I posted this over on AT, but put a lot of thought into it and wondered what others here thought?
A few days back after seeing the Pedro Ampuero Tur bow hunt I posted up on here that it was my new favorite "dream hunt". After speaking with a couple of guys about it I have received some negative thoughts in regards to the hunt that I wanted to clear up and maybe it would show why I think it is important, or maybe even vital to have these "dream hunt gears" spinning in your head.
Most of the negative discussion about the hunt came from the guys that laughed and said things to the effect that I better be planning on winning the lotto or who do I think I am, a tech company CEO? While it doesn't take an IRS agent or an investigative reporter to quickly find out that Pedro Ampuero has had resources since he was a child that 99% of us will never have, to me that is only one part of the equation. Now I do agree that it must be mentioned, and that being in the upper social/economic structure of hunters worldwide does indeed factor into what you consider a "dream hunt", and what your dreams start out being. What I mean by this is that if you were born in Oakland CA, or rural WV and you fight daily the fact that your shoes have holes all over them and that your parents are barely around or that your power is constantly being turned off your dreams growing up are going to be different than that of someone whose parents come home from a transatlantic mountain hunting trip or that make a yearly visit to the Dallas Safari Club's convention and sit at the yearly "pat ourselves on the back awards" dinner.
This is when you are growing up, when you become an adult and see how big the world is your dreams can and often do change, but starting out when you have one pair of pants you are not likely to be thinking much on desert bighorns, lesser kudu, Alaskan brown bear and such. This is just how it goes but is no more the fault of the child being born to someone who makes minimum wage then the fault of a little kid born to parents with trust funds.
Beyond those things we cannot control though being born into even the best hunters, be that mountain hunters, white tail hunters, coon hunters or whatever does not automatically make you a great hunter yourself. You still have to make the climbs up and down, still have to be able to read sign, still able to hold your bow steady and still able to see things through. As someone pointed out to me, this is much easier done when you father is taking you up elk hunting since you were 6 and realize that you have to be in shape to climb, or not even realize it but climb because he does and you never get "out of shape". As opposed to someone who takes up hunting later in life and whose father is close to 350lb and not very athletic. While I cannot argue this at some point we all become adults and have to be responsible for our own actions, included preparing mentally, physically and every other way for the things we wish to achieve.
While I will be the first to tell you that despite all the hunting I have been blessed by God to do a Tur hunt is a pretty steep hill to climb. While it may be a bridge too far I still think it is important to dream about and there is a reason why my brain will not let me convince myself that it will never happen.
For one, it is not a desert bighorn or a Marco polo or true wild lion hunt. It is not so expensive that it can't be done with some savings. Is it as practical as a weeklong safari, no, but still not into what I consider the "big leagues" of bow hunting.
The second and more important reason is this; someday I hope my son hears me talking about Tur. I hope he sees my Aoudad mount. I hope he looks at my Kudu horns and says to himself "I want to do all that and more one day". I hope my passion for hunting takes root in him and he sees what I have done as a starting point, to do himself and expand on. I know this can happen because it did for me.
My father loves to bow hunt. He is in his 70's now and not real mobile but growing up he loved to get out into the woods. Now he had a pretty good job in law enforcement and made decent money, but do to his penchants for divorce he never had a ton of extra lying around. He bow hunted since the 60's but went on a total of two out of state hunts until I was an adult. What he did do was dream. He told me about far off places and exotic hunting. He read to me Capstick, Hemingway, and even rifle hunters such as Craig Boddington. His "somedays" and dreams became reality to me. When he said someday he wanted to go to Africa, to me it was if it was already done. To me it was a given from pre-teenager on that someday I would hunt the Dark Continent. I took his dreams as a starting place then added to them. The thought of a free range Aoudad with a bow? Heck Ya, why not! Stalking Coues deer on an OTC tag in AZ? Sounds perfect! While I have not been successful on all of these hunts I know my father never even considered them when he was my age.
That is what I am hoping I can pass on to my son and daughter. Hopefully in the field of hunting, but if not then in whatever endeavors they choose. I hope they hear me talking about Tur, or Ibex, or Cape buffalo and see that as their starting points. I hope they see the ground work I lay out when planning on hunting and by the time they are on their own they understand new and better ways of doing it. I hope they take my dreams and methods and expand on them to fit their goals and passions.
To me this is why the Tur is my new "dream hunt" and why I cannot and will not ever say I won't be able to hunt them. It is also why I am grateful for companies like KUIU and people such as Pedro Ampuero for showing me new dreams and new adventures and for building equipment to get me there and for stoking the fires of imagination. Hopefully this rambling lets others see why these hunts are important for the average guy to think about and what makes me love them.
A few days back after seeing the Pedro Ampuero Tur bow hunt I posted up on here that it was my new favorite "dream hunt". After speaking with a couple of guys about it I have received some negative thoughts in regards to the hunt that I wanted to clear up and maybe it would show why I think it is important, or maybe even vital to have these "dream hunt gears" spinning in your head.
Most of the negative discussion about the hunt came from the guys that laughed and said things to the effect that I better be planning on winning the lotto or who do I think I am, a tech company CEO? While it doesn't take an IRS agent or an investigative reporter to quickly find out that Pedro Ampuero has had resources since he was a child that 99% of us will never have, to me that is only one part of the equation. Now I do agree that it must be mentioned, and that being in the upper social/economic structure of hunters worldwide does indeed factor into what you consider a "dream hunt", and what your dreams start out being. What I mean by this is that if you were born in Oakland CA, or rural WV and you fight daily the fact that your shoes have holes all over them and that your parents are barely around or that your power is constantly being turned off your dreams growing up are going to be different than that of someone whose parents come home from a transatlantic mountain hunting trip or that make a yearly visit to the Dallas Safari Club's convention and sit at the yearly "pat ourselves on the back awards" dinner.
This is when you are growing up, when you become an adult and see how big the world is your dreams can and often do change, but starting out when you have one pair of pants you are not likely to be thinking much on desert bighorns, lesser kudu, Alaskan brown bear and such. This is just how it goes but is no more the fault of the child being born to someone who makes minimum wage then the fault of a little kid born to parents with trust funds.
Beyond those things we cannot control though being born into even the best hunters, be that mountain hunters, white tail hunters, coon hunters or whatever does not automatically make you a great hunter yourself. You still have to make the climbs up and down, still have to be able to read sign, still able to hold your bow steady and still able to see things through. As someone pointed out to me, this is much easier done when you father is taking you up elk hunting since you were 6 and realize that you have to be in shape to climb, or not even realize it but climb because he does and you never get "out of shape". As opposed to someone who takes up hunting later in life and whose father is close to 350lb and not very athletic. While I cannot argue this at some point we all become adults and have to be responsible for our own actions, included preparing mentally, physically and every other way for the things we wish to achieve.
While I will be the first to tell you that despite all the hunting I have been blessed by God to do a Tur hunt is a pretty steep hill to climb. While it may be a bridge too far I still think it is important to dream about and there is a reason why my brain will not let me convince myself that it will never happen.
For one, it is not a desert bighorn or a Marco polo or true wild lion hunt. It is not so expensive that it can't be done with some savings. Is it as practical as a weeklong safari, no, but still not into what I consider the "big leagues" of bow hunting.
The second and more important reason is this; someday I hope my son hears me talking about Tur. I hope he sees my Aoudad mount. I hope he looks at my Kudu horns and says to himself "I want to do all that and more one day". I hope my passion for hunting takes root in him and he sees what I have done as a starting point, to do himself and expand on. I know this can happen because it did for me.
My father loves to bow hunt. He is in his 70's now and not real mobile but growing up he loved to get out into the woods. Now he had a pretty good job in law enforcement and made decent money, but do to his penchants for divorce he never had a ton of extra lying around. He bow hunted since the 60's but went on a total of two out of state hunts until I was an adult. What he did do was dream. He told me about far off places and exotic hunting. He read to me Capstick, Hemingway, and even rifle hunters such as Craig Boddington. His "somedays" and dreams became reality to me. When he said someday he wanted to go to Africa, to me it was if it was already done. To me it was a given from pre-teenager on that someday I would hunt the Dark Continent. I took his dreams as a starting place then added to them. The thought of a free range Aoudad with a bow? Heck Ya, why not! Stalking Coues deer on an OTC tag in AZ? Sounds perfect! While I have not been successful on all of these hunts I know my father never even considered them when he was my age.
That is what I am hoping I can pass on to my son and daughter. Hopefully in the field of hunting, but if not then in whatever endeavors they choose. I hope they hear me talking about Tur, or Ibex, or Cape buffalo and see that as their starting points. I hope they see the ground work I lay out when planning on hunting and by the time they are on their own they understand new and better ways of doing it. I hope they take my dreams and methods and expand on them to fit their goals and passions.
To me this is why the Tur is my new "dream hunt" and why I cannot and will not ever say I won't be able to hunt them. It is also why I am grateful for companies like KUIU and people such as Pedro Ampuero for showing me new dreams and new adventures and for building equipment to get me there and for stoking the fires of imagination. Hopefully this rambling lets others see why these hunts are important for the average guy to think about and what makes me love them.
