Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Choose your partner

Well done. Ken. The article re-kindles memories of some fellows not invited or accompanied a second time, and the one wonderful long-term hunting and shooting partner who was more than what a guy could hope. He has been gone for seven years and there is not such a thing as a replacement. Thanks !

I think in principle we are on the same page.

To me - being "considerate of other" though is a precious but so basic and integral part of "man", that I have not so far included it in my thinkings of 'ethics'.

The way you put it, it rings true, though.

I will strive for my part, still, to instill politeness and consideration into my son Ben far sooner than he will be able to discuss and comprehend 'ethics'.

Ken,

That is a fantastic article. It mirrors my experiences in so many ways it's scary. The details are different. Different people, different places, different adventures and different circumstances but what you have so eloquently written about it describes basic human nature to a "T".

There is one fact I know after reading that.

You'd make a great hunting partner.

Thank you and best wishes,

Jeff aka: fish head

Thanks!

Figgered I'd fool somebody sooner or later � just wondered whom, when!

"Trivia," maybe � but some of you may be interested to know that the young hunter whom I wrote about in the first paragraph is a son of a former advertising manager for Handloader and Rifle.

Very good read - and a great reminder to pay attention, no matter WHO you may be hunting with..

Not a hunting partner, but one guy we guided stands out to me. We were riding out the last day of his 4 day hunt after deer when another guides' horse got into some wire and cut bad. We worked for about 1 hr and finally got the vein clamped off. My boss stayed with the horse to let him rest and planned to walk him out at the end of the day.

This guy offered to stay with the horse while we took the other 2 hunters up the hill. He did go on with us, all day long he worried about the horse. In the afternoon we spotted a 25" buck, the other 2 guys were fussin' about who would get the chance to take a whack at him, but this guy stayed out of it. We decided to draw straws, but he opted out of the draw, saying the others wanted this buck worse than he did.

Ended up not getting a decent chance for the deer, on the way down the hill in the dark, this guy kept talking about what a great hunt we gave him, how pretty the area was, and how he wanted to come back. That night after dinner I asked him if he'd stay one more day, I'd give him a fee day. He had to catch a plane the next day and declined.

This guy is 73, had the drive of a 30 yr old and a beautiful attitude.

Nic read.
I think I may have hunter with some of those guys.

Thanks for the article Ken, and the good read. This is one part however that stings just a wee bit, and is something I have unfortunately had to fight my entire life, as my father passed away at age 33. I was only four. The loss of a non-hunting grandfather at age 17 only compounded my chances to "grow up with the game".
With the loss or lack of fathers and mentors, I'm nearly 100% self-educated in the arena of hunting, shooting, and fishing. I strongly feel (and have been told a time or two by others) that I have done quite well with ethics, common courtesies, and becoming a gentleman. Your use of the word 'generally' here may be your life experience with folks such as myself, but rest assured there are a few of us that have slipped through the cracks and took their best shot at becoming good company for someone, whether it be on a hunt, in a boat, or around a fire.
On a closing note, as a pilot myself, I can appreciate your comments about folks blindly trusting those in the front office. The longer my aviation career went on, the less I trusted. It's all in the knowledge.......
Jim

My father and both grandfathers quit hunting before I was old enough for the first grade, so you and I are in the same boat. Grandfather Fountain still went fox-hunting with his Walkers and Julys but didn't hunt anything with any sort of a gun. Dad gave his guns away when I was a preschooler.

levrluvr,

I'll give you a pat on the back and a "Well done Sir" for having to educate yourself in spite of not having a mentor as a youngster. You obviously had a good foundation and a sense of ethics and morals to start with. My father passed away when I was nineteen but by that time he had instilled in me his ethics and morals. I was fortunate to at least have had that.

I'm absolutely positive Ken meant no disrespect in using the term "generally". That leaves room enough for exceptions to the rule and you are one of those exceptions. Take pride in that.

I posted earlier that my experiences were similar to what Ken had written about. I used to be an aircraft propeller mechanic in a former career and I always jumped at the chance to go for a plane ride until this one time...............

I was in the backseat of a 207 landing at Palm Springs on a warm day and after the first ground effect induced bounce I was suddenly staring at sage brush instead of the asphalt runway. The runway was wide enough to allow for a correction but had it been any narrower.................. After that I was a whole bunch more leary about flying with just anyone. In my ten years in the business I witnessed, and I mean saw with my own eyes, five crashes or mishaps.

I'm a bit anal when it comes to safety with anything.

Some of the worst hunting ethics I have seen were learned from fathers.

Generally means "in general," "in most cases," "most often," not "without exception."

Anyone who's looking for disrespect or something to disagree with should look somewhere else. You won't find any where there ain't any.

I was landing a Cessna behind an airliner that was already at the terminal on a clear, sunny, WINDLESS afternoon. There was absolutely no cross-wind, so the airliner's wake turbulence was still swirling on the runway. Just as I flared to touch down, I suddenly found myself ninety degrees from horizontal, with my starboard wing just a few inches shy of being a plow share. I corrected and immediately found myself in the same orientation again.

That was enough thrill for one day. I corrected, then slammed the throttle forward and got my sorry butt safely airborne high again � went around and landed OK.

Most of the pilots whom I've known would heartily endorse the description of flying as "hours of boredom punctuated by occasional moments of sheer terror." (Except of course for those moments that don't give you time for terror.)

One of the five mishaps I witnessed was a Taylorcraft that flipped over after taxiing across a runway that a DC 9 had just taken off from. The flight tower made the boo-boo on that one.

Once again, similar experience.

Ken,

Thanks for the memory of Bill Jordan. I had the fun of hunting with him many years back and your story brought that molasses thick voice back complete with the humor in the man. I was adjusting the attitude of an excellent dog for a friend. The dog was a young male full of piss and vinegar and just a joy to watch work cover. Periodically the dog would decide he was in charge of me and we were going to do things his way for a while. Bill and I and Sheila about wet ourselves we had so much fun dealing with a dog that could have made for a hard day hunting. I couldn't tell you if we even shot a single bird, but it was a very, very enjoyable few days.