Here are the five things that make hunting great based on the number 10.
By the time hunting season rolls around, we've tended to our treestands, thought about deer hunting or turkey hunting 1,000 times and basically just can't decide which wild game is our favorite.
Whether we're bowhunting from ground blinds or chasing big bucks on the move, we build an idea in our heads of what will happen before we pick up any of our esteemed hunting tools.
Food plots and shooting lanes aside, there's more to hunting than just the physical preparation; mental preparation is just as important.
While there are many things we love about our passion, there are also things we often forget or just never knew.
1. 10-Point Buck
Maybe you were thinking a deer's natural beauty is the biggest reason we love the hunt. However, it stands to reason that in these modern days of "internet deer porn" we have become so jaded that we forget one of the Holy Grails of a season: a 10-pointer. With rack sizes and shapes seemingly varying beyond our wildest imaginations, it's easy to forget about the signature 5X5.
2. .410
Okay, so it's not precisely a 10, but it was the first shotgun many of us ever shot. Many of our hunting buddies had these because of how easy they were to handle, especially if you were just out behind the house. At the end of the day, it was an important part of our hunting upbringing that kept us coming back.
3. 10-Pound Mineral Lick
Even though the one pictured is around 12 pounds, and most feed blocks are 25 pounds or larger, you get the picture. Where legal, these were what we first thought would put that exemplary rack on that scraggly buck we'd been watching.
4. 10-Gauge
Once we'd graduated from the venerable .410 to the all-around 12-gauge, we began to hear stories of a shotgun that would destroy anything in its path. Once we'd dispelled all those silly rumors from our hunting pack of friends, we began to learn what the 10-gauge was all about.
Until the 3-1/2-inch 12-gauge came out, this was the leader of the pack for those who wanted to sit down and take charge of every goose in the sky. It wasn't made for walking, but many truck beds in North America had these lying in the back along with a haul of taken waterfowl.
5. 10-Bearded Turkey
There are only a handful of stories about such a spring gobbler, and this is one of them.
In early April of 2015, Kooper Bay had the hunt of a lifetime when he bagged a big spring Tom with a 10 full beards! While you and I can only dream of such a feat, Bay brought it home for dinner. Whether we hunt the open country or some boreal forest, dreams like these are what make us slaves to hunting!
Whether we hunt for whitetailed deer or rabbits, early or late season, we hunt animals not to prove that we're somehow better or dominant, but to experience a natural instinct that's ingrained in us as human beings.
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NEXT: WHY I CHOSE NOW TO WRITE A HUNTING BOOK
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