Huntin Fool

[sivart]

I"ve been a huntinfool member in the past. There are now other options. GoHunt, Epic outdoors, ect. Does anyone have any preference or pros and cons to either?

 

[Goodtimekiller]

I did not have good luck with huntin fool. I use gohunt but some of their info on specific units can be a but generic. Now they have 3d maps too which is nice.


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[Doc Holliday]

I like the hardcopy huntinfool puts out as well as their deadline list. Do any other provide both these? I have been a member of Gohunt for a year and have received nothing in the mail from them

 

[trophyhill]

I don’t and won’t rely on those different sites or clubs to choose a place to hunt. Doing my own legwork is half the fun for me. Hunting solo and killing in areas I’ve done the work on and or in, really gives me satisfaction when I have a great hunt. Never had a need for the flatbill style of hunting and expecting instant gratification/success that it brings. Or the perception of instant success/gratification.

 

[Goodtimekiller]

I don’t and won’t rely on those different sites or clubs to choose a place to hunt. Doing my own legwork is half the fun for me. Hunting solo and killing in areas I’ve done the work on and or in, really gives me satisfaction when I have a great hunt. Never had a need for the flatbill style of hunting and expecting instant gratification/success that it brings. Or the perception of instant success/gratification.

I’m not sure you even understand what you are talking about. Several of the organizations have been around long before flat bills. I am not sure how you figure out where to hunt but you are getting information from somewhere and likely some flat bill is using the same source.

Also, you did not answer the OP’s question so your comment added nothing to the post.


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[trophyhill]

I’m not sure you even understand what you are talking about. Several of the organizations have been around long before flat bills. I am not sure how you figure out where to hunt but you are getting information from somewhere and likely some flat bill is using the same source.

Also, you did not answer the OP’s question so your comment added nothing to the post.


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Ok maybe it wasn’t hunting fool. But another. Point is I don’t and won’t pay for information I can find on my own for no cost. If I told you how I figured out where to hunt, you wouldn’t believe me anyway but I’ll try. Here goes. I pick a unit randomly and throw a dart at a forest service map. I’m not that good at darts so I keep throwing them until 1 hits the area I want to hunt

 

[Whip]

I used to subscribe and they do make it easy to identify to top trophy areas in any given state. But what I hated most was there way they negatively influenced draw odds in units I had been watching and hoping to build points toward. The higher they ranked units the worse the odds got. They've ended up taking some units completely out of my reach points wise.
I don't pay the money anymore but sometimes wish I knew what units they moved up the rankings year to year so I could look elsewhere.
Yes, point creep had made me a bitter old man.

 

[Goodtimekiller]

Ok maybe it wasn’t hunting fool. But another. Point is I don’t and won’t pay for information I can find on my own for no cost. If I told you how I figured out where to hunt, you wouldn’t believe me anyway but I’ll try. Here goes. I pick a unit randomly and throw a dart at a forest service map. I’m not that good at darts so I keep throwing them until 1 hits the area I want to hunt

My point is, for people that work50-60 hours a week you can pay $100 and they will take a lot of time off of your search. I used to use huntin fool, eastmans and epic, and they all had different opinions on different areas but at least gave me a general idea. I am not a trophy hunter and huntin fool and epic are definitely geared towards that and gave me little info for what i actually needed. Eastmans was a little better for the average hunter i think. Now i like gohunt just because it is all states in 1 place online and i dont have to keep/go through 10 magazines to get tge info. But i have gotten misinformation from them all and you have to realize the info you get is easily accessible to lots of people.


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[trophyhill]

My point is, for people that work50-60 hours a week you can pay $100 and they will take a lot of time off of your search. I used to use huntin fool, eastmans and epic, and they all had different opinions on different areas but at least gave me a general idea. I am not a trophy hunter and huntin fool and epic are definitely geared towards that and gave me little info for what i actually needed. Eastmans was a little better for the average hunter i think. Now i like gohunt just because it is all states in 1 place online and i dont have to keep/go through 10 magazines to get tge info. But i have gotten misinformation from them all and you have to realize the info you get is easily accessible to lots of people.


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This is where we disagree. When I started hunting elk in ‘08, I had just started a small business and was working 5 days a week, 50+ hours, as a construction Superintendent, + Saturdays and Sundays trying to get my fledgling business off the ground. I’d have an occasional weekend off. But what it all came down to in the end was “time management”. I forged relationships with fellow hunters and bounced things off them initially. As I gained experience and relationships grew with some great elk killers, I found I never needed to ask someone where to hunt. There was no instant gratification spawned from paying someone to do the legwork for me.

But taking sound advice from other great elk killers regarding how to hunt elk, not where, and running into guys like Paul Medel, Greg Steven’s, 5MB, and probably 15 other great hunters, + my hunting buddies and my drive, I quickly found success and all the while sifting thru the statistics that are put out by the different game departments. Drawing tags in NM was a no brainer. Word travels fast on where the good units are without the internet. Same thing in CO. If you’re willing to take a little time and talk to a few people, ask some questions and just listen, you start finding places to hunt and or your intuitions about certain units are confirmed. I guess all of that is lost now. But as I said in the beginning, half the fun of the hunt is the other 11 months preparing

 

[blackdog]

I"ve been a huntinfool member in the past. There are now other options. GoHunt, Epic outdoors, ect. Does anyone have any preference or pros and cons to either?

Yes, all the options mentioned will give you good information on where to start narrowing down your search for units to hunt. From there, I do some of my own research to come up with the final decision. The thing I have really benefited in the past from HuntinFool has been the member draw list. Epic has the same thing but HF seems to produce more guys that have drawn in the past. And there generally seems to be one to three guys for every tag I've drawn that are very helpful in finding specific spots to hunt. Which, for a guy with limited time to spend away from work and family, is extremely valuable. My $0.02 anyway.

 

[CAElkhunter]

I have subscribed to Huntinfool for many years. I do like the magazine, articles and info. I would agree it has added to the point creep with unit recommendations, but the guys working there are very knowledgeable if you call them and willing to talk
you through your application thought process. They also give good local knowledge on the outfitters which can be a crap shoot for us non residents. If you call them up and ask for recommendations or ask about a particular outfitter they will tell you what they know. Over all I would say it is not a bad thing to have some place to go for information if you are a working man like someone said. In no way is it an instant gratification guarantee on success. You still have to put in the work and miles on your boots.

I would like to also state that the original was sold and it is under new ownership. Not quite as good as the original in my opinion.

 

[TheTone]

After a few interactions with some of the employees I plan to never give them a dime

 

[Goodtimekiller]

This is where we disagree. When I started hunting elk in ‘08, I had just started a small business and was working 5 days a week, 50+ hours, as a construction Superintendent, + Saturdays and Sundays trying to get my fledgling business off the ground. I’d have an occasional weekend off. But what it all came down to in the end was “time management”. I forged relationships with fellow hunters and bounced things off them initially. As I gained experience and relationships grew with some great elk killers, I found I never needed to ask someone where to hunt. There was no instant gratification spawned from paying someone to do the legwork for me.

But taking sound advice from other great elk killers regarding how to hunt elk, not where, and running into guys like Paul Medel, Greg Steven’s, 5MB, and probably 15 other great hunters, + my hunting buddies and my drive, I quickly found success and all the while sifting thru the statistics that are put out by the different game departments. Drawing tags in NM was a no brainer. Word travels fast on where the good units are without the internet. Same thing in CO. If you’re willing to take a little time and talk to a few people, ask some questions and just listen, you start finding places to hunt and or your intuitions about certain units are confirmed. I guess all of that is lost now. But as I said in the beginning, half the fun of the hunt is the other 11 months preparing

Yeah, all that’s real easy if you live by great elk killers. And i have made my way out west to several elk hunting events. But if you have 2 weeks off each year and a family I can’t fly out west every weekend to try and hang out with the locals. Paying someone to gather info for you is extreme time management so when you have time you can sift through and decide what is important to you. Maybe at your business you have a secretary or receptionist so you don’t have to answer each call. Same concept.


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