Is hunting it worth it anymore?

[outdsman]

Hunting these days is not what it used to be. Gone from "harvesting" to having to painstakingly identify your animal, and who is perfect. Whether it is brow tines, 50", interpretation of degree of curl, billy/nanny, sow/cubs, bull vs. cow bison etc. There are many ways to be wrong.

Don't get me wrong...I don't want everyone out there shooting up anything that moves. We need good game management. My point is that bad mistakes can happen to good people and hunter intention is not relevant to a trooper.

If I sound like I have some heartburn I do. The court system is suddenly a part of my life I've never had to deal with before. I am a born and raised Alaskan, hunting is a part of who I am. I will not stop hunting, but now have a very different outlook and approach on what had been a positive, recreational, freezer filling, family feeding time of the year.

P.S. It is encouraging to see and read the positive reports so far this year.

[MarineHawk]

I don't know what your specific situation is, but I hope it turns out well for you. I don't know the answer, but it seems like one-time honest/close mistakes ought to be given a pass, as opposed to repeat offender or really obvious violations. A one-time 48" brow tine moose kill does not seem to be the same to me as a guy who shoots a 39-incher or has missed the mark multiple times. JMO.

[Doc]

You are correct sir that bad things do happen to good people...each and every day. When that happens, seeking social support from trusted friends and those you love and love you is an extremely potent remedy that works...rather than the internet. I truly wish you well.

[Daved]

To answer your question, yes it is worth it. But, you and everybody else here knows that. We all wish it was more worth it sometimes.

Best of luck, it gets better

[Anythingalaska]

Hunting these days is not what it used to be. Gone from "harvesting" to having to painstakingly identify your animal, and who is perfect. Whether it is brow tines, 50", interpretation of degree of curl, billy/nanny, sow/cubs, bull vs. cow bison etc. There are many ways to be wrong.

Don't get me wrong...I don't want everyone out there shooting up anything that moves. We need good game management. My point is that bad mistakes can happen to good people and hunter intention is not relevant to a trooper.

If I sound like I have some heartburn I do. The court system is suddenly a part of my life I've never had to deal with before. I am a born and raised Alaskan, hunting is a part of who I am. I will not stop hunting, but now have a very different outlook and approach on what had been a positive, recreational, freezer filling, family feeding time of the year.

P.S. It is encouraging to see and read the positive reports so far this year.

Not really sure I understand what you're getting at. Where I live there aren't any real restrictions in hunting any individual animal; except not shooting does in Buck only season; and not shooting Nannies with kids; which either way would be wrong in general. Sure people make mistakes; but with the kind of pressure said animal groups get nowadays (especially in south central AK and the peninsula) I can understand the need for the kinds of rules and regulations we have today.

[K Dill]

I'm 100% in agreement with outdsman. Our sport has gone from a relatively simple endeavor to something far more complex in terms of the demands placed on us by the rest of the population.

Draw apps, fees and deadlines. Tags, harvest permits and registration permits. Boundaries, GMUs and zones. Inches, points. Troopers on foot, snow machine, trucks, airplanes and helios. Bone-in, evidence of sex. Archery, muzzleloader, rifle, handgun seasons. Air taxi, big game transporter, guide or outfitter. What the h-ll is pre-scouting anyway? I thought it was called scouting. My bunch of locking tags, harvest permits, licenses, registrations and other paperwork requires a portfolio. Hunt reports...or no more tags. Emergency orders and updates.

None of these alone is anything to sweat, but the accumulation of human demands on hunters makes the hunting experience more like an exercise in maintaining legality...than just hunting. I've never had a game violation or warning, though I think it could have happened on a couple technicalities. I get tired of feeling like a hunter who faces potential and real investigation every time I go deep into the wilds, or just outside town. Maybe it has something to do with having the troopers drop a helio on my moose camp twice in 3 years...the bullet-proof vest and SWAT look. Both guys were completely professional and easy to talk with. I remind myself they are men who go home to their wives and children, and love their dog just like I do mine.

I guess I just long for the days when I used to go hunting and could feel completely free of most demands. Now it seems I carry much of it with me in my mind...and that portfolio.

[limon32]

I suppose the answer depends on why your going.

If you are more worried about the harvesting than the hunting, make it a harvest and go to one of the bison farms and "hunt/harvest" one of those. No worries.

If your more worried about getting out and seeing country and possibly getting a shot at a legal animal than keep at it.

I've yet to kill a bear, I've passed on a few I could have easily shot because I couldn't see around them we'll enough to see if they had cubs or the retrieval would have presented a danger to me or my family. No bid deal to me because we spent time together on the mountain and made it home alive. We'll worth it to me.


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[Akres]

Papers Please

Sound familiar? The USofA has rapidly turned into a Police State, no different than those abroad. Federal over-reach and militarization of state agencies hastened the process...while we were too busy working, playing and hunting to notice. This generation will suffer thru it...the next generation will say to hell with it, it ain't worth it.

[Jktimm]

It's still worth it to me. I've been here 46 years and as long as I could remember moose was "any bull" and caribou were up to "five per day." I have to admit that I worry when I am on a 50" bull with THREE brow tines, and I will pass the shot. On the up side, I enjoy spending a little more time with each animal while they are alive. On the down side, I had to hike back in for the naked remains of caribou ribs that I had taken the meat off to save weight (I had missed the restriction of leaving meat on the ribs.) Maybe it will become less restricted over the next 40 years.

[bushrat]

Oh sheesh...you can't have good wildlife mgmt without regulations governing take. And you can't have good wildlife mgmt without some level of brown-shirt enforcement.

Are regs complicated? Sure, in some areas they are. But honestly it's up to hunters to take the time to go over them and understand them. Alaska is growing and human demands on game populations demand some level of restrictions on what can be harvested and how many, and by what means; it's really as simple as that.

[Bear]

Like limon I don't feel the "need" to harvest to have a successful hunt. Been there done that for lots of years. I feel a "need" to get out there and share with my 4yo boy and teach him there is more to hunting then the "need" to kill.. It's not about the kill. True subsistance hunters likely feed the need more so and that's understandable. It's not the regs that are the problem it's the vast majority of the hunting population the has such a strong "need" to be successful that they are willing to push the limits and in lots of cases shoot first measure second. Exceptions? Of course but they are rare.

[hoose35]

It is worth it to me. There are so many out there that will cheat the rules and system that with out regulations, the hunting soon would not be worth it IMO.

[jubilation]

I'm on the- to much regulation side- it just becomes a bit of a nerve wracking deal. But then again, I'm sort of a personality that wants to do it just right- I have worrying tendencies, one could say. Is it worth it? I guess so, we enjoy much about the hunting experience (including the subsistence needs & desire to feed my kids non-govt meat), but if we choose to hunt, we have no choice about the regs if we want to be legal.

[fishnhunt]

I'm also in the too many regs crowd. I believe we all suffer for the bad behavior of a few others. Not everyone hunts responsibly and for this reason, more laws are created each year. When does it become too regulated to continue? Sounds like once you've been burned for making an honest mistake? I was ticketed a few years ago for an honest mistake on a hunt. He took the meat and I paid a pretty stiff fine. That made me bitter for a while. I've always been careful to follow everything in the regs and then I get busted like a criminal for overlooking a small detail. I tried to explain the circumstances for the mistake, but he wasn't interested.
This applies to fishing as well.

[4merguide]

I'm also in the too many regs crowd. I believe we all suffer for the bad behavior of a few others. Not everyone hunts responsibly and for this reason, more laws are created each year. When does it become too regulated to continue? Sounds like once you've been burned for making an honest mistake? I was ticketed a few years ago for an honest mistake on a hunt. He took the meat and I paid a pretty stiff fine. That made me bitter for a while. I've always been careful to follow everything in the regs and then I get busted like a criminal for overlooking a small detail. I tried to explain the circumstances for the mistake, but he wasn't interested.
This applies to fishing as well.

Yes, I'd have to agree. People with very little respect for things in life as a whole have led to all this bs when it comes to the rules and regs. I know to a certain degree it HAS made law breakers out of what was once good law abiding people. Not many want to break their back packing out a moose that is 1/2" shy of 50" then take the chance of getting it confiscated and face a potential fine by being a "good guy" and reporting it. So, instead they just hide it and keep their mouths shut......I will admit that I can't say I blame them.

I know that there has to be rules and regs, but it does feel that it has gotten a bit ridiculous at times.....