please tell me of some of your more memoral hunts ........

[stealthycat]

Did it always include a kill ? If so, why ? If not, why ?

I'm curious if I'm in the minority in this "killing IS so very important" mentality that i am seeing on the other thread.

One of THE most memoral days was in Kansas in 2000. I had 12-14 bucks come by me that morning - very bitter cold, windy - nasty weather. I had all of them within 25 yards, most hit a scrape 10 yards from my tree. Several big bucks, one I watched for the better part of the morning rubbing his horns, working scrape line - a 10 pointer in the 150" class I'd guess.

Brutal weather, amazing deer movement, very vivid in my mind the events of that day. I never fired a shot.

In contrast ........... I killed a bull elk in Colorado this year. The kill was something that was expected, a filling of a tag, 120 pounds of meat ..... and not much more than that.

[John Deer]

SC,

Some of my most memorable hunts I didn't take an animal. It's not always about the kill. I've set for many hours and had numerous experiences without harvesting an animal. Just last year, on a foggy, wet, fall morning, I rattled in a beautiful 10 point buck. He put on an awesome display just out of bow range. He finally came to within 13 steps of my stand, but no shot was present due to thick brush. Eventually, he sensed something wasn't just right and moved back out of bow range and never returned. Nonetheless, it was the single most enjoyable day deer hunting I've ever had.
Just two days ago, as I sat in my stand overlooking a fense crossing, I heard a terrible racket coming. It was a group of crows (approx 10 or 12) chasing something. Just then I caught a glimpse of something soaring silently through the treetops. As I sat motionless, a great horned owl swooped between the limbs of the tree I was in and lit not 7 feet from me. In just a moment the crows were landing in the treetop and carrying on something aweful. After a few seconds had passed the owl pitched off his pertch and glided out of sight with all of the crows following swiftly behind. I sat the rest of the evening without seeing a single deer, but as I walked back to my truck I reflected on the events of the evening. These things are what bring me back time and again. Sure, I want to take a deer, but without experiences like these I know it would never be as enjoyable.

[gopher slayer]

we were on a fly in trip in nothern alberta. (i cant rember the outfitter). we got a mosse a couple of days before. the gut pile was sitting on the other side of this bay, my brother inlaw was sleeping and the rest of us were all outside, when all of a sudden we see a bear eating the gut pile. someone ran into my brotherinlaws tent yelled at him to get up and get his gun, he ran outside in his under wear shot the bear then went back to sleep.( he was the only one with a bear tag. it had to be the funniest thing Ive ever herd or seen.

[BT]

The two that stand out in my mind most. as of right now .

I was turkey hunting in Fl on the edge of a swamp. I got there at daylight.
I hit the slate call. I had 3 toms answer me.
In less than 15 mins from the first golbl I killed my first call in turkey and the first one i called in.

One of my buddys had a yound nephew that had been a problem kid. Down in south fl.
My buddy took over rasing him. The first hunting seasion. he was here i took him out. tought him how to shoot "for the chance of a kill"
The first few time we went out he got bored easly. stand sesions lasted at the most 2 hr.

The next time we went out he was starting to get bored then a doe came out.
he got exiceted. "chance for a kill"

But it was not doe days.
He came back a few more time. One on doe day. He got his doe. and it was the most excited i had sean him the hole time.
he said that seeing the deer was what made hunting real for him.

"chance for a kill" SC

With hunting the Chance for the kill makes it hunting.
you dont have to kill but you have to have the choice or it natur watching

[kevin1]

I can't honestly say that the kill is not a factor ,
but it's not a big one for me . I enjoy all aspects of it . If I get a little meat for the freezer that's just the icing on the cake .

[etothepii]

I don't have a most memorable hunt, but I have hunting memories that stand out.

1. While sitting silently for a couple hours squirrel hunting, a momma and two baby raccoons strolled by, probably 5 feet from me. They never even noticed me. Really cool to see them like that.

2. Deer hunting on the edge of a corn field. The field had thick woods on the North and East edges, fence rows on the South and West edges. I was about 10 yards into the woods on the North side. I had thought I heard thunder!! Two big bucks burt out of the East woods into the field about 100 yds out and stopped. Just a moment later, a herd, I would say 45 to 50 deer erupted into the field, moving full tilt. It was on of the most awesome things I had ever seen.

3. Also deer hunting, and this seems so trivial, but I will always remember it, I had been sitting still, again for a few hours, and a chipmonk spotted me. He came up looking at me, nose twitching. He must have thought he was looking at a space alien. Anyway he ran around my, looking and twitching his nose and tail. If I had moved, I could have touched him. Really a cool thing.

[Tazman]

My most memorable hunting season was last year sitting on the ground with one of my twin daughters when a doe came in, it was buck only at that time so she knew she was not going to see a kill, but she really impressed me with her ability to keep her cool and stay still, she had her eyes down to slits just like I had told her to where the deer couldn't see the whites of her eyes or her blink. We sat there side by side leaning against the tree as the doe slowly browsed her way towards us. Once the doe was about 10 yards away she stared right at both of us, there was no cover at all between us and her. She turned her head from side to side then stomped her front hoof several times to get us to move. My daughter was perfect, I had prepared her for the stare down and the foot stomping and she proved she had learned well. After about a 2 minute stare down the doe went right back to eating and slowly dissappeared into the woods. I really can not say who was more hyped over that, her or me!

[stealthycat]

I remember being in my stand one day and a red tailed hawk flew in and lit in a nearby tree. I started wiggling one of my fingers and dang if here he came ! I freaked at the last second and he brushed my head on a fly by - I can't believe that happened.

I watched a couple of mule deer fawns one day at a VERY close range. They were nipping the flower tops off little bitty violet flowers.

On a deer drive in Kansas one day I had a mule deer doe come so close I kicked at her and brushed her side. That doe thought she'd been had !

No kills involved in any of those hunts.

[badshotbob]

I was just this morning telling my friend who is going to join my this year on his first bow hunt that it's not about harvesting an animal. Sure, that's why we're there, but to me it's only a small percentage of why I hunt.

Last year I watched a 150+ class 10pt. tend a doe for 20 minutes within bow range, behind me and the brush I was using as a backdrop. That was a successful hunt in my mind. It was beautiful.

Here's a story I wrote and entered into T.R.'s writing contest last year (and won btw). A true story of one of my most memorable hunts:

Why I Hunt

Three o"™clock in the morning rolls around as fast as a grouse busting out of the aspens. This day would be different, I thought as I tried to convince my body that there were no deer in the bedroom. It takes a special kind of crazy to get up well before dawn and drive two hours to go sit deep in the bowels of a cedar swamp in sub-zero temperatures.

Here"™s how our story went that cold December morning. It had been snowing for a few days prior to the Saturday morning black powder opener in which closed most of the back roads near our rural hunting property. The day started out good - not a quarter mile from the property I found myself stuck deep in a drift that had covered the road. A prayer and a few minutes later I saw headlights in the rear view mirror - Dad! After a few chuckles and the father type "told-you-so" speech, he yanked me out and we headed for the property. Life has a way of making a ten-below blizzard December morning become comical. Dad said he would go first to break a trail. Minutes later I pulled him out of a snow drift.

We decided it best to walk the 400 or so yards to the shanties and leave the trucks at the road. A half-hour later and possibly seconds from wicked frost bite, we finally made it to the first shanty. To our surprise, there was a fairly large doe bedded behind it using it as a wind-break. She got up as we approached giving us a look of disgust and bewilderment - mad that we booted her out of the shelter she had taken and confused about why two grown men would walk across an open field in 40 mile an hour blinding snow. At that point, we shared her sentiment.

After nearly four hours of watching it snow and not seeing so much as a chickadee, we ventured back into the swamp thinking we could get close to some deer wandering around. This turned out to be a great idea - four hundred layers of clothes on made us sweat like beasts as we trudged through four and five feet of snow. But, we were now in the swamp - where the deer were! Within an hour, both froze to the ground, it finally dawned on us that anything would simply be stupid to move in this kind of weather.

We got back to the trucks cold and shaking wondering why we hunt. "Well Dad, at least we saw one deer anyway." That really didn"™t convince him. But, that is hunting and being with loved ones and friends, the amazing beauty God has blessed us with, and the always hopeful chance to bag the big one keeps us going out. The laughs alone were worth more than any deer could have provided. I wouldn"™t exchange that day for anything. That"™s why I hunt.

[badshotbob]

SC - I too have had numerous experiences with owls. They are attracted to me for some reason. I had one land in the tree I was in and walked up the branch next to me within arm distance to see what I was. When I spoke, I could see his eys get HUGE, then he took off. He hung around for another 15 minutes in various trees trying to figure out why the tree he was in talked.

Yeah, I can get long winded on this subject and could go on for hours, but bottom line, in 23 years of being in the woods, "being" the woods, you sure do see some incredible stuff.

So no, it's NOT about the kill.