Hunts Or Stories

[guesswho]

Bbcoah's impact thread got me to thinking.   Now that I'm getting older I think I enjoy the story telling of past hunts just as much if not more than the hunts themselves.   The good thing about the stories is you can change, rearrange, add, delete and enhance the facts for entertainment purposes .   Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the actual hunt like a kid enjoys Christmas.   But I love talking about and reliving past hunts, especially hunts that was with people who are no longer with us and have now moved on to happier hunting grounds.   What about you?   Do you enjoy the stories as much as the hunts?  I've noticed I think that the more time that has passed after a hunt, the more I enjoy the story.

[Happy]

I have noticed I tend to enjoy reliving hunts I have had with others more so than hunts on my own. There is something about being there for those special moments. Don't get me wrong, if I am on the trigger I prefer to be running solo. However the last couple of years I have had a blast with my boy and have started with getting a landowner buddy of mine on his way. I never really had a mentor but its nice to be able to pass the one or two things I have figured out after 20 years of chasing gobblers. I will probably be useless to them in a year or two but I hope they still let me tag along and feel like I had a hand in things.

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[Greg Massey]

AS the old saying goes, it's as much fun now getting ready to go hunting as hunting. The old stories and memories are some of the best. Back in my younger days we didn't have all this fancy stuff to hunt with, we used mostly old stuff that was hand-me-downs including the old family shotgun. Spending time in the outdoors just gave you a better understanding of living and sharing these moments with others. Learning from our mistakes just made us want to go back and try it all over again. Back in those younger days life was a lot simpler in chasing deer and turkeys we had very little access to turkey calls, guns and fancy shells. My first game bag was a bag my grandmother made me out of old blue jean material she had saved, man i wish i still had that old game bag what memories. It carried everything from shells, knife and peanut butter and jelly sandwich or couple biscuits with pieces of bacon in between them wrapped in cloth. What's a shame is now we don't get together much these days to share these old stories and memories.

[HookedonHooks]

It's an evolving perspective for sure. As someone who recently lost his father, also my turkey hunting mentor, I would say the memories and recollections of those hunts with him are more enjoyable or important than the future memories to be made. The further I distance from that loss, that could easily change to creating those memories with my son as he grows being more important or enjoyable. It's all where you're at in your life how you look at this, and potentially even the time of year on how much you are craving getting out versus just recollecting.

[FLGobstopper]

I can't say I enjoy the stories "as much" but I do enjoy reliving them with others who get it especially when something kinda unusual or unexpected occurs. But there's a lot of times where I'm just there and things that take place that are not necessarily what one would call successful unusual or unexpected and probably wouldn't make much of story. But the just being there in that moment, experiencing everything around you, hearing the sounds, smelling the smells, seeing life around you is really hard to put into a relatable story.

The memory though of each individual one that I can remember is priceless. Definitely want to hold on tight to each one of them.

[Tail Feathers]

I'm terrible at retelling the hunting stories.  I will practice in the off season, inserting embellishments, lies and damned lies to make them more entertaining.  I'll mull them over during the quiet times of deer season and be ready by spring.

[guesswho]

If you need any pointers let me know

[THattaway]

Yessir I enjoy them, everyone's. But they sure are better told in person around a campfire than typed up on a dang Internet forum.

[OldSwamper]

Depends on the story and how it ended......me and buddy hunted together once on some Weyerhaeuser blocks.  Had 3 gobblers at an intersection down from us maybe 300-400 yards doing their thang.  One finally broke and strutted the entire way to us, nose to nose with our jake decoy at 12 steps.  My Buddy , the designated shooter, missed him 3 times, couldn't get my gun up fast enough and he lived......
I have told and relived that story MANY times, not sure he enjoys the story as much as me....

I can hardly remember lunch yesterday, but can relive many, many turkey stories....

[guesswho]

Yessir I enjoy them, everyone's. But they sure are better told in person around a campfire than typed up on a dang Internet forum.

Very true!   Nothing like sharing a fire with a skilled story teller.   

[RutnNStrutn]

I still enjoy both. As I'm getting up there in years, I'm trying to enjoy as many hunts as I can because one day the stories will be all I have left.

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

[Tail Feathers]

If you need any pointers let me know

I have long suspected you are something of a master at it.

[eggshell]

WHAT EMBELLISHED STORIES, NEVER 

I once shot at this gobbler up on a cliff and I didn't kill him clean. He came sailing off that cliff at mach 1    and I was really glad I had paid for the surface to air missle option on my browning. So I acquired target lock and dropped his arse dead. Just to top it off I dropped him right in a hollow stump, just like making a 3 pointer. Now my buddy was skeptical, when he came over, but I told him, "go over to that stump over there and see, sure enough there was the gobbler right in the stump....hole in one!

Is this what your looking for. Now pick out the  three parts of that story that are true. Oh yeah after 50 years I have a bunch more. Like the olympic sprint gobbler, turkzilla and "the ripper".

[guesswho]

Yes sir, that's it.   The older I get, the better I was

[GobbleNut]

Yep, the story telling is one of the best parts of the hunting experience.  Sitting around the camp after everybody returns from the days hunt, and listening to the stories from each member of our group is as much of the ritual as the hunts themselves. With a good beverage in hand, some of the stories can last as long as the hunts themselves did. 

Good story telling is an art unto itself.  One must understand the need and timing of the proper embellishments in recounting a hunt.  After all these years, I will humbly state that I have reached a skill level in the telling of the tale that is somewhat legendary among my contemporaries.  ...Humbly stated, of course.