I decided that Saturday would be a good day to go out after my bear - I figured the snow should be off and the bears coming out to see what’s there. I also decided that I’d take my wife along if she wanted to go. So, after getting her to agree on Friday, I packed the daypack for Saturday’s hunt. I packed some lunch, water, extra clothes, my gun, and ammo. I was all set. I thought.
My wife brings strange stuff on hunting trips. Some of it might make me blush if I really knew what it was, and some stuff is - well, girly. I was digging in my pack later that night to make sure I had everything. All my stuff was there, but I also found some added baggage.
Toilet paper - okay, for all intents and purposes, toilet paper is practical - I’ll give her that one as I should have thought of that one myself.
Chapstick. Girly.
Something. I think I should be blushing.
A bra. Never taken one of those things on a hunting trip before. Girly. Definitely girly.
Something else. I think I should be blushing some more.
A PINK shirt. Uh huh, that’s girly.
A rubberband. Not a normal ruberband, but one of those ones that girls put in their hair - girly.
Hunting knife. Oh, wait, that ones mine.
Really old crackers and candy bar wrappers. Mine, again - I need to start cleaning this thing out after each hunting season.
I was rapidly coming to understand that my pack was going to grow considerably whenever I take my wife hunting. But all the girly things and the embarrassing things that get thrown into my pack are worth it, because I realize how lucky I am to have a wife willing to tromp around the mountains with me.
Our trip after a bear was actually cut short, though. Very short. We had just gotten to the timber line when we hit drifted snow. Another fifty yards had two foot drifts piled up across the road and another fifty yards there were four foot drifts. We were still at least five miles from where we wanted to be - and at least another mile or two from bear country - so we turned around and went home. We were still several miles from public land, and I didn’t want to walk very far in four foot drifts. I mean, I didn’t want to walk at all in four foot drifts. From the looks of it, this snow could be there a while, yet, so I’m not sure what kind of a bear season I’ll have. In the meantime, I’ll just unpack and wait it out.
.270 shells. Those are mine.
Black gloves. Mine.
Ummm, something that looks like… I don’t know - Honey, what is this anyhow?
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(4.75 out of 5)
Tom, you must get your wife hunting! She’ll probably want her own pack for her girly things (we don’t want you to see some of that stuff anyway), and even better, she’ll keep you well-packed for the hunt. Hell, my friend Dana even cooks breakfast out in the field!
Yes, I’d like to get my wife hunting, but I also don’t want to pressure her to the point of driving her away from the passion of hunting! She enjoys going with me and filming right now, so I’ll count that as a start!
As for wanting her own pack - well, not so much! We start hiking up and down Hell’s Canyon and she doesn’t care so much for weight on her back! Can’t say that I blame her - I don’t always care for that part of the hunt, either!
Funny stuff Tom.
That was so funny…..I laughed. She needs to get a camo bag to put her stuff in. It’s neat that she is going with you and that’s good experience for her. That is what I did when I was first started dating my husband-to-be and then one day I told him I can do this! That was 23 years ago and a lot of fond memories. Good Luck on you bear hunt! Be safe!
he exagerates, I don’t take that much stuff!
Uh oh - my cute little wife has figured out how to register on the site and is fighting back!
Marian - I’m glad you’ve had so many great memories with your husband - I can’t think of a better place for memories than on a hunting or fishing trip.
My husband bought me my own pack - that way I couldn’t put many girly things in his pack!
Great post Tom. Made me laugh out loud. I have to be honest though and say that my wife really doesn’t bring that many “girly” things to camp. She has been hunting with us long enough to know better.
Very funny post, Tom. I would probably bring girly stuff to camp too, at the very least I’d bring toilet paper. At least you have a sense of humor about the whole thing, and you recognize you’re lucky that your wife wants to go hunting with you. Those are both big pluses in my book.
Shanna, I would have had the same things along with probably a few more. Sitting in the woods can be boring and I would have brought a nail file.
Hey Tom,
A bra? Well I was on a hunt with a bunch of guys and one of those was packed. It seems that a couple of the guys on the trip had a habit of playing tricks on each other from time to time so one of these guys brought what appeared to be one of Dolly Parton’s bra. Of course at the end of the week this item was slipped into the other guy’s bag with his dirty laundry. I guess this man’s wife was no Dolly and he had a lot of explaining to do after she did his laundry. I guess that is why when I hunt with that bunch I unpack and do my own laundry when my wife isn’t around.
-Moose-
Moose,
I had the same thing happen on a baseball trip my freshman year. The guys thought it’s be funny if my mom found it. Lucky for me i caught them in the act!