October 2022 - 29

And by " it, " I don't mean harvested a
turkey, not yet. That wasn't the goal.
In a hunting world, where so many people
focus on the kill, on shooting the biggest whitetailed
buck, the score of a bull elk or the rack
on a mule deer, what makes most of us wake
up at 5 a.m. to wander in the cold is the thrill
of the actual hunt. It's the interaction between
us and an animal in a level of intimacy nearly
impossible to experience any other way.
Sure, harvesting an animal is what fills
our freezers and manages our herds, but it's
more than meat, punched tags, the photo
on Facebook and the bragging rights to our
friends. If it was only about those things, would
we have the motivation to keep going? Saying
that hunting is about the kill is like saying
someone trains for marathons for the feeling
of crossing the finish line. It's not enough. We
could go to the grocery store or neighborhood
farm if we just wanted meat.
So this fall, instead of returning to camp
despondent from an animal that wouldn't
give you the right shot or a bird that was a
little too far away, acknowledge that you lived,
communicated and existed, for even just a
moment, with a piece of the wild.
NO GUARANTEED SUCCESS
Of all states, Wyoming hunters don't
necessarily need a consolation speech for
an unfilled tag. We're a lucky group, able
to hunt great swaths of public land. For
$57 residents can walk up to a gas station
counter and buy a general license to kill an
elk on hundreds of thousands of acres over
the course of weeks or even months. Success
rates reflect that good fortune.
According to the Wyoming Game and
Fish Department's 2021 annual harvest
reports, hunters in Wyoming killed more than
24,000 elk last year, 35,000 deer and almost
32,000 pronghorn. More than 84 percent of
pronghorn hunters filled their tags. This year
will likely be the same, with ebbs and flows in
areas depending on drought, chronic wasting
disease and access.
Page through the hunting forecast for this
fall and see report after report of hunting
opportunities we sometimes take for granted
but are impressively good.
" For people who have a license this year
and put some planning into it, you should
look forward to excellent conditions this fall
with locally abundant wildlife population in
portions of the state, " said Doug Brimeyer,
When the author took her 5-year-old daughter on a turkey hunt she made the goal to call one in. Although harvesting
would be nice, she put more weight on the experience than the harvest. (Photo by Tim Christie)
Wyoming Game and Fish Department's
deputy chief of the wildlife division.
Sometimes those numbers, statistics and
reassurances make killing an animal feel like
a foregone conclusion. As good as the hunting
is in Wyoming, we all know filling a tag is
never guaranteed.
As a result, we put pressure on ourselves
and each other to shoot the biggest buck,
nicest bull or the fattest cow. That pressure
can be challenging to describe to nonhunters.
Buck fever - that feeling you get right before
pulling a trigger - can afflict hunters so
severely it ruins shots and makes us feel like
we're losing our minds.
" Sometimes you really want to fill your
tag, and it's an exceptional animal, and so
you have added nervousness because of that, "
Brimeyer said.
" For people who have a
license this year and put
some planning into it, you
should look forward to
excellent conditions this fall
with locally abundant wildlife
population in portions of the
state. " - Doug Brimeyer
Wyoming Wildlife | 29

October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2022