Huntin'Fool vs GoHunt

[Graindrain]

Does anyone have any experience with the two? I am looking to subscribe to one of the two for next year.

 

[dunner543]

I'm an insider with Gohunt and have used HF some with a buddies subscription. HF gives you preference point info and what you need to draw the tag as well as limited info for your unit. I found that GH has a lot more info on each unit but not any pp info yet. They are also constantly updating and adding to their product and word has it they will be adding pp info very soon. If I had to pick over I'd go with Gohunt again.

 

[Bughalli]

I'm in both, as well as subscribe to Eastmans and Western Hunter. I put in for 7-8 States a year, mostly building points, but I've gotten lucky a couple times for great tags. Subscribed to HF for the past 7 years and GoHUNT for the past year. They're quite different and compliment eachother in many ways. HF is very specific for which zones produce the highest quality animals. They stack rank the top zones and give you another ten zones in the next level down (in terms of trophy quality). They give draw odds. They don't give any info on at least 50% of the zones in any one state. For the zones they do cover they give some details on where to go, but literally only a sentence. They're very focused on the top units for trophies. But honestly, not much changes year to year in terms of info. The top zones one year are generally the top zones the next year. They're mainly focused on the draws (best = hard to draw units) vs hunt research or planning. Although they do give different details, even for "opportunity" hunts. They generate a lot of income from their own raffles. The marketing for those raffles can get annoying (yet ironically they don't give the draw odds on those raffles). Their guide recommendations, at least for my limited sample, have been pretty so/so, almost bad. It's always a crap shoot with guides, but I expected better quality since they recommend them and supposedly vet them out first. They also don't seek feedback if you did use a recommended guide, which seems odd to me. If you draw a good tag, they will give you the contact info of other guys who drew that tag in prior years. Other hunters are generally pretty helpful because they probably won't hunt that zone agian any time soon given draw odds, so they give up good info.

GoHUNT doesn't give any zone recommendations, but has a lot more info on every unit. It's pretty high level info., but useful if researching new areas. Based on their info. it's often hard to determine if one zone is better than another. Good for general research, especially if OTC. Their content or articles are generally much much better, as it's more informative vs just hunting stories. HF is mostly state draw recommendations and stories with no real info. I'm personally tired of just hunting stories with no real insights, so I learn a lot more from GoHUNT and find it more engaging. GoHUNT is 100% online info, where HF is mostly high quality print magazine. GoHUNT has some great interactive tools such as topo and satellite maps with hunt zone overlays. Makes it very nice for research. I like their info/process on landowner tags better. Guides don't appear to be really vetted to reach "recommended" status, but that's a guess.

I'm sure there are more differences that I'm missing. Given how much you probably spend on hunting each year, do both or divide it up with a couple buddies. If looking to only put in for the best units and don't mind waiting a lifetime, then HF is better. If researching new areas or looking for good content (how to's, gear reviews, etc) then GoHUNT is better. If GoHUNT gave draw odds and recommendations then I would probably drop HF.

For a straight up magazine I like Western Hunter the best, although GoHUNT's content if generally on par or better. Eastmans, for me is getting less and less interesting over time for content, zone info and my personal process for planning.

 

[blackdog]

I've been a HF member for about 12 years and believe it's been worth the money. Granted, I still do a lot of research on individual states websites but I think it's a great starting point for your research and as mentioned, you also get a high quality print magazine on a monthly basis.

For me though, the real value has come through the prior tag holder reference list given when you draw a tag. As a DIY guy, these lists have proven extremely valuable. On an Arizona bowhunt earlier this year, we went down there highly prepared based on the information gathered in talking to past tagholders. Same can be said for the two other out of state hunts we've done so far (NM archery elk and WY antelope). And now having enough points to start drawing good tags out of state tags on a pretty regular basis, I expect them to continue to provide value.