Adventures In Hunting

Except for a relative few purists, most fishermen have a broader interest in the outdoors and enjoy hunting just as much. We certainly have quite a longstanding hunting heritage to celebrate in the Lake Ontario Region! So, over the course of future issues, we are going to hunt some of the world's greatest big game and game birds together.

Sometimes we'll choose a species available right here in our backyard. Sometimes we'll venture "out West", as well as "up North" to Canada and Alaska. Periodically, we'll be tracking in places so remote that we'll consult an atlas to help us get our bearings. Now, why would we choose to go places and hunt animals that we may never have heard about, or possibly only dreamed of hunting, and which seem to be a world away in time and affordability? The simple answer is that the determined and passionate hunter can still experience some of the absolute best hunting in modern history right NOW, and some of it is surprisingly affordable. It certainly will never get any cheaper.

So, the time is now. Make no mistake about it - ALL of this hunting will deliver life's best and most unforgettable experiences. You may also be surprised to hear of the fishing that is available in some of these same locations as well as how interesting these locations can be for the non-hunter, too. That alone may make the whole trip possible. There is an old saying, "life's experiences are worth more than life's possessions". That's how I see things, which is why we're going places! I have a range of good topics in mind to cover, but I would like to hear of your interests so I can address them, too.

This column will be totally geared to sharing information and providing experience-based insights into great hunting opportunities around the world. I'll cover the landscape of important topics such as game conditions, as well as pricing trends for major species and highlight the best hunting bargains. We'll discuss some hand picked "sleeper areas", the proverbial "honey holes" containing good concentrations of above average trophy quality. We'll talk of hunting methods, and put you right in the picture of what it is like to be afield for our chosen species. And we'll talk about gear that works, including apparel, calibers, archery and muzzleloaders. You'll be well prepared for your hunts.

You'll get a hunter's perspective as well as an outfitter and guide's perspective. You'll know what they expect of you, and exactly how much you should expect of them. We'll define important considerations in selecting various species to hunt and the most productive type of hunting trip involving those species.

We'll develop a foundational definition of "trophy hunting" so that you have the right perspective in setting expectations for yourself. I'll also offer up a range of myth-busting topics including everything from traveling with guns, over-hunted regions, and the like.

There is an old saying, "life's experiences are worth more than life's possessions". That's how I see things, which is why we're going places!

What I will share with you is based on over 30 years of hunting. Whatever know-how I may possess has also been flavored by the mistakes that I've made along the trail. What they say is dead true, "learning has not occurred until pain is felt". Many years ago, I could have been the poster boy for that phrase! It was not until 1970, my very first hunt away from home, that I learned a good hard lesson of what not to do when booking a hunt. We must have all been there at some point because not a day goes by without someone telling me about one or more of their disastrous hunts where their expectations and reality ended up being two different things.

It's quite easy for me to feel their pain because the pain of my first bad hunting trip hit me very hard, and I still can remember it like it was yesterday. I was a young husband who should have used that money for something else, and because I did not know what I was doing, ended up washing good money down the drain. On this particular hunt, I vividly recall the sight of seven Rocky Mountain Goats sunning themselves on a cliff overlooking the Liard River in British Columbia. From my vantage point, it was like looking up at little cotton puffs, scattered about and glued to a wall that reached the sky. It was a straight up and down rocky wall, the kind that make goats feel safe from their enemies. They all looked to be mature billies (you can tell they're billies because of the dirty yellow cast to their hair). Trouble was that we were on the other side of the river and my guide did not know a place where we could cross it without drowning. I went home skunked, and post-rationalized to myself, "Oh well, that's hunting".

Trying to recover from that first disaster, I figured that I would consult a booking agent for advice for the following year. Well, that was equivalent to reloading my gun after just shooting myself in the foot. That encounter of a weird kind, led to a "rack-em and stack-em" pronghorn hunt in New Mexico. Having happened back-to-back with the BC hunt was about all I could take.

So, I sat myself down and reasoned that I had to start treating the cost of all my hunting trips as a financial investment worthy of good research and management. I had already accepted that true fair-chase hunting means that a hunter may not always get his game. After all, the animals are wild, and other variables, like weather, or the amount of rainfall an area may have received, or even predation, means that there will always be some degree of risk in fair-chase hunting. I could accept "risk" - that is hunting. But, I could no longer accept "chance" - that is bull dust.

Regardless of risk, I realized that hunting with people of skill in good game country could improve my chances of success greatly. That said, I was disappointed when I discovered that there were too few people in the hunting consulting business who truly knew what they were doing. Oddly enough there were some very good ones, but they did not help me truly understand very much. It was more like a very high-handed "go here, hunt with this guy, and be sure to send me your deposit right away". When I could get somebody to open up a bit, I then realized that few of them were true active practitioners, in the game fields all the time taking stock of the situation. Ever heard the term, "One Safari Charlie"? Many were trying hard, but they were more like travel agents. I found myself mesmerized and trying hard to interpret the hype and "sound bites" heard at sports shows, or read in ads found in the pages of hunting magazines. Even today, pretty websites don't tell the story. I wanted to fix all that for myself, to protect my own money.

Once I made that commitment, it was like "going to the mountain". The die was cast for me to begin tracking game conditions, outfitter area developments, and the people of skill who guided the best hunts, year over year over year. Now I own a company that recommends and arranges fair-chase big game hunting, wingshooting and fishing trips worldwide for discerning sportsmen and women. I may actually have one of the most rewarding jobs around. It now gives me great pleasure to see other people go and tell me about their trip when they return home.

The most important part of what I do is to determine what a hunter desires, provide up-to-the-minute information concerning the species and relevant destinations, and then objectively help the hunter to make a informed choice of where and when to hunt, with whom to entrust the hunt, how to prepare, how to get there, and how to improve the odds of success on trophy class game.

So, what is trophy hunting, exactly? For some, a trophy is a head that "makes the book". For others, the trophy is the experience. What I have personally settled as a definition is the total experience of hunting hard and selectively in good game country for above average heads, but also being happy with all that I take from the hunt.

"With all this in mind, I look forward to sharing solid and useable information with you. While they may have their place in the scheme of things, I'll avoid those "fluff stories" that are so common. Instead, I'll focus on providing insights and laying out the considerations that will help you make logical decisions in planning your hunting adventure. Along the way, we'll put the hunt back into hunting, and hopefully find new pathways that will allow you to do more of it. Stay tuned, because your trophy is just over the next ridge".

Mark Audino is founder and president of Henley & Delamere Adventuring, located in Honeoye Falls, NY. Henley & Delamere arranges big game hunting, wingshooting, and sportfishing trips in 25 states and provinces in North America, and 36 countries worldwide.
Contact Mark at (585) 582-2926, or e-mail: maudino1@rochester.rr.com.