Favorite biggame to hunt
03-30-2015, 01:39 PM
#11
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: IL
Posts: 6,575
Try to convince me that Antelope is not the best big game animal in the US to hunt!? haha.
They're all fun, but antelope, I love that they're active all day long usually, they're beautiful, I'm not sure they're any easier to kill a trophy than other species but at least you're usually seeing antelope all day every day which helps keep the hunt exciting.
btw I still say that a turkey hunt I did with my dad might have been the best hunt of my life!
hopefully many more great hunts to come and possibly dethrone "my best hunt yet"
They're all fun, but antelope, I love that they're active all day long usually, they're beautiful, I'm not sure they're any easier to kill a trophy than other species but at least you're usually seeing antelope all day every day which helps keep the hunt exciting.
btw I still say that a turkey hunt I did with my dad might have been the best hunt of my life!
hopefully many more great hunts to come and possibly dethrone "my best hunt yet"
03-31-2015, 01:14 PM
#13
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
Elk hunting. For me there is a complete gestalt that is involved with elk hunting that makes it great. I hunt in high mountains just below treeline (11000 to 11800 feet) in mid-October in SW Colorado in a DIY hunt. I have a great hunting partner who has a canvas wall tent and a wood stove. We camp at about 11500 feet. I love the mountains, and there is nothing like walking about in the mountains at about 5 AM when nothing but you is moving, finding your appointed hunting spot, sitting, and watching the world come alive -- and also feeling your toes come back to life as the sun beats on your frozen boots long enough!
It is thinking about elk hunting for months in advance, working out to get in shape. It is driving 900 miles from Texas out there with my SUV jammed with equipment. It is driving up from town into the mountains, particularly the last 4 miles or so of bad 4 wheel drive road to get to elk camp. It is the camaraderie with my elk partner(s) in elk camp. Then there is the actual taking of an elk, if I'm so fortunate, skinning it, cutting it up, getting it out, taking it home, butchering it, serving it on the dinner table after cooking it myself.
The being in the mountains in really wild rough country, hearing elk bugles (sometimes we hear them that late, but not usually), sleeping in the tent with the crackle of wood burning in the stove, the blinking light of the fire on the inside of the tent walls that leaks out of the cracks and crevices of the metal woods stove, smelling the mild incense of the wood smoke.
I have pheasant hunted, duck hunted, deer hunted, and pronghorn hunted and for me elk hunting as I do it is far more exciting and rewarding than any of these others. On the other hand, unlike in the marriage arena, one does not have to be monogamous in one's hunting pursuits! Even so, any more all I do is elk hunt. In the future, when I can't handle elk hunting any more because I'm too old, I'll probably shift to pronghorn hunting. That is fun too, and generally doesn't involve difficult climbs in high elevations.
It is thinking about elk hunting for months in advance, working out to get in shape. It is driving 900 miles from Texas out there with my SUV jammed with equipment. It is driving up from town into the mountains, particularly the last 4 miles or so of bad 4 wheel drive road to get to elk camp. It is the camaraderie with my elk partner(s) in elk camp. Then there is the actual taking of an elk, if I'm so fortunate, skinning it, cutting it up, getting it out, taking it home, butchering it, serving it on the dinner table after cooking it myself.
The being in the mountains in really wild rough country, hearing elk bugles (sometimes we hear them that late, but not usually), sleeping in the tent with the crackle of wood burning in the stove, the blinking light of the fire on the inside of the tent walls that leaks out of the cracks and crevices of the metal woods stove, smelling the mild incense of the wood smoke.
I have pheasant hunted, duck hunted, deer hunted, and pronghorn hunted and for me elk hunting as I do it is far more exciting and rewarding than any of these others. On the other hand, unlike in the marriage arena, one does not have to be monogamous in one's hunting pursuits! Even so, any more all I do is elk hunt. In the future, when I can't handle elk hunting any more because I'm too old, I'll probably shift to pronghorn hunting. That is fun too, and generally doesn't involve difficult climbs in high elevations.
Last edited by Alsatian; 03-31-2015 at 01:23 PM.
03-31-2015, 03:55 PM
#14
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Colorado
Posts: 9,557
Elk hunting. For me there is a complete gestalt that is involved with elk hunting that makes it great. I hunt in high mountains just below treeline (11000 to 11800 feet) in mid-October in SW Colorado in a DIY hunt. I have a great hunting partner who has a canvas wall tent and a wood stove. We camp at about 11500 feet. I love the mountains, and there is nothing like walking about in the mountains at about 5 AM when nothing but you is moving, finding your appointed hunting spot, sitting, and watching the world come alive -- and also feeling your toes come back to life as the sun beats on your frozen boots long enough!
It is thinking about elk hunting for months in advance, working out to get in shape. It is driving 900 miles from Texas out there with my SUV jammed with equipment. It is driving up from town into the mountains, particularly the last 4 miles or so of bad 4 wheel drive road to get to elk camp. It is the camaraderie with my elk partner(s) in elk camp. Then there is the actual taking of an elk, if I'm so fortunate, skinning it, cutting it up, getting it out, taking it home, butchering it, serving it on the dinner table after cooking it myself.
The being in the mountains in really wild rough country, hearing elk bugles (sometimes we hear them that late, but not usually), sleeping in the tent with the crackle of wood burning in the stove, the blinking light of the fire on the inside of the tent walls that leaks out of the cracks and crevices of the metal woods stove, smelling the mild incense of the wood smoke.
I have pheasant hunted, duck hunted, deer hunted, and pronghorn hunted and for me elk hunting as I do it is far more exciting and rewarding than any of these others. On the other hand, unlike in the marriage arena, one does not have to be monogamous in one's hunting pursuits! Even so, any more all I do is elk hunt. In the future, when I can't handle elk hunting any more because I'm too old, I'll probably shift to pronghorn hunting. That is fun too, and generally doesn't involve difficult climbs in high elevations.
It is thinking about elk hunting for months in advance, working out to get in shape. It is driving 900 miles from Texas out there with my SUV jammed with equipment. It is driving up from town into the mountains, particularly the last 4 miles or so of bad 4 wheel drive road to get to elk camp. It is the camaraderie with my elk partner(s) in elk camp. Then there is the actual taking of an elk, if I'm so fortunate, skinning it, cutting it up, getting it out, taking it home, butchering it, serving it on the dinner table after cooking it myself.
The being in the mountains in really wild rough country, hearing elk bugles (sometimes we hear them that late, but not usually), sleeping in the tent with the crackle of wood burning in the stove, the blinking light of the fire on the inside of the tent walls that leaks out of the cracks and crevices of the metal woods stove, smelling the mild incense of the wood smoke.
I have pheasant hunted, duck hunted, deer hunted, and pronghorn hunted and for me elk hunting as I do it is far more exciting and rewarding than any of these others. On the other hand, unlike in the marriage arena, one does not have to be monogamous in one's hunting pursuits! Even so, any more all I do is elk hunt. In the future, when I can't handle elk hunting any more because I'm too old, I'll probably shift to pronghorn hunting. That is fun too, and generally doesn't involve difficult climbs in high elevations.
03-31-2015, 05:41 PM
#16
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Colorado
Posts: 9,557
