions with a little guidance along the way.

Well grandpa has since retired from deer hunting. At 84 years old it's hard to make those trips to Ridgway at 2:00 in the morning. He has since returned to fishing the waters of Pennsylvania for Walleye's and sometimes Yellow Perch.He needs help now doing some of the things he used to do himself and Greg and I will be there for him now.

If I could tell him one thing today. It would be that I love him for who he is and what he's done for me in my life. He's been a wonderful teacher of both how to hunt and fish.I'd tell him Thank You for being both my Grandfather and filling in wonderfully as my Father too. And thanks for all the loans I never had to fully repay.As if I ever could!

Thanks PaPa! Love Ya!

Edcyclopedia

Nice posts / heartfilled / some with somber...
I learned hunting from my best friends Dad and that's probably the story that's asked in the post, but I have to acknowledge "brknarrow & oilpatch".

I didn't get to hunt with my Pop but he was my mentor and best friend. He was a true man in all the senses and incredibly crafty / smart. Unfortunately we were poor growing up and had 4 mouths to feed, so he worked many, many hours. We became very close when he started teaching me his chosen proffesion @ 14 years of age. I was a stubborn child growing up and I suppose I craved his attention. I had a chip on my shoulder growing up and must have wrote the "authority song", always bucking any authority and taking things in my own hands. I regret now that I'm grown, how much grief I caused my parents... I suppose that's what made me what I am today.

Now, when my Dad started teaching me his trade (machinest/mold-making/engineering) he gave me the responsibility I craved. We really became close and I got to work with him for 12 more years until he passed in 1993 from cancer @ the age of 51. He was bed ridden sick for 15 months and it was not easy watching the man that raised you turn into a helpless child. So sad! To this day (15 years later) I think of him and miss him terribly and this brings tears to my eyes thinking/typing about it and knowing how you guys/families feel and will be effected. So sorry to hear, but the old cliche' is somewhat true about it "makes you a stronger person".

As you raise your kids or have an effect on other young lives, they too, will look up to you in life the same way. And that's a good thing! It's important to spend all the nurturing time with your loved ones, it's truely the only thing too live for, God Bless and try smileing and laughing when you can, it's therapy.