Your most epic hunt!

[Species8472]

I've been enjoying this thread too so thanks to all who have contributed!

I've had lots of great hunts over my time that I've been fortunate enough to share with my brother and father plus some good friends.

I think the most epic was my rifle hunt from last season. A friend and I have been hunting this hard to access piece of crown with archery gear for a few years and just never made it in for the gun hunt. We planned out the last 4 days of the 2 week hunt to head in and give it a shot. We hiked about 2 miles to hunt the morning sit- I had a decent buck come through a few minutes before shooting light on a mission. Didn't see another deer so we made our way to our stashed canoe and paddle the rest of the way to our camp site for the next few days.

We quickly got camp setup and made a game plan to do so 2 man pushes. The area we were hunting has a lot of lakes and ponds so breaking down these areas was relatively simple for 2 guys.
The first spot we did was only a few hundred yards behind our campsite. I headed to the south on a big bald rock while the other guy looped around to the north to walk through a small gut. I had only been standing for a few minutes when I saw a large bodied deer trotting through the gut a few hundred yards from me. I quickly closed the distance using terrain and made a great shot. He wasn't a smasher but a nice 8 pointer for sure. We quickly quartered him up and got the meat hanging in a tree then hunted the rest of the day.

The next morning we both saw a bunch of does, but wanted to hold out for another buck. We didn't end up seeing another buck so I shot a doe on our last afternoon. We hauled the meat out the following morning in the canoe then loaded up the frame packs for the hike back to the truck. Fresh snow and breaking ice on the lake made for an interesting journey haha but it was a blast.

I've shot a lot of deer but I've never worked so hard to get a deer back to the truck lol! Can't wait to do it again this year. I'd add some pics but I don't know how!

Andy

Great story! thanks for posting. Send me a pm with your email address and i'll respond with mine than reply with photos attached and i'll post them on your behalf.

[huntnmachine]

I've been enjoying this thread too so thanks to all who have contributed!

I've had lots of great hunts over my time that I've been fortunate enough to share with my brother and father plus some good friends.

I think the most epic was my rifle hunt from last season. A friend and I have been hunting this hard to access piece of crown with archery gear for a few years and just never made it in for the gun hunt. We planned out the last 4 days of the 2 week hunt to head in and give it a shot. We hiked about 2 miles to hunt the morning sit- I had a decent buck come through a few minutes before shooting light on a mission. Didn't see another deer so we made our way to our stashed canoe and paddle the rest of the way to our camp site for the next few days.

We quickly got camp setup and made a game plan to do so 2 man pushes. The area we were hunting has a lot of lakes and ponds so breaking down these areas was relatively simple for 2 guys.
The first spot we did was only a few hundred yards behind our campsite. I headed to the south on a big bald rock while the other guy looped around to the north to walk through a small gut. I had only been standing for a few minutes when I saw a large bodied deer trotting through the gut a few hundred yards from me. I quickly closed the distance using terrain and made a great shot. He wasn't a smasher but a nice 8 pointer for sure. We quickly quartered him up and got the meat hanging in a tree then hunted the rest of the day.

The next morning we both saw a bunch of does, but wanted to hold out for another buck. We didn't end up seeing another buck so I shot a doe on our last afternoon. We hauled the meat out the following morning in the canoe then loaded up the frame packs for the hike back to the truck. Fresh snow and breaking ice on the lake made for an interesting journey haha but it was a blast.

I've shot a lot of deer but I've never worked so hard to get a deer back to the truck lol! Can't wait to do it again this year. I'd add some pics but I don't know how!

Andy

The hunts that you have to work the hardest at are always the most memorable....great story!!

[Sam Menard]

I've been enjoying this thread too so thanks to all who have contributed!

I've had lots of great hunts over my time that I've been fortunate enough to share with my brother and father plus some good friends.

I think the most epic was my rifle hunt from last season. A friend and I have been hunting this hard to access piece of crown with archery gear for a few years and just never made it in for the gun hunt. We planned out the last 4 days of the 2 week hunt to head in and give it a shot. We hiked about 2 miles to hunt the morning sit- I had a decent buck come through a few minutes before shooting light on a mission. Didn't see another deer so we made our way to our stashed canoe and paddle the rest of the way to our camp site for the next few days.

We quickly got camp setup and made a game plan to do so 2 man pushes. The area we were hunting has a lot of lakes and ponds so breaking down these areas was relatively simple for 2 guys.
The first spot we did was only a few hundred yards behind our campsite. I headed to the south on a big bald rock while the other guy looped around to the north to walk through a small gut. I had only been standing for a few minutes when I saw a large bodied deer trotting through the gut a few hundred yards from me. I quickly closed the distance using terrain and made a great shot. He wasn't a smasher but a nice 8 pointer for sure. We quickly quartered him up and got the meat hanging in a tree then hunted the rest of the day.

The next morning we both saw a bunch of does, but wanted to hold out for another buck. We didn't end up seeing another buck so I shot a doe on our last afternoon. We hauled the meat out the following morning in the canoe then loaded up the frame packs for the hike back to the truck. Fresh snow and breaking ice on the lake made for an interesting journey haha but it was a blast.

I've shot a lot of deer but I've never worked so hard to get a deer back to the truck lol! Can't wait to do it again this year. I'd add some pics but I don't know how!

Andy

I love reading about adventures such as yours where you hike in and camp off the beaten path. Looking forward to some pics!

[fratri]

I went bear hunting about a dozen years ago only to have a bear charge us during the baiting process.....

I sat in my stand in the morning not seeing anything, the guide we were with was going to replenish the bait barrels during lunch hour. Me and another guy (that was up there to take pictures for his brother) offered to go give the guide a hand baiting. As we get to the first bait site, he lets me take the lead just incase a bear is at the bait barrel..... As we round the last corner, bait barrel is knocked over but not bear. We replenish the barrel with corn, grain feed and a bucket of malaises...... We leave and start heading over to the next barrel
As we get closer to the bait site it starts raining and begins raining really hard. One of those downpours that the water is just pouring just pouring off the lip of my hat making visibility tough. Guide tells me to leave my newish shotgun in the truck and take along his old shotgun. I agree, (turns out not to be the smartest move)...
Again as we near the bait site, I take the lead, again barrel is knocked down but no bear....
So I walked in with his shotgun, the other fellow carried the bucket of molasses and the guide the grain, corn sack feed....
As they prepare to refill the barrel I take a walk around and notice a lot and I mean a lot of bear poo and remember thinking wow, lots of bears here....
I turn to see the guide having trouble with the feed sack, I decide to help him out.... I think about putting the shotgun down but thought oh ya, as soon as I do that a bear will come in and eat us and I will be the jackass that put the shotgun down.....
So decide to keep the shotgun shouldered and pull my knife out to cut the feed sack. Now this is where it got interesting.......
As I am making a cut in the feed sack I notice the guy that carried in the molasses make a weird frightening motion, I turn back to where he is looking (behind me) and see this big bear tearing in toward us...... I turn with shotgun in hand and take two of the fastest shotgun shots of my life, less than 20ft from us (missed both shots but what a rush) The bear turns at the first shot and keeps running away from us at the second one..... We all just gasp and are in WTF just happened mode......
The funny or weird thing was that when the bear was charging in on us, all I heard the guide scream, shoot him Frank, Shoot him.... you know what raced through my mind when he was screaming that....... it was shut up you are going to scare him.... Man that was a strange thought back then but true
Not sure how I missed him so close but I did, what a rush....
The best we can figure is with the rain coming down so hard, that the bear never heard us on the way in but after those fellows kicked the barrel to unstick the old feed from the side of the barrel, that big bear must have thought there was some competition (other bears) in the area, only when the bear heard the guide scream out that he realized it was humans on the bait not other bears...

I cant remember if I shot my bear that weekend but do know, two smaller bears where shot off this bait on back to back nights.....So big bear must have been bedded down and thought those smaller bear where eating his food....
That has got to be the most exciting and one of the most coolest adventures (hunt) I have been part of, something I will never forget.

[ninepointer]

I drew the worst watch of the day. The old tree stand was useless in the overgrown brush and I still hadn't found a decent spot to sit when I heard the doggers start. I was frustrated, overheated and wishing I'd stayed in camp.

No one was more surprised than me when the hounds lit up and I heard something coming my way FAST in the dry leaves. I had the gun up and my finger on safety when the snowshoe hare busted out of the cover. I think I laughed out load. It seemed to validate that I was wasting my time.

Then not a split second later something big went crashing by behind the slash, followed by a second animal, still unseen. The 3rd one I could barely make out but I couldn't be sure it wasn't one of the dogs. Before I knew what was happening, a 4th deer, a forkhorn, was running right at me. I raised my rifle as the deer tried slamming on the brakes and I pulled the trigger on a scope full of deer fur at 10 yards. The little buck was still falling, literally at my feet, when a bigger ran in right behind him. The deer spotted me, carved hard to my left, at fell at my shot at 15 yards. The hunt had barely started and I had 2 bucks on the ground.

That was 13 years ago. Ever since then whenever I get bored or start to doubt my location or set up, I remind myself of the that afternoon and that there is no such thing as a bad spot in the deer woods.

[Sam Menard]

I went bear hunting about a dozen years ago only to have a bear charge us during the baiting process.....

I sat in my stand in the morning not seeing anything, the guide we were with was going to replenish the bait barrels during lunch hour. Me and another guy (that was up there to take pictures for his brother) offered to go give the guide a hand baiting. As we get to the first bait site, he lets me take the lead just incase a bear is at the bait barrel..... As we round the last corner, bait barrel is knocked over but not bear. We replenish the barrel with corn, grain feed and a bucket of malaises...... We leave and start heading over to the next barrel
As we get closer to the bait site it starts raining and begins raining really hard. One of those downpours that the water is just pouring just pouring off the lip of my hat making visibility tough. Guide tells me to leave my newish shotgun in the truck and take along his old shotgun. I agree, (turns out not to be the smartest move)...
Again as we near the bait site, I take the lead, again barrel is knocked down but no bear....
So I walked in with his shotgun, the other fellow carried the bucket of molasses and the guide the grain, corn sack feed....
As they prepare to refill the barrel I take a walk around and notice a lot and I mean a lot of bear poo and remember thinking wow, lots of bears here....
I turn to see the guide having trouble with the feed sack, I decide to help him out.... I think about putting the shotgun down but thought oh ya, as soon as I do that a bear will come in and eat us and I will be the jackass that put the shotgun down.....
So decide to keep the shotgun shouldered and pull my knife out to cut the feed sack. Now this is where it got interesting.......
As I am making a cut in the feed sack I notice the guy that carried in the molasses make a weird frightening motion, I turn back to where he is looking (behind me) and see this big bear tearing in toward us...... I turn with shotgun in hand and take two of the fastest shotgun shots of my life, less than 20ft from us (missed both shots but what a rush) The bear turns at the first shot and keeps running away from us at the second one..... We all just gasp and are in WTF just happened mode......
The funny or weird thing was that when the bear was charging in on us, all I heard the guide scream, shoot him Frank, Shoot him.... you know what raced through my mind when he was screaming that....... it was shut up you are going to scare him.... Man that was a strange thought back then but true
Not sure how I missed him so close but I did, what a rush....
The best we can figure is with the rain coming down so hard, that the bear never heard us on the way in but after those fellows kicked the barrel to unstick the old feed from the side of the barrel, that big bear must have thought there was some competition (other bears) in the area, only when the bear heard the guide scream out that he realized it was humans on the bait not other bears...

I cant remember if I shot my bear that weekend but do know, two smaller bears where shot off this bait on back to back nights.....So big bear must have been bedded down and thought those smaller bear where eating his food....
That has got to be the most exciting and one of the most coolest adventures (hunt) I have been part of, something I will never forget.

Wow, that’s an epic story! I’m can’t imagine the surprise you felt at that
moment that the bear charged. Thankfully no one was hurt.

[Sam Menard]

I drew the worst watch of the day. The old tree stand was useless in the overgrown brush and I still hadn't found a decent spot to sit when I heard the doggers start. I was frustrated, overheated and wishing I'd stayed in camp.

No one was more surprised than me when the hounds lit up and I heard something coming my way FAST in the dry leaves. I had the gun up and my finger on safety when the snowshoe hare busted out of the cover. I think I laughed out load. It seemed to validate that I was wasting my time.

Then not a split second later something big went crashing by behind the slash, followed by a second animal, still unseen. The 3rd one I could barely make out but I couldn't be sure it wasn't one of the dogs. Before I knew what was happening, a 4th deer, a forkhorn, was running right at me. I raised my rifle as the deer tried slamming on the brakes and I pulled the trigger on a scope full of deer fur at 10 yards. The little buck was still falling, literally at my feet, when a bigger ran in right behind him. The deer spotted me, carved hard to my left, at fell at my shot at 15 yards. The hunt had barely started and I had 2 bucks on the ground.

That was 13 years ago. Ever since then whenever I get bored or start to doubt my location or set up, I remind myself of the that afternoon and that there is no such thing as a bad spot in the deer woods.

No doubt you learned a few lessons that day like patience and perseverance. You probably acquired a new favourite stand that day. Congratulations on a great hunt and thx for sharing your story.

[Species8472]

I've been enjoying this thread too so thanks to all who have contributed!

I've had lots of great hunts over my time that I've been fortunate enough to share with my brother and father plus some good friends.

I think the most epic was my rifle hunt from last season. A friend and I have been hunting this hard to access piece of crown with archery gear for a few years and just never made it in for the gun hunt. We planned out the last 4 days of the 2 week hunt to head in and give it a shot. We hiked about 2 miles to hunt the morning sit- I had a decent buck come through a few minutes before shooting light on a mission. Didn't see another deer so we made our way to our stashed canoe and paddle the rest of the way to our camp site for the next few days.

We quickly got camp setup and made a game plan to do so 2 man pushes. The area we were hunting has a lot of lakes and ponds so breaking down these areas was relatively simple for 2 guys.
The first spot we did was only a few hundred yards behind our campsite. I headed to the south on a big bald rock while the other guy looped around to the north to walk through a small gut. I had only been standing for a few minutes when I saw a large bodied deer trotting through the gut a few hundred yards from me. I quickly closed the distance using terrain and made a great shot. He wasn't a smasher but a nice 8 pointer for sure. We quickly quartered him up and got the meat hanging in a tree then hunted the rest of the day.

The next morning we both saw a bunch of does, but wanted to hold out for another buck. We didn't end up seeing another buck so I shot a doe on our last afternoon. We hauled the meat out the following morning in the canoe then loaded up the frame packs for the hike back to the truck. Fresh snow and breaking ice on the lake made for an interesting journey haha but it was a blast.

I've shot a lot of deer but I've never worked so hard to get a deer back to the truck lol! Can't wait to do it again this year. I'd add some pics but I don't know how!

Andy

Posting pics for Andy:

[Species8472]

I went bear hunting about a dozen years ago only to have a bear charge us during the baiting process.....

I sat in my stand in the morning not seeing anything, the guide we were with was going to replenish the bait barrels during lunch hour. Me and another guy (that was up there to take pictures for his brother) offered to go give the guide a hand baiting. As we get to the first bait site, he lets me take the lead just incase a bear is at the bait barrel..... As we round the last corner, bait barrel is knocked over but not bear. We replenish the barrel with corn, grain feed and a bucket of malaises...... We leave and start heading over to the next barrel
As we get closer to the bait site it starts raining and begins raining really hard. One of those downpours that the water is just pouring just pouring off the lip of my hat making visibility tough. Guide tells me to leave my newish shotgun in the truck and take along his old shotgun. I agree, (turns out not to be the smartest move)...
Again as we near the bait site, I take the lead, again barrel is knocked down but no bear....
So I walked in with his shotgun, the other fellow carried the bucket of molasses and the guide the grain, corn sack feed....
As they prepare to refill the barrel I take a walk around and notice a lot and I mean a lot of bear poo and remember thinking wow, lots of bears here....
I turn to see the guide having trouble with the feed sack, I decide to help him out.... I think about putting the shotgun down but thought oh ya, as soon as I do that a bear will come in and eat us and I will be the jackass that put the shotgun down.....
So decide to keep the shotgun shouldered and pull my knife out to cut the feed sack. Now this is where it got interesting.......
As I am making a cut in the feed sack I notice the guy that carried in the molasses make a weird frightening motion, I turn back to where he is looking (behind me) and see this big bear tearing in toward us...... I turn with shotgun in hand and take two of the fastest shotgun shots of my life, less than 20ft from us (missed both shots but what a rush) The bear turns at the first shot and keeps running away from us at the second one..... We all just gasp and are in WTF just happened mode......
The funny or weird thing was that when the bear was charging in on us, all I heard the guide scream, shoot him Frank, Shoot him.... you know what raced through my mind when he was screaming that....... it was shut up you are going to scare him.... Man that was a strange thought back then but true
Not sure how I missed him so close but I did, what a rush....
The best we can figure is with the rain coming down so hard, that the bear never heard us on the way in but after those fellows kicked the barrel to unstick the old feed from the side of the barrel, that big bear must have thought there was some competition (other bears) in the area, only when the bear heard the guide scream out that he realized it was humans on the bait not other bears...

I cant remember if I shot my bear that weekend but do know, two smaller bears where shot off this bait on back to back nights.....So big bear must have been bedded down and thought those smaller bear where eating his food....
That has got to be the most exciting and one of the most coolest adventures (hunt) I have been part of, something I will never forget.

I drew the worst watch of the day. The old tree stand was useless in the overgrown brush and I still hadn't found a decent spot to sit when I heard the doggers start. I was frustrated, overheated and wishing I'd stayed in camp.


No one was more surprised than me when the hounds lit up and I heard something coming my way FAST in the dry leaves. I had the gun up and my finger on safety when the snowshoe hare busted out of the cover. I think I laughed out load. It seemed to validate that I was wasting my time.


Then not a split second later something big went crashing by behind the slash, followed by a second animal, still unseen. The 3rd one I could barely make out but I couldn't be sure it wasn't one of the dogs. Before I knew what was happening, a 4th deer, a forkhorn, was running right at me. I raised my rifle as the deer tried slamming on the brakes and I pulled the trigger on a scope full of deer fur at 10 yards. The little buck was still falling, literally at my feet, when a bigger ran in right behind him. The deer spotted me, carved hard to my left, at fell at my shot at 15 yards. The hunt had barely started and I had 2 bucks on the ground.


That was 13 years ago. Ever since then whenever I get bored or start to doubt my location or set up, I remind myself of the that afternoon and that there is no such thing as a bad spot in the deer woods.

Great hunts guys!

[dean.f]

Some great stories guys.

For now my most epic hunt is always the next one.