The Enjoyment Quotient - Hunting vs. Range Sessions
 

As I sat on my "High Chair" stand in the piney woods last weekend, not seeing any deer but enjoying the morning, I got to wondering if I shouldn't just go back to the camp and do some shooting with the .58 Hawken that was sitting in the gun box in my truck.

That got me to thinking about hunting vs. target shooting, and how much I enjoy both. I hunt every weekend during our 12 week season - morning and evening, but sometimes all day. Sometimes I quit the stand around ten in the morning, return to camp, and either take a nap or do a little target shooting before the evening hunt.

But I do a lot of shooting from March through May when the weather is nice and I can piddle around on the range for hours. I really look forward to those sessions and think I may enjoy them every bit as much as hunting. One thing for sure, they are a lot less hassle free and you don't have to get up at 0hDarkHundred and bundle up.

I would probably give hunting a tiny bit of and edge on the enjoyment factor, but not by much. What say you? On a scale of 10, how would you rate hunting vs. target shooting?

What is "bundling up" in LA? A long sleeve T-shirt? Long pants instead of shorts? :D

I do enjoy shooting but it's no where close to the enjoyment I get out of hunting-even if I do not kill anything. Sadly, I get to do very little of either nowadays but when I do, all the worries melt away! :woot:

both pis s me off at times.

Hunting would be my favorite as my rifles already dialed in and im just walking around the the animal i have a tag for.

What the heck are you talking about TN? Last weekend was COLD. I wore my polypropylene underware under my pants and shirt, and a heavy fleece jacket and overpants. I also have to keep a fleece blanket in each box stand that I can wrap myself in if I get chilled. :s2:

Well because of you guys I am just getting started blowing smoke! I have always enjoyed each and every hunt this yr.
I found punching holes in paper was far more fun than I anticipated but it does not compare to the hunt.

So I am about 80/20......80% hunt but I do 110% preparation towards that hunt and that is what makes it fun..........I have never done anything half-c o c ked and have jumped in full force now with this inline that I look forward to taking time to shoot my dad's custom hawkens.......

JW

I thought you cajuns were real men lol.we get snow here at just under 4000 ft elevation and wind that flat out howls, which brings temps down dramatically and i have never worn long underwear.we sit under any bush or tree we can find to glass also and not in box with a fleece blanket..man up SEMI:happy0001:deserts, especially high deserts get down right cold.now to answer your question,as i get older it gets a lot harder to hump these steep mountains here in cali,but i must say i still enjoy the hunt more than range sessions.

This might sound terrible but I enjoy target shooting far more then hunting. Even when I was a kid, I was antsy. My Dad used to have fits with me when he was teaching me to hunt deer because I could not be still. I'd move my feet, swivel my head at every sound, and loved to point that old shotgun at anything that I took a fancy to. But because of my father, I learned to sit still, and spend hours in the woods without moving. And I learned to stalk deer, and most of all track deer. So hunting when I was younger was fun. Now they've shot off the deer herd. At least when there were a lot of deer, I could SEE DEER. That made it fun. Now you sit for days, and watch the same squirrel or set of leaves that look like a deer. I guess with age comes boredom. This year I sat there and replayed in my mind every deer I ever shot. Man that was a lot of deer. But I actually think I remembered them all. That is the first sign of boredom.

I like to shoot. I like the noise, and the smoke. I like to stack bullet on bullet. It makes me smile. When I hunt I seldom if ever get to shoot. Also killing something just does not thrill me like it used to. In fact it kind of bothers me after the deed because I look at what I have taken the life of and ask myself.. did you really need to do that? This might sound silly but after the last deer I shot, I felt terribly guilty for doing that. But I do like venison, and the one way to get it is to hunt. But if I had to hang one up.. the hunting clothes would be washed and hung in the back closet in a heart beat.

BowHunting..BLKPwdr....9
Range Time...1
Rifle Hunting...0

Now that I have reached the age of 70, I enjoy range time more than hunting. Love to shoot my ML and keep trying to shoot tighter groups and longer ranges each time out. Our ML season just ended yesterday and even tho I had an opportunity for a nice buck I declined to shoot. Just watched him for about 20 minutes browse in front of me, then he left. I thought to myself how much fun it was to just observe and not shoot.

I enjoy target shooting more then hunting.

I want to hunt, not shoot targets.

Hunting rates a 9 on the 0-10 scale. I enjoy going out to shoot, but nothing like hunting. I would rate shooting a 5.

Varity is the spice of life, I enjoy each in its own time.

I enjoy both for different reasons. At the range I can practice, change loads, shoot and pretty much be active all the while I am there. Hunting on the other hand always has you on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what is over the next rise or what is going to pop into view if you are stand hunting. Or, what's that rustling the leaves? Is it a squirrel, turkey, doe, or the buck of a lifetime just out of your view?

I think I would enjoy my time target shooting more if I didn't have to drive an hour to get to the range. Then have to worry about getting pelted by bullet casings being ejected from the rifle or pistol of the owner shooting it at the table beside me.

Well that would sure be a big factor Pluckit. I drive about 80 miles to my hunting club lease. But once there I have a private 300 yard range with two covered shooting benches, and the range is only 25 yards away from my little hooch. So it's always a two or three day affair of pure fun and relaxation. That's probably why punching paper is a very close second to hunting for me (and sometimes moves into first place).

I prefer hunting over target shooting by a good bit right now. I will say however, over the past 12yrs or so...I've done very little range time. I used to shoot alot more when I was younger (before kids and a crazy life). Hopefully at some point I'll be able to get back to target shooting more.

I'm not as lucky as Dave is shooting in the back yard, but I only have to drive a mile down the gravel road to my cousins farm shop where we have a range set up. We can shoot out to 500 yards. Hard to imagine driving an hour or better to shoot.

I have a Range set up in My Yard, I can shoot up to 100yds, If I need to shoot further I go to My Budys Farm and we can shoot 200-300+yds. Once sighted in I rarely shoot just to go and shoot. I will spend a Hour or two now and then just to stay in practice and make sure everythings good, but Hunting far outweighs the Target on the Enjoyment Scale.
I woule rate Bow Hunting and ML Hunting a 10 and give Target Shooting a 1. I work all year to get the time off to go Hunting, Work and more Work, not much time for anything else. When Mid to Late October rolls around everyone knows where I'll be, Hunting.
(BP)

Tough one for me...This past Saturday I was perched 20 feet up in a poplar on top of a mountain in the Uwharrie National Forest at 6am...I watched the full moon set as the sun rose, beautiful sight...I enjoyed it so much that in the afternoon I sat in the same tree and watched the full moon rise as the sun set...

I enjoy shooting and getting mine and my buddies rifles ready for the season as well...We shoot behind a buddy's house and usually have one or two guys there reliving hunts from the past...

It's kinda like enjoying a lady...As you age, you learn to take your time, set the mood and then enjoy each other...Both the preparation and the act are enjoyable... :)

Muzzleloading has brought back my passion for hunting and shooting. I might sway more to shooting, because I've shot my centerfires more this year and would like to start reloading.

I enjoy the preparation for the hunt far more than the hunt itself.

Im in agreement with Cayugad, as I age and arthritis in my feet takes away my mobility I would rather target shoot than hunt. I can use my 4 wheeler to check targets.

I enjoy both- for me, I enjoy hunting more as long as I am seeing wildlife- not even deer, necessarily. But as long as I am seeing things moving around- birds, fox, skunk, turkeys, etc., then I would say those days I enjoy hunting more. But I would enjoy a range day more if it was compared to a day hunting when it is dead out, nothing moving.

deleted : no longer want to be on the forum

I can hunt from dawn to dusk, and have fun.

10 minutes at the range, and i'm ready to leave.

Time at the range is usually relaxing, unless this guy is next to you, and yes, I shoot at this range:

deleted : no longer want to be on the forum

For me it depends on the time of year.

Working towards the hunting seasons in late summer early autumn I prefer shooting. As the season draws near it shifts to the hunt. Once the last season for firearms is over it's back to the shooting.

To me, one without the other would be pointless. If I couldn't hunt I would likely sell off my guns for a stroller and chase nurses around the retirement home.

HA

I just can't see it like that HuntAway. If I couldn't hunt I would still send a couple of thousand rounds down range every year. I enjoy a range session in much the same way a golfer enjoys a round of golf or a bowler enjoys an evening knocking down pins.

Wrong analogy. To a golfer. Playing a game on the golf course is his hunt. His range session is hitting a bucket of balls. Ask the golfer which he enjoys more.

Instead of going to the range. I'd rather hunt coyotes. I can do that all year.

Not so wrong. The golfer is trying to hit the green and putt into the hole. The target shooter is trying to hit the center of the bull. The shooter's hunt is for tiny groups in the right spot.

(Maybe hitting a bucket of balls is equal to dry firing at a spot on the wall. ;) )

Anyway, neither view with respect to hunting vs. range shooting is right or wrong - just different.

deleted : no longer want to be on the forum