Hunter profiles

[briand60]

Hi I'm Brian, I'll be 60 in a few weeks and this will be my first season in a saddle. This post season I got a Phantom, Helium sticks and some WE Steps.

Born and raised in Southern NJ and Delaware. Moved to North West NJ in 96 and started to learn about bow hunting then. My hunting mentors were the "this is your spot, hang a stand, drop some corn and come back every Saturday" crowd. Grew up fishing but was never part of a hunting family. I did own a stick bow as a kid and loved to shoot. Back in the early 80's I was into rock climbing, when I read John's book about 15 years ago it was like a worm in my head that wouldn't go away but since I never knew anyone with a saddle it took a long time to do something about it.

Last season I discovered THP, G2, Catman then Infalt and onX and I feel that after 20 years I am just learning to hunt. This post season I spent more time scouting than I ever have combined in the last 20 years. I so appreciate and envy those of you that grew up in a hunting enviroment.

Only ever hunted public land in NJ. In the late 90's and early 2000's I was a commercial fly tier for saltwater flies. in 2002 I won some nice awards and I have been published in several magazines and books. I was very fortunate and I have fished all over the US and in several other countries.

Bow hunting Whitetail is where my passion is. I hunt with a muzzle loader during firearms and late season. I build my own arrows and do most of my own bow work. The woods are where I find peace and solitude (even though in NJ you can always hear cars and planes).

Spent my entire adult life in the concert lighting business. Fall is always the busiest time of year for me. Sadly my industry is completely gone right now so I will have more time in the woods this season.

 

[HuntNorthEast]

Well here goes nothing.

I'm Derek, 29, father of 1 and another on the way, same ol lady since high school (12 years). Pipefitter Supervisor at the shipyard up here in Maine.


I come from a long line of hardcore deer hunters. My father was the first one to care about something besides the freezer. His passion for big bucks passed onto me, and back to the freezer missions he went. I on the other hand, use doe tags to fill the freezer and wait for a decent buck later in the season.

My dad introduced me to the outdoors at a young age. Started with trapping, killed my first coyote at 5 years old in a trap with a .22 mag revolver. At 6, I got a .410 and started wreaking havoc on woodcock and squirrels. At 10 (the legal deer hunting age for Maine at the time), I was full blown deer hunter. I had always been around hunting, trapping and fishing. I grew up having pet raccoons, foxes, etc. due to the fact that my father was a trapper and ran into these kinds of things...

My true passion for hunting came about around 24 years old. I finally was making good money to be able to afford to take some time off, buy nice gear and go! 2012 I shot a wide 9, around 130" and 23 inches wide on the inside, that got me warm. The fever came in 2016...

The morning of Nov. 17th 2016 my dad called me before I hit the woods, he told me today was the day for me to kill a big buck for my grandfather, it was the 1 year anniversary of his passing. 7 Hours later I shot the buck that is my profile picture, 137" 10 pointer (My biggest to date). I know he was looking down smiling, after talking with my dad and sharing the experience, the hook was set.


I enjoy the pursuit, the tactical chess match, the time spent in solitude, the memories with friends and family while afield and the reward of a full freezer! Sometimes hunting, isn't about hunting at all.


Now that my addiction is in full swing I am starting to film, travel to other states, get more people involved and get more involved in the hunting community. Some of my friends and myself have a YouTube channel, that link is below if you get bored.

 

[HuntNorthEast]

Back to the top - Good thread that needs more attention...

Agreed

 

[fbwguy]

My Name is Mike and I’m a Hunt-a-holic. I’m 52. Born and raised in the Berkshire mountains of Western Massachusetts. I was raised shooting guns and bows, but my dad was not a hunter. He only shoots targets. We spent a lot of time together shooting and trout fishing the New England mountain streams. I really wanted to learn to hunt so my mom's best friend’s husband took me under his wing. They only had daughters so he was happy to teach and train me.
When I was 14, I shot my first(and largest) deer with an 20 gauge double that had been passed down from my Great Grandfather. It was a fine 12 point and I was hooked for life. When I was 17 I joined the Army and became a Helicopter Crew Chief. Spent a lot of time in the south and decided I fit in better down here. After 10 years of service and many deployments, I decided that I didn’t want to miss out on watching my 2 kids grow, so I started life as a civilian in Texas. After killing a lot of Texas Hill Country Deer, we moved to Arkansas for work. There is a lot of Aviation here without needing to be in a big city environment. Great rural country to raise kids and enjoy the outdoors. I’ve been in Arkansas since 1996 and hunt and fish year round with both my adult kids and my faithful hunting/fishing partner, My Wife of 30 years.
I’ve been saddle hunting for 3 seasons and can’t believe how much it’s changed and improved my success.
What can I say... great wife, great kids, great job and the freedom to spend a lot of time enjoying Creation. I’m truly blessed.

 

[elk yinzer]

Joe, 32. Originally from Butler, PA. Currently live near State College with my awesome wife and daughter (4) and son (2). I'm a CPA and recently left public accounting and changed industries, I am essentially a controller at a sort-of startup and wear whatever hats the day calls for.

One of my first memories is seeing a 7 point buck my dad brought home when I was 3 that is still burned into my memory. It was a basket rack that at the time might as well have been the world record. I grew up immersed in hunting, in a weekend warrior sort of way. Extended family have a camp in northern Butler County where most of my childhood hunting memories happened. We mostly hunted the nearby public land and I continue to hunt virtually 100% public to this day.

My pap especially spent a ton of time with my brother and I as kids but my dad was a big influence as well as an uncle and a few cousins. Learned a lot of skills just running the woods and hunting groundhogs with him. I had pretty good success early and killed bucks my first 6 years with a couple decent ones mixed in. My little brother always killed bigger bucks than I have, he has a couple 140-150 class to his name. My 3 best are all in the 120-130 range and I have several in the tier below that. That said, he's the only hunter I compare myself too. Brother rivalries transcend all sorts of things.

I went on a big elk kick in my 20's that honestly, I am a little bit over, at least temporarily.

I've done the run-and-gun public deal my entire hunting life so it was kinda inevitable I would eventually end up in a saddle. Started with a Loggy Bayou climber, moved to Summit a few years later. Rocked an RC harness I think before it was even on the internets, I started doing that in 2004 I believe, I was still in high school. Never really considered myself an innovator, it's not me, we just had a climbing roto in high school PE and I was like, holy eff, this makes too much sense to be true?

I hunted a lot in college at PSU and scheduled my fall classes to have days off. After that I got a job in DC that demanded 80 hour weeks in the fall, did that for two years, and said never again will work own my azz.

Several years back finally conquered the hang-and-hunt. I had a longtime awareness of saddles dating back to OG Trophyline, but always thought
ROS was and is the dumbest thing since unsliced bread. The next season on this very website I started to see some DIY saddle platform innovations that finally were the #gamechanger that made me jump over.

I've gone through several stages as a hunter and right now I am really just feeling an "enjoy the process" sort of stage. I consider myself kind of a high-level weekend warrior.

I'm scent control agnostic, worship no false hunting idols, and I believe youtube, facebook and instagram are probably the worst things to happen to hunting in the past 10,000 years. Amen.

I like fishing just about equally as much, that occupies me from March to August when hunting takes over then I scout a lot until fishing starts again. Grew up fishing a lot of local lakes in Western PA. Got more into Lake Erie walleyes when I moved back after college and that pretty much ruins the inland fishing but I putz around here once in awhile in between my weekend trips to the big pond.

I still play a little adult league baseball, scratching an itch that never when away when I quit playing in high school (mostly because it cut into fishing too much). I grew up golfing a lot and at one point was scratch, but I hardly play anymore. Other than that I am pretty boring, I like to cook/eat/drink beer, on top of that, owning a house and having a family seems to take up the remainder of my free time at the moment.

Couple photos

First bow buck deer, full awkward stage

Family trophy room

Favorite hunting photo of all time

This is dingus, no her real name is Willow, my first and last dog

 

[HuntNorthEast]

Joe, 32. Originally from Butler, PA. Currently live near State College with my awesome wife and daughter (4) and son (2). I'm a CPA and recently left public accounting and changed industries, I am essentially a controller at a sort-of startup and wear whatever hats the day calls for.

One of my first memories is seeing a 7 point buck my dad brought home when I was 3 that is still burned into my memory. It was a basket rack that at the time might as well have been the world record. I grew up immersed in hunting, in a weekend warrior sort of way. Extended family have a camp in northern Butler County where most of my childhood hunting memories happened. We mostly hunted the nearby public land and I continue to hunt virtually 100% public to this day.

My pap especially spent a ton of time with my brother and I as kids but my dad was a big influence as well as an uncle and a few cousins. Learned a lot of skills just running the woods and hunting groundhogs with him. I had pretty good success early and killed bucks my first 6 years with a couple decent ones mixed in. My little brother always killed bigger bucks than I have, he has a couple 140-150 class to his name. My 3 best are all in the 120-130 range and I have several in the tier below that. That said, he's the only hunter I compare myself too. Brother rivalries transcend all sorts of things.

I went on a big elk kick in my 20's that honestly, I am a little bit over, at least temporarily.

I've done the run-and-gun public deal my entire hunting life so it was kinda inevitable I would eventually end up in a saddle. Started with a Loggy Bayou climber, moved to Summit a few years later. Rocked an RC harness I think before it was even on the internets, I started doing that in 2004 I believe, I was still in high school. Never really considered myself an innovator, it's not me, we just had a climbing roto in high school PE and I was like, holy eff, this makes too much sense to be true?

I hunted a lot in college at PSU and scheduled my fall classes to have days off. After that I got a job in DC that demanded 80 hour weeks in the fall, did that for two years, and said never again will work own my azz.

Several years back finally conquered the hang-and-hunt. I had a longtime awareness of saddles dating back to OG Trophyline, but always thought
ROS was and is the dumbest thing since unsliced bread. The next season on this very website I started to see some DIY saddle platform innovations that finally were the #gamechanger that made me jump over.

I've gone through several stages as a hunter and right now I am really just feeling an "enjoy the process" sort of stage. I consider myself kind of a high-level weekend warrior.

I'm scent control agnostic, worship no false hunting idols, and I believe youtube, facebook and instagram are probably the worst things to happen to hunting in the past 10,000 years. Amen.

I like fishing just about equally as much, that occupies me from March to August when hunting takes over then I scout a lot until fishing starts again. Grew up fishing a lot of local lakes in Western PA. Got more into Lake Erie walleyes when I moved back after college and that pretty much ruins the inland fishing but I putz around here once in awhile in between my weekend trips to the big pond.

I still play a little adult league baseball, scratching an itch that never when away when I quit playing in high school (mostly because it cut into fishing too much). I grew up golfing a lot and at one point was scratch, but I hardly play anymore. Other than that I am pretty boring, I like to cook/eat/drink beer, on top of that, owning a house and having a family seems to take up the remainder of my free time at the moment.

Couple photos

First bow buck

Family trophy room

Still laughing about the ROS comment and could not agree more.

 

[HuntNorthEast]

TTT, great to hear people's stories!

 

[redsquirrel]

My name's Zach. I was born and raised in suburban New Jersey. Grew up in a town that was full of kids my age and spent every day outside fishing, riding bikes, playing street hockey, football, and causing whatever mischief we could. I was always interested in bows and arrows. Me and my buddies would build bows out of weeping willow branches and arrows out of forsythia and try to shoot unsuspecting backyard rabbits and squirrels. When i was about 12 my mom took me to the sportsmen's center to pick out a new fishing rod for my birthday. Slightly to her dismay, I picked out a barnett youth compound bow instead. I still have that bow today and just recently set it up for bow fishing.

Once i got to high school my interests changed to girls and partying only. I didn't think about bow hunting again until a few years ago after listening to an episode of the Joe Rogan podcast with Steve Rinella. I went out and bought a bow that week, started scouted local public land, listening to podcasts, reading forums, books etc. I had been hunting for less than a month when I shot my first buck from 5 yards sitting on the ground, and became completely addicted to hunting whitetails at that moment. Now it's about all i think about from June-March (April and May are for striper fishing).

Edit: I've never hunted from a tree stand. I use a sit-drag/RC harness, or the jx3. I do plan on picking up a hang-on stand just to give it a try. This site has really helped flattened the learning curve for me and I'm super grateful for that!


Pics: A few public land bucks I've shot, all from the ground with my bow. And some striped bass.View attachment 29646View attachment 29647View attachment 29648View attachment 29649View attachment 29650

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

Too bad the sportsman center closed. And the old Harry's moved and isn't close to what it was. I made many trips there with my dad in my youth.

 

[OspreyZB]

Too bad the sportsman center closed. And the old Harry's moved and isn't close to what it was. I made many trips there with my dad in my youth.

Yeah definitely a shame. We lost all the good shops. Sportsmen's, Harry's, Ron's, Brunswick sports. It's sad that the only place kids growing up around here now can go to buy a dozen nightcrawlers is Walmart. If you guys have a good local shop support them!!!

 

[knightwyrm]

My name is Jason and I was born and raised in central Wisconsin. I grew up tagging along on hunts with my dad, grandpa, and uncles since I was 6 years old. Back then (late 70's / early 80's), bow hunting was more of a curiosity vs the magical splendor that was/is the 9-day Wisconsin gun season. Although I'd much rather bow hunt vs gun hunt now, opening day of the gun season still stirs up a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings and memories. In our family, the tradition was that your first season behind the gun required you to use a turn of the century 16ga side-by-side. I think it may have weighed more than I did at 12. The right barrel was reasonably accurate out to 75 yards, but it was anyone's guess where the slug went after leaving the left barrel. My first opening day (1983) was cold and rainy, but when the rain stopped I was very fortunate to take one of my biggest bucks to date just before closing time.

A year later my folks divorced, and being the oldest of 3 boys I was the default man of the house for my mom, pushing hunting to the back seat a bit. High school sports (football, basketball, baseball) then took up much of my free time. After which came college, along with its plethora of distractions and multiple jobs to pay for tuition.

I graduated college as a software developer and got my first job with a Chicago-based consultancy, requiring me to travel a lot. I married my college sweetheart not long after I was hired, and then I found out we were going to be parents soon after that. Even with all these other commitments (school, job, burgeoning family) I always found time to spend at least a few days every season in the public land woods/swamps behind my grandparent’s house with my dad, though much less than I wanted.

We moved to SE Wisconsin so my wife could be closer to her family in 1999 when my daughters were young, giving me the opportunity to hunt new but limited public ground compared to where I grew up. After 12 years on the road, I found a job in the Milwaukee area so as to focus more on my family. The job change also let me get more involved with my daughters sports interests, including softball, tennis, and soccer.

Now that my daughters are grown for the most part, I’ve re-kindled my passion for deer hunting. Over the last few years I’ve spent many more days/hours in the woods putting boots to the ground in searching out new spots that are a bit less traveled. I’ve taken several bucks over the last 37 years, but nothing much bigger than my first one. Recently, I’ve been challenging myself to put the work in to hunt more mature deer and I’ve had some close encounters with a couple 140-150 class animals. I’ve yet to close the deal, but it’s been a lot of fun.

My first buck (my hair isn't quite that red anymore)...

 

[YotaboyPatrick]

My names Patrick, born and raised in upstate Sc, I'm 19. My dad did very little hunting as a teen then when I was about 10 I finally convinced him to take me hunting. Im 95% self taught read evey magazine and watched evey youtub video about how to hunt.
Im extremely addictive to hunting to say the least.
Got a .22 at 12 then got a 12ga at 13 Shot 100s of squirrels before I shot my first deer at 14. Started bow hunting at 16 and started hunting mountainous public land at 17 in search of a monster. To say the least I have been extremely blessed/ got lucky with a good start. So far I've shot 6 deer with a bow 7 with a gun. Started hunting public land at 17 and got into saddle hunting.
First deer at 14. Rifle

2nd deer at 15. Rifle
3rd deer was my first bow kill.

Age 16

Also 16


Age 17 bow

Age 18 first deer out of a saddle.


Finally shot the monster I was looking for in the mountains.
have also got into turkey hunting the past two years this is the 2nd bird I've killed on public land.

 

[fbwguy]

My names Patrick, born and raised in upstate Sc, I'm 19. My dad did very little hunting as a teen then when I was about 10 I finally convinced him to take me hunting. Im 95% self taught read evey magazine and watched evey youtub video about how to hunt.
Im extremely addictive to hunting to say the least.
Got a .22 at 12 then got a 12ga at 13 Shot 100s of squirrels before I shot my first deer at 14. Started bow hunting at 16 and started hunting mountainous public land at 17 in search of a monster. To say the least I have been extremely blessed/ got lucky with a good start. So far I've shot 6 deer with a bow 7 with a gun. Started hunting public land at 17 and got into saddle hunting.View attachment 32109
First deer at 14. Rifle
View attachment 32110
2nd deer at 15. Rifle
3rd deer was my first bow kill.
View attachment 32112
Age 16
View attachment 32113
Also 16

View attachment 32116
Age 17 bow
View attachment 32118
Age 18 first deer out of a saddle.

View attachment 32119
Finally shot the monster I was looking for in the mountains.
View attachment 32122 have also got into turkey hunting the past two years this is the 2nd bird I've killed on public land.

Good to have young men like you on the forum!!!!!
Keeping hunting alive

 

[HuntNorthEast]

TTT