09-22-2007, 05:17 PM
They call bulls like that "once in a lifetime" for a reason. The way I see it, your buddy got 20 chances at that bull, it's unfortunate that nothing came of it. Most of us; even if we draw a LE tag, will be lucky to get just one encounter with something of that class.
Yeah, your friend put in a lot of time and money, but if you want a garunteed kill, go to some high fence, canned hunt facility.
If your friend wasn't so enamored with that one bull and was willing to chase other, lesser bulls earlier in the hunt I'm sure he would have had a better chance of filling his tag, but he saw the one massive bull and put all of his eggs in that one basket. Don't get me wrong, if I had waited 12 years to draw, chased a bull of a lifetime and came home empty I would be bummed as well. Once I had seen that monster I would have done the same thing, chased that big pig all season and come home empty, but that's life.
In my opinion hunters that judge success only by the tape measure are a huge problem with our sport. When all you care about is the #'s and getting your name in B&C or P&Y that is where you get guys like Doyle Moss from. Now I'm not comparing your friend to the Mossback boys at all, that is an extreme case, but he does profit from guys with money who are willing to pay to get their names in the record books.
Like I say, I'm not comparing your friend with those guys, he waited for his tag, did all of his own scouting and all of his leg work, but he is missing the forrest for the trees. I hope over time he will be able to step back and see the positive, see what he gained in the experience and not dwell on the fact that his hunt didn't end with a trip to the taxidermist.
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Yeah, your friend put in a lot of time and money, but if you want a garunteed kill, go to some high fence, canned hunt facility.
If your friend wasn't so enamored with that one bull and was willing to chase other, lesser bulls earlier in the hunt I'm sure he would have had a better chance of filling his tag, but he saw the one massive bull and put all of his eggs in that one basket. Don't get me wrong, if I had waited 12 years to draw, chased a bull of a lifetime and came home empty I would be bummed as well. Once I had seen that monster I would have done the same thing, chased that big pig all season and come home empty, but that's life.
In my opinion hunters that judge success only by the tape measure are a huge problem with our sport. When all you care about is the #'s and getting your name in B&C or P&Y that is where you get guys like Doyle Moss from. Now I'm not comparing your friend to the Mossback boys at all, that is an extreme case, but he does profit from guys with money who are willing to pay to get their names in the record books.
Like I say, I'm not comparing your friend with those guys, he waited for his tag, did all of his own scouting and all of his leg work, but he is missing the forrest for the trees. I hope over time he will be able to step back and see the positive, see what he gained in the experience and not dwell on the fact that his hunt didn't end with a trip to the taxidermist.
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