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By the title of this piece you may assume I’ll be heckling road hunters or maybe perhaps the weekend warriors that like to party and hunt. Or maybe the guys that aren’t in that great of shape because all they do is sit in a treestand. Well you’re wrong on all those counts. But what about the “lazy” hunter? Are they successful consistently? Do they spend countless hours in the gym to keep a chiseled body for hunting season? As we have seen the fitness and hunter era evolve into parallel realms, there seems to be no end in sight. On the other end of the spectrum are big burly guys that look like slugs but can pound a mountain like an overgrown grizzly who are consistent, successful mountain bowhunters. To top it off, they have hard earned trophy rooms that will make even the most seasoned hunter’s jaw drop. Explain that one. I won’t mention any names but if you pay attention to the industry you may have an idea of who I’m referring to. I know a handful of guys that may fit that description. Freaks of nature? Maybe, but I do believe it comes down to one thing. Heart.
No matter what category you throw someone into, they may be a consistently successful hunter even though they do enjoy chips and donuts on a daily basis. As Donnie Vincent says, “the drive that is found in us hunters, was found in our ancestors.” Some pursue hunting more seriously than others and in different ways than others. It’s just a matter of how you go about it. Do you have to be fit to be a backcountry hunter? Well, not really. Horses have changed the game on that. Heck, with most outfitters, you don’t even have to be able to walk, you’ll just make your guide a little bit more eager to hunt with you! Some may consider a horseback hunter a lazy hunter. I do not. I think they’re just smart. It boils down to each individual and what they want to get out of their experience. If you don’t feel like dealing with horses or walking long distances to find good hunting, you better find a honey hole close to the truck. It takes smarts and luck to accomplish that. And let me tell you, finding a honey-hole is no easy task, just like hiking in seven miles and killing a buck is no easy task. The important thing is to use your brain and apply your skills to the type of hunting you prefer.
In the end, we’re all in this together. We’re all conservationists, with a huge responsibility to represent hunting the best way possible to the rest of society. Be clean, respectable and humane so we get to keep the privilege we get to call a lifestyle. Be an ambassador for our sport and also take pride in the way you go about it.
I do miss my back country hunting trips, but now pushing 70 with back, hip and knee issues I’m pretty much a honey hole hunter. The problem is the old honey holes aren’t nearly as sweet as they used to be. But one thing for sure, I will be in the field or on the water until my last days. Nothing better than being in the outdoors.
Paul, I am 72 and still work as much as I can to stay in shape. Only problem is it gets harder the older you get, so I do the best I can. I will be in the Montana woods this fall with my son for an Elk / Mule hunt and will push myself to make it a fun hunt. Hang in there brother, the old guys have the knowledge to make it happen.
Sounds like a great hunt, enjoy. I just just got back from a spot and stalk hog hunt, have a Gulf fishing trip next month then archery season here in TN. I can’t run and gun any more, but slow and steady is working.
I can understand everything you say and live it myself. My husband and I have hunted for years, up one hill and down another, can’t do it anymore. That 70 mark put an end to it. We still hunt and are still successful. You just have to know the area and where to get your animal. It is still so very hard to get the animal to the truck but so far between the two of us we manage. Good hunting to you….
I don’t think walking,riding a horse, using a atv or sitting in a tree stand has anything to do with being a lazy hunter. Everybody spends a lot of money to hunt and how he choose to hunt is his business . Some people do the speed limit and others drive faster. God bless America! Freedom of Choice!
I have just recently experienced two lazy hunters. Archery season is only one week old here in California’s B Zone. I went on a grueling 2 mile plus 2000 foot climb in the wilderness to my hunting spot to see if I could connect on another buck where only on opening day I was able to arrow a buck. With not even seeing a deer, I decided to go back to the truck and go home. My dad, son and I stopped at a pizza place on our way to have lunch. When we got to the parking lot to leave I saw a Jeep that had a bow strapped down with a bungee on the hood. I couldn’t believe what I have just seen. Now that just explains why I don’t see anyone in my hunting spot. I haven’t seen another archery hunter in my spot for over 20 years and that is mainly due to the invention of the quad and just proves that hunters have gotten LAZY!!!!
*Some* hunters have gotten lazy, not all of us. Some of us do the work involved in conservation and hunting year round but hunt only a few months of the year.
It’s a shame to see hunters speaking badly of other hunters. Don’t we have enough bashing from the anti-hunters without doing it to ourselves? Surely we can do better.
I know a Hunter that wont wake up before 10.00 am and he downright refuses to walk more than a couple of km on flat ground. He’s always telling me that i’ll be like him at his age and will have lost all my energy like he has.
The issue with that is that he started telling me that 10 years ago when he was not much older than what I am now and I get through the hills fine.
He’s got a room full of trophies though, but they are mainly from South Africa and his deer are all from a tree stand.
That leaves me to one criticism I have of hunting. You don’t need to be a good hunter to have a room full of trophies. It pretty much comes down to $$$ unfortunately. Still he will never have a NZ Tahr or a Marco Polo Sheep in his trophy room.