Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: wifishkiller on January 10, 2007, 08:35:00 PM
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I was wondering how many people on here dream trip is elk, big mule deer, antelope, mt lion, and so on. The reason I ask is, I was talking to a fellow member on here about hunts he’d like to do but hasn’t yet cause of money. Anyway a lot of these trips are easy to do for under a grand from door to door. I guess where Im going with this is there any way we can make a section on here to help the average guy do some of these trips? I guess kind of a donate type hunt. I’m not to sure where I’m going with this maybe someone else could jump in with some ideas to see if this is possible.
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There are many trips I would like to make but can't because of lack of finding a reliable hunting partner (s). I would love to get back out west to hunt elk ,mule deer, and antelope but it is unfeasible not to mention costly to do it yourself.
Bill
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There's lots of affordable hunts out west. Elk and mule deer in particular. A tag is $300-600. Travel expenses may be 500-1000 depending on your mode and level of acceptance. I've done 4 trips out west each for way under $1000. All were DIY for elk on public land. I've never killed one but the memories are well worth the money.
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I'm getting into that same boat Peckerwood. Kind of stinks living up here with no real good/consistent partners!!!! It's not quite like walking out on the back 40 and coming in at dark. Your life is trusted in your hunter partners hands!
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I would love to do an elk trip. Or drop in on AKDan in Alaska. LOL
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I hear you guys on the hunting partners the only one I hunt with that doesnt drive me nuts is my dad lol. The reason I put this up is I think alot of people are overwelmed with just going off and hunting. That said I dont no if I would be ok hunting the high country for muledeer by myself but elk and antelope would be ok.
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Well I want to go lion hunting again since my lion was messed up the the taxidermist. I would love to hunt elk or black bear, its ashame you have to pay thousands to hunt something because it isnt in your state.
Id love to have a tradganger come hunt whitetail with me, I have public land 2 minutes from my door and large P& Y and B&C deer are killed every year.
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There is a "Trade a hunt" forum on this site. Fine way to hunt far off places and species. And there's always the poor mans' Africa (Texas) where lots of weird critters live and the winter is like summer.
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Dalebow I might have to swing on out your way :bigsmyl: We are on a cat slump right now lots of miles and nothing in a tree. Did see a monster moose a week ago.
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I've learned that Texas is loaded with dream trips without the dream prices. Click on 7th Age Bowhunting under the sponsors and book a trip with Curtis. You can do several trips for several species for around a grand.
Most of the "big" game that you mentioned can be done somehwere in the country on a D-I-Y basis and very reasonably. All you gotta do is research.
-Brian
www.bowyersjournal.com (http://www.bowyersjournal.com)
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I hear ya brian 7th age is on my list
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Adam,I'll trade ya hunts!, I have 30,000 acres of public land within an hour or so of my house, can't promise you a pope & young whitetail but you'll have a good time, I'll even put you up and feed ya!.................Steve
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Generally what does a 7th age bowhunting trip cost a fella. Ive been in email correspondence with Curtis but havent been able to discuss total cost with him. He is hosting the pope and young hunts in west texas for a few days and we cant get details hatched out just yet. Im just curious to see what it might run my father and i to get out there. I would define a dream trip by the people i get to spend the time with. What good is sitting on a mountain with nobody to sit with? Any kind of hunt with my dad next to me is a dream hunt to me. Even if its hunting rabbits out at the family farm or shooting 3d's somewhere its always a great time. I know as he ages and my family life get more involved our time spent together in the woods is going to get tested so I have to enjoy it while it lasts and make every hunt a dream hunt with him around.
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Sounds like your Dad is as lucky to have his Dustin, as I was to have mine, you think very similar and know what is truly important in life, I applaud you Dustin, now take that man hunting, times a wastin'! we never got to go on the trip we were planning thanks to a drunk driver..............................Steve
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Bowdaddy asked me for some details. I thought I might as well share all my wonderful words of wisdom with everyone :)
My first trip was to CO in 1998. Tags were $250 back then. I drove out from KY with a buddy. 25 hours each way...non-stop. It was brutal but doable. We hunted in the White River National Forest near Meeker, GMUs 24/33/12. There are a lot of elk in this area but it is heavily pressured. You will need to be in shape if you are going to pack in. That's what we did and we only saw one other group of hunters. We didn't get into elk too much but learned a lot. A big thing is to know that you aren't deer hunting. You have to cover lots of ground and find elk and then hunt them. I did this trip for less than $500 and that included a night at the Meeker Motel. I eat the same things I eat at home so I don't count food as an expense related to the trip. I would be spending that money anyway.
The second hunt was in the same area in 2000. I flew out there for $200 and we rented a car in Denver. This trip was a bit more but I can't handle that drive. We also had to ship our stuff since I don't trust airlines with critical hunting equipment. You can send it and have it held at the UPS or FedEx hub. It's even better to have someone out there you can ship it to. This trip cost maybe $750. My buddy killed a cow and we were into elk a lot.
We did Utah in 2002 in the Uinta Mts. It was rough country and we had bad weather so the hunting wasn't quite what we expected. We saved some money by having a car available from a family member. But tags were $350 so it was still about $850.
My buddy moved to Idaho now so I am lucky to have that resource. We hunted there in 2006. We have another guy that has horses and has hunted the area we were in a lot. We got into elk a lot but didn't kill anything. It was a fantastic trip and I will be back in 2008. Tags are high, like $600 but the savings in cars and horses and such makes it worth it. I spent around $1100 last year. Here's a webpage about it: web page (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/2006elkhunt1.html)
The bottom line is like I said in my post, for $1000-1500 you can do elk. It is tough hunting since you will be packing in and on your own unless you have a local around. You will have to do your research and be willing to work hard but that is a big part of it for me.
Also, if you don't have the gear, you will have to buy some stuff. Keep it simple though and you will be fine. My current gear list might have cost $500. Don't buy into the whole gear head-thing. Simple and inexpensive is always better. You aren't hunting in AK where you are a plane trip and 100s of miles from help. If extreme stuff hits, you can use survival tactics better than relying on gear. Do your research and get into shape. If you don't kill something, still be satisfied. If extreme weather hits, hunker down. If you die, so be it. We all have to go some time.
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How many of you have read the book about Chester Stevenson- "In the Den of the Old Bowhunter"???
The most amazing thing about that book for me was the fact that he would pull out a map, decide on a place he had never seen, ride a train with a backpack holding a pot, a fork and spoon, a compass, a knife,his bow and quiver, and a bedroll.
He would get off that train in the middle of nowhere, stay in the wilds for two weeks at a time and get picked up a hundred miles away from where he got off the train.
No guides, no outfitter, no horses, and usually him and one other person. Homemade bows, arrows, a plaid wool coat,pants and a Kangol hat,a pair of sturdy boots and a few socks - he was hunting in wild country!!!!
We have it easy today. Save up a little jack and use the internet, talk to others who have been, and get out there and make yourself some memories. Don't sit at home and watch it on TV! Who cares if you get something- GO GO GO!!!!!!!
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Ray;
That is very possibly one of the best bowhunting books ever written.
I gave my copy away a year or two ago. It's time I bought another.
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John, I just went back through the journal of your hunt. I followed it day by day when you first posted it, but it was fun to go through again. Sure gets my blood pumping! What great pictures and story telling!
Eight more months!!!!!!!!!!
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I made my first dream hunt last fall to CO. The whole ball of wax cost about $2500. $500 for a non-res tag, $500 for a flight from Asheville, NC to Albuquerque, I rented a car and drove to Durango and back to Albuquerque after the hunt and a few nights in a motel. I had to buy equipment...back pack, sleeping bag and sleeping pad, wool pants(cheap from Cabellas) and survival gear(cheap fron discount stores) so if I were to do it again I could for considerably less...probably $1500. We hunted public land in the San Juan Mts.
If only the elk knew we were coming, they may have been a bit more cooperative. Pat
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My dream hunt is for piggys in Texas....With CK....
I actualy have two reasons to go to Texas....Pigs and an ex Sweety I would like to see again....
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I've always found if you want it bad enough there's always away to make do hunt.
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Littlejake That exactly how I feel. LOl all I have to do is get my dad to stop harping about me spliting my money im saving for my house with my someday brownbear hunt lol
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Get in the house then go on a 2nd Mortgage. Tax deductable interest and equity will help pay your way faster than having to work for it......
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I live just north of the area John was talking about in his first hunt. That is the same area I try to hunt every year if I can draw it. If not I hunt a little farther south in an over the counter area (area 42). I would be willing to work with anyone who want to try a working man hunt (low budget hunt) in that area or possibly area 42. This year so far I have a couple of good friends from Kansas that will try to come hunt with me and also one from Michigan that will try to get the same area. Like John said there is a lot of pressure in these areas but there is a lot of animals also. You have to adjust your techniques to the situation. Can not promise anything but I have not had a year yet that I don't get into the animals. Now every one knows that getting into them and getting a kill is very different things but I will do my best for anyone. :pray:
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Wifishkiller
come on out, anytime I can't promise you a deer but they are there and taken every year. I took 8 doe this year.
Got a room for ya and we can at least make them nervous:-)
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That sounds good to me!! Plus Im a big fan of the flat tops lol
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There's a lot of dream hunt right here on Trad Gang.
I'm still holding on to my Dream Hunt of the Moose John, I need to get with it if I'm gonna do it.
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While you guys all dream of the amimal hunts, mine is to get into some really good bowfishing, probably down South somewhere... the kind of bowfishing you see on the videos. There's not much here in the way of trash fish water... mostly our water is either deep or fast. I tried for some carp last year in an area we call the potholes, but never saw one. Someday...
Dick in Seattle
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About 30 miles from me is a heated lake with lots of alligator gar and tillapia that ppl bow fish all the time. Fairfield Lake... As soon as i get to where i can shoot some I am going out there in my little flat bottom.
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Dick in Seattle I hear you man I miss my night shooting rig. Here she is,
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had to shrink it a bit
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v683/wifishkiller/Bowfishing/lakelabell003-1.jpg)
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Lucky guys... I told my wife I wanted to take a trip down south to Texas, Louisianna or Alabama to try some serious bowfishing this year. If taxes go well (we're gonna get killed this year... sold some property) I may even get to do it. Look up a guided outfit, maybe. I grew up in Ohio, lots and lots of carp, but I didn't bow shoot way back then.
Dick in Seattle
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wifishkiller, like a few others i have made the DIY trip out west. i did Colorado in 94, 96, 99 & 01 and Utah in 97. i can't remember the exact cost on any of the trips but i have never spent more than $1200 for the entire trip. in 01 i did the drive thing from Virginia. 32 hours non stop on the way home. should have bought some stock in mountain dew first. with the cost of tags, flight and rental car you should still be able to make it for less than $1500. for a DIY elk hunt.
if there was a down side to all of my DIY hunts it would be the amount of game seen/taken, if that's a down side. the upside is i have seen some of the most beautiful country and have some wonderful photos and memories of it to remember.
a few things to take seriously. be in shape, pack as light as possible and do your home work on the area you plan to hunt. find a good partner to make the trip with. i have no problems going alone, but if you get back in the middle of no ware having another person for safety is just smart. i do this as much for my wife and kids as anything.
each time i went on a hunt i learned something that made my life easier on the next hunt. part of the learing curve when you go at without the help of a guide. the rewards are much greater when you don't have someone holding your hand imo.... go for it, you will not be sorry. i'm looking at Idaho for this fall if anyone is looking to share a camp fire. >~Rob~>