Your most memorable hunt(?)

Colorado Cowboy · Dec 31, 2017

I am sure a lot of you have read some of my posts here on the Forum. I started hunting when I was really young (7) and have been taught by my Dad. Dad loved anything to do with hunting or fishing. I was his oldest child and only son, so you know I got special attention. I hunted and fished with Dad all over the southwest and Mexico. As soon as I got in high school I started playing football and baseball, so during ball seasons, I didn't get to do much other than school & sports. Got a scholarship for football at a major university, so 4 more years go by. Got drafted into the Army during the Viet Nam era, so another 2 years gone.

Once I got out of the Army, I went to work and Dad and I started to do a lot more hunting & fishing. Our family did a wilderness horseback packin for deer in the High Sierras in Calif every year. I did at least 25 of them(can't really remember how many!). Dad and I went to Wyoming for the first time in 1979. We also did a lot of long range multi day fishing in Baja.

The hunting trip that stands out for me was in 2008 after I retired and moved here to Colorado. My Dad drew an elk tag and I decided I would be his guide. Dad was 90 and still pretty mobile. He also drew a limited access tag to Lone Mesa State Park, which is only 30 miles or so from my place. I did a lot of summer volunteering at LMSP, so I knew it really well.

A couple of weeks before season, Dad came to my place from his place in Imperial Valley in Calif. It is 165' below sea lever and my place is 6800', so some acclimation was needed. We went to the range to sightin Dad's old sporterized 03 Springfield 30-06. He was all over the target. I decided he needed to shoot my .300 Wby with a muzzle brake on it. He put 3 shots dead center at 100 yards.

We went to orientation the night before opening and got everything ready for Sat morning at 3:30 AM. We checked in the next morning at went to a place I knew held some elk. Nothing that am. Back to my truck for lunch and a snooze. We went to a spot overlooking a small draw coming out of an aspen grove. About an hour before dark the elk started feeding out of the aspens. Dad had a cow tag so we waited for a cow to get within a couple of hundred yards. Funny thing is a really nice 6x6 came with 50 yds and Dad really got excited. Then a big cow stepped out of the oak brush at about 100 yards and Dad popped her. Broke her back and she dropped immediately. He started yelling and jumping up and down like it was his first elk! We were able to get my truck to her and a couple of other hunters helped us load her. It was now dark, so I didn't get any pictured that were worth anything. Dad stayed another week and we butchered his animal.

Colorado Cowboy · Dec 31, 2017

Colorado Cowboy said:
I am sure a lot of you have read some of my posts here on the Forum. I started hunting when I was really young (7) and have been taught by my Dad. Dad loved anything to do with hunting or fishing. I was his oldest child and only son, so you know I got special attention. I hunted and fished with Dad all over the southwest and Mexico. As soon as I got in high school I started playing football and baseball, so during ball seasons, I didn't get to do much other than school & sports. Got a scholarship for football at a major university, so 4 more years go by. Got drafted into the Army during the Viet Nam era, so another 2 years gone.

Once I got out of the Army, I went to work and Dad and I started to do a lot more hunting & fishing. Our family did a wilderness horseback packin for deer in the High Sierras in Calif every year. I did at least 25 of them(can't really remember how many!). Dad and I went to Wyoming for the first time in 1979. We also did a lot of long range multi day fishing in Baja.

The hunting trip that stands out for me was in 2008 after I retired and moved here to Colorado. My Dad drew an elk tag and I decided I would be his guide. Dad was 90 and still pretty mobile. He also drew a limited access tag to Lone Mesa State Park, which is only 30 miles or so from my place. I did a lot of summer volunteering at LMSP, so I knew it really well.

A couple of weeks before season, Dad came to my place from his place in Imperial Valley in Calif. It is 165' below sea lever and my place is 6800', so some acclimation was needed. We went to the range to sightin Dad's old sporterized 03 Springfield 30-06. He was all over the target. I decided he needed to shoot my .300 Wby with a muzzle brake on it. He put 3 shots dead center at 100 yards.

We went to orientation the night before opening and got everything ready for Sat morning at 3:30 AM. We checked in the next morning at went to a place I knew held some elk. Nothing that am. Back to my truck for lunch and a snooze. We went to a spot overlooking a small draw coming out of an aspen grove. About an hour before dark the elk started feeding out of the aspens. Dad had a cow tag so we waited for a cow to get within a couple of hundred yards. Funny thing is a really nice 6x6 came with 50 yds and Dad really got excited. Then a big cow stepped out of the oak brush at about 100 yards and Dad popped her. Broke her back and she dropped immediately. He started yelling and jumping up and down like it was his first elk! We were able to get my truck to her and a couple of other hunters helped us load her. It was now dark, so I didn't get any pictured that were worth anything. Dad stayed another week and we butchered his animal.
View attachment 20618 View attachment 20619 View attachment 20620

I want to post a few more pictures. Took my Dad to Diamond Valley Lake for a guided fishing on Fathers Day a few years after I retired, lots of trout & bass. Also a pict of salmon Dad & I caught in a rented skiff out of Ft. Bragg, Calif. Also him on his last horseback wilderness trip in the Sierras. Miss my Dad a lot, he passed away in 2012.

kidoggy · Jan 1, 2018

wow, hard to pick.... gonna have to give it some thought.

I know most would go with one that ended in a kill, or maybe last hunt with a lifetime hunting buddy but ,to be honest, I think some of my favorites were those hunts where everything that could go wrong, did.

Maxhunter · Jan 1, 2018

I have quite a few memorable hunts. Have some with my dad, then I have some with antelope, bears, deer (All 5 Species), elk, mountain goat, sheep. I don't think I can't really choose just one.

JimP · Jan 1, 2018

I hate to say it but they all are. The ones that went the wrong way and the ones the ended in success. My only memory of me hunting with my dad is when I was only 5 years old and the old car broke down, he never hunted after that due to the work that he was doing and never being back in our home state to go out.

My first year with a tag will always be in my mind. I was 16 and opening day it snowed 3' on us as we sat under a cedar tree. The year we were evacuated due to a forest fire started by a hunter. My first archery hunt when a buck jumped my string and I ended up hitting him in the rear. I tracked him down the mountain to 50 yards away from my camp, then back up the mountain to loose the blood trail. I talked to a hunter the next day that said that he had found a buck stuck on a fence and dead with a arrow stuck in his rear, I just asked him if I could have my arrow back. My first outfitted hunt for a grizzly in British Colombia with a 23 mile ride into the wilderness on horses. My first elk that was shot in a area that no one went into. That if why there was a elk in there for me to shoot, it took 3 days to pack him out.

Did I say that they all were my favorite and most memorable hunts?

Silentstalker · Jan 1, 2018

I agree with Jim. They all are memorable in one way or another. The ones I recall most are the ones that got away.

But my favorites are the ones where my Wife or kids are the shooter.

rammont · Jan 1, 2018

Elk hunt with my dad in the early 1980s. A friend and I did all the scouting and tracking, dad had lung cancer and he was in his early 60s. He got his bull on the last day at sunset. Dad got busted as he got out of the truck and had to stand in the off hand position with his 30-06 for about 20 minutes before that bull moved out past a tree for my dad to get a good shot. My dad had dreamed of hunting elk all his life but never got drawn (even in the 80s Arizona sucked for getting an elk tag) so this was his first time, it was also his last time for elk, he lived for quite a few more years but he was too weak and too easily winded to hunt elk. But it was great to see him take his first bull on his first hunt, it was his hunt of a life time and mine.

Timberstalker · Jan 1, 2018

Great stories guys. I would have to say my Bighorn sheep hunt is one that I have to go with. Not many things went as planned and it was the most mentally challenging hunt of my life. It was a two week long solo hunt with temps in the mid 90’s in very steep county. I finally sealed the deal on a stalk that ended with a 18 yard shot, what a hunt that was. I think about it all the time, how hard it was and how I can’t believe I did it. I will never get to do it again and to be honest not sure I would want to.

If anyone has EHJ 132 laying around the story was in that issue.

ScottR · Jan 2, 2018

Looking forward to reading the stories in this one! Love the pictures as well!

NE69 · Jan 3, 2018

Was about 1988, b-i-l called and wanted me to come out to Colorado to bow hunt. I hadn't been out for 3 or 4 years. This was 2 days before opener. Threw my recurve and gear in and headed out. Bought otc tags and shot my bow once we got to white river NF where we camped. First evening we saw a herd of elk moving down the mountain we had spooked. I never said a word, just took off sprinting into the timber thinking I would try to get a 1/2 mile ahead and cut in so I would be in front of them. Maybe 15 minutes left of shooting light and I was slowly still hunting back towards them when 3 bucks were walking directly at me. A fork horn, a 140" 3 point and a 180" nt. The 3 point came by me first and I shot him at 10 yards just as he was getting to my scent stream. Smoked him, but I sure wish the NT would have been first in line! B-i-l was in camp when I got back carrying the head, asked what I was thinking when I took off? I said I didn't know, just seemed worth trying. Sometimes you need some luck!

I found an old pic of the 3 point.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

480/277 · Jan 3, 2018

At this point in my life they are all my most memorable. Most of my favorite hunts are with my ole black lab Ted, (I'd give everything I own to have one more day with him) and my present superstar yellow lab Ben. The absolute best hunting dog I will ever own and a great fur child.

Taking my nephews, brother and friends on their first big game hunts for antelope.

Taking my wife to Alaska a number of times. My wife's first deer. Her first big buck.

But for pinnacle of my hunting career it would be hands down my dall sheep hunt in Alaska.

On day one of a ten day hunt, we started up a stream that turned into a creek, into a trickle and up to the headwaters at the head of a basin. We topped out at legal light and there right below us was a beautiful wide flaring full curl ram. We watched him through binos and spotter for an hour and I decided I didn't want my hunt to end that fast.

It was six more days before I saw another legal ram on day 7. He was full curl on one side, but his other side was half curl. He really was a freak and there was no way I was going to shoot him. My guide had a blister the size of a plum and I know he was in agony and would had loved for this hunt to end. Unfortunately for him I was in great shape and there was no quit in me.

We averaged ten miles a day in the Alaska range and I saw all kinds of things I never would had seen if I ended my hunt on the first day. We saw a beautiful silver tip sow grizz with three Cubs numerous times. I saw a beautiful charcoal black wolf that we tried to make a play on but 600 yards was as close as we got. We ate lunch beside a stream chock full of fall spawning Arctic char. They would attack pebbles we threw in.

We covered the most beautiful country I have ever seen . New vistas at every turn.

Around mid morning on the last day of our hunt we spotted three Rams . Two looked legal but we were a long ways from the sheep. We had to cover three mountains averaging 3000'. It took us most of the day to get there.
Climbing the summit that would bring us above the sheep, we ditched our packs. I left my spotter, with the rest of my gear.
When we reached the summit we belly crawled to the top and peaked over. All three Rams were there. My guide glassed with the binos and told me the closest ram , laying on a spire was 100% full curl and legal. Range 265 yards. I locked on that ram and never took eyes off him. He said let me check the others. I told him he had until my ram stood up. The second ram was immature. The third was the one he really wanted me to shoot. He told me he was not 100% sure on full curl and was trying to count rings. He said he was much bigger than my full curl but could not be sure on rings either. Had we brought my spotter, maybe.....
However my ram stood up.....
Boom, flop, roll down the shale to tree line.

I couldn't had been happier. 5:15 pm on the last day.
It took us a while to go down our mountain across a bottom, and halfway up the hill my ram was on. With heavy packs we made it to camp around 1am
My flight out, 8am that morning.
For me, it was an epic hunt .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

kidoggy · Jan 4, 2018

this is chapter 1. luckys home

back in the early 90s my brother chris and I decided to try archery for elk.we had hunted archery for deer in the past but elk was a new experience for us. on this hunt ,it was I who possessed the tag so he was my bugler and with a little (or a lot) of luck , my pack mule.

it was opening day late in august. we left the truck well before daylight and started up the ridge. it took us about an hour and a half to reach the top. when we arrived it was just beginning to get light .so we set down to glass the surrounding hills farther down the ridge we were on to our left I spotted several cow elk ,feeding their way down into the timber. when they disapeared we decided to throw out a bugle and see what happened. chris bugled and instantly we heard a deep throated response from a bull, probably about a half mile across the bowl below us . needless to say , it got our blood pumping. for those who have never heard a bull bugle ,it is something you must experience.

we decided to try and work our way closer before we tried again. so we quietly worked our way down into the bowl, following a little finger ridge. when we got fairly close to where we figured he was , chris threw out another bugle. again an instant deep throated response. we waited a few minutes and chris tried a couple cow calls. nothing.
we gave it a bit more time and chris ,bugled again. once again instant response, but still quite a ways off and did not seem to be any closer. there was a fairly small hill between us , so we decided to try and slip over the top and setup to try again. it probably took us half an hour to cover a few hundred yards as we were taking it slow and quite, but eventually we got were we wanted to be and chris threw out another bugle. again instant response. we waited and again tried a cow call . nothing.

after a minute or two , chris again, threw out a bugle and once again instant reply. this time chris bugled again before lucky finished his own and cut him off. a few seconds went by and lucky bugled again, chris once again cut him off, hoping to piss him off. it seemed to work. the next time lucky bugled he was coming closer. we waited .chris tried another cow call and this time we heard branches snapping below us. he was inside of a hundred yards but we could see nothing.
lucky bugled , chris cut him off. chris bugled ,lucky cut him off. this went on for maybe close to an hour or so, but he would come no closer. eventually the day began heating up and lucky grew bored with us and headed off through the brush.we tried more bugles and cow calls for awhile but could get no response.we thought about trying to go after him but it was getting hot so we decided to pull out and try again the next weekend. we never did get a glimpse of him ,that day but still it was one of the greatest hunts I have been on.

the next weekend was pretty much a repeat of day on with the exception that we did finally catch a glimpse of him through the trees.but alas ,still no shot.

stay tuned for chapter two.

how lucky got his name

chapter 2

how lucky was named

o.k . it was my brother chris and I s third day hunting, it is now the final weekend of the archrey season, last weekend in sept.

we ,once again, left the truck well before daylight. by now we had a pretty good idea where lucky would be found, so we hightailed it over the ridge and slipped quietly into the bowl where lucky called home. we got to where we wanted to be about the time it got light enough to see. we set up where I could see fairly well through the brush and had descent shooting lanes, with chris about 40 yards behind me.

chris decided to start with a couple of cow calls and got no reply. after waiting a few minutes he threw out a bugle and the forest trembled with a reply., lucky was close. after waiting a few more minutes, chris , bugled again . and once again lucky answered . and he was coming closer . chris waited and after a few minutes lucky bugled and chris cut him off with a bugle of his own. this seemed to infuriate ,lucky and I heard crashing in the brush below me. he was close. I could see brush moving maybe fifty yards or so away and I could hear him but could not yet see him.

chris bugled again and I could see the brush moving as lucky came closer. next came a series of lucky and chris bugling back and forth a few times, as lucky slowly came in the last bit.

there was an opening in the trees at about 30 yards out and I determined lucky was going to show himself there, so I drew my bow and waited he stepped into the opening but was facing me,. no shot .

chris threw out a cow call and lucky turned , showing me the sweet spot and I let go. and shot low, right under his body. yup ,I blew it. lucky ran down the hill , just out of sight and for the next hour or so he and chris bugled back and forth but he would not come in again. after a while ,he grew bored with us and quit answering our bugles.

chris's wife had drawn one out of ten tags for the early rifle hunt in that unit which started the next weekend, so we quietly slipped out of luckies home with the intention of bringing her back the next weekend.

as we walked back to the truck , chris said, "boy he sure is lucky you can't shoot for chit!"

and there you have how , lucky got his name.

kidoggy · Jan 4, 2018

CHAPTER THREE THE RIFLE HUNT
it is now early october . my sister-in-law( whom I will call "seester" for sake of story ) has drawn coveted elk tag of which there are only ten for entire unit. my brother and I Are to be her guides on the hunt and with a little luck also her pack mules. we had told her of our archery hunts and lucky and she was game to go after him.as it is not a very easy place to get into we decided to bring a horse for her to ride while we walked beside her.e once again left camp well before daylight and headed up the ridge. on this day we did not crest the summit before light as we had a fat nag (the horse not seester ) slowing us down. as it got light ,I noticed something moving in the draw to my left a couple hundred yards away. so ,I stopped our lil convoy grabbed my binocs and checked it out. it was a spike bull. a lil 5x5 and a couple of cow elk.they were looking at us but ,I believe , because of the horse had no fear and did not seem terribly concerned as they just continued feeding around. my brother asked his wife , "do you want to shoot the 5x5/" she answered , "yes, but I would rather go shoot lucky!" YEP, SHE'S A KEEPER! so we continued on. as we got to the top we decided to leave the horse so we could slip quietly into luckies domain we glassed the bowl and chris bugled and true to form lucky immediately replied , screaming back a bugle. on this day he was on the opposite side of the bowl which was heavy timber and brush so we could not pick him out with our binocs. so we decided to circle around above him and follow a lil finger ridge which we though would bring us right to him. when we thought we were getting close there was an opening in the brush so we set up. chris decided to try a couple cow calls to start since we figured lucky probably had a harem by now.lucky bugled . after a moment chris did a couple more cow calls . nothing . we waited . chris bugled and lucky replied . we waited and chris bugled again . again lucky replied but he was getting farther away. I began glassing the opposite hillside and there he was with a harem of 15-20 cows he was heading out of the area with no wish to lose his cows to another bull. this was the first real good look I had gotten at his antlers and was finally able to count points. he was a very nice(not monster)7x7. as he was running up the hill, it was just to far and to brushy for a shot. so we let him go.we decided to let them crest the hill and then follow them over the top in hopes we could get lucky to turn on us. as we got close to hill top lucky bugled and he was fairly close so we slipped over the top setup with chris twenty or so yards behind us . visibility was not great but it could be worst and we really just had no other option. not the ideal situation but we figured it is what it is, again lucky bugled and chris bugled and cut him off. as always this infuriated lucky and he did not like us in his home. we heard crashing in the brush, he was coming. I whispered to seester to get ready he was gonna show himself. chris cow called , lucky answered with a bugle and again chris bugled and cut him off. suddenly I saw movement about 50 yards away and it was lucky , he had his head down looking under a branch right at me. trouble was ,while I could see him and could have shot him had tag been mine ,seester could not. we waited.next came a series of chris and lucky bugling back and forth it probably only went on for 15-20 minutes but it seemed like hours. the whole time lucky and I were looking right at each other but seester could not see him. we could not move for fear of spooking him so we waited , hoping lucky would make a mistake. He did not. I believe he finally winded us because he suddenly turned and crashed through the brush and would no longer bugle. we waited for maybe an hour and never again heard his screaming bugle. we got to a high point where we could glass the area he disapeared into, but after several hours of this,saw no sign of him. eventually we retrieved the horse and headed back to camp. we hunted all the next day with no more sign of elk. and that was seesters , rifle hunt. driving home that night, chris asked his wife, "do you wish you had killed the5x5?" she replied, "NO! THAT WAS THE MOST EXITING HUNT I HAVE EVER BEEN ON!" yep! she's a keeper!

EPILOGUE
that winter we got early snow and it was a harsh winter , causing ,a major elk die off due to winterkill.so in march chris and I donned our snowshoes and head up into luckies domain. this time we came in fro the opposite direction, from the river below. we followed the draw up a couple of miles , to a point where it split. I went left , chris went right. a few hundred yards after we seperated , I came around a tree, and there was lucky in his final bed. he did not survive the brutal winter.luckies luck had finally run out. 25 years later , I wish I could say,I let him be but being the young man that I was , I whacked his antlers and mounted them on a horns-on-panel.he resides in my home to this very day.never do I gaze upon them that I am not reminded of that hunting season and spending time with family , doing what we love to do.

mallardsx2 · Jan 4, 2018

My DIY Ontario Archery Moose hunt from 2010 was pretty unreal.

For the record, I would have shot a spike.

We were not having much luck so on the third day of the 2010 season we decided to name the call and I killed this bull with it the next day.

The Punisher I, Punisher V, and Punisher VI have all killed bulls. lol We always laugh when we build the yearly call and write the new name on it. My wife this year raised her eyebrows when I names the call Punisher VI but didn't raise her eyebrows when I called in her bull with it...lol

jvonbank · Jan 9, 2018

Mine most memorable hunt would have to be a drop camp Alaskan caribou hunt my dad and I went on in 2006. We both shot rifle bulls on the 1st morning of the hunt 2 miles from camp and then spent the rest of the day breaking them down. When we were heading back to pack them out on the second morning, we found another herd with good bulls in it. He shot his second bull with a rifle and I got one with my bow out of that group. We spent the next 2 days packing caribou back to our camp, calling in moose, and watching both moose and caribou come by our camp different mornings while making breakfast. Spending 5 days with just my dad, in such a remote place, with both of us getting our 1st 2 caribou will be tough to beat!

Jared

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Ikeepitcold · Jan 10, 2018

Most memorable are when my family are with me. Most have been them hunting, wife and daughter. For myself with a tag I?ve had a few Elk, Deer, Bear and Antelope all have some great memories.

bux4brainz · Jan 15, 2018

I've had lots of very memorable hunts but, a more recent one was when my dad was finally able to draw his limited entry elk hunt at age 74. It wasn't an easy hunt but, I was able to help my dad harvest a very nice 6x6 on the last day of the hunt. We made a lot of incredible memories on the mountain that week. I'll never forget it. It felt so good to be able to pay back my father as he had helped me harvest my biggest bull in Wyoming in 2011.

ScottR · Jan 15, 2018

bux4brainz said:
I've had lots of very memorable hunts but, a more recent one was when my dad was finally able to draw his limited entry elk hunt at age 74. It wasn't an easy hunt but, I was able to help my dad harvest a very nice 6x6 on the last day of the hunt. We made a lot of incredible memories on the mountain that week. I'll never forget it. It felt so good to be able to pay back my father as he had helped me harvest my biggest bull in Wyoming in 2011.View attachment 20721 View attachment 20722

Both of those bulls are studs!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Montana · Jan 17, 2018

jvonbank said:
Mine most memorable hunt would have to be a drop camp Alaskan caribou hunt my dad and I went on in 2006. We both shot rifle bulls on the 1st morning of the hunt 2 miles from camp and then spent the rest of the day breaking them down. When we were heading back to pack them out on the second morning, we found another herd with good bulls in it. He shot his second bull with a rifle and I got one with my bow out of that group. We spent the next 2 days packing caribou back to our camp, calling in moose, and watching both moose and caribou come by our camp different mornings while making breakfast. Spending 5 days with just my dad, in such a remote place, with both of us getting our 1st 2 caribou will be tough to beat!

Jared

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Tough to beat that one... good for you!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your most memorable hunt(?)

Active Member

Super Moderator

Super Moderator

Veteran member

Veteran member

Administrator

Active Member

Active Member

Veteran member

Eastmans' Staff / Moderator

Active Member

Very Active Member

Veteran member

Veteran member

Veteran member

Member

Administrator

Member

Eastmans' Staff / Moderator

Veteran member