So What was your toughest hunt?
 

Mine was about four years ago caribou hunting in the Baird Mountains. We were way up above the Artic Circle and way up high in the mountains. The stupid air taxi dropped us off at the tail end of the migration route with three camps ahead of us. The only way to get to the caribou was to hike four miles up and then down a mountain covered with tussocks. My hunting partners had no desire to do this, so I wound up winging it. I killed two bulls over in that valley and it took me four trips to get them all out. I carried two hindquarters, two backstraps, and two tenderloins in one trip. Then the front quarters, neck meat, rib meat, rack and capes in th second pack. Each pack weighed about 90 lbs or a little more. I packed them all out in a day and a half and wound up doing about 20 miles in 36 hours. The weather was brutal, snow on the tents every morning, boots frozen, ice storms, windier than Hell. No firewood for a fire, just dehydrated meals, cold jerky and frozen snickers bars.

On the brigher side, the hunt was exhilarting and we saw thousands of caribou, saw some Dall Sheep, a couple of grizz and had a cow moose walk through camp, the hiking was physically challenging, the Northern Lights put on quite a show every night, and there just is not much better than sitting around eating your crappy ass Mountain House with a couple of buddies (even if they were too wimpy to make the hike) watching seven monster bulls sparring on the next ridge over.

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

My hardest was an elk hunt. I went for the day by myself and killed a nice bull at 2:00 in the afternoon 5 miles in from the trail head. I had the meat bags and sharp knives. I boned out the elk, grabbed what I could carry on my backpack. And left the rest cooling in dry bags in the creek. I walked out in the pitch dark with a headlamp on. I returned the next day to get the rest in 2 trips. The last two years, three of us carried out two elk in one day. The day of the kill was spent boning into the daylight of the next day. One hour of sleep, camp teardown, and a whole day of packing the 5 miles in and out. Tough work, but well worth the effort.

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

Out here, its tough just to find a place to hunt lol

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

2 come to mind

One year my Dad and I backpacked into Colorado wilderness area. I killed a big bull, and then it dumped snow on us, and as we were walking in to pack meat out he shoots another good 6x6 bull. Lots of walking and carrying meat for the two of us, not to mention being hampered by the snow and all.

The other was 2 years ago when I got dehydrated and hypoglycemic. My body crashed and burned after a 12 hour, 12,000' altitude hike over 18 miles and I was slipping into a coma. Body got rigid, clammy, eyes rolling up in my head, hands curled like a cripple ......... bad, bad deal. My buddy with me got me to sipping a Dr Pepper and that sugar pulled me through. After I got home, the doctor said that wter would not have helped. At the point I was at, my body would have started shutting down organs etc. My blood sugar was bottomed out, and that sugar gave me a boost and revived me.

Bad, Bad deal folks. Be careful out there

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

My toughest hunt was the very first elk I killed.
I was 13 years old and had split up with my dad,well being a kid I figured the farther I walk the better chance I had.It was late December at the tail end of x-mass vacation.The snow was about butt-cheek high on a kid and the wind was blowing about 30 miles and hour and the temp was -40 something below zero.I had walked across a big falt and at the far end about a mile away I saw 2 cows walk into some timber.
Well I got down wind and snuck into the timber,about 150 yds in I saw a cow about 60 yds away,I grabbed a tree for a rest,put the cross-hairs of my 30-06 on her head and BAM!! down like a ton of bricks.
I then walked up and realized how big she was,rolled her on back and dressed her wich took about 30 minutes.I walked back to the pick-up that took 3 hours and found my dad(who shot one by the road)and told him of the excitement and my first elk.We then grabbed a WWII pack board and a tarp,rope and a two bladed axe,we 1/4 the elk and I took the first load both hind-quarters,droped them at the road,walked back only to discover my dad had had a mild-heart attack and was unconsiouse.
I paniced,I rolled him in the tarp and tied him up with rope and dragged him I swear 20 miles,but more like 3 to the pick-up,stuffed him in the front seat and hauled butt to my uncles in Ovando,40 miles away and called a ambulance.He went to the hospital that night and fully recoved and he still hunts like a banshee at 70 years old.
The next day with the aid of my cousins and the frostbit fingers we got the rest of the elk out.After trhet day I swore I would never kill another elk,well that was 18 years ago and I have killed 15-16 elk since,and last year was the first one I ever got out whole.
Now that was my hardest hunt I have ever been on.
BBJ

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

Last sunday !! went pig hunting morning temp around 60 saw some pigs on the next mountain and decided to go into the canyon they were headed for . Started down the hill and realized that it was extremely steep and once commited I couldn't come back the same way. Headed down anyhow figureing that at the bottom would be a cow/pig trail to follow out, wrong, nothing but blowdowns and stinging nettles for about 2 mile's, now the temp is about 90 and I'm running out of water and energy. finally got back to the truck 6 hrs later, no pigs and out of water. guess I've got to remember I'm in my mid 60's not 20 yrs old anymore !

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

I would say that my top 10 were waterfowl hunts #1 being sea duck hunting when its windy as heck snowing at 8 degrees water blowing in the boat and everything is wet and iced up, I had to put my hand down my pants for over 20 minutes to keep from loosing 2 fingers "miserable but fun

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

Interesting stories, and I confess I don't have a story to contribute . . . yet. I wanted to remark, though, that these stories suggest another positive element of the hunting activity that I haven't thought of before. I think hunting is good for people in a number of ways, and these stories suggest that hunting can also be a character building activity that reveals to you what is important -- the health and well being of your father for instance -- and tests your fortitude. Cool stories. A little more fortitude and self-reliance involved here than in chasing a little white ball around an immaculately groomed lawn!

Datamax:
Is the hypoglycemia a condition you are disposed to (for instance, as being a diabetic?) or is anyone subject to this condition if they overdo as you may have on that day? I ask so I can be forwarned if need be.

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

dall sheep hunt in alaska.

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

Early fall of '98 I had some reconstructive surgery on my ankle...hurt it playing Navy....on 03 October. Still on crutches, I had to climb down a ladder to the basement in my Nevada cabin to get my ammo. And climb back up again. And change the oil in my truck before the trip. Packed the truck and took off about 5 days before the third season...somewhere near 27 October or so. Got to camp and figured I might have a tough go of it, but, I knew my buddies (been with them since 73 or so) would hook me up with a nice spot to sit while they mad a drive or two my direction.

Sitting on my stump....not easy to shoulder a rifle and crutch your way through trees...I must have sat there for a couple hours thinking about how good life was.


Managed to shoot and gut a cow two days later. Gotta admit I had to ask for help to get her back to camp and hung up properly.

The hardest part about this hunt was not being able to sneak through the woods for my five mile hike into the wilderness areas like I normally do....please forgive me, but I was a road hunter for most of that season....there, I admitted it. Ahhh, a load off my shoulders. [&o]

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

I'm not diabetic , I simply didn't eat hardly anything and drove my blood sugar down very, very low. Coupled with dehydration ....... not a good thing !

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/

I had the fasting type of hypoclycemia, but the thing was, I ws going balls to the wall on that hike, and I believe I actually hit the "runners high" at about 3 pm that day. The reason I say this is I has butt chafing really, REALLY bad that day and it was very painful. At about 3 pm it kinda went away. The last 100 yards of our hike was up a hill, and I literally ran up that hill, kinda poking fun at my buddies on how great shape I was in, and how great I was feeling.

20-30 minutes later I was semi-conscious in the passenger seat of a vehicle, eyes rolling back in my head and hands curling like a cripple. Bad, bad deal, even looking back now.

So I think I pushed so hard that day that I hit that runners high, and that release of endorphins or whatever kept me going all the way through to the finish line for me - our truck. When I stopped ........ so did the rush, the high I was on, and my body quickly started to crash and burn.

RE: So What was your toughest hunt?
 

My toughest hunt was actually bird hunting. I was about 1 mile in from a road by myself grouse hunting in central NH and my dog and I were working some small pine/juniper growth along a beaver pond in December. The pond was frozen over and my dog flushed a bird that flew across the pond where I took it and it skidded to a stop about 30 yards out. She took off over the ice and grabbed it and just as she spun around to return she went through. The ice was to thick to crack and she couldn't get on top.. and she also wouldn't let go of the grouse. For 10 minutes she kept trying to get out and was having no luck, still with the grouse in her mouth. The fear in her eyes was apparent, but she trusted me to figure something out. I started a fire in a blow down as quickly as I could ... then stripped down to nothing except drawers and broke through/swam to help her. By the time I got to her my limbs felt like noodles and the bottom was so thick with mud that I couldn't push up from it to get to the surface well. I made a broken ice path to her.. and I'm not sure I could have made it back, but I grabbed onto her collar and she pulled me in even after 20 minutes in the water. We both crawled to the fire which I thankfully had built first as I would never have been able to light it after. About an hour later I started to feel my limbs again. That was the toughest mile walk I ever did.

Cool thing.. she never released the grouse! We ate it together over the fire as I thought something warm inside would help.

We don't hunt pond edges once they freeze over now.