Get Back to Basics

Sometimes as a hunter I have to wonder what a new guy must think when he decides to try to break into the hunting game. He has to wonder how successful he will be if he doesn’t have all those new gadgets on the market today. You and I started we hunted in hand me down clothes, with grandpas second generation gun, a box of cartridges from three different manufacturers with different grain bullets and an Old Timer pocket knife. But these days we have to have the newest and best, it seems like these days our passion runs through our wallets and not our veins.

These days our passion runs through our wallets and not our veins.

Before you jump out of your chair, pump your arm and say “hell yes”, understand it’s not that simple. We can blame the TV shows that only show the biggest bucks and magazines that talk about the new-fangled gadgets that make us better hunters, but the newest and biggest sells, so that is what they market. When is the last time you bought a copy of “Small Buck” magazine or bought a new bow that makes you shoot like a beginner. Newer and bigger sells.

Should we be happy shooting something other than the biggest buck with the best bow or fanciest rifle? In the last few years I have seen some really strange things come on the market that they say you have to have if you want to harvest biggest bucks. Things like rear view mirrors for our tree stand or little plastic butt hole extractors that we have to have to be great hunters. Your probably saying “Come on Doak, that’s a ridiculous analogy”, but there have been some really good hunters in the past that never dreamed about spending $100 on a pair of scent lock pants or $10 on a lighted arrow noc. Our hunting numbers have dropped over the past several years. Could it be because any potential new hunter feels he has to spend thousands of dollars to get into the sport?

I am writing this blog while my Son-In-Law is driving my grandchildren and me to Texas so my 12 and 13 year old grandsons can shoot a sheep. They are going after a Corisican Ram with a 30 year old 308 rifle. Yesterday while preparing for the hunt I nearly panicked. I realized that my Swarovski Binoculars were at the factory for a bit of a tune up and I didn’t think it would be possible to hunt without them. Then I realized I have hunted a lot of animals without a $1,200 pair of binoculars. I just grabbed a 20 year old pair of Bushnell binoculars and I was good to go. You don’t have to have the best of the best to be a good hunter and have fun.

So grab your children, your grandchildren, your friends and their children and all that 30 year old hunting and camping equipment and go out and enjoy the great outdoors. If our hunting numbers continue to decrease we will loose our sport to the tree-huggers God made the Great Outdoors to be enjoyed and his renewable resources to be harvested and eaten. So through a back strap on the grill and indoctrinate a new hunter to the wonderful sport of hunting.

God Bless you and your hunting family,
Doak