I also prefer a longer stabilizer even when hunting. I hunt with the same stabilizer that I have shot some competitive 3D with in the past, an 11.5 inch octane stabilizer with both weights attached. I recently moved to a B-stinger, but I find it too heavy to hunt with. I do 99% of my hunting from a treestand on private property, so I dont worry much about it being too long and in the way on stalks, and when carrying it in. If I were hunting from the ground, or hunting elk, or something of that matter, I would be using a sims product, or a short doinker.