[RB]

Well it is here!….A new forum to talk about why you live to hunt and how the thrill of the hunt has been a driving force in your life and taken you to some great places. Forget the Deer debates in here and all that goes with it, granted it is an important issue but is has its places all over this message board, so wipe your feet at the door of that stuff (alt, HR/AR, DPSM..) and just tell us why you love to hunt!!

Tell us about:

Good folks you’ve met hunting over the years
Your favorite hunts – present and past, with pics or without
Deer Camp or your deer hunting gang
Family hunting traditions
How you got started or got your kids into it
The grey ghost that got away or better yet the one that didn’t
Etc…

You get the idea and as fellow hunters you know what this “Spirit” forum refers to ,it is common in all our blood and boils over as the air cools in the Fall. Regardless of how we feel about some of today’s current events in the hunting world, we have had many great threads related to the spirit of hunting started here over the years but they seem to get lost or off-topic in a hurry. Now we got a place for them. Visit and contribute often. But remember, swords down!! In a day and age where it seems like everything is trying to pull the hunting community apart, let’s use this particular forum to help pull it back together, at least in the HuntingPA community.

Enjoy posting, and I am sure it will be good reading.

BTW, Thanks HPA Webmaster for hearing me and some others out and granting us this forum…hope it improves the site they way we think it will.

 

[Triple Play]

Rooster,
My Dad has taken us 'boys' hunting & to hunting camp since we were little. We have had the chance to return the favor and take him to Wyoming/Maine/Indiana on deer hunting trips - something he couldn't have afforded raising us! We still hunt together in the 'big woods' of Potter & Tioga counties but will always remember our out of state trips and the time spent together.
Same here: Mind & Soul in Potter Co.!

 

[RB]

Tripleplay,

Look forward to hearing the stories of those hunts here... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbs.gif

Us Potter hunters sure do know how to tell the tales.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[TexterMountain]

When I was in 3rd grade my neighbor got a toy bow with wooden arrows that had rubber suction cups on them. I remember removing the suction cups and sharpening the arrows with a Canadian Mountie pen knife I got on a 2nd grade trip to Niagra Falls with the cub scouts. We shot at starlings. I never remember actually hitting one but we had great fun trying. That was MY first hunt.

 

[tin man]

my dad took me to buck camp for the first time in '89.we always go up for the first week.like for a lot of people, its almost like a religious holiday! we've had a lot of good seasons, and have taken some nice deer home.my dad has been my "mentor in the woods"and i would like to thank him from the bottom of my heart for all he's taught me through the years.i hope when my son is old enough to hunt i can teach him how,the same way i was taught.Thanks Dad!!


TAKE A KID HUNTING, AND KEEP THE TRADITION /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buck2.gif

 

[DIYASUB]

I'M FIFTY NINE YEARS OLD NOW BUT I STILL REMEMBER THE FIRST OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE I HAD MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS AGO.
GRANDPA TOOK ME OUT TO THE CORN PATCH AT THE BACK OF THE GARDEN TO BIRD DOG FOR HIM AND EVEN NOW I CAN STILL REMEMBER EVERY DETAIL OF THAT MORNING.
SURE I REMEMBER THE REMARKABLE SHOTS HE MADE WITH THAT OLD WARDS-HERCULES DOUBLE, FOUR PHEASANTS FLUSHED AND FOUR CAME DOWN, BUT I ALSO REMEMBER WHAT A BRIGHT BLUE SKY IT WAS THAT FALL MORNING.
AND I REMEMBER THE TEMPERATURE, AND THE SMELL OF THE CORN, AND THE FROST ON THE EDGES OF THE LEAVES.
I REMEMBER HIM STANDING THERE MARKING IN HIS MIND WHERE THE BIRDS WENT DOWN AND THEN DIRECTING ME TOWARDS THEM TO PICK THEM UP.
I REMEMBER HOW BEAUTIFUL THE ROOSTERS WERE AND HOW WARM THE HENS STILL FELT.
AND I STILL REMEMBER HOW PROUD I WAS WHEN I CARRIED THEM INTO THE KITCHEN TO GRANDMA AND SAID, "LOOK WHAT WE GOT!".
THAT WAS MY FIRST HUNT AND ALTHOUGH I NEVER EVEN GOT TO TOUCH THE GUN THAT DAY, I STILL REMEMBER EVERY MOMENT AS THOUGH IT WERE YESTERDAY.
A LOT OF TIME HAS GONE BY, AND A LOT OF THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN THE WORLD AND IN MY LIFE, BUT I STILL HUNT AND I STILL ENJOY IT.
THANKS, GRANDPA.

 

[Fly Guy]

Just one story? I could flood this post with stories! My favorite will always be my first deer hunting experience. It was the first Monday after Thanksgiving (rifle) and my father and I went out on a local farm. Long story short, a guy walked up to us and talked a bit. When he walked away, a seven point kicked out of the woods. My dad and I looked at each other then at the deer, and shot. I was using his 30-06. We went up to the deer and my dad congratulated me. The other guy came back out of the woods to see what happened. He was happy, but upset that he walked right past the deer. The story gets better. As I filled out my tag, the hunter left. No sooner did he disappear, but a bigger buck jumps out of the woods. My father took his 30-06 and shot that buck. The hunter returns. Now I have a 7 point and my father has a 10 point and this hunter has nothing. I thought the guy would be P*&#[email protected], but he actually helped us drag the deer out, since I was only 12. I really do not know what the "spirit" of the hunt point is here, father/son hunting or the generosity of the stranger, but my dad bought the guy a case of beer and asked if he would go hunting with us next year. He was of course good luck!

 

[NepaHunter2]

My father was deployed my first 2 rifle seasons, so my uncle took me up to deer camp with him the first few times.

Learned a heck of a lot more than just hunting deer.. I learned how to play poker, cuss properly, etc.

Id like to thank those old guys for putting up with me in my younger years, and thank them for all the good times.
I'd like to go back one time and catch up with them... maybe I'll hit Briars the night before opener when I'm 21.. theyre sure to be there.

 

[IAFF_Hunter]

I love to be in the mountain of North PA. NEPA or Central PA. Just to be out in the mountains and what this wonderful sate has to offer. I met so many in the mountains, where I knew where they were from and its great! Even heard the BUZZ from the C130's of people I ran into. PA has the best hunters, go AIR FORCE!

 

[xtrema]

I can go out in the spring and just sit there and listen to the woods come alive, what an awsome surrounding, I don't even care if I kill a bird. I like to be out for archery to but my passion is spring gobbler with my old man.

 

[Bearhands]

all replys/posts are wonderfully stated... thanks for the memories guys!

 

[slugster]

Favorite Story....

It was the first squirrel hunt with my new Rem 870 12g wingmaster when I was 14 years old. I had saved all summer to but this gun. My dad and I headed out to hunt. This was in MD. He was about 75yds around the hill from me at sunrise. A busytail appeared in a tree not 25 yds from me. I pulled up and shot but the squirrell never dropped. I take aim a shot again this time he is hung up in some grape vines. I shot a 3rd time and down he came. Now I did not tear the meat up which was a good thing. I gutted the squirrel and skinned him out and put him a bag I had with me. My dad came over later and said how many you get I heard you shoot 3 times. I says just one and I puled out the bag to show him. This is the best part. I told him the first shot I killed it and the next shot gutted it and the thrid shot took the hide right off not bad huh dad. We laughed all the way home. To this day my dad still tells this story of the 3 shot squirrel.

 

[Gilbert]

what drives me to hunt is the love for the outdoors and nature plus a friend of mine had me try some deer meat a few years back and that had me hooked to hunt bambi and then thumper was tried and tree rat and so on, the thrill of the hunt is the best thrill ive had other then doing 170mph on 2 wheels past a cop and he didnt even come after me LOL. oh and cant forget the other reason time away from the wife.

 

[caddisman]

Looking at this post make sme kind of get choked up somewaht.......I started hunting when I was 14 .....somwhat 39 yrs ago.......My Dad took me to the big woods........Potter County.....Couldersport...had a small trailer there...would spend summers bustyin woodchucks....falls , archery hunting,and the cold winters gun hunting......my first true adventure outdoors, and my awakening to what really mattered. Respect for alot of different things. It is even more meaningfu now that my Dad has passed......it was this past August at 70 yrs of age ......... I am not sure I spent to many days afield this fall and winter without maybe having a drop fall from my eyes.............but I truly am gald he introduced me to the outdoors.

 

[hunterpaul32]

Gentlemen, this is awesome just to read some of these stories I am glad to see that people still see this sport as an honor to participate in and are dedicated to go every year....My son has just started hunting and I cant wait for him to get some stories of his own

 

[RB]

Paul,

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbs.gif, that is the tie that makes this HPA gang such a strong community. Nice post bud. looking forward to reading your son's adventures as he grows as a hunter. My oldest is 9, youngest is 3...my best hunt, I know it is still coming. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Bearhands]

ok.... here goes... I was 12. Hunting w/ my dad and his friend on the last day/last hour of doe season 1967-8. It was @ our camp in Sullivan Co. There was quite an ice storm that morning and EVERYTHING glistened and CRACKED with sun and passing winds. I could hear noises that I never heard before. It was getting darker, close to 4:30 and my dad and I were positioned 50 yds apart in a laurel area. His buddy was trompin thru the adjacent swamp making all kinds of crackling noise in the ice as he approached our position. I could almost see him but not quite. Suddenly he yelled "It's comin out!". Sure enuf a doe came slippin and sliding out of the swamp, full speed and headed for cover.. My dad yelled... "Take it!"..... BANG! the doe fell. One shot to the left shoulder. I was shakin like a leaf and my dad was beaming from ear to ear as he ran up to me and gave me a hug. "Great shot" he said, "I knew we'd get you one today!" That is the most vivid memory of my hunting life. 40 years ago and I recall the feelings and excitement like it happened today.

 

[cmilesjr]

First time shooting a gun.
I don't really recall how old I was when this all happened. I think I may have been 10 years old or maybe even a little bit younger.

My Dad always enjoyed hunting. When I was young, small game hunting was a very big thing with the men and there was plenty of game for them to hunt. I remember anxiously waiting for him to come home from hunting so I could see his success, or lack of, depending on any given time. More times than not, back then, they were very successful. He would come home tired from hunting all day yet still take the time to let me watch and eventually help clean the game.

One day he asked me if I wanted to tag along with him when he went squirrell hunting. I was so excited. I was going to be one of the men and go hunting with him. Even though I was not going to be doing any of the actual hunting, I was going to be there. Like I said previously, I think I was about 10 years old then.

He had a spot to squirrell hunt out off of Chelsea road. I remember that we had to cross over the power lines walking in. I don't really remember much of the actual hunting. I don't think we shot anything or I would remember that. It was getting near dark and Dad said we should start heading our of the woods. We walked about 20 yards and he suddenly stopped and just stood there for a minute. As if he was contemplating something.

He then asked me if I wanted to shoot his gun. I was all gung ho and said yes. He had a Browning 12 guage semi-automatic. He set an old soda can that was laying in the woods on a stump for me to shoot. He asked me if I was sure that I wanted to shoot it. I was positive that I did and told him so. He showed me how to hold the gun. I remember him saying " Whatever you do, please do not drop my gun." I told him no problem and promised that I would not drop the gun.

Well next thing that happened was like a blur to me. I took careful aim and pulled the trigger. Kaboom!!!! I flew backwards and landed on my butt. The gun went about 10 feet in the air and landed on the ground. My Dad came to me first to see if I was ok. Once he saw that i was fine, He started to laugh a little. He did not think I saw it but I did. I guess he did not want it to seem like he was laughing at me. Then he busted on me about breaking my promise and dropping his gun. I replied " I didn't drop it Dad, it flew out of my hands by itself."

That is the story of my first time shooting a gun. That was about 35 years ago.

 

[Fox30buck]

Just one thing to share. I did a small amount of hunting when I was young, but when my Dad passed away when I was 15, I really needed something to fill a big void. That came in the form of hunting, and was initiated by my best friends' father taking me under his wing. I must say, the person I am today has been greatly shaped by my time afield. Without my new hunting partner, who knows what I would have gotten myself into. 15 years later, i cant tell you the number of hunts we have shared, each one priceless. I know its been said a million times, take a kid hunting or fishing, you can impact their life in such a positive way for years to come.

 

[Zark]

I love to hunt because that is strictly my time...not the wife or the kids, but my time. It is a good time to be refreshed too. It is nice to just be able to think about where that deer is going to come from and nothing else.

I love the feeling I get when a deer and a turkey is in range. Hunting takes you on an emotional roller coaster and I love the ride!