[instinctive shooter]

Like many of you, I have a favorite buddy that I hunt with.There is a lot of history between us and a lot of irreplacable memories, too. Lately-for the past ten years or so-he will only hunt deer. He is a school teacher and is concerned with losing his hearing from shooting too much. At least that is his excuse, but I know better-grew up with the guy and can read him better than anyone else. He is starting to have some leanings toward the gun control side and defends this by saying that he sees too much gun violence at school. He teaches in the East StLouis area, so he is in a rough place.I have given up on swaying him back but find it a bit ironic that he is such a nut about hunting deer. Anyway, I just try to enjoy his company as he is about the last of my childhood contacts. Too, he is such a scapegoat. Every year I either write a poem about his exploits or pull some sort of major gag on him. One year it was a pee bottle made out of a gallon bleach jug that I painted camo and my wife rigged up a "Texas cathedar" so that he wouldn't even have to stand up. (It had rained every day the previous deer season, and he kept getting down from his stand to go to the house!) This year it was a "city boy's deer blind" made from a refrigerator box. It was painted differently on each side-one was made to look like an outhouse, another had a window to shoot out of complete with a picture of a deer on the inside (visual aid so that he would know what to shoot at) while another had a large bullseye for shooting at when frustrated. We even put an old potty chair inside for him complete with corn cob and a bucket of manure tea from the composter for the true experience. So, do any of you do this to your best bud(s)? Sometimes I am "nice" and make him a woodburning of the stand that he takes a deer from. Still trying to come up with something for this last year. He was walking out of a cornfield blind when a deer appeared so he just sat on his bucket, turned over "the can" deer call and shot the stupid thing when it walked right up to him! Lets hear what you do to/for your buddies.

 

[MarlandS]

I've got a hunting buddy that all you have to do is stand back and watch. hehas had a tug-of-war with the dog under a bush, he's been "bagged" several times by pheasant flushing up between his legs, he fell asleep against a tree while deer hunting and had three or four walk withing five feet of him. He's just a general riot to watch, although we do set him up on occasion.

 

[shotgunworld]

The first one that comes to mind is a young red headed buddy of mine named Ryan. I enjoy his patience and determination the most. We've had several hunts (dove and duck) that only resulted in one or two shots between us and he never complains and is always eager to join me on the next hunt. He even tolerates my frequent breaks and weezing on the long walks (damn cigarettes), though he seems to enjoy ribbing me about it. The only time he has complained is a couple of times when we relied on my navigation skills longer than we should have. Can't say that I'm can blame him for those times. It's rare to find someone with these qualities willing to hunt with. Alas, he has taken a contract position in Florida and I'm not sure we'll ever by able to hunt together again. I hope I'm wrong.
Happy hunting Ryan.

regards,
Jay Gentry
Shotgunworld.com

 

[jlptexashunter]

My favorite hunting buddy is a 2 1/2 year old Visla my wife bought for me two Christmas' ago. His name is Copper and come rain or shine he's always ready to go hunting. From dove hunting to quail to pheasant he's flown around the country piling up mile after mile of PUBLIC land pointing and retrieving birds. He was trained in the backyard and has made people think that I know the first thing about bird dog training. The only thing I was ever taught was "teach him: sit, stay, whoa, come and fetch. Then get out of his way he knows how to hunt". Turns out that was true and he has been a blessing and a very important member of our family.