Bucket List


Rhino

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A couple of us got off topic on Frank's spring bear hunt thread talking about our hunting related bucket list things.  You know...the hunting related things you'd like to do before you kick the bucket.  I'm still pondering what to add to mine now that I've scratched off most of them.  I can only think of one I have left on my list.  That one is a big non-typical whitetail.  I thought I had a good chance in 2015 to bag one and spent most of my season in MO chasing a big 17 point NT buck only to find he'd died from EHD.  Had a bunch of trial cam pics of him with the last one on 9/13/15.  Season opened on Sept., 15th.  Found his remains in Feb., 2016 about 100 yards from one of my stands in the area I had been getting pics of him.  Huge bummer!

Let's hear what's on your hunting bucket list..

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Once my wife and I get our kids grown, plan to do some travelling and hunting.  Coues, blacktail, and want another mule deer hunt.  Would like to take a big nt whitetail someday too, very rare in this area to see nt points so an away hunt maybe for whitetails.  

Would be cool to take a deer that makes the books someday even though I probably would never enter it, dunno that will ever happen.  My antelope was probably b and c before the taxidermist boiled the horns off.  

Think an elk hunt may happen someday, maybe.  

Dunno that TN will ever allow killing of mountain lions, but they are here, would make a very cool mount but not a hunt I would pay for.  Have a bobcat mounted.  

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Time may be running short and medical bills are eating away at the finances, but a hunt for Alaska-Yukon moose and mountain caribou would top my list.  Starting at around $20,000 there is little chance it will happen.  I would be happy to draw a moose tag here in Montana, but 30+ years of applying has brought no success yet.

A northern Saskatchewan whitetail hunt would probably be next, followed by mule deer in a trophy area.

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I think my bucket list may have to wait until at least two of my kids are out of the house lol. The most affordable and would probably be an antelope hunt. I would love to shoot a nice buck for the wall, and put some antelope meat in the freezer. Next would be a mule deer hunt. Someday I would like to go on an elk rut hunt with the bow also. I can only imagine the feeling of having a giant bull let out a bugle at 30 yards.

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I've got a few still to do.     Catching a fish over 100 lbs was on the list, last summer a caught a 98lb halibut out of Homer.  I still want to catch a marlin.  I would like to do a buffalo hunt, either a Cape buffalo or an Aussie water buffalo.    A caribou hunt is still on the list----but with Quebec closing it's season, Newfoundland numbers down and AK numbers dropping---it probably won't happen.

Grizzly is on the list---I'm hoping to check it off this June.

A nice whitetail is on the list.     A Florida gobbler is needed to complete my slam.

The older I get the more I enjoy turkey hunting.   I would love to start in the south and follow the gobbles north.

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I really want to take an Axis with my crossbow and a Pronghorn with my Muzzleloader or an Axis with my Muzzleloader and a Pronghorn with my crossbow doesn't really matter which way it goes either way would make me happy. There is also a Ghost Phase Gobbler I have been patterning the last few seasons that I would love to take out, noticed there were 3 Ghost Phase Jakes in the bunch this fall but we only have a spring season here in South Carolina, so I will be hoping to check that one off the list in another few weeks.

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If you've never been elk hunting during peak rutting time, you should sure consider putting that on your bucket list.  It's impossible to describe how thrilling it is to have a bull bugle at close range...a number of times!  Another bonus is the scenery is breathtaking.  If I still had 2 good knees & could travel miles every day through elk country, I'd still do it.  Spot and stalk bowhunting for mulies was a blast too.

I'm still scratching my head over putting Red Stag on my bucket list.  Just not sure I want to travel 8,000 miles to pursue one.  I hear Red Stag venison is the best there is but you can't take it home with you from New Zealand.  Dang FDA!  Caribou is something I've been thinking about but only if I could bowhunt them.  Seems like the older I get, the more I prefer hunting trips that include hunting where the scenery is totally different than what I'm used too.  For example, just me but given a choice of hunting Merriams in the mountains or Osceolas in Florida (the only bird I need to fill slams), I'd go after Merriams.  Matter of fact, I am again this spring.

BTW Bob...I'm still 0 for every big game fishing trip on marlin so far.  Seems like whenever it's my turn in the chair I catch anything but a marlin.  Good luck on the Ghost Phase Gobbler Ross.  It's been over 30 years since I've seen a ghost phase turkey and it was a hen.

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I'd love to do a caribou hunt, some of my uncles and cousins drove up to northern Quebec a couple years ago and did well. Think it was something like 800 miles straight north of here, the roads get pretty bad up there, and even gas stations are few and far between.

Would also like to hunt those monster whitetails in northern Saskatchewan. 

And you guys will think I'm crazy, but I REALLY want to go hunt prairie dogs sometime, obviously wouldn't make a special trip to kill something that just explodes when you shoot it. But I think it would be a riot where there's a bunch of them to do some thinning out.

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41 minutes ago, wtnhunt said:

lol. irs and help are like antonyms(lack of better words coming to mind).  

Got a good laugh out of both of you.  Sent links of 3 outfitters in Argentina to my hunting buddy who's about to be retired too.  Same buddy I went to Africa with this past Summer.  I also sent an email to Gene Wensel to get his thoughts along with guys he knows that have hunted red stag there.

I decided to start a written list for my bucket list.  Heck I'm 63 so I can relate to senior moments.  Funny how things crop up I thought about before when you start writing it down.

Added these to the ones I already mentioned that relate to hunting that I haven't done yet...1) See Bailey (my son) kill a 150+ class buck; 2) kill a gobbler with at least 1 1/2" spurs; 3) kill a gobbler with 4 or more beards; 4) kill an Osceola gobbler; 5) hunt where I can see the northern lights.  

Went to King Ranch turkey hunting 3 times because the odds of killing a gobbler with 1 1/2" spurs there were pretty good.  Best I could do was match 1 3/8" spurs from a number of Mississippi birds I already had.  A long time ago I used to have a double beard on my list...did that a number of times now.  Then it was a triple beard...gotten 3 of those.  Now I'm after the illusive 4 beards or better gobbler.  Ironically, my main hunting buddy has killed less than 15 gobblers in his life and one of those was a 4 bearded gobbler.  I should reach the 100 mark on gobbler kills this year and the only gobblers I've seen with 4 or more beards (4 of them) were killed by friends of mine.  I also decided...what the heck...someday I ought to go for an Osceola gobbler.  I hope to see the northern lights going for Caribou someday.

Edited by Rhino
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Guess a Merriam's and an Osceola gobbler (or two or three of each) are on my bucket list......................  Coulda checked the Merriam's off in 2014, but didn't squeeze the trigger.  Mature bird............... just wasn't the bird I was looking to tie my tag on. 

 

Also want to arrow a Booner..................... on the Strut10 Ranch.  That's gonna be a chore.  I know there's been a chance one or two across the hallowed grounds over the last 10 years or so.  But sticking an arrow through one is a stretch.

Other than that, I'm a pretty content feller.................. 

 

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Alaskan brown bear is at the top followed by the Griz and white ram. These are not financially feasible for at least a decade and likely never will be. A red stag hunt from New Zealand is next on the list and will likely happen in 4 or 5 years. Argentina is great and cheaper to hunt the red stag, but I would combine the hunt with a vacation and New Zealand is number one on my bucket list of places to visit. Question on the red stag hunt would be going for the smaller public ground stags or a managed private ranch hunt with giant stags??? Mountain lion also falls in there somewhere within the next decade.

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Huckle-----I have been on 4 sheep hunts here in Colorado.    2 were mine.     The other 2 were my wife's and a buddy of mine.     2 were successful, I killed a 7/8 curl in 2000 and my wife killed a 3/4 curl in 2002.       The other 2 we were in rams but couldn't close the deal.       Colorado is draw only for sheep.

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