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Hunter profiles

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Blinginpse

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2015
Messages
1,771
With @Nutterbuster and I talking today about his podcasts and such possibly being a fruition soon its made me think a little

Is there a "hunter profile" type thread around here where folks can kinda tell about themselves and let everyone through here kinda get to know them?

Seems I seen 1 long ago but I cant remember

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 
I know I’ve seen that on the hunting beast, but don’t recall it here. Not a bad idea to know a little about the background of some of the people we take advice from though.
 
Alright @Blinginpse, I'll bite.

I'm a self professed old guy (turning 58 in a month or so) who's been hunting as long as I can remember. Whitetail have always been my passion but I've never limited myself there. I can't remember a opening day of rifle season I haven't been a part of. My dad took me to deer camp every year from the time I was about 5 and let me participate in the whole deer camp scene. Unfortunately my dad passed when I was 12. Luckily my mom recognized the interest and made sure I had someone (uncle or cousin) who could always take me to camp after that. I also was very lucky to be taken under the wing of a buddy's dad who took me bowhunting with his boys every weekend. They heated through the winter with wood so we would hunt mornings and evenings surrounded by an afternoon of cutting and hauling to build up his stock pile of winter heating wood. Him (now in his 80's), his boys, grandchildren and I are still family to this day. In fact he introduces me to people as his third son. I still laughingly accuse him of just bringing me along as a sucker willing to provide slave labor in exchange for a ride to the woods.:tearsofjoy:

I started bow hunting over 45 years ago, long before the advent of the modern hunting stands we now take so for granted. In those days you picked a tree to hunt out of by whether it was climbable and had a relatively flat branch you could stand on. If a deer happened to walk by near enough to shoot it was truly a blessing. Oh, and safety harnesses, you've got to be kidding. I've fallen out of so many trees it's a miracle I can still walk.

I grew up and have ultimately returned to the northern end of Michigan's lower peninsula, but I did spend quite a few years in the Keweenaw peninsula of Michigan (far northwest UP) while I was in college. I was there quite a while as I worked to put myself through college and living costs came before college tuition. If I'm being truly honest though, I loved it up there and wasn't anxious to leave. After college I was lucky enough to find work near enough to my home town to still be able help my still single mother when necessary but in a small town in as beautiful an area as I could hope for.

I first became a truly mobile hunter after getting frustrated with deer patterning me over my bait pile stands in the early 80s. It was frustrating that the deer knew exactly where my stand was by the time rut even started. I decided at that time to place a bait pile and leave it alone until rut so the does wouldn't pattern me earlier with the intention of hunting it at rut. In the meantime I bounced around the woods hunting random high sign areas. I soon discovered I was getting more buck chances at these random spots than I ever did over a bait pile. It wasn't long before I abandoned bait altogether.

I still remember when I first started using a climbing treestand to get more mobile. My buddies all looked at me like I had lost my mind and asked, "You're really going to lug that stand in and out every time you go to hunt? Why would you do that?" It wasn't long until they saw how well it worked. Now they all are hunting mobile out of climbers.

That bring us to now. I've been saddle hunting to some degree or another for about 6 years now. The last three seasons have been exclusively saddle hunting. These days my buddies, lugging their climbers around, look at me like I'm crazy saying "That can't possibly be comfortable". My response is always" I have two climbers hanging in my garage. If this wasn't comfortable don't you think I'd at least be using them some of the time?" Having been here before, I'm relatively sure they'll all eventually see the light.

Edit: Per Bilinginpse's request. My second bow buck, a whopping 6 pointer, circa 1979 . . . a junior in High School . . also an eternity ago.
1593742174566.png

A UP Bruin Circa 1986
1593743176088.png

A UP Buck also circa 1986
1593743261407.png

Damn, I was young then . . . . I almost don't recognize myself. :D

My Dad. Picture taken by me circa 1973, blame the photographer for cutting off the bucks rack. I was standing next to him when he shot this buck on opening morning.

1593744039992.png

And lastly, my "second Dad", Jack Sr at 80, two years ago.

1593744595613.png

I owe these two guys more than I could ever hope to repay.
 
Last edited:
boyne bowhunter said:
Alright @Blinginpse, I'll bite.

I'm a self professed old guy (turning 58 in a month or so) who's been hunting as long as I can remember. Whitetail have always been my passion but I've never limited myself there. I can't remember a opening day of rifle season I haven't been a part of. My dad took me to deer camp every year from the time I was about 5 and let me participate in the whole deer camp scene. Unfortunately my dad passed when I was 12. Luckily my mom recognized the interest and made sure I had someone (uncle or cousin) who could always take me to camp after that. I also was very lucky to be taken under the wing of a buddy's dad who took me bowhunting with his boys every weekend. They heated through the winter with wood so we would hunt mornings and evenings surrounded by an afternoon of cutting and hauling to build up his stock pile of winter heating wood. Him (now in his 80's), his boys, grandchildren and I are still family to this day. In fact he introduces me to people as his third son. I still laughingly accuse him of just bringing me along as a sucker willing to provide slave labor in exchange for a ride to the woods.:tearsofjoy:

I started bow hunting over 45 years ago, long before the advent of the modern hunting stands we now take so for granted. In those days you picked a tree to hunt out of by whether it was climbable and had a relatively flat branch you could stand on. If a deer happened to walk by near enough to shoot it was truly a blessing. Oh, and safety harnesses, you've got to be kidding. I've fallen out of so many trees it's a miracle I can still walk.

I grew up and have ultimately returned to the northern end of Michigan's lower peninsula, but I did spend quite a few years in the Keweenaw peninsula of Michigan (far northwest UP) while I was in college. I was there quite a while as I worked to put myself through college and living costs came before college tuition. If I'm being truly honest though, I loved it up there and wasn't anxious to leave. After college I was lucky enough to find work near enough to my home town to still be able help my still single mother when necessary but in a small town in as beautiful an area as I could hope for.

I first became a truly mobile hunter after getting frustrated with deer patterning me over my bait pile stands in the early 80s. It was frustrating that the deer knew exactly where my stand was by the time rut even started. I decided at that time to place a bait pile and leave it alone until rut so the does wouldn't pattern me earlier with the intention of hunting it at rut. In the meantime I bounced around the woods hunting random high sign areas. I soon discovered I was getting more buck chances at these random spots than I ever did over a bait pile. It wasn't long before I abandoned bait altogether.

I still remember when I first started using a climbing treestand to get more mobile. My buddies all looked at me like I had lost my mind and asked, "You're really going to lug that stand in and out every time you go to hunt? Why would you do that?" It wasn't long until they saw how well it worked. Now they all are hunting mobile out of climbers.

That bring us to now. I've been saddle hunting to some degree or another for about 6 years now. The last three seasons have been exclusively saddle hunting. These days my buddies, lugging their climbers around, look at me like I'm crazy saying "That can't possibly be comfortable". My response is always" I have two climbers hanging in my garage. If this wasn't comfortable don't you think I'd at least be using them some of the time?" Having been here before, I'm relatively sure they'll all eventually see the light.
Click to expand...
Pics man throw some in there

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 
Seems like this turned into the hunter profile page so I'll go next:
I'm originally from the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, born and raised. I grew up outdoors right next to a wildlife refuge hunting small game with my cousins and fishing, didn't get into larger game until older as it was cost prohibitive (I'm a food stamp and food bank kid), moose tags were expensive. I remember my dad and uncle being on the road kill list, getting phone calls from the state troopers at 2am to come pick up road kill and me and my cousins holding flashlights while they dressed it. Grew up harvesting ptarmigan, rabbits, squirrels and the like, fishing for trout, pike and salmon. Spent most of my life outdoors camping and hunting. My wife makes fun of me, she says how can you get lost in the city but find your way out of a forest blindfolded. I never intended to leave Alaska but uncle Sam had other ideas and now I live in Virginia after traveling the world and meeting new and interesting people and learning how to kill them. I got interested in saddle hunting after watching one of John's videos in YouTube. I have several properties I rotate through(I'm not rich, just blessed) that I've managed to gain permission to hunt and I had stands in every one. Well I got tired of my stands getting stolen by trespassers and/or the constant upkeep so saddle hunting really appealed. Plus, the properties I hunt have cattle and I've had several sits busted by cows that would not leave my stand site. Saddle hunting gives me the ability to pack up my crap and move if the conditions aren't right. I'm not really that mobile of a hunter but the mobility really appeals to me, I like to go in light and sneaky and banging and clanging a climber wasn't cutting it. Plus the saddle agrees with my grumpy back. So that's the cliff notes version.
 
I might as well go next. I grew up in northern germany and there was not a big hunting culture,at least none that I was exposed to. I grew up in the countryside and roamed the woods as a kid. I also did archery in a club for several years.
I moved to the states in my mid twenties and over the years some friends and neighbors gave me some venison here and there. Well,I really liked that.
So about 10 years ago i decided to get my own,and thought it was going to be easy,i saw deer around all the time. Let's just say my first season was humbling. I had a 12 gauge shotgun that i was not very fond of. That thing kicked like a mule.
Then a friend took me under his wing and I learned how to gut and butcher a deer from him. I also bought an in line muzzleloader from him that is much nicer to shoot than that 12 gauge. So I retired that and hinted with the muzzleloader for several years,still do. But then I got into bowhunting,and that is when I got really obsessed.
That journey continues and I am trying to learn as much as I can and this will be my first year hunting public and I hope that will teach me some things. I have my own property and some friends land to hunt as well. Big bucks have been safe from me so far,but I hope to change that.
I do enjoy the venison a lot,so I have been practicing my archery skills on does. I think the saddle will be a big help for me as my climber weighed 30#. No scouting or sneaking with that on my back.
 
I’m 55 and grew up hunting in a hunting family. I think these two pictures of my dad will answer the rest.

1975.....

25ae8d1025e6f9c73af1d0521fa707bb.jpg


2019.....

4251fe9a2b5d3ccaae62ab0d38ea07d6.jpg


Everything in between was filled with deer camps in SC....

34624b17ef1aa97095d143da6429132a.jpg


7a30f61022e73934126b2dc594f676b3.jpg


Ohio....

2645608176c4017c336ddf65df9e08c6.jpg


Michigan....

2453f5692bc618b466efaa4a7d80bb3e.jpg


Montana....

4313f89d749c8d1d061a3f7a1a3d8581.jpg


You get the picture
 
Name is Ronnie. I’m a high school English teacher, head varsity baseball coach, and OC for the varsity football team. I graduated HS in ‘07, and played college baseball for Illinois State. I played 2nd base and short stop.
D9F15948-8EFD-4083-8135-58AEFDF4641E.jpeg
I grew up in the church. I thank my parents often for that. I’m a Christian man who loves Jesus. I got a little wild in college, and my identity was NOT in Christ. It was in baseball. I was a baseball player. My priorities were so jacked up, but thank God for his grace!

I have two younger brothers. One is an electrician—has 4 kids under the age of 4...and he wants more! Says he wants 10–he’s psychotic. He was a pitcher in college. Pitched for Maplewoods CC and transferred to Northern Illinois. My youngest brother sells insurance. He pitched in college as well at SEMO.
09FAA66B-A9B2-4B34-9249-40210DE59AC6.jpeg
I’m currently working on my Masters Degree in Administration. I don’t believe I want to be an administrator currently, but would like to have the option to choose that route down the road if I want.

My passion now is bow hunting. I love working on bows and tuning them. I just recently got into the saddle game last year and had a blast learning. Excited to kill one out of it this year!
C8729EA9-FD94-4556-BEAE-3953382205E8.jpeg
 
Ill get in on this...
Born in Germany (US parents stationed abroad). Parents divorced early on, so basically raised by a single mom. I grew up in the "projects", one of only 3 white kids in a predominantly black neighborhood and schools. Dropped out of school in the 9th grade and went to work. I did about everything. Always had a drive to hunt, even in the neighborhood, I spent a lot of time in the little patch of woods (maybe a 1/4 acre drainage creek woodline) looking for animals. Rats, cats, dogs, squirbles. Didnt kill them, but loved to find them. It wasnt until I met my girlfriends (now wife of 31 years) dad that I actually started learning about hunting. He was a hunt club/dog runner guy. While I loved being in the woods, I hated the idea of just shooting at deer running by, so broke into archery and actual hunting. Been going strong ever since.
Always been a tinkerer. I was that kid who took everything apart. Then I moved on to making my own stuff. I started into traditional archery, making bows, arrows, etc. Im pretty sure I had (have) ADD as a kid. It just wasnt a thing yet.
Wasnt headed anywhere when I turned 17, so I did what we do and joined the Army as a tank Mechanic. Had to get my GED first! Got married and had folks depending on me so I figured I needed something a little more marketable ( there are no corner tank repair shops), so I volunteered for Explosive Ordnance Disposal. Perfect job for a person that likes to take things apart! Did that for 11 years (14 years total Military) and the family found ourselves at Pine Bluff Arkansas. Had an opportunity to do the same thing (only not being shot at) as a contractor. Ben doing that ever since.
I still have a hard time focusing on any one thing at 50. I always have several projects going, and a drive to make and use my own equipment. Its not because I have a dislike for any particular brand, but I just get more our of my own stuff. Plus, after the initial investment, I can try any design that comes out, and some of my own. Since I started saddle hunting, ive been on a mission to try everything I can!
 
Blinginpse said:
With @Nutterbuster and I talking today about his podcasts and such possibly being a fruition soon its made me think a little

Is there a "hunter profile" type thread around here where folks can kinda tell about themselves and let everyone through here kinda get to know them?

Seems I seen 1 long ago but I cant remember

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
If there was a thread like that some dairy farmer probably posted a side profile pic wearing nothing but a saddle and the whole thread got deleted.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Alright @Blinginpse, I'll bite.

I'm a self professed old guy (turning 58 in a month or so) who's been hunting as long as I can remember. Whitetail have always been my passion but I've never limited myself there. I can't remember a opening day of rifle season I haven't been a part of. My dad took me to deer camp every year from the time I was about 5 and let me participate in the whole deer camp scene. Unfortunately my dad passed when I was 12. Luckily my mom recognized the interest and made sure I had someone (uncle or cousin) who could always take me to camp after that. I also was very lucky to be taken under the wing of a buddy's dad who took me bowhunting with his boys every weekend. They heated through the winter with wood so we would hunt mornings and evenings surrounded by an afternoon of cutting and hauling to build up his stock pile of winter heating wood. Him (now in his 80's), his boys, grandchildren and I are still family to this day. In fact he introduces me to people as his third son. I still laughingly accuse him of just bringing me along as a sucker willing to provide slave labor in exchange for a ride to the woods.:tearsofjoy:

I started bow hunting over 45 years ago, long before the advent of the modern hunting stands we now take so for granted. In those days you picked a tree to hunt out of by whether it was climbable and had a relatively flat branch you could stand on. If a deer happened to walk by near enough to shoot it was truly a blessing. Oh, and safety harnesses, you've got to be kidding. I've fallen out of so many trees it's a miracle I can still walk.

I grew up and have ultimately returned to the northern end of Michigan's lower peninsula, but I did spend quite a few years in the Keweenaw peninsula of Michigan (far northwest UP) while I was in college. I was there quite a while as I worked to put myself through college and living costs came before college tuition. If I'm being truly honest though, I loved it up there and wasn't anxious to leave. After college I was lucky enough to find work near enough to my home town to still be able help my still single mother when necessary but in a small town in as beautiful an area as I could hope for.

I first became a truly mobile hunter after getting frustrated with deer patterning me over my bait pile stands in the early 80s. It was frustrating that the deer knew exactly where my stand was by the time rut even started. I decided at that time to place a bait pile and leave it alone until rut so the does wouldn't pattern me earlier with the intention of hunting it at rut. In the meantime I bounced around the woods hunting random high sign areas. I soon discovered I was getting more buck chances at these random spots than I ever did over a bait pile. It wasn't long before I abandoned bait altogether.

I still remember when I first started using a climbing treestand to get more mobile. My buddies all looked at me like I had lost my mind and asked, "You're really going to lug that stand in and out every time you go to hunt? Why would you do that?" It wasn't long until they saw how well it worked. Now they all are hunting mobile out of climbers.

That bring us to now. I've been saddle hunting to some degree or another for about 6 years now. The last three seasons have been exclusively saddle hunting. These days my buddies, lugging their climbers around, look at me like I'm crazy saying "That can't possibly be comfortable". My response is always" I have two climbers hanging in my garage. If this wasn't comfortable don't you think I'd at least be using them some of the time?" Having been here before, I'm relatively sure they'll all eventually see the light.

Edit: Per Bilinginpse's request. My second bow buck, a whopping 6 pointer, circa 1979 . . . a junior in High School . . also an eternity ago.
View attachment 29633

A UP Bruin Circa 1986
View attachment 29634

A UP Buck also circa 1986
View attachment 29635

Damn, I was young then . . . . I almost don't recognize myself. :D

My Dad. Picture taken by me circa 1973, blame the photographer for cutting off the bucks rack. I was standing next to him when he shot this buck on opening morning.

View attachment 29636

And lastly, my "second Dad", Jack Sr at 80, two years ago.

View attachment 29637

I owe these two guys more than I could ever hope to repay.
Click to expand...
Those are some great photos. If you don't mind my asking, where does the "Boyne" come from in your name?
 
EricS said:
If there was a thread like that some dairy farmer probably posted a side profile pic wearing nothing but a saddle and the whole thread got deleted.
Click to expand...
Possibly where it went hahaha

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 
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