Just plain Lucky

Did you ever know a man who had the luck when it come to hunting and fishing?  When I go fishing I find myself developing excuses on why I didn't fill the cooler up with fish.  The classic blame it on the moon "The moon wasn't right I guess".  Or how about this one  "I need to take this cast net and have it looked at, I know it needs some patching".  The same thing can happen hunting.  Here is a classic huntingism "Well I'm going to have to shoot this gun when we get home the scope must be off".  Here is one of my personal favorites "The wind was wrong and that deer smelled me".  No matter what excuse we pull from our arsenal it doesn't change the facts that in the end we failed to execute.  It's rare but sometimes we hear or see people who break the mold and live to a higher degree in the outdoors.  They have a few less weapons in there excuse stockpile.

My father George Byrd (Left) with a 12 pt. in 1964 with Butch Malone

   We call them lucky or as my good friend Joe likes to say "That guy has a horseshoe around his neck".  Or maybe it's "the luck of the Irish".  It could be that those guys don't have a black cat living on their street.  But I think in the end it comes down to execution.  This Rare Breed Outdoors Man takes advantage of the opportunities that come their way.  I was mullet fishing with my father the other day and as usual he was spanking me pretty good.  And I thought about what I was doing different than him.  My net was opening most of the time.  I was casting directly beside him but he was catching ten fish to my one.  I think I realized the difference.  He was throwing a little further out than me and creating his own advantage.  It's the little things we do that make the difference.  This holds true in all parts of life and really shows up outdoors as well.  My fathers old Remington Wingmaster and his Browning Medallion have killed more deer than black tongue.  He's killed deer when no one else was even seeing deer.  I know the secret why and if you keep reading you will too.  Luck might really play a part in it.  What's the old saying "I'd rather be lucky than good any day".  But I think it goes back to creating your own advantages.  Picking proper stand placement for wind direction.  Wearing good cover scent.  Taking the time to put out a good scent attractant for your target species.  If we concentrate more on the little details it will help the bigger picture.  What does our beloved Alabama football coach say "dominate the player in front of you one play at a time".  That holds true in hunting and fishing as well.  I'm going to make this cast count then I'll check the catch in the cooler when I'm done fishing.

George Byrd with 2 nice Bass

    And the main things that you must do to produce is not a secret.  First you must be in the woods to kill a deer.  That sounds simple but it takes some dedication.  You have to hunt when its hot sometimes, you have to fish when the wind is blowing.  It's hard to kill a deer sitting on the couch. When you get a chance on a deer you have to make it happen.  Make the shot count, use good shot placement and know when to take your shot.  That's one of the things that's consistent about my father he just simply doesn't miss when he takes his shot.  I can count on my hands how many times over the years when he pulled the trigger and we didn't have meat on the table.  Over the years growing up we were members in a few clubs and he was called lucky by some and hunt master by others.  But growing up around him and seeing his dedication to his family, faith, hunting and fishing, my brother Leo and I knew the secret and we called him DAD.

George Byrd and Shelby Byrd (Me)

Huge 6pt. for South Alabama bottomed the scales out at 210lbs

11pt. Buck

George Byrd

Nice 9 pt.

George Byrd

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Thanks for reading

S.Byrd