Your best hunting experiences

[5.9cummins]

Another post got me thinking about this.

Whats your top three hunting / fishing experiences of all time?

Here are mine.

1. Shooting my first archery buck.

2.5 yr old 8pt spot and stalk from the ground while he was chasing a doe. He chases a doe into the apples - I move closer. The circle out and in of the apples several more times and i keep easing in. Eventually he chases her across the tractor trail into the pines. He starts grunting like he lost the doe so i give a couple bleats and he goes nuts and starts breaking branches and closing the gap. He pops out of the trees and I ended up closing the deal from 10 yards with my climber on my back. Used my dads 1973 Fred Bear Whitetail II.

2. Having a goose step on me.

One of my first goose hunts a couple years ago with a buddy (no clue what we were doing). Had a dozen crappy carry lite shells in a corn field. Spotted 25 geese off on the horizon and as they cleared the hedge 25 turned to 50 to 100 to 200 to 400+. The lead group locked up and came straight in. At one point there was more black than blue in the sky. Had one bird land less than 4 foot from me. As i watched his head walking i soon felt pressure on my right knee (no blinds just covered with combined corn). I shouldn't admit this but my buddy and i dumped six shells and never touched one bird.

3. Fighting and loosing the biggest fish of my life.

Fishing on Chautauqua last year and we were slamming the perch in one of my honey holes. Using a ultra lite setup with 3lb test. Set the hook and the rod bends in half, rreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! 20 minutes later an eye floats by my hole the size of a quarter. He runs a couple more times and then my retired boss tries to move the line so he can get a grip on the gill and SNAP. As far as i can tell he wouldn't have fit through the six inch hole. It was a tiger musky. If I referenced my book from Ichthyology / Fisheries (The Inland Fishes of New York State) correctly the total length should be 56.1322 inches (that's with a body depth of 6 inches - which he was at least 6 inches).  If the length holds then he would be well over 45 lbs.

[nyantler]

1) Filming my oldest boy's first turkey kill

Called the bird in from across a huge field to within 20 yards... the smile on my boys face was priceless when he went out to grab his bird.

2) Filming my friend Dave's first gobbler with a bow

We spent three days hunting from natural ground blinds (mostly blowdowns) he missed 2 jakes the first 2 days before arrowing a huge Tom on the third day at 20 yards. I called in 6 jakes and 3 Toms all together.

3) My first big buck that my dad and I hunted for 3 days in 0-degree weather... I ended up killing the 9 -pointer in his bed at 10 yards

[catskillkid]

Nice pic NY, too bad we don't see those woolrich pants around anymore.

Oh, and nice buck too!

Catskillkid

[bubba]

I still wear those pants.  you cant beat them for warmth.

ok let's see

#1 was quite some time ago. We were at my families very primitive camp back in the dacks.  It was the first few years of early ml season in the north.  My retired elderly uncle saved up for a while to buy a ml.  It was a cva frontier 50 cal 113 bucks back then from midsouth. Anyway, he shot it for a part of the summer and got it going well.  We shared the whole experience from molding balls to cutting patches etc.  I had been muzzleloading for a few years by then, so I kind of mentored him.  Anyway I took the whole week of early ml season off, and myself and my aunt and uncle headed to camp for the week. Season started on saturday and ended on friday, then regular season started on saturday.  On Tuesday we went out to have an early morning sit.  My uncle sat on a small patch of buckwheat we planted.  I went in by the swamp. Around 9 or so, I heard the telling kaboom of a ml.  I waited a bit and went over to find my uncle.  He had shot a nice doe that came out to feed in the buckwheat.  He was as excited as a kid in a candy store.  We got the deer taken care and hung.  At that time, if you used your tag during ml, you were done for the season.  Well my uncle spent the rest of season at camp bragging and telling the story over and over.  The next April, he passed away from cancer.  He never told anyone he had it, and you could not tell.  I have that CVA in my treasure chest (the safe for guns I never use).  That was 24 years ago this past season.  My cousin, his son, does not hunt.  when we get together, he still tells the story, looks at the gun and smiles.  Long story, but a good one.

#2  My first on the wing pheasant, over my pointer Randy, with my ml shotgun. 

#3 My first black bass I caught with the zebco pole I got for graduating 6th grade.  I remember as a kid I caught it on a jitterbug.  I was with my dad and my younger mothers other son.  I remember reeling it in and it broke water. I said in my excitement I think it is a bulhead. My dad with a big grin on his face responded 'bullshit.'  when we got it landed, it was only about 9 inches, which was not legal length, but it felt like a lunker to me.  My dad explained to me that it would be against the law to keep it, so we put it back.  I guess I learned a lot about following the law and doing what is right from my dad over the years. 

[Pygmy]

This a tough one..There have been so many...

I'll give it a whirl....

# 1... My first wilderness hunt in Alaska....The float plane dropped us off with our gear and a raft... We made plans to meet the plane 100 air miles downriver, two weeks later...

The float plane took off and disappeared in the distance, and I realized my partner and I were alone, in the Alaska wilderness, for the next two weeks..

# 2 My one and only triple on ducks....

      I was watching a small beaver pond, hoping some ducks would come in...

    Three mallards, two drakes and a hen, came in from my right and crossed in front of me...

    I dropped a drake, and the hen kept going the same way, but the other drake did an about face and went back the way he came... I reversed the gun and swung on him and folded him, then reversed the gun back to my left and folded the hen just as she was clearing the beaver dam....It happened in MUCH less time than it took me to type this....Bang,bang, BANG...3 ducks dead on the water....

  # 3... My biggest lake trout..Caught him from Keuka Lake  in 1975  trolling  a Seth green rig the old way....Dacron line coiled in a wooden box, 5 spoons, no rod....

            It took me a half hour from the time he struck until I netted him with an old antique willow net.. He was 37 inches long, 19 inches in girth and weighed 16 pounds 12 ounces.. He is still the biggest laker that I have personally ever laid eyes on, although I know they take much bigger ones nowadays from lake Erie and Ontario..

[G-Man]

Well.. My best hunting experiance was the first year i was allowed out to deer camp. I was 15 and could only hunt small game. the owner of the camp "gramps"was in his 70's and insisted that you come out a year early to learn propertylines,the guys that hunt,ect. I was having fun shooting red squirrels when gramps asked me if i though i could get a grouse, i told him i never saw one and didn't kknow what they looked like. After looking thru an ancient guide book i went out and actually saw one! I was just walking under a cranberry bush i shot it and picked it up and ran the whole way back to camp to show gramps! He was impressed and told me there were a few rabbits around and i should go get one. Well wouldn't you know that i bumped right into one behind the cabin! As gramp and i cleaned and cooked up the grouse and rabbit for dinner, the other 6 members that were deerhunting came in as the  sunset. As everone commented how good the the dinner was,gramps told how he had put in his order for dinner and i went out and got it which was good for a chuckel or two! As the guys tallked about the deer missed/seen. gramps stood up put his had on my shoulder looked at me and then pointed and looked at the others and said "If i told you there was a big buck out there do you think you could get it cause these guys can't hit anything!!"  Which was followed by a lot of chocking sounds as the guys were trying to laugh and eat at the same time.  My second is my first deer a big doe in 1988! and third would be my biggest buck to date that i was able to track down and get a shot in 5' of snow while wearing snowshoes in 2000'.

[QB1]

Never really Hunted hard until after College, playing football really took up all of my Fall.  Prior to College it was mostly fishing with some small game hunting experiences.  My #1 Hunting Moment was when I got my first Deer in 2007, was my first season hunting, had no clue what I was doing.  Went out with a friend wearing his Grandpa's 1970's camo one piece, he pulled it out of a chest in his basement and the thing reeked of moth balls.  We get out and he puts me on top of this hill and he scoots off right before sunlight.  I'm sitting in the crotch of a try and as the sun comes up my anticipation is growing fast...not 30 minutes after light I see a doe come booking across the hill right behind her I see horns, the horns were all I saw, I was hypnotized, I fumble to me feet as they cross around 50 yards in front of me from my left to right, I stepped out from just inside the corner of hardwoods I was sitting and am now in the field in plain sight with gun on my shoulder aimed at these two lovebirds.  She turns now and decides to go in the other direction so now heading from my right to left I don't want to just start ripping shots so I just kept waiting for them to stop.  By this time they've ran back by me and started to round the corner of woods where I would not have a shot.  Again I am now walking in the open field, covered in orange and they turn back around now coming right at me.  She buckles down 50 yds in front of me and the buck gets behind her and starts to do his thing...Bang! He drops she takes off.  He was a 9 pt just around 110 inches.  One of the best moments of my life, did get some business from my buddies for shooting him while he was getting busy but my response was always he died with a smile.  What really baffled me was that neither the Buck or the Doe took any care that I was standing right there, stinking of moth balls, I must of done all the things to blow this hunt but he was so concentrated on her that he didn't care I was ready to put a slug in him.  #2 outdoor moment was when I was probably 9 or so, teaching my cousins to fish at the lake.  He had a small mickey mouse pole and I am trying to hook him up with a sunny from underneath the boat, next thing I know a nice Largemouth comes out and nails the bait, now at the time this bass looked like a monster and when your using a mickey mouse tiny pole it feels like a monster, so I am battling this Bass with a tiny pole as the whole family is watching finally I am able to get him outta the water to pose, he was probably a 3-4 ib fish nothing crazy but just a really exciting experience at that stage of my outdoor life. #3 was this past hunting season, only got a doe but became a part of a hunting club and really started to learn the in's and out's of managing land and becoming a solid all around hunter.  Now everyone I hunted with had their best year to date so I got to be a part of several big buck kills.  Started sharing thoughts and experiences on forums like this and really just took in as much knowledge I could.  Hunting really has gone from a Hobby to a Lifestyle pretty much since that first kill in 2007.

[fisher2]

1.) waiting to be made come nov or sept

[catskillkid]

Good answer Fisher!

[DeerStalker22]

1st.  My favorite hunting memory is from last season after I had walked up on a Black Bear at my camp in the Adirondack.  I was heading to my favorite stand, when I heard what to me seemed like a buck grunting.  It was right around the time of the rut, so i figured it was a buck chasing a doe.  So i stoped and glanced the area for movement, after seeing nothing moving i proceded to walk around the tree in front of me when I noticed something dark ahead of me that I didnt remember being there before, so i paused to get a better look.  I pulled up with my scope and it wasnt moving, so i figured it was just an uprooted tree so i took two or three steps and it took off running, so at this time I knew it was a bear and pulled up and shot.  The bear dropped so I sat there for 20 mins and then proceded to walk up on him.  when he stood up and started to run.  So I shot again and he went head over heels.  After another 20 mins I again started to walk up on it, this time the bear was standing on his hind legs 40 yards away, after a 3rd shot he was down for good.  After skinning the bear, i had found all three shots had hit there marks, I guess the bear just didnt want to go down without a good fight. 

2nd.  My second favorrit hunting memory is the year I shot my first deer with the bow.  I was 17 and had a old grey doe walk out in on me without me knowing, as I was wathing a different area, my phone, which I rarley carry with me, went off and the doe stood up.  It was a 40 yard shot and getting dark, I first made sure she didnt have a fawn, which she didnt, then drew back and let the arrow fly.  I didnt see the arrow hit the deer but i felt confident about the shot.  When I went down to look for blood however, I couldn't find hair, blood, or my arrow.  So I tracked the deer in the mud for 30 yards and still no blood, so I Walked back to my stand to make sure I was checking the right area, and I was, so I proceded to track the deer.  10 yards past where I had left the track earlier, was my deer, a 132 pound doe.  Later on that year for the opening day of norther rifle, me and a close friend were hunting state land near my home, when i walked up on what looked like a decent buck.  We saw each other at the same time and the deer bolted, with only seconds to shoot, i pulled up and got a shot off, the deer stumbled and I knew I had hit it, so I shot again and again it stumbled.  After another shot, the deer went down.  I walked up on the deer, which was a decent sized 4 pointer, and could only find one hole, after skinning the deer, I found I had hit the deer all three times, and the three holes took up a space no bigger than a 50 cent peice.

3rd.  THis one is a fishing story of mine in which I had taken a friend out in persuit of Northerns on the St. Lawrence.  My friend had never caught one before so I told him we would get a few.  Only expecting to catch a few, I took him out and got to the first spot.  On our firtst cast, we both hooked a Northern, nothing with any size, but we had a double on the first casts.  it seemed like every other cast we caught one, at the end of the trip I had caught 14 and he had caught 10 with the biggest being a 37 inch caught on a little spoon

[WNYBuckHunter]

Out of my top three, not one has to do with killing a deer or anything else. Ill tell them anyway.

My #1 favorite hunting experience so far was the first time I took my daughter out with me. We got up early in the morning, and she was all kinds of excited. We got dressed and went out to the blind. We sat there watching, munching on some snacks and drinking hot chocolate. After a few hours, we hadnt seen anything and it was light out, so we decided to go for a walk. We walked along, and I showed her the deer and other tracks. I showed her how to tell which way the deer was going, and what to look for when you are tracking a deer. It was great, we didnt get a deer but we both had a great time none the less.

My second favorite would be from the first season I bow hunted. It was the first or second time out, and I was in my treestand when I heard a noise behind me. I slowly turned my head, and there was a group of deer coming in to feed on the fallen apples off to my left. I then turned my head the other way, and there was another group of deer coming in. I was so worked up that I had that many deer that close to me, I forgot to look for an opportunity to take a shot. By the time I got my head back in the game, there were 15 to 20 deer around me, all well within bow range. The problem at that point, was that there were so many sets of eyes on me, I couldnt move let alone draw on anything. I waited and waited, and eventually some of the deer started moving out and I decided to try and get a shot at one of the does that had her head down about 20 yards away. I started to bring my bow up and draw, and the movement caught the eye of a little button buck about 25 yards to my right, and that was the end of that. It was a flurry of white flags leaving in all directions. From that day on, Ive been hooked on bow hunting.

To round out my top three would be another hunt from my first season bow hunting. I was up in my stand one evening, when I had a little saw-whet owl land on a branch just above me and to my right. He looked and looked at me, trying to figure out what I was, then flew to another branch and looked at me from that angle. For about 30 or 40 minutes, this owl just kept flying from branch to branch around me. From time to time he would fly to another tree, and then fly straight at me. A couple of times I thought he was going to land on my head. He was very close to me alot of the time, I probably could have reached out and grabbed him. Eventually he went away that evening, but I saw him 3 or 4 other evenings that year, each time he hung out very close. I didnt see him around after that season.

[Robinson446]

Was out on a tradition camping trip with the uncle, grandfather, and brother. Sitting infront of the fire eating cookies and drinking coffee, i had a crawfish out of the line with 8 pound test on my favorite pole, and i set it on the ground next to me. The whole campsite is on this Giant rock, with about a 12 foot drop to the water so ur overlooking the water, only way to get to our campiste is by boat. Well i heard something scraping. it was my pole taking across the rock. I reached down jsut in time, grabbed the pole, set the hook and the fight was on. all i heard was my drag take off. i let him get tired out then began to bring the beast in. After i got him in it was a HUGE 5 1/2 pound Large mouth. the next afternoon i cought a 4 pound large mouth on the same rock with a crawfish. Never used crawfish before that but i do now!

[FULLDRAWXX75]

To try and narrow it down to just three is tough when I consider ever day in the woods is a great day...........................Here goes:

#1 - I would have to say the very first buck I harvested, it was my forth season of hunting deer and had yet to be able to put a deer in the crosshairs. Opening day South in 1983 a nice spike buck strolled through the oak grove I was watching and history was made.............................LOL. I gutted, tagged and dragged him down to the shed at my uncles place, hung him up and headed back up the hill to meet up with my uncles. Well, just about the time I hit the slash road to head to the orchard, three deer jumped out of the lower pines and broke into open hardwood timber headed for the top. I swung, picked a hole in the trees and dropped the big lead doe, in less than an hr. I had not 1 but 2 deer on the ground and I was in heaven.

#2 - Hunting with my Mom's brother and their uncle(my great uncle) was one of the great experiences in my life, my great uncle past away 7 yrs ago and left a huge void in my life. But before he passed away, he handed down to me two of his most prized guns......................a 1942 Beligan Browning A-5, and a 193? .300 Savage Mod. 99. Well, I took numerous deer with the Browning while hunting with him and he was just tickled pink about that.................................But, what eluded me was the taking of a deer with the .300 Savage (my most prized gun in my safe) My uncle passed away very suddenly from a stroke in Sept. of 2003 at the age of 81. I made a promise to myself that I would carry no other gun during rifle season until I harvested a buck with it, no matter how long (yrs. if need be) it took.  Well, I hunted that entire season and only saw one buck and it was not a good shot presentation so I passed. The last day of the season, I was standing watch on the far south east corner of my great uncles old childhood farm property when out of no where a really nice 6 pt. buck appeared directly 40 yds in frt. of me...................I have no idea where he came from or how I did not see him until then. Well that buck looked at me, stared me down and just turned and walked 10 yds to his rt. and stopped and looked at me some more. As soon as he looked away, I raised that .300 Savage and took aim........................The 180 gr. round nose handload that my great uncle had loaded did its job 10 mins. before the end of the 2003 hunting season.

To this day, I can not explain where that deer came from, why he didn't run off or why he continued to walk closer to me.........................................All I do know is, there was a little old man dressed in red/black plaid with me that day. I was 40 yrs old when that happened and I knelt down next to that buck and had tears in my eyes. I miss that old man terribly.

Pic of Uncle Mike and myself in 1996, he was 74 then. He never wore anything but his Woolrich plaid(head to toe)

#3 - Well, it hasn't happened yet.........................My son will be venturing into his first yr. of hunting deer this fall. The day he harvests his first deer will be a very memorable moment in my life.  I hope to be able to share it here this fall.

FDXX75

[Robinson446]

WNYhunter, not all good memorys from hunting involve baggin and taggin an animal. Its the memories that count. Expecially the ones teaching the little minds how to hunt and what not.

[WNYBuckHunter]

WNYhunter, not all good memorys from hunting involve baggin and taggin an animal. Its the memories that count. Expecially the ones teaching the little minds how to hunt and what not.

Yepper.