Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bucket list hunts, Different angle

So as not to derail the other thread. (His question was about his bucket list animals, where/how)

My question is, are you a "trophy animal" or "trophy country" guy? "Both" is not a wrong answer.

There are some specific animals I want to hunt such as what I have dubbed the "primary bovines" being; Bison, Cape Buffalo, Water Buffalo and Musk Ox. This could be achievable but would be an awfully big stretch for me and to be honest, isn't on the front burner.

I have spent the last 2 falls hunting Colorado second season with minimal success though really enjoy being in "trophy country" with my oldest friend. Any decent 4X4 Muley would be a trophy to me based on the place, company and the fact we do it on our own.

I'm seriously considering an outfitted hunt deep in BC for black bear. Reason being I can't afford the moose or caribou hunts there but would be in true wilderness. Guess that matters more to me.

So, 2 questions: 1. Trophy animal or trophy country? 2. Based on that, what or where are they?

While not answering your question as either one or the other, the thing you should do in your situation, is to plan a few good hunts hunting those animals that you really want that live in country that you would really want to hunt in. For example, your trip to B.C. for bear, a trip to Alaska for something that you really want to hunt there, perhaps a trip to the Yukon for Woods Bison, and maybe one trip to Africa if you really want to go there for Cape Buffalo. Do the list that you come up with starting with your most preferred option, then go to number two when that is done.

I am an experience type of hunter. I want to see different places and new types of animals. I want to meet new people of different cultures. Size of the game isnt that important to me. At some point all trophies just end up gathering dust. In the end the memories are what I long for

This pretty much sums up where I am. Want to see new country and see my kids have some opportunities like I did.

REALISTIC bucket list hunt for me would be a mountain lion hunt, over hounds. One in Idaho and one in the desert south west. I love hound hunting and the country would be miserable and beautiful all at the same time. When it comes to hunting I don’t mind embracing the “suck.” The good hunting stories are never about easy hunts.

UNREALISTIC bucket list hunt would be a jaguar hunt in Belize with a beautiful side by side rifle followed by a deep sea fishing trip and time spent sitting on the beach sipping local rum. I been to Belize a couple times. I love Central America and the jungle and have ever since I was stationed in Panama. I’ve done the fishing and drinking rum on the beach part already. However there’s no legal jaguar hunting in Belize anymore despite them still being around.

Well put. Even better with good friends or family.

I guess I'm a "trophy country" guy. I'd love to shoot a real trophy animal but, it's never been important enough to me to prioritize going where the trophy animals are. More than a "trophy country" guy, I guess I'm really a "trophy experience" guy like MAC. I'm lucky enough to be able to have the most amazing hunting experiences I can imagine right here at home. I can hike into 10s of thousands of acres of public wilderness at dawn with 18 inches of snow on the ground, cut a buck track by 10am, follow him up the mountain, where he got into some does, got into a fight, where he turned and stood watching his back track and saw me, ran for a mile straight up, started walking again, found some more does, gave me that one fleeting look at him with no shot, and then the sun is dipping and I know I'll be hiking down out in the dark. And, when I know he's beaten me and I'm worn out from all the miles and elevation gain and I turn around and I'm looking out across all that country and can see all the woods and mountains that I've chased that buck through without ever crossing a road or another hunter's track, that's when I know I'm one lucky dude and that days like that can't be bought, there's no point system for that, and you definitely can't hang it on the wall. I've spoiled myself with so many of those days I can't even begin to count them. I've even shot a few of those deer!

I'm largely an 'experience' guy, though I have had a few specific species on my list. Chinese water deer is an example. I think they're bad ass with those fangs. Interior grizzly was another example. Something about that iconic wilderness species really interested me, and still does. I've got both those species checked off, a couple of times.

For purely experience, it involves tough to get to places. Greenland in winter was one, where I killed a musk ox. Simply getting to that country was an experience, let alone hunting in those conditions. The outsmarting of the critter part was easy and not a 'trophy' to me in any way.

Some were critter/experience combos such as Red Stag deep in the 'roar' and caribou during mass migrations to name a couple. I've got both those checked off.

I've never been a deer of X inches or spread of Y inches kind of person. That kind of bucket list item has never crossed my mind.

1. I've always been of the opinion that any animal you bring down from the mountain is a trophy. I suppose that would work for a cornfield, as well. For me, the company also figures mightily in the equation: aint nothin' longer than a hunt with bad company. OTOH, with great compadres, I forge memories I'll never forget.

2. I'm gonna go make some more memories next week with Ready on his side o' the pond. I gotta collect some replacement schwarzwild bristles for the forstdiensthut.

FC

My list is ever changing but generally focuses on the country/area I’d like to see and then the species. To me, big hunts are all about the adventure, seeing some amazing country and having a new experience. I’ve been blessed to have some amazing adventures, but there’s always more of this beautiful planet I’d still like to wander around in for a while. And I am generally north country and Mtn type of guy. Ideally, these would all be with my best hunting partner, my wife, but 2 young kids have made it VERY challenging to do these long duration adventures the last few years. But all of these are in the works.

1. NWT McKenzie Mtns: Dall sheep/Mtn Caribou - just looks like some of the most amazing mountains in NA

2. NE Brooks Range: Artic Char/caribou hunt river float- a rod/reel in hand and see what happens type of trip.

3. Greenland: Musk Ox - just seems interesting place to explore

4. NW Wyoming: backcountry Elk horseback hunt - classic pack in hunt looking for a big bull.

I'd have to agree with T Inman on this one, it's more about the experience although having a successful harvest goes a long way to the overall enjoyment of the experience. Last fall, I drove 2,000 mile round trip from FL to KS with no permit of my own to host my son and a good friend. I hunted with my son and he was able to shoot a great deer, by far his best, and the experience was a total success for me in being able to participate with him and be part of the hunt.

I didn't start big game hunting until I was in college in 1965, and I proudly hung the spike mule deer antlers on my dorm room wall. I shot my first elk the next year and since then my family and I have practically lived on the meat from the wild game animals that I shot.

I was fortunate enough to have lived in Colorado back when most deer and elk permits were OTC at local sporting goods stores, and to have moved to Montana when the game drawing odds were high enough that we could actually draw a tag and hunt those "exotic" animals, like bighorn sheep, moose, and goats.

From the late '70s through the '90s I had my own horses and with them I was able to pack in to some great wilderness backcountry camps to hunt deer, elk, bighorn rams, and moose.

I had my first black bear and pronghorn antelope mounted. Then it seemed like the more that I hunted, the more that I wanted to hunt, and I started hunting outside of my home state of Montana. And with the more hunting that I did, I started to get some real trophy animals, like the DIY public land bull elk that I shot that just missed the B&C minimum, which of course, I had to get mounted. My family and I also enjoyed the 200+ pounds of meat that we got from him.

By the late '80s, I had replaced all of the big game animal pictures in my living room with actual mounts of those animals that I shot. I also got re-married to a woman who said that my house wasn't big enough for her, her kids, and all of my mounts, so I built a 2,000 sf, two story addition to my house, with the top story a 30'x35' trophy room.

That marriage proved to be a disaster, and I finally ended it in 2000 with a very long and costly divorce, but I was finally free and began going on hunts all over the world. I've done multiple hunts in 3 African countries, multiple hunts in Alaska and Canada, a hunt in New Zealand (with my GF), and a hunt in Azerbaijan. My house is approaching the full status with 80 taxidermy mounts.

And now, being retired, I really enjoy sitting in my recliner in my Trophy Room with my morning coffee and reliving the memories of the hunts of the 60 animals that I have mounted there.

As for my bucket list, there are still a lot of animals that I would like to hunt, but I don't really have one or two lined up for this year. The costs of hunts keep going up, the mountains keep getting higher and steeper, and I'm not getting any younger, so I really need to just pick one or two and just go!

Per the parameters of the OP, I'm more in the Trophy Country category. Heck, my greatest hunting adventures have been without having a tag, where I was helping a friend with his tag. One of the great things about whitetails is the huge variety in the country they inhabit. Hunting them on the plains/grasslands is on my short list! Not because I am crazy about the species, but hunting something common to me in a country type that is uncommon to me.

Apologies for starting this then walking any.

Seems I am aligned with most here in that the experience is most important. Physical trophies are reminders.

I well remember the earlyish hunting shows, mostly whitetail stuff, where inches of exposed bone was seemingly the only goal. Pretty easy way to forget to enjoy the hunt.

Hunting is supposed to be fun. It's even better when shared with someone important to you.