What is it y'all love about the west? For me it's been a dream of mine to go out west and hunt, but also the history, the scenic vistas, the clean air and the absolute solitude. It's so quiet you can hear your heart beat. At times you can see the magnitude of God's beauty that he created, to me it's absolute perfection. I can't imagine not making my annual trek every year. It's the allure, the driving force that keeps me coming back and wanting more.
Western allure
- Thread starter Huntkook
- Start date
7mm08mo
Well-known member
That pretty well sums it up for me!!
BuzzH
Well-known member
....
Last edited:
BuzzH
Well-known member
Some dream it, others live it, and always have.
I'm fortunate that way.
I'm fortunate that way.
T Bone
Well-known member
8 years ago I quit chasing money and found a place where I can make a living for my family, while living in an outdoor playground.
From my house, I can see the saddle where a few elk have fallen to my arrow or bullet. I can see the mountain where my then 14 year old kid killed his first elk with his 30-06 when we stumbled into it in a white-out snow storm.
I can see the avalanche chute where 9 months ago, my 12 year old son had a screaming 6 point bull at 30 yards and completely forgot to draw his bow.
I can be fishing for 'bows and browns in 3 minutes. I can go raft the local river after work with family or friends. I can be on mountain bike trails in 10 minutes.....
Yep. Love the mountains.
It's my spiritual, mental, and physical health.
From my house, I can see the saddle where a few elk have fallen to my arrow or bullet. I can see the mountain where my then 14 year old kid killed his first elk with his 30-06 when we stumbled into it in a white-out snow storm.
I can see the avalanche chute where 9 months ago, my 12 year old son had a screaming 6 point bull at 30 yards and completely forgot to draw his bow.
I can be fishing for 'bows and browns in 3 minutes. I can go raft the local river after work with family or friends. I can be on mountain bike trails in 10 minutes.....
Yep. Love the mountains.
It's my spiritual, mental, and physical health.
All the things you mention, plus other dreams. Even though the inter-mountain west is changing, and changing fast, so long as there are public lands mostly untouched by the hand of man, there will always be places for the wandering souls who want to see what is over the next ridge, those who seek what is around the next bend in the river, or those who just like nightime skies full of stars.
For the most part, people here let you be who you are and stay in their own lane, so long as you stay in yours. I like that. And if I/they need help, such is usually close at hand.
I regret that this world is breeding itself out of places I seek. With 330 million in this country and soon to be 8 billion on this planet, I know some of what I've enjoyed about the west will be served up on the "altar of progress." I want to enjoy what is here, while it is here. Seeing it change rapidly drives me to do what I can to make it difficult for the grinding blades of civilization to make these lands even "more suitable."
Hal Herring and I were discussing this similar topic a few weeks ago. He commented, "You know it's a good country when after a week in that country, the land has formed you, in some small way or in some profound way." That kind of summarizes the places I seek. I want places that shape me, stretch my perspectives, and remind me how insignificant I am.
My greatest wish is that these lands will be the same 50, 100, or 200 years from now as they are today. My short half-century observing this society convinces me that the fecundity of the American womb combined with the opportunistic purveyors of crisis will bring too many pressures to bear for that wish to be the legacy of Americans yet unborn.
For the most part, people here let you be who you are and stay in their own lane, so long as you stay in yours. I like that. And if I/they need help, such is usually close at hand.
I regret that this world is breeding itself out of places I seek. With 330 million in this country and soon to be 8 billion on this planet, I know some of what I've enjoyed about the west will be served up on the "altar of progress." I want to enjoy what is here, while it is here. Seeing it change rapidly drives me to do what I can to make it difficult for the grinding blades of civilization to make these lands even "more suitable."
Hal Herring and I were discussing this similar topic a few weeks ago. He commented, "You know it's a good country when after a week in that country, the land has formed you, in some small way or in some profound way." That kind of summarizes the places I seek. I want places that shape me, stretch my perspectives, and remind me how insignificant I am.
My greatest wish is that these lands will be the same 50, 100, or 200 years from now as they are today. My short half-century observing this society convinces me that the fecundity of the American womb combined with the opportunistic purveyors of crisis will bring too many pressures to bear for that wish to be the legacy of Americans yet unborn.
elkduds
Well-known member
Public lands, ranging from prairie to tundra and everything in between. Rolling hills of sagebrush, taller than your head. Rivers that carve a continent. Deserts interrupted by cake layers of sandstone, hundreds of feet thick. Aspen groves gilding high ridges and undulating valleys in autumn. Remains of thunder lizards and wooly mammoths, civilizations past, glaciers that etched and ground soaring mountains into soil. Elbow room, room with a view, room to breathe, room to roam. Geysers, floods, avalanches, landslides, hot springs, hanging glaciers, dune fields, crater lakes, rain forests. Grizzlies, billies, full-curl rams, sage grouse, golden trout, rattlesnakes, gila monsters, wild turkeys, pronghorn, condors, pine martens, lynx. Bull elk roaring serenades to all that is wild.
JohnCushman
Well-known member
I'm out here...what other reason does anyone need? 
I enjoy the four seasons. The Rocky Mountain Range. Surrounded by majestic National Parks and expansive Wilderness and National forests. Mountain streams, glacial lakes.
I grew up a ranch kid and favored any book on the Rendezvous fur trapping days... I value the pride and respect my State holds for our country, our American flag and our Veteran's.
I grew up a ranch kid and favored any book on the Rendezvous fur trapping days... I value the pride and respect my State holds for our country, our American flag and our Veteran's.
D
Deleted member 16014
Guest
There are places I think I could get along just as well as the western US, but they aren't in America. And I like America, so it works out well.
LopeHunter
Well-known member
The West gradually shaped who I have become so that when I now visit in the Midwest, such as my recent turkey hunt back on the farm, the bottomland along the Missouri River feels comfortable but no longer feels like home.
The level of difficulty in hunting for a mature critter in Big Country out West exceeds anything I experienced as a kid growing up back there in the Midwest. I hunted in the Midwest but those adventures were mostly killing. The areas I hunted and fished could be explored in a single weekend and then year after year the squirrels would be in the same hickory and oak trees in late summer, the ducks would want to land along the same cove on windy days, etc. The culture was to stack up the most meat with the least effort whether was rabbits, squirrels, doves ducks or geese.
Out West, I rarely kill without hunting. Usually hunting hard for an old guy. About half my hunts end without killing. I usually could kill a critter on every hunt though now I pass up a lot of legal critters when have successfully hunted that species previously.
The country is so big out West with the terrain so varied and the weather so variable in months like September year to year that my confidence can be shattered 36 hours into a hunt. For example, if you learn to hunt elk in Arizona for a decade or two in dry years then the strategy gets challenged in a wet year. Then toss a lot of that Arizona knowledge out the window when first travel to hunt elk in western Montana when the snows come early. Then head to coastal Oregon to hunt Rosies with constant drizzle.
Hunting deer in the Midwest just never seemed that challenging in comparison. Nor as risky. I rarely took the first steps while on a hunt in the Midwest wondering if I had what was needed to unexpectedly spend a night outdoors due to weather or being disoriented. I rarely had to be concerned with running out of fuel before could get to the closest gas station or if would have cell coverage or if I was hunting too far from the trailhead to get the critter packed out without spoiling or if an alpha predator was about to cross paths with me just down the trail a bit more. Sawing off the handle of a toothbrush to get pack weight down would be extra silly in the Midwest.
The West is just big. The beauty of the deserts, the high deserts, the foothills and the alpine terrain continue to amaze me after 3 decades of hunting out West. The stars on a dark night far from the nearest town are captivating. The variety of the plants, insects, reptiles, fish, birds and mammals is far too many for this farm kid to learn the names of more than a few.
The geological history of the West caught my attention during an undergrad class. Stuff can go boom out West. St. Helens. Yellowstone. There are also the stories of the conflict that shaped the past 300 years in the West.
Lucky me that I locked eyes with that redhead years ago that lured me out West. Has been a heck of an adventure.
The level of difficulty in hunting for a mature critter in Big Country out West exceeds anything I experienced as a kid growing up back there in the Midwest. I hunted in the Midwest but those adventures were mostly killing. The areas I hunted and fished could be explored in a single weekend and then year after year the squirrels would be in the same hickory and oak trees in late summer, the ducks would want to land along the same cove on windy days, etc. The culture was to stack up the most meat with the least effort whether was rabbits, squirrels, doves ducks or geese.
Out West, I rarely kill without hunting. Usually hunting hard for an old guy. About half my hunts end without killing. I usually could kill a critter on every hunt though now I pass up a lot of legal critters when have successfully hunted that species previously.
The country is so big out West with the terrain so varied and the weather so variable in months like September year to year that my confidence can be shattered 36 hours into a hunt. For example, if you learn to hunt elk in Arizona for a decade or two in dry years then the strategy gets challenged in a wet year. Then toss a lot of that Arizona knowledge out the window when first travel to hunt elk in western Montana when the snows come early. Then head to coastal Oregon to hunt Rosies with constant drizzle.
Hunting deer in the Midwest just never seemed that challenging in comparison. Nor as risky. I rarely took the first steps while on a hunt in the Midwest wondering if I had what was needed to unexpectedly spend a night outdoors due to weather or being disoriented. I rarely had to be concerned with running out of fuel before could get to the closest gas station or if would have cell coverage or if I was hunting too far from the trailhead to get the critter packed out without spoiling or if an alpha predator was about to cross paths with me just down the trail a bit more. Sawing off the handle of a toothbrush to get pack weight down would be extra silly in the Midwest.
The West is just big. The beauty of the deserts, the high deserts, the foothills and the alpine terrain continue to amaze me after 3 decades of hunting out West. The stars on a dark night far from the nearest town are captivating. The variety of the plants, insects, reptiles, fish, birds and mammals is far too many for this farm kid to learn the names of more than a few.
The geological history of the West caught my attention during an undergrad class. Stuff can go boom out West. St. Helens. Yellowstone. There are also the stories of the conflict that shaped the past 300 years in the West.
Lucky me that I locked eyes with that redhead years ago that lured me out West. Has been a heck of an adventure.
D
Deleted member 22670
Guest
For me, I love the high deserts of CO and Utah. It's a special place. As Randy stated its all changing very fast, and not in a good way. Feels like it's closing, especially in CO.
TheNorthStar
Well-known member
Going up to Northern Wisconsin for the first camping trip of the year next weekend. That lake is one of my favorite places in the world to wake up next to, but for all the peaceful beauty of a lake that looks like a sheet of obsidian, you just can't get the same experience here as you can in the inter-mountain West and I'll go see it every year until I convince my wife to move there or I'm dead.
el unit
Well-known member
The Rocky Mountains are King. Wouldn't have it any other way.
PA deer hunter
Active member
Good thread! Can’t wait for my now annual trip to Wyoming. Haven’t stopped thinking about retiring there since I was introduced to that beautiful country by my best bud. As for me, i am fascinated by all the history of the West, and the sheer beauty that surrounds you no matter which way you look. You folks who call the West home are fortunate indeed !
The dream of the West is alive and kicking, not just those of who hunt, either. When I lived in VA during my youth it seemed like every rain cloud on the planet dumped where we lived and I dreamed of a place, The West, "where the skies are not cloudy all day". Leaving John Denver aside, I then moved to Vegas where the skies are indeed not cloudy and one can travel by car to just about any place in the West in 10 hours give or take. I have enjoyed myself immensely doing just that. Now, with the addition of hunting to that activity, I can't really imagine the things we will have done when looking back years from now. Prior to my present career I worked in the hotel/casino biz here in Vegas and dealt with scads of folks from 'round the world who come here because they know about the dream of the West. Some of them are/where outdoors types, not many hunters I would suspect, but they are conscious, if only intuitively, of something extraordinary here. Those types mostly only scratch the surface of the reality of the West and usually get caught up in the tours/tourist activities never suspecting what awaits if they only took a moment to shake loose the cobwebs and look further. The dream lives! Nice thread, too.
I'm out here...what other reason does anyone need?
Is that an invitation to your house?
I'm just here for the free chips & salsa.
Or what Finn said. Well put, Randy. It's the people as well as the place. I've yet to find a spot on the planet where people wave at you as you drive, who stop and help without hesitation or who value fairness as much as westerners.
Or what Finn said. Well put, Randy. It's the people as well as the place. I've yet to find a spot on the planet where people wave at you as you drive, who stop and help without hesitation or who value fairness as much as westerners.
