Hunting Partners

perry

perry

Active member
What constiues a good hunting partner? Some ten years ago I had one that gradually ended our friendship. The last hunt was on Great Bay,N.H. That morning as we were about to launch our boats,a friend ob my partner was going with us that morning.My friend called me over and said to me"BILL GUNNING PARNNERS DO NOT TELL THERE SPOUSAL PARTNERS WHAT THEY GO THROUGH" I felt about two feet tall for making a blunder taking to his wife about the rough weather the week before.We got our barnegat's into the water and headed out to the middle of great bay,set our decoys,got all three boats tied together. The seas were a foot high,overcast winds ten to fifteen mph. My friend's friend had a peter witham 18' sculler in the middle of us sitting straight up.I looked around and said to my self no birds were going to come into this rig. I desided to go ashore and let them hunt together. After a few hours they gave up the hunt and came over to were I was.The weather was getting rougher and wind picking up to about twenty mph plus.My friend said Bill we better start pccking up and head in. We picked up the rig. My friend asked me to take his friend in my barnegat as he had no room in his barnegat. His friend got into my barnegat with his feet between the dagger board slot and his head under the spary curtin. I had his sculler under tow but could not maneuver with just my 2HP and #100 in his bow,it keep throwing up all over the place.I had to do some fast thinking and hauled his sculler up along side of my barnegat,the weather getting real bad.The bow of his sculler was sticking 6' out in front of my barnegat. We got to the entrance to little bay were we had put in that morning at Adams point, there were 3' swells with a 1' waves on top of that wind blowing strait at us. Ledges on both sides of the narrows no place to get ashore, with on place beach I had to make a desission to go for it as I could no turn around in these seas. we made it in safe. from the time we picked up our decoys until we go into Adams point my friend was no were around he did not hang back in case of an emergency nor did he ever coment on the condishions. My question is why he didn't stay with us
WERE WAS YOU JIM BOY?
You don't have so many friends that you afford to loose one,and you don't have so many friends that you can't afforf to take one more in. (EDGAR CAYCE)
 
Perry,

I'm sorry your long term friend let you down. Blowing you guys off in foul weather is unforgivable.

Trust is possibly the most important requirement in a hunting partner and in a good friend. The following is the start of my reply to a question about what was needed to duck hunt. I shared the full post here about a month or two ago. Long before I got to any required equipment I commented on partners. "Biggest need for Duck Hunting is good friends. One's you can trust ..."

To Duck Hunt -
Most important, you need to be a bit crazy to be a serious waterfowler. Duck hunting takes many toys, lots of work, and is done in some very miserable conditions. Dark, wet, and cold is the norm for duck hunting.
Biggest need for Duck Hunting is good friends. One's you can trust out there in miserable weather. Ones that will show up at the ramp on time and ready to go. Ones that will take you to their best spots and ones that will never take others to your best spots. This is a sport where good friends enhance the sport tremendously as well as making it safer.

Scott
 
My hunting partner is considerate (we have watched numerous birds come and go because we thought the other was going to shoot first), safe, easy going, humble, a calming influence for my type A personality and he doesn't swear.

Finally, I trust my hunting partner with my life - that pretty much sums it up.

(I can't trust him with the donut bag however ; )

Good post Scott.
 
Dam scott that is so true bud ,can i use your words man there right on the money...

shermie
 
Shermie, For sure you can use my words.

Perry, so true about real friendship being based on giving of ourselves.

Scott
 
What makes a good hunting partner ? In my opinion it is having a wife that makes a hell of a pie !!!! My Partner ( Andrew) wife makes the best pie on the east coast , Andrew is right , we will sit there and watch birds go by and never even shoot thinking the other was going to take the bird . Andrew is the one who got me to buy a dog , and other duck related items , Andrew pretty has forced me to go to the poor house with all of his suggestions , you have to understand this loves to spend other peoples $ . He is a true Partner/ friend



Dave M
 
Dave: my hunting partners wife made the best coffee cake,every time we went to maryland hunting .woman sometimes keep friends ships together, my wife and I do miss her.My friend drifted when I started to get better known as a decoy carver and had a artical printed in wildfowal,and appeard on cabin country.before that we were I thought as close as any friends could be and enjoyed his kids a well as my own. Bill
 
Safety and common sense have always been the first things I look for in a hunting partner. Those are non-negotiable to me. But there is always that other component, the type of hunter who enjoys the hunt for it's own sake rather than judging success by a full limit. I find that time spent with folks like those remain with me long after the freezer is empty.
 
Jeff,your my kind of guy.You don't live in upstate SC by any chance?Stay safe over there,and come back soon.Thanks for serving.
 
Perry ,



Sorry he skipped out on you but i guess it is human nature that over time friends tend to drift as in your case , Andrew travels alot but keeps in touch quite often and never hesitates to give me the northen RI hunting report . That is ok i still consider him a good friend .



Dave M
 
in my limeted expieriance ive had good partners and bad in a mere three years ive seen some interesting partners and now im selective whom ill hunt with. ill compose a quick lil lst of qualifyers
1 has too be up when ya agree too meet not two hours later
2 has too have the gumption too let all the hunters who cant call know it ( although my dog is getting better at that ill blow a call and she looks too the sky my youngest hunting partner blows one and my pup stares at him kinda funny too watch)
3 gotta have a drive year round too train and scout and practice shootin
4 gotta click just cant spend that kinda time together if ya wouldnt have them over for dinner or out for your kids birth day (kinda reminds me of when i had too drop off my lil girl every morning last year at my partners house so his wife could watch her becca finnally asked do i have too go play w hallie )
thats my list
 
A true hunting partner is tough to come by. When you find one they are as close as family. They have the same gumption and desire as you do,waking up at a time when most people are dreaming. No matter what sport there is nothing worse than making plans. Preparing the equipment needed and getting to where you agreed upon at the time agreed upon. And they are not there!! It's at that point you realizes its time to hunt alone or find someone else But finding a hunting partner is tough. There are so many characteristics that are needed and each of us all look for something different. but when you find A person who shares what you do your like brothers/sisters. I think all of us have had bad partners and great partners and everything in between. We just keep on looking till we find people who fit. Then you stick with them. I have only been member on this site and Have found it to be helpful. I don't always respond but almost everyday check in to see what's going on. Sofar everyone here seem like a great bunch of people who are willing to share their knowledge and express their ideas and thoughts.
 
Great post Perry. I think we've all probably hunted/fished with a diverse group of people (friends), some we would call again, others, not so much. I've had the pleasure of gunning and fishing with a couple true nautical wizards who I would trust with my life and I have the pleasure to call them my friends. You can never have too many friends when you're out on the water. Nothing better in my world than seeing a half dozen (friends) lobster boats out working their trap lines during December and January. Funny, on the really rough days, I always get phone calls from those two mentioned above to see how the "hunt" went. I think their just checking to make sure that I made it back in, and that's okay with me.
 
I, too, think this is a great post. Back in the 1950s, I had a gentleman look me square in the eyes and say, "It will be more difficult for you to find a great hunting partner than it will a wife." Since I was just a kid, it slid past me with no problems at all. Then when I went to Alaska, I did find a "true" hunting partner and every thing that old man had told me back in the 50's was dead on. If Lee couldn't go on the hunt with me, I went solo, plain and simple.

My father once told me that in your life time if you had a handful of people who you could truly call friends, you would be a lucky person.

Al
 
Not sure I could ever talk to the guy after that.

I have been let down myself by a previous hunting partner, although not in such a dire situation as that (first time he refused to come help pull me out of some NJ tidal muck, the second was deciding to eat lunch instead of helping pick up decoys); needless to say, he is no longer hunting with me.

I know what it's like to be paddling white-fisted in bad weather/conditions in a smaller-than-appropriate boat. Sometimes by myself, sometimes with a paddle-partner I could rely on (deer hunter who occassionally duck hunts with me). I let slip to my wife once about some of the bad conditions I've been through and she insisted on me getting a safer boat - that was when I bought the Estuary. Luckily, nowadays, my sometimes hunting partner is completely reliable (Farrukh) :) I'm going to miss hunting with you after my move to Europe!

Anthony
 
Troy, they say if you can have one great friend in your life time you have gained a lot.I noticed that when I started to get some notoriety in wildfowl mag. and and appeared on Cabin Country with Bill Saff ,III my friend started not calling any more. best,Bill
 
I agree that a good hunting partner is very difficult to find. I have hunted with the same guy for abut 7 years now and he is my best friend. If I don't go with him I am by myself or with my daughter. I can count on hime for anything. We live about 45 minutes away from each other but talk on the phone on a reguler basis usually duck related but everything else. We have had a few guys come and go with us but for the most part they don't meet the requirements. 1- have passion for the sport, 2- don't sleep in( I don't understand this one I can't sleep the night before, 3- Carry your weight, this isn't a guided hunt we are a team. Lost a friend in college over hunting. He liked to party a bit more than me and when I was picking him up at O dark thirty he would still be drinking. The first time I told that him it is not acceptable. The second time I left him at his house and we never spoke again.
 
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