Headed west......OR live out west...take me with you!

[skyleralan]

I truly want to become a great spot and stalk hunter (mule deer and elk). I am one of those people who obsesses over things or once they start something they want to be the "best". With any hobby or new endeavor I can never just do something half-assed, I enjoy the process and details involved in learning a new craft. So, with that I want to learn how to hunt out west. I live in extreme SW Iowa so top states due to proximity would CO, western KS, SD, WY, NM, MT, AZ, and maybe ID or Utah. I have grown up with my butt in a treestand and have always appreciated the concept of "chasing" your game instead of passively waiting (I have had a LONG bowhunting season here in IA).

I would love to accompany someone on their summer scouting trips, shed hunting, and even helping during the hunt and being another set of eyes and a body to help pack out. I want to start applying this coming year and learning the craft. I would even go as far as helping someone come and hunt here in Iowa and let them hunt my ground in exchange for working with me.

A little about me, I am 33yrs old I am in banking as a loan officer at a small community bank. I love the outdoors and only bowhunt here in Iowa, but would like to pick up the rifle and bowhunt out west as well. I love all sports, and I am a die-hard Iowa Hawkeye football fan along with an Oakland (soon to be Las Vegas) Raiders fan. I am in good physical shape, working out 4-5 times a week (I recently sprained my ankle getting out of my tree stand so exercise has been limited lately). I am far from lazy and when I commit to something I give 100%. I recently got into fly fishing so, any tips and help would be great there as well, LOL. I was in the Almont/Crested Butte area during the summer and went on a guided trip, was a lot of fun. Fished the Taylor and East River quite a bit.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

There are OTC tags for deer and/or elk out west (UT, CO, OR, AZ) and given your willingness to invest some sweat equity, recommend you do what I did when I first started hunting. Open a new side business in Animal Damage Control and provide free services to ranch owners in exchange for trespassing rights during the season in locations where OTC tags are sold. Ya just gotta buy a caller and a decoy and go around calling predators. This is especially easy to sell to ranchers during the calving season. While you hunt coyotes and lions you are scouting. Plus you will be writing all your travel, ammo, gear and related expenses off. PM me your email address and I'll send ya a copy of my permission form in Word. It outlines everything the property owner needs and formalizes your access rights. If ya shoot an especially nice yote, get the hide tanned and give it to the rancher as a gift. Text him pics of the critters you drop so he knows you're effective and of benefit to him. Like me, you may be of assistance in catching/reducing trespassers too. Build a friendship and before ya know it, you're meeting all the surrounding ranchers and you'll have a notebook full of trespass forms and gate codes. If you knock down a deer or elk be sure to show up with some prime cuts and beer for a celebratory barbecue and say thank you frequently. Most people ask for permission to hunt on someone's land without offering anything tangible in return. Don't be that guy.

 

[Beastmode]

There are OTC tags for deer and/or elk out west (UT, CO, OR, AZ) and given your willingness to invest some sweat equity, recommend you do what I did when I first started hunting. Open a new side business in Animal Damage Control and provide free services to ranch owners in exchange for trespassing rights during the season in locations where OTC tags are sold. Ya just gotta buy a caller and a decoy and go around calling predators. This is especially easy to sell to ranchers during the calving season. While you hunt coyotes and lions you are scouting. Plus you will be writing all your travel, ammo, gear and related expenses off. PM me your email address and I'll send ya a copy of my permission form in Word. It outlines everything the property owner needs and formalizes your access rights. If ya shoot an especially nice yote, get the hide tanned and give it to the rancher as a gift. Text him pics of the critters you drop so he knows you're effective and of benefit to him. Like me, you may be of assistance in catching/reducing trespassers too. Build a friendship and before ya know it, you're meeting all the surrounding ranchers and you'll have a notebook full of trespass forms and gate codes. If you knock down a deer or elk be sure to show up with some prime cuts and beer for a celebratory barbecue and say thank you frequently. Most people ask for permission to hunt on someone's land without offering anything tangible in return. Don't be that guy.

Call me crazy but how do you start a business that offers free services? I know most businesses operate at a loss at first but to collect no income at all seems a little skeptical to be writing stuff off with.


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[Where's Bruce?]

Call me crazy but how do you start a business that offers free services? I know most businesses operate at a loss at first but to collect no income at all seems a little skeptical to be writing stuff off with.


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Any business can lose money...talk to your CPA. You can also offer paid services if you choose, that's up to you but to maximize your access to private land, free is a better option. If ya wanna gripe about people abusing the system, start with companies like Solendra, not the ADC guy.

 

[Beastmode]

Any business can lose money...talk to your CPA. You can also offer paid services if you choose, that's up to you but to maximize your access to private land, free is a better option. If ya wanna gripe about people abusing the system, start with companies like Solendra, not the ADC guy.

I’m not griping about people abusing the system. I was just curious how it works in an audit situation if your business has never received any income. If that were the case everyone would own a business and write everything they did off.


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[Where's Bruce?]

I’m not griping about people abusing the system. I was just curious how it works in an audit situation if your business has never received any income. If that were the case everyone would own a business and write everything they did off.


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I don't wanna post a long, drawn out explanation of start-up business protocols here and recommend you talk to your CPA if this interests you. There are rules and some latitude in them for start-ups but to ensure your "new venture" isn't dismissed as a hobby by the IRS, certain criteria must be met. Any competent accountant can break it down for ya or you can Google much of it.

 

[xziang]

I've only been out 4.5 times and still learning and scouting area/s. Best thing in my opinion is to take a scouting trip out there over a long weekend. Take an ultra-light spinning rod or fly rod if you like and have some fun with some small trout at an upper mountain lake or stream. I'm only 1.5hrs from you so I'll keep you in mind when next summer gets closer and if I head out to CO.

 

[skyleralan]

Thanks for the insight guys. Bruce, I just sent you an email via the Rokslide email option hope it works. Thanks again, for your time.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Thanks for the insight guys. Bruce, I just sent you an email via the Rokslide email option hope it works. Thanks again, for your time.

I replied. Did you get the docs?

 

[skyleralan]

I replied. Did you get the docs?

Yep, I got it thanks! I got my new Foxpro today as well, can't wait to take it out. I definitely think I will bump this thread next spring and summer. Really want a mentor and some in the field insights. Going to order Robby's book for Christmas. Starting to look at units in CO for a rifle mule deer hunt. I want something that is not far from Interstate 70 to save myself time. I can get to Denver in just over 9 hours and anything over 10.5 hours I think will be difficult to make it more than once to scout. I want something where I could leave Friday after work drive all night and make a long weekend of scouting and make multiple trips in a summer/fall.