Is harder better?

[Europe]

Maybe harder isnt necessarily better, just different with unique aspects.

I agree. As stated in my first post on this thread---if you horseback in for two days, hike for one day and spike camp that night, but you are able to harvest your animal at first legal light the next morning---was that a hard hunt or easy hunt. I guess the actual hunt or kill was fairly easy, but getting there ( and back ) was difficult or at the very least time consuming. If I was asked upon return if it was hard or easy, I would most likely respond "enjoyable", "memorable", 'the scenery, hunt, ride, hike, and results were wonderful. and I would have said all that before we had any of harvest for dinner--after dinner--add "delicious"

The above answer is in response to what I believe the OP was asking, however if we were each giving our answer to Addicting or Mr. Cushman, our answer might be different. Actually I am sure it would be different.

Also, how hard the hunt was could be determined by the type of weaponry used. On average, I found a rifle makes the hunt a bit easier than using a muzzleloader, and/or a bow. In fact I gave both ( muzzleloading and bow hunting) up very early on.

However, MTTW was typing at the same time I was, and if I understand his post correctly, he disagrees with me in reference to Bow hunting being harder. Maybe it was only harder for me

 

[Stay Sharp]

I only bow hunt after 4 1/2 decades of hunting. The firearms sit home. In the circles I travel, most are bowhunters. Many are primitive trad only and dont use a compound. It does not make us more bad azz or better than others since this is a personal journey so its not compared to others.

 

[Gellar]

D

There is something to this observation. I've noticed the same for years. It as if you are not a real hunter unless you packed 9 miles in and carried your elk out on your back. I don't get that, but it's true.

it’s not worth putting it on the ‘gram unless you hike 9 miles up hill both ways and had a 150lb pack on the way out

 

[JLS]

Shooting animals close to the road doesn't make for a good story and half the fun is reliving the story everytime you tell it to someone new!

I don’t necessarily agree with the this.

 

[Dakotakid]

I will hunt elk on the beaches, in the mountains and on the plains. I will shoot them near a road, or in the deepest coulee or on top of the mountains. I will hunt elk on public land, or on private land.

 

[rjthehunter]

I don’t necessarily agree with the this.

Okay, so... A story that goes like this, "I made a 12 hour road trip to Idaho to elk hunt for a week I planned on backpacking in about 6 miles but I saw one on the side of the road as I pulled into the trailhead so I got out and shot it" is better than an actual story with a storyline to it and ups and downs? Or is it reliving the hunt when you tell the other people that you don't agree with?

 

[JLS]

Okay, so... A story that goes like this, "I made a 12 hour road trip to Idaho to elk hunt for a week I planned on backpacking in about 6 miles but I saw one on the side of the road as I pulled into the trailhead so I got out and shot it" is better than an actual story with a storyline to it and ups and downs? Or is it reliving the hunt when you tell the other people that you don't agree with?

I disagree that a hunt has to be difficult in order to be a good story to share. One of my favorite memory recounts is a pack in hunt that was comically easy, and the next four days were spent snowed in while drinking whiskey and playing cribbage.

 

[Pagosa]

I like easier is better. I prefer to shoot elk/deer close to roads where I can drive too, or get pack stock into, or a game sled on snow. But elk hunting mostly requires hiking in several miles before daylight. My preference would be to shoot a good bull within an hour walk of the truck/utv and use a horse to pack out while drinking Coors on the way out. It works out sometimes like that. To each their own.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

There is something to this observation. I've noticed the same for years. It as if you are not a real hunter unless you packed 9 miles in and carried your elk out on your back. I don't get that, but it's true.

From the guy who chooses to use the hardest guns out there to maintain and shoot

I've killed 5 buck on private where I have 100% chance of getting a good buck in 1 evening, pack out is down with a tractor. I killed a buck this year that took days of scouting + 5 days of hunting, probably had 50-60 miles in by the end of the excursion, deer was by far my smallest I've shot, pack out sucked.

If time allowed I'd hunt that public land deer every year.

 

[Addicting]

This year my pack out was 3’ give or take a few inches. It was my most memorable elk trip yet. It’s not how hard it was but who it was with me that made it special.

 

[Jape]

When I tell someone about one of my hunts I find that they are most interested in its adventure quality. Some adventures are longer, harder, and exciting but just about every hunting story has adventure in it. The story below is a very "easy" hunt but beautiful nonetheless (note: not my story just read it).


This season is the 14th season I have been a professional guide or with a hunting organization. Whether I'm hunting for myself or guiding clients I am hunting for large mature animals to harvest...except this time, this week I let my client shoot a small immature buck.This time my client was a 72 year old man named Dick. Dick has hunted all over the country in his lifetime and harvested some truly remarkable animals, but this time was different. This was Dicks last deer hunt and possibly last hunt ever. His 5 day hunt was shorten to 3 days because his body just couldn't handle the mountains anymore, as we sat in the truck waiting for the defroster to clear the ice from the windshield he looked and me and said "Sam this may be my last day I ever hunt, let's have fun". I smiled.
Mid morning we saw a buck heading to bed and Dicks eyes lite up in a way that I have seen hundreds of times, guiding over the years. Once I got a good look at the deer I instantly knew this buck was too small and young and that in a couple years it could be a giant, that's what my eyes and mind saw. My soul however saw something completely different, my soul saw an old man sitting beside me doing what he loves one last time, a man that some day each of us will become as we long to experience the success of a hunt one last time. As the deer bedded down and Dick asked me what I thought I spoke from the soul and not from the mind..."let's see if we can get a shot".
Hours later I watched tears stream down Dicks face and turn to sobs as he touch a buck he had harvested, for the last time.

As we packed the buck out, my shoulders burning from the weight of the buck on my back I never turned around to check how the guys behind me where doing, I didn't want them to see the tears coming down my face. As I hiked with Dicks last buck on my back I silently prayed that God will always keep me humble as someday I too will have my last hunt, and secondly that when I am old and on my last hunt that some young whippersnapper guide will let me shoot a young buck just to have that feeling one more time.

Here's to you and your last buck Dick, a heck of a buck it is.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I find that the hardest hunts I have been on are generally my most memorable.
Having said that I think that anyone who intentionally makes a hunt harder just for the anyhow of it is an idiot and probably doesn’t hunt that hard in the first place.

I can only imagine the conversation JLS had with himself before he dropped into that Idaho hellhole on his elk hunt.
“Let’s go in without adequate water, just to make it a little harder.”

 

[noharleyyet]

I disagree that a hunt has to be difficult in order to be a good story to share. One of my favorite memory recounts is a pack in hunt that was comically easy, and the next four days were spent snowed in while drinking whiskey and playing cribbage.

That hunt could be a JLS Novella, an Oak Short Story, or a Ben Lamb Poem.

 

[The Hedgehog]

For those who don't highly appreciate loading a whole animal in truck with complete unadulterated satisfaction.... all I can say is you haven't packed enough of them out of hell holes on your back.

 

[JLS]

That hunt could be a JLS Novella, an Oak Short Story, or a Ben Lamb Poem.

Unfortunately, it took place in the times before digital cameras. I'll have to do some digging to find the photos.

It involved an 18 mile pack in, a 30 foot shot with the Model 70, a dead elk 15 minutes into opening day, a 10 minute horse pack to the meat pole, and a gallon and a half of Canadian Mist.

 

[JLS]

For those who don't highly appreciate loading a whole animal in truck with complete unadulterated satisfaction.... all I can say is you haven't packed enough of them out of hell holes on your back.

A buddy and I did a whirlwind cow elk hunt on a private ranch a number of years ago. I got corked on a Block Management deal, and the manager (who was a friend of mine) on a different ranch gave us permission for two days. With about 30 minutes of shooting light remaining on the second day, I was prouder than punch when I dropped a cow 200 yards above a two track. My buddy proceeded to one up me by following the herd and shooting one that died between the two tracks.

That's a fun hunt to recount as well, for reasons other than difficulty.

 

[noharleyyet]

This wasn't a particularly difficult hunt....but the circumstances and meeting Mr. Goodride sure made it a memorable one.

https://flic.kr/p/YwwQh6

 

[GrantK]

I think doing hard things is more rewarding for sure, however, I also think that is complicated:
I don't think most honest people are trying to make things harder than they need to be, they are doing what they think they need to do to be successful, the margin depends on the person but most are not extending themselves all that much farther than they think is necessary.

Gerald beat me to it by a second, I don't think doing things the hard way just for the sake of doing things the hard way is very common, almost nobody is intentionally packing a bull over a mountain if there is a road 200 yards away just to make it artificially harder, even if that is how you portray it on Instagram...

I also think what is "hard" is really variable person to person, or even really variable in one person's life as they gather more experience, what was once the hardest thing you have ever done will be eclipsed by a new "hardest thing ever" pretty regularly if you seek adventure and challenges... and therefore most people will keep upping the ante through their lifetime, while the level of perceived difficulty won't change much the amount of actual suffering or work to get to that feeling will increase... hence a lot of people going on increasingly difficult hunts or chasing bigger animals, they are just chasing the same reward, if you keep doing the same thing it gets less rewarding...

 

[slatebuilder]

Hunt when you can and where you can. Public, private, close, far, easy or hard, enjoy each trip as it could be your last.

 

[JLS]

One of my top three hunts of all time involved driving around in the stubblefields and scablands with my best friend, his dad, his hired man, and my middle daughter. During a strenuous glassing session that involved Doritos, I spotted four massive spikes and a 2x2 bull. My buddy chauffeured us around to a drop off point, and my daughter and I took a one mile stroll up the coulee to where I shot the monster 2x2 at 70 yards with the Model 70. We got the pickup within 300 yards away. Unfortunately, we ran out of Doritos.