Pathetic 'hunters'

arlie · 08-20-2006, 05:51 AM

While hunting in the Cascades I heard bugling and then a herd running and crashing away. After unsuccessfully trying to circle around to cut them off I eventually made my way back to where I was when it all started. I then heard someone yelling. Thinking someone might be hurt I quickly made my way over to there. Here's this guy yelling for 'Joe' and at his feet is a 4 point bull. I asked him if he was alright and he said he needed help because he had gotten this elk and didn't know what to do with it. One look confirmed that as he had plunged his knife to the hilt into the gut and then sliced about a 12" cut, spilling green goo all over. I helped him but did make him do the gutting which was pretty funny, him making all those funny gulping sounds and contortions as he pulled the green mass from the body cavity. Then he informed me he didn't have any game bags. Some times we have to sacrifice in order to mantain our ethics so we used mine.Offered to help pack but he said his buddy would be in camp about 1/4 mile away and that he would help him. I told him to pack a quarter with him as it would get hot later in the day and time was important. My camp was the opposite direction about 2 miles away but I hadn't gone far when I realised that I forgot my knife. Quickly going back I found that he had already left and had not taken any of the elk or even his bow. I wonder if he had enough wood sense to even find his elk again. Later I got back to my camp and packed up, I swung around to where he said they were camping to see how they were doing. It was 3 hours later and there was one pack out at that time. Pretty sad,,,

By the way, I did have more game bags in my rig, I always do.

Snakebite · 08-20-2006, 06:03 AM

Argghh! I have always had all the gear, and know what to do, being successful with deer in the past. But I can't find an elk to shoot at

Saw 'em all the time when I worked in the woods.

wife&3kids · 08-20-2006, 06:32 AM

It's a shame, but everyone has a first animal. Just think of how stoked he was.

Swamp Puppy · 08-20-2006, 06:53 AM

Quote:

It's a shame, but everyone has a first animal. Just think of how stoked he was.

i was thinking the same thing....since when did getting your first animal make a person "pathetic"?

kudos for lending a helping hand...i'm sure the new hunter appreciated it.

PGJPJ · 08-20-2006, 07:03 AM

Wait... that story somehow sounds familiar...

I seem to remember my first... well...

duckboy · 08-20-2006, 08:20 AM

Pathetic as far as beinig ready to hit the ground running. Glad you got him at least pointed in the rightr direction.

GSD · 08-20-2006, 10:16 AM

After my first time,

, not error free, I discovered this book:

I guess we all have to start somewhere, and as in life, there will always be stumbles, for everyone.

Rank Amateur · 08-20-2006, 10:29 AM

I love it! The knife stuck up too the hilt in the guts!!

I wonder if it was this guys first kill on anything. You learn pretty quick not to disturb the guts!!

TonTo · 08-20-2006, 10:50 AM

Last year I had the other experience,just after my bull hit the ground an elerly gentleman showed up and started telling me how to do everything.Assuming I needed his expertise,and that I didn't know what I was doing.I have unzipped many big game animals,and am quite comfortable with it,but with him standing over my shoulder telling me how to do everything just irked me a little.It caused me to do a hurried rush job,at something I rather enjoy and tend to take my time at.I just wanted to get it over with so he would be on his way.It was nice to get a helping hand with skidding to the road(drug it with my truck as he guided the head in the right direction)and helped load it(ran the rope up my tail gate and over my cab, skidded it up and in with a passer by's jeep),but taking orders all along the way takes abit of enjoyment out of the whole experience.At one point or two,I did feel like telling him to just get the

out of there and leave me alone.But hey I did get it done in record time,bull down dressed loaded and headed home in less than an hour,where I took my time skinning and quartering in my front yard,in piece and sollitude without having the whip cracked on me.

spinnerbob · 08-20-2006, 11:30 AM

Quote:

It's a shame, but everyone has a first animal. Just think of how stoked he was.

i was thinking the same thing....since when did getting your first animal make a person "pathetic"?

kudos for lending a helping hand...i'm sure the new hunter appreciated it.

I have yet to get a big game animal, and will be in the same boat. I have a small plastic book telling me how to gut it and skin it.

But I also hunt with a buddy who has some experience at it. I am hunting as much for the education in survival as anything else. I look forward to learning the dirty work.

sunshinefisherman · 08-20-2006, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Last year I had the other experience,just after my bull hit the ground an elerly gentleman showed up and started telling me how to do everything.Assuming I needed his expertise,and that I didn't know what I was doing.I have unzipped many big game animals,and am quite comfortable with it,but with him standing over my shoulder telling me how to do everything just irked me a little.It caused me to do a hurried rush job,at something I rather enjoy and tend to take my time at.I just wanted to get it over with so he would be on his way.It was nice to get a helping hand with skidding to the road(drug it with my truck as he guided the head in the right direction)and helped load it(ran the rope up my tail gate and over my cab, skidded it up and in with a passer by's jeep),but taking orders all along the way takes abit of enjoyment out of the whole experience.At one point or two,I did feel like telling him to just get the

out of there and leave me alone.But hey I did get it done in record time,bull down dressed loaded and headed home in less than an hour,where I took my time skinning and quartering in my front yard,in piece and sollitude without having the whip cracked on me.

I feel your pain. When I took a Ukiha elk, I had a partner advising me to cut the throat and bleed him out. I realized later that this procedure only helps if the heart is still beating. Am I getting close enough to an elk to do that while it's still alive? NO WAY!

bullslayer · 08-20-2006, 12:11 PM

I'm glad the rookie hunter had you there to lend a hand. The bull would have most likely got wasted for sure if you hadn't. Thank God my Grandfather and Dad instructed me how to take care of an animal. I guess some folks aren't that lucky. By the time I was 15 I could take care of my own game. I too had to help a dude gut out a deer once above Detroit a long time ago. No problem, glad to do it. Have a good one, Kris.

Big TULE · 08-20-2006, 12:15 PM

My first was an event. I think everybody's first is an event... Hopefully an event you will never forget for good reasons.
Treating people with respect and helping them along the way if they need it is a good thing.
I bet i was a pathetic 14 year old when i shot my first deer. But thank god i didn't have a snob looking down on me. For not knowing what i was doing.

lentz · 08-20-2006, 12:39 PM

I shot my first buck when i was 13. My dad showed me how to do it and that was it. From there on out it was me and only me to gut and skin it. Dad had always told me that if you're going to shoot an animal then you better know how to take care of it. That starts from the time you pull the trigger to the time it gets into the cooler. I do understand that their are people that did not get the chance to be out their at an early age and we do need to help them out. My good friend and hunting partner is one of those people. He was raised in Iowa and moved to Oregon about 12 years ago. The first couple of time he went with me were very interesting. I can now say that i wouldn't want to many other people with me. He is a good guy and a great outdoorsman with respect for the animals, land, and other people. SO i guess that we just need to lend and helping hand where neccesary.

Cornbread · 08-20-2006, 04:36 PM

I guess I had never even thought about not knowing how to field dress and butcher an animal before I moved to Oregon.

I grew up doing it from the time I was old enough to put meat into the hand grinder and crank and then moved from there to the butchering table as I got older up to the point when I was 12 and could start hunting on my own then my Dad made me do the whole thing on my own.

When I first moved out to Oregon I was just out of the Marines and I took my best friend from the Corps out with me. I shot a deer and gutted it in the field while my friend stood there and watched because he didn't have a clue what to do.

We took it back to his Dad's place and I showed them how to skin and butcher a deer into cuts for the freezer, how to make burger and how to mix in pork fat with the burger etc.

It was then that I realized that there is a huge gap in knowlege between those of us who grew up on farms stocking our freezers with game ( and animals we raised ) and folks who grew up in the city and got into hunting later in life.

Thankfully you were there to keep this guy from ruining his meat but I wouldn't be to down on him. Some folks just weren't raised with that as a part of their upbringing. I know my friend from the Corps had always wanted to go hunting but the reason he never had was because he didn't know what to do both to get an animal and what to do after he had got it. He does now but had he gone afield before we met he would have been in the same shape as that guy you came across.

Headhunter · 08-20-2006, 06:56 PM

I can relate. The first bull...and second and third in fact were ones folk in my hunting party shot. These guys grew up in John Day hunting their entire lives and I was a 25 year old newbie from Boston. I didn't know the first thing about gutting an animal. But I did want to learn and to make sure I knew what I was doing so when the time came when I was alone, I would be prepared. These guys were more than willing to let me get up to my shoulders in elk for them...LOL. They were patient and helpful in teaching me and I was grateful. We have hunted together now for 15+ years. We all need help and compassion sometimes.

Jim

gottafish · 08-20-2006, 07:04 PM

"Pathetic hunter" I don't think a guy not knowing how to take care of a game animal warrents the Pathetic brand. more of In a learning state. face it we all have to start somewhere. I taught myself to hunt elk it was a bumpy road but I never lost an OZ. of meat. to me a "Pathetic hunter" is the guys rideing in the lawn chair in the back of a pickup locked and loaded ready for action.

StevenB · 08-20-2006, 07:34 PM

At leaset the guy he was calling for had a nice short name. "JOOOOOOOOE!!!"

My first deer took me about 2 hours to field dress. I'd only worked on rabbits before that and had learned how to hunt from magazines and books mostly.

I helped a couple of very cautious kids with a buck once. They had been at it for an hour and had a 10 inch cut through the belly skin layer. It was hard to talk the one guy through the proccess as they were rather cold from the October wind in at Hart Mt.

I finished the job after taking a few photos for them. My last photo of them was of them dragging the 4 point deer down the hill to their camp.

The next day I stopped by their camp to get their address to send some prints. I hardly recognized the two young hunters as they were acting like a couple of hot shots. (Especially as their fathers were still without a deer.) Also they were not shivering or confronted with any major problems like dressing a deer. I think if I had not come by they would've dragged the whole deer back to camp. They seemed more concerned about not messing up the deer than in getting teased for dragging back a whole deer.

kodiakfisher · 08-21-2006, 02:27 PM

My first spike elk in Mt. Emily in 1998 is a story about being very humble in my lack of experience with big game and haveing a great mentor/grandfather figure. He carefully explained to me the steps to take to gut and prepare an animal for cooling. Not really thinking I would have to do this by myself that's what hunting partners are for but paying attention out of respect.

Two days later we split up to work our way down into a canyon. Once I reached the bottom I start to step over a log and hear a crashing sound that just isn't normal in the woods and 12 elk are standing 60yds from me. I just froze and could clearly see they were very nervous as they eased past me I put the rifle up and watched 12 cows walk through my cross hairs. Not seeing anything else I started across the ravine to their location and as if a gift from God himself a lone spike ran up the trail and stopped in the only opening I quick shot and the animal stumbled another follow up shot pinned him to the ground!

Cool now what do I do, I make my way over to the elk and am standing there and I here more cracking comming my way and a very tired looking hunter starts towards me but seeing I still have my rifle in hand is respectful of the predator standing over his prey and asks if I have seen anything. I say just this one with my tag on it.

Now I start calling on the radio for help....call again for help....no answer...wait...call one more time...nothing. I'm convinced that my hunting partners are avoiding me to teach me a lesson. In my own stubborn way I threw all my stuff to the ground and decided the heck with those guys I'll do it myself. I followed the directions very carefully and it took probably about an hour. Made my way back to camp with a big smile knowing that I had done a good job with both shot and care of the animal. In fact I was so clean that it took a bit of convincing that I had an Elk down! Once everyone arrived on scene my mentor gave me the nod and a told me good job! I will never forget that day.

My point is that I was prepared to take care of an animal before ever setting foot in the field IMHO putting yourself in a situation where waste of game will likely occur is "Pathetic" IMHO, and is a crime that you could be cited for.

Kodiakfisher

ehunter · 08-21-2006, 03:05 PM

I somtimes feel frustrated with new hunters too and some guys should not be out there at all. But there is a first time for every thing and you have to learn some how . Isn't that how we learn from our mistakes. I bet they will do things different the next time or say to heck with elk hunting it is too much work. I hope they didn't waste the meat and that they learned what a job it is.

Hunting is fun the elk on the ground is plain ole fashioned work... :grin: