One of the reasons I started this and the thread on fishing is that management agencies commonly manage for opportunity. The only elk tag I ever bought, for a combined deer/elk bowhunt, turned out to be in a unit that had something like 5 elk the WDG wanted eliminated. I should have checked into it more, but it does seem a bit chickensh*t to open a season with essentially nothing there. Like sport fisheries in WB streams.

When folks say they consider at good trip to get away or get home safely then why buy a license, carry a weapon, or be constrained by a season? Just go hiking or take a boat ride.

I go out with some level of expectation that the quarry is there to had, if I do my part well. I expect that the agency that manages the resource shares that view and manages the resources so that there is a reasonable hope of encountering the quarry.