MTdream

ROFL that thar is funny!!!!

Champlain Islander

We have mods?[:'(]

MTdream

not gonna bother resonding...I am done with this topic...

You would be surprised at the boys in the videosthat people idolize that are hunting bulls and bucks that are hand picked on private land (paid the rancher), paid the guides, and paid the campers to watch the bulls...not my cup of tea, not my idea of hunting...but it is what it is...

As long as there is money and prestige involved I am confident that people will take whatever short cuts possible to get what they want...there is nothing new with that philosophy been around as long as mankind...

as forme, I take no pleasure in this bull, will not buy the video, but do marvel at the critter for what is possible in areas managed for trophies...Which keeps me excited when I hit the woods, but then, I am easily impressed as the hair still stands on my back when Ihear the first bugle of every year...

CAelknuts

I'm only responding since a couple of the posts a page or two back addressed me; otherwise, I'm done with this thread.

I only hunted from September 1-12 because that was all I was able to afford being away from work this year. If I'd have been able to afford being away from work longer, I'd have not only taken the entire season to hunt, but would have probably taken at least a week before the season to scout. The only reason I didn't do exactly that is, being in the mortgage business, I simply can't afford that much time away at this point.

Spider bull notwithstanding, I knew that this tag is one of the better/best elk tags I'll ever be able to draw, and if I could have afforded the time away from work, I'd have been there as long or longer than Mr. Austad spent on his hunt with Mossback. I certainly can take that much time off work when times are good financially, as I'm in a "commission only" job, I just couldn't afford it this year.

When I draw Arizona archery elk, Arizona strip deer, Nevada elk, Oregon elk, etc.; I'll be hunting the entire season, as well as days before the season to scout, as long as I'm able to afford to being away from work for an extended time. I've got a ton of bonus/perference points built up all over the west for most tags. As I draw the premium tags I apply for, I'll be hunting the entire season more often than not. In that regard, most special tag holders won't have much of an advantage over me.

Clinty Poo

Makes perfect since Elknuts.. I'm not sure how the season works in Utah so I was just taking the post how I saw it. That's my bad. A big elk was killed and it wasn't how most of us would have done it. so what what we say isn't going to change anything so we should just drop it and go harvest elk for ourselves

stealthycat II

the love of horn porn hurts what hunting is - it makes many hunters want to puke and all non-hunters and in the future at some point, hunting will end for the common person, maybe altogehter end and things like the Spider bull are just one little edge closer to that happening

enjoy your horn porn love - if that's what hunting has become I don't want any part of it

CAelknuts

Yeah Stealthy, I love (your description, not mine)horn porn. That's why I've come home another year without killing an elk. I had good archery shot opportunities at bulls bigger than most hunters will kill in their lives, and I never raised my bow. Let 'em walk away, waiting/working/hoping for a bigger bull. Of course, some people who aren't so cynical as yourself call that selective trophy hunting, which is a term I prefer to your cynical "horn porn" term.

Don't worry about hunters being the end of hunting. It'll be the anti-hunters, aided by cynics who don't understand who their true enemy is.

Oh, and Clint, you have nailed it. We should be worrying about harvesting our own elk, not someone else's.

stealthycat II

I 100% agree, anti-hunting WILL kill my sport. Paying a gang of guys big money to find an animal with a big rack and hound it until you get there to shoot it IS ANTI-HUNTING, its NOT what hunting is, the very definition of NOT hunting.

CAelknuts if you are paying an outfitter to do what was done in this Spider bull kill, you're not hunting, your anti-hunting and you're killing our sport.

I often wonder if we'd be better off as a hunting community to ban outfitters.

Again, the love of money and horn porn entering into hunting is going to kill our sport, directly or indirectly. No good can come of it.

CAelknuts why do you hunt ?

MTdream

Stealth,

Sun Tzu gave some very appropriate advice...

Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.
- Sun Tzu

If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War


Notice a common theme? The pro hunting folk are too busy fighting eachother to fight eh greenies...and they know it...they are using our un-dcisiplined attack tendencies against us...and the worst part..we let them...


oh well, keep fighting against the wrong things and continue to lose or focus on getting the whole team together and see what happens...

CAelknuts

Stealthy, the reasons I hunt are many. Mostly though, it is for the great memories of wildlife encounters and good times shared with friends. I hunt game large and small, as well as birds. I get as much enjoyment out of a simple deer hunt 30 minutes from my house, as I do from an adventure in Alaska or Africa. That said, some of the best moments I've enjoyed have been some of the more exotic. Hunting Cape Buffalo in thick cover is incredibly tense, and exciting. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything. Another memory that will remain vivid until the day I die is nearly being trampled by an enraged bull elephant that I shot at 10 yards as he was bearing down on me. On the other hand, I can also still recall the first duck my son ever killed, which was a hen woodie that he killed on opening day of the season when he was 9 years old. He also shot his first turkey that year, a jake that I called across a deep draw, got him to fly over to us and my son shot him when he landed and then strutted into our view. Those are some of the reasons I hunt. Heck, I can remember the first duck I ever killed, some 40 years ago. It was a drake green winged teal that I made a lucky shot on (I assure you, no skill was involved) out of a flock that was streaking by just above the water on my end of a sunken blind on a very foggy morning.

I get as much enjoyment out of watching a blacktail buck where I hunt near my home as I do watching a grizzly or dall sheep in Alaska, and have enjoyed both extremes plenty of times.

Other reasons include the chance to share days afield with good friends. I still remember some of the final duck hunts my father and I enjoyed before he died on Christmas eve of 1980. He was out in the blind the day before he passed, and died at our club's house. I'll never forget those memories, and they're a part of why I hunt. The very best memories I have of my father are those times we shared hunting together.

Another is the pleasure I've derived from taking many kids out for their first hunts. Whether it's been a kid shooting a mallard or wood duck for his first bird, or a Rio Grande gobbler, I've taken a few dozen kids out for their very first hunts, and I get more pleasure out of those hunts than most of those kids do. I always look forward to hunting in the marsh when the leaves are turning color, and the willows and cottonwoods are golden, with a breeze and birds in the air. I also enjoy those frigid, foggy days when everything on the marsh is gray, like you might see in a Chet Reneson watercolor. One of my most cherished duck hunting partners was a fellow who died a few years ago at 95 years old. The last time I took him out he was 92, and it didn't matter a whole lot what we killed or didn't on those trips. That we got to share days togehter on the marsh, watching the sun rise over the Sutter Buttes, did matter. Those are a few of the reasons I hunt.

I also hunt for the challenge of killing animals with large antlers. When I was younger, I used to hunt to kill something, and it didn't have to be large, as much as it had to present an opportunity to shoot it. These days, I don't worry to much about whether I kill something or not, buti if I do shoot something, chances are that most of the time it will be a mature animal that has lived most of its life. Those animals usually carry large horns or antlers. I'm not always that way, as the last elk I did kill a few yeas ago was a small 6 point that was probably only three or four years old. I'd decided before I left home that I was going to shoot the first 6 pt. bull I had a chance to take, regardless of his size, so when I got the chance I took him, even though he was a smaller bull than I'd normally draw my bow back to shoot. On the other hand, one of the last bulls I killed before him was a giant that was probably 10-13 years old. He'd definitely qualify for your term - horn porn. Does that make one better than the other, or worse? Not in my book. Both gave me great memories of enjoyable hunts, and both adorn the fireplace in my game room. If you were to view my game room (don't worry, you'll never visitit) you'd see a mix of animals that are large and small. Some probably don't qualify as trophies to many, but they're included because of special memories I have of them, or the hunt for them. Others are large, with Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young and Rowland Ward caliber animals displayed. None of them are entered into record books, nor will they likely ever be. I'm sure you'd find some of them offensive because they surely qualify as your term of horn porn.

The reasons I hunt are many and varied, as I suspect is the case with most people. I don't know why you hunt, don't really care. You asked the question, so you got an answer. I'll worry about my hunts, you worry about yours.