Ok, here is one to think about. Going through all my clutter the other day got me thinking, if I could go back I would not have got this, I would have got that or done this, etc.... So if you could do it all over what would you change? Would you have bought less rifles and gone on more hunts? Would you have hunted differently? Used different/more/less equipment? Taken more/less people along? What has life taught you that you wished you knew then?
If I could do it all over......
- Thread starter PTS1
- Start date
If I could do it all over again? Probably make the same mistakes, I made what I thought were the "right decisions" back then. But in hindsight, I would have bought that house in California that was sold just a few years later for 5X what it cost, I would have held onto my Boss 302 and Mach 1 Mustangs for a few more years, and I would have taken that job in Saudi Arabia training their military (it paid a fantastic amount of money!). I also would have bought more Colt revolvers and Winchester Model 70s back in the day, and would have learned more about computers when they were in their infancy. And I would have built an Amway business.
I wouldn't have burned up all my vacation, spent hundreds of dollars and driven 1000 miles for last year's whitetail rifle season, just to come up empty....like my freezer. I've never eaten so much chicken in my life as I have this year.
I could have done so much more with the time and money I wasted.
I could have done so much more with the time and money I wasted.
Crankylove
New member
I am with ya on that one
Hog Buster
New member
I wouldn’t change a damn thing. I’ve had 73 years, most of it hunting and fishing or some such, of about the best life I could stand..... I hope it continues for a while too.....
What has that life taught me?... 90% of everything is BS and the other 10% doesn’t matter....
What has that life taught me?... 90% of everything is BS and the other 10% doesn’t matter....
Should of started hunting like a sniper a lot sooner,miles & miles of stomping around in the MTS. & SWAMPS shootin spooked deer on the run callin it fun.
When a little scouting & finding a advantage point to shoot from has been alot more productive & enjoyable not to mention alot less work.Now days I let the rifle do the work.
When a little scouting & finding a advantage point to shoot from has been alot more productive & enjoyable not to mention alot less work.Now days I let the rifle do the work.
FrankenMauser
New member
Absolutely. Once you see the light, there's no going back.
I know it's a really odd thing for a hunter to say....
If I were to do it over again, I would have let a few more big game animals walk away. Sometimes it feels better to know I had them, and let them live. And, sometimes, the shot should not have been taken, under the conditions that existed. (But I did learn a lot from those mistakes.)
And...
I think would own fewer centerfire rifles. My beloved .270 gets neglected, now. It has too many friends in the gun safe, that get their share of the fun. If those friends hadn't shown up, it would be used far more frequently (and I'd be perfectly happy).
I would of paid a lot closer attention to my father when he was teaching me to shoot. Doesn't sound like a big thing but that inattention lead in one way or another to quite a few hours of fruitless searching and most depressingly more than a few hours or remorse at the unnecessary harm I had caused a animal.
Kind of makes the point of how little things done wrong lead to bigger bad outcomes.
Now as to the mentioned "wife" issues............I got lucky there.....in over 30 years haven't seen any reason to even consider a trade. Of course I'm not so sure she hasn't had cause to think about trading me in........
Kind of makes the point of how little things done wrong lead to bigger bad outcomes.
Now as to the mentioned "wife" issues............I got lucky there.....in over 30 years haven't seen any reason to even consider a trade. Of course I'm not so sure she hasn't had cause to think about trading me in........
TheNatureBoy
New member
I wouldn't change a thing. Straight across the board its (hunting/target shooting/reloading) has been a whole lotta fun.
603Country
New member
I'm in my early 60's, and I don't think there's much I'd change in my past. Made some mistakes, and like I've heard it said: "We learn from our mistakes and the worse the mistake the more we learn". Read that to mean that I've leaned a lot. As for marriage, I got that right. Been married for 40-something years to the same freckled redhead, and it's been 3 of the best years of my life (She hates when I say that).
I wouldn't have sold the Marlin 336T in 35 Rem that my Dad gave me when I turned 15. Even today I can't understand why I sold that rifle.
I wouldn't have sold the Marlin 336T in 35 Rem that my Dad gave me when I turned 15. Even today I can't understand why I sold that rifle.
I'm on the low end of this, but every time I think about what I did wrong or may have done differently in hunting, buying guns, etc, I think of what I've learned since then. One thing I would have done is more research on firearms and less impulse buying. I would have had a plan for my arsenal and a plan for the guns. Other than that, I never owned a gun I didn't enjoy shooting, aside from the scandium/titanium .357 smith J frame.
Major Dave (retired)
New member
I bought a matching set of 20 ga and 12 ga SXS shotguns
for my freckled red head bride and I to use on a dove hunt during our honeymoon, 45 years ago.
Then I did a dumb thing - I posted her at the edge of a stock tank, then left and went about 300 yards upslope to shoot doves as they funneled in to the waterhole. After about an hour of fast and furious shooting (the doves were coming in wave after wave of 12 to 15 birds per flock), I realized my bride hadn't fired a shot.
I went to her, and as soon as I saw the look on her face I realized I had forever lost any chance to make her my "hunting buddy". She felt abandoned, and excluded.
I should have stayed with her, intercepted the flights of doves at the water tank, put my arms around her, helped her touch off her shots, and kissed her sweet lips with every downed bird.
"Of all sad words
of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these,
It might have been."
Maude Muller
P. S. We celebrate our 45th Anniversary, Sept 3 (third day of dove season),and we are going to the beach at Galveston, TX. No plans for a dove hunt! Alone, or otherwise. I sold both the SXS'es years ago.
for my freckled red head bride and I to use on a dove hunt during our honeymoon, 45 years ago.
Then I did a dumb thing - I posted her at the edge of a stock tank, then left and went about 300 yards upslope to shoot doves as they funneled in to the waterhole. After about an hour of fast and furious shooting (the doves were coming in wave after wave of 12 to 15 birds per flock), I realized my bride hadn't fired a shot.
I went to her, and as soon as I saw the look on her face I realized I had forever lost any chance to make her my "hunting buddy". She felt abandoned, and excluded.
I should have stayed with her, intercepted the flights of doves at the water tank, put my arms around her, helped her touch off her shots, and kissed her sweet lips with every downed bird.
"Of all sad words
of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these,
It might have been."
Maude Muller
P. S. We celebrate our 45th Anniversary, Sept 3 (third day of dove season),and we are going to the beach at Galveston, TX. No plans for a dove hunt! Alone, or otherwise. I sold both the SXS'es years ago.
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