When myself and my hunting partners go on a hunt,the priority is not how many animals we can kill,and as a result,we do usually come home with several unfilled tags.Sometimes we are given three antlerless mule deer tags each when drawn,and with antlered mule tags, general whitetail tags, supplementary tags,Camp Wainright tags,elk tags,moose tags,pronghorn tags,and bighorn tags four of us could have up to four dozen tags combined in a given year if we drew them all.However,we stagger our draws so that we have tags for every species,and everyone has an elk tag,and more than one deer tag every year.We take enough game to provide us with meat to last until next year,then we basically trophy hunt,or try to help one of our partners to take a species that he hasn't yet taken.I myself could normally fill five or six tags in a season,and I have done so a few times,but I normally kill an elk,and then keep watching for trophy deer while helping my other hunting partners take their game.One of our group had not killed a moose yet,so I have spent a lot of my time acting as his guide calling bulls for him,to make sure that he tagged out.My other two partners had yet to kill an elk,so I have spent a lot of time helping them to get their first elk.I spent almost an entire week helping a friend kill his first pronghorn before filling my own tag.I do enjoy my hunting a great deal,and I do enjoy the meat,but some of my proudest moments have come when I helped hunting partners kill their first deer,elk,pronghorn or moose.To us it's not a matter of how many tags we can fill,but rather getting out with good friends,having some safe fun,and bringing home some choice meat.We could easily fill at least twenty tags every year between us,but we usually end up with a dozen or so animals between us.
I was taught to respect the game that I hunt from a very young age,and I have tried hard to pass that respect on to those people that I hunt with.
I am proud to say,that people that I hunt with share the passion for hunting that I do,and they also show the same respect for the animals that we hunt,as is demonstrated in the fact that they only take very high percentage shots,and rarely have to track an animal.Yes mistakes do happen to all of us,but I really do hate to have to track an animal that is made to suffer because someone took a shot that they knew was beyond their shooting skills.
