Opening day of rifle season this year when at5 30 i just got into my climber and got up in the tree and dident even have my gun pulled up and had either a doe or a small buck under my stand at 10 yards. It got 8 30 and had 8-10 big gobblers about 40 yards. I left at 10 00 and was back out ther at 10 30 and at 11 00 i had a doe run under my stand at 3 yards followed by two big bucks. i stoped the biggest one at 7 yards and pulled the trigger on himbut i forgot to turn off my safety. turned it of and stoped him at 10 yards and blew his heart up. he ran 75-80 yards and piled up

Its a toss up of me. Its either my rifle buck i shot in 05. I called him in with the can and shot him at 50 yds. He scored150".The other one is my turkey i killed this past spring. Hunter Dan7 was with me sohe must have brought me good luck. Anyway this bird was god knows how far. There were other birds closer. I worked with this turkey until he was 100 yards or so then i just quit calling.10 or 15 min went by and we decided to go. Danny looked up and said "There he is". He struted all the way in and i shot him at 20 yards. I was an awsome hunt.

I am not sure what the greatest hunt would be for me, there are several that rank up there for many reasons. I think I will have to go with my first bow harvest. I was 14 and hunting in the Iowa september youth season. The second time we went out for an evening hunt we were in the stand for half an hour when a mature doe slowly picked her way past the stand. I drew too early and had to hold the bow for hours it seemed like as the doe slowed her pace and came sideways. Finally she moved broadside and the pin caught her ribs at about 17 yards. I did not feel the shot (I never have since either) and just saw the arrow vanish slightly above center. She bounded, then slowed and stopped after 30 yards. Her head turned and then she folded on the spot. It was as perfect as they come.

my best hunt so far was my first hunt with my dad, killed my first buck also the same day... waiting for the day i'll be taking my son out for his first hunt... he's been out in the stand with me this past yr at 6.5 yrs old, he's gonna get broken in on gun season but we're gonna be preppin for bow during that time as well... figure he won't be ready for bowhunting for another few years... we're gonna put a video cam in the shootin house when we go for the first time, i want it on record...

edit - when my sons get their first, they will be a tie for the best hunts ever, and i'm gonna be JAFO...

Mine probably was the first day I killed a deer. I hunted on public lands the first 3 years I hunted....I had no idea what I was doing, I just walked around in blaze orange with an old 30/30 my dad bought for me. I woke up early, trudged out in the freezing cold and generally saw nothing...then I met a buddy for life in college. He took me to his family farm and I killed two bucks on the same day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. They were only a 3 and a 5 point but I swear I felt like a million bucks! The one I killed in the afternoon I climbed a pine tree about 20 feet high and had to hang out to shoot with no safety belt, nothing! That day is what hooked me on hunting, about 13-14 years ago.

3 deer opener morning(a buck and 2 doe),I was surrounded when the sun started to show that morning,one right after the other till my tags were full,they would`nt run so I just kept shootin em.
And let me say it was a RIFLE extravaganza

First kill stands out...........dad and my brothers being there was very special. Off the ground, open sights, old school makes that memory better today then it was then.

13 pointer on state land in 2003 Thanksgiving morning was an amazing day as well..........was having probably the worst season ever and was ready to call it quits and head home for some turkey and football. I had taken my dad's gun on the way out the door that day for some good karma and will always remember the feelings I had as everything went into slow motion and that red dot locked in behind the shoulder...........even though I was alone in that field it will forever be a hunt I shared with my dad.

I honestly can't pin it down. 1st deer. 1st bowkill. 1st time I killed one where I chose my locaion to sit, not where Dad told me to. Then you have some of those cool "shared moment" hunts with family or friends. Hunts where the wildlife encounter was beyond your imagination. Or that 1st time a bull elk comes walking in to 25 yds. Just way too many to pick from.

This ? was extremely hard for me to answer becausethere has been so many.

But the best I have ever had....had to be when Pat Ely from PAcame out west to hunt Turkeys with me.

Pat had recently lost his new born son. Little did I know of the details until Pat came out. We, two guys from different ends of the USA from HNIwere able to spend some very good times together in the mountains, talking about life, turkeys and our families. Pat shared a lot with me over that week. He also taught me more about turkey hunting than I could have ever learned on my own. To end the week, in the middle of snow storm, (no B.S.) Pat somehow called in a great gobbler and shot it, I got to witness it all. He then dedicated it to his son. He also called in a great bird for me as well that I killed.I gained a great respect and true friend over this hunt.

It was a cold Dec. night. I was in my 4th year of college. My buddies and I had missed Penny pitures at the local bar, so we decided to hit another that was having a ladies night. As soon as we get to the bar, this fine young lady I had been eyeing for days comes straight for me, hammered drunk, with the bedroom eyes going............................................. ....


Wait, wrong kind of hunting.