ever feel a little guilty?

[littlebuf]

I would point out that you , littlebuf , have had your gear refined at an accelerated rate also. .

not trying to start a pissing match but had much of my gear before this site existed including my timberline, and I don't jump on every clothing band wagon that flys by. im still rocking 08 stuff or the most part, and I don't know how many times ive been told im wrong about aspects of my sleep system but I hear what your saying

 

[garrickt]

I'm still rockin' some of my '96 stuff from back when I was skiing and rock climbing in CO and MT. The only thing that will be different when I finally do get to go to CO again is that a bow will be strapped to my pack instead of skis or rock gear. Dana Designs before they went to Mexico, Marmot before it became the new North Face, Mtn Hardware when they were but a fledgling company, those were the days

 

[Backpack Hunter]

I think the pro's of a site like this far outweigh the cons. Sure there are more people that get into the backcountry because of the "hype", but since backpack hunting is very demanding the terrain usually weeds out the less than committed very quickly.

 

[littlebuf]

I think the pro's of a site like this far outweigh the cons. Sure there are more people that get into the backcountry because of the "hype", but since backpack hunting is very demanding the terrain usually weeds out the less than committed very quickly.

and that brings me back to the visions of loaded up classifieds. the next few years could be good for buying second hand gear

 

[rodney482]

I had my T1 before you and I am a poser

not trying to start a pissing match but had much of my gear before this site existed including my timberline, and I don't jump on every clothing band wagon that flys by. im still rocking 08 stuff or the most part, and I don't know how many times ive been told im wrong about aspects of my sleep system but I hear what your saying

 

[littlebuf]

I had my T1 before you and I am a poser

mines number 108, whats yours

 

[mtbshark]

My $.02 is from a bit of a different angle so please bear with.

This and a few other sites offer the new and uneducated thorough gear reviews and many how to cheat sheets so to speak. This get them out in the stores and the woods faster and yes more people in the hills is not the most awesome, but what it does do for the hardcore group that live and breath back-country is push the manufacturers to produce gear and accessories with the best technologies available.
I am only 8 years old in the hunting world and when i first started it seemed to me that the majority of the cloths and gear available to hunters was cheep and mostly cotton. Now days with all this back-country HYPE it has helped us out of the dark ages and closer to the rest of the outdoor world, gear wise at least.

 

[realunlucky]

Pumps used gear into market after they decide its not for them

 

[rodney482]

Mine was a pre production prototype

Packed out an elk in it Aug 30, 2011

mines number 108, whats yours

 

[garrickt]

I would be interested in knowing what the attrition rate is for first timers. I imagine it is pretty high, out of 100 newbies how many go back for more do you think? 20%?
There may be a lot of new guys out there because it looks cool and glamorous, so to speak, but the altitude, weight of a pack on the 4th day, bugs, less than desirable food etc. etc. take a heavy toll on most I imagine.

 

[Ross]

I have been at this game a longggg time, some diehards stick around and I respect them for undertaking what I am doing and love to do. Others see how much work it is to get into the backcountry and then haul themselves out, let alone an animal. I don't worry about what I can't control and enjoy it for what it is....our passion and diehard hobby.................

 

[rodney482]

I have had more than one buddy say he will never go back .. Lol

I would guess lots of flat landers never return for a 2nd trip

I would be interested in knowing what the attrition rate is for first timers. I imagine it is pretty high, out of 100 newbies how many go back for more do you think? 20%?
There may be a lot of new guys out there because it looks cool and glamorous, so to speak, but the altitude, weight of a pack on the 4th day, bugs, less than desirable food etc. etc. take a heavy toll on most I imagine.

 

[Rick Leathley]

I would be interested in knowing what the attrition rate is for first timers. I imagine it is pretty high, out of 100 newbies how many go back for more do you think? 20%?
There may be a lot of new guys out there because it looks cool and glamorous, so to speak, but the altitude, weight of a pack on the 4th day, bugs, less than desirable food etc. etc. take a heavy toll on most I imagine.

Backpacking in general has a high attrition rate. I would suspect backpack hunting has a slightly higher retention rates given the goal driven aspect of hunting. Coupled with the fact that they only suffer once or twice a year during hunting season.

Plenty of people get all geared out to go backpack to find out they hate it. I personally don't have any friends that backpack other then vegas guys I met on this website.

 

[HellsCanyon]

What a lot of "backpack hunters" don't realize is that oftentimes in order to be successful year after year, you have to scout harder than you hunt. I bet the first year attrition rate is somewhere around 80%+ because not only are they not up for it physically, but they aren't having a whole lot of success. In WA state, I'd guess that <10% of backcountry hunters do 90% of the killing. They've scouted, trained, and know how to hunt their areas... Of the few first timers that keep coming back for more, how many of them are actually going to be successful in the backcountry? Not very many...

Mike

 

[Sethpruitt01]

I'm coming into my third season of hunting in deep, and am the first to admit that I'm new and have a lot to learn and I also would say that I have learned a ton from this site, but I don't think new people trying backcountry hunting because of sites like this is all that bad, at the end of the day, even if they spend their life savings on gear and read every line of every post ever made on here, it will never guve them the conditioning that I learned first hand the hard way is needed. I started huntinh deep when I saw opening weekend on roads I had scouted looking like 1-5, seeing people and their kids sliding down the sides of hills above me hiking near roads and everything else that goes with hunting where everybody can get. I've made countless mistakes, ranging from lack of, or poor scouting, to going deep in bad shape and uprepared. But unlike people who read about this stuff and try it because it's "cool" or anything like that, people like us love the challenge, and live for the hunt and dream of the giant buck or bull that may have never seen another human in their lives. Even if somebody loves the backcountry their first time in a group, the first solo trip I think will weed the posers out from the people who are made for what we do. I've eaten my fair share of tag soup. That has only been more motivation to train harder, hunt harder, smarter, and longer though. And I absolutely owe everybody here a huge thank you for helping to prevent more stupid mistakes in the future. Not all of them will ever be covered with threads or words on here or anywhere else, no matter how much we talk about it, hunting in the backcountry on public land will.always be an individual experience.

 

[Justin Crossley]

I think the internet has made the backcountry much more crowded. So I guess I kinda agree with littlebuf.

While I like talking about gear and hunting the high country, it does lead to more guys and girls doing it.

 

[ckleeves]

I think the internet has made the backcountry much more crowded. So I guess I kinda agree with littlebuf.

While I like talking about gear and hunting the high country, it does lead to more guys and girls doing it.

That's a good way to say it. If my first post sounded like I was against forums I didn't mean it that way. I enjoy this forum and a few others, they have helped me immensely with bow tuning and some other things and I do love the classifieds!

 

[actionshooter]

I'm on the fence about this. I see the pros and cons of a site like this.
There is no doubt that backcountry hunting has become the "in" thing in the last few years and there are WAAAYYY more hunters in the mountains than a few years ago.
I have picked up good info on gear and tricks (the straw trick is awesome!), but I do feel hunting sites are putting more people in the mountains. In my opinion
its a regional issue, where there are ten times the number of backcountry hunters in WY, AK or BC it might not be a huge impact or even benificial, but here in Washington with less areas to hunt and a higher population, I think it's a bad thing. Ya, there is always a spot to get away, but the number of people doing the early hunt is way too high. I think if that trend keeps going the state will go to a permit draw for high buck.

 

[MLHSN]

I think the internet has made the backcountry much more crowded. So I guess I kinda agree with littlebuf.

While I like talking about gear and hunting the high country, it does lead to more guys and girls doing it.

The place I'm going this weekend has never had a trip report on NWhikers.net, WTA.org, or Hunt-WA. Most people have never even heard of it let alone noticde it on a map. So I kind of get what littlebuf is saying about the internet.

On the other hand, my favorite lake to go to get's mention every so often on the internet. I've heard people discussing routes on it. I've even given a few pointers. Six out of seven people I know that tried to get there got skunked either getting cliffed out or ran out of gas. So I think some of the best places are entry restrictive based solely on how hard it is to get to. Or in the case of hunting, how hard it would be to pack an animal out of.

But I must say, as a new hunter, it is a little easy to get chaffed with this thread. Everyone has to learn somewhere. Many people on this forum should be more thankful they had someone to show them growing up. I'm going to teach myself as much as I can the painful way but I'm trying to glean information as quickly as possible also.

 

[sk1]

i understand what you're saying but i agree with many others, that many people don't realize how demanding it can be and will give up on it shortly.....or hike a mile and still hear cars on the interstate calling it the deep backcountry..

i would consider myself a product of rokslide and i know i am extremely greatful for it. i am new to western hunting being from wisconsin, and when my area close to the road burned to the ground i made the decision it was time to get off the roads and do some real hunting away from everyone. it was something i always wanted to do but needed a couple years of western hunting under my belt to truly feel comfortable doing it. rokslide and everyone here saved me money and several years worth of time figuring out the right types of gear that i would need to effectively accomplish my goals. i am very thankful i was able to take in all the knowledge from so many people. it was awesome to get in the backcountry and be confident i had the right equipment knowing others have put it through the paces.

with the hype of backcountry hunting comes a lot of talk. i believe there are many more people that 'talk' of doing it, rather than actually doing it....it's usually not hard to figure out who they are either.

anyways while i understand what you're saying i personally wouldn't worry about sites like these bringing in the masses to the backcountry---the gps and google earth(or any internet satellite images) have brought and will bring more numbers than anything else