Dream Hunts

Image from The Onion

As with many people, I have a bucket list, or a list of things that I want to do before I am unable to do them. In a Previous Blog I discussed the places I want to go fishing before I am unable to handle the intense hiking and rough conditions. In this one I will do the same for the places I would like to hunt. As with the fishing bucket list, the hunts I have chosen have a set of criteria they have to meet to be placed on my list of dream hunts. They first and foremost have to have beautiful landscape, then challenging terrain, and finally striking animals. You will notice that none of the hunts will be in Africa. I have been to Africa, and while it meets all the criteria, I find very little appealing about it. Everything that I shoot, I plan to eat, and I have no plan to eat elephant or lion. I find very little challenge in the hunt, as they are not scared of you and you do not have to be cautious about your noise, sent, or movement. I also do not trophy hunt, meaning, that I don’t hunt just to kill a prize animal to say I have killed a prize animal, I hunt to primarily make memories with those that I’m with, and then, to get some pure, untainted meat for the table.

Image from the Smithsonian Magazine

The first hunt on my list is an elk hunt in the western United States. The main reason this hunt is on my list is that it is a hunt that my dad and I have wanted to do fro a long time. I promised him one day we will go out west and hunt elk together. It is something we talk about often and something I know for a fact I will do at some point in my life. The harvesting of an elk would be the second reason I would want to go. Elk, in my opinion, are some of the most striking animals to grace the earth. The mature bulls have antlers that can be over 4 feet tall, with an animal that is already five feet tall at the breast, they can appear to be ten feet tall, which is massive compared to the white tail that I usually hunt. They also make a sound called a Bugle. It may seem like a hideous noise to someone who does not know what it means, but for someone who is hunting them, often hiking 10+ miles a day looking for one, it is the sound of success. For my trip to be fulfilling, I don’t need to harvest an elk, all I want to do is hear one bugle in the wild, harvesting one and having 300 pounds of venison  would only be the icing on the cake.

Image from The National Wild Federation

The next trip I would like to go on would be a moose hunt in Canada or Alaska. I have never had moose, but I have been told that it is rather tasty. They are also the largest mammal in North America and I find them to look extremely interesting. The challenge in that hunt is that, for as large as they are, they are elusive and difficult to find. it often takes days of grueling hiking and glassing ranges to spot one. They are also aggressive if you frighten one and can kill you if you don’t treat them with respect. The bull moose can Weigh up to 1,500 pounds and can has unique antlers that many, including my self, find striking. Once I go on an elk hunt, I hope that this will be the next trip that my dad and I go on together.

Image by TINYFROGLET found on Flicker

The final hunt and the one that I will likely never be able to go on is for Rocky Mountain Big Born Sheep. These hunts have been touted at the The Most Difficult Hunt In North America. It can take days to find one. Many hunts have gone on for over 15 days in search of one of these elusive animals. They thrive in extremely high elevations and to be able to harvest one is the epitome of tough hunting. One must be extremely fit, I would have too do some training to be able to go on a sheep hunt. You often have to climb massive peaks to find one, doing far more hiking and glassing than shooting. The landscape these sheep live in is some of the most inhospitable land in all of North America and makes them a true test of any hunters will power. Any hunter who is able to harvest a sheep has my respect for they are among the most difficult animals to hunt. The reason I will likely never be able to go on a sheep hunt is that Tags Go At Auction often go for over 300,000 dollars, something that is not even close to my price range. The only other way to get a tag is to enter the raffle with everyone else and have a minuscule chance of being drawn for the hunt, the problem is that I cannot enter since I am not a resident of the state that does the raffle, so I have less than a minuscule chance of being drawn, but, that’s why its  dream hunt.

Image from The New York Times