Toughest hunt of your life?

Ime, there’s 2 kinds of tough.

3 years ago, the toughest physical sheep hunt in my 15+ seasons. You’d think after so many years, a guy would learn that Google earth WILL fool you…. Not me, sucker for punishment I suppose.

Not only my hardest hunt, but my 9 y/o daughter (added 20 pounds to my pack) and 70 year old dad’s as well. Day 8, the weather finally shredded dad’s Hubba Hubba, it was time to exit the mountain and the weather. 28km of the grossest bush wack Iv encountered to get out (F U Google earth 😅), the last 4-5 km in the dark and pissin rain

Wouldn’t trade it for anything though, neither would my partners. Dad may be retired from sheep hunting now, that trip sure sparked a fire in my kiddo though.

IMG_4465.jpeg

Toughest mentally, 6 years ago, was going through a bad breakup at home and needed time alone, off to the sheep mountains I fled with my dog. 8 days of solitude was tough, but in the end, I came out with my first and only ram, and a new man.
IMG_2523.jpeg
 
Toughest hunt so far was my first Archery solo elk hunt 5 nights hunt in a tent 4 miles from the nearest trailhead, 8 nights total with travel.....learned alot about hunting and more about myself/life..........
 
My toughest hunt to date was my very first elk hunt. Lots of rookie mistakes, especially when it came to fueling my body.

Worse part was that I arrowed a good 6x6 bull one evening and being the shot was farther back than I’d have liked, I decided to give him the night. Well a freak storm blew in and with it came a couple feet of snow and I lost his trail.

So not only was my body wrecked due to lack of nutrition, but my ego was completely destroyed. I was literally depressed for months.
 
My physically toughest hunt was an archery bull I killed a few years ago. I hiked in a set up camp and my dad was supposed to join me the day after and we were going to stay for the better part of a week. Well I ended up killing a bull that first evening without any help and it was forecast to be 84* the following day so I felt that I couldn't afford to wait for help. That elk died 2.9 miles from the pickup and that night I packed 288 lbs of elk out of the woods split between 3 trips. One of those things that you would look at and say there's no way in hell I could do that, but you don't have any other option so you just do it.
 
Alaska sheep hunt a few years ago. We walk back 22 miles and up over three different mountains looking for legal rams. Get up early on the third day and death march up a sizable mountain a few miles away that we had spotted a ram on, near dark, the night before. 3k feet plus of elevation gain, keep getting cliffed out on our traverse up and have to regain elevation lost to go around. We reach the midway point where its time to make a decision to go back to camp and make it before dark, but one of my partners points out a saddle up the mountain a 1/2 a mile away and says we are already here, we may as will get to that and look into the valley on the other side. We trudge on. Crest the saddle and look into the other valley.....12 rams! One looks close. We go into adrenaline kill mode and decide to scramble 1500 feet down the other side through a craggy boulder field and get to a small hill in the middle of the valley unseen so we can put a spotter on the 'possibly legal' ram on the other side. They move around and we sneak from vantage point to vantage point getting even closer. A few hours go by, distance seems like nothing right now while on the stalk. Get the spotter on him......7 rings and may be full curl but not gonna shoot him to find out! Heart sinks as I realize we are gonna sleep on this mountain and not have a ram to show for it.

We trudge back to our other partner who chose to stay up near the saddle. Losing light now, so we set up my 8x10 sill tarp over two sizable boulders to give us us some shelter from the rain that has now started. We eat and jetboil hot water to stick our Nalgene's in our jackets for warmth as its now near freezing and we had started to sweat. Asses go numb and its now raining harder while we try to get anything that can be construed as sleep. I doze for 30 mins and wake up to the sensation that my right foot is completely numb (as well as my ass) - in my sleep I kicked out my foot from under the tarp and now my gortex boot has soaked through and my foot was wet and ice cold. Nothing to do but get up and stomp around in the rain and try to get blood flow back - needless to say at first inkling of light we pack that crap up and start the death march back up and over and down the mountain on the other side. Make it to camp by noon like zombies, collapse into the tent and sleep the rest of the day. We trudge around a few more days before hiking all the way out, never quite recovered from that shit night on the mountain. 49 miles on the boots and untold elevation gain and lost - with no sheep to show for it.
 
Most physically challenging was a solo rifle elk hunt back in 2018 deep in Colorado’s biggest wilderness. Killed a big bodied 6x6 just after a snow storm passed about 12 miles from the truck. Packed it all out solo including the hide for a shoulder mount. About 85 miles total to get everything out including my gear.

Have shot bulls deeper in there since then, but either with a buddy or my wife to help pack and cuts the packing effort in half.
 
IMG_0154.jpeg

Colorado Mt Lion.
Up at 1am, found the track by 10am, killed by 2pm, and back at the truck by 6pm.
One granola bar, Copenhagen, and coffee fueled the body!!!
At one point i sat down during the pack out and thought I may never stand back up.
I would do it again tomorrow!
 
Archery brown bear out of Yakatat, AK. Took me 5 trips, 59 hunting days to kill one with the bow but the middle hunt I can still feel the wet and cold 30+ years later. It rained for 17 straight days. Flooded the runway where the cub was supposed to come and pick me up after my 10 day hunt was up. All my clothes were wet by day 2. Daytime temps around 40F with 20+ mph wind. Nights your wet boots would freeze solid in the tent. I saw a few bears but none I could get close enough to for a bow shot on this hunt.
 
My most physically demanding hunt was a solo elk hunt in the Schell Wilderness, Nevada. Killed my bull at first light on a monday morning and got the last load to the tailgate wednesday evening ....... was 52 at the time. Wouldn't trade that experience for anything .....
 
Hondo0925 said:
View attachment 681185

Colorado Mt Lion.
Up at 1am, found the track by 10am, killed by 2pm, and back at the truck by 6pm.
One granola bar, Copenhagen, and coffee fueled the body!!!
At one point i sat down during the pack out and thought I may never stand back up.
I would do it again tomorrow!
Click to expand...

I swear a fat pinch of Copenhagen can easily fuel the body for 1-2 miles in any conditions


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not the toughest hunt, but one of the more miserable. It almost never stopped raining that incessant Alaska drizzle. By the end, almost everything was wet. Then we almost lost it all in a log jam (there’s an outboard motor on the back of that canoe), and my hunting buddy was fortunate to get out as well.
IMG_0201.jpeg
 
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