How Well Do You Know Your Sport?

[singlemalt]

Interesting thread, I have been chasing birds with a gun in my hand for 50 years now and my approach has certainly changed but I feel it has more to do with my stage in life rather than the times we live in. I worked in the outdoor industry all of my career and keenly observed trends and what was going on.

What I learned applies to almost all outdoor pursuits from big game hunting to fishing (and maybe more in life).

Stage 1 - We are introduced to the sport, most often by family but it can be friends. During this stage it is mostly about the relationship with the people you are enjoying it with. I am sure most on here have happy memories of fishing with a father or grandfather. You probably hardly remember what you caught but you were happy they wanted to spend time with you.

Stage 2 - If the pursuit catches on with you, you try and get better. You seek to learn how to have success on your own. You read some magazines, go to the sportsman's show and start to buy your own equipment.

Stage 3 - It becomes all about the numbers. You just want to catch fish, shoot birds, whatever. Numbers is way more important than quality. You need to practice what you have recently learned and improve your technique.

Stage 4 - You become competitive. You want to test your newfound skills against others to prove to them and yourselves how "good' you are and demonstrate to others how you have mastered this game which has become so important to you.

Stage 5- You move beyond competition and on to quality. You move to things like fly fishing, only pursuing trophy muskie, only shooting 200+ deer, only shooting over point whatever you define to yourself as "quality".

Stage 6 - You become more reflective and the harvest becomes much less the focus than the experience. Your memory bank is full of great days, full limits and trophies. You no longer need to prove yourself. You no longer need to fill the bag to have a great day. You just want to be out, participate and reconnect with the sport that has brought you so much joy. In this stage you can happily woodcock hunt with a blank pistol, sit in a duck blind just to watch birds come in or watch trout rise in a stream.

The problem is something like the "Stages of Grief" many are familiar with, is there is no way 90% of people ever get to Stage 6 without going through all the others. I clearly remember how frustrated I was hunting with my father and a couple of his old buddies in the last few years of his life. They were all clearly in Stage 6 while I was still in 3 or 4 and wanted to see results. They were content to shuffle along, puff their pipes and tell stories about the old days.

With this in mind I am very supportive about practicing restraint however I think we need to be careful about not being to "preachy" about it. If the sport and the resource is going to survive we need young people getting involved and we can't expect them to jump in at stage 6. They will need to go through the process.

One of my greatest passions is waterfowl hunting. Yet almost any TV show about it makes my skin crawl with loud tattooed young studs who only shoot fields, call to much, High 5 and whoop it up over ever dead bird and stack them like cordwood in the back of a pick-up. It makes me want to puke. On the other hand I remind myself It is much better for waterfowl that they are at least interested and.... they will grow out of it.

[Tim Tufts]

Well written. Should be published and become required reading for all of us in and interested in the sports.

[krakadawn]

Hey that's a great write Singlemalt, start to finish.

I have to admit that my 'skin crawls' as well watching any of the current waterfowling videos if that's what you can call them. For me the biggest issue is seeing dogs in motion. People shooting, birds falling and retrievers already moving......a sad situation. These folks have no idea what a non slip retriever looks like and by condoning this demonstrate a total ignorance of dog training and a total lack of observing some rudiments of dog safety. Sadly they don't know that they don't know!

I can tell you when my dog is retrieving the shooting is done.

[singlemalt]

Hey that's a great write Singlemalt, start to finish.

I have to admit that my 'skin crawls' as well watching any of the current waterfowling videos if that's what you can call them. For me the biggest issue is seeing dogs in motion. People shooting, birds falling and retrievers already moving......a sad situation. These folks have no idea what a non slip retriever looks like and by condoning this demonstrate a total ignorance of dog training and a total lack of observing some rudiments of dog safety. Sadly they don't know that they don't know!

I can tell you when my dog is retrieving the shooting is done.

My thinking and training as well. I shoot a lot of open water divers and a dog half way out to a strong swimming cripple before he is sent usually results in a lost bird. By the time you can reload he has chased the bird out of the decoys and is too close to the duck to shoot it again. He will chase it diving for a couple of hundred yards until he loses it or gives up. Once in a while they get lucky and catch them but in deep water, big waves and strong cripple 80% of the time it ends up a lost bird.

With a steady dog, after the shots, I can stand on the boat seat assess the situation and if it needs it shoot the bird again before I send the dog.... 80% of the time a bird in hand.

[Sharon]

Such an excellent first post singlematt! I was thinking about that when I read Ugo's first post. I'm at stage 6 but few people still can understand why I enjoy getting out on birds with the setter when I can't shoot anymore.

[singlemalt]

Good for you Sharon, I completely understand. What I think is interesting about my observation on the Stages we go through is how much it has to do with “context”. If I honestly appraise myself I believe I have achieved Level 6 in Fishing, Upland and Waterfowl. However I am maybe a 5 on Turkey and way back at a 2 or 3 on Big Game. Even though I have hunted deer for over 40 years it has never really engaged me like bird hunting so I am all about filling the freezer and “if it’s brown it’s down”, so I can get back to the marsh or lake.

[sidelock]

I'm enlightened by what I've been reading in this tread ! Back in October of 2016 I commented on a Vermillion Bay grouse hunt tread about a hunting party killing 84 grouse in four days and half the members in this community jumped down my throat. Are times a changing ?

[finsfurfeathers]

Don't think it was the message but the medium. One thing to be self reflective another to be preachy and condescending.

[yellow dog]

Great post singlemalt and should be published in an outdoor magazine ! Personally I enjoy the dog training owner handler relationship in the field. Filling a bird quota has never been my thing and have passed that onto my children while hunting with them over the years. I get so excited watching my dogs work in the field knowing that I participated in their training using humane methods. I watch very few hunting tv shows for that same reason or Youtube videos piling up the ducks or geese on the back of the tailgate. Nothing better than sitting in a duck blind with a cup of coffee at Rondeau Bay with my lab watching the ducks fly by. If I miss a shot, oh well ....more will follow.

[be2man]

Great post singlemalt and should be published in an outdoor magazine !

Yes, could be subconsciously based on the much used "stages of hunter development" in hunter education courses?


https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hun...ing/six-stages

https://1source.basspro.com/index.ph...ch-one-are-you