What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Guys,
What is the best hunt you've ever been on?

The best hunt I've ever been on is when my son shot his first deer ever. He did it with a bow. He used a Hoyt Intensity youth bow set at 40 lbs. I should tell you that he he is an excellent shot. 2 time state indoor champion cub division and 3rd in the nationals at the time he shot this deer. He was 12 and now he will be 20.

I set him up in one of my fence row stands about 18 feet up. It was between a picked corn field and an alfalfa field right where it tee'd into a brushy woodline that led down to a river bottom. I was sitting in a ground blind 400 yards down the fence row from him. It was Oct 17th. During the last half hour of light, a buck along with 2 does came up from the river bottom and began feeding in the alfalfa. The buck was nosing the does around. My son, Nate, grunted at the buck. He looked but went back to pestering the does. He grunted at him again and the buck got perturbed but again went back to the does. Nate grunted at him a third time and this time the buck couldn't stand it. He trotted over to the fence row to peek across into the picked corn looking for the other buck. Nate drew his bow and took a 27 yard broadside shot and hit the buck in the heart. The buck burst into the corn field and at 50 yards he dropped like a rock! My son let out a rebel yell....Yaaahh Hooooo!!

While sitting in my ground blind, natural (respect), I heard this yell from Nates direction. It was starting to get dark and I noticed something running in the field comming towards me. I'm thinking, come on ...drop, drop. When suddenly it does. Crap!!! It got back up and started running towards me again! I hunched down and got ready to put a finishing shot on it when suddenly I realized that it was Nate![:-]

He comes up to me and says, "I killed a big buck!". I asked how big? 8 points. How wide? He holds his hands about 18" apart. I go, "NoS hit!!?? I couldn't wait to go see it.

No kidding, it was 18 1/4" wide, 3 1/2 year old 8 point, grossed 122". It had a broken tip off the main beam and a broken g-2, otherwise it would have been close to making P&Y. Who cared! It was the greatest moment of my deer hunting career and still is. It was the best hunt of my life.:D

Here he is....

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Wow! Thats a dandy buck! Sure looks bigger then 122"! Great story there dad. My most memorable hunt was when I got my biggest bear to date. He weighed 325 lbs and scored20 5/16 P@Y, thats a monster head for a black bear if anyone was wondering! B@C is 21" so i didn't miss by much.I'm sure i'll never top that bear or hunt but a person never know's i guess.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

I'll try to find a link to a post I made last year.....but it was a hunt in which I never fired a shot. I had a smallish buck bed down 14 yds from me for 3:40. I also saw 6 different bucks ivolved in 4 separate sparring matches.

Here's the link....

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1781874&mpage=1&key=greatest&amp ;#1784627

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

My '06 bowhunt in Alberta.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

My best hunt came the friday after thanksgiving three years ago. On this day I stalked the biggest buck I have ever seen in real life on the Hoof.

It was a really cold day and i was still full of turkey and stuffing so i decided not to go out that morning and i'm glad i didn't! I woke up at around 9:00 and looked out my bedroom window as i always do. When i did i swore i saw a deer just laying down in a small draw so i jumped across my room to the tri-pod and spotting scope to have a look. When i settled the scope my jaw hit the floor. The buck was bedded with a doe about 200 yards from my house in a field that we had not planted that year due to a very wet spring. I could only see his rack sticking up above the tall grass and that was all i needed to see.I instantly began hatching a plan for my stalk. To the right side of the deer lay the best draw for cover but was up wind due to a stiff north wind. so my only option was to belly crawl up a shallow drainage which would end about 40 yards from him and give me the kneeling shot. So i grabbed my Bear vapor 300 and off i went! I circled around the back of my house and dropped down over the side of the hill it sits on. i reached the drainage and began the 150 yard belly crawl to my strike point. I was about 20 yards from where i needed to be so i knocked an arrow and pushed my bow along in front of me. The deer were bedded facing the wind everything was perfect..... until a car began to drive down the gravel road that separates our field from my uncle's about 80 yards from the bucks position. The Buck stood and i came to full draw at nearly 60 yards and knew that it was too far at an already startled deer. But at this point in time i realized what the terrain had been hiding about this deer. He had a 6" droptine on each side of his rack and do to the tall grass i couldn't see this from the house. As i let my draw down when he was trotting away i field judged him at 190". The fallowing year he was shot by a poacher and he ran off into a church camp just north of our Northeast Ohio farm where the care taker found him dead and had him scored at 211" gross.

I feel graced to have been in his presence and that is why that was my best hunt!

Sorry so long winded fellas.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

It wasnt a bow hunt. It was when my wife, Jill, killed her first buck back in October. Nothing will ever compare to that hunt.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

2005 Quebec-Labrador caribou hunt. The story is just too long so just imagine a PERFECT, and I mean every little detail of the trip going perfectly even traffic was good, caribou everywhere. The floatplane almost landed on 4 nice bulls as we landed at camp for Pete's sake!We all tagged out with bows in 4 days, and I got to do it with my dad and my best friend. Best trip ever, hands down.

A close second was the day my dad and I both killed nice bucks on public land on the same morning! November 15, 1998. Great day!

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Mine is still yet to come, I have a 6 and 10 yr old sons. If Wisconsin would change the age limit it would happen sooner.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Absolutely awesome, Dan. Wow.......

;)

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2498882&mpage=1&key=&#249892 5

:)

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Gotta be the day I took my first buck with my father sitting next to me. The only way I can see topping this would have to involve one of my own kids someday, or maybe my little sister.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

What did that beast weigh? I call photoshop LOL. biggest deer ive ever seen i think body wise.


my best hunt ive ever been on was in 2004 when i was hunting with my dad and harvested my first mature deer. 3.5 yo 118" 8 pointer. wont go into all the details but i had the best weekend of my life that weekend, still havent topped it.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

I was in the mountains on my brother's farm in here Va. It was a Friday afternoon and I had already killed a doe that morning and now I was looking for a mature deer. I moved stands and set up on top of a ridge that runs about the length of the entire 1500 acr. farm. I had rubs, trails, scrapes, food source everything was in place. I started to see does and buttons after about 1.5 hr in the stand. Then from the same direction two bucks came in. One small 8 and a very big bodied 7 with a 16' spread and heavy main beams. The 8 came right in almost as soon as I saw him and he walked right underneath my stand, I had to look through the stand to see him!! He walked away and kept going straight. The other deer were eating and paying no mind. The big 7 took his time and almost busted me several times because my stand was poping and creeking!! So, he finally came in to my left in the thickest place possible and stopped at 16 yds. He was quartering to me a lil bit, but it was still enough of his vitals to shoot at. I drew when stopped and let it fly through the only opening I had, it was about the size of basketball hoop. My arrow hit right above the shoulder blade and he jumped straight up, hit the ground running and crashed out of sight. I waited 30 mins, got down, found blood instantly and followed for about 50 yds and he piled up!! He still the arrow in him coming out of both side of his body. This deer was around 200 lbs, whicj is huge for Va. That was my most enjoyable hunt yet. I have bigger deer, but this one was nail biting..

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Thanks Jeff.

As for the weight.....its pretty rare that we get a chance to weigh our deer. Most have to be quartered up and packed out. The ones that we have weighed over the last 6 seasons there have averaged around 220 dressed. My guess on this one would be around 230, conservatively. We have actually killed a lot bigger....my brother killed one in 2005 that dressed 270.

Here's another pic of Jill and our son standing next to her buck in our fish house.....

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

It has to be opening day this season, sept 29. Last season it was hard for me to go out hunting cause everytime I pulled out the driveway, my son would watch me pull away and I could tell he wanted to go with me so bad. So during the summer months I decided he was ready to spend a little time with me in the woods this season. It was not possible for him to go in the tree stand so I set up the ground blind a few weeks before season. Opening day came around and we were in the woods before day break. After about 2 hours he started getting a little restless and got to moving around a lot. I figured this was a good time to snap a few pictures.



Then I gave him his gameboy to keep him busy for a while. Not 10 minutes later I look off to the left and a dandy doe was walking slowly down the trail, all the while keeping a very close eye on the ground blind. I tell him to be very quiet and dont move as I pointed out the deer to him. He whispered "get it." I let the arrow fly and we watched her go busting through the brush. We gave her some time and we followed the blood trail together and at the end was the very first deer I ever got to harvest with my son. It dont get much better then this.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

My favorite was first day of PA's season 1997. Myself and my buddy Frank were hunting a little piece of ground only about 75yards apart hoping to intercept deer from different directions.

I had 5 bucks slide up over the hill to me, and its just something about the lighting as the crested the hill, those first orange rays of sun and the way they lit those deer up against the dark woods is a sight I'll never forget.
I was trying to shoot a big 8pt in the group and was stuck at full draw for what seemed like 5 minutes, when 2 more bucks angled over the hill and started toward my stand.
I shot the nicer of the 2, abeautiful chunky 2.5yr old 7pt just as the 8pt I swung off was in range of Frank over the hill. If I could have held off for a couple more seconds we would have had a double. As it was my buck ran the entire group right past Frank's stand and it crashed right in front of him.

It was a great combination of the setting and a scene like something out of an oil painting, some success and sharing it with a good friend. It's probably the most vivid snapshot of a hunting scene I have in my memory and I'd give a lot of money to see it all again.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Dan........[:-]jumpin' jimminy. That's rediculous.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

o i guess its just theway it is laying there but man alive that things look like a dang bull elk body lol. cant imagine 40 lbs more lol.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

my first deer hunt ever. I was 9 yrs old and my dad by my side, i shot a 6pt with my 20 gague!

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

I don't want to jack Greg's thread....but here is the pic of my brothers that dressed 270....I think it was actually 274. That's why I love Canadian whitetails.;)


Not the best pic of the whole body, but you get the idea from looking at the neck.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Holy smokes Dan! Thats a 160" class buck your wife shot! Tell her way to go and congrats!You guys and girls have some big bucks up there in Canada! I enjoy seeingyour pic's and reading your stories! Keep it up!

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

http://tripleactionoutdoors.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/2nd-archery-deer-season/

Not top drag away from the site.... This is the link to the story... I don't want to have to rewrite it...

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

My son's 1st gun hunt in which he shot a doe and I shot a nice 10 point.
I was way more happy and excited for him and his deer than mine.

2nd would be Wis. gun hunt 2003.In the 1st 2 days I shot two 17 1/2" eight pointers with my grandpa's old 30-06 and a 20" 10 point with my pistol.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Mine would have to be my first bow kill with my mom !!! she has always taken me with her but i was to young to beable to kill one with my bow ! well last year i got me my first actual decent bow an she took me !! an well the magic happen here came a nice fat doe walkin down the trail at about 16 yards !! i busted her an well at that moment i thought i was king of the world !! I give all the credit to my mom who has been takin me an has gotten me in the great outdoors !!!

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

My first bow kill....:)



2007 doe.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Killing this guy on the mountaintops of Namibia was a top notch hunt!

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

My dad and I were running and gunning for turkeys a few years ago... He had made a homemade box call and got a gobbler to answer it... He dropped back and I snuck forward.. No blind or anything, but the bird came in to about 13 yards and I hit it perfect with a muzzy 3 blade, and he dropped straight down. My first adult Tom with a bow... 24 lbs, double beard (10 1/2", 7 3/4") and 1 1/4" spurs... All called in with a homemade box call. It was also the first bird my Dad had called in for me.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Ok earlier in this thread I said my best is yet to come with my 2 sons but I do have one that sticks out that actually did not involve the hunt but we were on ourdeer hunting vacation.
It was myself, father and his best friend at a hotel in Antigo, WI and it was the 9 day Wisconsin gun deer hunt.
We have this coffee pot that automatically starts at 4 AM. Well my father decided that he was going to play a trick on his buddy and set the coffee maker for 2:30 AM. Well 2:30 rolls around and that coffee maker kicks in and dads buddy jumps up and starts getting his cloths ready and jumps in the shower. It is nice and quiet and dads buddy comes out pours a cup sits on his bed takes a sip and all of a sudden you hear Son Of A Bitch!
Me and my dad on key start laughing so damn hard I had tears. Needless to say we all ended up just staying awake but it was good and well worth it. Now dad and his best friend as of this year are on the big hunt in the heavens.

Peace

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

My best hunt to date was watching my dad's '05 opening weekend buck expire in front of me...

I had been watching a couple of does milling around my stand for the first 15 minutes of shooting light when I pick up a deer moving from my right. I quickly realize it is a shooter buck and he is closing quickly.

In one motion I stand and begin to draw... He's at 25 yds quartering towards me, I'm waiting for him to give me a better shot... He's now at 20yds...

Wait... Did he just do what I think he just did???

Yep... the buck just pile drived head first into the ground and paused there for a second, and then ploped over dead as a doornail.

At this point I'm stillatfulldraw, unable to believe what just happened. I give my dad a call and it turns out he had shot the buck about 150 yds away in his tree. My heart was pounding as if I had shot the buck himself.

To this date that is the most exciting hunt I have ever been on.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

Great stories guys. I'll add mine as well. This would be my Halloween hunt this past year. Here is the link to the full story and pictures.


http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2421210&mpage=1&key=halloween&am p;#2421210

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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...

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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.

RE: What is the best hunt you've ever had?
 

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.:D