Toughest hunt of your life?

[Casper20r]

I was asked to write and article for a magazine recently about tough hunts and what a hunter can do to stay in the game. Things like weather, homesickness, low animals numbers and the like were the focus.

Now for me, the toughest hunts I've been on were the ones that included long and heavy pack out with bad weather and multiple animals on the ground. So I focused on that in the article as well as the issues I mentioned above.

So, what is the toughest hunt you've ever been on and why was it so tough?

Kill or no kill, let's hear the story!

 

[rlmmarine]

Ky elk hunt, 7 days of walking up and down hills not seeing anything to speak of with a 1.5 hour commute each day. It was an outfitter hunt that provided piss poor food. Horrible lodging, shit for animal sightings. I paid for an outfitter to improve my chances on a nice bull and it was the worst hunt I've ever been on by far. I'll look west from now on for my elk hunts. Ky is out

 

[Wrench]

Finding a hunting pard of similar skills, abilities, vacation availability, drive, ethics and desire.....Who's wife will let them out for a couple weeks a year.

Critters are easy.

 

[glass eye]

I almost lost my leg at age 13 from a motorcycle accident so I have favored that leg thus putting all the work on my good leg. While hunting tahr in New Zealand at age 50 I tore my meniscus in my good knee while packing out a tahr in this drainage. I had shot 2 of them so the next day I had to do it again.

 

[T3clay]

Field hunting geese with the stomach flu.... Blowing mud every 15 minutes all afternoon in December

 

[TexasOutfitter]

Being an Outfitter for over 30 years and looking at this question from an Outfitters View, it would be hard to narrow it down to just one hunt. There are always going to be hunts where the weather conditions, animal activity, and/or hunter‘s capabilities will handicap the hunt. If I had to pick one circumstance for my South Texas Hunts, it would have to be rainy weather limiting us to where we can and can’t hunt. Rain can be a ”Nightmare” in my business!

 

[Rich M]

Deer hunting in 95 degree temps. Low animal numbers, high hunter numbers, lotsa skeeters.

The majority of my youth was hunting 9 or 16 day seasons and not seeing any legal game. Never saw it as a tough hunt - just part of the experience.

Weather was a factor this year - 0 degrees in a tent is tough, below freezing during the day is tough too. We relocated to town when the 80 yr old guy started showing signs of wearing out and then drove out from town daily and got into the animals. Go figure.

Illness was also a factor this year - I was sick, buddy was sick, my dad got sick, only 1 guy stayed healthy. We lost the sick buddy 3 days into the hunt, I was stuck for the duration due to circumstance and having all the camping stuff.

Homesick - you plan the hunt for a year or more and then can't be away for a week or two? Should just hunt local if that's an issue for you...

My worst hunt was with a partner who broke code and went rouge to kill solo. Plan a hunt for over a year, agree on stuff and then opening day comes and everything changes.

 

[5MilesBack]

Hunting animals is easy for me. The toughest hunt of my life has been trying to find some form of sanity left in society these days. That's the tough one.

 

[KHNC]

Toughest for me was a dry ground lion hunt in Southern AZ! We parked at the trailhead each day and rode ATVs on a treacherous "trail" for over 20 miles each morning. Once we got back in that far, we walked the roads searching for fresh lion tracks to turn the dogs out on. We treed 3 lions total in 3 days. The first 2 jumped before we could close the mile or so distance to them. The 3rd treed so far away from us that we lost GPS signal. We had to bushwhack around the mountain and down thru a deep canyon in a creek to close the distance. 4-5 miles later we caught up to the cat, just to have the damn thing jump and run down the canyon and back up the other side with the dogs in chase. AZ mountain terrain in this area consists of shale , steep slopes and millions of cacti. Hands and knees to go up and slide on your ass to the bottom. The cat treed on the side of a cliff about 80 feet up, over a mile from the original spot. We climbed a sheep trail to get above it. My buddy grabbed my belt as I leaned over the cliff edge to take a 17yd shot, straight down , with my bow. At the shot, it fell the 80+ feet to the bottom , near the creek. Once we hiked down to it, took pics, caped it and boned out the meat, I had to pack it out nearly 4 miles back to the ATV. Most of the first 2 miles was in knee to waist deep water in MARCH!! Once we made it to the ATV, we then had over 20 mikes back to the truck. Arrived back to camp after 11pm. I have NO desire to go on a hunt like that again, as long as I live. I am very glad it was a success. Not sure I could have handled another day.

 

[hutty]

10 day cape buffalo hunt on a property that had low animal numbers, lots of human intrusion, and poaching abound. Buffalo were pissed off, on edge and the habitat was beyond thick. 20 yards seemed like a runway. Hiked 8-10 miles a day , crouched over, stickers, thorns and all kind of pointy things. Almost run over by a herd of buff in the open that were being chased by poachers dogs. To make it more fun, picked up a bug from hell that had me down for 36 hours. Oh Africa!

 

[Beendare]

I've done my share of grind it out....long pack outs on my back....but its the mentally tough ones that I remember as being tough.

One of the worst was a bear hunt in the AK islands. I had a buddy in Wrangell with a 36' boat that we would tool around to the different islands towing a skiff bowhunting and stalking on bears. These hunts were fantastic. Many mornings on the inland passage side the water was like glass...not a riffle....and of course beautiful scenery.

One afternoon, We decided to make a run across the Clarence straight before a storm came in. For those unfamiliar with the inland passage, its a string of islands protecting sections of the inland waterway...but other sections are exposed to open ocean....and these can be BRUTAL....like the show, "Deadliest catch" brutal.

Well that storm kicked up and we decided to make a run anyway. Thousands of pounds of Green water was pounding the boat in 10' seas..... literally burying us with every wave. The 60+ mph wind water to spin us around on every peak. Truly horrible weather conditions. I've been on Kodiak in 90mph winds and rain...and this was way worse.

We had to be vigilant as we might have to run outside the cabin and cut the skiff loose. I can still picture it; We would go into a trough with the boat almost vertical heading up....and the skiff almost vertical heading down.
With that much water pounding us if the skiff swamped it might drag the 36 footer under.

Then the anchor line started to slide out of the front anchor hatch. Little mistakes can kill you....and this could have been one. My buddy stashed the line.....but left a little bit sticking out. At first, the waves pounding the boat pulled a little bit of line out at a time....then with 12' of line dangling...it started pulling it out at a faster rate.

"One of you guys is going to have to get out there and stow that line before it wraps our prop leaving us dead in the water, " my buddy that was doing his best to captain his boat said to me and my other buddy Chuck. Well Chuck was white knuckling it...[as was I] and he just shook his head that no way was he going out there. He was a great hunting partner on land....but he wasn't a strong swimmer.

Funny how you remember things.....I don't remember the cold and wet while out there...of course it was that....but I do remember the weight of that water hitting me like a load of cement....and I remember gripping that rail so hard I thought I would leave a dent as my feet were swept out from under me multiple times. I got the line in and as I slid into the protection of the cabin I distinctly remember my sea sickness was totally gone....and that Dang, this cabin is nice vs being out on deck in that crap.

It seemed like that run was 8 hours...when in reality it was probably only 2. I have no qualms about admitting that was the most scared I've ever been.....nothing has ever really seemed all that hard since.

Oh, and we lost 2 good bear hides in that storm, washed overboard...so we ended up with nothing to show from that hunt....except our lives.

...

 

[MallardSX2]

Hunting Bobcats with dogs in the mountains of PA with 24" of snow was probably by far the hardest hunts I have ever been on. Most people would have thrown in the towel in the first hour. I endured it for days. I used to love doing that.

I can deal with about anything but when you crest that 20" of snow (measures...not estimated) mark it thins out the crowd quickly.

 

[lkwoolsey]

Mine's not nearly as bad as some I've heard. Shot a bear about 6 miles from the truck, but he went ahead and rolled down the opposite side of the mountain. So, I wandered my happy self down there (truly, a happy self, I shot a the bear on day one of a 5 or 6 day trip) and began skinning and quartering. Well, about 100 yards away from him, clouds came in from out of nowhere and started dumping rain on me. I was already on a very steep, precarious slope, so it made processing the animal that much harder. I packed the whole thing into my bag after deboning him and began to make my way back up to a ridge I figured I'd follow up to the peak to get back over the peak. Well, the map wasn't quite detailed enough and turned out to be a bit of a drop, about 15 feet, with drop offs on either side being 100+ (Not sure if I'm describing this in a way that can be understood.)
Now, it was either drop back down the ridge and work my way back across some super slick heather on some very steep terrain, or just climb down. I had been a climbing guide years before, so I took a chance and climbed down. Luckily, very easy stuff, and only 15 feet, so no biggie.
After that it was much easier. I was able to get up and over, get to a trail, and work my way back to my truck.
Pretty tough hunt, made more so because I was solo that trip. Also extremely rewarding.

 

[EastMT]

Sheep and goat have their rough days, but the roughest for me was a solo ewe hunt in the Breaks.

I had never hunted hard at 90 deg or in a location that dry before. After 3 days of seeing lots of rams but no ewes, I decided I would take a break for a day, go take some pictures of these huge rams and mule deer I had been seeing and just enjoy the animals.

Needless to say, I didn’t plan well, not enough water for a long hike, no filter for the muddy river water, and a light snack.

I get up to where the rams had been about 2 miles in, glassing for them to take pictures, and see a big group of ewes about a mile farther headed into the shade for the day. Well, it only a mile farther. Well that mile was a lot tougher than the previous 2. Get across the canyon from them, pick out a fat old ewe, one shot, awesome.

Go to get her, the hill down the canyon is steep, sliding on my butt and boots. Get up the other side to her, barley reach a horn and she tumbles all the way down, then I was nervous going back down.

At this point it’s noon, hot, I only brought 32oz of water because it was a day hike. I run out of water about the time she’s packed in the backpack, 90+ degrees sun just baking me.

I decide the easiest would be to walk down the drainage rather than climb back out. After an hour downhill I come to a 70’ cliff, no way around up or down. I backtrack 2 hours up the drainage, at this point I’m dry, muscles are hurting, still 3.5 miles to go.

By the time I got halfway up the hill, my legs were cramping like swim cramps, bad. I said a little prayer I don’t remember the exact words but something along the lines of I can’t do this by myself, I need some help, I can’t let this ewe spoil.

About 7 PM, sun is down, dusk, I’m walking like a peg leg. My legs are locked straight, leaning on hiking poles. I make back to camp(truck). I chug some water. There’s another ewe hunter there, we talk a bit, show him my B&C ewe haha, he says “You want a beer”, ummm yeah! That light was the best beer I’ve ever tasted!

Luckily I had thought ahead and brought a 100 quart cooler packed to the rim with ice blocks for meat and hide. Packed her in there, bed time!

Lessons learned- pack for a full day, carry a small water filter, best to leave the way you came, ewes are large!

Sorry for the crappy pics, this was flip phone days haha.
MGD

I have yet to be begin to procrastinate.

 

[HUNTNUT]

Quebec/labrador caribou hunt: 1guide to 4 hunters. Third day went in to retrieve a bull I had shot he day before. My guide, another 70 yr old hunter and I were almost to my bull when we spotted a group of bulls crossing a river and there were numerous BIG bulls. I had one tag left but the other hunter had 2, and the guide had one. After all the shooting was done we had 5 caribou on the ground including my bull from the day before. Turns out the older hunter had a heart condition and could not help pack so it was up to the guide and myself. Did I mention we were 3 miles from the boat? Good thing it was cold and we has several days to get meat and horns out.

 

[rlmmarine]

Finding a hunting pard of similar skills, abilities, vacation availability, drive, ethics and desire.....Who's wife will let them out for a couple weeks a year.

Critters are easy.

You and me need to talk thats my hardest part aswell. 95 percent of my hunts are done solo not because i want to but because i want to go and do t have anyone to go with

 

[FLAK]

10 day Brown Bear fly in tent hunt in SW AK, Sept/Oct.
Rained or Snowed EVERY FREAKING DAY.
Hunted 13 hrs. a day.
Saw 2 Bear in those 10 days.
Never fired a shot.
Mentally brutal.

 

[Terrapin]

It was hotter than the gates of hell one elk season. My hunting partner decided to skip since it was too warm to hunt far from the roads. I was younger and dumber. Hunted a six mile loop on some old skid roads all morning, nothing but crickets. On my way back, I remembered a little draw that had a wallow in it. Just about a mile below the gated road I was on. I was out of drinking water, but figured it would be okay. Got down in there and saw a couple nice bucks, followed them for a while, then saw two good bulls. Started calling and them came in like they were on a string. Shot the bigger one through the heart. He ran off, I sat down to wait a half hour.

I started looking for that bull around noon. 100 degrees. Not a drop of blood. Found him via grid search two hours later. Got him broke and cooling off. By then i was pretty thirsty. I still had a three mile hike on a gravel road to get back to the truck through the biggest, ugliest clear cut in North America with the sun beating down. I figured I might as well stash my bow and pack since I was coming back that way. Then I went a couple hundred yards and figured I’d stash my top layer. Went a couple hundred yards and figured I strip down a bit more. Pretty soon I was down to my boxers and hunting boots, still covered in elk blood.

I was rightfully concerned about the meat, so I was jogging along at a pretty good clip, when I rounded the corner straight into a church group out picking huckleberries. I’m guessing I gave them an eyeful. I was too embarrassed to ask for a drink of water even though I was pretty sick by then... just jogged on through, damn near naked and covered in blood and sweat streaked face paint.

Got to the truck, and remembered my keys were in my pack 3 miles back.... by the grace of God, I could reach my bag phone through the slider window of my truck and for the first time called for help. A hunting buddy was out and about, and brought my three gallons of water and helped me pack that bull out. I probably would have died there in my skivies if hadn’t showed up(since I was still to embarrassed to face the church group).

[Meat was a bit gamey but not bone soured, and I never hunted when it was that hot again... well at least til the next year.]


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[jmez]

Alaska 14 day outfitted moose hunt. Late Sept early Oct. About 35 degrees and constant rain every day. It quit raining for about 45 minutes one day out of 14. By the end of the hunt there was about 3 inches of water standing in the bottom of the tent.

We had good luck, 4 of us, 1 60+ inch moose, big caribou, black bear, and a wolf.

Most mentally trying thing I've endured. Everything was so wet couldn't make a fire. Not even with a gallon of Coleman lantern fuel. Never got dry. It was miserable.

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[timekiller13]

Mine are lame compared to most. Hunting Raspberry Island and Afognak Island this year for blacktail was probably the most physically demanding hunt I have ever done. Started at the beach every day, bushwhacked through alders and devils club for several hundred yards and then climbed 1200-1800 feet to get to the deer. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't easy. I rate it 5/10 on the difficulty scale, my Dad would probably go a bit higher!!

Last year I drew a permit to hunt whitetails on a prime piece of public ground in NC. Over the course of about 3 weeks, the area saw 40" of rain. The river was 400 yds out of its banks. When I got to the land to hunt, 90% of it was under water. Almost all access was flooded out. Only two areas were accessible, one area required you to wade through thigh deep water, that was about 38 degrees, to get in. Really questioned whether any deer was worth that effort. On a bright note, if you could find dry ground, you were covered in deer.

But like I said, very tame based on most people's experiences.