Your Greatest hunting/fishing story

 Hunting

Fall 1997. I was not old enough to rifle hunt yet, so I was pushing the brush. We had hunted the same property in 4C for mule deer for the past 6-7 years. This year was different, dad put in for a whitetail buck tag. There were  only  2 other guys allowed to hunt the 4500 acre property the entire season, the other 2 guys also had whitetail tags and already had filled their buck tags... a 165 inch net 5 X 5 and a 158 inch net 5 X 5. It was a VERY foggy morning. After the fog lifted, dad decided which area we were going to hunt. This area is very deep with thick draws with timber. About a half mile into our walk, I was coming out of the bottom of the draw. I saw antlers come busting out about 200 yards next to me and in front of me. Dad was about 200 yards to my left.Dad yells, "BIG BUCK !" Well, he shouldered the gun, and nothing..... then about 3-4 seconds later.... BOOM.... deer stumbles.... BOOM..... Ass over tea kettle. Big Buck down! Dad was hooting and hollering and I was sprinting towards the deer... and then.... the big buck jumps up .... another BOOM.... all I see is a white flag of a tail going over the hill. As we scrambled to get to the top of the next hill together, Dad looked at me and said, he's big, really big, and we both need to settle the F*** down and relax or  this guy is getting away. We decided to let the big boy lay for at least a half hour. My job was to track the blood trail and flush him out, while dad got on the next hill and high point. After 30 min, and dad getting to the next hill and ready, I started following the blood trail. The timber was so thick, I was on my hands and knees for a good 200-250 yards in the middle of the draw. I came across a pool of blood about the size of a basketball a ways in. I yelled to dad and kept following the trail..... about 15 seconds later..... BOOM.... BOOM...... BOOM...... BOOM.....  followed by a gigantic F bomb from my dad. 5-10 seconds later.... CABOOM.... the final shot.... I came out of the draw asking if he got him?! Dad says..... look at the fence... here lays a  158+ inch 9 X 5 whitetail.... antlers tangled in the fence. High fives and hugs were in short order. After skinning the deer, we found 6 holes in the deer. This deer took 6 rounds of a 7mm. 1 round through the ass, 1  right next to the spine about half way up the body.... these were from the running straight away shots.... the next 4 shots that hit the deer were within a size of a paper plate to the chest cavity. Can you say one tough deer? Hells Yes. Before the final shot rang out, the buck was too weak to jump the fence, and tried to crawl under, getting his horns tangled in the fence, and ending his life. Another great thing though, if the deer would have got through the fence, he was less than 300 yards from freedom, in the next unit across the highway. He for surely would have died, but still a crazy feeling knowing he was not far away from getting away. Every year I hunt with my dad, its a great story like this, even if we have doe tags. Nothing better than spending time with your best friend, and having the best memories of my life. 

My favorite bow hunting experience to this date is from my first year i decided to give it a try. I was 14 and didnt have my drivers license yet and my parents were leaving town to go to the lake so i decided to stay home and hunt opening weekend. My grandpa was still in town so he gave me a ride out to the stand. I was sitting there for a couple hours (which felt like days) waiting for the deer to start moving, all of the sudden i spot a doe out in the crp and then everything changed, the minutes started to seem like seconds as deer start moving all over the place. Finally i had some does come into my bait pile, followed by a little fork horn in velvet. I sat there for a good 20 minutes debating if i should take a shot him. Finally i made up my mind to try and stick him, as luck would have it i missed and shot right under him. All the deer scattered and i thought for sure the evening would be over. About a half hour later i saw 4 bucks walking toward me, I thought here is my second chance! They start to close the distance and i was getting pumped up. Then just as my luck would have it they winded me and took off trotting back out into the crp. By now i was getting pissed at how the night was turning out and i made a bold move to try and put a stalk on these fellas. I got out of the stand and started sneaking down a drainage ditch that snaked its way through the crp and came up about 30 yards from where the bucks were at. I hid behind a patch of brush and was about to draw when one of the bucks noticed me and took off running followed by a second. I let out a grunt from my call and one of the bucks was interested and started to come investigate. I drew back as the deer stepped into an opening and let er' fly. My arrow stuck out of its rib cage as it ran off and i was the happiest kid in the world! I followed the blood trail after i called one of my dads friends to come help me look for it. He showed up and found me standing over my 5x4 and have been hooked on bow hunting ever since!

At the time I never thought this would be my most memorable hunt, but as fate would have it, it is as of this date.

 This past winter my buddy Mick and I were out at night, calling coyotes during one of the final full moons of the season. I was calling and carrying the shotgun, Mick had the rifle, on the first set he shot one coming in downwind. We decided to stay put for ten minutes and start calling again, then every coyote within earshot woke up and were howling and barking back at us we played peek a boo in the CRP with 2 or 3 for awhile, but they just would not show themselves, so we moved on.

We set up in another spot where the deer had herded up, I started calling and a couple of minutes later I hear Mick tap the snow gently ( our signal to each other one is close) and he starts to lip squeak, as he draws the coyote closer for a straight on 30 yard shot. At the shot a hear a coyote bark, thinking it was the one he just shot, as I have my back to him. I hear him muttering and laughing, I crawled over and asked "What's goin on?". He replied "Just when I was squeezing the trigger, another poked his head around the snow bank about ten feet away, scared the ba gee bee's out of both of us!"

We shared many hunts, but this was one of our last hunts together, as he was one of the two beaver hunters, that perished on the Maple River this spring.
 
I will leave you with this quote from Mick, 
    
       The older I get and the longer I hunt,
        the more I realize that my best hunting memories
        and experiences all included good people.
        It has less to do about being "Successful"
         - More about who you shared it with.
            - The friends gained.
              - Stories told.
                - Experiences shared. 
                   - There is a bond.

Rest in peace my friend. 

 Peter,
Thank you for sharing your story. Sorry for your loss..... 

Thanks for sharing peter so sorry

Thank you for your kind words, It was not my intention to hijack this thread.

Alot of good memories .

Please keep the stories coming.

My little brothers youth mule deer hunt.

We (dad, bro and I) were glassing on a hill and spotted the buck in the wide open bedded down.


Well we had to go way around this buck because of the way he was facing there was no way to get up to effective range. We litterally spotted him from about a mile away.

Well we got up and around the buck and started the stalk. He would be right on the other side of the cliff that we were climbing. When we were about to crest the hill, we heard the unmistakable sounds of a muley bouncing off. We all looked at eachother and decided we had better run to the top of the hill. My brother took an offhand shot and missed. He then kneeled down and got a rest and the big velvet buck stopped to look back.

My brother dropped him in his tracks. His excitement level was off the charts! He basically threw MY gun down the hill and started tearing up and hugging my Dad and I. We got up to the beatiful velvet buck and snapped many photos, deboned and caped him and hauled him out to the road on our backs!




It may sound cliche' because it was a youth hunt and all that happy horse crap, but it was truly my most memorable and favorite hunt!

 

I remember Halloween was on a Sunday that year because Smoothy was going to pick me up to go hunting that day. I remember it was Sunday because Smoothy had to go away for a while starting Monday, but that is another story. It was a perfect fall day with very little wind. I remember this because while waiting for Smoothy as usual, I was outside thinking he is going to get here too late to be able to get to where we want to go before dark. Just then I saw him coming down the driveway and he asked me if I was ready to go and we were on our way. We decided to go hunting down by Jerry Anderson’s a.k.a. Hartford Valley. We got out of the van and were looking for a place to set up in between a cornfield and Maple River. As we were going down the dirt trail we found a hay bale about 10 yards from the cornfield with a small mud puddle in between them. Smoothy said, “This should work perfect, the deer would come out of the corn, and take a drink out of this mud puddle and you should have a perfect shot.”

So he got me all set up and went to a tree stand that was within 50 yards. He figured that was far enough away so that he could smoke and the deer would not smell him and bust me. It wasn’t 20 minutes later when I heard some rustling in the corn. That is when two yearlings came out and started drinking out of the puddle. They were both too little to shoot, so I just watched them for a little while until their mom came out. And she too just like the others came out of the corn and drank from that puddle just as Smoothy said they would. That is when I lined her up and took the shot. I didn’t know exactly where I hit her all I knew was there was a bunch of commotion in the corn and it sounded like she was breakdancing which is always a good sign. I waited a little bit and then I started whistling to Smoothy to get his attention. The next thing I knew he was running toward me asking me if I hit something. I told him that I shot and heard a lot of noise afterwards but did not know if I hit her good enough. That’s when we started looking around and found some blood on a corn husk. Then just like a bloodhound he disappeared in the corn and only went about 50 yards before he was hollering, “you got her, you got her.” I think he was more excited than I was. That night we shared in the harvest by eating the heart and tenderloins. It was the best tasting deer I ever had...

 My first year really bowhunting (2010).  I had tried it one year back in 2003, but did not put in a lot of time and effort.  I got a bow for Christmas 2009 and began practicing 2 to 3 times a week in the backyard.  I have some trees and a high deck so I was able to practice several different angles, and distances.  I worked on it all spring and summer and in the early fall got some scent free clothing and a climbing treestand.  I went out 4 times and did not see anything from early october to the beginning of November.  Then on Nov. 6th, 2010, I saw a doe and a fawn coming in for a bite of acorns, so I slowly got the bow and stood up in the treestand.  They came in at 20 yards but were both facing me. Then a larger doe came in at 15 yards broadside, I begin to draw back, but caught a flash of movement and a big old 5x5 is coming in after the ladies.  For a second I debated taking the for sure shot on the doe vs. a possibility of a shot at the buck.  In the end the lure of the horns were too much so I waited.  The does stuck around for about a minute and then took off right as the buck came in.  He was facing me for about 45 seconds and I knew he would be leaving shortly to chase the does.  He turned a bit giving me a quartering towards shot at 22 yards ( not ideal, but doable at that distance.  I drew back and let it fly.  He did the jump and kick and tore out of there.  It all happened so fast I did not know if I hit him so I got out the binoculars after he was out of sight and scanned the ground for the arrow.  This all happened about 6:30 pm.  After not seeing anything, I carefully climbed down and searched the area.  I could not find the arrow, which was good, but I could not find any blood in the clearing either.  I had seen him run for about 50 yards into the trees and when I got to the edge of the trees I saw my first blood drop then another and then I saw some sprayed up on a small tree.  I called a buddy to help track and we waited till about 830.  The trail was pretty easy to follow for 20 yards and then we found the arrow covered in blood.  We went another 40 yards and totally lost the trail.  We went back to the last few drops and realized the smart old bugger had gotten to a point, backtracked about 15 yards and then went off a different direction.  Once we picked up that trail, it was super easy to follow.  We found him about 80 yards from the stand.   I was so happy I chose to wait for him.  The taxidermist estimated him to be 8 1/2 years old.   He had tons of scars and nicks on him and the mount came out great.