Got this out of one of Charlie Alsheimer's books, I can say its definitely holding true with me. What stage are you in?
1. The Shooter Stage: This is when the hunter begins. They need to have some success and be able to have a level of accomplishment.
2. The Limiting Out Stage: From stage one most hunters progress to this stage. In stage two the hunter's goal is to harvest as many animals as is legally possible.
3. The Trophy Stage: In this stage the hunter has enough knowledge of his quarry that he begins to exhibit selectivity in his hunt. Bigger antlers and a keen knowledge of stewarding the whitetail resource begin to take center stage in the deer hunter's life at this point.
4. The Method Stage: By the time a hunter reaches Stage 4 he is beginning to mellow out. With many autumns under his belt he begins to become more interested in how he hunts. Understanding deer behavior also becomes paramount during this stage.
5. The Sportsman Stage: By the time a hunter hits this stage he truly knows who he is. He knows deer behavior, has killed many deer, has probably become involved in the preservation of hunting and makes a conscious effort to see that hunting is passed on to the next generation. This is also the stage when many deer hunters become involved as managers of their own deer hunting properties. I've often viewed this stage as the reflective stage.
I went from 1 - 3 skipped 2 just never felt the need to kill numbers of anything. I thinki have always been a trophy hunter once i was able to get out on my own.
I have read this before. I don't agree with his progression. Can you be a 4 or 5 and still trophy hunt? I think you can. He makes it sound like you can't. With out getting real deep into this I will just say I'm 3-4-5 all rolled into one.
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Deer coming into my treestand, a big non-typical. Setup is perfect. I draw back, take aim, and the pin settles perfectly on it's chest.....My thumb hits the release, arrow glides noiselessly toward it's target............then I woke up.....dang, another day of classes *sigh*
What Stage Hunter Are You?
*sigh*
