How many people have been transitioning their hunting?

[tt_johnsclist]

I’ll add, everything that YouTube has done to western hunting in the past 5-10 years was done to duck hunting by the Robertsons 15-20 years ago.

And buckmasters etc. did it to eastern whitetails before that.

 

[Fatcamp]

Not me. I worked my way up to archery spot and stalk hunting. Probably always do it.

The intense experience of stalking desert mule deer would be tough to match.

 

[CoStick]

I live in CO so I will still elk hunt, but no longer buying points in WY. Doing more fishing and just picked up a 20 gauge field shot gun. It isn’t the money in big game hunting, it is the crowds and behavior of those in the mountains these days and the lack of the honesty with the changes in WY. Certainly other things and places to spend money on/at.

 

[jayhawk]

I live in CO so I will still elk hunt, but no longer buying points in WY. Doing more fishing and just picked up a 20 gauge field shot gun. It isn’t the money in big game hunting, it is the crowds and behavior of those in the mountains these days and the lack of the honesty with the changes in WY. Certainly other things and places to spend money on/at.

I used to live and work in one of the national forests on the front range in CO. Hunters and recreational shooters were the rudest, most ill behaved people I ever came across. Always left trash lying around, shooting carelessly, trespassing, driving off-road, etc.
Rock climbers were the best though. Always polite, kept to themselves, and never tore anything up. Just wanted to climb rocks.

 

[displacedtexan]

Turkeys roost in trees and quail stay on the ground so they are more vulnerable at any age not just as eggs...a good trapping program will increase turkey #'s...as well as game bird #'s.

Then why did you list them as ground roosting?

 

[*zap*]

here is what I said "As trapping became less profitable the ground nest predators multiplied", turkeys are ground nesting birds which puts their eggs at risk from ground nest predators. As turkeys age then they roost in trees which makes them safe from those same predators. Quail sleep on the ground and are at risk their whole lives to those same predators.

 

[cnelk]

I used to live and work in one of the national forests on the front range in CO. Hunters and recreational shooters were the rudest, most ill behaved people I ever came across. Always left trash lying around, shooting carelessly, trespassing, driving off-road, etc.
Rock climbers were the best though. Always polite, kept to themselves, and never tore anything up. Just wanted to climb rocks.

Too bad rock climbers never have to pay anything to use public lands, and defacing nature. Like driving pins into rocks that will be there forever

 

[Gutshot007]

Keep chipping away on western game tags. As that dries up probably start to mess with pheasants and grouse until whitetail season kicks in.

 

[CorbLand]

I hunted a lot of waterfowl in college. The seasons set better with my time and I could more effectively go out for a couple hours in the morning versus big game. After I graduated, I started hunting more big game and gave up on waterfowl. Last year, gave waterfowl a chance again and forgot how much I loved it.

Yes, I have found myself wanting opening day for duck and goose to get here than deer season this year. I foresee myself doing more waterfowl in the future than big game.

This is being driven more by enjoying it more and not being able to find reliable people to go big game hunting with.

 

[gonhunting247]

I still find more opportunity for Big Game than I have time for, so I'm not slowing down yet. I do still enjoy turkey and a few days waterfowl hunting with my son!

 

[Brillo]

I have only done one elk hunt and it was a cluster bomb. I may or may not try again but I did make an unsuccessful attempt for a Wyoming tag this year. Instead I am going on a September canoe trip with some buddies. I am excited about that. Elk hunting may be fun but elk politics and crowds are not.

 

[Cedarsavage]

I'll probably hunt bears more on mediocre tags when I can't draw out west, and transition to other regions of the country with otc tags.

 

[camping1601]

I don't know about transitioning but I'm adding a winter hunt along the lines of pig hunting or exotics. I will say I can possibly see myself transitioning to some pay to play stuff.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

At age 65 I aged out for serious sheep hunting and lost my sheep hunting partner to old age.
I still hunt moose casually in duck camp.
My passion is hunting with labs, 15 days at duck camp in Alaska,
then wintering in Montana where I hunt pheasants or waterfowl most weekdays until mid January.

 

[Rich M]

There is no real answer to the overpopulated hunting (and fishing) situation.

I don't know about the small game thing but waterfowl is just as busy as big game, maybe more so. We have quota points for duck permits down here. Also - have traveled around duck & goose hunting with mixed results... Someone said Duck Commander had exploded the waterfowl hunting - true, and is true that that it was busy before he came on the scene...

I'm older and very disenfranchised with the hunting & fishing situations we have these days. I live in FL and they keep shutting down the fishing, we need to use quota points to hunt turkey or these 100# deer, and travel hunting is P-I-T-A with gas & travel costs & effort, the fees, quota requirements, etc. W travel hunting, I have driven across the country to hunt and find it crowded with people doing illegal stuff (driving in no driving areas, etc.) it really sucks the life out of the hunting experience - If i want to deal w that, I can just stay home and hunt local.

With stuff constantly changing, it's hard to figure out a game plan that's good and stick to it. Hard for me to get excited about future prospects.

Hope you can find something that satisfies.

 

[Smallie]

Jumped back into waterfowl pretty big after buying property in another state. Forgot how much I loved it and it extends my hunting season several months. I can chase birds in the Midwest from October until December then go south and follow the migration and hunt ducks through the end of January. Then follow snow geese in the conservation season through March and April. Go on two or three trips out of state a year just for waterfowl now. It’s taken some of the sting out of not drawing a tag out West too

 

[jayhawk]

Too bad rock climbers never have to pay anything to use public lands, and defacing nature. Like driving pins into rocks that will be there forever

Yeah, but every time I almost got killed it was because a hunter or shooter wasn't paying attention to what they were doing and didn't care about the potential consequences. I would love to hear about any similar experiences you might have had . . .

Never had any problems with climbers. If all they do is put a small pin in a rock that will stay there for other people to use and they're well-behaved people, then they're fine by me.

But rock climbers aren't the point I'm making. When you put competitive hunters in over-crowded woods more often than not it just becomes a s**t show. The culture is certainly changing.

 

[Ownthewest]

I transistioned a few years ago to applying in more states to try to increase my odds of landing a decent tag on a regular basis. With the war on nonresidence (incresed fees and reduced quotas) I question if it is worth it. I'm starting to enjoy calling coyotes more often here close to home.

 

[Rich M]

When you put competitive hunters in over-crowded woods more often than not it just becomes a s**t show. The culture is certainly changing.

Yupper! It's not difficult to find a shit show in public woods during hunting season.

In defense of the hunters, we are only allowed to hunt during certain seasons and only so many days. Rock climbers, hikers, campers, fishermen, kayakers, etc. have all year - or at least whenever they'd like to go - to play. The quota hunts I've been on have ranged from 1 to 10 days. Not a lot of time to play and "everyone is gonna be there".

Not sure where you are getting this "every time I almost got killed" thing. I ran into some non-gun folks many years ago - walking down a wide dirt road - at about 30 feet the guy waves his arms and yells - we're people, don't shoot. The wife grabs their kid and puts him between mommy & daddy and daddy stays facing me, turns as I'm walking by with an empty shotgun over my shoulder (held by barrel) and a duck in the other hand. He probably told his friends that he faced death and lived. LOL!

 

[MallardSX2]

I have always hunted deer. I killed 9 bucks with my bow before I ever shot one with a rifle. So deer hunting has always been there for me.

I used to be big into running coyotes with hounds, then it was beagles for rabbits/hares, then it was squirrels with dogs, then all of my dogs died and it left a pretty big hole and I all but gave that up.

I was always real big into waterfowl hunting but it just got so expensive and gaining access free of charge to fields was becoming a thing of the past. Hunting the ice flowing rivers by boat was cool and I killed a PILE when I wasn't married and didn't have anything to loose other than my own life.....I still have ALL my gear. I don't live in a great waterfowl state any more and I just keep it in case we do some freelance trips.

I moose hunted Canada for 6 years straight then had to give that up because the outfitter sold out to his kid and his kid doubled the rates. (It was a good run going 3/6 on bulls with bows on my own...)

Now I primarily bowfish, fish, archery hunt, rifle hunt, muzzleloader hunt.
So Ya, I transitioned from small game, waterfowl hunting to more of a bow fisherman/Deer/Hog hunter.

The older I get the more points I have. Hopefully I am able to make 1 rotation through them in my life. When I am old I plan to just go on a couple high success guided hunts with my wife and enjoy telling stories of years past. lol