The most worn out you've ever been hunting?

[Chappy]

Here is my story:

Back a few years ago, I dropped a buddy off on top of a knoll and told him to drop low and see if he could get his two elk tags filled. Told him I'd beat the hell out of him if he even thought about shooting a cow up high. Anyways, I dropped down to the bottom of the mountain and started hiking up to sit on stand and see if a cow came running by. Next thing I heard was was 4 shots up above, way the hell up towards the top. I caught up to him, to find a big cow. But all I saw was two bullet holes in the cow. I was one mad SOB at that moment for shooting a elk up high like I told him not to. I ask Lenard "What happened to the other two bullets you shot?" "Oh, I also shot the calf." Anyways, after get the two elk field dressed, Lenard starting vomiting and getting tremendously sick, so he headed down to the rig. Mind you this was 10:00 AM. I ended up cutting the cow in half and dragging one half at a time, two miles through deadfall, doing this twice, now it was 12:00 AM. I went back up to grab the calf, and just threw it over my shoulders. I didn't get out of there till 2:30 AM. 12 miles total of packing in and out is something I'll never do again.

What's your worst experience?

 

[dedogs]

I once spent 20 hrs. looking for a lost 14 year old hunter in deep snow with no snow-shoes. We found him about eight miles from where he had been dropped off. Don't know who was more glad to see whom. Pretty tired after that ordeal!

 

[Witchhunter]

I used to run hounds for bear and lion. Sometimes you walk from daylight, all day in the snow, get to the tree at midnight. Spend the night and walk out in the morning. Nothin better than hearing your hounds "treed" after a hike like that.

 

[jonbearman]

A few years ago I went out whitetail hunting in the afternoon. It was snowing like crazy. Anyways I crossed a fresh blood trail and it was dragging its feet. The snow was deep, like 2 feet of heavy powder so I start tracking it. I went only a 100 yards and stopped by a blow down. I stood there for a few minutes and realized there was brown hair under the blow down. He stood up and it was only a 5 pointer scrub buck and I realized his injury was soon to take my permit. Some idiot shot him on the run and his lower jaw was hanging by one piece of skin. It sickened me that no one was tracking him so when he made a break for it ,I couldn't shoot till he cleared the tangle we were in. I shot at him and hit him. Now he is stumbling and headed towards a 200 foot drop off. I shot again and he dropped all the while running through the snow with a heavy pack and heavy clothing. I ran about a hundred yards and with all the weight and heavy snow I thought I was going to have a heart attack. It took him a minute or 2 to die and I was glad as he would have died of starvation. We took him home and cut him up. I realize that I didn't walk 10 miles uphill but with the adrenalin pumping and the stress of trying to run and stop him from going over the edge it got to me to the point of taking off my coat and shirts to dry off from sweating. Then we had about a 600 yd walk to drag him out and load him in the truck.

 

[spencerhenry]

my mountain goat in 2001.

i missed opening weekend because i had a race in mexico (baja mex 300). as i was getting near denver in the commercial plane, we flew over where i was going to hunt, i could actually see goats. i landed in denver and then caught my next flight to grand junction. my truck was loaded and ready to go. i drove up to my goat hunting area and immediately set out with my old standby 270 winchester, spotting scope, range finder, and gear to spend the night. about a mile and a half up the trail i spotted 2 billies about 1600 vertical above the trail. an hour later i had a dead goat. it was so steep that when i cut the gutpile free, it just took off down the hill and out of sight. i skinnned, the goat, removed the loins and tenderloins and took them and all my gear and headed back to the truck. each way it was about 2000 vertical and 3 miles. spent the night in the truck and the next morning headed back up and took out load number 2. then turned around and went back for load number 3. all the meat, the entire hide (lifesize mount), and of course the head.
3 round trips of 6 miles and 2000 vertical gain and loss each. I was tired!

 

[spencerhenry]

or maybe it was my first BIG bull with a bow. 5.5 miles and 2700 vertical from the truck!

i had help, we packed out 289 pounds of boned out meat, and a cape and antlers.

 

[Chappy]

The only other experience I've ever had was chasing a one of the biggest bulls I've ever seen. We came out of a draw and were heading back to the truck. About 600 yards away a bull come hauling ass out of the timber, and my buddy first reaction was to send some lead off. Of course all I could say was "You can hardly see that far! Let alone shoot that far you dumb SOB!" Mind you that was about 9 in the morning. I spent the rest of the day trying to out smart this bull, never did get him to hold still enough for more than 5 seconds for me to torch a round off into him. Heart sick, that was a beautiful, old bull.

 

[watercam]

Suddenly I am not nearly as tired as I thought I was. Great times in the woods!

 

[/VH]

Funny how packing two hind legs of a bull elk, tied together with a strip of hide, draped over the back of my neck, across a rock slide always seemed a lot more fun than having to unload a sack of cement off the back of the pickup.

 

[Rustystud]

OnceI was moose hunting in Alberta 60 miles south of NWT line. Temperature was -30 C and the wind blowing 10 -60 mph. Riding 2 up on ATV from 5:00a.m. until 6:00p.m. stopping and calling. My tent mate shot a 54" moose about 4:00p.m. He and his guide headed back to camp to catch dinner and pick up trailer and other guide to retreive moose 20 miles away on an oil cutline. I rode with my guide again 2 up leaving at 8:00p.m. Enroute 15 miles in the lights failed on my guides atv so we were following closely behind the other guide and his trailer. Everyting was frozen up except swift running water. The leade atv wemt over a colvert with swift water flowing under it. My gude missed the culvert and our atv rolled over wiith us on it an I went through the surface ice. I was in waist deep frigid water with an atv dripping gasoline on me. it was pitch black dark. The leade atv continued on not knowing we were in trouble. Long story short the guide lifted the atv off me enough for me to crawl out from under it. The other guide and hunter returned and we got the atv back up an running. I got back on thew atv wet and we went onother 5 mile to retrieve the moose. Then returne to or tent camp 20 miles from the kill. We arrived at camp at 6:00 a.m. with the sun coming up. My clothes were frozen together. iIt was about -30 C. The guide built a fire in the woodstove in my tent. Thawed my close out enought to get them off by 7:30. I got in sleeping bag for 3 hours before warming up enough to get in dry clothes.
That was a long day. Nat Lambeth

 

[Berger.Fan222]

Dragging a big buck uphill too quickly.

 

[bheadboy]

Two to try and diced which was worse, I think in 71 packed in about 50 miles north of Watson lake, Yukon ter,

my hunting partner became ill with kidney stones, we flew him out from a nearby lake, then the guide and I on horses and a two pack animals went east about 20-30 miles, hard to tell, I took a Caribou, nice one and we sent the meat cape etc back with one pack animal and a rangler,

this left me, the guide and on pack horse. we topped a ridge (1500ft) and hunted to northwest slope, to no avail, that evening the sunset was great and temp about 45. the next morning we kept waking and rolling over as it was dark, then the guide prung up and hit the tent it was covered with snow, we stepped outside and there was 3 ft of snow covering all our gear and the tent. we ate all we had in the tent, no fire, loaded the horses and pack and headed back over the ridge we had come over, the snow was above my knees and up hill, the horses were slipping and we had to get of and walk them and the pack horse, it took until noon to top the ridge as we kept sliding and falling,

as we topped the ridge, huaaaa, a griz was on the remains of the caribou I had shot 5 days before. he could smell us but not see us, we led the horses along a break and got as close as we could before the griz took off heading away for a ridge. 300wm and 4 shots later he was down, 550 yds and running.

we then had to cover the horses heads with our coats to keep them from smelling the bear, it was -30 wind chill as a minimum, snowing and blowing, we skinned the bear packed the hide/head and meat then headed back to camp, 30 miles away. we got to camp about midnight, no lunch, dinner and all day below 0 degrees, I kept putting my hande into the bear to warm them while skinning. picture attached.

Bob

 

[TheOtherZilla]

I can't believe you even posted this. You guys clearly broke the law.. Shooting game for another person is illegal in Montana.. One guy shooting two elk is a violation. And posting it here? Not smart in my book.

 

[Chappy]

I can't believe you even posted this. You guys clearly broke the law.. Shooting game for another person is illegal in Montana.. One guy shooting two elk is a violation. And posting it here? Not smart in my book.

You ever heard of an Elk B tag?

 

[Chappy]

I can't believe you even posted this. You guys clearly broke the law.. Shooting game for another person is illegal in Montana.. One guy shooting two elk is a violation. And posting it here? Not smart in my book.

You ever heard of an Elk B tag?

And depending on the unit you hunt, you can shoot two cows in season, but not two bills. In unit 454 your general tag is either sex, and elk B tags are always cow only for the specific unit you put in for, which is 454.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

No I haven't heard of an elk B tag.. I did read the Montana reg regarding this. And upon re-reading your original post I do now see where you state he has two tags.. My bad. Let the flogging begin

 

[Chappy]

No I haven't heard of an elk B tag.. I did read the Montana reg regarding this. And upon re-reading your original post I do now see where you state he has two tags.. My bad. Let the flogging begin

 

[searcher]

My "memorable" hunt was just two weeks ago. Probably most recent as I am at my oldest. My three hunting buddies and I gained access to a sprawling winery in the central-coast area of California wine country. Our job was to eliminate coyotes and pigs, each and all. We had never seen so many tracks and spoor anywhere - and we do this all over on pretty much a weekly basis. We were pumped up and excited to bust a bunch of pigs off a hillside of Mesquite. We fanned out across the top of the ridge and started to bust the brush, pushing the pigs down to the side of the hill where they would run out of cover. I pushed aside offers of letting me be the "gatekeeper" at the bottom as the oldest in the party - and because the younger guys knew this was going to be a tough deal and maybe felt a bit sorry for me. I should have heeded the offer. This brush ended up 8' high in paces and became so entangled and thick, it was almost impenetratable. After an hour, I finally found myself wedged, standing upright, to where I could not move in any direction. I thought I'd just stand there, relax, catch my breath and then fight my way free. And that is just what I did for about 10 minutes longer than planned. I simply could not move in any direction. I had images in my mind - of being found dead standing up - my lower half eaten by the pigs, mountain lions and coyotes that inhabit the ranch. Finally, in desperation and with abandoned regard for my rifle and equipment, I dropped to my knees and was able to fall backwards, onto my back, and crawl backwards through a pig tunnel, through fresh spoor and all. After what seemed an eternity, I emerged into a small clearing and was staring directly at a coyote who was simply standing there staring at me - maybe 40 yards away. I raised my rifle, filled the scope with this critter and dropped the hammer on him. Missed. My exposed windage dial got turned a bunch while busting the brush. I have to say it was tough when I got back to the truck and I had to tell the guys I was the one who fired the shot - at a standing, broadside coyote at 40 yards - and cleanly missed. Then, I had to explain why I took so long and that I wasn't snoozing or something. Talk about feeling like the new rookie instead of the older, wiser hunter! We also had the company of a gentleman from Greece on this hunt, the father of one of the guys. After hearing my story, my display of poor marksmanship and seeing me (and smelling me) covered in pig crap and all cut up, I'm sure it is a hunt he won't forget as well - of how we do it here in America.