Being prepared
by
Richard McNutt
As hard as we all try, no one can teach the secrets of life to our children. All we can hope to do is to equip them with enough inner strength to prepare them for the challenges the future will confront them with.
During that first winter in Colorado, I became friendly with several elk calling, and hunting sport-show speakers, before they became famous. One day at the Denver Sports Expo, we had lunch at the same table, because I was buying. The subject of giving prospective hunters too much detailed information was discussed. The general feeling of the group was that hunters needed to experience some of their own mistakes in order to fully benefit from another’s mistakes and teachings. Those particular elk seminar speaker’s objectives were to show hunters a path to follow, not to blaze a trail. To educate hunters on a choice of options, not a set of rules.
This also is my intent, to let you know how many options you have to decide from. As hard as we all try, no one can teach the secrets of life to our children. All we can hope to do is to equip them with enough inner strength to prepare them for the challenges the future will confront them with. All I intend to do here is to give you enough direction to pick your own path so you can make educated choices in your pursuit of big game. You will have to discover your own path, and have your own personal adventures with your comrades, friends, and family.
As part of my scouting routine, I go out of my way to chat with the old time, retired elk slayers who have given up the hunt and are no longer addicted to the pursuit. “I don’t know why I quit hunting,” they say. Then they get a faraway look in their eyes as they start telling of one of their conquests or adventures. What amazes me is that the memories of “the one that got away” holds as much, or more, value to the storytellers than the mounts on the wall.
I am just a guide, a leader only to those going the same direction as I. If you wish to become more successful as a big game hunter this book will be another step along the way. Having a versatile hunting library containing books, audiotapes, and videos is a very good beginning. But it is only the start, since nothing can take the place of your own wilderness and hunting experiences.
I wish to help you avoid the plain stupid mistakes that I have made surrounding the conquest of the mighty wapiti bull elk and the blatant whitetail blunders that prevented me from bagging trophy bucks. After reading this book I believe your criteria as to how you choose your hunting equipment to match your hunting style will change. Whether you believe in my theories and conclusions or not, if you find that the theories brought forth here have merit, and deserve consideration then I will consider my objectives with this a book a success.
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I had some non-hunting friends proofread chapters for me as I wrote this book. They all asked me if these situations really happened? Everything I’ve written about in this book series has happened. Some names were changed to protect the guilty, and yes; in some cases I was really that dumb.
End Chapter One
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