Your Favorite Hunt

Aceman · Feb 26, 2024

Would like to read your all time favorite hunt. Mine was back in 1972 and I remember most of it like it was yesterday. A good friend called me late in the evening and asked if I wanted to go with him to help track a bull elk he wounded and had tracked till dark. He was hunting in the San Isabel National Forest and there had been a snow prior to his hunt. We loaded up two horses before light the next morning and headed to the hunt area. We found the track and as the snow was getting pretty deep, I left him tracking and headed for a South slope where the snow was not as deep. He was unable to locate the bull as the track played out, so we headed back to the truck. I had a bull and buck license, on the way we came across a nice buck and I filled my tag. It is not my biggest buck but it hangs in my computer room and reminds me of a wonderful time years ago.,.

feddoc · Feb 26, 2024

It was in the 80s. I was heading back to camp and happened upon two cows busting out of some trees about 1/2 mile away. Hit one with my .338 and turned around to grab my knife, then heard the cow hit the ground. She got up and ran into the trees with her buddy. I waited about thirty minutes to set up, and went to tracking, expecting to find her just off the crest of the hill.

Im guessing those two were the lead cows for a herd of about 100 as there were so many elk tracks, if it weren't for the blood, I could never have tracked her. By now it was about 1630 hours and getting dark. As I walked down the hill, I would drag a couple of downed trees across the road (always on blood) so my buddies would know where I was headed. Walk, set listen for a few miles then I found her, she picked her head up and I shot her in the neck and started gutting. It was about -20 and 1130 by the time we got her back to camp.

OR

In October 1969 I was deer hunting with my friend in northern NM and we hadn't had much luck. We were heading down the hill about 1600 or so, stepping over downed timber. I looked up to see my friend step over a smallish tree....only the tree moved. I called out 'SNAKE' and he jumped far enough away to not get bit.

We realized it was a darn good sized timber rattler who was trying to coil up. I shot it just under the head, the bullet exited, then entered the snake again and exited again. The second exit hole produced a cottontail rabbit.

The rattlers on that snake were a measured 4.5+ inches long. Im guessing he was about a 6'3" snake or so, based on how much snake was on the ground as I held it by the first bullet hole.

ridgetops · Feb 26, 2024

Mine has been my bighorn sheep hunt. You can find it in the 2010 hunt adventure challenge in these forums.

elkassassin · Feb 26, 2024

So doc?

You Were Practicing LONG RANGE Clear Back In The 80's?

feddoc said:
It was in the 80s. I was heading back to camp and happened upon two cows busting out of some trees about 1/2 mile away. Hit one with my .338 and turned around to grab my knife, then heard the cow hit the ground. She got up and ran into the trees with her buddy. I waited about thirty minutes to set up, and went to tracking, expecting to find her just off the crest of the hill.

Im guessing those two were the lead cows for a herd of about 100 as there were so many elk tracks, if it weren't for the blood, I could never have tracked her. By now it was about 1630 hours and getting dark. As I walked down the hill, I would drag a couple of downed trees across the road (always on blood) so my buddies would know where I was headed. Walk, set listen for a few miles then I found her, she picked her head up and I shot her in the neck and started gutting. It was about -20 and 1130 by the time we got her back to camp.

OR

In October 1969 I was deer hunting with my friend in northern NM and we hadn't had much luck. We were heading down the hill about 1600 or so, stepping over downed timber. I looked up to see my friend step over a smallish tree....only the tree moved. I called out 'SNAKE' and he jumped far enough away to not get bit.

We realized it was a darn good sized timber rattler who was trying to coil up. I shot it just under the head, the bullet exited, then entered the snake again and exited again. The second exit hole produced a cottontail rabbit.

The rattlers on that snake were a measured 4.5+ inches long. Im guessing he was about a 6'3" snake or so, based on how much snake was on the ground as I held it by the first bullet hole.

feddoc · Feb 26, 2024

elkassassin said:
So doc?

You Were Practicing LONG RANGE Clear Back In The 80's?

No, but, they kept running towards me.

Sparks Shooter · Feb 26, 2024

My favorite hunt was in 2022. It was November and most seasons were over. I got lucky and picked up a leftover December Muzzy tag. I had a few weeks to scout and had enough vacation to hunt the whole season. It snowed a couple feet and I spent 8 days hunting dawn to dusk. I saw just enough bucks to keep the adreneline pumping and screwed up a BUNCH of stalks. Had the entire mountain to myself most days.

Ended up lucking out on a dandy buck to top it all off. Hours of hunting and glassing and I loved every minute!———SS

SS! · Feb 27, 2024

WHERE ARE THE PICS

Mallardsx2 · Feb 27, 2024

Hard to beat the moose hunts I have been on. I really enjoy hunting them. They were all equally fun.

My Archery bull 2010.

My buddy and his first big game bow kill in 2015.

And then I was pretty excited for my wife when she got hers in 2017. It was her first big game bow kill as well. Then her second big game bow kill came in 2019.

I would say it was a 4-way tie between these hunts in regard to big game hunts.

2010

2015

2017

2019

Onthehoof · Feb 27, 2024

Not necessarily my favorite hunt, but one of my favorite hunt memories. In 2021 I was hunting the early rifle deer and had my 5 year old son with me. He became one of my regular hunting buddies out of necessity when he was 2 because his little sister was born a month before the deer hunt and I took him with me to keep his momma happy. Anyway, we were on a hike and I noticed a little bit of blood on some leaves as we were hiking. A cousin of mine had wounded a deer the day before, but we were not even close to where he had wounded the deer they could not find. But I started to try and follow the blood trail. It was slow once we hit pine needles and I kept losing the trail but figured I was heading about the same direction as the deer. My son was collecting turkey feathers as we were walking and we were taking our time. As we headed through some thick scrub oak I jumped the buck. The trees were too thick to get a good look at the deer so I ran about 20 yards diagonal to the deer trying to cut it off and saw the deer again. I could see its front leg just flopping around as it ran. I shot and downed the deer and realized I left my son back where I had jumped the deer. After he made his way to where I was, we hiked down to the dead buck. Once we got to the deer my son started getting really excited. He kept saying, "I love you dad! You are the best dad. I love you. You are the best hunter. We were almost out of food and you got us more food! I love you. You are the best dad! I love you, dad. Good job, dad! I love you!" That was the most excited I have seen him get and it is a memory I hope to have forever. That is the memory I had always been hunting for. It made all those years of carrying him on my shoulders, or stuffing him into my back pack worth it. So I guess that does make this my favorite hunt. Not my best buck, but I was glad that buck was not still running around three legged. The front shoulder was toast, but the rest of the meat was good and was actually a really tasty deer. And it was the deer my cousin had wounded.

littlebighorn · Feb 27, 2024

ridgetops said:
Mine has been my bighorn sheep hunt. You can find it in the 2010 hunt adventure challenge in these forums.

That hunt is even one of my favorites Ridge. Epic

littlebighorn · Feb 27, 2024

Every hunt I've been on with my son by my side is my favorite. Can't wait for the next one!

Aceman · Feb 27, 2024

As far as pictures, most hunters I knew back in the 60's and 70's never carried cameras in the field hunting. Pictures were sometimes taken when back in camp or at home. Wish we had more pictures of that period of time.

boomer · Feb 27, 2024

2016 - Wyoming mule deer
I had spent a very large amount of time scouting and figured I had turned up around 9 bucks that would score 190+. (It was way different back then.) It was a tough decision but I decided to put my efforts into a buck that I figured was 33" wide and had 7 on each side. Not a great picture, but here he is.

I hunted as hard as I could without getting fired from my job the first two weeks of the rifle season with no luck. As it turned out, he had been killed on the third day by one of the outfitted clients in the area. I didn't know it at the time. Hind site being 20/20, I should have gone after another buck with a large droptine but that's life. This buck had a smaller home base and was much more predictable. Here is a terrible trail cam picture of the buck. This buck was taken by another MM member.

On Oct. 1st most of the hunters leave the area for new openers so I decided to keep after it and go look for a typical that I had seen in 2015. This buck had some potential but I hadn't made it in to the area to scout. This was him in July of 2015. He wasn't what I was looking for that year but I thought he could turn into something the following year.

On Oct. 1st of the following year I found myself sitting in the dark on the same rock that I have many times before. I had seen 14 bucks that morning but the 15th buck came out about 1:00 in the afternoon and started to make his way out of the canyon. I recognized him from the year before and took the shot. Here he is.

This buck will always be my favorite buck as I was able to take him with my grandfather's Winchester model 70. (.270) that he had gifted me a year before. As it turned out, relaying this story was the last time I had a chance to talk to my grandpa, he died shortly after. Good times.

SS! · Feb 27, 2024

boomer said:
2016 - Wyoming mule deer
I had spent a very large amount of time scouting and figured I had turned up around 9 bucks that would score 190+. (It was way different back then.) It was a tough decision but I decided to put my efforts into a buck that I figured was 33" wide and had 7 on each side. Not a great picture, but here he is.
View attachment 138183
I hunted as hard as I could without getting fired from my job the first two weeks of the rifle season with no luck. As it turned out, he had been killed on the third day by one of the outfitted clients in the area. I didn't know it at the time. Hind site being 20/20, I should have gone after another buck with a large droptine but that's life. This buck had a smaller home base and was much more predictable. Here is a terrible trail cam picture of the buck. This buck was taken by another MM member.
View attachment 138190
On Oct. 1st most of the hunters leave the area for new openers so I decided to keep after it and go look for a typical that I had seen in 2015. This buck had some potential but I hadn't made it in to the area to scout. This was him in July of 2015. He wasn't what I was looking for that year but I thought he could turn into something the following year.View attachment 138182
On Oct. 1st of the following year I found myself sitting in the dark on the same rock that I have many times before. I had seen 14 bucks that morning but the 15th buck came out about 1:00 in the afternoon and started to make his way out of the canyon. I recognized him from the year before and took the shot. Here he is.View attachment 138180 View attachment 138181This buck will always be my favorite buck as I was able to take him with my grandfather's Winchester model 70. (.270) that he had gifted me a year before. As it turned out, relaying this story was the last time I had a chance to talk to my grandpa, he died shortly after. Good times.

Heck yeah cool story and sweet buck!

SS! · Feb 27, 2024

Mallardsx2 said:
Hard to beat the moose hunts I have been on. I really enjoy hunting them. They were all equally fun.

My Archery bull 2010.

My buddy and his first big game bow kill in 2015.

And then I was pretty excited for my wife when she got hers in 2017. It was her first big game bow kill as well. Then her second big game bow kill came in 2019.

I would say it was a 4-way tie between these hunts in regard to big game hunts.

2010
View attachment 138164

2015
View attachment 138165

2017
View attachment 138166

2019
View attachment 138167

Sweet animals! Love that double palm bull!

yoteduster · Feb 27, 2024

boomer said:
2016 - Wyoming mule deer
I had spent a very large amount of time scouting and figured I had turned up around 9 bucks that would score 190+. (It was way different back then.) It was a tough decision but I decided to put my efforts into a buck that I figured was 33" wide and had 7 on each side. Not a great picture, but here he is.
View attachment 138183
I hunted as hard as I could without getting fired from my job the first two weeks of the rifle season with no luck. As it turned out, he had been killed on the third day by one of the outfitted clients in the area. I didn't know it at the time. Hind site being 20/20, I should have gone after another buck with a large droptine but that's life. This buck had a smaller home base and was much more predictable. Here is a terrible trail cam picture of the buck. This buck was taken by another MM member.
View attachment 138190
On Oct. 1st most of the hunters leave the area for new openers so I decided to keep after it and go look for a typical that I had seen in 2015. This buck had some potential but I hadn't made it in to the area to scout. This was him in July of 2015. He wasn't what I was looking for that year but I thought he could turn into something the following year.View attachment 138182
On Oct. 1st of the following year I found myself sitting in the dark on the same rock that I have many times before. I had seen 14 bucks that morning but the 15th buck came out about 1:00 in the afternoon and started to make his way out of the canyon. I recognized him from the year before and took the shot. Here he is.View attachment 138180 View attachment 138181This buck will always be my favorite buck as I was able to take him with my grandfather's Winchester model 70. (.270) that he had gifted me a year before. As it turned out, relaying this story was the last time I had a chance to talk to my grandpa, he died shortly after. Good times.

Great story.. And a way nice buck..gotta love those heavy horned bucks ...great memories

SS! · Feb 27, 2024

I’m not sure if I have a favorite hunt but this one with a MM member was pretty sweet. He came up to AK the next year and shot a 69 3/4” wide bull too.

We were hunting a migration route that the knowledge was passed down to us by old timers. We didn’t have to have an expensive study done to tell us those deer travel a long ways to their winter range. It would be a full 10 years later the UW discovered it.

. We shot this buck in a dry October knowing the deer migrate whether there’s snow or not. Saw a lot of great bucks, I believe we shot this one Oct 21 or 22.

Rie bread · Feb 27, 2024

boomer said:
2016 - Wyoming mule deer
I had spent a very large amount of time scouting and figured I had turned up around 9 bucks that would score 190+. (It was way different back then.) It was a tough decision but I decided to put my efforts into a buck that I figured was 33" wide and had 7 on each side. Not a great picture, but here he is.
View attachment 138183
I hunted as hard as I could without getting fired from my job the first two weeks of the rifle season with no luck. As it turned out, he had been killed on the third day by one of the outfitted clients in the area. I didn't know it at the time. Hind site being 20/20, I should have gone after another buck with a large droptine but that's life. This buck had a smaller home base and was much more predictable. Here is a terrible trail cam picture of the buck. This buck was taken by another MM member.
View attachment 138190
On Oct. 1st most of the hunters leave the area for new openers so I decided to keep after it and go look for a typical that I had seen in 2015. This buck had some potential but I hadn't made it in to the area to scout. This was him in July of 2015. He wasn't what I was looking for that year but I thought he could turn into something the following year.View attachment 138182
On Oct. 1st of the following year I found myself sitting in the dark on the same rock that I have many times before. I had seen 14 bucks that morning but the 15th buck came out about 1:00 in the afternoon and started to make his way out of the canyon. I recognized him from the year before and took the shot. Here he is.View attachment 138180 View attachment 138181This buck will always be my favorite buck as I was able to take him with my grandfather's Winchester model 70. (.270) that he had gifted me a year before. As it turned out, relaying this story was the last time I had a chance to talk to my grandpa, he died shortly after. Good times.

Dude grandpa model 70 for the the win! Pun intended

Rie bread · Feb 27, 2024

Favorite hunt might be a loaded question. I’ll have to think about it and reserve this post space

HikeHunt61 · Feb 27, 2024

Best hunt: my son and I both getting nice "royal" bulls (ask SS! for definition) in 2013. We got his by 3 of us calling him in, spaced 50 yards apart with cow calls. Horny bull he was, dead bull he became.

I got mine a couple days later by basically chasing him 2 miles through timber as he was harassed by satellite bulls which allowed me to keep on him. I was soooo shot after chasing him I finally decided to burst in on an open lane, and voila, he ran right in front of me.

We talk about that hunt every time we whiff on our latest hunts, or just anytime it feels good

Buckfever34 · Feb 28, 2024

My son's first deer. Taken with his crossbow here at the home farm in IN on a food plot that he helped till up and plant.

It means the most to me because I can remember on the day my wife and I found out our second child was gonna be a boy I wondered how he would be? Would he like hanging out with me? Would he have the same interests I have, which involve mostly doing things outdoors? Would he like to hike and hunt and fish and learn about the natural world?

Thankfully, the answer was "yes" to all those things I wondered about. He's my absolute best buddy and I take a lot of pride in the fact that he would much rather go out and ride his bike or atv, hunt, fish, and shoot guns, or just simply play in the woods over anything else.

DoubleDropMuley · Feb 28, 2024

I’m with @SS! ,not sure if there is such thing as a favorite hunt. They are all good but this one is one I’ll remember for sure. With my dad have been injured in a industrial accident at the young age of 39 loosing left arm and left leg and being left with 90% of his body burnt he still found the GO to get us into the outdoors and he finally got his chance at harvesting a bull elk. After a few failed attempts and not being able to see very well through the scope we finally made it happen!! LYP!!

Rie bread · Feb 28, 2024

Rie bread said:
Favorite hunt might be a loaded question. I’ll have to think about it and reserve this post space

For some reason I can’t edit.

Anyway I think iv had many of my favorite hunt with my family. We hunt opening weekend archery and closing weekend rifle. This last season was the first full family of 4 hunt with my 1 month old daughter along for the ride. Yes it’s our annual end of the year road hunt. Cause let’s face it my legs are pretty tired by that point of Montana 3 month marathon of a hunting season.

What special about it for me is the zero stress and zero pressure. It’s relaxing and peaceful. This year as the light was fading on the last day of hunting season I just finished taken a leak and noticed two white blotch’s. I put the binos up and a whitetail stood up and then another. I grabbed my rifle and as I hopped the fence the whitetail does took off. I had a running shot but decided to let them go.

Normally I’d be bummed but I looked around that cottonwood bottom in the fading light and glanced over to see my family smiling at me from the truck. Right then I knew I was doing what I was supposed to.