What to do with the meat foreign hunter in Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado. Need meat cutters and places to donate

RickyAT

FNG
Joined
Dec 25, 2023
Messages
7
First of all, thank you to everybody who contributed to this thread constructively. Much appreciated! And a special thanks to Mojave for his assistance!

There is a pretty simple reason why I didn't start the thread myself. I signed up to the forum quite a while ago. But I got banned for spam without ever having posted. This is the message I kept receiving for the past few months: "Oops! We ran into some problems. You have been banned for the following reason: Spam. Please contact the administrator if this was done in error.."
Probably, this issue was related to my location in Europe. I did send 2 messages to rokslide, but that didn't change anything, so I gave up. Recently, I mentioned this to Mojave, and he got me unbanned just a few hours ago.

I won't respond to some hateful messages in detail. I am very grateful for the fact, that the US allow overseas nonresidents to hunt in your beautiful country. So the last thing I want is to fight with the local hunters. However, I do find it questionable that one person wrongly accused me of wanton waste (while I am doing the very opposite by caring for and donating the meat) and even wished me a traffic accident.

Anyhow, I would like to address some misunderstandings or incorrect presumptions and answer a few questions.

Why I am doing this? I have a great passion for DIY backcountry hunts. I am in pursuit of the adventure rather than anything else in hunting. While I do appreciate the trophy, trophy size is of secondary importance on this kind of hunts. It's about the adventure, the physical challenge, getting to know new countries, enjoying new landscapes, experiencing new game species, having a memorable time, and taking home a ton of pictures and a few (often small) trophies to remember these adventures by.
That is why I applied for the bighorn ewe and some tags that can be considered opportunity hunts requiring few points. I drew all Colorado and Wyoming hunts with 2 to 4 points, so I didn't aim for any high quality hunts. The Idaho moose was dumb luck, obviously.
I started planning this hunt in 2018, buying my first points and getting a US hunter ed certificate in 2019 and spending hundreds (probably thousands) of hours on research. So a lot of preparation and work went into this upcoming trip, and I am very grateful for how everything has turned out so far.
I have accomplished a decent number of similar hunts in New Zealand, Australia and Norway in previous years. Even though I got a few nice trophies on these hunts, most animals taken cannot be considered a trophy. Nevertheless, I am prouder of the tiniest nanny tahr or calf reindeer harvested in remote wilderness than I would be of the biggest trophy shot without any effort.
These DIY backcountry hunts on public lands come with an incredible amount of freedom. You might take this for granted, but I hope you consider yourself very lucky to have this opportunity. We have nothing like that in most European countries. This freedom also comes with some responsibilities, that I take very seriously, out of respect for the country and the local hunters. In the US, one of these responsibilities is using the meat, so I put a lot of effort into finding the ideal solution.

Why don't I take the meat back home? There is just no legal/practical way to bring meat into the EU, unfortunately. I will enjoy some meat while in the US, but I hate that I can't take the meat back home.

Why didn't I return any tags? Actually, I did surrender a Colorado bear tag as it would have been too much to handle timewise. I contemplated withdrawing my Wyoming antelope application (also discussed that with Mojave), but finally figured that it should work out. I never planned on taking any meat home (not legally possible), so was planning on donating it from the very beginning. However, I don't want to hold tags if I end up lacking the time to hunt them, while other hunters would definitely enjoy that hunt.

Why didn't I arrange meat donations earlier? I had some arrangements (including food banks and Mojave's family) that finally didn't seem to turn out ideal. I didn't arrange more details since I didn't know which tags I would draw. It doesn't make sense to arrange something in Wyoming and then not draw in Wyoming, for instance. There is plenty of time between the draw and the hunt, so no need to arrange everything before the draw.
I should also mention that food banks didn't seem to accept other meat than deer, elk, pronghorn and moose. And CPW was not allowed to share contact details of food banks, they said. So I was stuck with what I found through google. That was a less-than-ideal solution, so I was very happy when Morave offered help last year.

How much time have I set aside for this trip? A total of 61 days, including travel days and pre-season scouting.

I am happy to post a report after the trip. Have done the same in a New Zealand hunting forum after my first New Zealand trip.
 

RickyAT

FNG
Joined
Dec 25, 2023
Messages
7
It seems like I am not yet able to start a private conversation. Or maybe I am too stupid to find the correct button. Anyhow, that is why I didn't send messages to some of you who kindly offered help. I am able to reply to private messages, though, so please feel free to send me a message if you want. Thanks!
 
OP
Mojave

Mojave

WKR
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
2,170
It seems like I am not yet able to start a private conversation. Or maybe I am too stupid to find the correct button. Anyhow, that is why I didn't send messages to some of you who kindly offered help. I am able to reply to private messages, though, so please feel free to send me a message if you want. Thanks!
My friend, you will not able to start PM's for a while. There is some metric like 100 post or 50 post. I do not know how long it is.
 
OP
Mojave

Mojave

WKR
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
2,170
The actual "North American Model" doesn't really exist in the way people think it does. Most people that quote it as the way things are in North America don't realize that there is no single specific outline for what it means in each state, province or Indian nation or aboroginal area.

Truely public land, public wildlife places are very rare outside of the Western half of the United States and Canadian crown lands.

Canadian aboriginal land grabs have lessened this original area.

Not sure what the future will bring.
 

def90

WKR
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
1,684
Location
Colorado
A lot of rural food banks will take wild game. There are also lists that people can sign up for that the cpw will call when they get roadkill situations that are harvestable.
 
Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
328
I for one am glad to see you making arrangements prior to the kill.

A couple years ago I got a call from my nephew one night, some non resident guy he barely knew through his boss had killed a deer and didn’t have anywhere to take it, no coolers, no freezer, no plan at all. I reluctantly agreed to let him bring it over to my place. When he showed up it wasn’t even gutted. I did the gutless method on my garage floor and got the quarters in the fridge and cooled down, the hunter didn’t help at all.

He didn’t want any of the meat and was headed out of town the next morning.
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
2,960
OMG - since when does a hunter have to apologize for killing? Since when is giving away meat to the needy a bad thing?

I love to hunt, it’s in my DNA - if I’m splattering prairie dogs, smacking coyotes, gut shooting antelope or killing a big mulie for the wall and giving away the meat - I’m never going to apologize for hunting, the killing, or feeding people I may not know. That’s bs.
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
2,960
In Wyoming, game wardens keep lists of needy families - the meat needs to be professionally processed and game warden will make arrangements.
 

Laramie

WKR
Joined
Apr 17, 2020
Messages
2,627
If all hunters were a responsible as the guy making this once in a lifetime trip, we would have a lot fewer problems. I know many families in southern wyoming who would use meat if you need extra places to donate to. Hope you have a great time and meet some great people. There are plenty who will appreciate what you are doing
 

NMJM

FNG
Joined
Aug 2, 2022
Messages
60
Location
New Mexico
I am not sure why you are getting the hate. Sounds like you have a great trip planned and are concerned about not wasting any meat. Have a great trip, good luck and happy hunting!
 

mlchase

FNG
Joined
May 8, 2020
Messages
37
@RickyAT congrats on the tags and a solid plan you have in place. Wish you the best of luck, and sounds like an awesome adventure that many of us would like to be on. Crazy that there was 6 pages of bashing/second-guessing on something like this...and the reason my post count here is not too high. Keep us posted on how it goes.

@Mojave good on ya for trying to help and sorry you had to deal with all this crap from a community that should be like-minded on goals. Sounds like you have it all figured out, but if get in a jam, let me know - I am just over an hour from Cheyenne and could meet up.
 

RickyAT

FNG
Joined
Dec 25, 2023
Messages
7
Thank you very much for your kind words and your help!

@Glendon Mullins @mlchase Please send me a private message. I can reply to private messages, but the forum's software is blocking me from starting a private conversation myself, unfortunately.
 

wytx

WKR
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
2,242
Location
Wyoming
Would be happy to buy you a beer in Laramie RickyAT, stop by The Library if you come through Laramie.
 
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
9,500
Location
Shenandoah Valley
@RickyAT what gun/caliber are you planning for this trip?
Scope manufacturer?


Could maybe complete the meltdown if you could fill us in on those details. And don't forget to drop your gun several times to test it.


Hope you have a good trip, I'm sure you have checked success rates on the tags you got. The back country hunts can be as mentally exhausting as physically, well, close to. So prepare yourself for that as well.
 
Top