Hunts not often talked about

[dogcat1]

I have made 15 trips to Africa. Started in South Africa and moved to Zim then to other places to get the full experience.
For me, I truly enjoyed a Lord Derby hunt in Cameroon - all tracking, all work, all hunt. Same in Ethiopia for Mountain Nyala.
Another was a leopard hunt in Zim using baits and dogs. All adrenilin all the time on that.

What hunts have you done that was extra special?

 

[Sabre]

I have made 15 trips to Africa. Started in South Africa and moved to Zim then to other places to get the full experience.
For me, I truly enjoyed a Lord Derby hunt in Cameroon - all tracking, all work, all hunt. Same in Ethiopia for Mountain Nyala.
Another was a leopard hunt in Zim using baits and dogs. All adrenilin all the time on that.

What hunts have you done that was extra special?

I think for me it isn't a specific animal or specific hunt. It's been more about the situation. Like if odds are very stacked against you and you end up connecting on an animal.

For instance if the animal is very difficult to hunt, or if things have just not been going in your favor. Even if it is considered an easy animal to hunt typically, but that hunt for you is just not working out, nothing is going well, but you stick with it and end up connecting. That always makes it special and memorable to me.

And of course if you happen to be with people that are fun to hunt with or that have special significance to you, that can always make a hunt more special as well.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

It's the circumstances and the people you are with, IMHO. Any animal or location or hunt can be extra special.

A fairly recent example. The moose was world class. The location is one of my favorite places on earth. But it was my 2 best friends in the same place for the first time ever that made this trip.

Frankly I think a person's mindset going into a hunt has a lot to do with the outcome - how a hunt has a chance to succeed, whatever the measures for success might be, and how it is ultimately remembered. YMMV

 

[franzfmdavis]

I wholeheartedly agree with @Sabre’s sentiment!

I spent 6 days on public land in Colorado hunting Rocky Mountain Elk in Colorado in late 2023. During the first 5 days I saw nothing - not even a rabbit - which left me quite deflated. The days were cold, snowy, and exhausting.

On the last night, I left a lot of my gear behind, including my knife and quartering bags.

At sunset I spot a bull 230 yards away in a field. I had just been scouting the valleys behind me and was not yet back to the spot I intended to hunt the clearing so I only had some brush to hide behind to set up for a shot, which I took with my support elbow resting on my knee.

With all the adrenaline and lack of a solid rest, my shot was further back than I wanted. The bull moved about 15 feet and then stopped. I aimed again and took another shot which caused him to go over. I saw his hooves come up through the tall grass.

I then made my way to him. When I got to about 50 feet from where I knew he was, he popped his head up, got up and ran into the nearby treeline with me chasing behind.

As I was moving through the trees I unknowing passed him (probably hiding). All of a sudden, I heard a sound of galloping behind me and turned to see him pass about 15 feet to my left. I swung my rifle and hit him with a third shot as he ran past. Luckily, I hit him in the right hip joint and he went down and didn’t get back up.

The 60 or so yards that I was tracking him through the woods, with my heart pumping and sweat pouring, rifle up and ready, and then hearing him behind me as he ran past me, is one of the best hunting memories I have ever had. Especially after being so deflated that whole week.

The bull is certainly not a trophy in any record book, but for me, it is one of my most cherished trophies because of the challenging journey to get him!

 

[dogcat1]

Story well told! Thanks

 

[DLSJR]

Two hunts come to mind above all others…

In 1980 I enjoyed a great hunt in Alaska when I was 22 years old. It was a 15-day Alaska Range Dall Sheep & Grizzly hunt by horseback in September. It turned into a grand adventure, riding through wilderness that was filled with sheep, moose, caribou and grizzlies. I shot a nice Dall Ram on my first day and a beautiful Toklat Grizzly on the 16th or 17th day (of a 15-day hunt). We rode over 100 miles, crossing wild, glacier fed rivers, slept wherever we wanted to spend a few days and got to see the best of Alaska.

The other was my first African hunt, in 1983. I hunted 24 days in Zimbabwe’s Deka Safari Area with Roy Vincent, then of Rosslyn Safaris. I had everything on license except for lion. I’d have had to extend to 28 days to add a lion and chose not to. I should have as had I added lion it would have been the first African big game I shot. We bumped into a fantastic old lion all alone at 25 yards during my first afternoon. As the hunt went on I was fortunate to take a very full bag, highlighted by 2 good buffalo of 41+ & 42+”, a very big leopard, 58 lb elephant bull that we shot at 9 yards as it was bearing down on us (Roy & I both shot at same time. He apologized but explained the bull was intent on killing us and he didn’t know if I’d perform or freeze up. We both made great shots!). It was a grand safari where I got to see all of the Big Five up close and we were in the middle of buffalo and elephant herds at different times. I took 16 animals. That adventure was the catalyst for my love of African hunting.