As I shared in my story about the coldest night of my life, that feeling of desperation to find success with my dogs lead me to make some pretty dumb decisions.
Looking back, I’m seeing how there were other times while hunting with my dogs where that same desperate feeling would corrupt my mind, and though not always leading to dangerous situations, tainted the overall experience.
There were so many times when hunting multiple days in a row, putting forth so much effort to get a catchable cat track started only to come home empty-handed, would generate so much frustration that I contemplated giving it all up.
Now, I wasn’t going to give up hound hunting altogether, but I definitely considered giving up bobcat hunting.
I’ll just go back to coon hunting, I would say.
When I spoke with my mentor during these desperate times, he shared some insight that I found comical, surprising, and comforting all at once.
“You know,” he said. “You are at the point where most guys …”
“Give up?” I interjected.
“No, not give up … get divorced!” He laughed. “I can tell you’ve got the bug and you’re at the point where you’re ready to sell your soul to start catching bobcats.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “You’re right.”
“I know all about it. I got to the same point, and I spent every dime I had at the time to buy the best dogs I could find. And I got divorced twice, almost three times, because of it!”
My dear wife will be reading this and I’m happy to say that she supports my hound hunting obsession more than I could have ever imagined, so I feel confident that our marriage is not on the line.
But I recognize that it’s that desperate feeling I need to fight to keep away. Thankfully, ever since I caught my first cat and know that it’s actually possible, those feelings of desperation haven’t visited.
And I plan on keeping it that way.
Hound hunting is one of those pastimes that takes a long time to get good at. There’s no such thing as overnight success with hounds … even if you sell your soul to buy the best dogs in the country.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, I’ve learned that it wouldn’t matter if those dogs cost twenty thousand dollars or you got them from the pound, as the hunter you need to have the skills to put the dog’s abilities to good use.
That’s where grinding it out comes into play.
The more I think about hound hunting as a practice—just like when I’m practicing playing guitar—the more enjoyable it becomes. I know that every time I take my dogs out, we all get better, more skilled, and more refined. Hound hunting really is one of the best ways to spend time outdoors there is.
With that, the preview series for my new book, Cat Dog Chronicles, is over. If you enjoyed any of these excepts even a little bit, I’m sure you’ like the actual book even more. It’s available now.
