Pet Peeves in the hunting field

With all the serious threads that have been going about, white lions and PHs getting shot, I thought maybe it is time for something a little light hearted. What has been playing on my mind now that the clients are safely on there way home, is the tiny things that us as hunters find utterly frustrating when we are out in the field. For example, as the PH turns around and tells the client, "be dead quite", he promptly kicks a stone down the hill, or when the client arrives with his wonderful new hunting outfit that sounds more like a garbage bag getting dragged through the bush and my favorite, "can I use your range finder, I forgot my binos in Camp". Have fun with this one, we can all learn something from it.

I was very fortunate to actually apply the "just roll with it" advice I got here on AH.

Bakkie not starting, changed the morning hunt into a solo Guinea Fowl hunt while the PH fixed the vehicle. It was a blast.

PH's cell phone going off on a stalk. Watching someone lose it in a Whisper was interesting and a good illustration of the intensity and stress of this particular stalk! Never scared the critters that were less than 100 yards away. I don't want to be the guy who phoned. (Yeah, he could have turned it off. Oh well.)

The worst one was (not in the field) a "hunter" losing it on a lost luggage clerk after jumping the queue, ignoring the rest of the people in line in front of him. He reinforced a sad stereotype regarding his nationality among all present.

Why am I in Camo and everyone else is in Blue coveralls?

I'm not a fan of those guys that pull out the tape measure immediately after the animal is down as though "let's see if this was worth our shot".

Good idea Patrick,

After successfully shooting a mule deer buck on a Montana archery hunt, I suggested to one of my friends that he may want to try his luck in the same spot, since I saw two other good bucks run the same pattern two days in a row. After more instruction the next morning I wished him luck in the pre-dawn darkness as he made his way to "the spot." My time in camp was spent cutting venison and reminiscing my success.
Couple hours later here comes my friend. His pace toward me was hurried, as I noticed he wasn't toting his bow. As he reached me out of breath he emphatically stated "you were right Mike, those two bucks came up that draw just like you thought they might." I quizzed, asking "where's your bow?, did you get one?" He explained that when the bucks reached the upper part of the draw they bedded down within 25 yards of him, but in such a position he could not get a fatal shot. So after a while not knowing what to do he laid his bow down and slipped away, heading to camp to ask me what to do! My reply was to get your butt back there and wait them out, for when they stand up they may present you with the shot you need. He said he will do that after he has some breakfast. Pet Peeve....when the opportunity presents itself, do whatever you need to do to make it happen. You might not get another chance. At any rate it was fun hunt and I think (hope) he learned something.

One guy in particular, who claims to be a big time trophy hunter, seems to shoot a 3 year old buck in the last 2 days of season every year that he cant find a 4 1/2+yr old, which would be fine except he then promptly complains about how few 4 1/2 yr olds there are out there??? I wonder whos fault that is, but his ego will neither allow him to be skunked or shoot a yearling for meat.

Pet peeves......

1. So one morning I get picked up by a friend and a friend of his to go quail hunting. I've only hunted with my friend once and never with his friend. While on the way there, the friend of the friend starts telling all his quail hunting stories. You know that time that I limited out and you didn't........and then there was that other time when I limited out and you didn't......and oh how about you know that time over there when I limited out...... I think you get the picture.:bored2:

2. While out quail hunting with a couple of guys on some rolling rocky cactus covered hills here in Arizona, one of the other hunters downs a quail. Like a good dog, I had it marked, a useful thing as this area can hide a quail really well. Well the hunter that shot the bird doesn't know where it's at, I let him know and am trying to guide him to the spot. He gets close but just won't listen to me thoroughly enough to spot the bird, so I move over to where he was and the guy starts acting nervous. So I try again to tell him to move down hill and look under this particular prickly pear cactus. He doesn't listen to me, so I do what I was trying to get him to do. I get eye level with the under side of the prickly pear and sure enough there's the still slightly alive quail. So I start to reach in and grab it for the guy when he figures I guess that I'm going to steal his beloved world record trophy quail. So he swats at my hand to prevent this thievery. Did I mention this quail is tucked in under a cactus with lots of thorns?

3. So we and a couple of guys are standing around the truck having a drink of water and a snack after a morning of bird hunting when one of the guys starts telling the other guy how he was going to play a trick on him. He goes on to say when he wasn't looking he was going to put the safety on on his shotgun and chuckled at that thought...........now think about this for just a moment........just like I did.
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So after pondering this I could not think of anyway shape or form how putting the safety ON (or off) would be funny. So I asked did you say you were going to put his safety ON? He says yes and chuckles again. So I asked then do you mean to tell me we are walking around this fairly difficult footing area and up and down hills and you guys are carrying your shotguns with your safeties OFF? He replies, do you mean to tell me you're walking around with your safety ON? I said hell yes! He goes on to tell me how I'll never be able to shoot a flushing bird because I won't have enough time to get the safety off and shoot!:rant:

4. So we're out quail hunting once again, three of us walking in a line about 20 yards between each hunter. I'm in the center, my friend's friend to my left. Suddenly the distinctive sound of a quail flushing to my left but out of my vision. So I whirl left and catch sight of the bird. The bird's now to my right as well as the friend's friend who is way too much in the line of fire. So I wait a moment and then raise my shotgun when I won't be pointing at the other guy. Just as I'm about to pull the trigger, bam! The quail drops no more than 10 feet in front of me. Yup the guy 20 yards over to my right shot and dropped the bird 10 feet in front of me. Okay, so now do the geometry to determine the angle between the shooter and me.....note that I heard the shot pattern pass by!

All of this happened on the same hunt and all of these things by the same guy. So in short my pet peeves are:

1. While I love to hear hunting stories, I don't like bragging.

2. I don't like hunting with people who are not only not safe around guns but are flat out dangerous.

3. When it comes to bird hunting or any other hunting, I'm happy to see others succeed and will help in the recovery. No need to get possessive of your animal around me.

4. I really really really hate having someone shoot when I'm ever so close to being in the line of fire!

How about before hunting? Sure hate the guys that show up late when we are all to leave together.

Yes the late guy. I waited 2.5 hours for my buddy to show up to go to another state for a hunt. Mind you he is retired, had 5 months to get ready. We are taking my truck and I had just got home from working a 12 hour night shift with enough time to take a shower and change and load my rifles into the truck. Then drive for 12+ hours to where we were going to hunt. I finally called his wife and said I was leaving without him. She got frantic and got him to my house in only 1 more hour. AND he was a bit put out and mad because I was not a happy guy.

He is the same guy who takes a 300Win mag loads it down to 30-30 specks, has a hubble telascope on it requiring 27 adjustments before he can fire and wonders why I just finally give up waiting and shoot"his" pronghorn. After I fill my tag with "his" pronghorn we spend days trying to get one to wait 37min for him to get ready and make his 27 scope adjustments then shoot. Oh he tends to wound them requiring others to finish it off.

But I can live with that better than someone who must drink(beer or hard stuff) when hunting. OR get so drunk the night before that they cannot get out to hunt the next day since they are hung-over or sick. I stopped hunting with 2 guys when they started that.

Braggers on how great of a hunter they are and know everything about firearms(and usually everything else) and they have only taken a few head of animals in many years of hunting.

Any other unsafe hunter for whatever reason. I have been hit with birdshot when hunting pheasants........not good.

The person who has to have the latest whiz-bang gun and gear but has not shot it or practiced. It is usually some ultra-ultra -super-dupper mag rifle with the hubble space scope on it that he is afraid of the recoil and we are hunting an area where you rarely get a shoot over 75-100 yards at a 130lb live weight deer. Then he will bad mouth someones 30-06 with a 3X9X40 scope as under gunned etc.

I am sure there are others but I need time to think about it.

How about the 'client' that will be walking upright behind you whilst you and the tracker are glued to the ground like the every best leopard skin rug mount in the final 10 yards of a stalk!

Ole Bally said:

How about the 'client' that will be walking upright behind you whilst you and the tracker are glued to the ground like the every best leopard skin rug mount in the final 10 yards of a stalk!

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Oh yes how can I forget "the invisible hunter", PH says,"We will have to crawl the last 30, stay low and out of sight", Kudu Barks and melts into the bush after the first meter, tracker says to the PH in his native language, "The old white man was standing like a giraffe and scared the Kudu!" the client asks the PH, "What did the tracker say about what scared the Kudu?" PH replies,"The wind changed."

And for the chaps who do like to hunt with a tape, after the shot is taken and you approach what should be at least an entry into which ever book you follow, those horrid words, "Well it has got really thick bases and a beautiful Cape!"

Another small thing is that cling cling of 2 bullets that are loose in one pant pocket, that you keep thinking about putting in separate pockets, but never do until you are halfway through your stalk and have to open the velcro flap to get at, then the ever annoying sound of velcro being opened at snails pace!!!! I have just about got rid of anything that has velcro on it, except my trackers bino case which I insist he carry to protect his binos, then frown at him every time he takes out of puts away his binoculars.

I hate it when I do a mistake making an animal running away before I can take the shot.
But I hate it very much more when someone else does it on my hunt.
I want a hunt to rely on me not making a mistake. Not relying on others not making mistakes.

Another thing I have decided on, is that I am not going to try to teach others how to hunt anymore.
I am totally tired of having morons with me in the bush...

The only ones I will teach from now on, are my kids.

Hunting photos with the rifle on the game, bolt closed, preferably with the muzzle pointing at the happy shooter. I am trying to teach young hunters firearms safety, and they make me cringe every time!
Four wheel drive club outings in my hunting area.
Trash left behind in the hut / camping area by the previous hunting party.
Keas!!!!!
Someone with an 8-shot magazine extension on a semi-auto 12g letting off a machinegun-like drum roll at 0705 am on duck opening day without hitting a single bird.

saeng101 said:

How about before hunting? Sure hate the guys that show up late when we are all to leave together.

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I hunted with those guys too!!! The same 2 guys every year for many years.

1st day goes kind of like this - Plan on an early start, pulling out at 7am - they show up at 7:30-8:30. Their gear is heaped in the back seat. Drive to Walmart and buy additional gear, Walmart does not have what they want, wait for the sporting goods store to open, they also do not ahve the required items (Beavis and Butthead have only had 49 weeks since last years hunt to get this stuff) Drive to neiboring town and stop for a big brunch at Smitties. Head to the sporting goods store and purchase required items, they dont have all required items, hear about poor selection for the rest of the hunt. Fuel up vehicle. Finally head for the mountains. Unload horses, tack them up, lay out my pre-packed and balanced gear beside the horses they go on. Look over to see them cramming 300lb of gear into duffle bags, no packing has been done prior to leaving home, all the heavy bulky stuff in one bag and the light stuff in another. They finally get their gear together and bring it to me. I see the volume of gear before me and sure enough each bag weighs 70-90lb not to mention the loose gear (chairs, folding tables, a hammock and such). I look at them in awe and ask what the hell do you plan to do with all this stuff, I have clearly stated that we will have room for 50lb each + bedrolls (did I mention they each have their own riding horse but no packhorses). They are instructed to remove unneccesary gear, they remove 2 items and are ready to go. I remove 50% of what they have brought and they complain. I explain that I will put was much on my packhorses as they can reasonably carry and they will have to carry the rest themselves and after we kill a critter we will decide what we need to leave behind to get the meat out. They ask why I didnt bring more pack horses and I ask where they left theirs at. They grudgingly weed out all surplus items with my help. We pack up the horses and finally hit the trail at around 3pm (the trailhead is less than 2 hours from home and I wanted to be riding by 10AM). They are riding with 70lb backpacks. We of course only make it 1/3 as far as desired on day 1. Day 2 we find they have removed everything from their packs and do not know what went where so we repack and balance everything and at the end of day 2 we are 1 days ride in (did I mention they are too beat to go any further since they have been riding with 70lb backpacks). Day 3 goes much smoother and we make it to camp in time to get set up and have a great hunt. Still I cringe just thinking back about it!!!

BTW this is NOT the crew I head 3-4 days back into the wilderness with!!! God help me we would still be riding!

All these great stories remind me of why I hunt alone, a majority of the time. It costs more in fuel and you are responsible for everything....but then again you set the pace.

Rain....... especially heavy rain.

Other than that, not much.

I stoped in front of my friend's house to pick him up to go deer hunting. My friend came to mi car, opened the trunk and saw it was almost full, he took my doube gun bag (with my 2 rifles one for my and the other that he allways borrows), he then put the guns inside his house, came back with two 24,s of beer put those in the trunk , closed it, got in the car with me and said , lets go!
I said YOU LEFT THE RIFLES INSIDE YOUR HOUSE, he said I am sorry my friend there is not enough space for them, let,s go!.

Ok here is a story of me taking out a couple newbies deer hunting, opening morning I get us in place and I have scouted us a real good ambush spot, I set us all up and just as first light comes up I see movement and it's one of my buddies walking to me kinda walking funny, at this time a nice deer runs out not more than 60 yards away and stops, My friend does not take up he just continues to walk towards me, after a few minutes he approaches me and explains that if I don't take him to the bathroom he is going to soil hymself and he insist I take him to a public bathroom as the nachos he ate last night are doing unnatural things to him, next morning same set up and again just as light comes up here comes my other friend and you guess it same problem the 6 cups of coffee he had that morning are taking effect, really you guys are killing me. From that point on I feed them a steady diet of cheese to counter balance thier issues. Unknow to me we were all able to shoot a deer that year but from that point on they would never hear the end of that lesson from me.

I had a problem with a friend like that once. He tells me he is dying etc so I take hime to the hospital.


The doctor said he might have lived if I had not gutted him first before going to the hospital. Well learned a lesson that day but no one complains about their health when we go hunting anymore.

enysse said:

All these great stories remind me of why I hunt alone, a majority of the time. It costs more in fuel and you are responsible for everything....but then again you set the pace.

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+1, the only people I hunt with are my kids, 8 out of 10 times i have to wake them for the shot.:doh2: The oldest is hunting by himself this year, hope he can stay awake.

Hunting with friends can be alot of fun but it has its moments.

Another of my favorite bone head moves was while hunting in Saskatchewan. I was sitting in my stand watching the odd deer slowly stroll by and the odd one slowly trotting while trolling for does when all of a sudden deer start hightailing it through, the odd one stopping to glance breifly at its backtrail. A few minutes later I heas yelling in the distance and sticks being banged on trees. About 20 minutes later out comes my hunting buddy and 3 of his buddies. He says "we figured we would push some deer to you". With the deer completely spooked after having their bedroom invaded movement at that stand ground to a halt. I moved to another stand only to have the same thing happen again. He just couldnt understand why I was upset after "thanking" him the first time but stating that I would prefer if he didnt drive the deer where I was hunting. I had to be extremely forgiving since we in the end this was the area he grew up in and we were guests but with 100s of 1/4s to hunt on I think the respect could have gone both ways.