Reason #1
The most common root cause of all this sporting lateness is the “one more” syndrome. This hindrance is a manifestation of the fact most of the world keeps going on forever, without any clear-cut demarcations such as the foul lines in baseball. Men, especially, need boundaries.
The return time of any shooting or outdoor trip is usually decided upon prior to the jaunt and earnestly shared with those whom it will affect. However, at the end of the day, we are sorely tempted because we need just one more string to fire to tighten up the group, there’s one more prime thicket to hunt or we see the perfect sunken log we know is holding a monster trout.
These last-ditch attempts often stretch into minutes, sometimes hours and occasionally weeks as we endeavor to end our adventure on a positive note. In fact, I’ve used this well-known natural fact as a no-fail hunting and fishing technique. Whenever you’re getting skunked, grandly announce to the world, “I’d like to keep fishing (or hunting, shooting, etc.) but the Swedish Bikini Team is waiting on me at the hotel and I simply must leave!”
Just make sure you’re ready because the sky will soon be filled with birds, the prairies will be black with antelope and fish will fight to commit piscatorial suicide on your lure.
I’ve also noted a parallel phenomenon on the shooting range — if you’re at the range and running ahead of schedule, you’ll run out of bullets in plenty of time to pack up, mess around a bit and head home. But, if you’re operating under a hard deadline because you’re scheduled to perform brain surgery or launch a major invasion of Europe, there will still be a half-box of ammo sitting temptingly on the tailgate when it’s time to leave. You’ll keep plugging away, continually muttering “Just one more, I gotta leave right after this one …”
In fact, most people don’t realize D-Day, June 6, 1944, was actually supposed to take place on May 23rd but Dwight D. Eisenhower was busy working up a new load for his pet ’98 Mauser.