Confession of an elkaholic
This is a bit thin as a topic, but frankly things have seemed a bit slow in here, so I'll try to liven things up. If I fail, my apologies.
I started out deer hunting in 2002 and did that every mid-November for several years. I went on my first elk hunt in the high mountains of Colorado in 2006. I went back in 2009, and I'm going back this October. Deer hunting no longer holds any draw for me whatsoever. I like elk meat much better than venison, and my family strongly agrees with this appraisal. I love going up into the high mountains -- 11500' high -- in early to mid-October and sleeping in a canvas wall tent and traipsing around in the mountains by day, huddling in the tent with a nice warm fire at night and briefly emerging from the tent several times during the night and seeing the sky full of bright stars and feeling the temperature about 15 degrees. I like driving out to elk camp from Texas near Dallas; I like driving back with ice chests full of elk meat.
About this time of year when I'm planning an elk trip I begin to obsess in various ways about elk hunting. I read and reread books on elk hunting. I excavate on various hunting sites to try to find new previously unread threads on elk hunting topics of interest to me. I make checklists of equipment to take on the trip. I begin to get equipment out to verify it is all where I can find it and hasn't been expropriated by my children or eaten by alien life forms. I view and review my pictures from earlier elk hunting trips.
I like pronghorn hunting, which I have only done once, but it does not have nearly the power over me that elk hunting has. What about you? Are you an elkaholic? (By the way, I don't claim this witty term -- I've seen someone other use it -- maybe it was their handle). In what forms does your obsession manifest itself? What time of year does this come over you?