FNG, been lurking here for a three years, finally registered.
I grew up in New England and my social circle was generally anti-hunting and anti-gun. I moved to Alaska in 2016 at age 36 and discovered upland bird hunting as an off-season thing to do in the mountains when not backcountry skiing. Fast forward a bit, and I hunted 64 days in 2020. Mostly upland for ptarmigan and grouse with my birddogs, but also waterfowl, two 3 day goat hunts, and a 4 day moose hunt. Successful on the moose hunt, which included an 11 mile hike in to a non-motorized zone where I was the only hunter for many miles. Got a horse-pack back out. I'm hooked on wilderness/mountain hunting. Whole new skillset to learn from my lifetime of backcountry/wilderness skiing.
I grew up in New England and my social circle was generally anti-hunting and anti-gun. I moved to Alaska in 2016 at age 36 and discovered upland bird hunting as an off-season thing to do in the mountains when not backcountry skiing. Fast forward a bit, and I hunted 64 days in 2020. Mostly upland for ptarmigan and grouse with my birddogs, but also waterfowl, two 3 day goat hunts, and a 4 day moose hunt. Successful on the moose hunt, which included an 11 mile hike in to a non-motorized zone where I was the only hunter for many miles. Got a horse-pack back out. I'm hooked on wilderness/mountain hunting. Whole new skillset to learn from my lifetime of backcountry/wilderness skiing.