always pick your hunting companions carefully, and hunt with them locally before making out of state trips with them
one other really bad trip involved, a trip to colorado in the 1970s, we had several guys in my elk hunt camp, group drive from florida almost every year from about 1968-2002 usually we took two trucks and had 4-6 guys spitting the cost of fuel etc..(it was 2300 miles one way--youll be making good time to average 55mph when averaging in stops for food, restroom breaks fuel, etc.) this one year we took my crew cab dually f350 truck and Al,s ford bronco 4x4
at the last day before leaving, on one trip one of the firm committed guys has his wife total her car, and he decides not to make the trip that year as his wifes in the hospital (understandable)
but that leaves us a guy short to share expenses and drive time, so one guy suggests his neighbor whos been hinting for years that he would like to go along be asked,
now we don,t know this guy, but Al knows him , and says he seems to be ok, but he smokes a pipe,and Ive never hunted with him but he does have a hunter safety card, and hes got plenty of hunting experience (according to him) so we say, ok lets ask, as were a bit tight on money, and this guy jumps at the chance, we talk for awhile about what the trips like and whats going to be expected,spiltting all expense costs,equally, and sharing driving strait thru, for a 42 hour average drive time each way,etc. and point out several times that we as a group have a firm rule that each guy can take anything he wants on the trip but it must ALL fit in a single standard military duffel bag and a gun case, because space for individual equipment is limited in the trucks, and we find thats a reasonable limit, because we have a good deal of tents,cookware, stoves, coolers, generators etc that are common equipment we share..
we explain that to him several times and give him a suggested item list,
this looser arrives on the day we are going to leave with enough personal equipment to fill both trucks with his stuff alone, and starts to argue about whats going to be needed and whats to be left behind, (we should have left him behind at that point)
well the trip out sucks as this moron can,t go 3 hours without smoking a pipe that smells like its full of old bark, rubber bands and dried dog turds, so we need to drive with the windows open so we can,t keep warm or hear with the wind whistling thru open windows.
once we get to colorado this jerk wants to go site seeing not hunting, and once we get up into the mountains hes never where he says he well be when we agree on hunt areas or pick-up times or locations, etc. we spend a good deal of time trying to find him thinking hes (LOST) when he bums a ride into town, from some hunter we don,t know without bothering to tell anyone, to go drinking, by thumbing a ride into town, so he can sit at some bar and gets a hotel room for the night without telling anyone in the group, and when he gets back hes pissed that were upset, so he says hes not paying for any more gas, food , etc,he stays in camp for several days being a p.i.t.a, and then leaves goes into town and gets a bus to take the trip home leaving all his gear for us to transport.
(we were severely tempted to just leave his gear on the roadside) but we brought it back and dumped it in his driveway several days later when we got back
one other really bad trip involved, a trip to colorado in the 1970s, we had several guys in my elk hunt camp, group drive from florida almost every year from about 1968-2002 usually we took two trucks and had 4-6 guys spitting the cost of fuel etc..(it was 2300 miles one way--youll be making good time to average 55mph when averaging in stops for food, restroom breaks fuel, etc.) this one year we took my crew cab dually f350 truck and Al,s ford bronco 4x4
at the last day before leaving, on one trip one of the firm committed guys has his wife total her car, and he decides not to make the trip that year as his wifes in the hospital (understandable)
but that leaves us a guy short to share expenses and drive time, so one guy suggests his neighbor whos been hinting for years that he would like to go along be asked,
now we don,t know this guy, but Al knows him , and says he seems to be ok, but he smokes a pipe,and Ive never hunted with him but he does have a hunter safety card, and hes got plenty of hunting experience (according to him) so we say, ok lets ask, as were a bit tight on money, and this guy jumps at the chance, we talk for awhile about what the trips like and whats going to be expected,spiltting all expense costs,equally, and sharing driving strait thru, for a 42 hour average drive time each way,etc. and point out several times that we as a group have a firm rule that each guy can take anything he wants on the trip but it must ALL fit in a single standard military duffel bag and a gun case, because space for individual equipment is limited in the trucks, and we find thats a reasonable limit, because we have a good deal of tents,cookware, stoves, coolers, generators etc that are common equipment we share..
we explain that to him several times and give him a suggested item list,
this looser arrives on the day we are going to leave with enough personal equipment to fill both trucks with his stuff alone, and starts to argue about whats going to be needed and whats to be left behind, (we should have left him behind at that point)
well the trip out sucks as this moron can,t go 3 hours without smoking a pipe that smells like its full of old bark, rubber bands and dried dog turds, so we need to drive with the windows open so we can,t keep warm or hear with the wind whistling thru open windows.
once we get to colorado this jerk wants to go site seeing not hunting, and once we get up into the mountains hes never where he says he well be when we agree on hunt areas or pick-up times or locations, etc. we spend a good deal of time trying to find him thinking hes (LOST) when he bums a ride into town, from some hunter we don,t know without bothering to tell anyone, to go drinking, by thumbing a ride into town, so he can sit at some bar and gets a hotel room for the night without telling anyone in the group, and when he gets back hes pissed that were upset, so he says hes not paying for any more gas, food , etc,he stays in camp for several days being a p.i.t.a, and then leaves goes into town and gets a bus to take the trip home leaving all his gear for us to transport.
(we were severely tempted to just leave his gear on the roadside) but we brought it back and dumped it in his driveway several days later when we got back
