USA: Montana Elk Hunt 2013

Awesome! Gotta love those 300 Roys, too. Mine is my favorite gun.

 

I wish to thank all you gentlemen who has contributed to this particular thread for exposing a lie that was told to me regarding the practices of American hunters on their home ranges. I was told that American hunters are interested in only the trophies of the animals that they hunt and that they would often just leave the carcass where they downed the animal. From this particular thread, I have learned that you are no different from us in South Africa (or other hunters the world over),where we retrieve and process the carcasses by either doing it ourselves, or taking it to a butcher to do it for us, at a fee, and of course that you consume the game that you have hunted. I apologize to you for even allowing myself in believing such a lie.
Kind regards,
Johan Nel

 

johan in Australia theres plenty of blokes that just trophy hunt ,and that's okay , they may walk in to the bush to hunt where it takes a whole day to get in there , and stay 5 or 6 days , some longer .they will usually take an eater the first day ,then hunt only stags ,they will leave the carcass 9 out of 10 times . its quite normal and no one complains .
but the guys that shoot an animal with in a couple of hundred metres off the track and don't utilise it are frowned upon , but its not very often that this happens , you quite often see a carcass in the bush the has been broken down and only the rib cage and the front leg that copped the bullet is left, not a great endearment ,but still utilised .
most hunters are mainly meat hunters that l know ,as you can do 10 hunts around home and not see a trophy stag .
then we have the after dark adventurers , they spotlight and generally only shoot the big stags . these parasites usually just hack off the head or skull cap .and leave the rest either in some ones paddock or where it drops , quite often beside a road or bush track . or if they cape the animal out ,they usually freeze the cape and sell it someone that needs one .these idiots are the ones that make it hard to get premission to hunt on properties around home
these guys are every where , and usually have a shed full of antlers .and don't own a freezer.
but everyone that know hunts for the meat , and we procces it our selves and share with friends and family
but in saying that if bigg daddy walks out , hes going to get shot , chopped ,and shopped , he will never get cold over winter again , he will very cozzy in some ones lounge room close to the fire place

 

bluey,
I am aware of the Australian practices through Don Caswell, who also have a very insightful blog site called Aussiehunter. I am also aware that a large number of animals/species in Australia are introduced and are considered feral animals. These are often destructive to the environment and are thus declared 'persona non grata' and may be hunted or shot at will, without hunting permits or tags and any time of the year. I have no issue with that at all. I have no issue with trophy hunters or hunting either. I personally prefer to utilize what I hunt. Being the sort of person that I am, I would have tried to make use of the products of the animals by selling it trading it to whatever avenues are available to offshoot expenses of my hunt or to finance the next one..., But to just leave it there, nah, that's wasteful.
I am off topic here now as it refers to an Elk hunt in Montana, but wanted to reflect on your reaction.

 

you sound like a good bloke to hunt with ,
a lot of our animals are considered feral ,all are introduced ,
in victoria where l live you need to be licenced to hunt them .

 

Johan, WOW I wonder what lunatic told a story like that?! Someone who has never set foot in the field here for sure.

Don't get me wrong I'll chase a trophy right up over the ridge and have done so for an entire thirty day hunting season. But, leave meat behind NEVER!

It is illegal to waste game meat here in Canada and I am just as sure of it in the US.
The only meat we are not required to eat from a hunted animal is from a (Cougar (Mountain Lion) or Bear).
I know of instances of hunters being charged for leaving the rib cages behind when they boned an animal in the mountains.

I have a Swazi buddy who moved here and he has been indoctrinated into our method of hunting.
There are NO farm workers to help you drag it out, gut it, hang it, skin it or butcher it. Surprise!
We make the Steaks, Boerewors and Biltong ourselves.

The proof.

View attachment IMG_0416_zps7ec02296.jpg




We of course have our POACHERS. Those @#$%^&* are not hunters.

 

Brickburn,
Wow, what can I say, biltong AND boerewors. I take my hat off to you. I also prefer to work my own meat. To me it is as much part of the hunt as the stalk and taking of the animal. This is what a typical buck ends up as before finding it's way to the freezer.

View attachment IMGP1476_zps6cff10ef.jpg

In regards to the bogeyman that fed us lies, that is a story for another day.
Regards,
Johan Nel