tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18089947.post-1143521915511507042006-03-27T20:57:00.000-08:002006-04-05T19:40:51.196-07:00When I was growing up in our small town in northern Arizona, our Dad, a locomotive engineer on the Santa Fe Railroad and a WWII First Sergeant who did a lot of training of GIs in America and saw action in the European theatre, used to get his boys (there were eventually 7 of us) up early in the morning and drive to the Mogollon Rim country in the Sitgreaves Forest, south of our home town (Zane Grey and Hashknife Outfit country). Dad would sling his Springfield 30.06 (the one he brought home from the War) over his shoulder and take off into the forest with his boys trying to keep up. Dad was a very fast walker and we nearly ran to keep up with him. Going up hills was almost too much; he never slowed down. It was as if he were going to literally catch the deer we were hunting. I was sure that Dad had never seen a deer standing still. I was also sure that the hunt reminded him of and allowed him to use, some of the infantry training he did in North Carolina. He wanted to “move out” quickly and get a shot. Dad’s hunting was “fair” but it was for sure a “chase”. Dad was chasing the game and we were chasing Dad! It was ethical and athletic hunting at its best. <br /><br />I only remember one time when Dad used anything other than his legs to hunt game. We were south of Flagstaff, Arizona hunting Antelope. Dad had recently purchased an old “Woody” station wagon and he drove it as if it were the world’s first SUV, which it might have been. Dad saw a herd of Antelope and just took off the dirt road and headed for the herd. It didn’t take him long to get to 20, 30, and, at least to a small boy, 40 or 50 miles an hour! These were the days before seat belts and the boys were flying in the back cargo area. I always wondered how Dad would get a shot off once he caught up with the Antelope. I think that he must have been 4-wheelin more than he was hunting. The boys loved it and we talked and laughed about it for years.<br /><br />When I purchased the HPR and learned of the only overnight USFS permit to guide elk hunts in the Beaverhead Mountains above our ranch, I decided to purchase the permit. It has taken us a long time to get serious about building an outfitter business but we are finally doing it. This past weekend we had a booth at the Salt Lake City Sportsmen Exposition at the South Towne Plaza in Sandy, Utah. We learned a lot and had a good show. Ironically, most of our visitors were displaced Montanans from Great Falls, Helena, Poulson, Darby, Missoula, etc. These people were homesick for Montana. They had left Montana to come to Utah for jobs, or better paying jobs and they wanted to lament to fellow Montanans about the traffic and issues in Utah but also just reminisce about Montana.<br /><br />We also got a lot of Utah hunters who had been trying to draw a tag for a large bull elk for 10-16 years. Such patience. Why not come to Montana and hunt before you grow old in Utah waiting for a tag. Utah, like Arizona, limits their tags for large bull elk. Another problem in Utah and Arizona is the sheer number of hunters in the wilds. <br /><br />We do our outfitting under the dba MontanaOutfitters.Com. We bring clients into our LakeSide guest area for the first night, feed them a hot meal, and get them oriented to the area and horsemanship. The next day we get their horse and tack ready for the 2-3 hour pack trip into a backcountry camp in a roadless USFS area, from which we hunt by horseback and on foot. At the end of the hunt we ride back to LakeSide for a hot shower and great meal. Our program is especially appealing to families and partners (partners can remain at the cabins at LakeSide while their partners rough it in the back country). We offer both comfort and roughing it in the same week.<br /><br />The show was amazing. What a great diversity of people chasing a great diversity of game. What a contrast to have several Black Bear cubs that could be held and photographed on one side of the conference center and on the other side have the outfitter who will guide a spring Black Bear hunt! Then there were the game farms. Wow! What a sad business. These people raise their elk, like we raise cattle, on grain and pastures, in a fenced-in small area (e.g. 1,200 acres). For those who pay the “trophy” fee, they can shoot a domesticated elk in a fenced in pasture………………and this is sport? Most of these farms seem to be in Idaho. They are as distasteful as they are unsportsmanlike. There is nothing “fair” about their hunting and they are certainly not chasing game. It would be more noble to shoot one of our domesticated Black Angus cows in a corral………at least there would be more meat!<br /><br />In a day and age when you can raise and shoot them, film them with digital cameras, and hone in on them with cell phones…………thank goodness for the Fari Chase Hunts for the fair-minded hunter.Kenneth W. Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191172182965521357noreply@blogger.com