I really enjoy the hunting experience. I have all my life. I do not have trophies on the wall, but have shot a lot of game. I donate every deer/elk I shoot to a charity that grinds the meat and gives to the needy. Every African animal I have shot has been donated to the local village. Last month we gave 5 tons of meat to a community. It will last them a long time. In Argentina, the hide/meat is given to the local villages. I have never brought a trophy back. I take a lot of pictures and create albums to show to friends and family.
Hunting experience vs. wall hangers
- Thread starter c. schutte
- Start date
My feelings are similar to Dan's. I eat elk or moose. That is what I prefer and what typically fills my freezer. Unlike Dan I have killed a lot of bulls but I've probably killed just as many cows as bulls. We never use to have OTC cow tags so you had to draw for a cow. I always just bought a OTC bull tag until a few hunts started for OTC cow tags. I hunt mule deer for the horns as I'm not really fond of the meat but I also don't shoot them very often because I'm so picky. I have used my tag to give meat to people that want it several times though. I try to draw doe antelope here locally just for fun and my dad's neighbor likes the meat. The odds of drawing a doe are 45% and the odds of drawing a buck are about 2%. While I would rather hunt a buck it's more fun to chase them nearly every year. I'll save points in WY and UT to try for a big buck one of these days.
Because we can get several tags each year we usually will try to draw a bull tag when we can and I will try to shoot a big one. I've shot a 303" and 317" bull in previous years. If it comes down to it I try to fill my tags to give the meat to other people that appreciate/need it. Last year between my wife and I we shot 2 cow elk, 2 bull elk, a cow moose, and a doe antelope. I gave away all 3 elk and the antelope I shot and we put my wife's cow elk and moose in the freezer. All the people I gave the meat to were super happy to have it and it helps them out not having to buy as much meat. It's a win win for me because I just like to hunt as much as possible. It would be nice if they would pack it out themselves but that keeps me in shape so it's not so bad. :mrgreen:
BTW I think about all of us have our core hunting animals that we chase and try to outwit every year. I know I do but I also enjoy new things. Taking jet boats up the Yukon 300+ miles to hunt moose was something I'll always remember as was hunting caribou out of Chicken, AK. There are several other experiences out of state and out of country that I will always remember. I personally want to experience and learn everything I can about other animals in other states and countries. I always put as many days in the woods or on the water that I can locally but there is nothing wrong with spending some days somewhere else IMO. This fall I'm going back up to AK moose hunting and next spring we are taking our annual family vacation in Hawaii rather than Mexico so my dad and I can go axis deer hunting. BTW axis deer is suppose to be about the best venison there is. Hopefully I'll know by this time next year because I will bring the meat home with me if I get one or two or three (tags are cheap and you can get up to 3). I would love to go hunting in BC if any of my wife's side of the family would get a hunting license long enough for me to go with them. There are numerous other hunts I would like to do as well.
Because we can get several tags each year we usually will try to draw a bull tag when we can and I will try to shoot a big one. I've shot a 303" and 317" bull in previous years. If it comes down to it I try to fill my tags to give the meat to other people that appreciate/need it. Last year between my wife and I we shot 2 cow elk, 2 bull elk, a cow moose, and a doe antelope. I gave away all 3 elk and the antelope I shot and we put my wife's cow elk and moose in the freezer. All the people I gave the meat to were super happy to have it and it helps them out not having to buy as much meat. It's a win win for me because I just like to hunt as much as possible. It would be nice if they would pack it out themselves but that keeps me in shape so it's not so bad. :mrgreen:
BTW I think about all of us have our core hunting animals that we chase and try to outwit every year. I know I do but I also enjoy new things. Taking jet boats up the Yukon 300+ miles to hunt moose was something I'll always remember as was hunting caribou out of Chicken, AK. There are several other experiences out of state and out of country that I will always remember. I personally want to experience and learn everything I can about other animals in other states and countries. I always put as many days in the woods or on the water that I can locally but there is nothing wrong with spending some days somewhere else IMO. This fall I'm going back up to AK moose hunting and next spring we are taking our annual family vacation in Hawaii rather than Mexico so my dad and I can go axis deer hunting. BTW axis deer is suppose to be about the best venison there is. Hopefully I'll know by this time next year because I will bring the meat home with me if I get one or two or three (tags are cheap and you can get up to 3). I would love to go hunting in BC if any of my wife's side of the family would get a hunting license long enough for me to go with them. There are numerous other hunts I would like to do as well.
6mm Remington
Ammo Smith
- Feb 27, 2006
- 5,318
- 864
I don't have a checklist of animals that I want to hunt either for the most part although a grizzly bear is at the top of my list. Of course I would love the chance to hunt a moose and a bighorn ram here in Montana if I ever draw a tag.
I enjoy getting out by myself or with good friends and/or family. I missed hunting season last fall because of a knee surgery in April and a shoulder surgery in August. It was the first year I missed since I started big-game hunting at the age of 12 which was the first year you can hunt in Montana for big-game. I missed it terribly last year too!
I enjoy the meat and the whole experience. I have taken a few nice game animals along the way and maybe I'll end up taking a few more before I finally reach the time that I cannot hunt any longer. I would say that I do feel bad when I don't get something on a hunt, but it is not the usual reason. I really enjoy eating wild game and truly would prefer it over meat such as chicken, beef, or pork for example. It means something to me being able to provide like that for myself, and it means more eating something that I have had a primary part in putting on my table. I enjoy sharing my wild game with family and friends as much as I enjoy eating it myself too!
If I could never kill another animal in my lifetime that would be okay if I could still take other hunters new or experienced out and be with them and a part of their getting an elk or something along those lines just to experience it and maybe to share in some of the spoils on the table later on. I would be completely satisfied with that. I just love being out there and being a part of all of this great adventure, and believe me some of my trips are adventures! My friend two years ago told me that he has never hunted so hard for a cow elk, and never had to quarter and pack one out on his back like we did. To me it just made the whole journey that much greater!
David
I enjoy getting out by myself or with good friends and/or family. I missed hunting season last fall because of a knee surgery in April and a shoulder surgery in August. It was the first year I missed since I started big-game hunting at the age of 12 which was the first year you can hunt in Montana for big-game. I missed it terribly last year too!
I enjoy the meat and the whole experience. I have taken a few nice game animals along the way and maybe I'll end up taking a few more before I finally reach the time that I cannot hunt any longer. I would say that I do feel bad when I don't get something on a hunt, but it is not the usual reason. I really enjoy eating wild game and truly would prefer it over meat such as chicken, beef, or pork for example. It means something to me being able to provide like that for myself, and it means more eating something that I have had a primary part in putting on my table. I enjoy sharing my wild game with family and friends as much as I enjoy eating it myself too!
If I could never kill another animal in my lifetime that would be okay if I could still take other hunters new or experienced out and be with them and a part of their getting an elk or something along those lines just to experience it and maybe to share in some of the spoils on the table later on. I would be completely satisfied with that. I just love being out there and being a part of all of this great adventure, and believe me some of my trips are adventures! My friend two years ago told me that he has never hunted so hard for a cow elk, and never had to quarter and pack one out on his back like we did. To me it just made the whole journey that much greater!
David
Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 18,159
- 8,016
jmm":18zqof4t said:
I kind of like that. Very much respect it. IF ever I hunt Africa, I may do the same. Good photos of my hunting and fishing trips are already very important to me.
The taxidermy is cool, but not what really does it for me. I have a few Euro skulls & horns around, a couple of bear rugs, and that's enough. Anyone we welcome into the home knows a hunter lives here, but isn't overwhelmed by it.
Guy
My Dad was raised on a homestead in Idaho for the first 10 years of his life. From him I learned to hunt for meat (haven't ever found a good recipe for antler stew yet). Dad and I hunted up until about 3 months before he passed and I'd give it all up to have one more hunt with him.
I have three deer mounts - a 130"+ 10 pt (5x5) whitetail that's my largest one, a full velvet 8 point white tail and a 19 pt whitetail we found out on our cattle place that had been gut-shot by a poacher with a shotgun.
I was born and raised here in Texas. I was lucky enough as a kid to get to hunt on a ranch that had a doe culling operation going on. I remember keeping track of it until I hit 18 years of age that I'd taken over 100 whitetail, only 4 of which were bucks. NONE of the meat was wasted. We knew of families in town that would take every ounce of meat we could bring them. At my 30th HS reunion, the son of one of those families introduced me to his wife with the words " this is the guy I was telling you about, the one that kept us fed each year with all of the venison he and his Dad would drop off." He talked of how they looked forward to having the meat and that he missed the taste.
I'm pretty much strictly a meat hunter. Saying that, if a 350" class elk walks out, I'll take him. Same with a 180" class whitetail or mule deer. But, I'd rather have the meat from a nice, fat cow elk or doe. My standard joke now is "if I get an elk I'm not going to be too mad at the deer".
This year I got a 5x5 bull elk. estimated live weight about 650 or so. That meat, and the meat from one axis doe, will keep me fed until next season comes around.
I've guided hunters that were just interested in the antlers. I've heard a couple that made the statement that if the animal was tied to a tree, he'd still shoot it. I really don't understand that mindset though.
As for the hunts I go on, I fully look forward to the memories and laughs in camp with my fellow hunters. It's for that reason and the meat, that I'll go out every year.
I have three deer mounts - a 130"+ 10 pt (5x5) whitetail that's my largest one, a full velvet 8 point white tail and a 19 pt whitetail we found out on our cattle place that had been gut-shot by a poacher with a shotgun.
I was born and raised here in Texas. I was lucky enough as a kid to get to hunt on a ranch that had a doe culling operation going on. I remember keeping track of it until I hit 18 years of age that I'd taken over 100 whitetail, only 4 of which were bucks. NONE of the meat was wasted. We knew of families in town that would take every ounce of meat we could bring them. At my 30th HS reunion, the son of one of those families introduced me to his wife with the words " this is the guy I was telling you about, the one that kept us fed each year with all of the venison he and his Dad would drop off." He talked of how they looked forward to having the meat and that he missed the taste.
I'm pretty much strictly a meat hunter. Saying that, if a 350" class elk walks out, I'll take him. Same with a 180" class whitetail or mule deer. But, I'd rather have the meat from a nice, fat cow elk or doe. My standard joke now is "if I get an elk I'm not going to be too mad at the deer".
This year I got a 5x5 bull elk. estimated live weight about 650 or so. That meat, and the meat from one axis doe, will keep me fed until next season comes around.
I've guided hunters that were just interested in the antlers. I've heard a couple that made the statement that if the animal was tied to a tree, he'd still shoot it. I really don't understand that mindset though.
As for the hunts I go on, I fully look forward to the memories and laughs in camp with my fellow hunters. It's for that reason and the meat, that I'll go out every year.
- Thread starter
- #26
c. schutte
Handloader
- Jan 24, 2012
- 578
- 0
Bbear,
What town were you raised in and where was that ranch?
I'm from Houston.
chs
What town were you raised in and where was that ranch?
I'm from Houston.
chs
Hunting for me is about hunting elk. My two nicest animals taken were mule deer one in excess of the magical thirty inches. I have been fortunate to have the time and funding to hunt every year, and hunt in different states. My evolution to becoming a sussessful elk hunter begin in 1975 when I moved from Oregon to Idaho. A friend gave my some advice on a hot location, which was expanded and verified many times, over the years. When the wolves decimated the herd where I hunted, I pulled up camp and started hunting in north central Idaho, when they did the same there, I expanded into SE, Idaho and Wyoming. My goal is to hunt, that's my focus, just let me get in the field, and wander about. When I was younger, elk hunting was being in the right place at the right time. Now I watch, listen, study and sit. Often miles on foot are required to get into the right area, but once there it's a game of cat and mouse. Hunting is my passion, and the mountains and forests my church.
hunter24605
Handloader
- Apr 30, 2016
- 2,748
- 5,117
Our neck of the woods we really only have the choice of whitetail and black bear and I've killed a dump truck load of both..So now it's really about just spending a week with my buddies and having a bunch of laughs and retelling the same stories for the millionth time and just to be hunkered on the ground or up in a tree with nothing but the flora and fauna to keep me entertained for hours without a TV or cell phone making a bunch of noise...Sure, I enjoy the "hunt" and love to have a kill or two under my belt each year and keep hoping that a monster buck will walk by. But if he doesn't or I only get a small buck or a fat old doe, heck even if I end up skunked, it doesn't take anything away from the trip. Maybe the best is when somebody brings there young son/grandson along for the first time and they get their first kill.
- Thread starter
- #29
c. schutte
Handloader
- Jan 24, 2012
- 578
- 0
Hunter,
"but the flora and fauna to keep me entertained for hours without a TV or cell phone making a bunch of noise..."
That is a great point, about actually allowing your surroundings to entertain you. There are those who can't do that. The friend who I refer for this thread has to be doing something every waking moment of the day so when he hunts it is from a pop-up or blind that only has a small peep hole to look out of. Just big enough for a cross bow or rifle. He'll sit and read a book until something walks in from of his light then he'll shoot.
I could not hunt like that. When blind hunting I can't tolerate a small closed in area. I want a view and prefer to be closer to the ground so that I can see under the canopy. There is so much to see if one is willing to allow it to unfold.
"but the flora and fauna to keep me entertained for hours without a TV or cell phone making a bunch of noise..."
That is a great point, about actually allowing your surroundings to entertain you. There are those who can't do that. The friend who I refer for this thread has to be doing something every waking moment of the day so when he hunts it is from a pop-up or blind that only has a small peep hole to look out of. Just big enough for a cross bow or rifle. He'll sit and read a book until something walks in from of his light then he'll shoot.
I could not hunt like that. When blind hunting I can't tolerate a small closed in area. I want a view and prefer to be closer to the ground so that I can see under the canopy. There is so much to see if one is willing to allow it to unfold.
