A conundrum

[Tigger]

Opening day for whitetail season is this Saturday (9 day season) and I have a BIG conundrum. Opening day is always the best by far. But my boys' high school football team won sections and is going to state. Game is at 11 am 1.5 hours from our house. Dang. My boys are sophomores and because our team is soooo stinking good and stacked with really good seniors, they dont get to play varsity (other than a few garbage time snaps). I think I can hunt for about an hour and 15 minutes before I have to leave for the game! Well, I guess it is not really a big conundrum as I am going to the game.

Last Friday's game was an absolute classic thriller. We played our arch rival, Moorhead. One or the other of these two teams have been ranked #1 almost all of the season. We won on a 99 1/2 yard touchdown pass late in the 4th quarter 48-44.

[7mmfan]

How far is your stand from your house? How fast can you field dress? How fast can you drive? Might be able to squeeze 2 hours in.

Going to the game even if they don't get much playing time is important. Sounds like exciting football anyway.

[>>>---WW---->]

A chance like this may never come again for your boys. Support them in any way you can. You'll have many more opening day hunts in the future. Besides, the second day may be just as good!

[Tigger]

Dont know how to do a video, but if you want to see it, go to https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=961728342386004

[7mmfan]

"HE COULD GO ALL THE WAY!"

[Tuffcrk14]

I’ve played that game of dancing the fine line between being able to hunt, but having family obligations that I couldn’t miss. The stress of being on time, but also trying to hunt takes away from the whole experience of being out there and leads to disappointment on both ends. Could you turn it into a scouting mission maybe? If I’m pinched for time I’ll go set a camera somewhere that I’ve been wanting to check out and/or drive through a place I’ve never been to check out access and hunting pressure. There are options!

[Lefty]

I’ve played that game of dancing the fine line between being able to hunt, but having family obligations that I couldn’t miss. The stress of being on time, but also trying to hunt takes away from the whole experience of being out there and leads to disappointment on both ends. Could you turn it into a scouting mission maybe? If I’m pinched for time I’ll go set a camera somewhere that I’ve been wanting to check out and/or drive through a place I’ve never been to check out access and hunting pressure. There are options!

Family first!!


Rea;ostically is what your doing going to fit

Thanksgiving Ive always hunted. Drove my MIL crazy. One year I sort of took over to feed all 39 of us. Another brother in law and I did it all,,, except for a store purchased pie she had to buy.

Dinner at noon, My daughter and I killed 7 ducks and two geese, and the first ones at the cabin.
I mentioned I wasnt doing dishes, then took my youngest down the road and were back with in the hour

325698_122093031236941_214992743_o.jpg (145.57 KiB) Viewed 229 times

[Tigger]

I’ve played that game of dancing the fine line between being able to hunt, but having family obligations that I couldn’t miss. The stress of being on time, but also trying to hunt takes away from the whole experience of being out there and leads to disappointment on both ends. Could you turn it into a scouting mission maybe? If I’m pinched for time I’ll go set a camera somewhere that I’ve been wanting to check out and/or drive through a place I’ve never been to check out access and hunting pressure. There are options!

Scouting doesnt make sense in this particular case. We are stand whitetail hunters. I will go sit until I can comfortably make the game and then leave. My dad will be hunting and not attending so if I get one, he is on guttin' and gillin' duty.

[WapitiTalk1]

Tough choice with only a 9 day season. Have your boys skip the game and go hunting with you

[Tigger]

Tough choice with only a 9 day season. Have your boys skip the game and go hunting with you

No bigger hunter than me, but guess how often you get to go to the state tourney in football? Very likely only once in your lifetime. Football wins on this day.

To rub salt in my wound? A nice 5X5 showed up on camera last night.

[Tigger]

Big game tomorrow at 11! My boys were at practice this morning at 5:45 am. Police and Fire Truck sendoff and bus escort tomorrow at 7 am. A local restaurant has donated breakfast for the kids. I tell ya, the whole community gets behind the Alexandria Cardinals!!!!! It will be a tough game as we face an undefeated metro school (Robbinsdale Armstrong).

[7mmfan]

That's great. Love the way small towns support their kids and make them feel like a big deal going to the championship.

[Tigger]

And just a little icing on the cake, our girls volleyball team just defeated an undefeated metro school to go to the championship game!

[Lefty]

And just a little icing on the cake, our girls volleyball team just defeated an undefeated metro school to go to the championship game!

Congratulations !!!!!

[Tuffcrk14]

That’s all awesome stuff right there!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[7mmfan]

Well? Did the boys win?

[Tigger]

Final score:

Alexandria 17
Robbinsdale 14

On to the final four. Our next game is another undefeated team. 3 in a row now. Game is Saturday night.

I missed the send off but it was cool. Police and fire escort to the freeway.

[7mmfan]

Awesome. Deer season should be over by then I assume?

[Tigger]

Nope. Through next weekend.

[7mmfan]

So no deer hunting for the kids this year, or will they get a weekday off this week?

[Tigger]

Coach game them today off, so I called them in to get released 15 minutes early to avoid the parking lot traffic jam and we will sneak in an hour and a half. We might hunt some morning if it looks real good (late to school). Saturday morning we can squeak a few hours in and then Sunday is open except for church. So they should get some time. One boy had a nice buck at 100 last night but couldn't see it well enough in the fading light so passed on the shot.

[7mmfan]

Good luck! Hope you guys knock a few down!

[Tigger]

Well, ironically, I knocked one down last night!

[7mmfan]

Nice! Keep that momentum going!

[Swede]

I may be an Ebenezer Scrooge, but the ball game thing does not make sense. One kid is on a team so the whole family has to drop everything else and wait around in the cold so that the kid on the bench knows you support them. To make things even worse, the kid may not even get to play. Just me.
Now I ask, were my parents less supportive when they never went to me track meets or wrestling matches? They always wished me well before I left for school and asked right away how well I had done when I got home.
My wife and I went to a few of our kid's competition but missed most of them. When one kid had a game or track meet the whole family was not expected to go stand around in the cold or bake in the sun. In less than two weeks one of my grandsons will be running in a collegiate championship national meet in Sacramento Calif. He is from Ohio. It is a prestigious thing just to be eligible to run there. Go Eli Lengl!


Yours Truly:

No Conundrum Swede

[cohunter]

I totally get the conundrum! In fact, this is the first year since moving back to the states that I haven't had an elk tag in my pocket and maybe a deer tag too. Life just got too busy with a high-school aged kid who felt to busy to go hunting this year and the other kids running all over the map. It just wasn't going to happen this year. I missed it a ton! And as I was missing it this afternoon, I thought, "I wonder what ever happened to the old elknut forum?" Thrilled to see the same old crew with a lot of the same old profile pictures and Swede still harassing everybody...

[Swede]

It is good to see you back on the forum cohunter. Don't let your kids run the asylum. They will drive you crazy.

[Tigger]

Well it isn’t one kid it is 2. I don’t think they expect us to be there, I want to be there. First I want to support them. Second I love the team. It is super exciting to watch.


So how did they do? Well they had no problem with Owatonna. Now on to the championship against Elk River. And I will absolutely be there. Our small town travels en masse to these games. It is awesome!

[Swede]

You have two boys on the bench. You are determined to go for double the excitement, and no one is holding you back. So, what is the "conundrum?" Don't tell us you feel sorry for the deer that are missing you.

[Swede]

I have enjoyed harassing Tigger on his conundrum even though he may not have enjoyed it so much. The truth is that times have changed, and families support their kids in sports far more than when and where I was in school. Maybe it has as much to do with the economy now as commitment. It would have cost $5-$10 for my family to drive to school and get admittance to a game. Like many others in our area, we did not have that much discretionary money. It was not a matter for discussion. If we had the funds available would that have changed things. Like I said, it was not a matter of discussion.
When my son played baseball or wrestled, my wife and I attended a few times, but only a few. It was not a total lack of interest, and it was not a matter of discussion. Still, few parents attended the kid's games. Now my son takes the family all over Oregon and into California and Washington to watch one daughter play soccer. My oldest daughter is flying from Ohio to Sacramento California to watch her son compete at a division II finals track meet, for a collegiate championship. Eli is doing well for a freshman.
Anyway, Tigger, I hope your team does well and your sons get to have a good part.

[saddlesore]

I'd rather teach my kids ( which I did) that they can learn a lot more about life hunting than on a football field. Back before dirt was invented, my high school principal chided me about wanting to go hunting. The next day,my father was at school and told the principal that I could learn a lot more in a week of hunting than what I could learn at school. In those days, schools actually closed down the first day of deer season because attendance dropped so badly.

A kid can play football a few years, but they will be hunting all their life if taught right. Growing up on a farm, we never had time for the so called extra curricular actives. School was for learning which seems to have fallen by the way side.

What I remember and cherish most is when our family of 6 piled in the 52 Chevy station wagon and all went hunting, girls included.

If you want family time, take the whole family hunting. Swede said it best. " Don't let your kids run the asylum

[Swede]

Saddlesore, I agree, but I fear that we have lost touch with what is going on. Maybe we should be all onboard with sports and organized play activities. If the kids are not into football or some other organized activity like drama club, it is cell phones, internet garbage or Worse! I feel bad for parents that try to shield their kids from the world now by home schooling them or sending them to a church school. That does not guarantee a good education or a well-adjusted adult.
Maybe Tigger is right. Take the kids to play ball and cheer them on. When I was a kid, we got the first day of deer season off too. The trouble was that I extended it to a week. When I came back to school I was kicked out until my dad brought me back and discussed "My problem" with the principal. I do not know what that accomplished as I had gone hunting with dad. We went hunting that way about every year, but only once did dad have to go with me to be readmitted.
Thinking about high school sometimes makes me chuckle. We were told that our future depended on doing well in high school. We were told we needed to get good grades there to get into college and to have a bright future. I graduated with a 1.75 gpa. I went to college and got a 3.75 gpa. I had a good career in the Forest Service and have a great family. The Lord is good.

[Tigger]

There is no danger that my kids wont hunt. they are addicted for life. You can hunt your whole life, but being on a state championship (if we win) team only happens once. There is value in both, but that window closes for good on football. This is a no brainer. Plus, deer hunting is now closed!

[saddlesore]

Swede.I had the opposite. So so grades in high school, 4.0 when graduated from Penn Sate because I wanted to work at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico because I wanted to hunt in New Mexico.That got me ten years of experience and then a good job Colorado. My ultimate destination to hunt.

I have yet to see football or any other activity produce better citizens nor have I seen better citizens coming out of these universities that have been brain washed into thinking everything is badabout our country . Having kid addicted to cell phones, internet, etc,is the parents fault. School are now seeing that detriment and have started banning phones in class rooms.

[Swede]

When I was a kid, I was spanked several times in grade school. I was not a particularly bad kid. I was super active and would not settle down. My folks paddled me on occasion when I got out of line. Now those criminals with their torcher sticks would all go to jail, and I could press charges against them for child abuse.
The paddle did not hurt my fragile ego one bit. I managed quite well thank you. I had that old hyperactive bug out of my system when I came out of the Navy. The military and all that was involved there, including the discipline did not ruin my fragile ego either. It was good for me. When I got out, I was ready for college.
I see the Portland news every evening. The madness of the criminals on the TV western Gunsmoke had nothing to compare with our half-hour local news broadcast. Just yesterday a 16-year-old was convicted of raping and killing a 13-year-old girl. Matt Dillon never had to deal with anything like that. In our modern enlightened society there is little discipline, and the kids run the asylum until the police and courts have to step in. My how things have changed.