Prehunt rituals, traditions, and superstitions.

[Irondog87]

Let's here some of the things y'all do before hunts that you always do and if you forget to it feels like the hunt just wasn't the same. I like to get a good nicotine buzz from some Copenhagen when we get to the woods haha.   
Also try and link up my collars to the garmin while headed to the woods, it helps to keep from finding some of my buddy's collars and I'm all set when we pull up. Less stress on me trying to get the wired up dogs in collars if they are linked to the garmin and ready to go before hand.
One superstition is I hate seeing tons of deer while we are driving through the woods about to turn the dogs out. A lot of the spots we hunt have deer and hogs and if there's a lot of deer out more times then not the hogs aren't around. When we don't see but a couple deer out and about the hogs are moving around good. That's just me tho.

[bob]

We always pray before the hunt on the way or before we leave , maybe even twice , once myself and then me and the boy agree in prayer together , we pray for protection over us and our group and also for the dogs , thank him for the opportunity to hunt and for the day in Jesus name , I also after arriving to spot will turn on gps and all collars first to get them up and running before put on dogs

[T-Bob Parker]

My prehunt ritual is to see a good wallow and turn out my best dogs into it. Then after they dissapear from hearing range, ill realize their collars weren't turned on.

[Reuben]

Irondog87...years ago I hunted a triangular spot that had lots of deer and hogs...I noticed then that the hogs decided where they wanted to hang out and the deer would move to the oppisite end...where we saw the deer we just moved to the other end of the property to hunt...deer don't like being around hogs...

[Crib]

We always pray before the hunt on the way or before we leave , maybe even twice , once myself and then me and the boy agree in prayer together , we pray for protection over us and our group and also for the dogs , thank him for the opportunity to hunt and for the day in Jesus name , I also after arriving to spot will turn on gps and all collars first to get them up and running before put on dogs

Oh amen brother. So important. I almost drowned on a hunt with Underdog and Realdogs. I heard of other people who did drown, falling down sink holes, barely dodging gators etc. You saying this made my day.

[justincorbell]

T-bob, I was right there with you for a LONG while lol, turn the dogs out and realize that I never turned the collars on......... nowdays i fixed that and I guess it would be considered a "ritual" since I do it religiously every hunt.

I wait until I get to where im hunting to collar my dogs. I turn on all of my tracking collars and put em all in a pile on the tailgate turned on, I grab em one at a time and put them on the dogs then once all dogs are collared I go through and delete every collar off of my handheld and re-add them each with the right dogs name on the collar. I have noticed a couple things since I started doing this. 1) my collars seem to work better when I deleted them and re-add them to the system (no idea why but I seem to have less problems when I reset them every hunt) 2) if I were to leave each collar as is and not delete and re-add them sometimes I wouldn't realize that a collar wasn't working correctly until after the dog was turned out and I was trying to find it, since I started deleting and re-adding them I know long before I drop a dog if one of my collars is acting up or is broken because my garmin won't re-add it when it tells me to touch the handheld to the collar. May not work for everyone but it works for me. 

Another thing I have started doing is keeping a hunting log going before each hunt, not sure if anyone else even knows about it lol but I keep a small notebook in my center console and before I hunt I write down pretty much any and everything that I can about the hunt, everything from weather conditions to the property to the dogs and people on the hunt. No reason really other than I like being able to look back and remember all the specifics of a hunt.

[BA-IV]

I always give my dogs a pep talk.  It ain't to big of a deal if I'm hunting by myself, but if I got buddies around, I try and let em know to keep the warming my feet, humping my leg, taking a crap in the buggy, and anything else that makes you hang your head and shake it to a minimum 

[J. Tallina]

I like to guess which dog/Dogs will have crapped in the truck by the time I get where I'm goin then I try to find a gas station that had batteries because I forgot to get batteries for my Garmin from the house.

[reatj81]

I like to get up extra early & cook a good big breakfast.  I always pray for our safety, and thanks for getting to hunt    I like to have the dogs collared vested & ready to roll when I arrive.

[Judge peel]

I get everything rigged and ready before I pull out of the drive we all stand by the truck say a prayer for all. Then we thro a shout out for our prey the respect of our prey  is important. If the dogs catch a hog I go to nearest fast food joint and get them all a 99 cent burger and me to lol


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[mikejc]

Gotta have a Full-throttle energy drink and jam som Jamie Johnson on the radio for the dogs! ( Ray-Rays juke joint) if your wondering which song.

[barlow]

I used to hunt regularly with a crotchety, old smart alleck. Every morning at about 6:45 we'd have the same, short conversation over a bucket of coffee.

ME: "where we gonna hunt today?"

HIM: "same place we did that other time"

ME: "oh yeah, where's that?"

HIM: "in the woods"

[Bryant]

Prior to each hunt, I try to imagine what I'm just about to lose or tear up.  Sometimes I'm a little off on specifics, but rarely off on the fact that I WILL lose or tear something up.  Just ask those who hunt with me.  In fact, I'm about 10 minutes back right now from the tire shop where I just had a new wheel mounted for my Polaris to replace the wheel, hub and wheel studs I tore up on Saturday.

I don't know what it is about hunting or fishing...been doing both for the 40 years I've been alive but I never sleep well the night before.

I also talk to my dogs.  Been doing it ever since I can remember.  All my dogs have grown up that way...since they were all pups and used to turn hogs out for the pups to go find.  I walk to the box, start hissing and saying "Who's gonna get a hog, yipping, etc."  In just a second they'll all be pawing at the gate and going crazy.  When I open the box, better not be anyone standing between them and the woods or you'll get run over.  Hunted a while back with some new guys I hadn't previously hunted with.  First time I cut dogs out they ribbed me pretty good...asked me if we were having a pep-rally back there at the dog box.

[dodgegirl]

We always pray, pat our dogs in the head & send them off.

[UNDERDOG]

I don't know what it is about hunting or fishing...been doing both for the 40 years I've been alive but I never sleep well the night before.

X2...same here, fishing trip or hunt I can never sleep the night before.

[Shotgun wg]

I get up gather collars off charger put them in bag. Check to make sure cut kit knife and pistol are still in it. Find my belt and change batteries in garmin. Load dogs in same order every time. Collar dogs in same order every time. I talk to them while we get ready. Load up and ask my lil girl if she's ready to go find a pig and were off.


Shotgun
Arkansas

[grittydog]

It's funny about not sleeping. It's real hard for me to get up and make it to work on time, but a hunting or fishing trip I am up extra early and ready to roll no problems...

[Irondog87]

Amen to that bob! Lots of great comments!!

[Irondog87]

T-bob, I was right there with you for a LONG while lol, turn the dogs out and realize that I never turned the collars on......... nowdays i fixed that and I guess it would be considered a "ritual" since I do it religiously every hunt.

I wait until I get to where im hunting to collar my dogs. I turn on all of my tracking collars and put em all in a pile on the tailgate turned on, I grab em one at a time and put them on the dogs then once all dogs are collared I go through and delete every collar off of my handheld and re-add them each with the right dogs name on the collar. I have noticed a couple things since I started doing this. 1) my collars seem to work better when I deleted them and re-add them to the system (no idea why but I seem to have less problems when I reset them every hunt) 2) if I were to leave each collar as is and not delete and re-add them sometimes I wouldn't realize that a collar wasn't working correctly until after the dog was turned out and I was trying to find it, since I started deleting and re-adding them I know long before I drop a dog if one of my collars is acting up or is broken because my garmin won't re-add it when it tells me to touch the handheld to the collar. May not work for everyone but it works for me. 

Another thing I have started doing is keeping a hunting log going before each hunt, not sure if anyone else even knows about it lol but I keep a small notebook in my center console and before I hunt I write down pretty much any and everything that I can about the hunt, everything from weather conditions to the property to the dogs and people on the hunt. No reason really other than I like being able to look back and remember all the specifics of a hunt.

Justin I e been thinking about doing a log book too, just so one day I can remember the hunts and situations for the hunts. Gunna need a reminder one day. Memory is already getting bad ha

[bob]

I have done a log book for the last eight yrs , how many dogs , what ones , who got hurt , hunters and how many hogs and the place we were , if you kill  100 hogs a yr or more they all seem to blend in together over time  , it sure helps to kick in that memorie lol