Dig into your memory. I want your finest Game kill

Well back in the day.....a Nova Scotia rabbit hunt I must add.
My father was away at sea, when a good friend of mine asked if i would like to go on a rabbit hunt in Guysbourough County. This is the eastern most county next to Cape Breton.
We had beagles and the four of us used our single shot 12 gauge cooeys, each brushpile turned up at least three to five rabbits, over a long weekend.

A nearby retired couple provided lodging, one older but very experinced hunter, and the dogs. We split everything we got between us.

Came home with about 14 rabbits just myself, it was one of those years where the forest was teaming with little white tasty bunnies...
Lots of good memories, in and around 1979.
 
MY first deer stands out, doe running full tilt broadside to me down a hill, I shot her right though the back hips. I later learned it wasn't good to shoot deer in the ass and haven't since.

Last fall I made three doubles on flushed grouse going in different directions with my 20 guage Sauer SxS, frankly with my ability with a shotgun, those are the most impressive kills I've ever had.
 
my finest kill would be the buck I shot this yr...

not a long shot...65 yrds...but it was a nice bang flop on a cold Nov morning and he was my biggest to date as well

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My most memorable would be when i was 14 and my dad let me take my Grandmothers Savage 99c in .308 for deer by myself. We lived in Fort McMurray and a block from the Clearwater river on Father Mercredi street. I left the house with a pack on my back and the .308 in my hand. At the corner of the street i said good morning to the Syncrude boys at their bus stop and they wished me luck.:D I then proceeded across the frozen river. Never got anything but i will never forget my first unsupervised hunt.

.....I challenge a 14 year old kid to walk down Father Mercredi street in Fort Mac with a high powered rifle in todays day and age!!:D
 
I wrote this before so it's cut and paste

Story is simple. I scouted out a spot with lots of sign and spent a lot of time there. I think the kids forgot what I looked like. I hunted it all Sept, and Oct. Only saw does and fawns up till that day. I knew it was just a matter of time. I was getting pretty discouraged though. A month and a half and nothing to show for it. That morning My wife says to me "Shoot a big one" I told my wife "if it has antlers I am pulling the trigger. Spike, forkhorn, 2pt I don't care." Anyway, showed up at the spot in the dark, It's a slash that goes on for 1000+ yrds with lots of little draws and hills for the deer to hide and move in. Lots of timber for cover that any deer hunter knows that a deer can get to in a few bounds. Problem with this spot is wind is always changing. Swirls really bad. This morning had lots of fog I glassed and glassed while I was behind a few boulders in full camo. Gloves and facemask included. Just when I was about to move on I decide to glass this little hole in the bottom corner. There he was standing broadside in front of a huge boulder. I was really excited but disapointed I almost missed him so far away. Almost all the deer I have seen there in the past were stone grey, but he was still red/brown. Threw me off alittle in what I was looking for. I was at 251 yrds like I said before and I could see antlers even without the binos. Now here is where my inexperience kicks in. I get a good rest but I am still amazed at the rack. Just as I am pulling the trigger I remember the scene in That 70's Show where they go hunting and Red sees that nice buck and says to Eric..."And whatever you do, don't shoot him in the face" I almost laughed out loud and jerked the 1st shot hitting the rock behind him. He jumps and moves about 20yrds while I try to rack another shell. Here is where the story goes south. I cannot open my bolt. It is jammed. I start pulling as hard as I can. Nothing. I start pounding on the bolt with my hand. nothing. Won't even budge. I keep peeking over the rock to see if the buck is still there, Yup hasn't moved. So I grab a rock in desperation and try to hammer the bolt with it. Hammer, hammer, peek over the rock. Hammer, hammer, peek over the rock. I could not tell you how many times but it seemed like forever and all this time the buck keeps standing there. Finally it gives. I cycle another round in and get a rest on the rock. At this point my adrenalin is so pumped, from the hammering, swearing and staring at this buck I am shaking like a leaf. I take a few breaths, calm down, and line him up, focus and squeeze. Buck went down like a ton of bricks. No kicking, nothing. All over. I am still shaking at this point. I am buying a new rifle after this. (And I did)
Hike down to the deer. 5 does still there and wander off when I get to 30yrds of them. The buck fell upside down but his antlers kept his head high off the ground. First time I got a good look at them. Field dressed him and cut him in half so I could get him back to the truck. First shot was at 7:50am Was back in the truck with the deer and ready to go at 9:30am.
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dressed out at 210lbs Antlers grossed 116 2/8
After deductions 108 6/8
Was proudest of this deer because it was the first deer I did all by myself. From the scouting to the butchering.
 
A tom leopard at dusk .. 280 m .. He was lying down facing me .. eating a chunk of rotten warthog that had fallen off when we dragged a bait down the trail earlier. I aimed my 8 mag wildcat at him ... held a bit high if I can remember correctly .. and squeezed off a shot. He leaped about four feet in the air .. a big 'whomp' came back .. and after a very tense followup .. we found him dead. (Following wounded leopards is a job for the alert !!)
 
Win94 said:
My most memorable would be when i was 14 and my dad let me take my Grandmothers Savage 99c in .308 for deer by myself. We lived in Fort McMurray and a block from the Clearwater river on Father Mercredi street. I left the house with a pack on my back and the .308 in my hand. At the corner of the street i said good morning to the Syncrude boys at their bus stop and they wished me luck.:D I then proceeded across the frozen river. Never got anything but i will never forget my first unsupervised hunt.

.....I challenge a 14 year old kid to walk down Father Mercredi street in Fort Mac with a high powered rifle in todays day and age!!:D
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Used to take the dog team down the river from Waterways, tie 'm up at Wayne Olsen's, and "go to town"
Can't do that anymore!
Cat
 
For me it was many years ago, I think I was 10. Bears had been bothering an oats field of my parents, doing alot of damage. After many calls to F&W, we were told to shoot. My older brother watched the field for a few days but the bears wouldn't show. He sent me out with an old 30-06 to check the field. Sure enough, a huge boar was there and I shot him. He ran in the bush a short distance away. I waited 20 minutes and thought about going after him, but chickened out.
I vibrated the 1/2 mile back home and told what had happened. By this time it was about sundown, so we decided to look for him the next day. The following morning my Dad and brother went in to look. He had gone in the bush to a creek, went downsteam 20 yds, then doubled back to where he came to the creek and bled out.
It really didn't dawn on me until years later how close I had come to becoming a bear turd.
 
On Christmas Eve we went on a pheasant hunt. My 14yr old son was thrilled at being able to do all the shooting for us and have his dog working for him too. It was priceless for me:D We will treasure it forever. It's always fun going with great friends and their dogs too!
I'm not sure if pictures are attached or not...here goes!
http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p286/srueger/not sure how pics disappeared but click slideshow and !st 3 or 4 pics are it. I don't know how to delete the rest!?!
 
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Two memories from me,


First was a running shot at a deer at 70 yds with my Marlin 336 with factory 150 loads. The deer was jumping over a bush road and I hit him in mid aid knocking out his front shoulders. He piled up when he landed and one more to the head and he was done. Coolest shot I've ever taken.:cool:

Best memory, was sitting in a bush blind covered in doe in heat scent on a snowy day when I noticed something was running around behind me. Next thing I knew a weasel was sitting on my knee with his nose in the air trying to figure out what I was. That was really cool.:)

Don't see those things sitting on the couch.;)
 
Mumptia said:
Best memory, was sitting in a bush blind covered in doe in heat scent on a snowy day when I noticed something was running around behind me. Next thing I knew a weasel was sitting on my knee with his nose in the air trying to figure out what I was. That was really cool.:)

Don't see those things sitting on the couch.;)
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VERY COOL!!!!!!!!!! That's what hunting is about!
 
Did an archery boar hunt a while back, took a 300lb razor back. Single lung hit at 8 am. Put the dogs on him, threw one of the dogs about 5 feet in the air charged me(2219 28" with a ziwickey @ 86lbs out of a PSE). Put an arrow right between his eyes, he chased me for about 50 yards with my arrow sticking out his head. Spent his last few seconds with a third arrow threw his heart crawling up the road trying to get me. One mean tough critter. Tried to put the hounds on some other pigs the next day, they got one look at one on the road and ran back to the truck.
 
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Best shot, and most memorable. A 10 yard broadside on a non typical mulie buck, with a bow, from a ground blind. All I could hear was my own heartbeat, and still dunno why the deer couldn't hear it too. 4x4 pointing up, a matched pair of drop tines pointing down. First, and so far, only bow kill. Considering that the "blind" was pretty much a five gallon bucket with a cushion on it with a couple fresh poplar branches stuck in the ground to break up my outline.... the gods liked me that day! Sorta!

I ended up in the ER that night with a gall bladder attack. A friend came over at 10:30 that night and he skinned and cleaned the deer. The local butcher sent one of their guys over to pick it up for cutting. I didn't see it again until it was wrapped in brown paper.
I still have the antlers from that one, and the arrow that I got it with, sitting up high in my garage. The antlers of pretty much all the others I have gathered over time, I have, but that set is worth keeping out.

I can say with absolute authority that when a tree falls in the forest, it makes a hell of a noise! I was in a ground blind in a river valley, relaxed and comfortable, when the top of a cottonwood tree came down about fifty yards away. Near soiled myself!
Sitting in the same spot, I had a squirrel do two trips past my head, running on a branch about two feet away, and stopped to try and figure me out on the third pass. So hard not to bust out laughing, but I did not want a squirrel screaming at me from a nearby tree...
I watched a racoon in near extasy, scratching his butt on a broken branch on a log near the same stand, leaned back into it and rubbing back and forth to scratch against the branch. His face was just like a dog's when you start scratching "the" perfect itch spot that he can't reach between his shoulderblades. Then he wandered off, unaware of my presence.

Never did get a deer out of that stand, for all the time I spent there, but had a great time, and learned a lot about what goes on in the woods when some clumsy oaf isn't crashing around, making a pile of noise.

Good memories!

Cheers
Trev
 
762nato said:
Did an archery boar hunt a while back, took a 300lb razor back. Single lung hit at 8 am. Put the dogs on him, threw one of the dogs about 5 feet in the air charged me(2219 28" with a ziwickey @ 86lbs out of a PSE). Put an arrow right between his eyes, he chased me for about 50 yards with my arrow sticking out his head. Spent his last few seconds with a third arrow threw his heart crawling up the road trying to get me. One mean tough critter. Tried to put the hounds on some other pigs the next day, they got one look at one on the road and ran back to the truck.
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Good story.

Where was this hunt?
 
A few years back, one of those years when I don't think I even saw one deer. It was getting dark, maybe 4:15 or so, I was sitting on a damnable cold rock, at the edge of a swampy area we call the mud watch.
Soundlessly I saw his aproach, he drifted through the air like a kite, landing, againwithout sound about 50 feet away.
A barred owl.
I watched him, swivel his head around , thenhe spread his soft wings, and simply fell forward on the air, to glide even closer, without so much as a wing beat, he landed about 25 feet from me, and stayed maybe five minutes, before deciding there were better hunting grounds.
I should have followed his example.
 
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