Let's Go West: Part IV
What is a Successful Hunt?
Now that you’ve hopefully determined what species you want to pursue and also have a general idea of how to find a tag, we need to decide what will qualify as a successful hunt. Success can be very hard to define. Every hunter seems to have a different idea of what they call success, and it often varies from hunt to hunt. Many hunters just want to fill a tag, but there is so much more to a successful hunt. You need to consider a few things when talking about success.
1. Do you have to fill a tag to have a successful hunt? If that’s the case, then you likely need to look at units with high success rates. Often, these units have limited tag numbers and take years to draw. Sometimes, success is due to a high percentage of private land within the unit.
2. Do you plan on returning to hunt the unit? If you are looking at this trip as the first of many, you’ll likely want to hunt the same unit multiple times. In this case, a successful trip could mean you found bucks or bulls and had opportunities, but didn’t harvest one. You can build on the knowledge you gained and feel confident in your next hunt.
3. Is it important for you to see a lot of animals? There are a lot of hunts out there where a hunter can observe dozens of animals a day. If you want to see a bunch of elk or deer throughout your hunt, then you likely need to look for units that are more open and glassable. If you don’t care how many you see a day, as long as you see mature animals, then lower-density units may be a better option. Typically, hunts with lower densities have fewer tags. The ability to spend a lot of time in the field without a bunch of hunters can be a great experience. If you envision a hunt with animals on every ridge, I’d also expect to see more hunters.
Defining success can be as challenging as any other part of the planning process. You need to go into the field with an idea in mind and work to accomplish that goal at the very least. All hunters have high hopes of shooting a big buck or bull when they head out. It’s always a possibility, if in units that aren’t known for older age class animals. The reality is that you can likely achieve your idea of success in many units across the West.
If you determine that filling a tag is the most important part of this hunt for you, then we need to ask some other questions. Would you be happy shooting a small buck/bull? Are you interested in hunting does or cows? Is going guided an option, or can you pay a trespass fee to hunt private? All these things can improve your chance of harvesting an animal. The other big component is time. How much time do you have to hunt? Can you make a scouting trip in the summer to learn the road systems and familiarize yourself with the unit? Hunters can successfully harvest an animal every year. As you get more hunts under your belt, you’ll likely find success more often. One option that can streamline the process is to go guided in your first year, if that is an option. You can learn a lot from a good guide and determine what you enjoy or don’t enjoy about different aspects of the hunt. I know that many people have no interest in guided hunts, and that’s perfectly fine, but it is a good option for some hunters.
In the event that you are planning to hunt an area multiple times, you’ll likely want to set some goals around the hunt, outside of just harvesting an animal. If you roll into the unit for the first time and your target animal crosses the road in front of you, you’ll likely find success in killing them. However, you didn’t successfully learn the unit and prepare for your next trip. It would be smart to take care of that animal and take it to a cold storage, or processor, and then return to the field to spend a few days learning the country and looking for animals. Any knowledge you can gain would be a huge benefit for future hunts. There’s a chance that you spend 4-5 days in the unit after you harvest and don’t see another animal. In that situation, you may want to look at other parts of the unit next time or choose a different one altogether.
Going into the field with the goal of finding a bunch of animals is an interesting approach. If you are in a unit that’s heavily private and you can drive roads and look for animals in the fields, that doesn’t necessarily bring you closer to harvesting an animal. If you plan to cover a bunch of country and glass from good vantage points into areas you can hunt, then you may build some good intel. I would recommend hunters look at population numbers as both positive and negative at the same time. If you find a unit with 100,000 deer in it, there are likely a ton of hunters and a ton of sanctuary habitat for them to survive in. While seeing a lot of deer would be fun, it may not put you any closer to success if those animals can’t be hunted. On the flipside, a unit with 30 deer in it may only offer one tag. It sounds like fun to hunt a bunch without seeing other hunters, but you are also looking for a needle in a haystack. If you are willing to spend the time, you could harvest an animal, and possibly a mature buck or bull. It could also be a boring, mental grind of a hunt. I’d recommend finding something in the middle. Make sure there is a good population of animals, a good amount of public land, and a moderate number of tags. If you can find those three things, you’ll likely have an enjoyable experience.
While success can be defined in different ways, one thing is for sure. Hunters go into the field with the goal of harvesting an animal. You can always say you don’t have to kill an animal to be successful, and I’d agree with that at times, but you should be defining your success in a way that leads to harvesting an animal. Whether it’s on your first trip or your third, the end goal is to harvest an animal. Remember, you can go for a hike any time of year. Many people go “hunting” but their plan is poor and it ends up being nothing more than a hike with their rifle or bow. If you want to come hunting…let’s plan to harvest an animal.