"The truth is, most guides are not smart enough to hold down a steady job at the local sawmill, and are obliged to choose between guiding and burglary." - Ed Zern, To Hell with Hunting (1946)

"Man is a fugitive from nature." - Jose Ortega Y Gasset, Meditations on Hunting (1942)

"There are few things most outdoor-minded men pride themselves on more than the ability to build a good fire." - Gene Hill, Log Fires (1967)

"I know of no more common fault among parents. No matter how zealously guarded a boy's life may be, the time will almost certainly come when he will either handle firearms, or find himself in the company of other boys who are doing so, and in either case his chance of emerging from the affair in a watertight condition is in direct proportion to the familiarity the participants have with the weapon." - Burton Spiller, More Grouse Feathers (1938)

"It is regrettable that of the hundreds of thousands of deer hunters spread throughout our whitetail deer country only a few spend sufficient time in the woods for absorbing some knowledge of deer habits." - Lawrence R. Koller, Shots at Whitetails (1948)

Watertight condition. I like that.

"I thought he was bigger" - Every deer hunter.

Fires have become easier for sure

Stay the hell out of my stand....me to whoever keeps using it!

I couldn’t even imagine it

My Dad, talking about my oldest daughter’s first husband: “son, that boy sure dresses in fancy hunting clothes, but he can’t hunt for s___”. And true dat wuz.

"He grouped his last five shots right in the center of the bull's-eye. Then I showed him my technique of scattering shots randomly around the target because, as I explained, you never know which way the deer might jump just as you pull the trigger." —The Hunting Lesson, February 1983, Patrick F McManus

"A man and a gun and a star and a beast are still ponderables in a world full of imponderables"

Robert Chester Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953

One of the most humorous authors ever.

Lots of good ones from W.A. Bill Maltsberger from whom I relearned deer management, deer hunting, and a lot of wisdom for life.

On whether to shoot a deer or let it go, "Err in favor of the animal and the ranch."

On the same question of whether to shoot a particular deer: "It should either clearly be a trophy or a cull."

"It is not going to grow any bigger or older once it is on the ground."

On fancy rifles: "Any horse too fancy to ride is too fancy to own."

Whenever he saw someone with weak shooting skills: "let's put the dogs on standby."

From my dad: "The odds of seeing a good one are better out hunting than sitting at home."

"Shooting afield without the aid of a trained dog is very poor sport indeed, but nevertheless much better than to be vexed with an uncultivated, obstinate dog who is the source of constant annoyance and anger." Ed. F. Haberlein, The Amateur Trainer, 1908

"Don't pass on one the first day that you wouldn't pass on the last day." This one hosed me earlier this year. I took a nice but not outstanding buck on the first day of a four day hunt and then saw at least six bucks that were better than the one I shot. I am also aware that the hunting gods would have had their way with me if I had passed on the first one. That seems to be the way it works.

My target buck last year came out from behind some trees to see the buck I had just dropped in the feeder pen.......

my Dad always told me - forget what you are seeing or not seeing when hunting a trophy - you are only hunting for ONE DEER -

Aim small miss small
keep it in the fur.

If you want to eat it, don't shoot the eatin' parts!

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Big bodied but not much horns.

“You two look like you’ve been washing cats.” - my wife after the first time I took my dog woodcock hunting.

He suffered from ground shrinkage.

My uncle when hunting rabbits with his pack of beagles: "Make sure everyone uses .22 shorts, it'll be easier to patch up the dogs and the kids."

That deer seems to have a hitch in his gitalong.

You can't eat the horns!

my favorite rebuttal to that was always "yeah, and a ham steak looks bad up on the wall"

All hoof and no horns.