What hunter stage are you in?

[WRO]

I’m in the I love to hunt phase and my outcomes are based on tag quality, I’d rather help on great one than hunt an otc or low quality one.

My only rule which I typically follow are no young mule deer bucks. That being said, I live to go with others. My best hunts this year were:

1) my daughter’s first antelope.

2) helping my buddy on his oil Utah tag..

3) breaking my no dink rules with both my daughters

4) helping my buddy fill his oil moose tag.. (picture isn’t on the internet so not sharing it)

Honorable mention helping my best friend’s boy get his first buck..

Still have a cow elk tag and coues tag.

This maybe my favorite year yet and I’ve only killed a couple critters.


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[hereinaz]

I am in it for the adventures with some good type 2 fun. I like tags and the personal challenge to kill as good an animal I can for the hunt I am on.

Some of my favorite hunts are with friends. Can’t beat helping a buddy get his first elk. That is an adventure. How can you not love this?

 

[Snowwolfe]

When we lived in TN our goal was to load up the freezer with venison for the year. We harvested adult does most of the time and 1 buck each (usually). Killing the deer was the least favorite part of the hunt.
Now back in Alaska I want to go moose hunting again as well as blacktail deer on Kodiak. Purpose is adventure and hopefully some meat. We generally share meat from a hunt so I would be just as happy if someone in our group got a moose as I killed plenty. When you are in your 70's the memories of the hunt and the adventure are way more important.

I do have one goal left. If Alaska's Dall sheep population rebounds I want to take a nice ram at age 75. It's not just the ram, but most likely my son will be joining me and it would most likely be our last "hard" hunt together.

 

[ORJoe]

What stage is it where somebody else starts a "Should I quit this sport" thread based on how many years he goes between animals, and I realize I'm not doing much better than him?

 

[EastHumboldt]

If I had a nickname it would be “Dink”. I prolly fall into the sportsman stage but I never went through the trophy stage. For me putting numbers on racks makes it competitive, and I don’t want it to be a competition. Boys just wanna have fun.

 

[COJoe]

I don't hunt for racks or hides. I usually only have one season to hunt so I hunt to fill the freezer and to enjoy the priceless time and meal with family and friends. None of them are impressed with a trophy. I usually get an either sex tag for elk but will shoot a cow if I see one first.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I’m not sure which one.

I could care less about trophies. I’m not spending money on taxidermy. Antlers become dog chews and hides go in the garbage.

I could care less about method. Never got into muzzleloaders and I sold my bow last year.

I like hunting new places as a challenge to translate what I have learned to new surroundings.

I crave the adventure and the solitude. I’m blessed with good health and want to soak in as many wild and remote places as I can, while I can.

I like to eat wild game and share it with our friends. Cooking is a big part of the kill.

 

[waspocrew]

Probably trophy stage, but haven’t seemed to have killed any trophies yet haha. At this point, I’ve killed enough bulls and I’m fine with eating a tag if I don’t see the bull I’m after. I enjoy getting out, exploring, and seeing animals.

I’ve had my son out with me a couple times this season, so I’ve pulled the trigger when I likely would have passed otherwise. Trying to get him excited about the outdoors and I think it’s working.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

My wife and kids and I only eat wild game meat. We supplement in half a beef a year from steers that my cousin raises here in AZ.

I’m lucky to hunt whitetail and elk on basically “no limit” hunts for meat every year. This allows me to be very picky on bull elk hunts, mule deer hunts, and coues deer hunts, etc.

I enjoy every single hunt and being outside. I’ve grown to love helping others try to be successful as well. I love cutting open animals and seeing what bullets do, so I’m often joining and helping on as many hunts as I can.

 

[fatlander]

It all depends on the time, place and tag for me. Could be any one of them given different situational inputs.


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[JDMBEND]

Get a lot of satisfaction helping new hunters have some success. Taking two new hunters on a cow hunt tomorrow.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love to put animals on the ground.

 

[def90]

What stage is "paying a ton of money to walk in the woods"?

 

[kda082]

I guess sportsman. I enjoy watching my son succeed and develop as a hunter. Left my stand prime rut to help him track and pack and didn’t bother me at all.

 

[ozyclint]

Method/Sportsman. Though for the last 7-8 years I've been in the 'very few properties to hunt stage'.

I seem to be a sucker for very low percentage/impossible hunts with a tradbow.

 

[Hoosker Doo]

I like to kill shit. My family likes to eat deer, elk, antelope. They eat a lot! I don’t see myself changing anytime soon. I always threaten to enter the trophy stage, but somehow I seem to eff it up!

This is me to a T. I passed up a couple young mulies the last day of the season, and I keep thinking back to how good it would have felt to pull the trigger and eat some tenderloin. Hopefully, late whitetail and cow elk tags we have give me a chance to scratch the itch.

 

[KenLee]

I was in Trophy stage til I got bored with it all. Went to the take others to kill whatever and eat really good stage. Newbies being successful makes me happier now than my killing a trophy. Good Shoulder mounts at $700 seems a bit high anyway.

 

[Slick8]

I tend to lean to the sportsman stage but as I recently returned to NM after mostly fishing and a little hunting in my youth for a few years while in the USAF, the Method stage has resurfaced.

The last time the Method force was this strong was 2010-13 as I had just started bow hunting.

No matter where I'm at in my hunting life I'm enjoying the outdoors.
I blended Method and Sportsman on a NM cow hunt with my brother in law. It was our first time hunting together and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[hunt1up]

I voted sportsman but it's a mix of stages 3-5 I guess. When it was only me it was probably mostly trophy stage. But now with two kids that hunt a ton, I'd say at least 50% of my hunting is teaching them and trying to help them be successful. It makes hunting so much harder but certainly more rewarding.

 

[bozeman]

Trying to take as many people as I can into the field.....diff hunting styles will determine 'who' and 'what game' we are pursuing.

 

[timekiller13]

Trophy stage and not ashamed to admit.

Just killing something has no appeal to me. I have my standards.

I don’t care what anyone else kills. If it makes you happy. Kill it.