More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Man has been hunting since the beginning of time. It’s our true calling and the natural order.
The animal killed probably had a shitty life living in confinement, not free like an elk in the mountains that is as “free-range” as one can get.
“Death by violence, death by cold, death by starvation—they are the normal endings of the stately creatures of the wilderness. The sentimentalists who prattle about the peaceful life of nature do not realize its utter mercilessness.” —Theodore Roosevelt, African Game Trails
Wounded animals would ultimately have to be put down by government hunters instead of licensed hunters paying for the right to harvest. Taxpayers would be funding the government shooters. This is by far the worst-case scenario.
As a lifelong hunter, I can speak for all ethical hunters when I tell you our number one goal is a quick, merciful kill. Conversely, wildlife feels no sympathy. When death comes calling, the best option for a game animal is that a hunter takes its life and cherishes the meat from the kill for sustenance. Activists forget or ignore the fact that animals in the wild just don’t die of old age in a nursing home with their family gathered around, mourning. It’s brutal and unforgiving in the mountains. They get singled out by a predator or group of predators and run to exhaustion, then are eaten
...more
I’m not worried about getting injured or killed when counting coup because, to me, risk is part of the deal. I’m trying to kill the bear, and if in turn it kills me, then fair play.
“Anyone on here know Joe Rogan personally? If so, tell him I’d love to come on his show and talk about pretty much the only two things I’m good at. Bowhunting and suffering.”
“The mountains never lie.”
It’s times like this that the mountain tells you how strong and prepared you really are. Because the mountains never lie. Personally, I live for the tough love the mountains dole out.
Bottom line: Your body gives you what you ask of it.
Cam: Seasons come and go. This is the one consistent thing in my life.
“I believe the hunting world is my mission’s field,” Roy once said. “I mean, you can’t just come up to a lot of people and start saying, ‘Hey, you know, this is what I believe. This is how I think maybe you should believe.’ They have no respect for you. You’ve got to gain respect for people to listen to you, for you to have an impact on them. And the hunting world is a hard world that way. So if you can gain their respect through your hunting accomplishments, I believe that’s why God gives you those talents.”
“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” —Jack London
I wanted to find this buck so bad for Roy it hurt. But hunting can be an exercise in frustration at times.
The way he lived his life and chose to love those around him, including you, was an example for everyone who knew him of what a life in communion with God looks like.
It was just another chapter in the saga of my own meandering path through friendship and love and faith and doubt.
As for my faith … I still have a hard time. When someone dies, everybody always says, “They’re in a better place” and “We’ll see him again.” People talk about how glorious Heaven is going to be, and that all sounds good. It makes you feel good. But my faith isn’t so much that it’s unshakable. I do have faith, and some days I feel good and feel like I will see Roy again. Then some days I wonder.
I always admired Big Roy’s unwavering faith and I long for the same peace he always had regarding eternal life after death. He was irreplaceable as a presence in my life, but I’ll endure and keep hammering and do my very best to always honor the legend of Roy Roth.
Take time to think about what you’re grateful for. I love doing this while I’m on my runs. Pray for people going through hard times. Not just family and friends but also people you work with and encounter. Be grateful to know the stories and the suffering others have to go through. Think about those you’ve lost and honor their memory. Make sure the people you love know that you love them. If you love someone, tell them. If you value someone’s friendship, tell them. If someone inspires you, tell them. If you’ve hurt someone, tell them you’re sorry.
As I run down the empty streets and see the houses knowing everyone is asleep inside, in my head I kind of like it. I don’t envy them, because I feel like each morning is another chance to sacrifice a little more. I turn it into a positive and just think how I’m out there working already. That makes me feel good.
The saying goes, the greater the sacrifice, the greater the reward.
When you change the positive effort you put in, the odds tilt in your favor. That’s a fact.
There is never a question in my mind asking if I’m going to run today. I’m going to run no matter what. If I’m sick, I’ll still run. If I’m hurt, I’ll go slower. I’ll limp. Nothing will change. A lot of people look for ways or reasons not to run or exercise. Those things don’t even come to my mind anymore.
Misspelling - asses
I’ve found that one can never really prepare too much.
I think I’ll die before I will ever feel like I’ve made it, like I’ve arrived and I can take a break now. The downside, if there is one, is honestly, I think what I do isn’t a recipe for a long life.
But as I always say, if you’re not obsessed, you’re going to be mediocre. I don’t care what it is. If you have a healthy, balanced relationship with whatever dream you have, then nobody will ever know your name. That’s the cold, hard truth.
Maybe it’s ok to be a mediocre unknown though…
San Francisco 49er Jerry Rice, one of the greatest players to ever compete in the NFL, used to run a hill. In fact, it’s nicknamed “The Hill.” The steep incline was 2.5 miles up, and Rice ran it every day when the season was over. “It taught me endurance,” Rice said. “Being able to function when you’re really tired. “When there’s nothing else, somehow you find a way to dig a little deeper. So that last 800 meters, it made a lot of guys cry. It made a lot of guys throw up. That was part of my regimen during off season.”
“Listen, you guys aren’t special,” I always told them. “If you give what everybody else gives, you’re not going to stand out. You’re going to have to give more if you want to achieve anything. You have to give more than everybody.”
had also told them growing up, “If you’re average, then you’re a failure!” I had come clean and told them that I never should have said that having an ordinary job and an ordinary life meant you were a failure. I was wrong. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I’ve spoken to myself, “God, life is hard. Why does it feel unfair and defeating?”
I’ve learned firsthand, the hard way, that if you’re weak of body and spirit, life is going to be that much harder. Knowing this meant I had to show them tough love.
I live every day feeling like if you’re not giving all you got, then you’re not really honoring the gift of life.
No excuses, give your all, show up when you’re supposed to, speak your mind, own your mistakes, think with perspective, and live a life worth remembering.
give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”
The steeper, more rugged it gets, the more the climb asks of my legs, the harder my heart and lungs work moving blood and oxygen to fuel my quick and aggressive ascent to the summit … the happier I am.
Start early, train more, work hard, excel, and, over time, you create separation.
What dream do you hold that you’re not going to let go of?
Because you care, I care. I talk to you and listen because my life’s focus is not on the haters of the hunting industry or my regular work, the naysayers or trolls, but instead on people who live with passion and love life. I look you in the eye with respect and connection because our journey is a shared one and, for whatever reason, your life has given my life a sense of purpose.
That said, I hope you find your passion, your true passion in life. Some people never do, and they die without ever really knowing what lay dormant inside of their soul. That’s where I feel lucky; I found something that motivates me.
“I love a success story, but even more than that, I like a dude who fucks his life up and gets his life together again story.”
“It’s about what we do with opportunities revoked or presented to us that determines how a story ends.”
Sometimes on a hard hunt, it might all come down to one opportunity that I must take advantage of.
When will your opportunity come? What wil...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Hard to say. All you can do is be ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
I’ll say it again: With hard work, you can do incredible and amazing things. I’m here because of my consistent work, not my incredible talent. You can achieve greatness. I’m here standing on the sidelines believing in you.
What’s cool is you don’t need anyone to believe in you. Not even Cam Hanes. You just need to believe in yourself.
In 2018, NBA star and former Spur George Hill told me about the words of twentieth-century poet Jacob A. Riis that hangs in the Spurs’ locker room: “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it—but all that had gone before.”
This journey as a hunter, you can’t shortcut it. You have to learn those tough lessons, you have to know what success is, and you have to fail. And I think a lot of people, they want a shortcut. They want to get to the top of the mountain without ever being at the bottom. That slow journey up is what makes it special. It’s the reason why I am who I am today.
Do you have a passion? Have you found your tunnel-visioned driven purpose? If not, then go looking for it. And if you have found it, then cling to it. Inspiration is a beautiful and powerful thing to discover. When you find something that lights you up, hold on to it.
