Fishing Forum

There once was a guy who hunted the same mtn for 20+ yrs.
He archery hunted there yr after yr as the deer herd took a dive. There was one factor that kept the hunter coming back. The elk were amazing here. So for yrs he put in for a LE archery tag and finally after 15yrs he drew. The hunter was so excited he ran out and bought a new bow, camo, treestand, you name it. He started scouting in early june. Every other weekend he would spend 4 days in the feild. He even bought some trophy rocks, thought the extra minerals would help the antler growth. How the hunter was so happy the area he was hunting had not been invaded by any other hunters. Things were all coming to gether for the hunter he was seeing big bulls on a regular basis and there was plenty of water and feed to keep the bulls in the area. As the archery deer hunt started the hunters excitment had peaked. Wow a 400 class bull hanging out right in the heart of the hunters area. In 3 days the hunter was sure to bag this bull of a lifetime. Opening morning of the hunt the 400 bull was spotted. To far off and the wind wasnt right for a stalk. No worries the hunter had scheduled the whole hunt of from work. He had plenty of time. Two days later the hunter had another run in with the monster bull. Hmm! He was now with about 50 cows and calf. A good sign the hunter thought. Maybe the rut was to come early this yr. A good call set up should bring the bull in close enough for a shot. Easier said than done. Fast forward 20 days. Discouraged, tired and desheveled the hunter had tried every trick he or anybody he knew could try. Giving up on the huge bull and going for anything with horns the hunter desparatly tromped threw the woods hoping he would get lucky and at least come home with some meat. But it wasn't to be the hunter had to come home empty handed.[unsure] I am to close to the hunter and the story to make any sense of what happened. So feel free to tell me the moral of the story.
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[black][size 3]The moral of the story is that if you measure a hunt by what you kill, and not the overall experience, you are vary likely to be disappointed.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]The expression of take time to smell the roses, and look at the view applies here. [/size]
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[size 3]Hunting and fishing trips are the same, if you measure the experience only by the game collected, you have missed the major reason to even go.[/size]
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Very well said. If you measure the success of a hunt by the animals you kill, more often than not you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
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I on the other hand would be pretty pissed off. $280 for the tag, weeks off of work, tons of money in gas spent, with no results??? No sir, not me. I admit the experience is awesome but coming home empty handed after a 12 year dream??? I don't know if I could be very positive after that.
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I feel the same way. That is alot of time and money exhausted to not atleast get a chance. If i ever draw the hunt i put in for i will definately kill something.
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Sounds like a bitter sweet story. Some times that's the way it happens, but I'd sure be heartbroken to have all that time and effort gone for naught.
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Sorry Gang,

The moral of this story is this, This man had a great time in the hills hunting. He got to enjoy the great land that God created and seen some wonderful animals, Nothing in life is gurarented. Yes, thats life, HE chose to hunt with a bow, that makes it tougher. I feel for the guy, I have had wyoming elk tags go unfilled. I tried and gave it my all. i was bummed. but oh well, it wasnt meant to be. Just my two cents worth.

RILEY
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I can go to a LE unit anytime I want and watch all the wonderful animals and have the time of my life camping, fishing, and hunting grouse, deer, or whatever else is legal to hunt in the area.
It just sucks to spend that much money to do it and come home empty handed. I would get over it and it wouldn't be a huge deal a couple months later, but for a couple days after, I would feel like shiz. I'm a poor guy and have a hard time even considering putting in for an elk tag because of the $280 issue. Even if I had a 99.9% chance of shooting something I would be pretty skechty about it. My wife would give me a beating if I came home empty handed, and she would never let me forget it.
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They call bulls like that "once in a lifetime" for a reason. The way I see it, your buddy got 20 chances at that bull, it's unfortunate that nothing came of it. Most of us; even if we draw a LE tag, will be lucky to get just one encounter with something of that class.
Yeah, your friend put in a lot of time and money, but if you want a garunteed kill, go to some high fence, canned hunt facility.
If your friend wasn't so enamored with that one bull and was willing to chase other, lesser bulls earlier in the hunt I'm sure he would have had a better chance of filling his tag, but he saw the one massive bull and put all of his eggs in that one basket. Don't get me wrong, if I had waited 12 years to draw, chased a bull of a lifetime and came home empty I would be bummed as well. Once I had seen that monster I would have done the same thing, chased that big pig all season and come home empty, but that's life.
In my opinion hunters that judge success only by the tape measure are a huge problem with our sport. When all you care about is the #'s and getting your name in B&C or P&Y that is where you get guys like Doyle Moss from. Now I'm not comparing your friend to the Mossback boys at all, that is an extreme case, but he does profit from guys with money who are willing to pay to get their names in the record books.
Like I say, I'm not comparing your friend with those guys, he waited for his tag, did all of his own scouting and all of his leg work, but he is missing the forrest for the trees. I hope over time he will be able to step back and see the positive, see what he gained in the experience and not dwell on the fact that his hunt didn't end with a trip to the taxidermist.
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Thats why its called hunting and not harvesting.
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NOT SAD AT ALL. HE HAD SOME NEET TIME WITH THE MOTHER AND HER GIFTS. HUNTING IS NOT KILLING. ITS THE PURSUIT THAT IS HUNTING. IF HE NEVER DREW AFTER PUTTING IN FOR EVER. THAT WOULD BE SAD.
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If you were to shoot a lesser bull one that didn't meet your expectations for the area. That would be more of a dissapointment than not filling your tag.
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