Paul, I thought about your title and just want you to know that you are very normal or much like me and a ton of others who like to fish, hunt, hike, explore, learn about the game you are after,etc.
Made me think when I drove into Alaska at the end of July in 1966 as a 25 year old flat lander from Minnesota. I only owned my Browning A5 for ducks and geese. I still needed to learn more about ptarmigan but quickly found out. I never knew anything about rifles until I took a drive down on the Kenai Peninsula. There I saw moose, black bear, Rocky Mountain goats and Dall sheep. When I got my resident hunting license in 1967, I looked through the book and found out that I could shoot over 20 animals a year for $7.00. I gave my rear end a kick with my size fourteen and got started. Have you ever dreamed of going on a grizzly hunt or maybe a Dall sheep hunt,then be thinking of when you wanted to shoot a caribou or go after a trophy bull moose, only to have someone ask you to go on a Kodiak brown bear hunt. You had to be careful not to get ulcers. I do remember how much fun I had going through all the different rifles, asking guides and hunters I knew for all the info they could give me. I can remember it like it was yesterday when I walked into Montgomery Wards in Anchorage and bought my first rifle which was a Remington 7mm magnum. I had them put on a 4 power scope with a 3 minute black dot. That was my "range finder". I knew that if I covered the entire shoulder of a sheep with my dot that I was too far away. 3 inches at every 100 yards. Pretty cool especially if you liked shooting at white body animals like goats, sheep and most caribou were easy to zero in on. More difficult with moose for sure but it didn't hinder me at all.
So saying that, Paul, don't get ulcers while you are having fun. Best of luck to you.
Al
Al, that is so cool. I got married at 21 and had a kid at 22, and number 2 at 25, so my big wild adventures like that will likely wait for retirement, or at least my 40s/50s. I inherited a 30-06 from my grandfather when he passed 2 years ago, which is what got me going on the whole whitetail thing. I'd love to get after more big game species, but all in good time. Deer give me enough trouble as it is now, even with an extremely successful first season (I was getting out of my stand to start tracking about 90 minutes after shooting light... Beginners luck!) I am definitely still in the "low standards high expectations" category of whitetail hunters.
I love the fall, and can't wait to get my wife back out for early goose season! She loved watching flocks decoy, and this year she has a gas operated semi-auto to lessen the punch on her shoulder. We have to have the grandparents watch the kids to get her out, but boy is it ever fun!! She went out in duck season and totally whiffed on a "meatball" shot on a drake can. Good to know I'm not the only one that misses easy shots...Paul
