Most memorable hunts...

never_catch

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I just read the "Scores" thread in the General section and thought instead of hijacking that thread I'd start this one. This is an essay I had to write for my writing class I'm taking and is about...well you'll figure it out ;-)

A Ute Trees a Cougar

Winter unleashed its fury as my father and I left home for the most memorable hunt of my life. All I had desired for my twelfth birthday was to be at his side when he pursued a mountain lion, also known by football fans as a cougar. As he drove us south on Redwood Road, I could hear the hounds? howling and barking the entire way in the back of his truck. Dancer, Dumpster, Spazz and Ollie knew where we were going and were as excited as I.
Upon arrival, we parked the truck and began unloading snowmobiles in the most miserable winter conditions I have ever seen. After warming up the sleds, we tore off down the trail. Within thirty minutes the hounds sounded off, signaling that they smelled something to chase. We flicked on our flashlights as we stiffly crawled off our sleds and began searching the snow for tracks. Dad found tracks and said they belonged to a big lion. We released the dogs and listened to them follow Dumpster up and around the mountain for nearly an hour before they were out of earshot. After another hour of trying to keep warm, the sun finally rose to warm my delighted and frozen face. Dad gave me an idiot's guide to his radio tracking system and we located the dogs a mile away.
We drove our way toward the dogs until the sleds could go no further; we then set out on foot through the deep snow to find them. I could hear the hounds? barks growing louder with each step and the anticipation placed a machine gun in my chest where my heart once pulsed. Finally I caught a glimpse of Dancer jumping and barking at the base of a giant tree. As I peered up, up into the tree, I locked eyes with the lion. Surprised to see me, he immediately jumped down fifty feet into the deep powder. I stood in complete shock and watched my domesticated canines swarm the wild feline.
After a ground fight of mere seconds, the cougar evaded the dogs and began running down a deep canyon to my left. My father and I ran to the edge just in time to see the lion make it to the bottom and start up the other side. The hounds were on the lion?s tail the entire way up until the lion finally treed again. We hiked our way over and watched the lion for more than two hours.
We did not shoot the treed cat, as dad had only a pursuit tag, but that day was by far the most fun of my life. Seeing that predator at such a close distance in the wild was an amazing feeling such that I will never forget.

I wish I could have gone into more detail but there was a max word count I couldn't go over...anyways lets hear about you guys most memorable hunting stories!! Any species, kill or no kill, whatever you want to tell us about :)

GO KOBE GO!!

~Z~
 
LAST EDITED ON May-27-10 AT 04:12AM (MST)[p]http://www.monstermuleys.info/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.pl?az=show_thread&om=18958&forum=DCForumID6&archive=yes


This was from Wyoming last year.
 
My most memorable hunt is the Hunt for the N.B.A. Championship Going thru the Lakers. Go Suns !!


Hands down, Dall Sheep in Alaska in 2004. Looking back on the hunt all these years later the scenery and amount of effort it took will always make this hunt hard to beat. The rugged Chugach Mountain range can really wear a Guy down after the 5th or 6th day. We started our Hunt in an area that turned out to have other Hunters already on the Rams we were after. This set back required a change of plans and a 14 mile hike up over the most Gawd awful mountain pass a Guy could find. On day 8 it all came together but even without a kill this hunt would still rank at the top.
 
Memorable......lots of them but a recent memorable one was with my (then 3 1/2 year-old) son, son-in-law and a young man from a hunter ed class. We took my llamas and hiked 5 miles into an Idaho wilderness area (James {son} had a ball).

I expected my son and I to hang around camp but hoped a deer would commit suicide. During the first day, we had cow elk all around and we called a 5x5 bull into such a close range that my son threw a rock at him (not elk season)....when the elk got close and was snorting and bugling, James made me show him the rifle had bullets but then he got braver and did throw a rock at the elk.

I actually found a couple of very good bucks from camp. The young man from hunter ed said he was too tired and it was too far to go get them. I had his sit with my son and get him breakfast while I stalked the deer. They had a spotting scope for the whole stalk & shot.

While hiking down, up and over, I kept talking to my little boy on a hand-held radio saying, "can you see the deer". He said yes twice then said "no".

I asked if they ran away but he didn't know.....'cause I'm eating my grapenuts"!.

When I got in position for a shot, I was only 300 yards from the bucks but a mile away from my son, who was watching through the spotter. He assured me he was watching and was "ready".

I fired. Before the sound of the rifle could reach James, he said, "Daddy, it was a tricky deer. You better shoot again. It ducked! It was pretty tricky!"

My son in law shot the other large deer as it ran around the corner.

We got a TON of pictures, two good bucks (mine went 187), James threw rocks at a bull elk and had a great quote.......we also played "John Wayne" as James rode one of the llamas up from the water run in the canyon floor.

Most memorable.......that's one of them.


Within the shadows, go quietly.
 
A couple of hunts stick out for me. In 89 or so I was on my way back to camp and spied a couple of cow elk. Shot one, heard her hit the ground and reached around to grab my knife. When I turned to go get her, she was headed into the woods. Lots of blood, so I waited about 30 minutes and figured I would find her a few feet into the trees. This was at 1530. No such luck. I trailed her for hours and was darn lucky to determine which tracks were hers due to all the elk sign. I could hear her but she would never lay down. Blood trail was easy to find and so were other elk. Finally caught up to her after about 4 hours. Got back to camp at 1130 and -17 degree weather. Darned romantic to me. I could smell elk all around me and very often heard them.

Next hunt was two years later. We hadn't seen much action and decided to leave a bit early to go get my BILs truck which had broken down. Decided to bring a gun and make one last stalk. On the way to my area, we saw a few cows/calves, but no bulls. BIL let me off at the top of the hill and I was to walk back to him about 4 miles away. Started walking and her came the snow. Huge flakes and lots of them. About 1/2 mile off the crest of the hill I began seeing lots of fresh sign. Anothe half mile, with the snow building, and visibilty dropping (partly due to snowfall and it was also about 1530..getting dark) I began to see a lot of elk wandering down hill amongst the trees. At one point I could see elk throughout my peripheral vision. I sat down and waited for a bull to go through this one clearing about 100 yards away. It wasn't long before one stopped at the sound of my cow call. I shot and he went down. I went down to him, put a .44 into his head and began dressin him out. Had to drag him about 2 miles. Some of the time I was just getting out of his way as it was a very steep hill. It was after dark when I began my descent.


My most memorable hunt was the first hunt I took my four year old son. At this time he was our foster boy and working our way through the adoption process. I was afraid that the CA state foster system would decline my request to take him huniting. Luckily, he was being adopted out of a mountain county where most of the folks there hunt.

Anyway, it was such a joy to see this kid begin to open up to the outdoors. He got so see and feel elk/deer poop and know the difference. I got to show him why you pee going downhill and not uphill. He got to see wolf tracks. And the aftermath of a wolf kill. We made snowballs, cooked outside with snow falling, build his first campfire, build him a temporary fort. He even got to hold deer and elk antlers. My best hunt by far.


Compromise, hell! ... If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?
 
That last post reminded me of another hunt my son and I went on. We went to sleep in good weather and woke up to 10 inches of snow and a lot of wind.

We looked around for 20 minutes but it wasn't fun for me and HE thought it was COLD. On the way back to the truck, I got a little ahead of him and stepped behind a tree. He thought "daddy was gone". When I "came back", I showed him he could follow my tracks. He thought that was so cool!

We went into the trees to get out of the wind and had to play hide-n-seek for a LONG time.

We never fired a shot in three days.....but we followed deer tracks, elk tracks, mtn. lion tracks, coyote tracks, daddy tracks and EVERY other track there was......pretty fun.


Within the shadows, go quietly.
 
3 years ago. My dad and I were on our 7th or so elk hunt in Co. On the 2nd day I shot a cow elk, which was my first elk. We were so excited and were totaly happy with the trip at that point. A couple days later my dad shot a bull, his first elk. He was 70 at the time.

We got to be there for each others elk and worked together through the whole process of gutting, skinning and getting them out of the woods. We will remember that trip for the rest of our lives.
 
Too many to be the most memorable, but there are alot my brother with my on my first archery kill. My brother with me on my first turkey hunt this year...Dad last year when me and my brother took him out together for the first time since 1986..all the antelope hunts me and my brother had last year list goes on and on...i just recently last march fouond out that i have a son i didnt know about...one those crazy drinking nights....he wants to hunt like dad...i never mentioned i hunted and his mom knew nothing about me kinda crazy but at the same time great. He also already wants a bow....


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has anyone seen my kittie
 
Very cool stories guys, thanks for taking the time to share them!! Keep em coming if you have more :)

GO KOBE GO!!

~Z~
 
My most memorable hunt was with my son at 10 years old. This was 11 years ago this September. It was an archery cow hunt and this one evening we were on the ground doing spot and stalk through some very thick Juniper trees. I really didn't expect to see anything and so we stopped and sat on a log to take a little break and I handed him my Binoculars to look through. He started scanning through the trees and then he freezes. He put the binos down then brought them back up to his eye?s again like he didn't believe what he was seeing. He did this 2 or 3 more times. I am now straining trying to see what he is looking at and not sure at all what it is. Then he taps me on the shoulder and whispers in my ear ?elk?. I asked him where and he points straight ahead but I cant see them. Then I asks for the Binos and I still cant see them. I ask him to point straight at them and he does and I STILL cant see them. He grabs my head and has me lean over to him?now I SEE them! A whole herd feeding right to us and because they were about 200 yards out one little tree block my view of the whole herd of over 30 animals. I put my son on his knees behind the nearest tree and had him look and watch in the crotch of two big branches in a ?Y? as I moved up 15 yards or so in front of him. He was slightly over my left shoulder and after what seemed like forever here come the elk in single file just slowly feeding. I waited until I was sure my son could see the elk and me. I turned and looked back him only to see his excited face in the crotch of that old tree. I came to full draw, look back at him one more time and settled my 20 yard pin behind the lead cows shoulder and let rip! Twack!! Perfect hit. We watched her run away and to the left in a half circle before we couldn't see her anymore. It was getting late so I probably got on her a little earlier than we should of but I was confident she wouldn't go far. As I am finding loads of blood to track, my son is looking ahead and see?s her bedded down. We sneak in and I put another well placed arrow in her and it was over. My son was so lit up and so excited he could hardly contain himself. I will never forget that hunt with him for as long as I live.

GBA
 
Back in 95 I think it was I was hunting with a good friend for elk. I was 15. We took off that morning up a logging road and had gone about 1/4 mile and the road splits. We hear elk down in the little basin between the two roads. My friend takes the lower road and I take the higher road. I walk 20 yards and a big cow walks up onto the road right ahead of me. I freeze and she freezes and stares at me for several minutes. She finally barked and the forest erupts into chaos. A bazillion elk pile out of that basin and up the hill. No shots at a bull presented itself but there were horns so I was wrapped. I run around that hill harder than Ive ever ran and around another hill trying to get ahead of them. I dont see them anywhere. Gotta pee. I lean my .308 against a tree and whip out my package and start a stream. Then 200 yards up the hillside is a bunch of elk walking single file. Im saying holy shiz so I grab my piece (gun) and aim at the elk watching them through my scope. My package is still hanging out and is getting cold. All the sudden a spike steps into view and stops. I shoot twice and miss. 3rd shot hits and drops him. I tuck my package away and run up the hill. Now Im beyond pumped because he turned out to be a 3x4. He may as well have scored 400. Its hard to beat your first bull.
 
Pre marraige and family it would have to be the first elk I shot with my brother. We froze our butts off that day but I shot an elk right at dark. We really didn't know how far we were away from the truck but we drug that bull (WHOLE) for 4 1/2 hours finally getting it back to the truck around midnight. We were both so tired that we just slept in the front of the truck and went home the next morning. I laugh about it now but that was one of the hardest bulls I have ever gotten out. Neither one of us knew how to quarter an elk and we were both damn lucky to figure out how to clean one. Good memories now though. In hunting camp that story inevitably comes up once a year.


It's always an adventure!!!
 

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