Very Disturbed!! Suggestions?

[Steve Sr.]

#7152

Now I don’t want to start a “trad archers are “better”” bash and am honestly looking for suggestions to help me.

I am the only trad archer in a family of hunters (minus my own sons) with a brother and 5 nephews that are hunting and fishing fools.

One nephew lives close and is what most of us trad hunters find we are completely unable to understand.

“Success” is measured in inches of antlers, PERIOD, for him. 70 yard bow shot? no problem, 350 yard muzzleloader shot, go for it. Scouting is done in his truck with a spotting scope, tree stands AND tripod stands are 35 feet up or more.

“I have to kill a scorable buck or else I have failed” is his attitude and even then will shoot a 130 inch class buck at the end of muzzleloader season, even though it’s NOT what he wants…..”so he isn’t skunked”.

I’ve talked and shown him my own ways for 15 years. He ADMITS that the same buck he took and is disappointed in “would be a very nice buck with longbow or recurve”.

Somehow, he GETS IT, but somehow I am failing to impress upon him the satisfaction I get from my hunting.

Until I shoot something “worth measuring” he rarely takes much of an interest in what I shoot.

I know these guys are bombarded with “horn porn” and hammered by the TV shows, the articles and web sites so concerned with inches of antlers. What I don’t know is how to compete with that!

OH HECK YEAH, I’d LOVE to shoot a huge buck….MY WAY.

I told him this morning that I would get more satisfaction out of shooting a spike buck at 12 yards with my recurve than a 160 inch buck at 200 with a muzzleloader.

His reply was “YOU have lost your *&_*(&# mind!”.

His opinion of himself is that he is some SUPER HUNTER because he has a lease and 20 places to hunt and drives around all of them all summer filming bucks till he finds what he wants to hunt then, when failing to get close enough to shoot one with a bow…..ends up sitting out in the middle of some hay field 40 feet in the air with a 16x scope on a suped up ML and a rangefinder.

EVEN THEN the “buck he wants” more often than not eludes him but the areas DO have several nice mature bucks and he will “fill his tag” at seasons end, disappointed with a 130-140 inch buck.

Don’t get me wrong, Dedicated??? oh MY! The number of hours he spends “scouting” in his truck is in the thousands. The amount of money he has in whitetail hunting equipment is about the same I’d spend on a VERY nice 3-4 year old car!!

I talked him into a longbow of mine years back. built him arrows and showed him how to sharpen heads (also mine) and this resulted in a 10 yard shot that killed the buck ONLY because of us pushing it till it bled to death, shot through the upper leg and is his “claim to fame” with a traditional “kill”.

Oddly enough, he wouldnt have shot that 140lb, 2.5 year old 8 point IF NOT HUNTING WITH TRAD EQUIPMENT…….not even thought about it, so HE UNDERSTANDS that the challenge is part of the satisfaction.

The next year he shot a MONSTER buck at about 250 yards with a ML. Since then……its a scoring buck or bust.

Mentioning that I probably WOULDNT even score a buck I shot that big, he stood with his mouth hanging open in confusion.
He totally lacked comprehending that anyone wouldnt have some kind of need to enter a P&Y buck in “the book”.

Nothing WRONG with entering them IMHO, I just am not hunting for any kind of recognition and feel the BUCK should get the recognition, not the hunter. Ok, I’m WEIRD, lol.

ANY thoughts on anthing I can do to impress upon him the self satisfaction one gets from traditional equipment???

IMHO, the “challenge” is still there for those like him…..yet they have replaced HOW it was taken with WHAT was taken…….and heck with how as long as it ends up with antlers on the ground.

Again, PLEASE don’t let this turn into a bashing thread.
I AM ASKING FOR HELP, PLEASE!!

God Bless
Steve Sr.

[Todd Smith]

#58660

Steve,

It sounds like he is happy in his world. He may be posting something similar about you on some whiz-bang site right now. 😀

We’re all different. We find our own paths. At least he isn’t a slob hunter…

What you and I do is not for everyone… I guess it’s kind of like being a Christian. Some folks look at us like we’re nuts. They just don’t get it. Until they “see the light”.

Your nephew has even tried traditional, but it didn’t grab him. Maybe it will some day, maybe not.

I guess you can both share your hunting experiences and each one respect the others choices.

I’m going to guess that he may come around as he gets older and as he watches you and your satisfaction through the years.

Blessings Brother! todd

[Steve Sr.]

#58671

Thanks, Todd

Wise words and maybe I am “worried” about it too much. One thing I reluctantly must add is that a lost buck from a bad shot WAY out there is very upsetting to him…….yet happens, and doesn’t stop him from continuing to take another shot just like it.

If it’s a big old buck and would score high…..he IS GOING TO SHOOT, regardless.

I guess THAT is a huge issue to ME, in itself.

thanks again

Steve Sr.

[Chris Shelton]

#58742

I learned in hunters saftey course here in Maryland back in the day(6-7 years ago:D) that a hunter goes through several stages in there journey, and some hunters do not go through all of them, and they often do not always end at the last one but they go as followed!
1. shooter stage-speaks for itself, they are only worried about one thing, pulling the trigger!
2. Limit out stage- where the hunter is consumed by meeting there limit
3. Trophy stage- where they are very selective, if it doesnt measure up to a trophy then it is ignored
4. Method stage- when the hunter puts more priority into how it is accomplished, could still want to limit out
5. Sportsman stage- success is measured by the total experience!
I actually had to look them up because it has been a while, for me my passion for traditional bowhunting started off as the method stage, I passed the shooter stage and went strait to the limit stage, but that didnt last long because I wanted to hunt with my bow, and with nothing else.
Although that changed, because although now I hunt with my bow all season long, it is not because I care about what I harvest with, or what I dont harvest with. . . I enjoy hunting in close courters with the quarry I am after. Sure there are still essenses of the method stage, I will not shoot if the camera is not on or set, but that is just beacuse I am stubborn, but the whole reason I personally film is because I want to be able to look back and enjoy the entire experience again! I am sure that is very similar to your nephew, he probably wants to have antlers on the wall to be able to look at that mount and remeber.

The bottom line is weather we like to realize it or not, we all have our “trophies” just some are more “standard” than others, I know that I, like most of you guys, consider anything I shoot to be a trophy, but again that could be becasue we do it with traditional tackle!? Hope this long ramble helped Steve!? Best of luck!
Youngin Chris

[Mark Turton]

#58813

Hi Steve

I think Todd is about right, his values may change in time.

I guess this comes down to why we hunt is it ego, food or something more spiritual or a combination of the three.

From the effort he puts in he is obviously satisfying the first element and probably overdosing on venison but not feeling the connection with nature and his quarry.

All you can do is leave the door open and hope he sees the light.

Mark.

[Steve Sr.]

#58818

Thanks guys. I do feel better.

I must take a good look in the mirror and realize that just because this is so simple and so ingrained in ME, does not mean it would be the best for him……..even though I know he would be a great one to do so with his dedication.

Times are a-changing and I guess I am not. lol

I obviously like the kid but need to worry less about him and more about myself. Humbling, but true.

It’s HARD for me to show excitement when he takes a buck, and that too is wrong, so that too is another example I need to set for him.

I hope and pray that all of you are right and he will, in time, find a few more of the things in hunting that we all cherish. While I WISH his priorities were different…….that hardly gives me the right to push mine on him.

God Bless for the replies. They have helped.

Steve

[SlowBowInMO]

#58826

Wow, he sounds like a walking real life TV show.

I like Todd’s advice, and I’d also suggest you just let it lay. I’m betting he’s eventually headed for burn out, or will wake up one day and realize he’s not having any fun. Either way I’d let him take his own path and hope one day it comes back and crosses yours, at his choosing.:D

[SteveMcD]

#58840

Hi, Steve… I think you can take heart that through your mentoring and shared experiences with your Nephew. He has gotten a foundation of values to build upon. That’s the important thing. Quite frankly, he sounds like a very dedicated hunter. Choice of equipment being an individual thing.

Personally, like you.. I hunt for the hunts sake. But to be real honest. Now that I am close to my “senior” years. I would like to put one in the Compton’s Book myself, one of these days.

[Hiram]

#59180

Man when you do convert him, you’ll have a heck of hunting buddy! he’ll get bored with all the gadgets.

[johnny2]

#60085

Hey Steve, I think Greatreearcher said it best with the stages hunters go through. I have been through all of them and believe I’m currently in the last two.

I hunted with a compound for over twenty years and your nephews actions sound similiar to what my friends and I did a few years back. After about three years of pursuing P&Y bucks we went opposite directions. I picked up a longbow and they started their own hunting show. I am happy with any legal deer, they won’t even hunt in Arkansas cause their odds for taking a “shooter” are better in other states. My only concern was their motives, but who am I to judge someones motives(except about their show, and everyone knows how I feel about that):D. We don’t talk much anymore because as hunters we have little in common. They think I’m some kind of elitist weirdo, which I may very well be:D.

The only thing that I would not waver on is respect for the tradition of hunting and respect for the animal. As long as a hunter shows due respect I don’t have a problem. The only thing is that just as everyones methods are not the same so is everyones definition of respect not the same.

Just remember, it is very difficult for a young man to look past his ego and the urge to compete in everything. I’ll bet his thinking changes as he gets older.

[PagosaBow]

#63720

I think there are a bunch of good replies. I think its for fate to decide. Some times things happen for a reason and that’s that. You can do what you will to get him to take interest in the stick n string but until he decides to, it wont happen. God works in mysterious ways sometimes. He changed me… but only because I opened my mind to the change.

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