What is your greatest memory while hunting?

[DeerStalker22]

While being affected by cabin fever, I have been going through pictures of past seasons of hunting, and while i cherish every time i'm out in the woods and am able to harvest an animal, there are three different hunts hunts that will as of this point in my life will be my favorite times in the woods.  The first time is my first black bear that I harvested in the Adirondacks.  This comes after two years of getting real close with my father and then me going out on my own, walking up on the bear and harvesting it.  The second being two seasons ago when me and my father harvested two nice buck with in 12 hours of each other at camp.  My buck being the biggest i have ever harvested, but this was also the first two deer that my father and I had harvested at camp after my grandfathers passing.  The third great memory of mine would be of this past year, while my brother harvested his first deer, and him and my father limited out on tags while hunting at a family friends, and I, harvested a buck at out camp, about 200 miles away, all in the same weekend, and also being the same weekend that me and my father had harvested our two nice buck the year before at camp.  Sorry about the long post but I had to relieve some of my cabin fever.   

[sweet old bill]

at 73 I have to say getting the first buck with my Dad and his buddies at the hunting camp in 1958.  

 

There have been many other bucks but that 7 point buck was number 1 in a life of loving to hunt with both the bow and gun.

 

[First-light]

Has to be My Father in-laws last deer he shot and the first deer my friend Zach shot at 14 years old. Was with both of them when it happened. I have shot some nice deer through the years but these don't compare...

[Doc]

There are so many of them. The first bow killed deer ranks right up there as maybe the most memorable experience. And then there was the time that I shot a does at 3 yards as she came around the side of the same tree that I was using for cover. And maybe that severe case of buck fever that that one monster gave me a few years back.

 

Yeah, it goes on and on with countless experiences. They are really hard to rank. But I will say that everyone that ranks at the top involves my bow.

[Stretcher Guy]

The look on my 8 yr old olds face when I ask him if he wants to go hunting...PRICELESS

[Hock3y24]

That first buck and dad's reaction upon seeing it. He was sitting 300 yards away.

[GreeneHunter]

The first Deer  (buck) my son shot , it was kicked from across the stream where I hunt and ran under my tree stand where I was sitting . I let it keep running because it was running directly towards where my son was posted and he nailed him !  Great opening day !

[BizCT]

Not quite hunting per se, but target shooting. I was never old enough to hunt with my Dad and his Dad (my grandpa) before my grandpa died. Before hunting forums, the three of us were the only people I knew growing up that actual hunted.

This pic is probably the last time I did something hunting related with both of them. Target shooting with a Weatherby 22-250.

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[Paula]

I have a few but for me the best would be that i am able to hear and see what it is like when everything seems to come alive right before sunrise.

[Terry]

My first deer was an unbelievable experience, I never wanted something so bad!

[stoneam2006]

My 3 yr olds first day of trapping and this opossum.....just like when I learned from my dad...wouldn't have it any other way

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[skeets716]

Several memories come to mind, my first deer, my first buck & my first 8 point this year.  Nothing beats when my 14 yr old son got his first deer with me this past season.  We were sitting on a log together and he knocked it down with one shot,

 

 

[dbHunterNY]

I don't really have a greatest but come to think of it all the ones at the top are when I was with family and friends.  If I had to pick it'd be my deer.  I was by myself but with dad on the other end of a walkie talkie.  it was a 4x2 6 point buck that for some reason was against growing more points opposed to rack size.  when dad walked up on it with me, I think he was happier than I was.

[Arrow Flinger]

My first buck with a bow at age 14 stands out. I was sitting in an Apple orchard and 3 six points walked by at 20 yards and I shot the biggest one. My favorite memory was when my son got his first buck with the bow when he was 15.

[Fehyd643]

I only have one season under my belt, but my first deer ever is definitely it.  I was lucky enough to harvest 4 deer last year, but my first deer ever was with a bow. About a 20yd broadside shot about 5 minutes after settling into my stand. Best morning ever!

[moog5050]

My first doe was quite a thrill.  Less than perfect, ok bad, shot placement and lots of tracking (great first chance for the full experience) but I got her that night.  Then, this last year my first true bow wall mounter was awesome, more so for the team tracking job than anything - thought I had a perfect shot and ended up hitting under the heart (a lot of blood AT FIRST) - that buck didn't want to go down.  We tracked and watched him bed several times, kept pushing until we finally finished him.  Also, having 3 out of 4 of my friends tag out early in bow when we hunted together, with the 4th having 2 chances on nice deer, was very cool.  Oh, can't forget predicting the exact day and time (based on conditions) that a monster would show at a stand was awesome - unfortunately our friend missed him.  Good news, he is still around for this season.  Lets hope he remains predictable.

[Arrow Flinger]

Another hunt that stands out to me besides the hunt where I killed the buck in my avatar is one where my brother shot a nice 7 point during archery one morning. We looked and looked for that deer with no luck so we decided to go to the local diner and get something to eat. While sitting there I was thinking about the dog on the road where he was hunting and how it was standing in the road barking at something across the street when I was driving down it. I thought maybe he was barking at my brothers deer so we got permission from the landowner to go look in the tall goldenrod field and my brother found him laying dead about 100 yards off the road!

[Hardcore]

tough one for me being that I have many great memories....I would go with taking my daughter hunting and taking a nice size doe....after our agreement prior to the hunt, that dad wasn't shooting any girl deer...does came out @ 200 yds working towards our stand. after watching better than a dozen deer for over an hr @ about 400yds across the field...she was stoked, so when the new arrivals showed up she had enough....shoot it dad...so i turn to her to and remind her its a girl deer and we aren't shooting them....she replies no dad shoot it, shoot it....so I take the doe and watch her crash just inside the woodline, we get down and follow the blood trail....we walk up on the doe and she looks at me and says with amazement...she is beautiful. I chuckled and said, yes she is.....obviously one I'll never forget

[papabear]

Too many  to list  My first deer taking the goose that was cupping as I was doing my first goose call's

But one of the funniest one was replacing the shell's in my friends gun on his first duck hunt with used shells him shooting and pumping the gun yelling he got it  then saying your right I never felt it go off he was so proud of his first kill with an empty gun  we didn't tell him till after he got his bufflehead back from the taxidermist  

papabear

[ants]

For me it has to be taking my first deer, while hunting with the old timer who taught me how to hunt. He was in his 50's then and I was around 17. He was more psyched than I was…Then 20 years later I was with him when his grand son took his first deer. He had that same look in his eye…It was really something..

 

R.I.P 

[NFA-ADK]

Finding the largest buck track of my life, fresh in the mud then taking him the next day.  I do not think I will ever wake up at 3:30 am with such enthusiasm as that day.  My 2010 buck.   

 

Getting lucky the first day out hunting on my birthday last year was a close second as I planned almost a month of hunting.  Who ever said it is better to be lucky than good was never so right. 

 

[A Sportsman]

My brother is the type who hunts opening week of rifle and that's it. Don't fish, don't bowhunt, doesn't go on hunting websites, etc. But he enjoys his rifle hunting each year for what it is for him and he is actually a pretty good still hunter and woodsman. Unfortunately He is not lucky. In fact he is unlucky. For years and years (like 14)he could not close the deal on a catskill buck. It got to the point where every year we would all say "maybe this is his year". It was a sore subject. Couple yrs ago he finally shot one. Nice 8 ptr. All six of us who share camp really felt a relief after he finally connected.

Like others have said, there are too many to mention. Last year my cousin and I tagged out on 2 nice catskill bucks by about 715am opening day. Spent half the day taking our time dragging them out, and half the day drinking adult beverages celebrating it. That was a great day too.

[coonhunter]

My fondest hunting memory is when my children were small, around 6-10 years old. I bought and trained a new coonhound pup, and the kids all had a hand in the little things that go in training a nice dog. They helped to work him on a leash, do drags, feeding, loading into the box, and all sorts of little things to make them feel involved.

 

That winter we had a warm spell that melted the snow down pretty good and got the coon moving good again. My dog had started treeing a few before deer season came, so I was anxious to get back out. The kids all wanted to get out and do something and especially wanted to get a chance to see our dog go.

 

So, we loaded up the dog, got a couple of hunting lights and a couple flashlights, and headed to a small swamp that I hoped would give us a quick run. They fought over who got to walk the dog and turn him loose, but away he went. He wasn't gone 5 minutes and he was open hot on track.

 

After a short trail, he treed about a quarter mile up the hill on the backside of the swamp. Now, when I say this dog was loud, I mean really loud, and the kids were eating it all up.

 

It took us awhile to get into the tree because they had never been in the woods at night, and it is harder to get around on short legs. I could see the coon without my light before we got there, but I kept my mouth shut and let them find it. Then I had one of them hold the dog back while I shot the coon out. It fell right in a small water hole and made a huge splash and the dog made a bigger splash when he jumped in on the coon to wool it over.

 

Those kids were in their glory. They got the dog leashed up and were getting soaked petting and hugging him while I skinned the coon. It is a great memory that still comes up quite frequently when we get together.

[nyantler]

I'd have to say getting my oldest boys first turkey on film when he was 12... that was many years ago, but the smile on his face and the fun we had together that day was priceless.

[waterweasle]

almost shooting myself in the foot when I lowered my rifle after dropping a doe, 308 woulda done some damage, never made that mistake again