hunting or fishing

[Nova]

I have been asked the question many times, but I still don't know the answer. If you had a choice to hunt or fish, but could not do both, which would it be? I have been waterfowl hunting since I was 5 years old, started fishing when I was 10 and have been real serious about both for 30 years. I hope I never have to make the choice.

[jblabsnduck]

That one is easy, nothing beats hunting IMO.

Start Sept.1 dove and early goose and go through April chasing snow geese with the time in between chasing ducks, geese, pheasants and bowhunting.

After April it is working the dogs

Got to love hunting.

I like fishing but it will never compare to hunting for me.

[BLACKJACK]

Hunting all the way. I like fishing, but at times fishing is almost too much like work. Land the boat, load the boat, its always 20 degrees colder on the water. Hunting is throw on your hunting clothes, grab the gun and dog and go. Love that walking behind the dog pheasant hunting, they're so excited. Love a good duck shoot and those early morning sunrises. Love the challenge of bowhunting, getting that deer, especially a big one, in shooting range. And then you still have to make a good shot. Hunting all the way for me.

[lawdog]

Hunting easily for me. I fished long before I started hunting and I do enjoy it, but it can't compete with hunting...

[Riverratpete]

I would have to say fishing. Don't get me wrong there isn't anything quite as pretty as a early morning Grouse woods or sunrise over the slough and I do love deer camp, but for the past few years with the lack of Grouse and Ducks it seems alot like work unless your just out for a nice walk in the woods or like starring at empty skys. Got a new boat also, need to use it alot to keep the warden happy.

[riverrat56]

Well if i had to choose, it would be Fishing, only because i can do it all year long. But there is something about watching that long off flock of geese lock onto your decoy, or hearing the whistle of a wood duck burn you from behind, or the flush of a rooster on a crisp october morning, that just makes hunting an unforgetable experience. I remember every rooster i've shot, but i really can't remeber all the differnt fish i've pulled through the hole. Seeing a rooster break into flight, cackling to beat the band just sticks in your mind forever.

So which is better, I don't know, but i sure love to do them both.

[eyepatrol]

I'm with riverrat all the way. I'd have to choose fishing, because I can do it year round. Hunting for me is simply the waterfowl season and deer hunting. So that makes for about 2 months or a little better of hunting. Hunting is MUCH more of a rush, without a doubt, but if I HAD to choose, it would be fishing.

[Mark Christianson]

BOTH!!!!

I do whichever is available at that time, and whichever sounds better at the time.

[Nova]

come on Biglake commit. We all love them both...which is it?????

[Mark Christianson]

The only thing I can be committed to, is a mental institution if I choose one over the other......

[Nova]

very humorous....I am in the same boat(so to speek), but have been asked the question 100s of times. Haven't found the answer yet...don't imagine I will.

[outdoor ran]

Duck hunting, enough said.

[wyldewal]

Fishing is great but I've never found a fish that can get my heart pounding the way a big buck can. Walking out on the trail, antlers shining in the sun, a wisp of steam coming from its nose. And I've never felt the same anticipation from casting a lure as I do sitting in the duck blind waiting for the sun to rise. The singles that come in too early. The big flocks of bills flying off in the distance. Fishing can be great at times but in my heart I will always be a hunter.

[bigbucks]

I absolutely love both, but I think it would all but kill me if I couldn't deer hunt. Sure the bow season's only 3 1/2 months, but you've got all the off season scouting, stand building, trail mowing, all the stories, the hunt anticipation, there's nothing like it.

[fishingmike0770]

Quote:

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Fishing is great but I've never found a fish that can get my heart pounding the way a big buck can.

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I'd like to say the same but its almost the same feeling when you see a 4ft northern making a wake behind your lure in crystal clear water, strike and a miss. That gets my heart pumping.

[GullGuide]

ooooo...tough one.

I'd almost say I'd have to go with Fishing cause you could do it year-round and in many ways fishing is a lot like hunting, but man I'd miss the duck slough!!

This brings up another topic that is somewhat related. A few years ago out on our anual Flathead excursion, we decided, after many a barley-pop, what he11 would be like.....

You are on the perfect lake, fully loaded with the finest boat, best rods, best reels, all the tackle you ever wanted, premium electronics, the lake is crystal clear so you can see the fish, and there would be tons of every species all at the world record size, but the catch is that none will ever bite...you would be stuck here for all eternity fishing for a fish that will never take the bait. They will nose up to it but never strike.....THAT would be he11....LOL

[Quackaddict9]

4 ft northern? thats 48 inches, I would rather say 4 ft muskie! I dont see too many over 40 inches but yeah I guess some of you have seen monster pikes.

I'd have to go with hunting but fishing is always a good feeling but not close to hunting.

[Ely Lake Expert]

Right now I have to go with hunting. Ask me in about 8 days and 7 hours and I might change my mind to fishing.

[IrishZit]

A gal I dated asked me this question once. I said, "Who do you love more, your Mom or Dad?" Maybe this is too sappy of a post, but it helped her understand how I feel.

Every activity has a season and that I what I like best.

Sully

[BLACKJACK]

Gullguide, my version of he!! is pheasant hunting behind a young male lab for eternity, watching him busting birds out at 80 yards, you doing the run, stop, and shoot (and missing) for eternity. And heaven would be pheasant hunting behind an old female lab, busting cackling roosters at 20 yards, her retrieving them, then you get to go hunt another new piece of ground.

[GullGuide]

THAT would be bad too...or hunting ducks for eternity under empty skies.....

[Guest]

HUNTING, i look forward to nothing more than deer opener. My heart beats out of control for every deer I see. I like the challenge that it provides more than fishing, and who doesnt like deer camp.

[woodsandwaterguy]

Its like that (Contact US Regarding This Word) lollypop question. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW. I'll just agree that theres nothing else id rather do than hunt or fish. But i have also been out in the fall in a duck boat in casting to about 5 feet of water catching nice eater sized walleyes in the late fall now thats a double threat.

[WAG416]

Hunting,

Watching a dog on point.

How the heart skips a beat when your upland quarry flushes from right under your foot.

Having that buck answer to a grunt or rattle call I get the shivers.

The wings of a two dozen honkers locked and ready to land

The adrenaline before you pull the trigger......

Because in Hunting there is no catch and release !!

WAG

[bassman222]

I love both hunting and fishing and am serious about both, but would have to go with hunting for sure.

[Dean Schellinger]

They both are way to much fun to pick just one. They both are a blast and I think a little bit of one makes the other just that much better.

[Maverick41]

Without a doubt hunting. There is nothing better than sitting in your deer stand on opening morning and hearing that first shot off in the distance. I'm still waiting for the time that I will be the first shot of the morning. Another thing about hunting is your dog. There is no greater hunting companion and when he gets that scent in his nose and locks up on that grouse or pheasant it's like poetry in motion.

[SlaPPy]

i cant even tell if i like ice fishing or open water more.

this is like asking whitch do you like more mom or dad

[Ray Esboldt]

This is a tough question that I have been asked many times and never want to confront. I would probably pick hunting.

I love fishing because it's easy to take the whole family fishing, or I can sprint down to a lake after work and fish for a couple hours. Hunting can be a family event, but not with kids that are the age of mine. However, they will develop into hunters soon enough, and the wife is into hunting as well. Hunting is not a spur of the moment thing for me living in the metro. Planning is always involved.

I haven't found an event in fishing that equates to putting the bead on a turkey, watching 100 ducks screaming into your decoys (and subsequently missing on all 3 shots), having 3000 snow geese tornadoeing into your field, or watching a pair of roosters erupt into the air 5 feet from your feet. I'll take hunting albeit by a narrow margin.

On to GullGuide's subject of what Hades will be for me. Well, I don't plan on going there, so I'll lay out my Purgatory scenario (this only works if you're Catholic). My Purgatory will be fishing from a leaky canoe everyday there (sounds OK, so far). However, that day will be a 80 degree Saturday with bluebird skies immediately following a cold front. I will be limited to Minnetonka and Prior only. The only bait I will have in my possesion will be Flying Lures. Finally, I'll be rigged with a 5 foot light action casting rod, a Zebco 202, and kinked up 20lb. test. South of Heaven, would be the same, but I wouldn't be afforded paddles for the canoe.

[Sartell Angler]

very tough question...I get more excited for duck hunting than anything, so if I could only go out one day for an entire year, I would go duck hunting. My friends and I have always agreed though that fishing is what we'd have to pick though since you can fish any day of the year. I like a variety though...think its hard to pick just one fish to target or one game species to go after week in and week out. I'm looking forward to hunting doves this fall, as well as geese, ducks, pheasants, maybe grouse, and deer.

Nothin' gets the blood pumping like ducks / geese in the decoys though.

SA/wdw