Arbitrary Hunting Goals

[rmyoung1]

I tend to be strangely goal-oriented about things that don’t need goals attached. Hunting hasn’t escaped my neurotic tendency. For a while, I’ve had this desire to take an elk, a deer, and an antelope in each of the eight Interior Mountain West states (MT, WY, CO, NM, AZ, UT, ID, NV). I’m not too hung up on a male of each species, but bucks and bulls are cool, of course. The AZ antelope is gonna be hard with only 17 points currently. A guy can hope, though.

At 46 years old, I’m not really close. Only in MT have I tagged all three. NM has offered up elk/antelope. CO and AZ each an elk. WY an antelope. NV, UT and ID… nada.

Anyone else with some arbitrary hunting goals? Who has completed my IMW Slam?

 

[cgasner1]

I’m trying to get a bull in as many states as I can currently have or/id/mt/wy/co just need to draw some damn tags

 

[F250]

Nope. Just enjoy the outdoors, enjoy the different habitats, enjoy sharing hunts with friends and family, enjoy the meat each animal taken provides. For me… no goals and no tape measures. But that’s just me. Each hunter has the opportunity to find his own way of doing things.

 

[BuzzH]

Long time ago I set a goal to bag 50 elk in my life, I was probably 15-16 years old.

Blew past that quite a while ago and haven't set a goal since.

More fun to just roll the dice and see what happens. Take opportunities as they present themselves.

 

[glass eye]

Been trying to get all the North American waterfowl species diy
For several years I’ve been stalled on the King Eider and Pacific Eider.
The Black Duck is the only puddle duck I haven’t taken and I plan on going to the Northeast this fall for that.

 

[huntin24/7]

I’d like to take a respectable buck of the five species in NA. Currently, I only have whitetail and mule deer. I have 5 point for AZ coues built up, a good contact for Columbia blacktail in OR to hopefully hunt at some point and hoping for a multi species Alaska hunting fishing trip mainly focused on Sitka blacktail the year I retire.

 

[jrabq]

I tend to be strangely goal-oriented about things that don’t need goals attached. Hunting hasn’t escaped my neurotic tendency. For a while, I’ve had this desire to take an elk, a deer, and an antelope in each of the eight Interior Mountain West states (MT, WY, CO, NM, AZ, UT, ID, NV). I’m not too hung up on a male of each species, but bucks and bulls are cool, of course. The AZ antelope is gonna be hard with only 17 points currently. A guy can hope, though.

At 46 years old, I’m not really close. Only in MT have I tagged all three. NM has offered up elk/antelope. CO and AZ each an elk. WY an antelope. NV, UT and ID… nada.

Anyone else with some arbitrary hunting goals? Who has completed my IMW Slam?

I have a similar, but easier goal, just want to bag any big game species in the interior western states you listed. It's not something I set out to do a long time ago, just sort of stumbled into almost getting there. Of course after writing this (and a few other things) on my bucket list I've made almost no progress. I had hunted every state on your list but no success in UT and ID. I finally shot a cow elk in Utah in January, so now only Idaho to go. Missed a nice mule deer there about 20 years ago, so should have been done. Also passed up a small buck a couple of years ago.

Here's my success list;
AZ- elk, antelope, mule deer
CO- elk, antelope, moose, mule deer, whitetail
NV- elk, antelope
MT- moose, mountain goat, black bear
NM- elk, antelope, mule deer, oryx, barbary
UT- cow elk
WY- elk, antelope, moose, bighorn sheep

Also got a Dall sheep and caribou in Alaska.

My 2 other major unfulfilled goals are a decent mule deer with archery and a 300 class bulk elk with archery. I've blown chances at both of those after making them "official" goals, so I'm thinking maybe the list was actually a bad idea!

 

[popeyoung12]

done it all except complete my slam, so thats my main focus. passed many dall, which i now should not have. killed a desert, now in 17 draws for rocky this year. stone will be pricey. Mt. Goat as well.

 

[npaden]

My goal is to get out there and enjoy it. I've been super happy to be a part of some nice animals hitting the ground in a variety of states and hope to continue that.

A DIY mountain goat was really my only true "goal" or maybe more of a "wish" and I was super lucky to be able to do that.

Probably something that was never a "goal" was to see my son growing up to being a competent hunter. Being part of his success has been better than anything I've done on my own.

Everything from here on is gravy.

 

[OntarioHunter]

No, not really. Back in 1971 I set a goal to shoot an elk before the Army got me after Christmas. I did kill a dandy but that goal nearly cost me my life. When I go to Africa there's sometimes critters on "the list" but I will shoot whatever turns up and I can afford. Last trip was a "whatever" safari. Didn't shoot much but had a great vacation anyway. Because getting trophies back across the pond has become such a ripoff, I have changed my perspective on completing a list over there.

I think setting "goals" just puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on the hunter. Pressure is for buildong careers and other elements of "civilized" culture. Hunting is supposed to be about getting away from that crap.

 

[LuketheDog]

My goal is to fill tags and put meat in the freezer so my wife has a quantifiable way to see how effective my hunting for "cheap" wild game meat is, rather than just tooling around the West and coming home with empty coolers but great stories.

 

[noharleyyet]

Mine is simple...to hunt every year I can, here at home and in elk country, with our son, friends, or solo.

 

[Sask hunter]

Not much of a goal guy for hunting. Would really like a 21” bear and a 170 WT. trapping is usually my main goal as I usually set a target of how many I want to catch. This past winter was fun for coyotes tho as I just ran one bait vs the past years when the market was good ran 4-6 and it was another job almost

 

[TheGreek]

Kill a mountain goat. It’s been my only real hunting goal since I was a kid. Not really sure what the origination of it was, but I remember being a 4th grader on the bus and telling myself, and the little girl next to me, that one day I was gonna kill a mountain goat.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

1 Bull elk. 1 Bull moose. That is all.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Long time ago I set a goal to bag 50 elk in my life, I was probably 15-16 years old.

Blew past that quite a while ago and haven't set a goal since.

More fun to just roll the dice and see what happens. Take opportunities as they present themselves.

Curious - and im genuinely not trying to be a jerk - but is there a point when youd stop? Or when a person "should" stop?

Personally, I dont believe anyone should hold the keys to any gate to hunting - and it is expressly game agencies job to manage hunt pressure. More interest comes with benefits and drawbacks. However it seems strange to me that people are against new people coming into the hunting community but would have no problem with folks (who have hunted a long time) who have knocked down 100 big game animals continuing to hunt.

Dont get me wrong - you have earned every bit of it, by conservation work and everything else. Though - even if you hadnt - i dont feel like anyone should be able to tell anyone who is able/entitled to hunt. Just food for thought.

 

[Waspocrew]

I wouldn't say I've had specific goals in mind, but a bighorn sheep has always been on my radar. Hoping to strike gold and draw a tag, but thinking I may just do a guided hunt at some point in the next 5-10 years. I love deer and elk hunting, but feel like a sheep hunt would be an awesome challenge.

 

[Forkyfinder]

1 Bull elk. 1 Bull moose. That is all.

1 MSG - mature male animals
1 elk 6X6 and 1 bull 300" gross or better
180" gross mule deer
140" gross whitetail
82" gross pronghorn

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I had the goal of killing an antelope in every hunt area in WY. Once my kids were old enough to hunt that goal got pushed aside as it was more important to hunt with them.

I kind of would like to experience this nonresident hunting thing everyone is always talking about on here.

 

[SCliving Outdoors]

A legal ram size doesn't matter.
190"+ muley.
Super 10