Best outdoors memory from 2022?

[Forkieslayer]

Was it me driving 1827 miles by myself to kill my biggest mule deer in November? No, it was this morning taking my 5 year old son duck hunting.

 

[Rooggvc]

Getting this buck with my son and oldest daughter was my best memory of the year.

 

[schmalzy]

First Ram and the best outdoor adventure I’ve had to privilege to experience. Pray everyday I can share another adventure with my boys like it in the years to come. Special thanks to everyone in here who followed along and gave input and advice.


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[TripleJ]

My highlight was rifle hunting for elk after 30+ years of bow hunting them. It was a whole new experience, one I thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of snow, big dark canyons and glassing. My buddy and I both killed bulls that we glassed up on cross canyon shots. It’s really cool to learn a different way to hunt elk after doing it another way for so long.

 

[30338]

Got in a lot of hunts with my son this year. Was a good year in the mountains and on the plains. Hope to repeat it. Best single memory was getting my ram with my son guiding me in on the spotter. We'll have a hard time topping it.

 

[KClark]

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Being able to take my dad hunting and get him his first bear after 3 hard years of trying and his first elk. Memories I’ll always have and cherish.

 

[trailblazer75]

My son and I were whitetail hunting Missouri's opening day of rifle season. We hiked up a big ridge (for the Ozarks) and I climbed up, installing climbing sticks as I went and hung a saddle platform for me and a treestand for my son. He's finally old enough to carry in his own stand and rifle, even though we occupy the same tree (he's 10).
As the sun rose we had great deer movement and passed on a few does before I decided to take one that was clearly in estrous, thus giving us a real deal scent decoy. I dropped her at around 70 yards with a high shoulder shot using my 6.5 grendel.
In the following 2 hours we had a total of 9 different bucks go by in our effective range. All of which we decided to pass on for various reasons, before one came out at 140 yards that my son decided he would be happy to have. He got a good position and sighted in on the deer. I truly enjoyed watching him get it right and then...he made the call not to shoot because it was super windy and there were too many variables. I loved seeing him really put it all together and make an educated decision to hold his shot.
And the hunting gods rewarded him, because that buck wound up coming in to around 30 yards. We'd practiced out to 100 and he was grouping slightly over an inch at this distance so 30 was a chip shot for him. He made a lung-heart-lung shot with a great blood trail that lasted all of about 60 yards. At one point I was urging him to shoot and he switched on the safety, turned and looked me in the eyes and forcefully whispered, "I WILL".

I was amazed at his maturity and control in these moments. In the state of Missouri youth hunters start at 7 years old, so in 3 short years he's become very accomplished, calm and ethical. I wish I'd had this jump start on hunting.

 

[trailblazer75]

Being able to take my dad hunting and get him his first bear after 3 hard years of trying and his first elk. Memories I’ll always have and cherish. View attachment 494496
View attachment 494494

I sure hope my son treats me like you do your dad when the time comes!

 

[Marble]

My favorite memory is solo elk hunting in Oregon, killing a bull I had hunted for a few weeks. It was awesome.

But what I was most proud of was my wife killing her first archery buck all by herself.

I have to say gents, I really hit the lottery with my wife. She hunts, fishes, hikes, makes well into the 6 figures for income, and competes in fitness competitions. And she's a 10 on the hot scale.

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[Maverick1]

Best Rokslide memory from 2022? This! The gift that kept on giving - all year. LOL.
#MikeDrop.

 

[jwatts]

I drew a Colorado cow moose tag this year. The hunt was awesome. I got to see new country, hunt a new species, and get to know some new folks that were very helpful in the planning and execution of the hunt. I think my favorite memory was of the scouting trip my 13yo son and I made during the summer. We camped for a week while scouting several areas. We hiked, climbed mountains, did the tourist thing, fished, and had a good time in general.

 

[Northpark]

2022 had some great memories. Hard to pick just one. Killed my first black bear on a sweet Alaska coastal hunt with my best friend, killed my first coues deer here at home, took my son backpack hunting for the first time. He’s 7 and made a serious hike carrying his own gear. Daughter killed her first animal. An exotic sheep because she isn’t legally old enough to hunt in AZ. That lit the fire and now she super excited to be applying for deer, elk, etc since she’ll be 10 this year and can hunt.

 

[Agross]

My favorite memory is solo elk hunting in Oregon, killing a bull I had hunted for a few weeks. It was awesome.

But what I was most proud of was my wife killing her first archery buck all by herself.

I have to say gents, I really hit the lottery with my wife. She hunts, fishes, hikes, makes well into the 6 figures for income, and competes in fitness competitions. And she's a 10 on the hot scale.

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Gonna need proof,,, well at least on the last one

 

[rodney482]

Future hunting buddy coming May 2023

 

[COelk89]

Had a friend from out of state visit for a cow hunt. He is a little older than me and not in shape from packing elk out every year and hunting in the mountains, so we were limited in how far in we could really go. On the last day of the hunt I put a plan together that worked to perfection. Not only did he get one down, but I was able to punch my tag as well. Definitely one of the more memorable hunting scenarios.

 

[roosiebull]

Had a friend from out of state visit for a cow hunt. He is a little older than me and not in shape from packing elk out every year and hunting in the mountains, so we were limited in how far in we could really go. On the last day of the hunt I put a plan together that worked to perfection. Not only did he get one down, but I was able to punch my tag as well. Definitely one of the more memorable hunting scenarios.

That’s pretty cool!

When I started archery hunting, I hunted with my buddy and his dad, all of us very green, and it was late season archery (cow only) of my 4th season, and my buddy had killed his first early season… his dad and I doubled up that morning and didn’t even know it until about a half hour later when we met up… our elk were about 60yds from each other, both of our first archery elk… long time ago, but still a memory that’s vivid

 

[JasonWi]

Mine would be tied between a camping trip with my sister in SE Utah in October to Canyonlands NP or November shooting my biggest blacktail ever

 

[bigbassin]

All 3 memories were hunting this year:

1) Started hunting last year (all in Florida), and had never been in range on a legal deer. Finally closed the distance during archery but missed the shot.

Tried out a small management area close to where I was working in Tennessee on a Saturday afternoon. Property is a couple hundred acres, swamp on the SE corner, large creek runs the northern property line. Middle of the area is a mixture of fields and woods.

Place was packed and I didn’t see any deer, but it was also covered up with deer sign so I figured it was worth trying again.

Got off work the following Tuesday, and figured it would be a good day to try again. Got to the parking lot around 6:00, 5 other vehicles in the parking lot. Grabbed the bow, and decided to still hunt/scout along the property line with the bow in hand. With only an hour and a half of shooting light, didn’t feel like messing with the climber, plus I felt the other folks were likely hunting the field edges already.

Jumped one doe 100 yards from the parking lot laying in a field. Figured that was a good sign.

Tucked into the woods along a field edge and followed a trail paralleling the northern property line (adjacent to a creek).

Made it about 100 yards down the trail and start seeing tracks, very heavily used area.

Moving slowly, I creep along a little further. Find some acorns on the ground and what I believe was a scrape? Low hanging branch broken and missing it’s leaves at chest height, ground was scratched below it. Tracks all around as well.

Go just a little bit further, and movement catches my eyes.
It’s a deer!

Head down so I can’t ID it. Bucks and does are both good to go, but I still wanted to know what it was before flinging an arrow.

Finally looks up after going from broadside to facing away, it’s a doe. Very slowly feeding away from me, I cautiously took a step or two to keep it at 35 yards.

Turns back to broadside. I draw back…and a tree is blocking it’s vitals. I let down, it turns away and I’m staring at it’s tail.

Turns back to broadside, I draw back and take the shot…missed low! Arrow went right under. Luckily no branches were hit so it was pretty quiet.

Doe seemed to know something was up at this point, but it wasn’t fully ready to leave the area. It moved about 15 yards back to where it came from and looked around for a minute. I stayed as still as possible.

It put it’s head down again and I drew back to take the shot. Arrow hit a vine, deflected, and I missed again!

Sound of the arrow hitting the vine sent the doe hauling back into cover. Game was over with that one.

In about 20 hunts, I’d never had a deer in range before. Real bummer to miss not once but twice once I finally had the opportunity. Not sure what else to say other than target panic took over there. Thought I was comfortable with the bow on the range but drawing back on the doe made it clear it’s not at muscle memory for me or even close to it.

On the flip side, it was still an exciting hunt even if I clearly need to spend some more time on the range. And if I’m going to miss I’d rather just downright miss than get a non lethal shot.

2) In a treestand at the same WMA as the first story.

Had a buck come in to about 35 yards, bad wind for me. Stuck his nose up and locked on to me staring me down before running off. Very cool to see.

3) Flock of ducks blow by at about 10 yards sounding like a jet.

 

[tater]

Day 8 of a two week fly-in/float-out hunt for Stone's August of 2022. First full day of sunshine in over a week and we had just confirmed that none of the 15 rams on the next ridge were legal after a pretty grinding hike up some technical terrain. Think of it as more suited to goats than sheep.
We were settling in to bivy on a narrow ledge for the night and had the views of a lifetime as we made dinner and reflected on the day.
Great trip made better by a solid hunting partner.