Do you play handheld games on stand?

[Bowtechian]

Never have & don't plan to anytime soon. The reason you see some "hunters" playing games on tv is they were told when to expect their trophy to show up, so they're just passing time while they're "hunting hard".
 
I go to the woods to get away & to enjoy what goes on around me. 

[Ifishandhunt]

Never have and don't plan on it. I feel like if I had a game out, then my concentration is not focused on what is happening around me. Plus what the heck would you do if a deer shows up and you have to grab your bow. Way too much movement to put the game away and then grab your bow (or gun etc). I have been known to doze off a couple times and may have missed a deer, but I can live with that. But knowing I missed a deer because I was playing a game would mess me up! I am there to enjoy the outdoors, get away from normal life and just enjoy what God has put in front of us that so many people take for grantite.

I took my 11 year old son turkey hunting this past Spring and we sat in my Ameristep blind. He did bring his handheld game but it was ok because it would have be a long, long day for an 11 year old waiting for a turkey. He would get bored too easy. I want him to learn to enjoy hunting and not think it is boring. Hopefully having the game was a bit a a diversion for him to break up the long morning. He still seems interested and excited about deer hunting.

[Woods Walker]

ORIGINAL: Ifishandhunt

Never have and don't plan on it. I feel like if I had a game out, then my concentration is not focused on what is happening around me. Plus what the heck would you do if a deer shows up and you have to grab your bow. Way too much movement to put the game away and then grab your bow (or gun etc). I have been known to doze off a couple times and may have missed a deer, but I can live with that. But knowing I missed a deer because I was playing a game would mess me up! I am there to enjoy the outdoors, get away from normal life and just enjoy what God has put in front of us that so many people take for grantite.

I took my 11 year old son turkey hunting this past Spring and we sat in my Ameristep blind. He did bring his handheld game but it was ok because it would have be a long, long day for an 11 year old waiting for a turkey. He would get bored too easy. I want him to learn to enjoy hunting and not think it is boring. Hopefully having the game was a bit a a diversion for him to break up the long morning. He still seems interested and excited about deer hunting.

Good post! I used to take my daughter with me when she was younger also. She'd bring a book. I also told her that I was relying on her to HELP me see or hear any deer. This way she had a mission. We even developed a system of hand signals for different animals, so that we didn't have to talk. Anything to get them involved.
 
Another thought on this, is that maybe a better way to introduce youngsters to hunting is to start them out with small game, where there's more action. I mean, based on what I've read in this very thread, there's plenty of ADULTS who can't stay focused on a deer stand without resorting to video games, so how would you expect kids not to?`IMO, the WORST thing that can happen to a kid starting out hunting is to be bored. KIds are like young bird dogs in a lot of ways. You have to start them gradually, and then introduce them to game in some abundance so that they don't lose attention and become bored. A lot of intensity in short spans of time gets them "gamey".

[gunther89]

I haven't played games but I will text other people that are hunting to see what they are seeing and to help pass the time.

[Cut N Run]

The only game I'm interested is the kind I am hunting.  I am sometimes guilty of bird watching, where a movement catches my eye and I try to determine what species of bird it is.
 
If I'm hunting alone, I enjoy the peace, solitude, and beauty of nature.  Even though I see it every day, I don't get to immerse myself in it like when I'm on a deer stand.
 
We use hand-held radios at the lease and sometimes we chat back & forth quietly.  It is a good way to let another hunter know when you see deer heading his way, or to make sure that everybody else knows you are out of the stand and on the ground.
 
Jim

[Goose]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

If this is what you have to do to be able to withstand being forced to wait for game to come along, then why do you hunt in the first place??
 
Sounds like a quick trip to the game farm would suit your needs far better. Quick, guaranteed action, and then you can be back at your motel room by 10AM and spend the rest of the trip on your Gameboy, rather than having to endure anymore of that excruciatingly boring autumn woods, the unimportant "non-target" wildlife, and those aggravating glaring sunsets. [8|]

 
Thank you, I have now looked at myself in the mirror and realized that I am just kidding myself........where is the nearest game farm? [8|]
Deep down I hate the outdoors, I hate the thought of hunting deer, I hate the thought of sitting in a deer stand, I hate everything to do with deer hunting.........just give me a gameboy and I will be happy.
 
Give me a break, because someone uses their phone or a handheld game, they are not as good of a hunter as the person that naps or stares off in their own world?
 
Why do we always have to compare who is a "better" hunter because of this or that?
It should be about the fact that your out there, what you put into the hunt as a whole, and most importantly-what you take away from it.......not be judged on what your mind is doing while your trying to make it 1 more hour.
 

[4khorn]

I didn't realize that this was going to be such a touchy subject. I will admit that I am not a "professional" hunter, or always do things the right way. From what I have seen there is no ONE right way of doing things anyway. Everyone has their opinions and their routines. Just because I take a game with me on stand does not mean that I don't appreciate and enjoy every second that God allows me to be in the woods. I appreciate it just as much, if not more than the next guy because I am not blessed with owning my own land. Any day I could lose what little ground I do have to hunt.

[Woods Walker]

Goose...unwad your undies! No one said that you were not as good a hunter. I'm sure you've killed a ton of deer, and you obviously are dedicated. It's just that for some of us, we have a hard time understanding why just BEING there isn't good enough. Maybe you DO have issues with WHY you hunt? Is the only reason why you're out there to kill a buck bigger than you killed last time? Have you "controlled" your hunting with trailcams, food plots, herd population size and state of the art gear so much that the wait you have to endure to "maximize your investment" is that unbearable? These are questions only you can answer.
 
I think that for anyone that hunts, you'd be FAR better off investing in a high quality pair of binoculars than video game garbage, and spend the wasted time between kills observing and studying what's around you, from the leaves on the trees, birds, etc., to the ants making formic acid trails that they all follow going up the bark of a the tree. Details....minutia. I know you're big on details. I don't doubt for a second that you are a good hunter. But the more you know about the natural world...ALL of it....the BETTER the hunter you, and all of us for that matter, will be. Learning about the natural world is a process that never ends...thank God...and the woods is the classroom.
 
Squandering your precious woods time immersed in video games ain't gonna do it.

[DeerCamp]

guilty as charged...I dont do it everytime im out in the woods, as I dont always feel the need to.. I do enjoy being ou there a lot more than the texting theres no doubt about that.. But I have been knowen from time to time to send a text or two..But thats about it.. I dont have any download things on my phone, and I can live with it.

[69Viking]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

If this is what you have to do to be able to withstand being forced to wait for game to come along, then why do you hunt in the first place??
 
Sounds like a quick trip to the game farm would suit your needs far better. Quick, guaranteed action, and then you can be back at your motel room by 10AM and spend the rest of the trip on your Gameboy, rather than having to endure anymore of that excruciatingly boring autumn woods, the unimportant "non-target" wildlife, and those aggravating glaring sunsets. [8|]

I have to agree with Woods Walker too! My whole purpose is to be out there enjoying nature the way it was intended. I watch the birds, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, armadillos, beaver, opossum or whatever else decides to stroll by my stand! I love the mornings when you're sitting in the silence of the pre-dawn pitch black woods and then before you know it daylight slowly moves through the woods and the silence is no more, birds start chirping, squirrels are jumping from tree to tree and chipmunks are running around the bottom of your stand! The same happens after a long rain but this time the woods are slower to come alive because everything is soaking wet so animals move about the woods more quietly! Ok, I'm ready to be in the woods listening to nature, only 29 days and a wake up until the season opens!