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biggest mule deer on the planet, 6X6.  Janice saw him a day or so later, she refers to him as the "TANK".

My dad never used any of these fine systems developed by his sons. I recall one summer midday with Pops when he said, "Let's take a walk and see what's in that thicket."  As we moved like ghosts through the Jack Pines he gestures ahead, there lying down ahead of us were about a dozen elk.  I watch as he slowly works to within a short 20 yards.  After a minute or two he slips back to join me.  The elk never moved.  Well, I had a serious talk with him about that kind of behavior.  After all we have an image to maintain!

After many years of developing these techniques I now can use them at will. As the last days of the '06 early deer season played out Justin Solmonson calls, "Hey buddy I have the next 4 days off let's go."   Well the only problem is (for those who know Jup and me) we aren't allowed to go any where together without adult supervision.  Informing our wives that we would be staying with Justin's dad didn't help our case one little bit; thus, another reason for the adult supervision ruling.  Anyway, we were on the hunt the following morning.  I slipped into that First Day Serious Mode and promptly missed the first deer of the hunt.  As the day wore on we slowly wander back towards home.  Now is the time to "drop ones guard".  "Jup get ready I'm going to rest my eyes."  It helps to have the windows down and say it loud.  As I set the trap and drift off to my happy place Jup hits the brakes.   Coyote!  Ha, it never fails.

Over the past several years we gave up elk and deer HUNTING, we now elk and deer CAMP.  Using the term camping instead of hunting is all part of the illusion.  We enter the forest primeval with a whole different outlook.  The beasts of the forest say "Oh, they're just camping."  It's all part of the illusion.

Now for myself, in an attempt to constantly improve on my various techniques, I do believe I have reached the pinnacle of success.  The other morning (using the Drop Your Guard technique) while wandering toward the kitchen scratching whatever needed to be scratched, there was a nice buck looking in the window. Get away from the coffee and you won't get hurt. This led me to believe that I have over-trained.

There's way too much emphasis on harvesting a deer or elk, what happened to spending time in the outdoors.  Recently I ran into one of my hunting buddies, he'd just returned from an elk hunt.  I was given all the details on how many elk were called in, the number of deer, and various other bits of info.  At one point he mentioned that he saw some wolves take an elk.  Then it was back to the elk hunt stories.  There was no excitement in what he was privileged to see.  Myself, I would have been floating on air.  Just to see the wolves, much less a successful pack, what a trip that was.  To serious, way to serious. 

Each year as the 3-D season begins the serious hunters congregate at registration and discuss the new gadgets and techniques, the deer and elk campers tease each other without mercy about the game that escaped.  This is serious time for me; I must decide whom to shoot with, the serious or the campers?

If one chooses the serious group, one will shoot better, usually a lot better, but it is a lot more fun with the campers.  I have again chosen the campers.  I sometimes look back to when I was very serious competitor, and that's looking way back to the 60's to be precise. I had this wood longbow; it was replaced by this state of the art fiberglass bow that I still have.  The arrows no longer came from the Coast to Coast hardware store; they were custom made by the Squaw Saddle Shop.  Real arrows, real feathers, real points and a real sponsor.  Now that's serious.
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