Would you bailout or continue to hunt?

[madmike]

I live in NC. And something I have given alot of thought to is the way hunting has changed in the last 20 years. My personal thoughts are as follows.
1)1993 took a nice Antelope in Wy. that scores around 78 B&C.
Will probably never hunt goats again unless it in the NE corner but that is cost prohibative.
2)Have never taken a nice Muley Buck or Elk.
If I could harvest a nice heavy 4X4 about 24" and a good 6X6 that scored around 300. I would go strictly for does/cows.
I know alot of you guys take some really nice animals, but do you ever think that one would be enough? This is my opinion and I am not trying to tell anyone how to hunt or calling game hog. It's just gotten so expensive that I have to look at justification versus cost with the time I expect to work. What is your feeling on this. Will bucks and bulls someday soon be one in a lifetime hunts?

 

[COSA]

Your goal of harvesting a nice 24" 4x4 is very attainable in many general public land units out west. Your probabbly going to have to pay around $400 for the tag and license, but if your coming from that far East, its probablly not your largest expense. If you were willing to work hard(get off the roads)you would most likely be able to harvest that caliber of buck in Western WY, many low point units of CO, possibly general ID, and NV if you drew.

 

[madmike]

What got me started thinking about this is a friend of mine has hunted elk less that 8 years. Talk about lucky, he has drawn Utah-San Juan, Arizona-9 or 10,Wyoming Area 31 & another hard to draw area that escapes me. Plus OTC in the San Juans in CO. He has taken several good bulls but it's never enough. And that's the way hunting in general seems to be going "I've got to take the biggest bull on the planet". This leads to the money aspect of it, and that's when it gets real screwy.

 

[Chef]

The way I look at it is this.
A lot of people spend ridiculous amounts of money
on other things. Things that do not in any way interest me. I just set my priorities. I don't need a really new car, or an ultra fancy cell phone, etc. When the time comes to hunt. I do it.

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"

 

[five_point_buck]

If you allow yourself to see the hunt as the real trophy instead of setting specific goals that relate to sizes, you'll be much happier in the long run. AI'm sure the trips west from NC have been filled with great memories and experiences. why not let those experiences dictate what makes your trip. I head east to colorado every year, and I went through a two year stretch where I ate my tags. Still had a blast, and the astories earned are just as special as the years that i have been lucky enough to connect.

five_point_buck
C.B.C.S.

 

[Blueoak]

I hunt big bucks for the challege. Finding nice bucks is not a problem, but big bucks are tough to find. So every year I go out with a goal of getting a buck bigger than I ever got before.Money has nothing to do with it. Sure I have a few dollars now and it helps get me in some good places for the big ones, but if I lost it all tomorrow I would still hunt for the biggest buck, pig, bull or what ever I could find.

 

[camuleycrazy]

I'm with you guys. It is not about the money for me. It is worth alot though just to be out there. I have just as much fun when I go to a good area without a tag to help a friend and just enjoy the hunt. I'd rather see monster bucks or bulls than shoot a small one. It does become to easy to shoot a small one in any decent area so I guess it is also about the challenge.

 

[MNHunter]

I will always hunt. Its about priorities. Sit down and figure out how much you spend on certain things and you'd be surprised. It will get more expensive but what doesn't? I travel to play hockey nationally and internationally and it is more expensive than my hunts. I will give up the hockey before the hunting.

 

[manny15]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what I believe madmike' is saying here, is, when you have big dollars it up's your odds of taking big animals, bucks, bulls ect; hunting choice place's like Sonora Mexico...or private ranch's...ect;

It should never be that way, not for an animal that the hole general public pays to support, not only by tax'$ but revenue generated from tags & license sale's...

Lets face it, when the average Joe has to wait 8 to 10 years to draw a prime area, where as some one with more cash then average Joe can just buy his way onto a ranch in the U.S or Mexico, there's nothing fair about that...

It's the same ole game as far as I'm concerned, people with more money have more options, it has been that way for centuries, fine, just not when it come's to an animal that the general public pays to manage...

Q; Am I jealous, hell yah, but I plan to join 'em real soon,

Q; hypocritical, maybe, but what other choice is there..?..

it's a bunch of crap when somenoe says "just hunt your ass off and you should do fine" cah-cah... how many time's have you driven a 1000 miles only to hunt your ass off and did't see anything respectable, because the area was over hunted last year.

Q; will I be satisfied with just one, knowing human nature probably not.

don't tell me money has nothing to do with it, today, it has about 80% to do with it...nuf said...see yah in Sonora next December...LOL...

 

[NvrEnuf]

Mike, I'll let you in on a little secret man. Unless you have a very unique and different personality than 99% of the rest of the world you should probably just quit hunting for big bucks right now and go with does and cows. Here's why, once you shoot that nice 24" buck you are hoping for the fever will not go away. It'll just gets worse! You say you'd be satified right now because you've never shot a 24" buck. I'm sure you would be satisfied for a bit. Maybe even until the next season rolled around but it wouldn't last long. Once you know that you're able to outwit a 24" buck you'll begin to wonder why you couldn't do the same thing to a 28" buck and so on and so on. I don't see it as a bad thing. It doesn't have to invlove a bunch of money either although that wouldn't hurt your chances at sucess. Like a bunch of guys said above, enjoy the hunts you can afford and if you are able to actually nail down a BIG buck one day it will be icing on the cake.

As you can see by my handle here at MM I darn sure won't likely be calling it quits anytime soon! ;-)

Good luck man,

NvrEnuf

 

[madmike]

To continue on my friend he will not hunt areas of Colorado and gets real pissy if a employee of a state wildlife department tells him an area has 300" plus bulls and he does not see them.

 

[cabinfever]

Hunting has become a big money business, and I don't like it anymore than the next guy, however, I have learned to accept and deal with it accordingly. It bothers me that so many complain about the price of hunting and the lack of oppurtunity. My family is often shocked at how much I have spent on vouchers and different hunts. It all comes down to priority. I love to hunt big muleys and will do what ever I have too to hunt top units every year. The truth is, your average joe could be hunting quality units every year if he was willing to put away $7-$10 per day. That really isn't that much money when you consider many guys spend that much on fast food, beer, and cigaretts.

Mike

 

[NvrEnuf]

And this whole time I've been saving my money so I could one day afford fast food, beer and cigaretts...

hehehe...

NvrEnuf

 

[TFinalshot]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-26-06 AT 06:48PM (MST)[p]NvrEnuf, are you saying then that the guys that spend 100's of thousands of dollars to hunt mule deer need skills? The gov. tag holders in any state now really only need to put the word out. In fact, there are guys that will do your scouting for you and then drive you to the deer on top of that. No one should kid themselves, money does by big bucks. sure there are guys that do well without spending tons of cash, but if you have tons of cash you can kill monster bucks, not withstanding your hunting abilites.

"Roadless areas, in general, represent some of the best fish and wildlife habitat on public lands. The bad news is that there is nothing positive about a road where fish and wildlife habitat are concerned -- absolutely nothing." (B&C Professor, Jack Ward Thomas, Fair Chase, Fall 2005, p.10).

 

[NvrEnuf]

TFinalshot, let me check my e-mail again and see if I mentioned anything about guys that spend 100's of thousands of dollars to hunt mule deer needing skills.... Oh, here it is right here! This is exactly what I said "It doesn't have to invlove a bunch of money either although that wouldn't hurt your chances at sucess." Are you missing something or did you just run out of valid things to #itch and moan about?

NvrEnuf

 

[Lien2]

cabinfever -
Good post, I completly agree.
I have a buddy that complains he can't afford to go on out of state hunting trips, if he'd give up his $130 a month smoking habit, he could go on a good DIY hunt almost every year, or a nice guided one every 2-3 years. It is all about priorities!

Lien2

 

[Gator]

Your friend draws pretty lucky, I think I would start putting in with him.