Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What Kind of Hunter are you?

I'm sure many hunt different types of game, but what do you see yourself as? Growing up in Michigan, I've always considered myself a "North Woods" hunter. By that, I mean whitetail, black bear, moose. Other types (not all are listed) can be Western Plains, Mountain, Alaskan Dangerous Game, Varmint, African, etc.

Until I started hitting Internet forums, I really did not have an idea of there being a distinction. I'm from Ohio, and I realized after a time hunting in Indiana that "Buckeyes" were not welcome. We had a reputation for random slaughter, poaching, road hunting and so on. I caught the cue and moved my hunting out of SE Indiana. I ended up doing most of my hunting in Kentucky for the past 30 years, and I can't say as I resemble the stereotyped KY hunter either. Folks in Ohio and Indiana think we're a bunch wild-shooting booger-eating morons. The former comes from the distinction that, up until a very few years ago, Kentucky was the only state in the area that allowed centerfire rifles for deer season. That's pretty much why I went to KY-- they allowed Sunday hunting and allowed me to hunt deer with a 30-06.

If you have to classify me in any way meaningfully, you'd probably pick on the fact that I've done 99% of my hunting in the Ohio Valley, for the past 20 years, exclusively in the northern Trans-Bluegrass, between the Licking and Ohio. Next, you would probably zero in on my propensity for choosing sitting over walking. Everyone in our camp hunts out of a stand or blind. I still don't know if that qualifies as a "kind." If there's any set designation for me, I don't know it.

When I started writing, "The Deer Doctor" and "The Deer Professor" were already taken. I finally settled on "The Cervid Serial Killer." To quote my weblog:

I'm an OLD hunter. I'm still in pretty good shape at 71 but my 2 long time partners, 75 and 74, are about to the end. Over the years I've got truck loads of deer, a bunch of elk, a couple antelope and my moose (1 bull in a lifetime in Idaho) but I still haven't got my wolf.

I'm a hunter who is constantly learning more and more, and appreciating more and more.

Mostly I hunt mule deer and upland birds. Mostly here in Washington. Have made several trips to Wyoming over the past 20 years and I appreciate the wonderful hunting opportunities there.

Seems like even in my 60's, I'm always learning something new about game, habitat, and all that. Have been doing more "hunting" with my camera in recent years too. The season never ends, no tags are required, and the pack-out is a LOT easier.

Guy

Frustrated. I see every year the Idaho Department of Money (Fish and Game) pigeon holing hunters into smaller and smaller areas, time slots, draw hunts and pick your weapon type of mentality. Sometimes I feel lucky that I'm as old as I am and got to enjoy as much hunting as I did before they 'fixed it'.

MY thoughts also. SUCCESSFUL AND OLD. Not in the 70's yet.

My good friend and neighbor, O.T. was telling me how it used to be in the old days around here. He'd leave the house and start hunting in a particular direction and wouldn't stop until nightfall. His father had been the same way only moreso. It was nothing for them walk 12-15 miles going after rabbit grouse, quail-- whatever. They'd get over to the other end of the county and look for an extended family member to drive them home or sleep in a barn and go back the next day. He never worried about property lines; he was related to nearly every landowner in some way or another, and nobody cared besides. O.T. died 5 years go.

when i was a youth that`s how it was hunt when and where ever you wanted to hunt because i lived in the country,we took our squirrel rifles on the bus to school and left them at the principals office tell school was out and then walked home thru the country huntin squirrels and maybe a grouse,next day principal wanted to know how hunting went . i was asked once if i protested the Viet Nam war ever in school i said nope to busy working,fishing,hunting and sneakin a few beers with some country friends. my son was lucky i knew all the neighbors all were either relatives or friends so son grew up just enjoying life as a youth as i did except schools did not allow guns in no more dang liberals !

Big game hunter, preferably on a big tract of land where I can get away from others not in my party.

I am a sheep hunter, firstly. I hunt the rest of the species here also( elk, moose, goat, deer species) most of the seasons run concurrently...so I concentrate on Bighorns. Wearing out saddle and bootleather. Not really interested in hunting valley bottoms .After sheep, mule deer, goats and elk in that order, not much interested in Whitetailed deer hunting.

Subsistence. Axis deer, feral goats n pigs.

Smoke hit it for me. I like space even if its whitetail back east, elk out west, bears up north - about anything. I like space and options.

That said, I break my year into several parts. In October, I chase elk in CO/WY. Come November I start chasing whitetail in TN and PA, with a couple days of black bears thrown in. In spring, I chase turkeys in TN/PA. Suffice to say, I consider myself an elk/deer/bear/turkey hunter. If forced to choose, I'd likely give up everything else to chase elk.......

I guess I am an opportunity hunter, the more opportunities the better. I just like being in wide open spaces and the mountains. I don't care much for being in the thick woods or dense brush. Predator hunting in the winter is probably my favorite now, lots of solitude and good tracking.


mike r

My family are efficient meat hunters, processors & consumers !

Fish, small game, upland birds, whitetail deer, bear (list used to include moose, but not since the greatly reduced tag numbers) are our major source of protein.

I’m a western hunter who doesn’t subscribe to the conventional way of thinking. These days most people are under the impression that to find a big mule deer, elk, or antelope that you need to be as far from the road as you can be. Big critters don’t wear pedometers. They get in where they fit in. I position myself between the guys cruising the roads, and the guys who have packed way back into the head of every drainage. Most times it’s only about a half hour walk in the dark to get to my spot in the morning. I’ve found and hunted some incredible trophies using this strategy. And I’m not sleeping on a frozen mountain side, eating mountain house out of a pouch. I stay in my camper, eat a good breakfast. And get a good dinner and a shower every night.

You sir, have got it figured out.

Guy

I am a... coastal marsh duck hunter primarily. And occasional food plot sitter. Lol. But i am getting bored with the same old stuff year after year and would like to start going after deer and elk out west, where u actually have to hunt.

Antlers. Doesn't matter if its a nice fork horn or a big bull elk, when I'm hunting and see a good set of antlers my heart skips a beat.
I've sat in a tree stand once and it almost drove me crazy. Been in a duck blind once too. Not my style. Being raised in the west, I like to pursue game, not have it wander into range.

Ditto

Yeah, spot and stock is the western way to hunt.
Actually, climbing, glassing the openings and climbing some more. I don't have the temperament to sit and wait in a blind or over a mineral lick etc.
I need to hunt mountains and keep moving.

I'm getting a little up there in age as well. I'm 76. What kind of hunter am I ? The kind that enjoys a quality experience. Locally here that means Blue Grouse when the early seasons open. It can also mean Mountain Quail. Where I hunt, I rarely see another hunter. Blue Grouse are very hard to find, for instance. One of my most productive areas is 5 miles in, and about 2400 ft. up. Then you kick the meadows going out. Nobody hunts there.
My big game hunting these days is limited to deer. But not just any deer. I insist on hunting the 4 yr. old class buck with trophy anthers. I am also addicted to hunting deserts. The desert I hunt is radically different than the classic high desert where the Rocky Mountain Mule Deer roam. If you can't cover ground, either on foot or with a 4WD, and read sign, you are wasting your time hunting there. 6600 sq. miles of land and 5-6000 deer. You really need to find them first. E

Welll...time was I would have been one "Type", still hunter. Sitting in a tree or blind STILL drives me to distraction, even after 53 years of hunting whitetails. As many have mentioned, "when I was younger", I should say that as well. Still hunting for a mile or two was no problem as I knew every landowner or was related to them. As I got older and we bought our far I had good, generous neighbors who let me hunt as most of them didn't. Killed a lot of deer and hogs up close and personal sneakin' up on them. Compared to out west a mile or two isn't far, you can see game that far away. In the Ozarks, it ain't like that. A mile or two through corn flakes is a long darn way.

When we lived in Wyoming it was hard to get away from the way I'd hunted for 30 years so I hunted the canyons and draws, going slow. It worked there as well as several mulies and a couple elk attest.

These days I can sit in my pop up blind for almost an hour. After that I'm headed back to the house. I've killed plenty of game and would just as soon work with an old rifle and obscure cartridge. Besides, I've dressed and butchered about all the big game I care to. I'd just as soon hunt skwerls.

Lol i hear that sharps, second half the season i cant sit more than a couple hours before i get bored and grab a shotgun with some buckshot and start trying to jump shoot something

AN EMPHATIC YES
Florida to Alaska, and Africa
Small game to moose. Feathered critters included.
Traditional archery, muzzleloader, shotguns and rifles
Stuntshooter to big bores.
Spot and stalk, stand, calling, opportunistic, jump shooting,decoys, etc.

world hunter Africa/Europe/Russia/Mongolia/Alaska and the lower 48 mostly MT. in the Bitterroot, and the Bob Marshalls have a place there way up on 8 mile road out of Florence there I saddle up and go way up in mts and take along 2 pack mules I am a meat hunter only

I was a real hunter.
I would hunt anything in season,anywhere and like the OP, do whats necessary to get there.
Fur, fin and feather from sunrise to sunset, then hunt what roamed the night too, then repeat.
Only had a 30-06, .22lr, 12ga and a .357 pistola.
Owned upland and waterfowl dogs at the same time.
Nothing was safe and I ate wild game + fish for lunch and dinner.
Now, I've become the hunter that I used to frown upon or even despise, a workaholic no time to hunt hunter, that owns more guns + gear than I could ever use.
I still take opening week of deer season off from work, but it's not like the old days where I could roam the woods a free man.
Now, Too many city people ruining the woods with their tiny houses and posted signs on every tree.
Too many lyme filled blood sucking ticks out there too.
I'm trying to make up for my misdeeds by showing the ropes to the younger generations and that's getting me back into the woods more now, but I'm not half the hunter I was.
SJC

Track and sign.

I mostly spot and stalk.
I sometimes shoot game with a scoped rifle are distances up to about 500 meters, but my favorite way to kill my game is up close with iron sights ---and many times with a flintlock rifle or a stock revolver.

I am a western hunter. Mountains, desert, plains and coast. Still hunting and spot and stock!

I used to like to walk the woods and prairie but had little success. Then an old hunter told me to quit reading those hunting magazines because they didn't apply to down here. We hunt wary white tail and hogs which are both almost impossible to sneak up on. Also the brush is almost too thick to walk in and every step is a snap crackle and pop of breaking twigs and crackling dry leaves. So nowdays I'm usually in my ground blind. However, sometimes I'll sit on a bucket more or less in the open being totally camo'ed close to a game trail where they cross. I've killed both hogs and deer like that.

Alpine hunter. I like timberline for elk (~12,000 ft around here), higher for sheep. Steep climbing seems to be the quickest way to separate from hunters and elk seem to know that. Also, I prefer hauling meat downhill when possible.

I'm just a hunter. Some days I'm a big game hunter, some a bird hunter. There's days I'm a waterfowl hunter and others I'm a fur hunter. I'm just a hunter.

If it runs from me I'll hunt it, and as someone said, never stop learning. In my 20's a wise mentor hunter told me to learn to enjoy what the locality offered where I lived. That way you don't feel like you have to travel somewhere distant to enjoy a hunt.

So in Southern California I learned to hunt halibut and lobster and sea bass underwater. While living in British Columbia I loved hunting alpine critters, still hunting migrating mulies in snowy forest, rattling whitetails, and slipping through coastal wet forest for blacktails. Everywhere I've lived I've called predators.

Calling animals has been a delight and I've called about 35 kinds not counting any waterfowl. As I age, calling critters to me has kept me hunting better, without as much physical effort. I am coming full circle to enjoying the hunts for deer, grouse and calling cats as my favorites.

One other quirk: not sure why but I tend to get close to critters. I bow hunted a lot in my 20's, especially when calling, and to this day tend to get close to game, even when I have a scoped centerfire rifle in hand. Have called or stalked foxes, coyotes, moose, elk, black bear, grizzly, caribou, bobcat, lynx, mule deer, whitetail, cougar... (and probably some stuff I don't know about) inside of ten yards, a good number of those within touching/powder burn distance.

Amen brother

As you might have guessed from my location I'm definitely a, as you put it, a "North Woods" hunter.

That is what I was trying to get across, but you stated it much more succinctly and efficiently.

I;m a newly retired hunter that goes after meat for the freezer and spends more time helping family members fill their tags than I do mine.
Elk and antelope mostly. Deer as opportunity allows, so long as it doesn't interfere with getting elk. No interest in Africa or exotics but wouldn't mind going after moose in AK.

Lousy, much of the time ...

That. I used to chase quail all over Texas, now I hunt deer, catch pigs, shoot pigs, sometimes shoot an Aoudad.

I mostly like to be out in the woods.

One that does not like to sit still. Also one that is not very good, but enjoys lugging my carcass and gear through the mountains.

I hunt everything I can get after. Still haven't drawn a moose yet. If it flies, crawls, walks or digs I hunt it.

I'm a meat hunter. If I can eat it I will hunt it.
That being said, there is nothing wrong with honing your skills on a PD town!
Given the chance I would shoot something for the hide as well. Leopard comes to mind. Not sure how zebra would taste, but I'd certainly have at least 1 meal of it.

Opportunity Hunter first, grocery Hunter second. Sometimes they coincide.

I like stalking of whitetail. We don't have many large animals to hunt. Democrats are not in season.......YET. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

I started going blacktail deer hunting with dad and grandpa when I was 3. I have a photo of mom and I with her big blacktail buck when I was three. They taught me how to think like a blacktail buck, and what the big, smart ones do to survive. I didn't believe all the old wives tales about how they'd sneak by a hunter on their knees, or how they'd let you stand on top of them for 10 minutes before exploding from under your feet. I believe it now. They are an amazing animal to hunt, incredibly smart, which oddly, makes them somewhat predictable to their own detriment. I''ve had good success with them so far, knock on wood.

Also have a passion for big black bears. Don't like to shoot them much anymore out of my immense respect for them but I hunt them and enjoy being in their woods.

i am a "still hunter" . hunt mainly whitetail. like Roy stated about Blacktail i have had them lay down behind a log and let you walk by or even sit on it before sneaking down my back trail. i usually cover 1/4 mile in an hour when hunting white tail. Elk i hunt by finding FRESH sign then following up on the run.used to run that is. slower now but still much faster then white tail.
bear i hunt just to watch anymore. they are better entertainment then any tv show. it would have to be a 450+ for me to want to shoot another one.

Read this awhile ago. My developed is still currently stuck between Limiting-Out and Trophy but hope to evolve someday; however, unless "Method" can be applied to using iron sights, I'll probably have to jump it to Sportsman.

The five stages of hunter development are:

Shooting Stage.
Limiting-Out Stage.
Trophy Stage.
Method Stage.
Sportsman Stage.

I consider myself a big woods hunter. And that's because the region in PA I have always preferred to hunt is called the Big Woods Region. It's not the north woods which to me is the Boreal forest although I've certainly done some hunting in the north woods and that holds a special place in my heart. But the hardwood ridges and the Hemlock valleys of the big woods after deer and bear are where I'm most at home.

Im a still hunter and an ambusher. In the blood, i guess.

Some days I'm a stand hunter in a heated blind sharing cocoa and snacks with his little girls...some days I'm a "I'll see you in a couple of days, take a pack and rifle to the hills" hunter....some days I'm a share a duck blind and hoot and holler and have a good time hunter.

Some days I'm a solo run and gun turkey hunter

Eastern Woodlands. I don't have much interest in long range hunting or African Plains type hunting. I like the idea of hunting where my ancestors hunted, and for the same game animals.

Great question! I like to think of myself as a modern day mountain man, but I’’m surely kidding myself.
Having said that heaven to me is a day in any mountain range (mostly Arizona) with a lite pack, binos and a rifle I have spent weeks and maybe years carrying.
This season I will be carrying a Begara 14 Hunter 6.5 Creedmoor. I hope my Mod 70, 270 will forgive me!

Zebra is fantastic!

I'm a meat hunter, well was. Don't hunt much anymore other than birds. I see a legal animal that is around 200yds or less from me I took the shot then and packed it home, cut it up and put it in the freezer. I will not risk loosing an animal by taking a long shot. Long shot's build your ego and lessen you chance of meat in the freezer! I'm getting long in the tooth now, 74yrs, and live alone on social security and really don't need to hunt to put away meat. Also I worry about getting an animal down and then getting it out. Last elk season for me was last year as I realized if I shot one where I was into, I wouldn't be able to get it out without loosing a lot of it. Took a nice long walk and went home, called it a season! Didn't even apply for tags this year but will bird hunt, got dog's to keep me company! Won't get rid of my guns, love them but I finally broke down and bought a decent boat to fish out of. Oh yea, haven't hunted deer for quite a number of years.

Mr Fisher, my situation is very similar to yours. Meat hunter, 70’s, SS, no family close, my wife won’t help get a big game animal out of the woods.
We moved here to be close to my Son and family and then he got a job overseas, so for the same reasons I won’t put in for tags this year.
I have discovered turkey hunting, it is a lot of fun, much easier to get out of the woods. Still bird hunt and fly fish. But without help, when you get this age It’s time to slow down and enjoy the memories.

To all the younger hunters, slow down and enjoy the hunt, friends and family. Make your memories, don’t worry so much about the trophy, more about the experience. Keep shooting and adapt the best you can.

I grew up hunting mule deer and elk in CO. So I'm a western/mountain hunter. I like it open so I can see. Hunting thick woodlots makes me a little claustrophobic and make me feel penned in.

only thing I've hunted the last few yrs has been hogs, the last deer I got was about 4 yrs ago. pretty much just fish offshore now.

I suppose an Oregon self taught hunter would describe me. My dad didn't hunt until I was older and kept after him. I learned from wandering the woods, buddies, their dads an uncle and a couple of cousins.

We were loggers and lived in many ares in the state, especially NE Oregon and the Willamette Valley. moving to Portland when dad got older. It really limited my available hunting as i no longer had acces to private land.

I have hunted sage rats, squirrels, marmots, doves, pheasants, chukars, grouse, ducks geese, crows, turkey, jackrabbits, hares, coyotes and cougars (still haven't killed one by myself). Where my preference lies is in big game though. I have been able to take Blacktails, Columbian whitetail, Mule deer, Whitetail, Elk, Antelope and Bighorn Sheep all fhere in Oregon. I did use a guide ( I was 71) for my once in a lifetime sheep but the others were all taken unguided on public land.

I mostly use spot and stalk but I sit a lot on opening days and in dry weather now. I am surprised at how successful I am with the sitting. I could never do much of that until a couple of years ago.

I will be 73 this year and have spent a couple of rough years with groin and knee injuries and then got my left hip replaced a week ago. The right hip will be replaced shortly. I didn't hunt elk last year as I didn't think I could take care of one alone.
I did manager a deer with a little help from my hunting pardner. I have a couple of other isses related to Agent Orange exposeure also.

This year I put in for a doe hunt but didn't draw. Likely just as well. I do expect to be able to hunt big game again next year. Am starting rehab already.

Thinking about it a little more I suppose I am a Sitting Bull kind of hunter.

Over the years, I'd say about the same, other than I never really hunted bear. I've killed a fair number of nuisance bears though. Paul and I inhabited the same old haunts never knowing each other. Now I live in Manitoba and my health is keeping me out of the field mostly, but I have enjoyed my hunting and fishing life in the extreme.

I would generally just call myself a "big game hunter," as I like hunting mammals over birds. I definitely enjoy hunts where I can shoot multiple animals over a single animal. I think it stems from when I started hunting, I did not come from a family that hunted and did not have a lot of opportunities to hunt growing up (usually a long weekend, once or twice a year, typically without successfully finding anything to shoot). I know many here shot multiple deer a year growing up and still continue to do so; I didn't shoot my first deer until I was 19 after having been a "hunter" for 5 years. My hunting opportunities are still pretty limited now due to work and other obligations, so when I get time to go hunting, I like to maximize the amount of animals I can shoot (Africa is great for this). I enjoy processing and eating the animals I hunt, but it's not my primary reason for hunting and my home office shows a pretty strong bias for taxidermy.

Road.

at 74 and somewhat damaged by a lifetime of rheumatoid arthritis, I'm one to drive my 4X4 to within 1/4 mile of a hunt area, walk with my rifle and home made shooting sticks to a spot that has served me well over the last ten years. I sit on the ground or a chair my hunting buddies set up for me and wait for the elk to come to a pond for water.....So far my elk numbers six and five of them cows. I'm lucky that the ranch forman brings out a tractor with a front end loader for field dressing and hauling the carcass to the ranch shed for hanging and boning out.

I started hunting when I was 11 and 58 years later, I'm still at it. Back then, we mostly hunted quail, rabbits or squirrels and seldom even saw a deer. I got serious about hunting deer in my 20's and never tried hunting elk until my early 50's and really wish I had started earlier. At 69 I can no longer climb mountains in CO where we hunted for 10+ years so now, I hunt deer, hogs and occasionally turkey. While I can't claim to be exclusively a meat hunter, although I have filled my freezer several times over with venison from hunts in OK, TX and SD. I still prefer to stop and stalk but the older I get, still hunting is becoming more attractive.

Travis,

Years ago heard this story:

Fred Bear did a presentation in some town in the Midwest. Afterward a young reporter for the local paper interviewed him, and asked: "Mr. Bear, you hunted all around the world, taking game from grizzly bears to elephants with bow and arrow. What's your absolute favorite kind of hunting?"

By then Fred was on oxygen, so sucked a little before he answered. "Well, kid, road hunting's been really good to me!"

Mostly a still hunter. Blacktailed deer mostly, elk occasionally. Centerfire rifle, handgun, muzzleloader ... depends on the day, depends on the cover. A small amount of predator calling. Some colony varmint shooting but not as much in recent years.

Tom

I used to hunt whitetails with a passion, but after my FIL passed and I had to act as the game warden of my Wife's family land, I pretty much lost interest.

I buy my allotment of buck and antlerless tags so that I can shoot several deer with different rifles, different cartridges, and different bullets, but it is mechanical, not passionate.

Now I prefer to hunt fox squirrels with a couple different 17HM2 rifles. The long season, no other hunters, and a liberal bag limit makes for a more casual and unhurried day afield.

I hunt mammals with four legs. I love getting up close. I use a rifle but behave like a bowhunter.

My favorite is desert sheep. Next on my list is big white sheep preferably within 150 yards.

I’m the kind of hunter that has to work 5 days a week but would rather hunt 6 days a week. Anybody need a professional hunter? I’ll take minimum wage.

I’ve been having a real crappy day and the first half of your post made me realize that my best days are behind me. But hey, hunting squirrels by myself in the woods all day is something I could get used to.

Sorry the in-laws killed your passion. As my soul sucking boss likes to say, “you’ll have that”.

I mostly hunt elk still...And if not elk, then birds...

Brother Keith,

We are definitely blessed with an abundance of outdoor activities !

Strange that in an entire catchment area of roughly only 7000 people, we never did cross paths in the last 14 years.

Very glad you enjoyed your time here, & still left a little for us.

Nothing blessed me more than mentoring our Son & my wife's enthusiasm for hunting.

Deb only sat her hunter safety course, to help Doug get his hunter apprentice licence, when he was 12.

Was in a double tree stand, a day apart, with both of them when they harvested their first deer (both young bucks).





Fall of 2010, out towards the Ski hill !

Enjoy your fond memories, of time well spent !

I'm one of those low-life "meat hunters", tho it gets expensive and time consuming at times.... almost on par with "trophy hunting".

I'm not "evolved" per the "steps" or "hierarchy " of hunters. "Trophy" hunters being at the top of course, according to this elitist BS.

I've been lucky enough to kill whitetail and mule deer, an elk, one wolf, dozens of caribou, 20 something moose, several black bears and Dall sheep and one goat.

I'd kinda like to whack a pronghorn some day...