Callers psychology and emotional side of hunting

Newpond0

Newpond0

Active member
the mindset of a predator hunter/caller doesn’t get talked about much but I suspect is an important factor. For example how many new callers quit out of frustration? What about impatience? Putting too much pressure on partners/family members and ruining it for them? Overthinking?

A hunter from work told me you gotta relax out there and let it happen, can’t go in the woods putting pressure on yourself or stressed out about the hunt or it’s not going to work.

What do you guys think about this?
 
Nobody likes pressure. Some do better than others when dealing with it, but hunting in general, for me anyway, is a way to get away from pressure. Not that I need a "safe space" lol. It's about having fun and being able to enjoy and appreciate the gift God has given us. The outdoors. Why put pressure on yourself to "make" something happen? Some of the most memorable times I've had hunting I got completely skunked on. Figuratively and physically! Hell yes, a guy could overthink it. Still happens to me! Don't let it discourage, let those instances teach! Just go, relax, enjoy God's beautiful creation and if you put meat on the table or fur in the shed, give thanks and take it as icing on the cake!
 
Newpond0 said:
how many new callers quit out of frustration? What about impatience? Putting too much pressure on partners/family members and ruining it for them? Overthinking?
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Absolutely, and not just coyote huners.
Samsquanch said:
Just go, relax, enjoy God's beautiful creation and if you put meat on the table or fur in the shed, give thanks and take it as icing on the cake!
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It all depends on the person. I have a personality that makes me try harder the harder things get. If I fail it's fuel to keep trying, try different things and go even harder than before. But not everyone is that way. I'd go so far as to say most people aren't that way. We live in a world where things are simplified to the point where it's made people lazy. Anything that requires work is poison to your average human. Hell it's uncommon for people to stick to a diet or workout routine. And most people hate failing at anything. Some people just can't brush it off. It's not easy to walk your balls off and not see anything stand after stand and when you do you have a coyote wind you or you miss it and watch it run off into the sunset. Those are things you go through.

Plus I think just because people see coyotes running in on every stand on YouTube they think they can just set a call out and get the same results. Those videos don't talk about the hours upon hours of calling those guys have done and not seem hide nor hair of a coyote. Not to mention the hard lessons learned, countless hours of scouting and research it takes to get those coyotes to respond. After buying the latest and greatest call, rifle and thermal it sure don't take long to figure out things aren't that easy.

It's not easy. Never has been and never will be. Doesn't matter how many thousands of dollars you spend. Money won't buy success. The only way to get there is through failure and frustration. I'd put my money on the guy that's been doing it for 30 years with a mouth call, a red lense on a Q-Beam spotlight and an old beat up lookin .223 over the guy a year into it but has the best call, thermal and rifle he could afford. The guy with that fancy stuff might not even call himself a predator hunter a year from now.
 
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Ok, you touched on something that took me way too long in life to embrace.
This affected me in the pursuit of bigger bucks. I’m afforded the opportunity to be able to find a buck that has potential and watch him grow in hopes of taking him once he’s mature if he lives that long.
I let myself become so consumed by it that I would sometimes make myself sick. I would neglect family and friends in pursuit of said buck.
After year 2 of chasing this buck I decided to just let it go. That didn’t mean I still wasn’t after him, I just put everything back into perspective and realized my family, friends, and life are way more important.
For instance, a family (Dad and brothers) fishing trip was planned one weekend in late October for Trout and Reds. I knew my best time to kill that deer was during that time, but I told myself family first. We had a phenomenal trip and really enjoyed myself. The very next Friday I got a pic of the buck that “told” me exactly where he was bedding. I went and hung a stand and even climbed up to go ahead and put up my holder on the tree.
As I was driving off the property I thought it’s such a beautiful day I’m gonna park and just walk back and climb up to watch a beautiful sunset. I killed my largest rifle buck that evening.
This year I’m after another particular buck again, but the conditions were never right. I’d show up early and he wouldn’t come in. I’d not show up and there he was. I knew he’d disappear during the rut and if he survived, where he’d be when it was over. My son and wife even asked if I was alright because I wasn’t going “full bore” trying to find this deer and kill it.
I bided my time and when he showed up on camera about 70lbs lighter I knew he’d be working his scrape line getting ready for the “second” rut.
I went and hung a climber 2 days before the winds were gonna be right and waited. The morning arrived and so did he. He’s my best archery buck.
I now take the approach of going 100% but not letting it consume me if that makes sense. If it happens, it happens. But when it does it’s because I did it right and was patient and not rushed things or beat something to death to get it done.
I’ve found even in out of state turkey hunting to just do what you know to do and let it happen. I have a video I was posting for family where I explained what a good trip I’d had and I’d come home with one tag unfilled because I’d gotten my butt kicked. Then I showed them some rocks up a mountain I was going to climb to just because it looked to pretty to not go up there. Guess what, I get up there and hit the call and 3 different birds respond, lol. Yeah, filled my last tag just because I was willing to admit defeat and forget hunting and go look at Gods creation from a different view.
As far as calling, I’m too novice and hard headed to admit defeat, lol. In my mind, what works once or twice wont work every time so don’t be afraid to try something different. I love hunting in the dark more than I do daylight which sounds weird. Maybe it’s just the thermal aspect. I’m learning it’s like trapping, some days you think of yourself as a professional and other days you wonder how you were even able to load your gun, lol.
 
Can’t argue with anything that has been said. The outdoors and hunting is kind of where I get my head straight. Forget about the stresses of work, life, and all the crap going on in the world. As far as the pressure of success… I do strive to be successful. I try my hardest to make all the right choices. Try my hardest to hold it together at the moment of truth. But the reality is that I’m human. Sometimes things just don’t work out. Sometimes things happen (or don’t) that are out of my control altogether. Whatever happens, I think it’s a success in that I was just in a place, doing something I love to do. Taking in all that I can, because there’s always something to appreciate.

Success isn’t always about the kill. Success is more about how you perceive it. If you’re only out there to kill something, you’re missing out on so much more.
 
Something I realized on the last day of the season this past year was a complete difference in calling in an area that’s beautiful and natural vs calling powerlines or more developed spots with 4 wheelers going by in the distance etc.

When I am outside in a beautiful place I had a ton of patience to sit there still and alert. I just felt very relaxed and at peace taking in the view, with zero rush to leave or do anything other than quietly be aware. The empty handed drive home didn’t feel shameful or Ike a failure, I just felt good after a beautiful hike and put in some more sets which will eventually work one of these days if I just keep putting in more time

When I called powerlines, or areas near lots of traffic with 4 wheelers and cabins I didn’t have that same patience or enjoying the view at all. 10 minutes into the call and I’m getting impatient to change sounds or just get out of there. I hear another 4 wheeler in the distance and I’m rolling my eyes. I don’t enjoy these days and get negative easy.

I decided that day no more powerlines or pulling over along those roads with the cabins and walking in from there. I’m gonna scout and hunt beautiful places only and re start next year building off this. I’m not Rambo or a born killer and haven’t had much luck calling either. Maybe deep down I’m closer to a hippy with a gun just hoping to get lucky once in a while and that’s ok
 
hunt0168 said:
Success is more about how you perceive it. If you’re only out there to kill something, you’re missing out on so much more.
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Newpond0 said:
When I am outside in a beautiful place I had a ton of patience to sit there still and alert. I just felt very relaxed and at peace taking in the view, with zero rush to leave or do anything other than quietly be aware. The empty handed drive home didn’t feel shameful or Ike a failure, I just felt good after a beautiful hike and put in some more sets which will eventually work one of these days if I just keep putting in more time
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You know, I had never sat down and thought about it, but nothing can compare to quietly sharing God's great creation to find relaxation. Don't have that many beautiful vistas in the brush country other than a few small lakes and waterholes but I am blessed to hunt ranches that have an amazing variety of free roaming exotics to punctuate the boredom of sendero watching. It's all good.:)
 
I've been hunting for 68 years and accompanied my family hunting and fishing since I was in diapers.

I really like hunting alone, no pressure to produce. I love doing a few stands and then exploring the country, recording potential stand sites, if something looks really good I'll do a stand. Stop when I'm alone and make a nice lunch, yesterday was chilli and tortilla. I just like to enjoy the day. Calling in or killing a critter is a bonus.

Right now I do occasional hunts with an experience hunter, we have a great time and a coyote in the sights is a bonus, a day without is just as much fun.
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I love to take week long hunts to new places, cold calling new areas is fun and surprisingly successful.

I think that my dislike of night hunting stems from the facts that you have to go to a place you know, you can't see potential good stands in the dark. Scenery at night you see nothing but what is in your headlights, that beautiful rock formation in the distance doesn't exist, a mountainside of purple flowers doesn't exist, a herd of antelope racing you out on the prairie doesn't exist. A big part of my enjoyment is what I see around me, it reaffirms my faith.
 
AWS said:
I think that my dislike of night hunting stems from the facts that you have to go to a place you know, you can't see potential good stands in the dark.
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Erich, I know what you're saying, but there is just as much enjoyment to be had at night if you are receptive to it. It's just under different conditions. To watch in amazement to view flying squirrels climb high trees in total darkness through your thermal scanner, only to leap and glide through the trees in complete darkness is something to behold. How they don't smack into a tree limb is beyond me! Owls circling and landing near your caller. Foxes coming to the call that you have no intent of killing. The way a doe will react to rabbit distress under the cover of darkness. Watching deer or even field mice doing what they do. it's all worth watching. Darkness also brings your other senses to a different level. You hear things differently. Your attention to sounds becomes almost superhuman like. The sounds of a couple bucks sparring at night in complete darkness on a still night is something that everyone should hear just once. It's different level! You notice that somehow you smell the burning of somebody's woodstove chimney from far off that you may not have paid attention to in the daylight.

There's something to appreciate no matter the time of day. It may just be that you are alone with your thoughts. A time to just decompress from the day to day. We're all different, with different takes on what life throws us. For me, not much brings me peace like being out there taking in what nature wants to show me. Day or night. There's beauty in it all!
 
Night hunting has a therapeutic effect on me. It’s like the world is quieter and I can hear, see, and even think better.
The craziness is what makes it so alluring. Take a full moon night. It’s almost so bright I don’t need a thermal. Let a cloud come over and block out that light where true night reigns again and when it leaves the critters would associate it with daylight. I’ve heard quail calling and turkeys gobbling at 0230 after a huge dark cloud passed.
Deer seem to have no fear. I’ve had them close enough to touch (don’t do that, they kick up their hind legs to get away). I’ve seen bedded deer and as long as I don’t change my gait, I’ve walked within 10ft of them and they never move.
Flying squirrels have already been mentioned, but reading about them doesn’t equate to actually watching them through a thermal. Those little jokers are hilarious to watch.
If you want to know how many rabbits or rats you have around, pick a field to call on and it’ll let you know, lol.
Watching bucks chase does or even fighting at night is completely different. I can hear every grunt and strain. Seems I miss a lot of that during the daylight.
May just be me, but after getting set up to call, I always take my time scanning and listening before starting the call. I’ve been so enthralled with everything going on around me it might be thirty minutes before I ever start my sequence.
 
OKRattler said "Plus I think just because people see coyotes running in on every stand on YouTube they think they can just set a call out and get the same results."

That reminded me of a couple of guys from Colorado that made and sold handcalls. I watched a few of their promotional videos, and as OKR described, coyotes running in full tilt from multiple directions.

And then, on the bottom of one of their videos was a date/time stamp, and they were calling in late August. These guys were calling 3-4 month old puppies! No wonder they made it look easy, lol.

They were on Predator Masters for awhile, until they started a thread where they said they shot around 50-60 rounds to bag the coyote in the picture. They took a lot of flak for that.

Back to the OP.

Personally, I enjoy thinking a lot about the last hunt, the last stand, and the next hunt and next stand, and where I think a coyote might come from and why they might come from there.
 
I always thought I would love to go hog hunting, but the more vids I watch the less I think I will do it. After the first shot it’s just chaos with hogs running everywhere and a lot of animals getting wounded. I myself do not like killing young animals so even though it needs to be done I just don’t think I would feel good about it. The hogs screaming in the background is a real turnoff If I have a coyote wounded I shoot till it’s down,I don’t like the yelping. I guess if I could just shoot at freestanding hogs and take one at a time I’d feel better. That’s just me, haven’t done it but that’s how I think I would like to do it.
 
Heymartay said:
I always thought I would love to go hog hunting, but the more vids I watch the less I think I will do it. After the first shot it’s just chaos with hogs running everywhere and a lot of animals getting wounded. I myself do not like killing young animals so even though it needs to be done I just don’t think I would feel good about it. The hogs screaming in the background is a real turnoff If I have a coyote wounded I shoot till it’s down,I don’t like the yelping. I guess if I could just shoot at freestanding hogs and take one at a time I’d feel better. That’s just me, haven’t done it but that’s how I think I would like to do it.
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Hog hunting does'nt have to be like that if you choose your shots. I normally don't take a shot at running animals unless I have reason to believe they have been previously hit. Granted, once in a while we'll all make a bad shot, but each individual can choose the style of hunting he is comfortable with.
 
hunt0168 said:
There's something to appreciate no matter the time of day. It may just be that you are alone with your thoughts. A time to just decompress from the day to day. We're all different, with different takes on what life throws us. For me, not much brings me peace like being out there taking in what nature wants to show me. Day or night. There's beauty in it all!
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Agree fully.
I actually prefer night hunting over day hunting though.
Can't wear your NOD's and watch a meteor shower during the day.
I enjoy watching the world wake up when the sun rises, but I really enjoy the peace and quiet of the night too.
SJC
 
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