how about the 07 season fellow hunters?post the one that made you proud this year w/ a short note.rifle,bow,distance,local

The ONE for me was just last week. I shot this cow elk on opening day while my four-year old daughter was with me. What a hoot!

The one that made me proud this year was the cow elk I killed on the mountain above my mom and dad's farm near Steamboat Springs, Colorado during the forth season. This one also proves the adages that it is better to be lucky than good, and luck is putting yourself in the right place at the right time.

The weather this year was unusually warm with daytime temps in the high 50's and low 60's F and nights around 30 degrees F. (typical temperatures for mid-November are about 20 to 30 degrees F colder). However, there was deep crusty snow up high in the summer range, so the elk were not in their usual haunts for either summer or winter. No one in the area was seeing or taking elk, which is very unusual.

We got about an inch of snow the night before the opening. I was hunting with my son and we did not see a single recent elk track for the first day and a half of hunting, in spite of walking approximately 15 miles with about 3,000 feet of climbing. This was the first year that I had not found any elk sign in the areas I hunt.

In the afternoon of the second day, we found one set of elk tracks going the same direction as us down an old pack trail on a neighbor's property we can hunt, but could not find an elk before dark. We found a second set of tracks on top of our's on the same trail the third morning, probably from the evening before, but after a lot of walking and glassing, did not see any elk in the areas where we can hunt. We did see a small resident herd in one of the hay meadows in the valley below the mountain where we hunt, but the area they were in is closed to hunting. The third afternoon, we tried another area that I had not hunted for over 20 years, but the elk were not in there either.

On the forth day, we decided that we would hunt up the top of the mountain in the morning and found several sets of fresh tracks generally heading down the mountain and some fairly fresh sign. My son had orders from his wife to head back to Denver in the afternoon to rest up and get ready for work so I was on my own. I decided to try and loop down to the bottom of the pack trail and hunt it in the opposite direction from that which the elk tracks we had seen on days two and three were going. The slight wind was actually blowing in a favorable direction (remember luck?), so I followed an old game trail that I knew of that parallels the contours of the mountain, and at one point though that I could here animals moving through the timber below me. I tried to move as slowly and cautously as I could, but still slipped in the mud and fell on my rear going down the mountain to get below where I thought the animals might be.

I guess that either I was still lucky or I didn't make too much noise, because after going another 50 yards or so heard an animal moving in the scrub oak above me and just below the pack trail that I was heading for. I stopped and scanned the scrub oak to see if I could spot a critter. It was about 20-minutes before the end of legal shooting so the light was wanning. I was able to spot a patch of elk hide within about a minute, but could not see what it belonged to.

After picking the brush apart for another minute of so, I located several animals. One started to walk along a trail about mid-way up the slope, and a couple of more followed. The first finally crossed a small patch where I could see that it was a cow, but was through before I could put down the binoculars and get the rifle up to shoot. However, I knew that at least three others were following, so I brought my rifle up and waited. The next elk through was a calf, but the third through was another cow. I could see he body from the mid-line up, not the ideal shot, but since the range was only about 125 yards, I was confident that I could make the shot offhand. At the shot, I lost sight of the elk due to the recoil of the rifle, but I heard the distinct whack of a bullet hit when it encounters heavy bone.

At the shot, the scrub oak came alive with elk. A very big cow with two calves came straight down the hill towards me and stopped in the open about 15 yards away looking for what had disturbed them. About a dozen more followed, but stopped at about 50 yards away. I had not moved after the shot and was looking to see if I could see an obviously wounded animal up the hill or coming down. I admit that it was tempting to shoot the cow in plain sight in front of me, but even though I could not see any sign of the cow I shot at, I was positive from the sound and my hold that I had hit her well. I finally waved my arm at the cow in front of me, and she and the calves took off taking the rest of the herd with them. I headed up into the scrub oak to see if I could find any sign of the elk that I had shot at. After about five minutes, I found her down, but not quite dead, so I put a finishing shot into her. By this time it was close to dark, so I dressed her out by headlamp, left my shirt on her to keep the coyotes and black bears away, and hiked out to my vehicle. I was lucky yet again in that she was only about 50 yards downhill from the pack trail and only about half a mile from the truck.

I came back in the morning, quartered her, and had her packed out to the truck in about 3-1/2 hours. She was probably the easiest elk that I will ever pack out on my back. I am guessing that she was about three years old, and based on getting about 250 pounds of meat, would guess that her live weight was about 500 pounds. When I butchered her, I found that the shot had broken both shoulders, had taken out the spine, and exited the animal. I was shooting my Ruger No. 1 S in .338 topped with a 1970's-vintage Redfield 2x7 scope that was made when Redfield was still in Denver. I was using handloads with a 210-grain Nosler partition starting at about 2,900 feet per second.

The hunt was especially satisfying because even though the animals were not following their usual routine, I had adapted, made a plan, carried it through successfully, and recovered my elk completely on my own.

S Arkansas zone 12, rifle, 308 caliber. 35 yards or so. too close to worry about it.

My Grays River mulie, I have killed bigger but this was a special trip with friends. Opening day at 8:30 I jumped him near 9000ft, I took the shot and he was down. By the time he was back in camp I had over 16 miles into this deer,half up hill!! My toes are still black. He is going in a special place in my house, not with the other heads!

My best this year had to be the Red Stag I took with Wendell Reich!

There are still a couple of weeks of hunting left for me, but here is what I have taken so far:





After a couple of frustrating days of hunting at the San Angelo Wildlife Management Area, I decided to get aggressive in my tactics last Friday (the last morning of allowed permit hunting there). Using some of Tink's 69 gel and a grunt call, I got this guy to respond around 7:20 a.m.

One shot at app. 95 yards from my Contender carbine in 7mm Bullberry did the trick. I don't like frontal chest shots, but's that's all I had as there was a narrow window through limbs/brush to shoot through. Nonetheless, the 140 grain Nosler Solid Base spitzer performed perfectly, destroying the plumbing around the heart, taking out one lung and apparently lodging in the stomach or nearby organs (did not make it to the intestines). I was somewhat hurried, and despite my efforts, I did not recover the bullet.

About 2 weeks before taking the buck, I bagged this:


Once again, the Sierra 6.5mm 140 grain GameKing, launched at 2601 fps, performed flawlessly from my 26" 6.5mm Bullberry Imp. Contender (barrel by Match Grade Machine).

The range was 190 yards, and the bullet took the slightly-quartering hog tight behind the shoulder and exited mid-ribs. He spun and made it a few feet into some tall grass before expiring. Where he stood, there was a large spray of blood and even lung tissue. In my haste to get out to the stand, I didn't take a light, but with the way the Sierra had been performing (and by the evidence on the ground in front of me), I had no qualms about retreiving the hog in near-dark conditions. (Turns out, I just had to step into the tall grass to find him as he did not go far at all.)

The exit was the size of a quarter; damage to the internals was impressive, even though no major bones were hit. I generally prefer shooting through one or both shoulders, but a huisache branch prevented me from taking that particular shot.

Chalk up another textbook performance for those medium-velocity cartridges shooting standard bullets...

Lastly, please pardon the low quality of the digital photo. It was dark and drizzling -- and this angle does not do the hog justice as it does not show the depth of the chest. This one weighed 215, by the way.

I was lucky enough to get two nice bucks this year, both with my bow!

Maryland:



And New Jersey (public land):

ancient 14 pt Mulie


mature 6 pt "cull" whitetail


Troy

Ravenr,
I can't limit it to one this year. I was truly blessed and alot of things came together.

Started in March with a trip to Texas to "get away". I came away with different feeling of Texas than a previous trip and realized you can hunt as hard as you want with all the different types/styles of hunting. My old standby factory Remington SS in 270 Win with a Leup 2.5-8 scope. Barnes 110gr TSX's.



Shortly after I got back from Texas, I found out I had drawn this tag in Wyoming. Probably a once in lifetime thing for me and a lifelong dream realized. Sept. 5, 2007
I used a 60# T/D longbow that a friend made with 630gr douglas fir arrows and Magnus Journeyman broadheads. Shot was 17 yards in a thunderstorm, 20 minutes before dark and complete pass through. Recovered following morning.


In October I broke in my new Kimber custom in 270 Win, done by Bill Soverns and Gunmaker here on AR. Barnes 130gr TSX@3000fps. The antelope herd fed into me, so the shot was only 60 yards


I also shot a 4x4 whitetail with my recurve in October and did not get any pictures. Every bow kill to me is very gratifying for some reason. The bow is a 60# Robertson 3 piece T/D. I was shooting Beman MFX carbon arrows with weight tubes at 610grains. Broadhead was an old bodkin three blade.

On to November and I hunted extremely hard and it paid off. The "new" Kimber was starting to get broke in. Words cannot justify the experience.



December found me spot and stalk archery elk hunting. I was only able to sneak away for 4 days. I had a great time and wonderful experience. But things just didn't come together which is so often the case when hunting with traditional archery equipment.

I also hunted South Dakota's 3rd Mountain lion season with no success. They do not allow dogs or baiting, so it is basically happenstance or calling situation. I did find some fresh tracks in the snow one morning, but they looked like female tracks to me, and I am not interested in shooting a female.

I truly had a great year, and am very thankful for all the success.

I still have some archery and muzzleloader antlerless deer tags. But I think I may wait to get 2008 off to a good start since the season goes through the end of January.

Great animals guys! Buglemintoday, is that an Argentina stag? If so I was wondering if you could share the story as this is a hunt I am considering in the near future...

I must say "All ya'll have done good".

My bull elk I got the week before Thanksgiving in New Mexico. Fair chase, and his B&C score is 358 2/8"....my biggest one yet. And my beautiful wife was there with me on the hunt.....the first time that has happened!

great bunch of hunts and memories.thanks for the posts
this subject has almost 500 lookie-lou's,are there that many people out there who don't know how to post a photo?
havn't heard from the ladies yet.C'mon take a moment and share your stories.
A SAFE AND JOYFUL HOLIDAY SEASON TO ALL

I had a good year too.

Started with Spring Turkey here in Western ND


Then headed to Manitoba in June and took a good bear.


Shot an antelope with my new father in law in October-not the biggest goat, but we only had two days and it was his first antelope hunt. It was a rainy, miserable weekend that turned out pretty good.


My ND Prairie Chicken-taken the second week in October. Extremely hard to draw a tag and even harder to harvest-a great trophy.


I shot this whitetail the first week in November. He came running to a Primos can call and thought he could take my Carry Lite decoy. He didn't get too far!


My ND Mule deer with a rifle taken Thanksgiving weekend.


The Turkey, Whitetail and Mulie were taken on our family farm in SW ND, all within 200 yards of each other!!

Shot this one in late October during Oklahoma's muzzle loader season.

My first ever Mule deer taken in Texas, South of Van Horn in November.


Also my first trip to Africa, but this is the American hunting forum.

5x6 bull taken in Arizona, Unit 6b. Came in at approx 320pts. Model 70 in .300 H&H.

Awesome pics, keep them coming.

quote:

Originally posted by SDhunter:
Awesome pics, keep them coming.

I'll second that. Being away at school means I don't get to hunt nearly as much as I would like too. This thread is making me really jealous.

There are, however, no college girls in the fields and mountains.

All I can show from this year's local deer season is this guy:


I shot this coyote at 100 yards with my 22" 7-30 Improved Bullberry Contender. I shot him with a 140 grain Nosler Ballistic tip/35 grains of IMR4895 handload. He collapsed on the spot.


And there was this guy back in October:



I shot this elk at about 80-100 yards with my 17" Bullberry Encore pistol in .308 Win. My load was a 150 grain Accubond pushed by 46 grains of Varget. He reared straight up in the air and came straight down.

Still got through January 1st to get my buck at home! Awesome photos and stories everyone, thanks for sharing!

Goliad, TX., 30-06, 150gr Nosler Partition, 80 yards out of a box blind.




Goliad, TX., Marlin 30-30, Remington 170gr Corelocks, 60 yards out of a box blind.

After a 20 year quest I finally killed a trophy muledeer this year. The hunt was with Bill Cantebury near Howard, Colorado during the second season. The hunt was on a private ranch and I killed the buck with my Ruger MarkII in 338 Win Mag shooting factory Federal ammo loaded with Barnes 225 grain TSX. The shot was from a rest at 282 yards.

Perry