Favorite Hunt?

[BeeMaa]

Woodchuck hunting in my native Potter County, Pennsylvania in 1988. I have recently served on the Marine Corps Rifle Team and was at the top of my shooting ability. I took a weeks leave and spent every day scouting the fields for ground hogs.

I was armed with a M98 Mauser with Nazi eagle stamps, 26" Douglas heavy barrel chambered in .22-250, a Jaeger trigger, and glass bedded by me. I had my handloads dialed in for .5" MOA or better. Then there were no available laser range finders or wind meters for the a yet to be invented smart phones. Rather it was all field craft to estimate the range and wind and calculate the drop and deflection of the projectile. I made a few 400 yard shots which a few years ago I returned and verified that distance with a $100 laser rangefinder. My, how things have changed.

The photo below was 36 years ago... Those days have been superseded with "deadlines and commitments" to quote a Bob Seager song. Many of those fields are now posted No Trespassing, and the abundant population of woodchucks has been greatly reduced by eastern coyotes.

I still have and always will have that rifle, although she has been re-barreled. Its a good feeling to have shot out a barrel working up load, practicing, and hunting varmints.

I suppose I at this point in my life my youthful days are but a memory. I will have to be content to plan and execute an elephant hunt.

Dude...that scope is so long you should be able to see into the future!

 

[Flipper Dude]

I’ve been fortunate to hunt a lot of big game, although only in North America and Africa. A tracking eland hunt ranks way up there.

My absolute favorite place to be on this planet is still a flooded hardware flat, hunting greenheads sifting down through the tree canopies on a bright sunny winters morning

 

[Elkeater]

At this point any hunt with my kids. So many great hunts in the past. Can think of some dang memorable ones. I’d say current favorite hunt to do every year is probably coues deer. Though with the kids now starting to hunt I’d say maybe javelina. My daughter just got her first one the other day and it was a blast hunting with her for let’s say less than wary game.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

In Africa it’s Elephant, Buffalo, and Leopard

In USA it’s Bighorn Sheep, Brown Bear, and Elk.

HH

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

Woodchuck hunting in my native Potter County, Pennsylvania in 1988. I have recently served on the Marine Corps Rifle Team and was at the top of my shooting ability. I took a weeks leave and spent every day scouting the fields for ground hogs.

I was armed with a M98 Mauser with Nazi eagle stamps, 26" Douglas heavy barrel chambered in .22-250, a Jaeger trigger, and glass bedded by me. I had my handloads dialed in for .5" MOA or better. Then there were no available laser range finders or wind meters for the a yet to be invented smart phones. Rather it was all field craft to estimate the range and wind and calculate the drop and deflection of the projectile. I made a few 400 yard shots which a few years ago I returned and verified that distance with a $100 laser rangefinder. My, how things have changed.

The photo below was 36 years ago... Those days have been superseded with "deadlines and commitments" to quote a Bob Seager song. Many of those fields are now posted No Trespassing, and the abundant population of woodchucks has been greatly reduced by eastern coyotes.

I still have and always will have that rifle, although she has been re-barreled. Its a good feeling to have shot out a barrel working up load, practicing, and hunting varmints.

I suppose I at this point in my life my youthful days are but a memory. I will have to be content to plan and execute an elephant hunt.

the young good looking gent in that picture cannot be you mark, surely

 

[Green Chile]

I had lunch with Mark at DSC...I don't think that's him in the photo. Hah. I will say he married up to a classy lady!

 

[mdwest]

My favorite is the hunt I haven’t taken yet…

For me, I really enjoy the planning and the anticipation leading to the next big adventure…

When I reflect back on all of the big hunts we’ve done, both domestically and internationally, there have certainly been some that were better than others… but we’ve been really fortunate in that none have ever been bad… there’s no way to pick a favorite for me.. whether we are talking black tail on Kodiak or buff in South Africa or sika stag in Ireland.. they have all been wonderful adventures that I wouldn’t trade for anything..

They’re all very different.. but equally memorable and cherished..

 

[Chaplin]

Everyday the good lord alows me to spend one more day on this earth or better yet in the woods is fine with me. I could not be happier if that was the last place I was when my time came. I would at least know I went out happy.

 

[Green Chile]

I still have and always will have that rifle, although she has been re-barreled. Its a good feeling to have shot out a barrel working up load, practicing, and hunting varmints.

I have always wanted to wear out a barrel just from honest shooting not abuse...strange but true.

 

[fourfive8]

Favorite hunt? Whew, that covers a lot of ground! My first DIY by myself with a firearm was out my back door in about 1959. Hard to pick one… more recently… pure magic in early season, just after rains Central Kalahari, Botswana.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Africa is great but it cannot top hunting pheasants solo with my dogs. I usually hunt the late season and rarely if ever see anyone else in the field. I can roam dawn till dusk with no distractions. Typically don't even stop to eat lunch. Both my dogs will point but by the time the snow flies the birds are nervous and as often as not flush unexpectedly. I have shot hundreds of roosters but that racket as they take off still unnerves me every time. Get one to cross in front with low sun at my back late in the afternoon is an unforgettable sight, all lit up and flashing colors like a Tokyo billboard.

 

[Green Chile]

There is nothing like a brilliantly colored cock pheasant cracking open the sky with their crazy sounds...racket as you said. I just hunted pheasants again last weekend for the first time in way too many years. I have missed that having grown up with it in Kansas. What a crazy bird.

 

[Pilgrim]

I gave up caring about whether I shoot anything or not, although I do like to take shots and preferably miss so as to not have to do the messy work. Really though, it's 100% about hunting with my wife, kids, and occasionally friends. Hunting is awesome but it's really sharing the hunting experience with those you care about that takes it over the top. We're hunting again this year at the same eastern cape outfitter as last year, my family and my wife's sister and her family, ten of us total. We're hunting some cool animals but when I think ahead on this, the excitement has little to do with shooting animals and much more with the enjoyable times together.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

What’s your favorite hunt? I know some of you been all over so I would love to hear them. Mine is still Indiana Rifle season. Bucks rutting, cool weather, great times and memories.

I do not know how to choose a favorite hunt. Blackface l bucks with friends and family in the hot, dry chaparral of the Northern coastal zone of California? Or maybe bucks in the Sierra Nevada's? Hunting mule deer with my best buddy and muzzleloaders in Colorado? Africa (especially buffalo) with a PH that has become a good friend over the last 40 years keeps calling me back.

It would be easier to choose a least favorite hunt that I wouldn't do again. An elk hunt Washington with guys that turned out to be drunks with guns comes to mind. It mostly depends on who I was with and the degree of adventure involved. Physical comfort (or misery) doesn't seem to have much to do with it. I just can't pick one favorite!

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Dude...that scope is so long you should be able to see into the future!

Sorry, I forgot to list it. It is a 15x Unertl Ultra Varmint with adjustable objective. Not much prior to that photo, Unertls, Weaver T-series, and a couple others were the only scopes that would reliably "track" as one added elevation and/or windage on the target range. Plus, the glass was superb for the time on the Unertls.

the young good looking gent in that picture cannot be you mark, surely

I was a handsome gent, wasn't I?

I had lunch with Mark at DSC...I don't think that's him in the photo. Hah. I will say he married up to a classy lady!

I had the pleasure of conversing face to face with @Green Chile
Thanks and yes, my wife's charm balances out the gruff US Marine lurking just under my skin...
Just last week my 28 year old stepdaughter told me, "When we get there, please be nice."
I had no idea why she said that...

This is my wife and me on an elephant hunt in Zin.

 

[NDWoods]

I am a simple man.
For many in Texas, September 1 is a state holiday. The opening of dove season is the opening of hunting season. It is a great time with friends in a relaxed environment with generally a lot of activity. Since I was a kid, dove hunting has been what I look forward to most.

 

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

I really loved my safari I went on in July in SA, but duck opener and deer opener have a special place in my heart. Love camping out at our hunting spot with my buddies, chopping it up and cracking a few cold ones while we anticipate what the ducks will do the next morning.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

My worst experiences hunting have been opening weekends. I gave that up back in the early nineties after almost having a shootout with some guy who was hopped up or drunk or both. Have no idea what his problem was ... I don't think he did either. I find it is impossible to get away from opening weekend idiots. One of my dogs was almost shot because an unescorted kid with a gun was scared of bears. And people fighting over who shot the bird. Why should they care? It's only a bird. "Here, you take it. That way I can shoot another one." Duh! It seems every year someone gets killed squabbling over a blind or a dead duck. And the opening weekend skybusters! Lordie! Any bird that flies over is in range ... even if it leaves a vapor trail in the upper stratosphere. No, I wait till the snow flies and temp falls below freezing. Morons are generally a cold blooded species.

 

[Green Chile]

Just last week my 28 year old stepdaughter told me, "When we get there, please be nice."
I had no idea why she said that...

Now that’s funny…

 

[Throwback]

I am in the camp of the "next one" but I guess reflecting, the best ones are when I see my son drop an animal in one shot. The time he dropped a Kudu at 240 yards off sticks with one round, or the time he shot a coyote in the eyeball deliberately at 200+ yards out of a tree blind (He told me he shot it in the eye as we were leaving the blind and I looked at him and said "really?", with doubt. Lo and behold when we walked up on him there was one round through his left eyeball. The axis buck he dropped at 327 yards with one round from 6.5 CRM, etc... Sorry, I could go on and I realize as I write this, those memories definitely outrank anything I do and always will. Cheers