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February 2025
Author: Garth Jenson

First off, I would like to wish everyone a very sincere “Happy New Year!” and wish everyone the best in 2025. 2024 turned out to be one of the best years I could’ve hoped for with friends and family and also one of the busiest I can remember. It reminded me that while tags across the West from a sheer numbers point of view are as hard to acquire as they have ever been, it is still possible to put together a full hunting season with a little planning.
 
My 2024 season wasn’t “the best” because of a bunch of giant trophy class animals that hit the dirt, it was the volume of trophy class memories that were made and stamped into my timeline forever – from getting my wife out to Alaska for her first ever bear hunt (which if you knew how terrified of bears she is, you would know how big of a deal it was); sharing a remote caribou hunt camp with some of my very best friends; and packing in with a string of mules on a mule deer hunt with my daughter, brother, and his daughter to wading through some of the deepest snow I can remember to share in my good friend’s daughter’s first ever bull elk harvest.
 
Those are a few among many hunts I was fortunate to participate in this year, and to be honest, the most memorable times throughout the year were always someone else’s triumphs that I got to share in. I have heard of the Evolution of a Hunter, but I never really gave it a lot of thought until the last couple years. The fullness I experienced this year had me looking into the specifics of this theory and learning more about it. I found most articles sighted five stages, and Texas wisely accounts for six.
 
Stage 1: Shooting Stage
Stage 2: Limiting-Out Stage
Stage 3: Trophy Stage
Stage 4: Method Stage
Stage 5: Sportsman Stage
Stage 6: Give-Back Stage
 
As I read through them, I could remember the time in my life when I went through each of these stages and tried to think back to recall how long I camped out in each of them. What I realized is some stages I never totally abandoned and I carried them with me into other stages. I carried stage 1 with me probably the longest as I always felt excited at the moment I touched off the release or pulled the trigger. Stage 2 was an important one as it drove me to stay out as long as possible and do whatever it took to be successful. This stage taught me a lot in accomplishing my goal, which at the time was tagging my animal. Stage 3 really came about not long after I got to stage 2. I enjoyed taking the best animal I could find, but to be honest, it was way more important than it should have been. It did teach me patience (although unknowingly), and it was a constant test that I failed plenty of times and stage 2 would kick back in. Stage 4 wasn’t really a thing for me as it is described in most text. I sought other forms of weapons to hunt mainly to open up more opportunities to go hunting and not necessarily to make it harder. Stage 5 is the culmination of the prior four stages coming together and building the foundation for your graduation to stage 5. Stage 6 has brought me the most enjoyment as of recent and is the stage that I hope I can camp in for hopefully the foreseeable future.
 
One thing I remind myself of is that every hunter will hopefully reach stage 6 of their hunting career, but it takes some time in each of the prior five stages to appreciate the sixth and final stage. Here’s to 2025 and enjoying whatever stage of your hunting career you are in.