White Mountains moose hunt. ~90 hours hunting and maybe a total of 50 miles stomping through wilderness before I took the shot. Pelting rain and up to 50 mph winds, every single day. And no, I wouldn't trade the experience for the world!

Aziz, as usual, you're the man.

MR, that is a wonderful pic. 128F? Holy shit!

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Colorado elk bowhunt in either 2000 or 2001, can't remember which as I hunted with same outfit both years. Guide's girlfriend dropped us off at a pass on the Divide way before daylight and we climbed over and down and walked out. Don't remember the altitude, but it was high. No air.

Come to think of it, that must have been the 2001 trip, because I lost toenails on the first hunt. As one poster asked, problem is on downhill when boots allow toes to hit end of boot. Like hitting your nail with a hammer -- repeatedly and then you lose it. Not fun.

The other problem was my guide on this hunt had finished in the top 10 of Pike's Peak marathon for the past few years. He beat me into the dirt. I should have clicked when he said he wanted to hunt (one of the many in the Rockies) "hell hole." Only time I've been on all fours for any reason other than to stay under the available. This time, it was to stay on the ground.

Give me hot, flat land, even lowland, swamps, mozzies, tsetse's anytime. I hate mountains.

I hate mountains almost as much as I hate horses. Give me Africa everyday to one day on a horse in the mountains. Never again.

I AM OK WITH THE HORSES, BUT TO HELL WITH CLIMBING MOUNTAINS. I WOULD RATHER HAVE ANOTHER LEOPARD, ELE. LION THAN ANOTHER MOUNTAIN GOAT

A glorious African morning and a magnificant gemsbok. A shot from an old Browning Safari Grade factory chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum with a Barnes 180 gr. Triple Shock X bullet at app 230 meters that caught the gemsbok in the neck at the shoulder and some how deflected and ran the length of the body existing the off-side flank. The load was RL 25 @ app 3050 fps. I think of this shot over and again. 3-9x40 Zeiss Conquest in Talley rings at what I remember was app 6x setting. For whatever the reason the shot was sent high because I was holding on the shoulder when I released the shot. What happened next was the most clever game of chess I've ever played. The safari matched wits with this incredible gemsbok for over eight hours and finally a shot at app 270 m brought it to bag. This gemsbok is cape mounted on a pedestal mount in the middle of my home. Never a day passes that I don't pay my respects and remember the sights,sounds,and smells of that day on safari.

Bein; an old, outa shape guy I certainly don't have anything like what some fellas have posted here! Amazing what some of you fellas have done. My most heartfelt congratulation!

Have had a couple of interesting hunts. We camped at 8000 feet and walked every day to over 12k feet in the Teton National Forest in the late 90s. Was a wonderful trip, but beat the heck outa me

Did have quite an experience on a Buf hunt in Tanzania in 2006. Two trackers and two PHs and I worked up to the back of an ant hill while trying to locate the bachelor's quarters of a pretty big herd. The PH carefully snuck up the back of the hill and immediately motioned me up and said "Shoot THAT one," which I did as they were moving off to the right. We could hear the Buf milling around and collecting off to that direction. Then they came charging back en mass ... there were literally HUNDREDs of them and they were destroying the woods as they swept through!!!! They swept around the ant hill which was maybe 30 feet in diameter and 10 feet tall. Someone on the hill wasn't scheduled out that day, 'cause if they'd come over it all five of us would have been killed.

Very, Very exciting!

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:


Did have quite an experience on a Buf hunt in Tanzania in 2006. Two trackers and two PHs and I worked up to the back of an ant hill while trying to locate the bachelor's quarters of a pretty big herd. The PH carefully snuck up the back of the hill and immediately motioned me up and said "Shoot THAT one," which I did as they were moving off to the right. We could hear the Buf milling around and collecting off to that direction. Then they came charging back en mass ... there were literally HUNDREDs of them and they were destroying the woods as they swept through!!!! They swept around the ant hill which was maybe 30 feet in diameter and 10 feet tall. Someone on the hill wasn't scheduled out that day, 'cause if they'd come over it all five of us would have been killed.

Very, Very exciting!

Great experiences all...Mike, I had a very similar experience once in Chewore, but it was just me and a tracker on the anthill and the buff were stampeding from the PH and client who had been trying to out-flank them in swirling wind. Terrifying

/

I worked as a bear and lion guide as a younger man in Northern NM. The only easy day was yesterday and today was just getting started even after 10 to 15 miles straight up sideways and down. When the hounds strike is when the true physical part of the hunt begins.

A pack of hounds especially on bear will take you to some places that you never really wanted to go.

Every year we hunt unit 472 in Colorado which might well be the steepest, highest, coldest elk unit in the state. I am just happy that I can still do it every year in my 40's and hope to be doing it when I'm in my 70's.

Guided Africa is definitely a cakewalk compared to the self-misguided wilderness hunts in Canada and Alaska, by us "residents."

People are dying to die in Alaska.

I went out on a 7-day August Dall Sheep hunt with 3 other hunters.
Two fell on the first day rolling and tumbling down a long chute after a slip on ice.
The float plane happened to come back to bring the remaining gear, and took them out same day.

A Supercub on floats landing on a mile-high pond in a mountain bowl, "One Shot Lake," has only one shot at landing or take-off.
One hunter and his gear at a time.
The sheep trophy and meat goes out in a separate trip, while the happy hunter waits for the pilot to come back for him.

Too much weight or improper approach and the plane crashes into the mountain on landing, or hooks a boulder with a float on takeoff and goes tumbling into the valley below, through the keyhole slot, one way into the bowl and out of the bowl.

The third hunter fell a few days later and tore a rotator cuff in the spill. I put him in a sling and openened his canteen for him the rest of the hunt. He did his own personal hygiene, so I got out unscathed.

I went "solo caribou" for 5 days and 4 nights on an Alaska Peninsula fly-in, in November, just below 0 degrees F. My partner on that one chickened out. About 5 hours of good light each day, snow flurries, and miles and miles of bloody tundra ... caribou blood ... four was the limit for resident in November ...

Without a doubt, 17 days chasing California bighorn in northern Nevada.Starting before daylight every day, 6-7 hours straight up getting to where we thought the rams would be and then finding nothing worth taking day after day. Season running out and finally finding three shooters. The happiest day of my hunting career was when I held the 10 year old warrior in my hands.

quote:

Originally posted by eezridr:
tough question;
Goat hunting in BC in my early 40's however I can remember hunting moose and caribou on foot 150 miles north of Kotzebue Alaska in my late 20's. We (A local Alaskan friend of mine and I) killed 4 caribou and 2 bull moose and packed it all out on our backs in thousands / millions of acres of tussocks.
I lost 15 lbs in 8 days. I was in shape when I began the hunt. I hate hip boots and burleys!
I have bad ankles to boot!
\EZ

That is crazy - packing that much across tussocks would be heinous! Mercy; only a young man would be so foolish.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mrlexma:

QUOTE]

MR, would you happen to have this exact same pic sans the thermometer in the pic?? Awesome pic that I wouldn't mind using as a screensaver for awhile!
Thanks!

Without a doubt my self guided Stone Sheep!!!

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Guided Africa is definitely a cakewalk compared to the self-misguided wilderness hunts in Canada and Alaska, by us "residents."

People are dying to die in Alaska.

Too funny. Sounds too familiar. I got back last night from my hardest physical hunt to date. A pack in spot and stock black bear hunt in the mountains of the Kenai penninsula. My butt was thuroughly kicked and I can't wait to do it again.

Brett

PS. Heavy pack frames really suck in devil's club and alder thickets!

Brett,

Ddi you score a bear???

Jeff

Toss up for me between Lord Derby in C.A.R. and Mountain Nyala and hunters do have a choice of how you'd like to hunt them. I chose to go (up) after my Mt. Nyala instead of waiting for one to come (cross) near me. The hills where I hunted didn't gradually go up they went straight up. First time in all my hunting that I relinquished my rifle to a guide/PH. Focus for me was solely on each step. One mis-step or slip and you're a goner. I climbed straight up to "heaven" on a 10-inch path. At only 31 Jason Roussos is a legend, yet I thought he was deranged for telling me to follow him up the mountain because a piece of hunting history might be waiting for me at the peak There was a 42" nyala waiting for me when I got there!

LDE in C.A.R. was equally a test of physical/mental endurance. Mostly flat land, 100 degree heat every day, mopane and tsetse flies nagging you constantly, unable to even enjoy a drink of water without them, bees too- everywhere, they follow you back to camp to your chalet, (I use that chalet term loosely) 6-10 miles walking everyday from the vehicle...then back to your vehicle the same distance because there are no roads, trackers don't use GPS's but many times I wondered if there cranial guidance systems had been fried by the heat. Asked myself many times "Why am I persecuting myself? Is this really all worth it?" On top of that I was stooopid for passing down easy shots on decent eland, and then we tracked down a 56-incher on day 13, and PH Andre Roux seemed like a genius.

Although I was in shape as a younger man, I wouldn't have been as successful because I didn't understand the rewards of "pushing it." I had reviewed the trophy data and genetics of both concessions, believing a superior bull lurked somewhere within the PH's respective areas. Like a C.S.I. forensics expert I put the pictures on a computer, enlarged the horns determining that growth was still possible on many of the trophies. I know Andre and Jason both thought I was crazy, literally wacko, for telling their trackers on day one, that I wanted to shoot a 56-incher and a 42-incher. All of us are smiling now.

Coming one day on DVD, "The Final Conflict."

Moja

As we get older, the "hardest" becomes a bit different than it was when knees, lungs, and heart were younger. Mountain hunts on foot are usually a thing of the past once those body parts start deteriorating.
MR, that really is a great pict.

I'm going to try and write this without sounding like a wimp.

I booked a Zim buffalo,hippo,croc and plainsgame hunt with fellow AR member in 2005. Hunt was to take place in Oct 2007. My wife and I had been unsuccesful in trying to have a child up to that point (her medical problems). Well, wouldn't you know, she gets pregnant late 2006. Nine very complicated months later, my son arrives. He spends 2 weeks at childrens hospital for kidney issues. For the guys that are dads, you can understand the sleepless nights that are involved with a newborn. Two months prior to leaving for Zim my wife lands a great new job that requires her to train in Chicago for seven weeks total. So here I am, taking care a 4 month old with bad sleeping habits,(I did get help from my parents) running my family business, preparing for the hunt and wife gone for training. So needless to say, when I do leave for Zim I'm in the worst strung out shape possible. Three travel days later, first night in the bush, my PH informes MY FRIEND, that the hippo quota was oversold and guess what, NO HIPPO FOR ME. Obviously, I was very upset and mad. The accumulation of very little sleep over the past 4 months, not seeing my wife for 4 weeks, missing my infant son, traveling across half the world and now not getting my hippo mentally broke me that night. But, thanks to my great friend (CRUSHER), a big pep talk got my spirits back up. 10 days later my buff, croc and plainsgame were in the salt. So, that first night in the bush, mentally, was my hardest hunt to date.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
lavaca,

I spent a year in hell one summer in Texas!

Love the people; hate the climate!

Ok so, we made a mistake ,but in general we like see to see yankees suffer

Oh and back on topic.
My hardest hunt was when my cousin and I (in our teens, 37 or 38 years ago) took of for Idaho to hunt elk, never having seen either.
Ignorance ,BTW, is not bliss, as I learned.
No horses, poorly equipped, etc, etc.
Learned the hardway what the old timer we met meant when he mutterred something about not shooting one on the wrong side of the mountain. (Later he became a great mentor and friend)
Got excited and did just that,now How do I get this thing out of here.
Did you know, if Idaho was flattened out it would be bigger than Texas.

have to limit my tale to north america,as i have yet to make it across the pond.
2001 drew what was the best late bull tag wyo had for elk.
worked some long days that summer to finance my month of hunting.
killed my bull on the 22nd of nov. after spending 15 days alone on the mt.
7 of those 15 days the temps were warming up at mid-day to -10 and plumeting at night to 25-30 below zero.
leave before daylight to get to my lookout and catch the morning activity,then huddle around a fire all day waiting for the evening "rush"
you KNOW its cold when you sit shivering around
a campfire.
rewarded for my efforts on the morning of the 22nd with a grandpa of 8x9 bull that surpassed my 350" goal.the 178th bull i saw in 15 days of elk hunting.

It was a tough one for me. I had to decide on the backpack hunt for Tahr in South Island of New Zealand or eleven day backpack Mt. Goat hunt in British Columbia. Both were grueling and it took me days to recover from both. The Goat hunt I finally decided was without a doubt my toughest hunt. Climbing shear cliffs, crossing rivers and weather I would not send my worst enemy out in. The goat hunt was without a doubt my toughest hunt.

Tracking elephant 12-14 hours a day for 10 days all over Chrisa in late November.

BB,

No luck. I didn't even see a black bear. I did see a fresh set of brown bear tracks just out of the parking area and a day old set of brown bear tracks that were HUGE. I'll be going out this weekend to try again. We'll see.

Brett

Good thread David
For me personally- Mentally - Leopard
Physically- mountain goat
combined- elephant bull

I thought about a couple possibilities for this (the early season deer hunt in California where I ran out of water, got very badly dehydrated in the 105 degree heat and then almost stepped on a rattlesnake comng out in the dark, the caribou hunt where my brother and I got stuck in a tiny cabin with one of the nastiest, most foul-mouthed ignoramuses I've ever met-- who almost got us in a fight he was picking with some of the locals after the hunt was over) but the hardest was my elk hunt in 2000. It was about two weeks after my dad died very suddenly and unexpectedly. He and I were to go elk hunting in northern Colorado with my uncle, his brother, on a ranch the family had been hunting together for several years. One of my dad's favorite places on Earth, in fact some of his ashes are scattered there. It was a very hard hunt for me, most of the time spent alone on the mountain. On my last evening I shot a cow, my first elk.It was after midnight by the time I got back to camp. I have always wondered if he didn't somehow have something to do with that...

Dry ground mountain lion hunting on foot in the mountains of West Texas can be very physically demanding. Trying to stay in radio range of the dogs as they run from canyon to canyon is no picnic, and the desert climate makes for some pretty drastic temperature changes over the course of a day. With no snow and very little soft soil, it's very easy to go backward on a trail, and the temperature change tends to cook scent off the rocks very quickly. Most chases are unsuccessful.

Back in 2001, my guide and I followed one lion for more than 20 miles over the course of three days, ultimately losing the cat when the dogs developed cuts in their pads and started to run out of gas. I think that was my toughest hunt, apart from one time in Kyrgyzstan when altitude sensitivity and dehydration made a moderately difficult ibex hunt nearly impossible.

My 2 are both single grueling days...

MT Goat in northern BC in 2008- We left camp at around 9AM I believe, I shotthe goat at 5PM, and we got back to camp at 1 AM. It was all uphill until the shot, and we came all the way down walking in the dark. It was steep and the timber for half the way was terrible. The worst part was that through stupidity, we had no water from 1pm until 1 am.

My other toughest day was my first day of buff hunting in Charisa in Zim in 2007. We cut tracks at daybreak, followed 3 bulls at an almost running pace until 2pm. Afternoon temps were in the low 90's. We got to about 35 yards and 2 were bedded. The best was 40"+, but bedded in the thick brush, so no shot. Then of course the wind swirled, and it was over. The walk (jog) back to the truck was about 3 miles (as we had sent a tracker back to drive it around closer). PH estimated we walked 20-22 miles. It was all fast, and it was hot. Though I didn't see another buff that big, it was a great day of hunting and I wouldn't take the world for that memory.

Last year in Binga, it was so hot they couldn't keep ice for the Sundowners, now that is tough .

quote:

Originally posted by Die Ou Jagter:
Last year in Binga, it was so hot they couldn't keep ice for the Sundowners, now that is tough .

Reduced to living like heathens! Poor form!

The twelve days of a fourteen day elephant hunt after I tore the muscles in my right calf.

Toss up between:
First PG hunt in SA, I couldn't hit anything but targets with my rifle for the first 4 days, then went 6 for 6 with one shot when I borrowed a 7x57 from the PH.
Self guided caribou with my dad and brother when we lived in AK. Meat hunting (3 per) and my dad couldn't carry a pack, so my brother and I carried a LOT of weight through the tussocks. eezrider said it too, I lost 13 pounds in 8 days!

I've been hunting for almost 50 years and thought this would be easy to answer. Not so. The more I think about it, none of them were too hard. They each had their own challenge.

I've had some exotic hunts in wonderful places, but, the hardest I guess was a mule deer hunt on McGregor Range in New Mexico. I was young, hunting alone, and followed a herd of deer for about five miles back into mountains in the middle of nowhere. About 4 in the afternoon I busted a doe. I tried to carry her out and got scoped by another hunter. In the next 36 hours I made 2 1/2 round trips to pack her out. I stepped on a rattler on the second trip. He got my boot, but not me.

When I was done and the doe loaded in the car, I pulled my boots off and I had blisters the size of silver dollars on both heels. I checked-out barefooted at the F&G checkpoint and showed them the doe, in three pieces. The Game people couldn't believe the way it looked and the way I looked. Every hunt since then has been cream gravy compared to that experience.

Great stories and well deserved accolades for all of the trials of the toughest hunt...

...However, for me it was the hunt for a WIFE that nearly did me in.

Much tougher than any other hunt I've been on:

1) Travel expenses: for years I searched the world over for the right mate. Bars, pubs, social gatherings, yentls - you name it. Jet & Whiskey lag!!!

2) Bait: Dinner, drinks, flowers, candies, jewelry, expensive cars, boats, planes....Yikes!

3) Physical preparedness: Gym memberships, fancy supplements, personal trainers, martial arts, yoga classes, marathons, bike racing, car racing, motorcycle racing and so on. "Here I am, the Alpha male - come and get it" (not many takers)

4) Financial cpapbility (oft confused with bait): Years and years of steady employment, proven earner, successful entrepreneur, smart with $$, etc......

...all that just to find out that the woman I loved lived right across the street - We're 10 years strong and counting!

Aside from the occasional "charge" (no pun intended) all pretty sooth these days!

That my boys was the toughest hunt I even went on!!!

Well said and well done!

Jeff:

Now that's a trophy pursuit and one you don't have to hang on the wall to repeatedly be proud of. I presume you got her with one shot, knew exactly where you needed to place your shot and it went straight down after you fired.

Moja

quote:

Originally posted by SableTrail:
Jeff:

Now that's a trophy pursuit and one you don't have to hang on the wall to repeatedly be proud of.

I've been told they have swings now if you want to hang them from the ceiling!