New Member introduction and discussion starter

[Tack Driver]

Hey y’all! My name is Dillon Leverette- I go by Tack Driver on the accurate shooter forum, so I figured I’d stick with it here too. I’m new to the forum and thought I’d introduce myself. I’m a southern boy by birth, but I’ve always been drawn by the allure of bigger game and harder terrain out west, so here I am! I’m hoping to get the wheels rolling on a big game hunt in the Rockies, but I’m quickly learning it isn’t half as simple as hunting whitetail in my home state of Tennessee- and not just because of logistics. That leads me to my conversation starter-

I never knew there were endless styles of preference point systems and massively variable tag application deadlines for the same species state by state out there- due in part to my sheer ignorance of the topic, and part due to a lack of general thought on the matter. Where I grew up, hunting out west was never even a consideration, so I was fairly insulated from the realities of it.
So to my question- How does one go about getting a good introduction to western big game hunting without spending enough to go on a Safari?

Thanks In advance!
Tack Driver

 

[Still Hunter]

Welcome to the site!

Go to the search function and type in any topic or question you have and start reading there before you start asking the same questions asked by every new member. Save you a lot of time. You can read for months before ever posting again.

 

[Tack Driver]

Welcome to the site!

Go to the search function and type in any topic or question you have and start reading there before you start asking the same questions asked by every new member. Save you a lot of time. You can read for months before ever posting again.

Thanks for responding! I’m well acquainted With the notion of a search function from accurate shooter. Just thought it might be a good place to start since I’m new, and regulations are changing all the time. Sorry if it’s been discussed to death!

 

[WesternMDShooter]

I am on 6br a lot and just joined here. Good luck to all

 

[Still Hunter]

Thanks for responding! I’m well acquainted With the notion of a search function from accurate shooter. Just thought it might be a good place to start since I’m new, and regulations are changing all the time. Sorry if it’s been discussed to death!

This is a great site. Just letting you know that the search function will give you tons of great information. A lot of the same questions get asked by new members. I have been in here since 2016 and I use search all the time.

 

[Tack Driver]

This is a great site. Just letting you know that the search function will give you tons of great information. A lot of the same questions get asked by new members. I have been in here since 2016 and I use search all the time.

I gotcha man, thank you!

 

[Still Hunter]

Things you wish you knew about elk hunting

Hey guys, As I look forward to my second elk season... It got me thinking. If there was one or two things you wished you had learned sooner, what would it be? I made a ton of mistakes last year, and I know that I had more than a fair amount of chances on my first elk hunt. I just didn't get...

www.rokslide.com

The 1 Thing You Learned- ELK

I think most of us make a mistake over and over again. We go on a hunt, but don’t make the effort to think critically about 1 thing we learned and will do different next time. Think about it, how often do magazines write about a hunt, but fail to single out an action item to change in the...

www.rokslide.com

good start!

 

[Tack Driver]

Things you wish you knew about elk hunting

Hey guys, As I look forward to my second elk season... It got me thinking. If there was one or two things you wished you had learned sooner, what would it be? I made a ton of mistakes last year, and I know that I had more than a fair amount of chances on my first elk hunt. I just didn't get...

www.rokslide.com

The 1 Thing You Learned- ELK

I think most of us make a mistake over and over again. We go on a hunt, but don’t make the effort to think critically about 1 thing we learned and will do different next time. Think about it, how often do magazines write about a hunt, but fail to single out an action item to change in the...

www.rokslide.com

good start!

Still Hunter, Thanks man! I appreciate it. I really didn't mean to come off as lazy or anything- I'm not scared of reading through forum posts haha.

Side Bar; What's your favorite thing to hunt out west?

 

[Still Hunter]

I am older, I just archery elk hunt.

 

[Tack Driver]

Very Cool. The amount of effort it’s gotta take to stalk within range an elk on the side of mountain with a bow blows my mind. Guys gripe about bow hunting whitetail from a stand here in the East.


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[fatlander]

Very Cool. The amount of effort it’s gotta take to stalk within range an elk on the side of mountain with a bow blows my mind. Guys gripe about bow hunting whitetail from a stand here in the East.


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Starting a conversation that turns into a screaming match with a bull, and culminates with you convincing him to come fight before putting an arrow in him sub 30 yards is quite a bit more fun.

Welcome to the forum!


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[Jake Larsen]

Wading through preference point systems, application deadlines, unit statistics, ect ect for multiple states is an asanine amount of work. If you're going to get serious about hunting the west, you've got to make a short, medium and longer term application strategy. Tags are getting harder to come by, so if you want to hunt regularly, you almost have to build points and draw tags in multiple states. There are some amazing hunt services that do all that for you now. Epic Outdoors is one. GoHunt also does a great job of compiling tons of data. I've lived my whole life in WY/MT, and have access to OTC tags that are a dream come true, but still use these services to wade through all the information. It's overwhelming to say the least, especially when you start looking at anything out of your local area.

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[Bob Dole]

Welcome

 

[Tack Driver]

Starting a conversation that turns into a screaming match with a bull, and culminates with you convincing him to come fight before putting an arrow in him sub 30 yards is quite a bit more fun.

Welcome to the forum!


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Hence why I’m here haha. Whitetail hunting is great, but sitting a stand drives me crazy. I’d rather be moving. Combine that with my love of hiking and camping, and you get western hunting in general haha


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[Tack Driver]

Wading through preference point systems, application deadlines, unit statistics, ect ect for multiple states is an asanine amount of work. If you're going to get serious about hunting the west, you've got to make a short, medium and longer term application strategy. Tags are getting harder to come by, so if you want to hunt regularly, you almost have to build points and draw tags in multiple states. There are some amazing hunt services that do all that for you now. Epic Outdoors is one. GoHunt also does a great job of compiling tons of data. I've lived my whole life in WY/MT, and have access to OTC tags that are a dream come true, but still use these services to wade through all the information. It's overwhelming to say the least, especially when you start looking at anything out of your local area.

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That was my gut feeling- reading through the threads here make it clear that things have changed pretty drastically in the past couple decades. I’ve done things the hard way enough times to know that it’s always 10x more enjoyable and productive to get some advice, or better yet, find a mentor. Thanks for the advice!

Follow up question: has anyone got a spreadsheet tracking the season for each big game animal with application deadlines per state? That’s something I wouldn’t mind trading a case of beer for (or more! Haha)


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[Jake Larsen]

That was my gut feeling- reading through the threads here make it clear that things have changed pretty drastically in the past couple decades. I’ve done things the hard way enough times to know that it’s always 10x more enjoyable and productive to get some advice, or better yet, find a mentor. Thanks for the advice!

Follow up question: has anyone got a spreadsheet tracking the season for each big game animal with application deadlines per state? That’s something I wouldn’t mind trading a case of beer for (or more! Haha)


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Application deadlines are really easy to find. Somebody probably has that, but for what it's worth here's what I do. For the species/states im invested in, I have a reminder set in my phone calender for the applicable application deadlines and also for when preference points become available for purchase (in states where that's applicable). Side note - services like Epic Outdoors take care of ALL of this for you. They help you build a strategy, you pool your fun money in an account, and they do the rest. Compiling ALL of the deadline info in a spreadsheet seems like a lot of extra useless data to sort through. I'd figure out what states/species you're interested in, then focus on the applicable data. In other words, step one is to build a short/medium/and long term application strategy.

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[Tack Driver]

Application deadlines are really easy to find. Somebody probably has that, but for what it's worth here's what I do. For the species/states im invested in, I have a reminder set in my phone calender for the applicable application deadlines and also for when preference points become available for purchase (in states where that's applicable). Side note - services like Epic Outdoors take care of ALL of this for you. They help you build a strategy, you pool your fun money in an account, and they do the rest. Compiling ALL of the deadline info in a spreadsheet seems like a lot of extra useless data to sort through. I'd figure out what states/species you're interested in, then focus on the applicable data. In other words, step one is to build a short/medium/and long term application strategy.

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I hear ya, I guess my thought was more toward “hunting out west” in general versus a specific animal for my first hunt. Quality of the hunt matter much more to me than getting to shoot a sub par ____. I’d rate a quality hunt by the availability of the quarry, quality of the animal, trophy potential (don’t need a world beater, I’d just love to have a mount from my first western hunt) seclusion and relative lack of other hunting pressure in the area, and beautiful terrain all factor in. I don’t want an “easy” hunt- I don’t mind elevation and “burning some boot leather”- the sweetest things in life are those you busted tail for.


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[Jake Larsen]

I hear ya, I guess my thought was more toward “hunting out west” in general versus a specific animal for my first hunt. Quality of the hunt matter much more to me than getting to shoot a sub par ____. I’d rate a quality hunt by the availability of the quarry, quality of the animal, trophy potential (don’t need a world beater, I’d just love to have a mount from my first western hunt) seclusion and relative lack of other hunting pressure in the area, and beautiful terrain all factor in. I don’t want an “easy” hunt- I don’t mind elevation and “burning some boot leather”- the sweetest things in life are those you busted tail for.


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Check your PMs

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[pk_]

Not sure what part of TN you are in but you can ‘get your feet wet’ with backpack mountain hunting for deer/hog/bear in East TN. Good way to try out gear before making that big trip out west and also work on your ground game and stalking animals…

Welcome and good luck.

Oh there is an app I think it’s huntin’ fool that will give you all species/states app dates right on your phone.

 

[Tack Driver]

Not sure what part of TN you are in but you can ‘get your feet wet’ with backpack mountain hunting for deer/hog/bear in East TN. Good way to try out gear before making that big trip out west and also work on your ground game and stalking animals…

Welcome and good luck.

Oh there is an app I think it’s huntin’ fool that will give you all species/states app dates right on your phone.

I appreciate the tip! I’m just south of Nashville. Driving up to the smokies is no biggie- 3 hours or so. I hadn’t really considered it- most of the hunters in my sphere either despise public land hunts in Tn post-bad-experience-from-years-ago or have never tried them. The general thought is that they’re usually overcrowded to a dangerous extent, etc. reality very well could be different than all the anecdotal stuff I’ve heard.

Anyone here hunt the smokies regularly?


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