Hunting - My Passion

I like to hunt

More specifically I am very passionate about big game hunting.

Now before you decide to assign me a stereotype and click out of this blog, give me a chance to explain my passion.

I was born and raised in Montana, and currently live in the southwestern part of this great state. Growing up, my father hunted elk in the fall as a means of adding to our supply of meat. Sometimes a bull was harvested, sometimes a cow. There was never a trophy rack attached to any of the bulls because it was all about filling the tag and bringing home the meat. My first hunting experiences followed suit. Our family wasn’t “big” into hunting during grade school and high school. We were usually too busy with school sports. In college football season took up many of the hunting weekends, and even though I was more interested in the pursuit of big game, particularly elk, my hunting buddies who fancied themselves hunters spent more time drinking beer than looking for animals.

In my mid-twenties I took up bow hunting, and that’s when I became passionate about big game hunting. Between archery and general season in Montana, hunters who participate in both seasons can pursue game from the start of September to the end of November. Three months! Now add in spring bear and turkey season which runs mid-April until mid-June and you have another two months. Montana arguably has more big game species than any other state which include black bear, antelope, turkey, mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, wolf and bison. Elevations range from the highest peak at 12,000 ft. to the plains of eastern Montana around 2,000 ft.

For those of you envisioning the murder of Bambi and all his furry friends, snap out of it. A big part of my passion as a hunter is the fondness developed for all those animals I pursue. You may be asking: “How can that be, when you’re out to kill them?” Well, killing is the last thing that ever happens in the hunting season, and some years doesn’t happen at all. For all the time spent hunting, 99% of that is spent hiking to remote areas, then looking for game. Once I’ve found the right species (after many hours of searching for and watching every other species in the area) then that animal is studied to determine if they fall within the guidelines of something I can/would like to harvest. Males need to be of the proper maturity. Females must be without young. Mind you, all this usually happens somewhere in the expanse of Montana’s 22 million acres of public lands. Once I select an animal, now I have to outwit them in order to get close enough to take an ethical shot. If that’s accomplished, I still have to find the right opportunity and take a single, humane shot with my weapon. Once the arrow or bullet has been loosed, it can’t be taken back.

As you can see, hunting generally isn’t easy as the hunting shows and Instagram pictures portray. To go through the process I outlined above it takes physical fitness; it gives me something to train for in the gym year round. It takes woodsmanship; understanding weather, terrain, winds, as well as food and water sources in a given area all come into play. It takes marksmanship; I shoot thousands of arrows and hundreds of rifle rounds to stay comfortable in my competency with bow and rifle year round. It takes ethics; what’s legal is not always right. I may go home empty-handed some days because I chose not to shoot, but I can sleep well at night knowing I made the right choice.

I understand hunting is not for everyone and I respect that choice, but that is why I’m passionate about hunting.