The Animals

I have some family up in Montana who, every year, set out during elk season to fill their freezer. They've been doing this for as long as I can remember. Montana has a great many species to hunt, so each hunter is usually carrying a tag for deer, elk, black bear, maybe antelope, and, if they were lucky to draw, bighorn sheep and moose. I know the latter two are amongst those "once-in-a-lifetime" hunts and drawing a tag is very difficult. Some of my relatives have been applying for 30 years and none of them have drawn one of those coveted tags. When it comes to the animals that interest them for hunting though, it has always been those native to Montana. Hunting, for them, is a social activity you do with your friends and family. Sure they enjoy shooting a big elk, but a cow elk fills the freezer just the same. I have hunted with them before and will do so again, but I'm always the oddball in the hunting party because I'm "trophy hunting."

I should probably clarify what I mean by "trophy hunting." Generally the term means a hunter is looking for a male specimen of the species that has an exceptionally large set of horns or antlers. I'm a slightly different trophy hunter in that I'm a "collector," as you may remember me mentioning. In my current phase of hunting (and hunters go through many phases in their lives) I'm really more concerned with bagging a representative animal of the species. I always seek out the old buck with a large rack, but a fork horn deer is going to make me just as happy. Just because the animal doesn't make a record book does not mean it is not a trophy to me. My first deer was a fork horn. It took me five years of hard hunting before I was able to find a legal buck to shoot here in California. I am more proud of that deer than any world record deer and I happily display it amongst my other trophies. Hunting deer in California was extremely fun, challenging, and rewarding. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself, but I'd also like to hunt other species of animals. Each species of animal is unique, both in the way you hunt it and in the way it looks. My ambition, I guess, is to try and collect an example from every species you can legally hunt. I feel it would make for a lifetime of adventure and, probably, keep my taxidermist pretty happy too. Hopefully this clarifies what a "collector" is and some of my motives for hunting.

When I started hunting, one of my biggest dreams was to go to Africa. I had read every African hunting book I could get my hands on and became enthralled with the amount of adventure and animals you could hunt on the dark continent. I doubt I will ever see the generous bag limits of years gone past, but Africa still has great allure for me as it offers an exotic destination to collect several species of game and see an entirely different part of the world. Given my interest in Africa, it should come as no surprise that dangerous game animals, like the Big Five (elephant, lion, rhino, leopard, and cape buffalo), rank among the top of my "must-have" list. There are (very lucky) hunters who go every year to hunt dangerous game, drawn to the thrill that their prey may very well turn on them and turn them into the hunted.

One benefit of Africa is it has such an abundance of species that there is something for everyone. There is the elusive bongo antelope of the Congo, the majestic mountain nyala of Ethiopia, the towering elephants of the Okavango, and the delicate springbok of Namibia. With hundreds of species to hunt ranging from chihuahua sized blue duikers up to the giant African elephant, there litterally is a species to interest every type of hunter. I hear it is even a paradise for the avid wing shooter.

One of the other groups of game species that interests me is the mountain game. This includes animals like bighorn sheep, argali, ibex, mountain goats, urials, tur, chamois, markhor, tahr, and mouflon, just to name a few. These game make a living in the most inaccessible places on earth. They are amongst some of the most difficult (and often expensive) animals to hunt. While I have seen bighorn sheep while elk hunting in Montana and apply every year for a coveted California bighorn sheep tag here in my home state, I have not been fortunate to hunt any of the wild sheep. I am privileged to know several hunters who have been bitten by the sheep bug. Their trophy rooms are filled with some of the most majestic looking of all game species (in my opinion) and it is easy to forget how rough of a hunt you have to endure to collect one of these creatures while sitting in a comfy couch. While Africa is my dream, these mountain species are amongst my (and many other hunters') favorite species of big game. This niche of hunting is so popular there are even a few organizations dedicated to hunting and preserving these regal creatures.

In addition to the entwined romanticism of hunting in Africa and the remoteness of mountain hunting, there is a slew of other species available for hunters. North America has several species of big game and every year millions of us take to the woods. What each person hunts is often dictated by where they live. Alaskans are often after moose and grizzly, those on the East Coast and Midwest predominately chase whitetail, the West, like my family in Montana, hunt elk and mule deer, and us folk in California are chasing coastal blacktail deer and hogs. Speaking of hogs, they have to be one of the best feral species. They provide year-round hunting in most states with generous to non-existent bag limits. They are inexpensive to hunt and make a great way to get in a little hunting during the long gap between seasons.

Traveling around the globe, Europe has a healthy supply of roe and fallow deer to hunt amongst other species like red stag, muntjac, and mouflon. South America has some great hunting for big game species like red stag and water buffalo as well as some world famous bird hunting for doves. Our neighbors north and south of the border of us predominately share the same game species as we enjoy in the states. There are some extras like the brocket deer in the Yucatan Peninsula and the caribou, muskox, and polar bear in Canada. Australia has an abundance of feral animals like wild horses, donkeys, camels, deer, banteng, and water buffalo. Lucky them! New Zealand also has a menagerie of introduced animals that thrive thanks to their fertile countryside and lack of predators. They have chamois and tahr as well as a few species of deer including the largest red stag in the world. Russia has moose and bear along with some mountain game and you'll find much of the former Soviet Union (a lot of those countries ending in -stan) have a great amount of mountain game hunting as well (some of the best actually). The Middle East, for those who really enjoy adventure, also has a healthy supply of mountain game hunting as does Mongolia. Places like India and more recently China are closed to hunting, but had some excellent hunting for some very exotic species like tiger and takin.

Sadly, due to the controversial nature of hunting, there is always a continuous supply of places closing their doors to hunting. This is not to say previously closed places do not open up, because they do, but moratoriums on hunting are a sad reality we often face. One of the small lights for us hunters is that many places like Texas, Australia, New Zealand, and so on, have successfully introduced species of animals not native to the region, yet they thrive in their new habitat. A great example of this is the scimitar horned oryx, dama gazelle, and addax. Practically extinct back in the Saharan desert of Africa due to poaching, but thriving in Texas thanks in part to conservation efforts by hunters. On another side not, the future of those species on ranches is uncertain as anti-hunters are currently trying to stop hunting of the scimitar oryx, addax, and dama gazelle despite the fact that hunters are the predominant reason these species still exist. This is a debate for another day though, but something to keep in mind.

There are so many species of animals in the world that it is no surprise that most people have never heard of some. It is even more daunting for those of us, like me, intent to try and collect as many of those species as they can. Each hunter has their own interest in game, whether it be elk in Montana or Hangai argali in Mongolia. Regardless of what you enjoy to hunt, hunting will always provide a lifetime of adventure!