What has been your favorite hunt?

[Huntnchick]

Swivel head

 

My husband's friends had unit 27 hunts the last 2 years and the rut never really hit until after the hunt was over. Same with my hunt last year in 3b. Even though they were bugling and everything. I just hope this year is better.

[Shedhunteraz]

Oh so many favorite memories it is hard to pick just one. Gonna have to say last year Wyoming antelope hunt has been my favorite so far. I went up with my son and Bro in law and nephew. We drove all day and it was my son's 9th birthday. He got to be in 4 states on his birthday. We both killed great bucks and the boys caught some nice trout!

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I second this. Was an awesome hunt with our boys and brother in law. Two bucks in two days and some awesome fishing and tons of fishing. We pushed our little ones and didn't complain one second it was awesome.Second would be my first archery bull

[.270]

my favorite hunts are the ones where i'm either alone or with somebody. Lark.

[AverageJoe]

my favorite hunts are the ones where i'm either alone or with somebody. Lark.

You're never alone. The voices in your head keep you company all year long. Ha

[murfys69law]

1991...Thursday.. it was a gloomy day. I had just put in 2 weeks of hard scouting. Saw herds of deer everyday until the day before the the hunt opened. Saw 2 doe and that was it. I had a friend coming up who had never hunted before and I was in charge of finding him a buck. Just as the sun was going down I checked 1 of my favorite water holes. Lots of tracks. I turned to go to my truck when 6 bucks stood up about 100yards away. Hadn't even seen them in the tall grass. I almost soiled my britches. 2 of them were monsters while the others were very respectable. Walked quietly to my truck and watched them watch me for 15 minutes and disperse over a hill. Sitting in camp that night alone waiting for my friend I was going nuts. Finally at about 2am he rolls in and I'm still awake. Told him what I saw and what the plan was. Next morning I found the bucks about 1/2 mile from the day before. 600 yards away on the side of a hill with no way to get to them. I decide to take a shot. I shoot a lot of long range so I was confident. My friend said he wouldn't attempt it. Well I missed and I am just sick as ever watching them run up and over the hill. We went over to where they were and found no sign of a hit. I tell him I know how we can get around to that hill but we need to get back to the truck. We walked for about 30 minutes and topped a hill. I could see my truck on the other side about 1/2 mile away. Something catches my eye in the bottom of the canyon and guess who it is. The 6 bucks stand in the bottom. They had circled around us and we never even saw them. I ask him if he has 1 picked out and he said yes. They were 330 yards. I said when ever your ready go ahead and shoot. He shoots and drops a nice 3 pointer. I shoot and drop the one in my avatar. A huge 6x6 with weird extra antlers. 7:30 they were hanging in camp and the party was on. Never forget that day.

[azelkhunter69]

My favorite hunt, at least in recent memory, was my wife's 1st bull hunt in 2011. The first morning was a total bust. We went to my favorite spot and didn't see a track. You see, almost a foot of snow fell a week before the hunt. The elk moved. I saw no point in going back to the same spot that afternoon so we went to a different area that was at a lower elevation. Tracks everywhere and we saw a bull but she never got a shot. We decided to go back there in the morning. We were sitting in a good open spot where the elk had been moving through when a hunter comes along the fence. We alerted him to our presence and he just hung around. Within the next few minutes, 2 other guys join him and they proceed to stand 50 yards away from us holding a conversation with normal speaking voices. Obviously didn't care we were there and probably were doing it on purpose. Well, my wife was deflated...and MAD. She just knew that they had "ruined it" for her and that she would "never get an elk". It was cold and I knew she was mad/frustrated so I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. She grumbled "yeah" and off we went. We were sneaking along in the junipers on the edge of a big dropoff, trying to be a s quiet as we could when I spotted a bull laying down. He was 102 yards away and she couldn't hold the muzzleloader steady enough offhand to get a shot. If she tried to kneel she couldn't see him. The snow was crunchy and there was no cover between the bull and us so what do we do? I looked around and about 15 feet away I see a big pine tree with a broken off branch about the perfect height for a rest. I got over there and checked it out and saw it would work, called my wife over and got her set up. The little stub of a branch that was left gave her a perfect rest. The bull had a little dark spot on his side and I told her to hold just to the right of it. Boom !!! The smoke clears and the bull goes down. She would probably kill me for saying what happened next but she was so excited, she fell to her knees and started hyperventilating and said "I can't feel my hands!!!" LOL Hugs, kisses, tears followed and she had her elk. I may have been when I was younger, but I don't think I have been as excited as I was when she got her bull. To top it off, Game and Fish used her picture on the cover of the regs the next year. Also, a guy at work tried to downplay her accomplishment and said she was lucky. Well, she showed him when she got drawn for the same hunt and killed a bigger bull last year.

[Mocha1545]

I want to say every hunt I have ever been on But, will have to say every hunt I went on with my brother and my Dad! So many wonderful memories. Even the ones that didn't fill the freezer.

[Huntnchick]

These are so fun to read!!!! Keep them coming!

 

Maybe this year we will get a lot more posted!!!!

[Elkhunter1]

I love hunting don't get me wrong, but there is just something about guiding some one on their first or second Big Game hunt. I can also say the same about taking my dad out hunting. Back in 09 my brother and I took our dad out for the first Coues hunt.

 

My dad and I started the hunt out spending all night Thursday tearing my truck apart to replace the CV boots as I discovered the right side torn that afternoon while out scouting for the hunt. Opening morning was spent putting it back together. That afternoon's hunt was uneventful with only does coming to the party. As the sun rose on day two my dad and I found our selves on a ridge top where my oldest brother Rick killed his first Coues Deer. As I was glassing the bottom of the canyon I could see several piles of bear scat (big piles). After awhile I decided to move to another glassing point as soon as I sat down I spotted a reddish animal on the other ridge. I couldn't believe my eyes as I focused my 20x60's on the spot and a huge bear moved. I ranged her at 930 yards. After not seeing the prey we were after I returned to my dad, soon after she and her mini me cub walked over the point right in front of us at 115 yards. Day two ended as uneventful as the first.

 

Day three my brother is able to join us and soon after day light he spots several bucks off in the Ocotillo's. While watching them and devising a plan a Coyote decides to play and pushes the bucks up the side of the hill making it easier to get a shot. After moving into position I range the bigger buck bedded behind a Yucca at 410 yards, my dad settles the riffle on a branch of the Palo Verde tree we are under and the waiting game begins. Several ties my brother and I say "get ready he's getting up", only to see him re-position his front legs like a dog. Several hours later we find the wind is picking up and not getting better, dad decides to take the shot with a crosswind around 10 from the right. Bang the shot rings out and no report, no dust, no flopping buck, WTF? Dad reloads and the buck stands up and BANG, the buck runs down the hill about 50 yards and piles up!

 

 

Guided my dad on his 2012 Coues hunt, same hill almost the same ridge as his 09 buck. Again the buck is bedded, as we wait the buck is spooked by a couple ranchers as the buck is running up the ridge my dad shoots four rounds, all over him. The buck stopped and I quickly ranged him at 405 yards, Bang and the buck dropped, "dad, you Kennedy shot him, you head shot him!" The round hit him right between his ears. Seeing the joy and smiles on his face and seeing how excited he still gets after all the game he has taken is just pure joy for me.

 

 

The 2013 season finds me guiding my buddy John Shaw on the first hunt. Before we even get to our glassing spot I pick up movement in the early morning darkness, a doe at 75 yards. The day is starting out good. From the glassing spot John and I spot three different groups of Coues, all does totaling 17. As we glass a voice in my head keeps telling me to look down below our rock outcrop. After about fifteen minutes of this voice rattling in my head I look down and there is 5 Coues 115 yards below. "Buck, John there's one right below us! He's just a spike, do you want him?" I tell John to slowly peak over the rock and decide if he wants him. I glance over at John and he has his riffle up, I just get my binos up and he shoots, buck down! John has his second Az. Coues Deer.

 

 

The following Wednesday another Buddy Daniel Boyle and I head out into another unit after his First big game kill. We get to one of my spots and head out up the hill, then start down to a point we can glass the entire canyon from. I stop and look down and right there in the saddle he stands looking up at us! Daniel drops his shooting sticks and fires off hand twice. We take the time to check the area and find NO blood, confident he is not wounded I assure Daniel I know where he is going as I have hunted this buck with my bow the last two Decembers. After moving down the ridge further I ready my tripod and get out my 20X60's and my sitting pad. I look down the hill to scan the bottom before I start glassing and there he is standing in the open in front of a Mesquite tree. After getting Daniel on the buck, I range him at 305. I tell Daniel to take his time as the buck doesn't know what happened and can't decide what his next move is. 20 Minutes after re sighting the buck Daniel lets his 25-06 bark.....buck down!

 

 

2014 My good Buddy Bradley Bishop gets the Mule Deer tag of a lifetime "Kaibab" I take four days off and Daniel and I accompany Brad of this epic hunt. After passing on several small bucks Brad decides to take the same buck he passed the day before under a questionable shot, and makes a perfect shot. Bradley took his first deer in 20 years. We had a blast up there the three days hunting and cooking different game meat. Both Daniel and Brad had Javelina for the first time prepared and cooked my way along with Deer spaghetti. This deer camp ranks up there with my last Elk camp.

 

 

All of these hunts will forever hold a place in my heart. Being able to witness the joy and excitement of the hunt and what it means to the hunter simply multiplies the joy I feel getting to just be there. My own hunts are always full joy, sorrow, disappointment, excitement and yes pain, but it pales in comparison to these hunts.

 

This is my joy, excitement, and passion!

 

 

 

[mc68]

For me my favorite hunts were when I was really young. As a kid before I could hunt big game, my parents used to take me and my brother out and we would hunt cottontails with .22s. It was a blast. We would always make a fire and cook some rabbit and drink hot chocolate. Then when I was 10, I finally got to start deer hunting. It was incredible. We.weren't rich by any account and we would set up our camp of small tents and cook in dutch ovens. None had binoculars and a buck was a buck. We would walk like crazy and build a fire at lunchtime. It was so pure back then. I really miss that