As a new hunter one thing that bugs me is that so much of the educational literarure including videos, books, and magazine articles showcase trophy hunts often with expert guides.
I live in Idaho and hunt elk and deer. For now I only go after cows and does. There are more tags available, more animals, and it's an easier way to start. Once I'm proficient at hunting the females I may decide to try some buck hunts and go for the rack but for now that is not important to me.
In too many of these vidoes and articles all they talk about is going after bucks. They often feature hunts with guides which go a lot more smoothly than those of us hunting alone on public land with no one to guide us to where the animals are.
I wish they would address both needs. I'm fine with the articles, books, videos, etc. on big buck hunts but I also want to see some equal time spent on beginning hunters who won't have guides and only want a female.
Granted there is a lot of overlap but for the beginner it's helpful to point out the overlap and the differences. If I watch a video that features a lot of bugling to attract an elk buck how do I know if that same bugling will work for a female? Do you bugle at all for cows? Do you use cow calls? Do you skip calling at all? Also, a lot of these videos feature rut hunting. I have yet to hunt during the rut so is bugling worth it then? How would you approach a cow hunt different from a buck hunt? How do you best scout public land? Etc.
I don't see near the availability on these topics versus the big buck hunts. Now maybe 90% of hunters want the big buck and it makes sense for these information providers cater to them. If not though then I think they should provide more balanced training. I get tired of watching hunting magizine columnists go hunting during the rut with an expert guide and maybe an expert bugler from a company that manufactures bugles! That's cool and has some value but that's NEVER going to happen to me unless I win some dream hunt drawing.
Any thoughts?