• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

The Shame Thread

This is going to be painful, but hopefully cathartic…

I joined a friend’s hunt club in December 2022. 13 months ago. $1800/year.

I don’t even know where it is.

I have been working 60-80 hours/week for over the last year. I worked Thanksgiving and Christmas day. I have had 3 days off in 2023 and one was to take care of my wife the day of her colonoscopy. I turn 54 tomorrow. If I can make it to 60, I can take early retirement. I don’t see work slowing down in the near future, but you never know. I go back and forth on whether I should stick it out or look for something with a better balance.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
mtsrunner said:
This is going to be painful, but hopefully cathartic…

I joined a friend’s hunt club in December 2022. 13 months ago. $1800/year.

I don’t even know where it is.

I have been working 60-80 hours/week for over the last year. I worked Thanksgiving and Christmas day. I have had 3 days off in 2023 and one was to take care of my wife the day of her colonoscopy. I turn 54 tomorrow. If I can make it to 60, I can take early retirement. I don’t see work slowing down in the near future, but you never know. I go back and forth on whether I should stick it out or look for something with a better balance.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sheesh man. 3 days off in a year is not a good way to take care of yourself
 
mtsrunner said:
This is going to be painful, but hopefully cathartic…

I joined a friend’s hunt club in December 2022. 13 months ago. $1800/year.

I don’t even know where it is.

I have been working 60-80 hours/week for over the last year. I worked Thanksgiving and Christmas day. I have had 3 days off in 2023 and one was to take care of my wife the day of her colonoscopy. I turn 54 tomorrow. If I can make it to 60, I can take early retirement. I don’t see work slowing down in the near future, but you never know. I go back and forth on whether I should stick it out or look for something with a better balance.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I'm only 37 but I did 6-7 days a week for the first 10 years. If you can swing it, you won't miss working like that. I've been very fortunate to end up making more than the I did at the job I left within a year or two. Very fortunate indeed. But you won't miss living at work!
 
Last edited:
BackSpasm said:
Sheesh man. 3 days off in a year is not a good way to take care of yourself
Click to expand...

Yeah I know. I went through about a 3 week period where I threw up at least once every day. Before that, I had thrown up once in the last 25 years. In the last couple of weeks I have been making my boss deal with my customers when the issue is due to corporate inadequacies (backorders, pricing discrepancies, etc). It has helped with my stress level. I think my boss senses that I’m nearing the end of my rope and he is trying not to lose me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Horn said:
I'm only 37 but I did 6-7 days a week for the first 10 years. If you can swing it, you won't miss working like that. I've been very fortunate to end up making more than the I did at the job I left within a year or two. Very found indeed. But you won't miss living at work!
Click to expand...

That’s awesome. It takes guts to make a move like that, but that’s the catch. I have made a lot of money (I’m 100% commission). If I can keep this up for 6 more years and not die, I anticipate really being able to enjoy retirement.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
mtsrunner said:
That’s awesome. It takes guts to make a move like that, but that’s the catch. I have made a lot of money (I’m 100% commission). If I can keep this up for 6 more years and not die, I anticipate really being able to enjoy retirement.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

6 years is a big toll to put on your body and mind my friend. Don’t want to destroy yourself and not be able to enjoy post work life
 
mtsrunner said:
That’s awesome. It takes guts to make a move like that, but that’s the catch. I have made a lot of money (I’m 100% commission). If I can keep this up for 6 more years and not die, I anticipate really being able to enjoy retirement.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
If a frog had wings, he'd get bird booty. You are the only one who can make the call if it is worth it. I am firmly in the camp it is not. Left that high pressure crap for less pay, better benefits and way less stress. Money is nice but there is way more to life imo. Good luck with your decision.
 
I've been hunting on the ground in a chair for the last month and finally got back into the saddle today and I had to climb down to get my pack untangled from the aider in my bottom stick. Didn't even know it was possible to do it. And the best part is I made a bunch of noise and scared deer off. Season closes on Monday so one of my last couple sits and blew it
 
Wounded a doe during muzzleloader season two months ago. Great rifle, I've killed more deer with it than anything else I own. Been hunting deer for 37 years. Former rifle instructor. No excuse.

Doe was coming in, wind was in my favor. Should have waited, got in a hurry and blew the shot. Likely it was low. Trailed some blood for a ways then it disappeared, I hope she's ok.

*rest of story - my dad passed a away a couple days after this happened. Funeral on Thursday, I was back in the woods Friday morning. Redeemed myself on a big doe about 25 yards from where Dad killed his first deer.
 
If you read LftS 2024 the other day, you know that I got halfway drawn on a doe before my shoulder locked up and I couldn’t get my string back. I griped about not bringing my crossbow that morning as it was cold and I anticipated the potential for drawing issues but was too proud to leave the compound.
Fast forward 8 hours, I saw a half-dozen does nibbling in the alfalfa just 40 yds outside my garage, so I cocked the xbow and figured I’d get some redemption from the morning’s snafu.
Opened the garage door, slipped past the threshold unnoticed, ranged one deer that had a slight limp at 32 yds and raised the bow, waited for her to clear away from her sisters so I had an unobstructed target, she finally did, I started releasing my breath and then held it briefly as I squeezed the trigger…
And nothing. Nada. Zilch. Safety was on.
Switched it off, one deer saw my thumb and heard the subsequent click, and that was it.
Twice skunked in one day.
 
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
If you read LftS 2024 the other day, you know that I got halfway drawn on a doe before my shoulder locked up and I couldn’t get my string back. I griped about not bringing my crossbow that morning as it was cold and I anticipated the potential for drawing issues but was too proud to leave the compound.
Fast forward 8 hours, I saw a half-dozen does nibbling in the alfalfa just 40 yds outside my garage, so I cocked the xbow and figured I’d get some redemption from the morning’s snafu.
Opened the garage door, slipped past the threshold unnoticed, ranged one deer that had a slight limp at 32 yds and raised the bow, waited for her to clear away from her sisters so I had an unobstructed target, she finally did, I started releasing my breath and then held it briefly as I squeezed the trigger…
And nothing. Nada. Zilch. Safety was on.
Switched it off, one deer saw my thumb and heard the subsequent click, and that was it.
Twice skunked in one day.
Click to expand...
Don't give up yet, but have you ever tried Golf??
 
here i go contributing again to this thread (guess thats extra shameful)...hunted all morning with my lever action 30-30 and then moved to a different spot for my evening sit. Hour or 2 into that sit i notice brass in my cartridge holder on my butt stock...yeap...hunted all morning and part of that evening with an unloaded rifle. good thing i didnt see anything that morning because chambering a round with a lever action surely would not have been tolerated...
 
Dmathews87 said:
here i go contributing again to this thread (guess thats extra shameful)...hunted all morning with my lever action 30-30 and then moved to a different spot for my evening sit. Hour or 2 into that sit i notice brass in my cartridge holder on my butt stock...yeap...hunted all morning and part of that evening with an unloaded rifle. good thing i didnt see anything that morning because chambering a round with a lever action surely would not have been tolerated...
Click to expand...
I thought regular self-deprecation was required to maintain a hunting license, like a taking qualifying exams with your sidearm in law enforcement or something.
You hear cats be like, “my success on mature deer is a the collective sum of stacking any little factor I can in my favor”.
I’m no cervid assassin, but I disagree.
I believe success on any deer at all is the collective positive difference resulting from all our shortcomings as human predators.
In other words, we screw up constantly and anything we kill is a result of whatever we just didn’t get a chance to screw up yet when that deer crosses our path.
Of course, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek when I say this but I still believe it to a large degree.
It’s why threads like this are some of my favorites.
 
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
If you read LftS 2024 the other day, you know that I got halfway drawn on a doe before my shoulder locked up and I couldn’t get my string back. I griped about not bringing my crossbow that morning as it was cold and I anticipated the potential for drawing issues but was too proud to leave the compound.
Fast forward 8 hours, I saw a half-dozen does nibbling in the alfalfa just 40 yds outside my garage, so I cocked the xbow and figured I’d get some redemption from the morning’s snafu.
Opened the garage door, slipped past the threshold unnoticed, ranged one deer that had a slight limp at 32 yds and raised the bow, waited for her to clear away from her sisters so I had an unobstructed target, she finally did, I started releasing my breath and then held it briefly as I squeezed the trigger…
And nothing. Nada. Zilch. Safety was on.
Switched it off, one deer saw my thumb and heard the subsequent click, and that was it.
Twice skunked in one day.
Click to expand...
DC0E14E8-84F5-4B24-AB50-4A6C47949F95.jpegDA592354-B3C5-43E1-AF64-91B866C390AA.jpegShe made the mistake of walking by the open garage door again. I didn’t make the mistake of forgetting to switch off the safety this time.
Redemption and venison taste the same.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top