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Arbitrary Hunting Goals

- elk
- deer
- moose
- caribou
- bison/muskox
- pronghorn
- sheep
- mountain goat
- bear
- mountain lion

Thoughts of chasing this one has had me up at night, as well, @SCliving Outdoors
I currently lack bison/muskox, moose, mtn lion.
I knew I was forgetting something, I also got a bison in Wyoming (which has been good to me). So I'm only lacking mtn lion for NA 10. Not sure I'll ever get one.
 
I don’t really care enough to set goals. I just try to do something more difficult than I’ve done before, which I guess is in a way goal setting.

But it’s not so much the goal as opposed to getting to hunt longer.

When I first started bow hunting back in the days, it was hard to kill a doe. Now it’s not so hard to a kill a small buck, but a big buck is still difficult.

If I didn’t have the “goal” of a big buck I’d be done hunting way too fast.

I also don’t care if I don’t end up getting anything because I waited and I loathe the phrase “don’t pass up on opening day what you’d be happy with on the last day”

Why would I care about the last day when it’s still the first day? Why would I shoot an animal on the first day I wouldn’t be happy with and then be done hunting when I still have the rest of the season to hunt?
 
My future goals are simple. Hunt my 10 year old lab upland game. Hunt for one more good mule deer. A good mule deer, not a small buck that needs to be left alone to spread his genes. This will be my final year to have applied for BH sheep. If it get ‘em, good ‘nuff! If not, good ‘nuff! My hunting career has had many facets. I’ve been fortunate to hunt many places. I’m OK with what my future hunting career offers.
To those that have dreams of adventure and hunting. Go for it! This ain’t no dress rehearsal. Enjoy! MTG
 
I loathe the phrase “don’t pass up on opening day what you’d be happy with on the last day”
Another one that gets me - "not my best, but"

If you dont like the animal enough to be excited about the harvest - without limitations - dont fill the tag. The stigma of "kill an deer/elk every year" is something I also dont get.
 
Because I am a glutton for punishment: solo archery mature bull elk, public land, done from start to finish by myself. Scout, call, kill, clean, pack out, process. No help from anyone. I want to do this once in my life while I am still healthy enough to do it. Almost did it last year, but could not find the bull after putting one arrow in him. Called it a season after that.

Afterwards, I will invest in llamas.
 
Because I am a glutton for punishment: solo archery mature bull elk, public land, done from start to finish by myself. Scout, call, kill, clean, pack out, process. No help from anyone. I want to do this once in my life while I am still healthy enough to do it. Almost did it last year, but could not find the bull after putting one arrow in him. Called it a season after that.

Afterwards, I will invest in llamas.
How far is the packout ;)?
 
When I was a kid and still thought my dad was an admirable human worth aspiring to I wanted to kill 1 deer for every year of my age because that is what he had done and I always liked how he would state it. I abandoned that goal shortly after moving west and realizing he is not an admirable human in the least.

I like your description of "arbitrary" because they were never really hard-set. The other goals I had while young and hunting in Ohio were:

Kill max number of deer for my zone (bag out). I think this is actually the only one I ever completed.

Kill one deer with each legal weapon in Ohio (Traditional/long bow, compound bow, crossbow, shotgun, handgun and handgun - straight walled wasn’t legal back then). Came up short with my longbow and handgun.

I’ve toyed with the idea of harvesting a mature whitetail buck in all US states they reside.
 
I think it would be cool to shoot a bull in each of the surround ranges within 1.5 hours of Bozeman. I’m probably close at this point minus the tobacco roots and bridgers. I also would like to reach my goal of 10 bulls in 10 years. I’m 8/8 at this point. With our 3rd kid coming, and my deer tag this year it’s going to be tough to keep the streak going.

After seeing GH’s collection of big elk I’m starting to realize shooting a bull is one thing, finding big ones every year is a whole different ball game.

Also would like to shoot one MD buck over 180 in my lifetime. Just a nice dark horned roman nose mountain buck I can look at on the wall and remember the good ol days..
 
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