We are running a piece in the Fall issue of OOD on building patience while angling and hunting and we'd like to hear from you. What do you do on the water or in a ground blind or tree stand to keep focused and from packing up early?
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We are running a piece in the Fall issue of OOD on building patience while angling and hunting and we'd like to hear from you. What do you do on the water or in a ground blind or tree stand to keep focused and from packing up early?
Patience for me is a bye product of simply having time, that is the element missing in life today for almost all of us. Being retired I now don,t pack it in until I get extremely bored or my backside gets to sore.
I’ve always just enjoyed being out there alive & taking it all in . Now that I’m retired I even enjoy more cause no 8 hr work day . It’s called fishing not catching & hunting not killing . Relax & enjoy .
Hardest part for many people when it comes to having patience today, is that they don't have to wait for anything.
They also do not realize that there is a period of time, from when you enter an area, till wildlife goes back to a normalish routine.
It's like trying to catch fish, but first you have to throw a huge stone in the middle of the pond. The mud and ripples are going to be around for awhile, cast your line, sit down and relax. Nothing is going to happen for a long time.
Being dressed for the weather conditions.
Being set up as comfortable as possible.
Belly full of food, not feeling hungry. Packing in lunch, snacks.
Having confidence in your setup.
Sitting or standing comfortably, then - listening to the forest,trying to catch the sound of a deer sneaking by, enjoying the hum of the fall forest,breathing in the smells of autumn,feeling the sun on my skin(where applicable)thinking about life,past ,present,hunts, successes ,failures...anything goes.
Then listening again ,then listening again.
Meanwhile not move,just sit and enjoy.
Works for me,i hunt mostly inside bush and forest,but where applicable,i also scan and scan and scan again and again the whole area for deer.
Busy mind brings lots of patience.
Having confidence in your hunting location to sit it out as a result of your scouting and previous hunting experiences.
I have a lot of patience but I can't sit still for too long so I limit my sitting time when it comes to deer hunting. Most of my deer/turkey hunting time is still hunting. Passing the time while still hunting goes by fast (even though you may only be moving at a snails pace). If you are confident in what you are doing it makes waiting or sneaking up to game (any wildlife) fun/exciting and pretty cool.
Being comfortable is most important which means you need a plan. That means being dressed for the weather, having a comfortable chair, having snacks/water and if doing long sits having something to pass the time (ie a book to read). I also pass time by glassing with binos, recording notes in my hunting log book (i.e. Weather, wildlife observations with times, making maps of the property, documenting landmarks and yardage from the stand etc.).
I pre-determine what time I want to leave the stand and do not leave till the watch reaches that exact minute. Train myself not to leave even one second early, watching the last 10 seconds count down.
The hardest part of every season is learning how to sit still again. 2 one week attempts to decompress from the other 50 weeks.