Like many of you, I was raised around hunting. My dad, and uncle are what you could call "Elkaholics". I went hunting with them at a very young age. This not only taught me how to survive in the wild, but morals about hunting, and that there is more to hunting then "The KILL". It is about the challenge, the camp, the food, those cold feet, that bottle you pass around the camp fire, flipping a coin to see who's elk donates their backstraps for lunch (butterflied elk steaks cooked over a fire!!). That is hunting to me. I hunted every weekend during bow season, on my ranch in the Highwoods, I was in elk dang near every day. I never notched a arrow. Reason, 1. I didnt see the quality bull I wanted and 2. I didnt need to shoot one unless he was big enough, and If i couldnt find the calliber bull I wanted, I would shoot a cow. We have elk and deer because of proper management, and we do not rape the land or the native game like many outfitters do. And yes, I have seen a 400+ bull in the wild. They can be like hunting a ghost, they didnt get big for being slow or stupid.
Today, I see to many people hunt just for the opposit reasons. The kill. They want to drive up and shoot that buck in my hay meadow, or in the stack yard. Their question is "Hey, i would like some meat, can I shoot that 160 class white tail behind your house?". Hell no. What is the challenge to that? Also, that big stinky buck in the rut, will he be good eating? No. The good eater is that yearling or 2 year white tail doe. 90% of the people who say "I need meet for the freezer" dont want to shoot the doe, even if it is the best eating.
The bull killed on the game farm, is a truely magnificent animal. But he was killed, not hunted. Big difference in my opinion.
