I won't pick just one, because I can't, so I'll pick three North American hunts that really stand out as memorable.
I have a mule deer on the wall that I took on my own on Steen's Mountain, in Harney Co., Oregon. I took him after ten gut-busting days of hunting. He was bedded and had me spotted, but he lost his nerve, got up and ran, so I shot him with a .270 at about eighty-five yards. He's all-mass, and a near-perfect typical that would net-score 196 B&C.
I also took a fine Dall's sheep in Alaska's Tok Management Area. This was a packpack hunt. The ram I eventually got was with a group of three other rams. We climbed a mountain for the better part of the morning to get to them. As we crept over a rise, these rams spotted us and sauntered off towards a pass. I used a little knoll as a rest and shot the biggest ram with a .300 Winchester from about 200 yards. He was 13 years-old and his horns were broomed back to 38.5". The hard part of this hunt was getting DOWN the mountain!
Last year, I hunted spring grizzly in British Columbia. Considering the current B.C. grizzly fiasco, my timing couldn't have been better. We made a long stalk on a very beautiful silvertip that we spotted some 800 yards away. Once we had the wind right, we made the final stalk and my guide blew an elk calf-call to bring him in. Well come in he did, and he was just about in our laps before I could get a shot at him! I hit him in the front of the chest, right under the chin, with a bullet from my .375 H&H. Instead of going right down, he turned a hard right, so I gave him another one at the base of the tail to finish things. Both bullets (270 gr. Fail-Safe) went clear through; end-to-end. This was one beautiful boar grizzly, and one fantastic hunt from start to finish.
AD
My most memerable is without a doubt a big old scarred up Vaal Rhebok Ram from the Karoo Mtns in South Africa. This is probably the most difficult small antelope in southern Africa to bag. I was hunting with a friend of mine that also happens the be a very good PH down there.
The shot was very long and involved a strong cross wind. I made probably the best shot in my life and took him cleanly with 1 round from my old 7mm Rem Mag. The ram was facing quartering away from me and the bullet took him on the point of the left hip and exited in the middle of the chest. I held well over a foot into the wind. We stopped counting paces at 340 and still hadn't reached him. He now is a full body mount in my living room.
Beautiful country, good friend, challenging animal, difficult shot, it has all the ingredients for a memorable experience.
Mac
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When hunting and fishing get in the way of your job, it is time to quit the job!
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A trophy impala ram grazing on a track and standing next to and dwarfed by a Eland bull. The light was starting to go when we spotted it 350 yards away. We closed to 250 yards when the impala put his head up facing us. "Can you get it from here?" asked the PH. Up came the sticks and I, standing, drew a bead. We waited. The ram put his head down to feed and I put a 196 gr pill from my 8x57 through his neck and into his chest. He was dead on the spot. Handshakes all round and big beaming smiles from the game trackers.
I completely missed another at 40 yards the following day!
My bud was shooting, when I saw a flash in my scope, it was a chuck at about 210 yards, moving off into the high grass. I was zero'd at 100 with a 222 Rem and I didn't have much time, so I made a quick play on the target, held slightly high and a little forward of my desired POI and fired, when we got there the chuck had done nothing but roll backward down a little slope. I couldn't have pointed my finger at the POI any better if I was standing nexrt to the chuck when I fired. So, a trophy, I don't know, but a good memory for me. I thought is was a real nice shot.
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Live Free! Madison, Jefferson and all the boys paid for it, and so did our very own fathers.
Last year took a nice eland bull after a few days of chasing him and the herd around all day long. Took him right at dusk, one shot from a really wierd position. Clean kill with the bull going down seconds later. The sheer size and toughness will never be forgotten.
FN
I remember when I started hunting, though - I think I was eight. I got a running cottontail at about 25 yards. Perfect shoulder/heart shot. My lifelong companion Boots (a border collie) was in hot pursuit at about three feet behind. When the rabbit tumbled under his nose he lost him and started casting with high leaps. I was proud enough to bust a gut!
Don
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Freedom wasn't free. Today they want our guns. What will they want tommorow?
Good shooting,
Todd