SLAMS: PLANNING - 3rd in a Series
The last column took the topic of trophy bowhunting from "SLAMS" to "REALISTIC GOALS" by discussing how to put together a financial plan and annual hunting budget. It also started the discussion about turning that limited budget into a successful plan to accumulate a collection of trophy class big game animals. By this point those "defeatists" out there have most likely lost interest in this column, figuring that trophy bowhunting is something they will never be able to do. That is a shame, because they have sold themselves short. The rest of our readers may want help with the planning phase of achieving their ultimate trophy/bowhunting goals. That is the purpose of this column.
Perhaps the most important part of the planning process is the establishment of one's actual goals. I believe it is important that each of us set our own goals, as bowhunting is a "personal" sport and our goals should be ours, and not those of someone else. These goals should be set on a species by species basis as well as on a list of species that you hope to add to the collection. Without goals, you can have no plan, and without a plan, you can only proceed aimlessly toward eventual disappointment. Lets start with a list of animals/species you want to pursue. It might be that you have decided to focus on trophy whitetail deer to the exclusion of all other species, that you wish to collect all twenty-eight species of North American big game, or anywhere in between. For that matter, your list may include some exotic species, African game, small game, or animals from other remote parts of the World.
All that matters is that it is "your" list, and that you write it down. Once you have the list down on paper, study it in an effort to assess priorities to the various items on the list. After all, you cannot hunt everything at once; so early in the planning stage you need to put your priorities in order.
When assessing priorities, give some thought to what you really want as well as your realistic budget. If your number one priority is a polar bear, and your budget is $2,500.00 per year, you may get discouraged on the plan well before you get on the plane for the first hunt eight years from now! As mentioned in the last column, there are a number of species that can be hunted with a high probability of success and an annual budget of $2,500.00, and there are some species that you can hunt close to home for "short dollars". It is important to get some trophy hunting "success" under your belt early on in the process, therefore you should plan accordingly. Do not become one of those hunters that quit bowhunting after a few years due to discouragement from total lack of success. If your list of goals/species is an ambitious one, you may want to break it down to several smaller lists that can be attacked one at a time so that the current goal is not as daunting. Just a thought!
The next consideration is the individual trophy goal for each species on the list. Your goal may be a representative adult male of the species, a Pope & Young qualifier, a Boone & Crockett qualifier, or the new world record. Similarly, your goal may vary from species to species. It really does not matter where you set your goal (other than the higher the goal the lower the probability of success), as long as you set it and get it written down. There are a number of important reasons for understanding your specific goal on a species by species basis, and they all contribute to your potential success. If your goal is say a 150-class whitetail, then it is important to plan your hunts where there are deer of that size. Florida would not be a good choice for your next whitetail hunt in that example! By knowing your goal, and studying the record book, you can zero in on areas that might produce success and eliminate those with little chance.
Another important reason for setting goals is to help you decide when to capitalize on opportunities during a hunt. If I had a dollar for every story I've heard of hunters passing on animals early on a hunt, that they would have been thrilled with at the end of their trip, I could pay for my next hunt! If you would be satisfied with a 70 inch pronghorn, then by all means shoot the first one that big that gives you an opportunity on your hunt, even if you've been on stand for less than ten minutes. How many chances do you think the Gods of the hunt are going to give you anyway?
Perhaps it is premature to assign a trophy goal to all the species on your goal list when starting out. It may be enough at the beginning to come up with the list and get it in order by species you hope to chase. You do need to have a specific goal for any species before you make the final plan for the hunt however. You also need to understand how to field judge that species well enough to determine if a specific animal meets your preset qualifications for harvest. Without these things in place you will be wondering through the woods "hoping" to get something that you will ultimately be happy with, and most likely disappointed when all is said and done. You should also discuss your trophy objective with your guide on any hunt well before you finalize plans for the hunt. Let him know what your goals are, and ask him to confirm that they are reasonable given the hunt as planned, then remind him of the discussion at the beginning of the hunt to avoid disappointment.
Now that we have gotten by the basics, and assuming that you have your list in front of you, it is time to "fine tune" the plan. If finances are going to play an important part in your plan, you should have a good idea what the hunt will cost for each of the species on your list. The species that can be hunted close to home, on your own, are the easiest to plan. You should hunt them every year, and probably hunt them all year by scouting, getting permission, and setting up stands. This will maximize your chance of success on species that do not eat into the annual hunting budget, therefore giving the budget a little more "mileage".
Next I would recommend doing the research to pick the best hunt/guide combination for the first species on your list that will not be hunted on a self-guided basis. This should be a hunt that will be with-in your annual hunting budget and offer a high rate of success on trophy class animals to get the ball rolling. Once you are satisfied that you have found the right hunt, book it and make your final plans to go.
This is also a good time to start some longer range planning. You can start putting information together on hunts for the next species on the list. Remembering that we are assuming a tight budget, you might be able to take advantage of advance planning to cut costs. Often times an outfitter will sell hunts two or three seasons out, at this year's price, with a small deposit and agreed payment plan. This not only helps fit a more expensive hunt into the plan (given the extra time to make payments), but can save 10-15% in price increases. An additional benefit is the potential to book the very best week for maximum success with this much advance notice. At your better operations the best weeks are often booked at least one full season in advance, so careful planning can increase your odds of success while saving you money!
This type of advance planning and payment plan can also help stretch your hunting budget in other ways. By advance planning a two species combination hunt you can stretch out the payments, take advantage of discounts, and often times hunt two species for much less than they could be hunted on an individual basis. The downside is that the odds of getting both on a single hunt are going to be less than on two hunts, but the cost savings can make the risk well worth taking.
Here is an example: Some of the high quality trophy "bowhunting only" camps I represent in Newfoundland offer both moose and caribou hunts, or allow combination hunts for both species. Both moose and caribou live in the same area around the camps and can easily be hunted during a one-week stay. A caribou hunt sells for around $3,300.00 (tag included), while a moose hunt is closer to $2,800.00. Either of these hunts is slightly over the $2,500.00 annual budget we've set, so advance planning is needed to cover the costs. A combination hunt can be done in the $4,400.00 range for a savings of about $1,500.00 (plus travel and time away from work and family). If planned well in advance, you can book your hunt for the prime moose rut to improve your odds on a trophy bull at a location that has near 100% success on trophy caribou.
You should get your trophy stag, and will have a better than 50% chance on a good moose. If you get lucky, you will have both animals on one hunt with a significant cost savings and an extra weeks hunt available to chase something else on the list. There are other good combination hunts available with similar opportunities to get the most for your limited hunting dollars.
Another example of how to stretch your hunting budget with pre-planning has to due with limited or special tag drawings. A simple example for those in the Northeast has to do with moose hunting. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont all now have limited tags for moose issued in annual drawings. The odds of winning a tag are not great, but the cost to apply is very cheap, and if you win a guided hunt can be put together on a very limited budget. There are a number of good guides that will help you get a moose in Maine for under $1,500.00 if you draw a tag, while a hunt with similar chances for a trophy quality moose in BC will run well over $5,000.00. You cannot just plan to hunt moose this fall in Maine, but if you put in every year for the draw, you may get lucky, kill a trophy moose, and save big bucks.
Perhaps moose is not the best example, because you can get to hunt them on a limited budget as explained above. Look at bighorn sheep however, and the picture really changes. If you wanted to just book a hunt for bighorns you would have to look to BC, Alberta, or a limited area in Montana. The area open for unlimited tags in Montana is not generally considered a good bet for trophy quality or high success rates, especially for bowhunters and should therefore be eliminated. The good quality hunts in BC and/or Alberta will run over $15,000.00 each, not including tags, travel, and misc. other expenses. You have to figure around $20,000.00 by the time all is said and done, however they have good success rates! A $20,000.00 hunt does not fit well into our limited budget scenario, but bighorn sheep can be worked into the plan if done right.
There are a number of Western States that award limited sheep tags through annual drawings. Some of these drawings require that several hundred, or thousand, dollars be sent in with the application, however all the money is returned (less a small application fee) if you are unsuccessful in the draw. Most of these States allow you to build "preference" or "bonus" points for every year you apply and are not drawn, which increases your odds in the future. Some States allow you to apply for "points only" on years that you do not want to hunt, and let you do it without sending the high tag fee in advance. If you start applying in these programs when you are at the beginning stages of your trophy-hunting plan, you can build the points needed to significantly increase your odds of drawing by the time you will be ready to hunt these species. "Why do this?", you might ask. That same Alberta bighorn hunt that will cost $20,000.00 can be done in Colorado for under $5,000.00 if you draw one of those coveted tags.
If you plan carefully, a good sheep hunt can be put together in Wyoming (with a drawn tag) for under $3,000.00. All of a sudden these sheep hunts that are usually outside the reach of a hunter on a limited budget are with-in reason.
An entire book could be written on planning trophy hunts just for North American big game animals, and it would be obsolete with-in a couple years due to the rapidly changing regulations. Hunting is getting better all the time, and more trophy hunting opportunities are available every season. Research and planning have never been more important. While there is no way that you'll be able to put a plan together that will have a reasonable chance of success in collecting all twenty-eight species on a budget of $2,500.00 per year, it is very possible to collect a "representative slam" of North American big game on this budget given time, patience, hard work, and planning. One of the nice things about it is that all the research and planning extends your hunting season year round, making the time between fall hunts pass a whole lot faster.
Good hunting.