New Forum Topics w/POLL

[WapitiTalk1]

All righty then, as we get closer to the battle handoff of the forum from Mr. Elknut to little old me (I am a poor student so it's taking a while), I have a few ideas for some new forums and transforming some existing ones a bit. As with anything that already works, why fix it? That said, I'm still going to add some forums and adjust a few and see how it goes. For you old time regulars and new cats to the forum, please chime in on the poll and if you can think of any other forums that would stay active and draw some attention, throw em out there. Understand that there is not gonna be a lot of interest and traffic for frog gigging (although I have a good buddy that loves to do just that). This has always been and will continue to be primarily an elk forum but I believe there is room for some other forums/topics to keep us active. I will absolutely keep Elknut's tips and clips and this site will always be closely tied to Mr. Elknut, and, the archived tips will remain for certain. RJ

[oldnovice]

I would say that before you try a fishing forum you should look at www.fishexplorer.com

[82ndreddevil]

I don't think I have seen much about Couse deer, which I don't think rightfully falls in the same category traditional whitetail do.

[six]

If ya wanted to keep it simpler maybe just a weapons Forum. There are a lot of different kinds of hunters on this site. A weapons forum would keep everyone in the loop without cluttering the site up with a separate forum for Rifles, Muzzleloaders, Compounds, Traditional, etc.

[CurlyTail]

I could care less about Coues Deer, but I do enjoy duck and goose hunting. Maybe split the DIY-Gear-Training Forum in to a gear forum and a separate training/fitness forum. I love hunting Elk with a muzzleloader so I would throw out a muzzleloader for Elk as a possibility. Maybe a Elk permit/State regulation forum - those regs are quite confusing and hard to figure out.

Just brainstorming

[82ndreddevil]

Well Curly Tail, I guess couse deer would not make sense since only people from NM and AZ would utilize it. Which is probably why I could care less about ducks and geese. Good Brainstorming!

[six]

"Maybe a Elk permit/State regulation forum - those regs are quite confusing and hard to figure out."

Agree

[CurlyTail]

To be honest - if I saw a Couse deer, I would proably think it was a whitetail fawn. Totally clueless.

[ElkStocker]

I like the idea of a permits and regulations thread as someone else had mentioned. Coming from out of state and this being only my 2nd season hunting Colorado, the regulations were the trickiest part for me. Things like preference points were also completely knew and very confusing at first.

[RichM]

Food and cooking, maybe include butchery in that category also.

[GobbleFarmer]

Food and cooking, maybe include butchery in that category also.

bingo, that would be awesome.

[Kellum]

I like the idea of a state regulations forum. Like mentioned before for new elk hunters (like myself) that are not familiar hunting western states it would be very helpful.

[wawhitey]

A lot of stuff can go into docs office, but i always thought a predator hunting section would be nice. Between bear, cougar, wolf, coyote and bobcat, seems it would get a bit more use than the turkey section. And after all, if you like hunting elk, shouldnt you do your part to hunt their hunters in the off season?

But i do think that too many separate sections would be a lot of clutter, and people would be likely to miss some things. The simpler the better. Something like this.
elk hunting / deer and other big game / predators and small game / docs office misc / state regs, draw systems / gear / classifieds / tips and clips. Thats still a lot of subforums before you even think of adding things like a separate butchering and cooking section which can go in docs office, or weapons section which can be included in gear.

[WapitiTalk1]

Interesting... all poll votes and recommendations are duly noted. Thanks!

[CurlyTail]

The poll is not working for me. I can see the options, but cannot select one or view results.

I also like the buchery catergory. Lot to learn there.

[WapitiTalk1]

Jim, I'm seeing it fine. Is anybody else having trouble seeing the poll results or for that matter, submitting a vote? Reminder that you must be logged in to see the results or vote. Below is a snapshot of the poll results as of today, 26 OCT.



What kind of new forums would you like to see?

Other big game (Yes, there are other things to hunt and eat besides elk......deer, moose, sheep, goats, caribou, bigfoot, etc.). 10 19%
Fishing (many big game hunters I know are also avid fisherman; this would be a place to talk about trout, salmon, muskies, sturgeon, crappie, catfish, etc.). 5 9%
Guns and Ammo (nuff said). 6 11%
Archery Gear/Bow Tuning (nuff said). 9 17%
Tree Stand Hunting. 5 9%
Outfitter Forum (a place to ask questions and discuss various types of outfitted hunts). 7 13%
Virtual Campfire (all topics that cannot be logically placed elsewhere/these include non hunting topics). 6 11%
Others? This is your opportunity for a write in vote. 6 11%

[CurlyTail]

Logging in solves my issue. Must be getting lazy.

[wawhitey]

I was able to vote, but cant see results

[poisonarrow]

I would like to see a discussion forum on the needs of hunters . What is the thing that bugs you every time you go out?

I have been on several solution finding groups for different problems and it is amazing what can be figured out when people are willing to listen and talk.

You start with a dream. What is the one thing you would fix if you could? Then you put out the dream solution. It might be totally unrealistic at first but it is amazing how solutions come out of verbalizing your needs.

This might be a stretch for a forum but it works great in a smaller group of people looking for answers to a common problem.

[elkstalker]

Being that this is primarily an elk hunting forum, I think an "other big game" is satisfactory to handle all other big game. I would like to see the cooking/butchery category, and I think that weapons (archery and firearm) should fall under the "gear" category. I like the simplicity of this site, so it would be my preference not to clutter it up too much with too many different categories, but that's just me.

[Indian Summer]

Without a major overhaul we can have 8 forums. I think that's enough. The basic idea, in my mind anyway, is to have forum topics that have enough interest to keep them active on a regular basis. I hate clicking on a forum and seeing that the most recent post is 6 months old.

So one at a time. The Elk forum goes without saying. It is obviously our main topic and by far the most active forum. So active in fact that many members post everything there instead of using the appropriate forum.

Deer hunting is obviously a huge sport. It's the bass fishing of hunting. But actual results show that we go a week or more between posts. Less when it's actually deer season and way more in the off season. For that reason I think we can have an Other Critters forum that includes everything but elk. A broad spectrum like that means more activity. For the record if I saw the world record coues deer I would probably pass it up until it matured and grew a little more. lol

The Virtual Campfire is a no brainer. We have to have somewhere to talk about life and all things not included on the other forums. The Doc's Office as it is currently titled has always been an active forum here. It's as good a place as any to ask about outfitters too. I my experience the majority of users here are interested in DIY hunts so I don't think we need a forum dedicated to that.

No question we need a Gear forum. If we want to keep it really active we could include firearms/bows in there. They are gear.

If not then a Weapons forum is fine. But again... in the interest of keeping members attention I think we can group bows, crossbows, rifles and muzzleloaders into one forum to keep it as active as possible.

I am all for a Fishing forum for a couple reasons. First of all if we want this to be a 1 stop shop, a home away from home, it just comes natural. A huge % of hunters fish. The other reason is it will create more activity during the summer and other times when it isn't hunting season.

Clips & Tips is here to stay. I think we could put the Archived Tips into that same forum though.

That leaves us with one more option. Treestand hunting, like calling or spot and stalk, is a tactic. So I think if we want to talk treestands for elk it has a home in the Elk forum and for deer, bear etc it would fall into the Other Critters topic. I just don't think we would have daily posts in a treestand forum year round. I'd say we can stick with a Classifieds section for members to buy/sell/trade items. Otherwise you would have to go elsewhere to do that.

The next thing worth mentioning is sticky threads. In away they are sub-forums. There are two subjects that definitely need to be included on this site but I don't think either needs it's own forum.

The first is State by State Regulations and license application systems. The reason I don't think we need a forum dedicated to that is it's just a list of facts. Once they are here in writing there's not really a need to discuss them on a regular basis. Yes... we still need a place for members to ask questions about that and a sticky thread would serve that purpose. So just as we have the Meatpole, New users, and Forum Rules at the top of the Elk forum.... we could put a State Regs thread and cover the subject there. One for each state if you guys prefer. It would be easily accessible at the top of the forum. If you recall we had a really good thread where members could make a nice complete post that pretty much summed up the state where they knew the ins and outs. A few links making it easier to find what you are looking for on the fish and game websites would be there as well. Once all of that info is in place the subject is not something that would generate daily activity.

Another good sticky thread would be Looking for a Partner Not worthy of it's own forum but it is an important subject for many and would serve a legit purpose here. Having it at the top like that means a hunter could make a post and it wouldn't fade to the bottom eventually and those looking could click and see what's available.

So my 8 picks are Elk, Other Critters, Gear, Weapons, Virtual Campfire, Fishing, Clips and Tips with Archived Tips, and Classifieds along with some sticky threads in a few forums.

How does that sound?

[GobbleFarmer]

WOW! I think Joe nailed it, that sounds perfect! I've been thinking about what should/shouldnt be changed, but what Joe just said sounds perfect. Tips / clips combined with the archived clips is a good idea. Virtual campfire sounds cool too, I bet that will be a big hit! State regulations definitely has a place here, and that will help a lot of people-I'm sure!

Good thinking Joe!

[elkstalker]

I'm with Joe, keep it simple, sounds good.

[WapitiTalk1]

All righty then... you folks have been heard and I've settled on the final forum list. It'll be more than I anticipated for total quantity, but, wanted to give each forum that has garnered interest it's day in court. Yes, this is predominately an elk forum but I think the other forums that you'll see pop up pretty soon may have enough interest to keep them active. We'll soon see Oh, a hint of what the final line up will be? It will be more than 9 but less than 20 . Thanks to everybody who chimed in, I sincerely hope you like, enjoy, and participate in the final forum list.... Stand by...