The Hedgehog
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- Dec 19, 2000
- Messages
- 11,634
If I could only hunt 1 or 2 weeks - not enough really for any one of them. I’d find a new line of work , first.
Painful Choices (that will likely never happen)
- Thread starter Bullshot
- Start date
geetar
Well-known member
I’ll take a Nevada desert bighorn tag with a side of Maine moose.
durandja11
Member
Moose hunt without a doubt, as it's my Father's dream hunt and would love to experience the hunt with him!
BAKPAKR
Well-known member
I would choose sheep over the other choices.
I had an Idaho sheep tag and a Montana moose tag several years ago. The plan was to hunt sheep for two weeks towards the end of September and then head West again at Thanksgiving for a week of moose hunting. I hunted sheep for a few days and passed going after a ram that just met the 3/4 curl requirement that was in place at the time. We then high-tailed it out of the area due to clouds of smoke we saw billowing up several miles away near the trailhead.
After getting back to the truck and learning that the smoke was from a controlled burn, my buddy and I debated about hiking back in to hunt sheep or heading up Highway 93 to my moose area. I will confess that our first visit to the Frank Church wilderness left us a little intimidated, so we were soon on the road north towards Glacier. I have regretted that decision ever since.
As an aside, I also regret not buying a bear tag to have on the moose hunt as I wound up having a Greenhorn-caliber black bear feeding less than 50 yards from me.
Also, I learned that the 165 gr Ballistic Tips that I had brought for my 300 WM for the early sheep hunt were not the best moose medicine (I was going to take Nosler Partitions when I went back out in November for the planned moose hunt). That same bullet was not too comforting after I jumped a big grizzly from his bed while I was looking for moose and he stood there at about 35 yards huffing at me.
I had an Idaho sheep tag and a Montana moose tag several years ago. The plan was to hunt sheep for two weeks towards the end of September and then head West again at Thanksgiving for a week of moose hunting. I hunted sheep for a few days and passed going after a ram that just met the 3/4 curl requirement that was in place at the time. We then high-tailed it out of the area due to clouds of smoke we saw billowing up several miles away near the trailhead.
After getting back to the truck and learning that the smoke was from a controlled burn, my buddy and I debated about hiking back in to hunt sheep or heading up Highway 93 to my moose area. I will confess that our first visit to the Frank Church wilderness left us a little intimidated, so we were soon on the road north towards Glacier. I have regretted that decision ever since.
As an aside, I also regret not buying a bear tag to have on the moose hunt as I wound up having a Greenhorn-caliber black bear feeding less than 50 yards from me.
Also, I learned that the 165 gr Ballistic Tips that I had brought for my 300 WM for the early sheep hunt were not the best moose medicine (I was going to take Nosler Partitions when I went back out in November for the planned moose hunt). That same bullet was not too comforting after I jumped a big grizzly from his bed while I was looking for moose and he stood there at about 35 yards huffing at me.
406dn
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- Joined
- Dec 12, 2019
- Messages
- 2,036
This is an easy choice, I'd run with a bighorn tag and never look back. It has been on the wish list for forty plus years. It may well be that my time runs out before the bighorn tag ever comes.
I do enjoy seeing them whenever our paths cross.
A big mule deer buck with really dark stained antlers taken off a mountain ridge would be a consolation prize that would ease the pain of never getting a bighorn ram. I saw the nicest one I've seen in maybe ten years this fall. He wasn't quite what I have dreamt about and I let him go about his business.
I do enjoy seeing them whenever our paths cross.
A big mule deer buck with really dark stained antlers taken off a mountain ridge would be a consolation prize that would ease the pain of never getting a bighorn ram. I saw the nicest one I've seen in maybe ten years this fall. He wasn't quite what I have dreamt about and I let him go about his business.
ImBillT
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- Oct 29, 2018
- Messages
- 3,821
I’ll just worry about it when it happens. Very few people will draw all of those in their lifetimes, let alone in the same year.
Dinkshooter
Well-known member
I Can’ t Answer the question, as I’m still unemployed from my last hunt or work decision. A man has to have principles.
Dinkshooter
Well-known member
And I might be jaded but some of the tags listed above would be far more fun and exciting to hunt than BHS which can be stressful and relatively boring(action wise) until the final shot.
Dinkshooter
Well-known member
Awesome Muley Migration hunt-fun
Awesome Elk rut hunt-fun
Glassing your eyes out for 4 days to spot a few sheep- actually pretty boring
Awesome Elk rut hunt-fun
Glassing your eyes out for 4 days to spot a few sheep- actually pretty boring
Dinkshooter
Well-known member
And don’t get me started how boring a moose hunt can be.
Bowhuntrben
Well-known member
I would need to find a new line of work to pay for all the tags I just won...
Bullshot
Well-known member
Some great answers so far. So here's my own...
I'd take a top elk tag (UT/NM) over any other tag.
Would take the moose tag as my second.
Sheep as my alternate/3rd, fully realizing I probably would have just given up my one and only chance.
And there is no way to do most of these 2 hunts justice in 2 weeks, but you could at least check the box and say you tried if you had seven days for each. Whether you get an animal is as much luck as skill when you are under the gun like that though. But for many of us, that is the normal state of affairs.
I'd take a top elk tag (UT/NM) over any other tag.
Would take the moose tag as my second.
Sheep as my alternate/3rd, fully realizing I probably would have just given up my one and only chance.
And there is no way to do most of these 2 hunts justice in 2 weeks, but you could at least check the box and say you tried if you had seven days for each. Whether you get an animal is as much luck as skill when you are under the gun like that though. But for many of us, that is the normal state of affairs.
thusby
Well-known member
Grown men grunting, groaning and wacking weeds for 10 days while staring at fog thick brush.... oh c’mon
LopeHunter
Well-known member
So, if 2 weeks and do not take the weeks consecutively then have 9 days twice.
I would see which hunts overlap. Of the overlaps, which are within 12 hours drive of the next. Might be able to knock out 4-6 hunts if got lucky and willing to fill the tag with a nice mature animal though maybe not the largest10% size in the unit.
I have had several hunts end within two day of reaching the trailhead.
Here would be my order then would actually try to get a 2nd hunt each 9-day trip and maybe a third hunt.
1) Sheep Tag (anywhere)
2) Moose Tag (anywhere)
3) A top deer tag in any state.
4) WY High Pt LE Unit Elk
5) AZ Elk
6) CO High Pt LE Unit Elk
7) UT High Pt LE Unit Elk
8) NM Q/HD Elk
9) A top antelope tag in any state.
10) MT Low odds LE Elk
11) Idaho Low odds LE Elk
I would see which hunts overlap. Of the overlaps, which are within 12 hours drive of the next. Might be able to knock out 4-6 hunts if got lucky and willing to fill the tag with a nice mature animal though maybe not the largest10% size in the unit.
I have had several hunts end within two day of reaching the trailhead.
Here would be my order then would actually try to get a 2nd hunt each 9-day trip and maybe a third hunt.
1) Sheep Tag (anywhere)
2) Moose Tag (anywhere)
3) A top deer tag in any state.
4) WY High Pt LE Unit Elk
5) AZ Elk
6) CO High Pt LE Unit Elk
7) UT High Pt LE Unit Elk
8) NM Q/HD Elk
9) A top antelope tag in any state.
10) MT Low odds LE Elk
11) Idaho Low odds LE Elk
noharleyyet
Well-known member
huntin24/7
Well-known member
If that theoretically happened, I’d have to go sheep and moose. As hard as truly big public land mule deer are to find anymore, an AZ strip tag or top end colorado/Nevada/utah Muley tag would be tough to turn down. I’m with greenhorn though as far as a new career being in order if you could only have a week or 2 to hunt.
