Hello from Alberta, Canada! What is your hunting obsession? I want to hear what you all live to hunt!
Being from Alberta, I would say it's a tie between Whitetail buck, and Bull Elk.
Anxious to hear from you all!!

Shelly07

coyote calling

speed goats.....if i could only hunt one head of big game for the rest of my life it would be goats......mule deer would be te close second....

i have the most fun hunting hogs.

coyotes......... Russ

Arkansas flooded timber for Woodies and Mallards.

Whitetail

Archery Elk, shotgun grouse and woodcock

I can't believe no one has said turkey yet. If there's anything that can make a person fanatical about hunting, it's spring gobblers.

Not sure that's my answer, but if it's not, it's a close second to whitetails.

Steve

oh I want to try hog hunting one day...no hogs here in Alberta. Several goose hunters around here. My whitetail last year was my first big deer. He scored 173 and was 23 inches wide. I scouted and patterned him for two weeks before opening day. On opening day, I sat patiently and soon enough he stepped out. I am so proud of him and call it one of my most successful hunts! Love whitetail!

When I finally move out of Illinois I will go to a place with a good Pronghorn population.

Ernie

I just like hunting for a place to crap.....

this is a good place for dat

deer, just any deer, and dove.

There are sightings of wild pigs around the Rocky Mountain House area. Give it a few years, and there will be more. I'm still on my Muley kick, but want to get after a big whitey.

R.

Sheep or Mountain Goats...if only to spend time in their homes....

Deer mostly followed by whatever else I can draw a tag for, usually a fall bear hunt and then coyotes filling in the winter months.
Fishing & turkeys take up the slack too.

Bobwhite quail.

Dink

I guess I hunt whitetail mostly but that's prob due to geography. MI's results for bear tags comes out Monday and I have a good chance so this year I'm obsesed with bears. Been about 15 years since I got my last one (Freshman in HS)

I used to be pretty hard core about ducks - that's waned.

I'd REALLY love to get a good muley.

The deadline for our hunting draws was yesterday. I applied for Mule buck, and bull moose. Whitetail buck and bull elk are general tags. I can't wait for opening day! I really want you all to see my whitetail but it's a large photo and the only way to view it would be facebook. I could post the link?

Upland birds.

Shelly07;
Welcome to the 'Fire from the south Okanagan.

While I used to have what I came to realize was an almost unhealthy obsession with mule deer, I'd have to say that it's mellowed somewhat with age.

Mostly I just like to see our girls get out into the mountains with me anymore. If they can bring home something for the freezer, then it's just gravy on the day.

On the photo thing, if you put your whitetail photo onto a host site like photobucket, the software here on the 'Fire seems to have an automatic resizing component to it nowadays.

Again, welcome to the 'Fire.

Regards,
Dwayne

big racks,uh, i mean horns,uh, i mean antlers, on dear, uh, i mean deer-but damn i want a doll, uh, i mean a dall. (grin)

I have not hunted for much....yet. But I love calling in coyotes right now.

I think when I when turn 18 my obsession with calling in yotes will grow stronger and my desire to hunt mulies and whitetails when take effect.

hunting in general...enjoy the hunt and companionship with friends and family......someday you will understand.........

This is my 2010 whitetail. scored 173-23 inches wide. I am in love with him
I entered this deer into a Canada wide contest called Miss Huntfest 2011. It's affiliated through Wild TV and so far I am WINNING!! Final voting poll is in early July. I know it's not HUGE, but I am so proud of this buck. I patterned him for 2 weeks and my season ended on opening day when I got him. He is very old, he was grey compared to the other deer and only 1 tooth left.

Africa, always Africa.

An African hunt would be a dream!

Dngerous game, wherever it is found. Africa of course (See Avatar and website for more) but Alaskan Brwon bears as well. Adds to the hunt when they can turn the tables on you and argue who really IS at the top of the food chain today.

Love varmint blasting as well, heading out to vaporize some rockchucks in the AM.

Ruffed grouse/timberdoodle hunting, especially when combined with a little stream fishing for brookies, or whatever. Makes for a good day.

I dream of an african hunt, and also a book typical whitetail, but both of them are pretty far fetched. For my means I love busting teal, calling all varnmits, and dove. I like the socializing most of all.

Anything that comes off my land.

Are you gonna stick around after the voting for miss huntfest is over?

SQUIRRELS !!!!

For my enjoyment afield nothing else compares. I do like upland birds too.

damn ol' coyotes

A good ole Alberta cast n blast in the Rockies for trout and grouse or November mulies and ducks on the prairie.
Or maybe a Foothills elk camp in Oct, Moose in the Boreal, Wolves in November..........it's all good.

Looking over the next hill or around the next bend.

I'd have to say my hunting obsession is pronghorn. Because I've yet to be drawn and don't expect to for another 5 years or so. Can't shoot 'em yet, but I've been studying about them and even watching herd movements where I want to hunt. I'd call that obsessed. When you scout an animal you can't hunt.

Waterfowl.

BULL ELK TO A FAULT

Shelly: Great buck! Congrats!

Deepwoods Adirondack Whitetail.

Whitetais and predators here in Arkansas..hogs too..just haven't gone yet

I just love hunting; favorites are waterfowl, whitetail, rabbit, and turkey (turkey is the most challenging for me, rabbit the most social/fun).

Hogs and anything African. I'm scratching the African itch in 32 days.....


maddog

you suck...

Whitetail bucks, used to chase does all the time(even out of season) but the wife didn't like that and I had to give it up.

Spring Turkey, certified idiot about it.

Varmints ( PD's and groundhogs ) & predators ( bobcats & coyotes ).

Wild Turkey hunting and the drinking kind is a close second.

I can't seem to get enough of pronhorns and the wide open spaces they call home.

Big woods whitetails in the snow..

ME too. Pass on just about anything to hunt squirrels with a pair of Mountain Feists.
Pete

Mule Deer and Gemsbok...

I have always been a meat hunter. When the freezer is packed, I kinda lose interest in killing things.

elk, deer, antelope, prairie dogs, predators in that order

Whitetail deer, now.

Bobwhite quail was my passion in the 60's-70's. I had dogs, took vacation, and would hunt every day right in this area.

Pheasant hunting was 400mi away. My Dad and I only missed one year in a 21yr span, hunting pheasants together. The missed year was due sickness in the family.

Life is good.

Been lucky enough to have hunted all around the world, but spring gobblers still makes my heart pound out of my chest!

Mike

sorry for this answer, but its hunting. Doesn't matter to me what it is.

Pheasants, but it boils down to watching pointing dogs hunt. Between wild birds and preserves we can hunt 6-7 months of the year and work dogs the rest of the time. Even practicing is a lot like the real thing.

I am the same as Sam... I've always been a "trophy meat hunter". Kill it clean... dress it fast and cool it ASAP. I've had some health problems so waiting for the perfect front shoulder bang flop shot on deer has become something of an obsession... Been in a friendly competition with an older friend of mine who is also going out of his way to shoot deer in ways that they don't get over the next ridge and then need to be dragged uphill...

We have agreed that the "perfect" shot would be where a deer rolls all the way down hill and lands in the back of a truck.... while that goal is mostly tongue in cheek, we both carry cameras just in case....

In truth this year I have been looking forward more to squirrel hunting than deer season. I just picked up a new target barreled 10/22 and have a Marvel .22 conversion unit on order for my 1911s.

My poor old English Setter might never forgive me if I brought home a feist squirrel dog pup but my days of covering enough ground to grouse hunt appear to be over.... Gracie turns 9 in July so maybe she has mellowed enough to accept not being the total center of attention...

On second thought it might be better to wait another year... I'd hate to discover she had killed and buried the competition...

Squirrels in northern hardwoods.

I'd say he's plumb HUGE !!

So interesting!! Wow I have got to try gobblers...I just don't get it, yet that's only because I've never tried it. So many gobbler hunters tell me it's such a thrill. Thank you all so much for sharing your obsessions and kind words. And I did laugh out loud many times while reading them all. So jealous to those of you who are in the USA hunting. Some amazing hunting there, I can only dream of taking a hunting trip down south one day.
I also am a trophy meat hunter. What I shoot, I eat. I believe I can have the best of both worlds, a trophy set of antlers and a full freezer!
I can't wait to hear more from you all. Really enjoying this forum!!

So interesting!! Wow I have got to try gobblers...I just don't get it, yet that's only because I've never tried it. So many gobbler hunters tell me it's such a thrill. Thank you all so much for sharing your obsessions and kind words. And I did laugh out loud many times while reading them all. So jealous to those of you who are in the USA hunting. Some amazing hunting there, I can only dream of taking a hunting trip down south one day.
I also am a trophy meat hunter. What I shoot, I eat. I believe I can have the best of both worlds, a trophy set of antlers and a full freezer!
I can't wait to hear more from you all. Really enjoying this forum!!

the things that i hunt the most these days are squirrels and coyotes, and i'd guess that they both are symptomatic of the obsession to wander with a rifle in my hand...

i am (or feel) completely at home in the barrenest of places if i am allowed to wander with a rifle, and the potential of using it on game...

squirrels tend to increase the number of shots taken...coyotes allow me to wander more open country, and occasionally stretch my shots out...

my biggest hunting dream is a moose hunting trip with my son... ...

Mule deer, whitetail, and elk...

..and for birds,the King......ruffed grouse here in New England,where they hold PhD's in evasion.

Woodchuck and yotes for varmints....yotes are slippery..

I am in a lather to kill a Cape Buffalo and a Kudu.

You NEED to do both Bob.....lots of hunts available where you can...

You will need to re-arrange priorities on your return though....

Elk hunting is my top and mule deer/whitetail are a tie for second.

Mule Deer, after that I would love to put my tag on my second Dall sheep.

Thank you!!!

Shelly07,

I want to kill a good mule deer, maybe in Alberta!.

jim

Split tail

HunterJim,

Alberta is great for mule deer. They are five minutes from my house. I saw one eating when I drove hom earlier tonight, gorgeous velvet. I told him "Come bow season, I WILL FIND YOU!"

Shelly07

Jeeze,
An attractive gal in the heart of big buck country on a forum full of deer hunters..
Darling, the world is yours!

Haha! thanks Salmonella. Here is cool trail cam pic from last fall. Two very healthy bull moose. [img:center][/img]

like Sam I mainly hunt to fill the freezer, but I do really enjoy the actual hunt and stalk, not the killing as much as when I was younger, just another chore that needs done to fill the freezer.


but if there's one thing that turns my crank, it's hunting high country. don't really know that shootin sheep is that big a deal for me anymore, but they give me a hell of an excuse to be in places like these. life somehow seems better there.

Great question Shelly, got me to really thinking. I grew up hunting whitetails in the UP of Michigan. Deer camp is what I lived for from sixth grade on up into my fifties. Then I moved to Alaska and have hunted caribou in the Colville River area and grizzly/black bear in the Denali Highway area. Each and every time I hunt it is a fantastic time. Seems it doesn't matter so much what I am hunting but the fact that I'm out in the wilderness, usually with my son, and just truly enjoy being there.

arctic- I love that! I think our obsessions are so much more then scoring a beautiful animal. It's time spent with a loved one, appreciation for nature, learning more about ourselves, self challenge, and making unforgettable memories!

Mule deer are my passion. Any type of Bighorn is my dream. I never thought I"d say it, but I've kind of gotten the Africa bug lately.

Green-eyed blondes

OH , you meant animals ?
Of course I would love to shoot a monster whitetail, but for true hunting FUN , my favs are

Spring turkey and Fall squirrels

Bobwhites ... not many here in Wisc but I loved hunting them when I lived down south

Coues, 'nuff said.

rabbits, over dogs or jump shooting

I read more about pheasants, keep a German Shorthair for pheasants, have my dedicated pheasant gear, and try to make the 5-6 hour drive for wild pheasants a few times a year. Like JOG said above, its not even about killing the birds, its about watching the dog work, seeing it all come together that I like.

Didn't get much done the last two years, but coyote calling is a lot of fun when the conditions are working. Its not hard to get permission on properties that wouldn't otherwise be available.

I deer and elk hunt, but frankly, could take it or leave it. I do have a 26" inside spready whitetail that I am mighty fond of, but by no means am I a trophy hunter, he just happened to be the first deer to walk by that year.

I've gone through different stages with Elk and Coues dominating my prime....

Anymore it's on an elk herd, bulls scream'n, cows chirp'n, the chill and the smells... with a youth or new hunter in tow, trying to fill their tag... the excitement in their eyes and whispered voices is what I hunt for... the promise of 'again next year' is what I look forward to.

Kent

It's a tossup, elk or BT deer

Digger-LOL!!!
Cheesy- That is so neat! I HAVE to see that deer!!
I am so sorry if I sound clueless, but what are you referring to when you say Coues? Thanks for sharing everyone, I love this!

Coues is a very small subspecies of the whitetailed deer, sometimes under 100 lbs live weight. They live in the Southern Deserts, mostly west. Cute little buggers.

fun stories.......And being able to tell them.

...ruffed grouse

Mule deer. Followed by pheasant. Or perhaps the other way around.

Then there's fly fishing for steelhead... Oh sorry, back to hunting.

Elk hunting.

I have elk fever the worst, but I dont get to hunt them every year. Pheasants are my passion...except for 10 days of whitetail hunting.

Any legal game I get the opportunity to hunt.

My hunting obsession is trapping predators.

Upland birds over good (and favorite) dog with lots of shooting.

Preparing, cooking and eating the pheasants, quail, chukars, grouse or doves make it all the more enjoyable! Esp with family.

Big game? Sheep? Elk? Pronghorns? Mulies? Whitetails?

I can imagine a fellow could "obcess" over ANY or ALL of those species and have a helluva GOOD LIFETIME enjoying hunting and eating such great gaminals!

Relics from Civil War, Rev War, and Colonial period....and deer and hog

I like to look around when carrying a rifle. I go hunting about once a week or more often when the weather is good. Today it was as good as it gets if you like summer.

I went up thru some fields and all I saw was some turkeys way off through the binocs. No chucks around it seems. If a coyote showed I had the 243. Its loaded up with 70 gr Match Kings these days.

Then I took a walk up a woods road with the .17 HMR. Its a new toy.

I like to look at the scenery.

I used to live for bowhunting whitetail deer, then had a concurrent obsession with turkey hunting. While I still enjoy those things what really motivates me now is big antlers, specifically elk and mule deer. I don't live in that country so I have to wait a year at a time to scratch that itch. I haven't yet taken a big elk or mule deer but that day is coming.

I'd have to say probably dall sheep would be my favorite followed closely by Alaska-Yukon moose. A hunt for big brown bear on the Ak Peninsula is right up there too. I guess you can say just about any big game animal would be my favorite and like many, Africa would be a dream come true.

Right now my big obsession is any kind of hunting where I can carry my daughter and we can see animals. Killing something is a bonus. At age 6, she is still at that stage where there is something new about every hunt and she is always bringing up things she remembers, like watching two coons fight over a corn pile or sneaking up close to a distracted armadillo.

Don't get me wrong, I love hunting whitetails in the rut, but the day she and I shot this coyote at close range was better. She was looking at his tail in my garage just yesterday.



Aside from that, any time my father or my brother and I can meet up at the camp and skin something out, it is a great time. I guess I just like any kind of hunting with folks I'm fond of......

AGREE that Africa would be a dream! Anywhere south of Canada would be amazing! And yes Alaska...the most incredible hunting there I am sure. Thank you all so much for sharing your obsessions. I find I can almost relate to most of them...even if we hunt different animals!