I suppose me taking my daughter on an 8-10 mile walk with 4K of elevation gain in the Gallatin canyon looking for a bull elk with a precision rifle is unfair chase,
Unfair chase? Com'on man, no. Having a precision rifle cannot, in and of itself, be unfair, it's what we do with it.
Real hunting, the kind most of us are actually after, takes both skill
and effort. Those aren’t the same thing. I don’t have much skill, but I can still put in the effort (even if I slow down a little more every year). I've drug my daughter on similar hunts/trips. I’m also sure I’d have better skills if I relied less on technology. I know my map and compass skills are less than they used to be because my phone has completely eliminated the need for them. And I also used to spend more time tracking back before I had HD binos and a spotting scope, simply out of necessity. But I also enjoy eating elk/deer, so I make some concessions to improve my odds (and try to hunt states other than WA).
My last hunt didn’t feel much like a hunt at all; more like grocery shopping. No fancy tech, no long-range shot— WY just makes it an easy tag to fill. And it left me wondering if I’d do it again. I didn't get much beyond meat out of it. Maybe that's enough, maybe not.
For me, it always comes back to the question:
What am I really after? Am I just trying to kill something, or is it something more—or some mix of both? I think for most of us it’s always a combination, and the ideal mix is different for each person. Still, I think it’s healthy to question ourselves every now and then, even if it results in simply confirming our positions.
I know I got to a point last night where I thought about taking the bow up again. It's been three years since I put it down.
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