Deep Snow Trophies - Pack Giveaway

Founder · Mar 31, 2023

It never stops snowing at my house! So, my idea for this giveaway is to see some Deep Snow Trophies. They can be harvested big game animals, or live ones if you'd like. Let's hear a short story about each too. That's always fun!

You'll be in to WIN a nice daypack! Our friends at Bad Ass Outdoor Gear have got an Eberlestock Bandit to give away to one of you who contributes to the thread with a good photo.

Feel free to share as many as you'd like. I know I have a few.

We'll run the photo thread for a few weeks and then I'll randomly pick a winner. Each post with photo(s) shared will count as one entry and every 10 reactions that your post gets will get an extra entry.

Thanks to Bad Ass Outdoor Gear for donating the prizes for the contests and PLEASE everyone, when you're in the market to upgrade your gear, please shop Bad Ass Outdoor Gear and give them a chance to earn your business for good. They've got a large selection of hunting gear for you to look through.

Here's the prize that's up for grabs.

Founder · Mar 31, 2023

I actually saw this big buck on opening morning when it was still dry. As soon as I saw him, I took off, but soon heard a shot. Someone else actually shot a smaller 4-point that was with him. They didn't see this one, and he vanished for the rest of the day.

Day two I woke up to deep snow and it kept falling, and falling. Getting through the snow on my 4-wheeler was quite the challenge. Cold too!!!
The storm broke just before dark and that's when I found him again, but didn't have time to get down to him.

Morning of day 3, I spotted him making his way through the aspens and then laid down. I closed a little distance, sent a couple or three warning shots

then connected. It was fun! Lucky me.

johnnycake · Mar 31, 2023

My then 9yr old daughter's first big game animal last December was this cow moose in the Talkeetna Mountains of Alaska. Heart shot from 227 yards with her great-grandpa's .270. It was -7F when she pulled the trigger a couple hours before dark. Took me almost 2hrs to break a trail to the moose, with powder about 60" deep.

johnnycake · Mar 31, 2023

Here are some March caribou from a year ago up on the Steese Highway in Alaska. The snow was about hard as concrete, which was a good thing as it was DEEP unless you were on the wind swept ridges.

mightyhunter · Mar 31, 2023

2020 Wyoming

1989Cohunter · Mar 31, 2023

johnnycake said:
Here are some March caribou from a year ago up on the Steese Highway in Alaska. The snow was about hard as concrete, which was a good thing as it was DEEP unless you were on the wind swept ridges.

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Sweet sled love those bogie wheels.

Deepcolor · Mar 31, 2023

I found this winterkill a coupe years ago while out riding. We bumped the coyotes off the carcass and made short work of them.

SureShot · Apr 1, 2023

Slippery roads and deep snow drifts made it hard to get into this nice buck's neighborhood.

Bookhead · Apr 1, 2023

One cold christmas day and under prepared was headed to the family Christmas get together and ran down a road to look for a track before I went to meet everyone and there was a big fresh tom track headed for a nasty canyon. Missed Christmas that year ?

Tristate · Apr 1, 2023

That's deep snow where I hunt.?

Rie bread · Apr 1, 2023

first bull

SureShot · Apr 1, 2023

Mid-day buck after a morning snowstorm.

Jaybird967 · Apr 1, 2023

B zone blacktail, Nor Cal 2017

Weiserbucks · Apr 1, 2023

Colorado OTC 2nd season 2022

DarkTimber · Apr 1, 2023

With about an hour left of light, I spotted this buck buried in some quakies half a mile away. I was able to cut the distance through a foot of snow to 225 yards and seal the deal.

ridgetops · Apr 2, 2023

I killed this buck on my son's 8th birthday. We were in snow up to our knees in some places but he never complained one bit.
Here's a short video of our adventure that day.

Trix4me · Apr 2, 2023

Final day several years ago

Buzzy · Apr 2, 2023

First deer hunt in Canada this past fall. Had so much fun I’m going back this fall to try for a bigger one.

Buzzy · Apr 2, 2023

Also won the lottery in Alaska and had an amazing hunt on Nunivak island a month ago.

PRCnut · Apr 2, 2023

Late muzzy elk hunt brought waste deep snow. Tough hunt trying to keep everything dry on the muzzleloader!

ridgetops · Apr 2, 2023

We killed these two bulls in the same small meadow on the last day of last year's general muzzy season. There was about 6" of snow that morning but it was melting fast.

notrace · Apr 2, 2023

Maybe not what you was looking for but it was a trophy day!!!

nfh · Apr 2, 2023

Snow was 2 to 3 feet deep in most places. 6 to 8 inches deep where the sun could burn the snow off

nontypical · Apr 3, 2023

Late October. A buddy and I decided to head to our hunting spot when we got news of a big snowstorm coming in. We hitched up my camper and headed north. We did a drive around that afternoon after we setup camp and noticed lots of deer tracks in the snow going all different directions. Lots of deer moving around, but no real pattern to them; just restless maybe from the coming storm.

The snow was falling pretty good by the time we went to bed that night, with temps dropping fast. We awoke to a foot of fresh snow and -10 on Oct 30th. From the place we camped we had a drive of maybe a couple miles to get to our hunting spot. I went out to start the truck, which was parked about 10-12' from the camper. There were fresh deer tracks between the truck and camper! There were fresh deer tracks everywhere-both sides of the camper and truck! We headed out to hunt and had to stop a few times to let deer cross the road in the headlights-including some nice bucks! Not legal light yet, and we drove on. There was private land on either side of the road (sometimes both), which also held a ton of deer, including some great bucks! Of course, we weren't going to shoot at any of those bucks. We drove on to our spot that we had seen a bunch of deer the previous day on our drive around.

By the time we got there, we had seen probably 200 deer in a mile drive that were migrating to the winter range. Deer were literally everywhere you looked! It was incredible to say the least. We had hit the deer migration perfectly! However, plenty of other hunters were also in the area. We went where they weren't! I'm guessing it was the 3rd or 4th herd we saw that contained the buck my buddy killed. After we got his buck taken care of, within minutes another herd came across the bottom which contained my buck. I can't remember if I fired one or two warning shots before I hit him! While we were taking care of our bucks, deer continued to keep on coming by us without much concern.

The season was open for 1 more day after that. Lots of BIG bucks got killed that year. My buck won the local Gart Brothers big buck contest that year.

Bookhead · Apr 3, 2023

nontypical said:
Late October. A buddy and I decided to head to our hunting spot when we got news of a big snowstorm coming in. We hitched up my camper and headed north. We did a drive around that afternoon after we setup camp and noticed lots of deer tracks in the snow going all different directions. Lots of deer moving around, but no real pattern to them; just restless maybe from the coming storm.

The snow was falling pretty good by the time we went to bed that night, with temps dropping fast. We awoke to a foot of fresh snow and -10 on Oct 30th. From the place we camped we had a drive of maybe a couple miles to get to our hunting spot. I went out to start the truck, which was parked about 10-12' from the camper. There were fresh deer tracks between the truck and camper! There were fresh deer tracks everywhere-both sides of the camper and truck! We headed out to hunt and had to stop a few times to let deer cross the road in the headlights-including some nice bucks! Not legal light yet, and we drove on. There was private land on either side of the road (sometimes both), which also held a ton of deer, including some great bucks! Of course, we weren't going to shoot at any of those bucks. We drove on to our spot that we had seen a bunch of deer the previous day on our drive around.

By the time we got there, we had seen probably 200 deer in a mile drive that were migrating to the winter range. Deer were literally everywhere you looked! It was incredible to say the least. We had hit the deer migration perfectly! However, plenty of other hunters were also in the area. We went where they weren't! I'm guessing it was the 3rd or 4th herd we saw that contained the buck my buddy killed. After we got his buck taken care of, within minutes another herd came across the bottom which contained my buck. I can't remember if I fired one or two warning shots before I hit him! While we were taking care of our bucks, deer continued to keep on coming by us without much concern.

The season was open for 1 more day after that. Lots of BIG bucks got killed that year. My buck won the local Gart Brothers big buck contest that year.

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I love the story and the look of those bucks. I bet you hunted many more years hoping for another day like that!

notrace · Apr 4, 2023

johnnycake said:
Here are some March caribou from a year ago up on the Steese Highway in Alaska. The snow was about hard as concrete, which was a good thing as it was DEEP unless you were on the wind swept ridges.

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Those pictures remind me a few years ago I was driving back from Alaska in a really heavy snowstorm and late at night (2am) around TOK Alaska and I could see headlights coming up on me kinda fast I thought Holly **** these roads are snowpacked but then as they got closer something did not look right so I slowed and pulled to the side to let them pass as they did it was 2 guys in a snowmobile pulling a sled with 4 caribou!!

Funny Chit!!

notrace · Apr 4, 2023

A few in the snow.

Joe2Kool · Apr 4, 2023

Does a Nebraska Snow Goose hunt with no snow and no goose count?

But I do have a kool pic of me and Diesel!

nontypical · Apr 6, 2023

Bookhead said:
I love the story and the look of those bucks. I bet you hunted many more years hoping for another day like that!

There's not enough deer left to ever have another day like that one!

JakeH · Apr 6, 2023

Not deep snow but the snowiest hunt I have been on.

PRCnut · Apr 7, 2023

Hope predators count!

DaveD · Apr 7, 2023

From a few years ago. I had to cut a trail through 6' drifts during the stalk so my son could get through behind me. 1st week of October - gotta love Wyoming weather.

This was 2020

BC200Buck · Apr 7, 2023

From almost twenty years ago. Two feet of fresh snow. Not a great picture, but a fun hunt. Beautiful cape, so I saved the cape and used it to mount a set of horns of my dad's that had been hanging in my grandma's house for close to fifty years.

johnnycake · Apr 7, 2023

Lighting strikes twice apparently, ass happened when I drew my second wild bison permit. The tag was for any bison with a fall and winter season up in the interior of Alaska. 5 days before my season opened in mid October 2019, the hunting area received +2' of heavy snow. Snow wasn't too bad on the 8th day of hunting when I finally caught up to this +17 yr old bull bison in Delta Junction. His bases are over 16" and his body just dwarfed the other bulls he had been running with each time I caught a glimpse of him during the hunt. Made it easy to ignore the other targets trying to relocate Ole Ugly, as I was only interested in shooting a dinosaur of a bull.

johnnycake · Apr 7, 2023

Wild bison and snow are a beautiful thing. Back in November 2012, it was a day after my birthday, finals were coming up, and my wife was 5 months pregnant with our first child when I got a call at the end of my shift in the bakery from the UDWR that they were creating a couple last minute cow only bison hunts on the Henry's and I had been drawn as an alternate (when I applied for a cow tag and was rejected that spring I had 10 points). Season started in 3 weeks, and I had 24hrs to decide to accept the tag or pass.

I immediately accepted it, then afterwards driving home or occurred to me that I needed to figure out how in the hell was I gonna convince my new wife that with the baby coming we could afford the $400 tag, not to mention the costs to rent horses, sleds, or maybe wheelers. To her credit, she was fully supportive.

I quickly realized that I would be lucky to have even one friend or family member join me, and that the minimum rental costs were likely to be as much as just hiring an outfitter. Having never set foot on the Henry's, the thought of getting a guide for the OIAL tag started making a lot of sense. I found High Top Outfitters, got a great deal on a guide, and they paired me up with Brett Guymon (he set up his own Apex Outfitters just a few years ago). Brett was an excellent guide, and overall great guy to hunt with. My brother and I drove down in a blizzard on 12/26 with the hunt to start the next morning and continue until the season ended on the 31st. Brett had told me to pick up a HO cougar tag just in case, and I'm glad I listened.

We got lucky and find a nice herd the next morning, a few hours after cutting some fresh cat tracks, and turning down that chase as my tag was not valid until the following day. Made a nice stalk and a quick shot on a cow and bam! Tag filled!

Went back out the next morning to relocate the kitty. After several hours huffing and puffing trying (and failing) to keep up with Brett and the hounds in the snowy cliffs, I finally managed to corner the tom and stick an arrow in him from 5' above on a little ledge. I've done some pretty cool hunts since those 2 days in 2012, but they might be my favorite.

BruinPoint · Apr 7, 2023

BruinPoint · Apr 7, 2023

Got really lucky with the timing of the migration that year and couldn't stay off the trigger any longer. This was the 119th buck I had seen and it was only day 4 of a 9 day hunt, an unforgettable experience.

PRCnut · Apr 7, 2023

Couldn’t resist sharing last years buck in the snow!

myj · Apr 9, 2023

two bucks from the

Rubies.

Founder · Apr 11, 2023

This old boy showed himself after the big storm. Wasn't sure I wanted to take him, but I did and I'm glad I did, cause he's BIG.

Kalalau · Apr 11, 2023

Minus 38 degrees was the temperature on this day in Alberta, Canada. This buck was trailing a "hot" doe and paid no attention to anything else. The next day temp was minus 40! Coldest temp on that particular day in the northern hemisphere!

boomer · Apr 13, 2023

Not a ton of snow the last of October but enough to make it tough to get around. This guy was starting to get interested in does and it got him in trouble.

arrowone4me · Apr 13, 2023

Nevada a few years back.

KJL1987 · Apr 15, 2023

2018 Utah early rifle hunt.

NPHunter · Apr 16, 2023

My sons first bull, 2020 he was 14, shot him in a blizzard at 100 yards. Only saw them because he was bugling, setup and he came up the draw with about 100 cows. By the time the weather cleared enough to work on the bull he was totally drifted in.

money · Apr 18, 2023

Helped my brother kill this calf a couple years ago. Made a good 540 shot on her and then we bushwacked it across the sage and deep snow in spots only to find she was standing in a snowmobile track when we shot her. Loaded her up on the ice fishing sled and drug her right up the snowmobile trail. Cold Wyoming morning but one of the more fun things I have done in a while. Got stopped/checked by the game warden, while gutting it, who thanked us for shooting an elk because the farmers around were having lots of issues so he was grateful that at least one died.

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CupitBucks · Apr 18, 2023

My buck from 2000 and my dads from 2005 from the same unit in Colorado on public lands

buckmster28 · Apr 20, 2023

Last years buck

brentc · Apr 21, 2023

My 12 yo daughter's first big game hunt. Mountain Lion in the morning and her first elk in the last five minutes of legal shooting light. Busy day for the young lady.

songdog · Apr 23, 2023

Colorado 2012., my best muley to date.

Founder · Apr 27, 2023

Let's see more pics! I'll be drawing a winner in a few days.

brentc · Apr 27, 2023

My good friend Jeremy and I beat the 1% odds and the drew the Nunivak Island Muskox tag in the 2019 draw. The first thing we did is call James Whitman for transporter services. In Alaska, a transporter is a happy medium between a DIY and fully guided. The transporter provides food, lodging and transportation while you’re there and they make sure you get to the field and back safely. They cannot help you judge trophy quality or help you break down your animal after you kill it, but having snow machines, hot meals, and a warm place to stay is worth the cost.

We flew from Fairbanks on February 14th and arrived in Bethel the same night. That’s the point where things came to a screeching halt. We were supposed to start our hunt on the 15th, however, the entire Western coast of AK was under blizzard advisory and low visibility. We ended up spending four nights in Bethel waiting for the weather to clear enough to fly to Nunivak. Although our timeline shifted a few days, and client reservations were bumping in to each other, James remained willing to work with us to get us out to the field.

February 22nd was the day on the forecast we all looked forward to and it was worth waiting for. The skies were bright and the winds were low. We got an early start because we already knew we had to travel 40 miles to the south side of the island by snow machine to get to the animals.

After seeing several herds of muskoxen with no mature bulls, we found a pair of bulls off by themselves at around 1:00 PM and we made a move to get a good view of them. After getting a good look at both of them, Jeremy and I both decided that these bulls were worth taking. We approached the bulls slowly with Jeremy kicking out and around the bulls as a flanker to force them into a defensive position. I worked into a position 30 yards from the pair of bulls and stuck a Slick Trick through the closest bull. When my bull tipped over, Jeremy and I swapped positions so that he could get a clear shot at the second bull. Jeremy’s shot was true and 2 minutes later we had two mature muskox bulls on the ground side by side. We spent the next 4 ½ hours taking pictures, breaking the bulls down, and loading them into the sleds. We ended up back at the village at 10 P.M. due to a few mechanical issues on the way back, but overall, we were happy with the day’s production.

Founder · May 2, 2023

Winner Has Been Drawn!!

@ridgetops wins the pack from our friends at Bad Ass Outdoor Gear.

Thanks to everyone who shared photos. Always enjoyable to see the pics and hear stories.

johnnycake · May 2, 2023

Congrats ridgetops!

ridgetops · May 2, 2023

Thanks for doing these giveaways founder.

SDBugler · May 4, 2023

My son's 2019 muzzy buck shot on the last day of the season (New Year's Eve). We hiked in on the tail end of a three day blizzard that completely shut down the state, and camped out in single digit temps.

The complete story is posted here:

A few bucks from South Dakota | Mule Deer

I haven’t posted stories or pics for a while so thought I would catch up and post up some bucks from our past couple seasons here in SD. In 2018 my family didn’t fare very well in the draws and I was the only one to pick up a tag for a mule deer here in SD. My middle son Spencer picked up a...

www.monstermuleys.info

SDBugler · May 4, 2023

This is from back in 2008. There was a blizzard the day before the rifle season opened. Had the interstates shut down across the entire state. Against my wife's wishes, my dad and I loaded up my two sons about 11 pm along with a couple shovels and four tire chains into my truck and headed out on the back roads to drive across the state. Our usual 4 hour drive took 8 hours but we made it to our spot just in time to get hiked in to where we wanted to be at first shooting light.

It paid off and even though it was normally heavily hunted public land, we had the place to ourselves for the first few hours!!!

Spencer made a great 330 yard shot on his first mule deer buck.

Braden and my dad followed up about 30 minutes later. My dad let Braden shoot the bigger of the two bucks.

My dad and his grandsons

within and hour and half of shooting time we had tree bucks down. It took the entire rest of the day to get them packed back out to the road.

A few nights later a couple tired boys after helping process three deer......