Three Western Hunting Tips from the late Author Duncan Gilchrist
When it comes to western hunting, the late author Duncan Gilchrist knew how to give good advice. Gilchrist was considered to be one of the preeminent bighorn sheep and mountain goat hunters of his time. He wrote 11 big game hunting books over the span of his sixty six year lifetime – covering everything from caribou, Dall sheep, bear, pronghorn and elk hunting. Gilchrist was originally an Easterner. He was a native of Massachusetts and studied forestry at University of New Hampshire. He spent most of his adult life between Alaska and Montana. During this time he accrued an incredible amount of hunting experience and also became a respected videographer.
Here are my 3 favorite pieces of advice from his book Successful Big Game Hunting – Secrets of a Big Game Hunter-Guide.
- Mule Deer – “The area must be ‘huntable’. Much of the high country in the Bitterroot is so dense when one does see a deer it probably takes imagination to figure out what one is looking at. By comparison, in the semi open sub alpine or breaks type habitats generally one can get a good look at most anything that is flushed.”
- Pronghorn – “Try to pick broken country to hunt, so you have a fair chance at completing a stalk undetected. If the country is so rough, or brushy as to impede vision, the running pronghorn will avoid it”
- Elk – “Timber and elk seem to be almost synonymous. Most successful elk hunters find their quarry in the bottom of the deepest, darkest, most thickly timber canyons in the area. Here the species feels secure.”
Check out his entire collection of books at http://www.outdoorsportinglibrary.com/the-authors-2/duncan-gilchrist/
