throwing good app money after bad and repeat

[Khunter]

I learned a long time ago it would be better to have points and not need them, than to need them and not have them. I'd be buying points for the wife's dog if I thought I might need them some day.

LOL. I always say if they ever sell skunk preference points I am buying…just in case cuz ya never know…

 

[rogerthat]

Can’t thank you enough for the generous offer of support and help. Just so you know we are holding out for 210 typical or 250 non. I really want one that’s wide and heavy

That should be fairly easy. I have watched a lot of YouTube and follow some of the outfitters on social media. Bucks like that are all over out there

 

[Flynarrow]

Back in the early 60s I drew an Idaho archery goat permit on the first ever archery only hunt ever offered in Idaho.. There were 10 tags. I was the ONLY applicant. Yes...that was way before compounds made archery easy....and popular.....and before social media pumped OIL/trophy hunting. After that Idaho even had a couple of over the counter archery only goat areas. I hunted that too and never saw another hunter. Compounds certainly changed archery. Some of us still shoot with the same archery gear we did in the 60s....and it still works.

Fortunately I drew another Montana archery goat tag for the last time when I was 72 yo to hunt with with my trusty old stick bow. Was able to sit among goats at a natural mineral lick many days before the snow forced me to get serious. Never saw another hunter of any kind. Hope everyone has an opportunity to spend such time in such great country among these fantastic critters.

 

[TexanSam]

Lately, I've spent a lot of time researching the 25-40 year trends of most species across most the states. With the exception of elk, the trend is disturbing. Sheep, Shiras moose, mule deer, pronghorn (in all but NV), mountain goats, showing long-term trends (in most states) that scare the crap out of me. Not because of my need for a tag at this point in my life, but because I want those species to prosper long after I'm gone. That concerns me more than anything we argue about in the offseason.

There's a ton of work to do on the habitat conservation for all those species in all those states, even if I don't hunt them. I find myself in this interesting study of the human behaviors, including my own, as to why I/we seek or apply simple/inexpensive solutions to what are very complex habitat issues. I guess that effort to find the simplest solution is part of the human condition, even if it's as plain as day that the long-term future for hunting and wildlife is in the difficult/expensive work of habitat conservation and improvement; work that requires a decade or two to see the results.

I mean this out of pure curiosity, but wouldn't the best thing to do in this situation would be to still apply (or better yet buy points) so that it sends a little conservation money towards them while simultaneously showing game management agencies the interest that the public has in them?

I could just be naive here. I hardly apply for any "out-of-touch" species myself.