charlie brown

Just kinda BLAH?

Apps are set to come out soon for everything here in NV. I really like hunting elk, and have taken a cow in 2005 with my ML during the rut. There was nothing like that hunt, it was AWESOME! And I am really liking just hunting with my muzzle loader period! Then I think elk, it sure was fun, it sure was good eating, but it was a lot of work, lol. Keep jumping back and forth between applying for elk or not. I will definately apply for deer and antelope, not nearly as much work involved with that after the shot. Maybe its just since I got into mountain lion hunting with hounds and realized its not as much about the kill, but the hunt itself? So what would be the point in applying for a cow elk tag?

I don't know, just feeling weird, I love to hunt, just don't like the work involved with butchering an elk with just me and the pops, lol.

Anybody else fell like this from time to time?

SwampCollie

If you think thats a lot of work, you should try waterfowl hunting. At least the work with butchering an elk is never in vain; you've already got an animal. The work of waterfowl hunting may well not even net you a shot, and at best you will end up with 5 to 8 birds (depending on where you live; for me its only 5). And depending on how you hunt ducks, it can often cost a heck of a lot more than elk hunting (even if you have to fly from the right coast like I do, and hire an outfitter). I shudder to think what the ducks in my freezer cost per pound. It would make most people gasp.

dayna0306

Hey charlie it's just that time of the year , you will feel better by autumn.Never hunted in navada how is it?


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charlie brown

Duck hunting, ha, thats easy (done it a few times), I am out every weekend with my hounds chasing lions, have yet to see one in a tree, and am probably out an easy 5k if not more.

Thats mainly for me its just being outside is what is important I guess.

Maybe it is just the wintertime blues. Kinda hits me about this time every year I guess.

Hunting here is OK, if you can get a tag. Habitat is shot for deer, so looking about 2-3 years on average to get a deer tag and 2-5 for a cow elk, and about 8-10 for an antelope (5 to wait if you get the tag, plus the application years about 3-5 or so) That may be changing next year to 3 year wait due to the antelope populations doing real well.Don't want to get into how long it takes to get a bull elk, sheep or mt goat tag. Elk are doing good to, a lot of areas are expanding and reaching population objectives and more tags are becoming available every year, but not so much it is not a quality experience. Last year I think about 65% of bulls were 6 pt or better, and I think about 20 or so out of about 350 killed every year go 325" +. I can say though, that the experience here is pretty good. Not to many people in the field due to the limited tags, plenty of animals to choose from, especially in the early muzzle loader and even earlier archery seasons.

A lot of people are disgruntled about it. Lions killing all the deer, NDOW not doing their job, this, that and the other, but people aren't willing to actually get out and do habitat work, do herd counts, work on guzzlers, and the like, and are usually the ones complaining. So if you can stand the whiners and the wait for the hunt its not to bad I guess.

Thats the main reason I got into lion hunting. I can hunt year round, and can hunt at my leisure, and don't have to worry about anything. If I kill a cat, ok, if not, thats fine too, the hunt is the fun part.

Enough of my rambles.

Later,

Marcial

usa

I think everybody goe's thru soul searching from time to time, I'm obsessed with hunting theres only 3 phases of my life ...going hunting ..hunting or thinking about hunting but with that being said I sometimes wonder why I continue to kill animals and have thought about quitting a few times.My situation is the opposite of yours , I discovered elk hunting in 94 and have been obsessed ever since and have taken and packed out alone 7 bulls but the work is as enjoyable to me as the hunt itself. You have simply replaced one form of hunting for another and if you think about it you overall work harder with the dogs then you ever did with an elk hunt , relax and follow your heart.

SwampCollie

$5K....haha....thats getting off easy bro.

Hell just my boat cost $8K...not to mention the gas, taxes, registration, insurance and wear and tear on it. I do know some folks around here who have workable duck skiffs for around $1500, but thats not including all the other stuff.

For me to duck hunt, its up around 3. 1h 15m drive, launch the boat. Run 9 miles in the dark (and its like 15 deg), check the wind, set out all the blocks from the boat (the place I hunt is tidal, so you can end up high and dry if you aren't careful, hide the boat, hide myself, do it all over again when the wind switches, re-set up and be ready by 45 minutes before official sunrise. Its easy to go with someone, or do a walk in hunt, but hunting tidal marshes by yourself is a real pain. I doubt there is as much walking/traveling invovled with it as chasing lions, but there is definately more money and more aggrivation.

I sometimes myself wonder why I do it. Ted Trueblood said it best:

And so we find the lot of the duck hunter is not a happy one. He is a child of frustration, a victim of misfortune and a collector of mishap; he suffers from cold and wet and lack of sleep; he is punished far more often than he is rewarded and yet he continues... why?

charlie brown

I don't think we really need to get into a hunt cost-pissing match, lol.

That was not really the reason I started this thread, just wondering what people go through in their hunting career. I am thinking I have just reached a stage where the hunt is more fun than anything. I have helped people on elk hunts the last two years, and enjoy the hunt more than the kill itself. The cost means NOTHING to me, other than the fact that without money, I couldn't hunt, lol. This year will be my 10th big game season. I have had 7 deer tags and 1 elk tag, and taken 5 deer and 1 elk. Nothing big, but it seems on the two years I have eaten my tags, I enjoyed it just as much as the years when I killed something. Last year was the first year I hunted ducks, and yes, we had 6 people out on a marsh on the edge of a reservoir, and it was quite easy compared to chasing mountain lions. I have also hunted chukar, quail and pheasant with a friend who lives 2 1/2 hours from here. Every one of the hunts I have been on I can remember as plain as yesterday.

Maybe it just means that when I finally do walk up to a tree with my dogs at the bottom and a lion at the top, it will be more rewarding then anything else I have done. There has been a lot more work involved in those dogs than I have put in all the other hunting I have done COMBINED, but for some reason, I still enjoy it the most. And the best part is, I can walk away from the tree and leave the lion to chase another day.

Maybe I will just apply for deer and antelope this year, and pass on the elk and sheep apps. Keep chasing my mutts around the hills, and put a little venison in the freezer for the winter.

We shall see, lol

Later,

Marcial

Colorado Luckydog

Quit hunting or whining, they don't go together.