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.