Punching a Tag or Adventure? What’s more Important?

[Backcountry_Preacher]

Just curious on what you guys deem more important; to punch a tag or adventure. Now I believe in the ole’ saying that it’s better to hunt one place five times than five places one time. But after a few years, it becomes stale; even if you’re consistently successful. So what’s more important to you? Punching a tag or adventure?

 

[KurtR]

I will caveat that with i would rather watch my dog bring back birds than ever big game hunt again if i had to choose

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

Seeing the sunrise or set on a horizon that you have never laid eyes on is special.

After years of experience, believe most individuals can get on animals, might not be trophies. But success can be had chasing new experiences.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Based on the stack of un punched tags I have in the drawer...It must be the adventure for me...lol

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I think it depends. If you're a NR with limited time/budget and can only hunt every couple years due to points, etc..., coming home with some meat in the cooler is a top priority. There are some areas like the Bob where you will always have an adventure, and if you come home with an animal it's a bonus.

IME every hunt out West is an adventure in one way or another, so that part is kind of "included" by default.

That being said, at some point if budget is less a constraint, I would absolutely love to go on another deep pack in hunt in the Bob or some other wilderness area to challenge myself and see if I can still hack the adventure. If I can get out of cell service so much the better.

 

[WCB]

? Why one or the other? I like "adventure" hunts but I'm not going just to hike around and see country...That is what hiking is for. I am hunting. The purpose is to fill a tag with my target animal. Just punching a tag doesn't interest me either. Most any hunt I could be done first day on the first thing that walks by. Just as I could go into a very game poor area with low "trophy potential" and just hike around with a rifle.

Give me both ...adventure where the possibility of filling my tag on an animal/age class/size that I am after is good.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Give me both ...adventure where the possibility of filling my tag on an animal/age class/size that I am after is good.

Therein lies one of the biggest challenges... Adventure plus above average opportunity at above average animals... This can be had in some areas I suppose, but it seems like this is more of a private land $$$$ pursuit at this point.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Now I believe in the ole’ saying that it’s better to hunt one place five times than five places one time. But after a few years, it becomes stale; even if you’re consistently successful.

I'd rather hunt 5 places one time than one place 5 times. There have been some extremely successful areas that I never went back too because I wanted to experience & figure out a new area. The unknowns & challenges of figuring out new areas far outweighs the satisfaction on punching a tag in the same area year after year in my opinion.

 

[Backcountry_Preacher]

? Why one or the other? I like "adventure" hunts but I'm not going just to hike around and see country...That is what hiking is for. I am hunting. The purpose is to fill a tag with my target animal. Just punching a tag doesn't interest me either. Most any hunt I could be done first day on the first thing that walks by. Just as I could go into a very game poor area with low "trophy potential" and just hike around with a rifle.

Give me both ...adventure where the possibility of filling my tag on an animal/age class/size that I am after is good.

I’m really asking where your head is at when applying. Like should I go where I know I should be successful, or go see what else is out there for the fun of it. I agree both can be had in the same place you’ve always gone to. I just thought it’d be fun to talk about here during “application season”.

 

[elkyinzer]

Ideally both. Tagging out isn't the sole objective, but it's top 3 for sure. I'm not there to sing with the tweetie birds, and life obligations are always pushing me to be more efficient and make best use of my time afield. I view adventure as basically doing that absent the constant pressure of something else I should be doing, the more free form version if you will. To use it in a sentence, I will adventure more when I retire, I guess.

 

[Backcountry_Preacher]

So I’d like to say it’s about adventure for me. But if I'm being honest, looking back on what the deciding factors were on why I chose a particular unit, it came down to trophies. The unit I have been hunting holds some really big animals and I’m a non-apologetic trophy hunter. I like the “biggons”, the “sad-daddies”. I keep saying I’m going to go somewhere else but I never do.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I’m really asking where your head is at when applying. Like should I go where I know I should be successful, or go see what else is out there for the fun of it. I agree both can be had in the same place you’ve always gone to. I just thought it’d be fun to talk about here during “application season”.

A buddy always advises me to pick the area you want to hunt first. Then apply for tags. Case in point, I want my daughter to have an opportunity to kill an elk in the shadow of Yellowstone. As a result, I applied for a cow hunt for her next fall. If she draws, we'll be hunting with @wymtnpounder from horses, and she will be the shooter. I'll be along to help out, learn something, and hopefully be there when she tags her first elk.

My hope is that this will be another adventure for her in a spectacular area she's never visited. We had a ball on our cow hunt in '22 without killing an elk, and if she gets a tag AND is blessed to kill an elk, I may have the big one on the mountain! Long term, she is a young person, and if she ever wanted to return with a bull tag, she has time to start banking points. Unfortunately, I'm too old for that.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Pinching tag. Do your 4 quadrant analysis.

1 - no adventure + no animal = bad
2 - adventure + no animal = good
3 - no adventure + animal = pretty good
4 - adventure + animal = very good

 

[Backcountry_Preacher]

quadrant analysis.

You can’t be using big words with a redneck like me. I’m from Louisiana and if that doesn’t tell you anything, look where we rank on education.

 

[ODB]

What’s important is the potential.

There are a lot of people who equate hunting with “just being out there.” Nope. Hunting is NOT just being out there. It is being out there to try to fulfill the potential of killing a game animal within the confines of a particular set of conditions that make the killing justifiable/desirable.

I think as we age that window in which we decide to kill becomes narrower and narrower and that is perceived as “being out there” as replacing hunting. It’s not. It’s just that we’ve raised the stakes higher and higher (but not always since, if ‘meat’ is the goal, the window is wide open).

That said I’ve had some fun adventures while trying to get an animal into the window.

 

[diamond10x]

I enjoy hunting new places and I like hunting places I've been to really pin down the area even better. I choose adventure and punching a tag together. It's what I strive for every hunting season for each time out.

I find that the more you make things an adventure by not just shooting the first legal animal or not hunting close to the road or whatever home base it may be, that the greater the reward with more adventure and usually a higher quality trophy when you punch the tag.

 

[NE Herd Bull]

When on the hunt, I always feel like it is incredibly important to do everything I can to ethically/morally/legally fill the tag

A few years later, whether I harvested an animal or not, the lasting memory of the adventure is my most treasured possession. The kill is such a minimal part of it

So, for me:
short term...punching the tag
Long term....adventure

Not sure how I am gonna vote

 

[Backcountry_Preacher]

When on the hunt, I always feel like it is incredibly important to do everything I can to ethically/morally/legally fill the tag

A few years later, whether I harvested an animal or not, the lasting memory of the adventure is my most treasured possession. The kill is such a minimal part of it

So, for me:
short term...punching the tag
Long term....adventure

Not sure how I am gonna vote

That’s pretty where I’m at and why i haven’t voted.

 

[Maverick1]

Just curious on what you guys deem more important; to punch a tag or adventure. Now I believe in the ole’ saying that it’s better to hunt one place five times than five places one time. But after a few years, it becomes stale; even if you’re consistently successful. So what’s more important to you? Punching a tag or adventure?

Punching a Tag. That is the most important thing. Do it right, and it will become the adventure. (I'm not there to sight-see. I am there to HUNT. Can vacation the other days of the year.)

 

[Pony Soldier]

I can honestly say my life has been an adventure. After 61 seasons and a life in the most remote areas of north America and a little in Peru, adventures are interesting but mostly "just another day".

My goal is to fill the freezer and survive another season with minimal pain.