Does anyone a before hunt ritual? I always have hot tea or coffee depending on mood and a nice breakfast. Always take coffee with me when bow hunting late season also.
When I lived in Northern Colorado, my brother in law and I would always stop at a little restaurant in Casper, WY and have chicken fried steaks and eggs for our last breakfast before getting to our hunting grounds.
The place was ran by a greek family and was decorated with all kinds of TV and movie memorabilia.
Last year we came through, they had move to a new location and the food was just awful.
We came home empty-handed that year.
#1. I almost NEVER eat or drink before I go out in the morning.
#2. Almost every time before I go out in the morning. :laughing:
#3. I leave a map up on the PC with a marker approx. where I'm going to be, just in case.
I get packed up, start driving away, then turn around and go get whatever it is that I forgot.
I reverently chant: "Don't forget your pants, don't forget your pants, don't forget your pants..."
OkKeith
Check the wind direction on my phone about 10 times on the way there then let out a few choice words when I get there and have to resort to plan B! :biglaugh:
Morning hunts, I'll get up the tree in my climber, get all situated, pull up my bow etc, sit down and it's usually about then I realize I have to go #2. I spend the rest of the morning gauging and calculating the onset of #2 against how fast I can get down the tree and relieve myself before ruining my camo. It's a game I've played all too many times :banghead:
PEE! Us old guys often have "issues", so I make sure to go just before leaving my truck.
I usually sacrifice a virgin. I think it helps but they are getting harder to find.
I always shoot several Judos as I walk to the woods.
Hmmmm. Don't know if I'd actually call it a ritual, but I like to have a relaxing evening in the cabin watching the fire in my Franklin stove and sipping a whiskey (and sometimes smoking a cigar) with my brother before we start two weeks of hard hunting during the rut. We also listen to the weather radio each evening and morning to determine wind direction to decide what stands to take that day.
Kiss the wife, make sure I went to the bathroom just to try, text the wife where I anticipate being at. Everything else is just situational I suppose.
Before the hunt? Absolutely nothing.
After the hunt? Good scotch. Great scotch at times. Maybe some bourbon. Maybe some Pappy Van's, just maybe. This ritual would be hard to pull off before the hunt.
Quote from: Charlie Lamb on December 19, 2019, 06:19:03 PM
I usually sacrifice a virgin. I think it helps but they are getting harder to find.
This one made me laugh out loud...literally!
The same thing I do every morning before I do anything. Brush my teeth. That is the last thing I do before walking off. I wear a hunting mask, lol
I also do this before my evening hunt, I wear a hunting mask.
Quote from: Charlie Lamb on December 19, 2019, 06:19:03 PM
I usually sacrifice a virgin. I think it helps but they are getting harder to find.
Oh Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.
Now I've gotta clean up the coffee I just laughed over my computer :biglaugh:
I usually make sure I'm wearing something blue, and check that I've got my knife and some toilet paper.
Best
Lex
Fresh toothpick before i leave the truck
I normally kiss the wife and my daughters, and tell them I love them. My youngest wishes me luck hopes I get a big one, my oldest wishes I'd just hurry up and go hunting lol teenagers
I tell the wife where I'm going, she never listens, so I hope the little one is paying attention just in case.
I check the wind from the deck, I take a deep breath of it like it's going to tell me something,,, I say a few words thank my lucky stars, get in the truck and crank whatever song floats my boat that day.
Give myself a quick spray down at the truck and a fresh stick of gum, I quit smoking 7 years ago God help me I'll never give up gum.
Last but not least like a chant I say
Bag, bow, locked truck and go!!!
Curse when my phone goes off after I'm settled in,
I like Charlie's idea. Usually I feed the horses and dogs
I don't eat before I go hunting. I want to be hungry when I hunt.
Devise a plan to slip out the door so my wife doesn't see me leave.
Try to make sure I have all the stuff I'm gonna need . Most is in my pack all season, but I switch clothing pretty regularly due to MO changeable weather . So check pockets. Tell Renee roughly where I'm headed and when in stand text bro my location . He knows where all my stands are. Watch for deer....
Charlie has a good plan, but not enough time to find one before a hunt...
Load atvs on trailer,place equipment in truck and lock(it's right in front of house and well with in range of S&W .357)Pile clothes in floor living room for morning dressing.All I carry out morning of hunt is cup of coffee on the way to meet buddy at fast foods joint. Cant got without that stop!
Really never had any rituals, would make me feel as if I was superstitious.
Always have a bite to eat and always shoot three arrows before walking out the backdoor. But my main ritual comes at the end of each season after I use my last tag or the end of the season. I have a glass of Macallan single malt Scotch with a fine cigar usually sitting in front of my wood stove. That's my closing ritual.
My Son Grandson and I always have bacon, eggs, and fried potatoes the first morning then hit the woods and hope we put every thing in our packs the night before.the second day it is fresh tender loin eggs and potatoes. then put in what we forgot the day before. That's the nice thing about hunting from home, if you forgot it you can get it that night.
Thanks Charlie, I thought it was just me...almost impossible to find anymore !
Just one-I listen to Ted Nugent's Fred Bear
I have a ritual I do AFTER a hunt.
I have a Pittsburgh Penguins terrible towel hanging over the doorway of my bow room. I always tap the towel with my bow tip when I return from hunting. Always!
It's an OCD thing.
cup of coffee in the morning with a bite to eat once in the tree or blind I'll draw my bow a few times then set in the dark and let mother nature do her thing. Afternoon I shoot my bow before leaving everyday at least a dozen shots sometimes more depending on time tell my wife and girls where I'm hunting and I'm gone
No.
My before the hunt ritual generally involves a lot of procrastinating getting ready and then I'm off like a herd of turtles!
If I am hunting where I have one available, I take a shower before each and every hunt.
99% of the time, as I'm leaving the truck on my way to stand. I bend a knee and say a prayer. Thanking God for the opportunity and asking for that big buck. :pray:
Quote from: amicus on January 08, 2020, 05:37:55 PM
99% of the time, as I'm leaving the truck on my way to stand. I bend a knee and say a prayer. Thanking God for the opportunity and asking for that big buck. :pray:
Great response and great ritual! I would concur. I hunt mornings mostly, simply bc it's less time away from my girls. Settle in, lift up a word to my Heavenly Father, wait for the woods to wake up.
Used to go to an old cafe in a little farming/ranching town outside Topeka with my dad after a morning hunting, but it closed. Type of place two brown guys REALLY stood out! Hahaha!
When parting to our hunting sets, Dad usually whipsers, "Aim small, miss small." My response, "Stick one!"
I could go on with lots of little things I probably take for granted... Amen!?
Take a double shower.
Unless I'm pressed for time a #2 before heading out.
Started this one last year. Shoot one arrow in the target. If it hits the mark I'm off. If not, repeat until good.
If I had a virgin available, I'm not sure I'd sacrifice her. But doubt I'd have a virgin very long :o
Once I get settled into my spot I always look up and thank god for letting me be born into a family of hunters.
No. I just grab my stuff and go.
Hit my knees when I get up. Usually no food, just water. Check weather conditions. Jump in car and go.
Fill up the thermos with coffee :coffee:, and pack the water and snack bars in my pack.
Deno
I shoot a few arrows into a target. By flashlight in the morning. Just to get in the groove.
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Try to remember what I forgot before I leave!
Quote from: Red Beastmaster on December 25, 2019, 12:14:59 AM
I have a ritual I do AFTER a hunt.
I have a Pittsburgh Penguins terrible towel hanging over the doorway of my bow room. I always tap the towel with my bow tip when I return from hunting. Always!
It's an OCD thing.
Go Pens!!!