Dad's Trophies Photo Thread - Pack Giveaway

Photo contest

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Founder

Founder Since 1999
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With Father's Day coming soon, I thought a fun thread featuring our Dad's with Trophies might be fun. Let's see those photos! Bucks, bulls, rams, etc. Share details about the photos and your dad as well.

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.

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Dad took this one in Colorado in 2007. He actually shot this buck early in the hunt, but lost the blood trail and couldn't find the buck. About 5 days later after some snow, by brother cut tracks of a bleeding buck. We jumped on the trail and after about 2 miles, caught up to the buck and dad finished him off.
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As a kid, Thanksgiving was always our hunting day. Every other day was for work. We’d usually mob up in the hills, dad would shoot the first legal elk we saw, and we’d be back by dinner. 40 years later I had the privilege of taking the ‘ol man on Thanksgiving Day 2021, we were 20 minutes late for dinner this time
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My Dads 2022 Utah buck. Buck is 31” wide, we looked over hundreds of bucks with this late season tag and this was the one my dad wanted. With the early and constant snow up high made this hunt one we will never forget. The buck was aged at 4 years old.
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My Dad had killed quite a few elk in his life, but seemed to be cursed when it came to killing a big bull. The only luck he had with big bulls was the bad kind. As he got older, we started to wonder if the curse would ever be broken for him as his window to hunt elk was closing very fast.

In 2014, at 67 years old and with only 4 elk points, my Dad drew a random muzzleloader elk tag on the Boulder unit. Looked like his luck was changing in the right direction to get it done on a good bull for his final elk hunt. We scouted hard all summer and my brother and I spent 3 days before the opener working our butts off to find him a good bull. We found lots of bulls rutting like crazy and knew where we needed to be opening morning. At first light on opening morning, we got my Dad in on a rut fest with bulls bugling all around us. He killed this 347" bull at 40 yards and the curse was lifted!!
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Here is his Arizona buck from last fall. I think he's a stud buck and a completely awesome harvest photo.
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Only time i've ever been able to kill a bigger buck than my dad on the same trip. He always seems to come home with the bigger deer no matter how much I try. My uncle obviously put us all to shame, but I was still pumped to finally kill a "big" buck like dad.
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He's not too bad at elk hunting either. Dude just seems to always put himself in the right place and always capitalizes when it counts.
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My father with his 2022 California Archery buck. My father and I don't not get very many opportunities to hunt together due to our work schedules, but I do really enjoy those days.
This buck was running with a group of 8 others, I was able to get on the opposite ridge line and was able to direct him into the bucks as they layed up underneath the thick plantation trees. He had a small 48 yard window to make a clean shot, he was able to sneak his arrow in as the deer turned to leave. His "special" hunting hat was rolled up when he made his shot as it was the only way it would not hit his string. Day that him and I will always remember!
 
This was my dads first Rio hunt. He worked his rear end off his entire life providing for the family & never made much time at all for himself. It meant the world to me to take him on an adventure to do something new & go out of state for a hunt. The previous year had taken a toll on him, because my mom had been diagnosed with lung cancer. It’s one that I will never forget. He had a great time on that hunt & my mom is still here to hear his hunting stories. Such a great memory that I will always cherish.
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My dad hasn’t deer hunted since I can remember, so for at least 35yrs. He’s had a couple tags my kids mentored on, on one of those hunts I bumped a 180” buck right to him and he passed on it because he wanted my kid to kill one.

One of the coolest pictures I’ve ever taken. I walked up and took a picture of my dad after killing his biggest bull, snapped the pic before he knew I was there. The bull is an absolute hammer, super heavy, wide and had giant fronts.

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Dad’s buck from back in his 20’s. Buck was killed down by Salina, Utah 1969. He got a quote from a taxidermist to get it mounted and they quoted him $100.00. He shopped around for a couple days only to have someone steal it out of his garage. Never seen it since. It was his biggest buck to date.

Next photo is of his biggest bull to date. Taken in the twilight of his hunting career. Most of you have seen it on here already.

Dad is my biggest hero. Never take for granted the good people in your life!

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Technically he is my step dad. Entered my life at 5 years old and introduced me to the world of hunting. To me he is just a bonus dad.
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This was my first year big game hunting at age 14 in Utah. We thought we doubled up with two small bucks together. But my buck was never found.
 
Dad's one and only Utah Mountain Goat. We spent 38 days scouting and hunting before we decided that this one was the right billy to end the quest. It was bitter sweet as we both just wanted to keep hunting. Maybe the best hunt I have ever been on. Easily in the top 3. Which includes my mountain goat and my henries deer.

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Pictures of my dad from back in the early 60's and his G3 hunt in 2008. The picture from the early 60's puts my dad around 29. The 2008 picture from G3 puts my dad at 75. His knees were bad at the time so really could not do much walking. Got him into Division Creek and manged to find a decent 3x3. It was a good deer for my father. The picture from back in the day was from the Shaver / Dinkey area out of D7. Wish I could go back in time to experience those years.

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Here is dad, my brother and me with a big freak buck he shot in 72.
Dad was hunting with a taxidermist at the time, the taxidermist missed the buck several times, but dad didn't. Dad didn't have the money to mount the buck so he gave it to the taxidermist and the buck hung in the shop until he decided to retire from taxidermy. I was able to buy the head back for 175 dollars.
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A couple photos of my Dad. He was not a trophy hunter but he really had the passion for hunting. I can't thank him enough for giving me the opportunity to go on so many hunts. At 90, he helped my sister with her Idaho moose hunt. The moose photo is of his bull taken in Alberta with my Mom.

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This is my dad with a bull he and my grandfather shot in 1972, two weeks after I was born. My dad was a relentless and very successful elk hunter until his kids reached hunting age. Then it was all about us. He spent the next 20+ years chasing two point mule deer and spike bulls for us boys. He is a true sportsman and great father. His passion was elk. I love mule deer. I got so tired of hearing him say, "I saw a huge muley buck once right there on that ridge." When I would ask why he didn't shoot it and his answer was always one of two answers, "I was hunting elk!" or ,"Why would I shoot a deer clear back here when I could shoot one of those close to the road?" Drove me nuts, but I will always be grateful for his many personal sacrifices to teach me and my brothers how to hunt and to love to hunt.
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This last picture is greatest trophy! We were crazy and screwed up a lot of his hunts, but he just kept taking us, and putting us first. When I was 16 he once found me at 3:00 in the morning, lost on a cold hillside in 10 inches of snow at 10 degrees. I owe you a lot, Dad! Thanks!
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Awesome pics, fellas! Thanks for the shares.

My dad has always pretty much kept to the farm here in IN. He’s never been out west and saw the country and critters for himself. He sure hangs onto every word of the stories I tell him every fall from my travels, though. I think he is proud that I “get out there.”

Here’s a whitetail he took some years back. Cow crap on his boots, grease on the coveralls, and Marlboro reds was his idea of scent control !

His real passion has always been hounds. He won the world hunt with that hound when Mom was pregnant with me back in the 80s.

Cheers!

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Founder said:
WINNER HAS BEEN DRAWN!!!

I hope you will all support our friends at Bad Ass Outdoor Gear as you buy your hunting gear for this Fall. They support this site and giveaway some great stuff to members here almost every month.

@Harvdog is the WINNER of the Eberlestock Bandit! Congratulations!

Thank you everyone who contributed. Good stuff.
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Are you kidding me! What a deal, much appreciated. Guess I had the lucky hand.
 

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