With 2018 coming to a close. What have been your hunting high and low lights?

My high was finally getting out a few months ago and bagging that little hind. Low was the fact I hadn't been hunting for at least two years before that hunt.

High would be spending time in a deerstand in South Carolinas coastal swampland , and bagging two nice whitetail bucks with a damn good friend.

And racoon hunting in a cyprus swamp in the dark , over hounds- that a pretty cool experience.

Low would be not having got out to hunt at all at home due to work and family stuff. This coming year will be better though

Highs - quite a few.
These made it an awesome year.
Jan - first time attendance as DSC. Fantastic show. Met some AR members I had corresponded with, JTEX, dogcat, Tim Herald, Terry Blauwkamp. Also very briefly met Frostbit and Mjines. Shook Craig Boddingtons hand but no real conversation opportunity.
After the show I enjoyed a short Axis Buck & Blackbuck hunt at Rock Springs, Texas. Took a nice Blackbuck and came up short on Axis.
March - NZ, a weekend Fallow hunt with my son. Each of us shot 2 Fallow.
April / May - Off to BC, Canada for a Spring Black Bear hunt with Wild Coast Outfitters ( AR member Angus Morrison ). Had unbelievably good weather and was probably timed a tad early for optimum bear emergence and activity but had a brilliant hunt scoring two nice bears. Ted Boking, the guide, and I found a few cast Moose antlers and I brought one home. Way up high we spotted some very nice Mountain Goats.
July - off to Zimbabwe on a CMS hunt at Dande East with PH Alan Shearing. Met and talked hunting with AR member Steve416 at Dubai. We took the same Emirates flight south with Steve disembarking in Zambia. This was my second hunt with CMS and Alan. The Zambezi is just a fabulous hunting ground and Alan a masterful PH and gentleman. Lived the dream on those idyllic days hunting, tracking, finding and taking Buff. Also success on Impala, Baboon but skunked on Warthog and Hyena. On the outbound leg met AR member Tim Ferrall and wife Vicki.
It got even better two days after I got home by becoming a first time granddad to a beautiful gransdon, Logan.
I just remembered I also met Texan AR member TJ and a couple of his mates at Dubai, also en route to Zim for a hunt.
August - met AR member Dogleg in NZ whose plans to visit Oz were derailed. I had time available so we got together and I transported him to meet contacts for a few days of Goat and Pig hunting. Wet days but he did pretty well. I had the pleasure of meeting AR member and gentleman shankspony, who hosted Dogleg for a couple of days. Then Dogleg and I spent a couple of days at one of my spots sniping overabundant goats and I was treated to some fantastic long range shooting by Dogleg. He has a well tuned rifle setup for shooting out to 600 yards, or a bit more sometimes. We thinned the goats just a little. Also spent a couple of days in the South Island nailing some Wallabies, both far and near. Good times.
Sept - Out again with my son at our goat spot on goat culling. Gotta keep those critters under control !
Otherwise, a couple of times this year I've met up with AR member Fjold who occasionally travels down this way on work assignments. A true blue gentleman.

Lows - one, but nothing to complain of really. Weatherwise it's been an unusually wet year which really crimped my home hunting plans and saw me shelving a few casual deer hunts. This was despite working fewer hours from the start of this year so hopefully 2019 will allow some catch up. Will be chasing the Sika with my boy in Jan.
A quick tally of my shooting to date this year shows 1136 combined rounds fired with my .22 Mag, .243W, .270W, several 30.06 rifles, .300WM and .375H&H so I guess I was grabbing some opportunities to shoot between bouts of rain.

All in all the good massively outweighed the bad this year and there were plenty of new and interesting experiences. For that I am thankful and hopeful of similar in 2019.

Merry Christmas and thankyou to all at AR, and thankyou for all the content that makes this site so interesting and informative.

Hmmm, not hunting at all.
BUT: Big high, after 48 years plus
finally got one of my bad knee's replaced
in Oct.

George

varmint season was so-so.
dove season was actually really good this year.
deer season was a lot of hiking and long, long days.
grouse hunting was pretty good right before deer season then quieted down when the snow come.

I skipped Elk hunting this year, they had moved over into the private property before the season started so [shrug]

Took a Pommy mate out for a weeks hunting,he is/was a novice on Australia and our deer although he had hunted Africa and of course the UK.

Nonetheless he knocked over two Sambar stags and had a ripping time. I really enjoyed showing him what we have here and the ropes along the way..a highlight!

My best memories of time in the bush this year are the feelings of being able to almost walk forever during the cool season with my brother and cousin; then doing a couple shorter walks with my little son; and surviving a few epic hikes through spectacular country in the build-up with my brother, finding old art sites and World War II sites. And I especially enjoyed every close encounter with the big old bulls.

The snakes hitting me were an unpleasant experience, but it was pleasant to not get bit.

Plains game hunt in Africa with my then 13 year old son in May then a buff hunt and camping trip to Australia with the now 14 year old in Sept. Then a Deer hunt on North Kaibab in AZ on Oct with the boy. Good year for sure.

Low is not being able to draw any decent tags in AZ. Maybe next year.

quote:

Originally posted by gryphon1:
Took a Pommy mate out for a weeks hunting,he is/was a novice on Australia and our deer although he had hunted Africa and of course the UK.

Nonetheless he knocked over two Sambar stags and had a ripping time. I really enjoyed showing him what we have here and the ropes along the way..a highlight!

That's pretty neat - you should take up guiding.

Unfortunately my own year was not successful. Intended to spend weeks in the bush but obligations in town and indisposition of mates kept getting in the way.

WHAT? And become one of them?

I take people out for nothing more than the enjoyment of hunting and hunting with them and no money has ever changed hands other than share fuel and food.

Good to hear you're jealous of your amateur status, gryphon. I do likewise but never with that much success.

How much ha ha

If that's a question: not much. I took some Taswegians out once and one of them shot a calf.

No,how much for the stag?

Sorry, I have no idea. Looks good, though - nice heavy 'timber' IMHO. Would it be in the high 20s, lengthwise?

Duck shooting opening, first weekend in May, with two of my sons and a couple of their mates and my 6 year old grandson sharing my two seater duck blind was a fun time with plenty of ammo expended, 95 birds shot for the weekend and some good laughs at the misses and stuff ups.

A week in June in the Alps with same two sons and mates hunting Tahr. Six bulls and a few nannies shot, both sons scoring their first bull tahr. A good few beers, bottle of whisky and bottle of bourbon drunk sitting around our little potbelly fire in the snow at nights as the temperatures dropped to the bitter level. Great 7 days with superb chopper lift in and out. Oh so damn cold and old body complaining but wouldn't miss it for the world.

Only low is I've missed out on a tahr block for next year in the DOC ballots but we got plans to jet boat up the Paringa River to hunt some reds then get the chopper to lift us into a non-ballot block for tahr and chamois. Boys now keen to score a nice chamois buck each.

Good year this year, looking forward to next.

quote:

Originally posted by gryphon1:
No,how much for the stag?

Because I agree with your attitude, and because Ive been lucky to share a hunt or two for Sambar and Tahr with you. My answer to how much is that its priceless in a way its uncommon to find in a guided situation.

My low was shooting way too high and missing a pig - 200 meters - at Shank's farm.

Hope I have better luck on Thursday.

The season high was a new toy - Demas / VC 470 NE.