Most Overrated Hunt and Most Underrated Hunt

[Kharn]

Overrated - Anything 'Put & Take'

Underrated - Calling in Javelinas

 

[Schmidty]

For me overrated would have to be waterfowl hunting. Maybe I've never experienced a good waterfowl hunt but it just doesn't do it for me.
Underrated hunt for me pronghorn antelope with a bow not sitting over water.

 

[Green Chile]

I've done a lot of waterfowl hunting and what IS over rated are the party hunts with a bunch of guys in a blind with someone calling the shots. There's always some genius claiming every bird as his own even when he couldn't hit a barn if he was inside of it! However, one of the coolest hunts I did was on migrating geese that were working the wind and me and the guide laid in the field and threw a piece of canvas over each of us...about 10 feet apart...we called and they kept slipping the wind like they do and whiffling down over us as they turn inside out. That was fantastic hunting.

 

[Duke1966]

I've never considered any hunt that I've been on underrated or overrated.

Probably the most surprisingly challengingly and rewarding hunt was mountain zebra in Nambia.

I'm surprised to hear so many comment that whitetail deer is overrated. Try still hunting a mature buck in the Adirondacks.

 

[Hunt anything]

@Green Chile , that is a great picture!, it reminds me of the very first goose hunt I went on. I had been duck hunting a lot but Alabama was getting our resident flocks of Canadas established so there was no season.
My father, brother in law and best friend loaded up and booked a snow goose hunt in Arkansas. The first morning we had a flock of about 200 waffle into the spread, it was a sight I will never forget and that was almost 40 years ago!

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I've never considered any hunt that I've been on underrated or overrated.

Probably the most surprisingly challengingly and rewarding hunt was mountain zebra in Nambia.

I'm surprised to hear so many comment that whitetail deer is overrated. Try still hunting a mature buck in the Adirondacks.

Duke, most of those guys (all of them?) consider sitting in a cabin on stilts overlooking a bean field or corn filled feeder is hunting. We who have stalked whietail on the deer's terms know what real hunting is all about. Difficult!

 

[Slickshooter]

Have you hunted brown bears? It’s a lot of idle time glassing. Getting a big bear is a great trophy and accomplishment, but the hunting isn’t for everyone. I can see why someone would call it overrated. I also believe Kodiak is relatively small areas compared to areas on the peninsula.

Yep, on Kodiak Island. Also hunted Grizzly in the interior of AK and in the Yukon. That is why I called it underrated because I loved it.

 

[Hunt anything]

Duke, most of those guys (all of them?) consider sitting in a cabin on stilts overlooking a bean field or corn filled feeder is hunting. We who have stalked whietail on the deer's terms know what real hunting is all about. Difficult!

Not this one, 80% of my whitetail have been shot while moving on the ground. When I was young I did shoot a bunch over wheat fields or ambushing around oak trees, but for the past 20 years almost 100% are shot while on the move.
This is a generalization but on many properties that whitetail are hunted on it isn’t feasible to stalk hunt, you will just blow out the deer on small properties and move them to the neighbors.

 

[Philip Glass]

Overrated: many western draw hunts where rarely is anything killed. Guys go over and over on some DIY camping adventure and never draw blood. Fine adventure but not for me.

Underrated: a safari on large acreage in the Eastern Cape. Most folks here have no idea how challenging yet rewarding a tough hunt in the EC can be. But when there get there, watch out!

 

[HookMeUpII]

I've done a lot of waterfowl hunting and what IS over rated are the party hunts with a bunch of guys in a blind with someone calling the shots. There's always some genius claiming every bird as his own even when he couldn't hit a barn if he was inside of it! However, one of the coolest hunts I did was on migrating geese that were working the wind and me and the guide laid in the field and threw a piece of canvas over each of us...about 10 feet apart...we called and they kept slipping the wind like they do and whiffling down over us as they turn inside out. That was fantastic hunting.

The folks you share the blind with have a LOT to do with it, as well. I've never had a bad waterfowl hunt with friends and family. Sometimes it's a shoot, sometimes it's a pick, and sometimes it's just spending quality time with the people you enjoy seeing the most.

My best hunt was in September 2019 with my cousin and a good friend. I have a client who owns a farm and has recurring issues with geese, which is a problem as a whole here in NJ. Even worse, it was on his grow field. They were absolutely destroying his late bloom tomatoes which are way to the left, out of frame, in the pic below. He gave me the key and off we went.

We put out no more than 15-20 decoys, set and grassed the layouts, and waited. Like clockwork, right after first legal they came pouring in. We'd have a group of 15-20 come in, pick off 6-7, sometimes more, birds between the 3 of us, and repeat. We shot the guns hot, my first and only time ever experiencing that. The sound and experiencing three 12 gauges going off for an hour was something I'll never forget. We could have shot even more but we realized first, we had to clean all them, and second, the cops showed up because it sounded like war kicking off. The cops actually told us we were all good but we were done.

That night we cracked beers, cleaned birds and it was a memorable experience. Funny enough, I had a lot of folks that couldn't believe I would do that with my truck. It was brand new and I got it a week ago. My response was "This is exactly what I bought it for."

 

[Green Chile]

Sounds like a fantastic hunt by any standard. The key, as you said, was the company you were with. My problem is that I'm always booking as a single and that is a little challenging for waterfowl group hunts. I also don't party so that is what it is. If I had a group of guys that were like minded and enjoyed hunting together, that would be a totally different vibe, as you experienced.

 

[Hunt anything]

Sounds like a fantastic hunt by any standard. The key, as you said, was the company you were with. My problem is that I'm always booking as a single and that is a little challenging for waterfowl group hunts. I also don't party so that is what it is. If I had a group of guys that were like minded and enjoyed hunting together, that would be a totally different vibe, as you experienced.

I have a core group of guys I hunt with. We are scattered all across the country, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Massachusetts and me in Alabama. We’ve hunted together for around 30 years since 3 of us were at Auburn together. We do a trip every other year or so but need to start doing it annually due to us not getting any younger. We shoot our own birds and take what we shoot. A great group of guys.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Sounds like a fantastic hunt by any standard. The key, as you said, was the company you were with. My problem is that I'm always booking as a single and that is a little challenging for waterfowl group hunts. I also don't party so that is what it is. If I had a group of guys that were like minded and enjoyed hunting together, that would be a totally different vibe, as you experienced.

I've only booked maybe 2-3 hunts with guides, and yes, that's been my experience as well. A lot of outfits here in NJ, and elsewhere, want 3-4 guns minimum. It's hard jumping in as a fill in. I'm a friendly guy, but a lot of groups are set in their ways.

This is the reason I went ahead and bought my own tidal boat rig to hunt out of.

I think that's a common barrier with wingshooting in general. Most guides for big-game have no problem, and probably prefer, taking single hunters. For birds, it's the opposite.

 

[Hunt anything]

I've only booked maybe 2-3 hunts with guides, and yes, that's been my experience as well. A lot of outfits here in NJ, and elsewhere, want 3-4 guns minimum. It's hard jumping in as a fill in. I'm a friendly guy, but a lot of groups are set in their ways.

This is the reason I went ahead and bought my own tidal boat rig to hunt out of.

I think that's a common barrier with wingshooting in general. Most guides for big-game have no problem, and probably prefer, taking single hunters. For birds, it's the opposite.

Amen brother, it’s hard finding a guide anymore that will take our group of five, we have done some public land hunting, especially when we all get drawn for a swan tag in Nevada.
All of the guides that I had great relationships with that would cater to us have either passed away or retired.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Amen brother, it’s hard finding a guide anymore that will take our group of five, we have done some public land hunting, especially when we all get drawn for a swan tag in Nevada.
All of the guides that I had great relationships with that would cater to us have either passed away or retired.

Yup and it kills me when all of a sudden you get a text "hey we have a couple spots open" in the middle of the week, the night before. So many of these guides are looking for big payouts taking 5-6 guns only to have half or more of the party cancel last minute.

They need to start adapting to the fishing open boat model. Just have open gun days. Simple solution.

 

[Ward]

I want to preface this by saying; This will probably be inherently controversial, because one person's trash is another's treasure and vice versa. But I'm sure we can give our opinions with the understanding other people might not have the same.

What do you think is the most overrated hunt, and which hunt do you think is the most underrated?

For me:
Most overrated hunt would be Nilgai
Most underrated hunt would be Eland

Over-rated is dog hunting black bear or mountain lion. Underrated is white tail spot and stalk.

 

[Muskox]

Overrated: many western draw hunts where rarely is anything killed. Guys go over and over on some DIY camping adventure and never draw blood. Fine adventure but not for me.

Underrated: a safari on large acreage in the Eastern Cape. Most folks here have no idea how challenging yet rewarding a tough hunt in the EC can be. But when there get there, watch out!

Dude, I am in like 5 or 6 states as a 5-12 point holder. I would never do it again. this is 100% true.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Sounds like a fantastic hunt by any standard. The key, as you said, was the company you were with. My problem is that I'm always booking as a single and that is a little challenging for waterfowl group hunts. I also don't party so that is what it is. If I had a group of guys that were like minded and enjoyed hunting together, that would be a totally different vibe, as you experienced.

I think we would do alright (surprised to hear myself say that). I'm also not into the party scene when I'm hunting. In all my sixty years afield I've only been on one waterfowl party hunt. It was challenging putting up with that shitshow. Shooting after hours, game hogging, skybusting, and one guy showed up with a Cheasapeake that was schizo mean (led it around with a logging chain leash!). My dogs had to stay in the car. Just as well, the weather never got above -10°C.

 

[Green Chile]

Dude, I am in like 5 or 6 states as a 5-12 point holder. I would never do it again. this is 100% true.

I know there are exceptions but I can emphasize with this. I had a whole points plan going for awhile and then stopped. I was seeing points creep and realized that since I didn't start gathering points from when I was young, I couldn't really get there for the areas I was most interested in.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Overrated: many western draw hunts where rarely is anything killed. Guys go over and over on some DIY camping adventure and never draw blood. Fine adventure but not for me.

I see the appeal. I had that image in my head when buying points in Wyo for pronghorn.

My imagination: I am going to drive out, spend some time with my son, glass around, and kill a decent shooter pronghorn.

The reality: I am going to coordinate with a guide, drive out with my son, and hopefully have some expert guidance and have a decent chance at seeing a good animal.

The imagination thing dropped off when I had two kids. I give a ton of credit to the people who do it 100% DIY though.