magical days

[elkoholic]

After responding to the post on the biggest buck one ever passed on I got to thinking about those magical days when out hunting. I can think of about half a dozen days in 50 years of hunting that were truly magical in my mind and on none of those days did I shoot anything. One such day I was seven miles from my truck hunting in 18 inches of snow and encountered eleven moose within a one quarter mile of each other and five of them were bulls, with the biggest one having a good chance at the state record. During the course of that day I saw a half dozen whitetail buck, a couple in the 130+ range, and five muley bucks, the largest at probably 190+ inches. I walked more than fifteen miles that day and with the cold (less then 10 degrees) and snow and all the animals I saw, it could not have gotten much better. I never once shouldered my rifle.

On another day, hunting with my son, the rut was at it's peak and the buck were running. We still hunted, stopping to rattle and grunt call every now and then, and had more close encounters with deer than one deserves to experience. One buck was within ten feet and we had several keepers we just watched as they pursued the females. I am not sure why, but neither of us saw a reason to shoot anything.

I had a similar day while hunting alone, as described in the biggest buck passed post, where I should have shot something, maybe, but instead I just experienced a "magical" day.

There are a few elk hunts that come to mind. Being surrounded by cows and calves, with a couple of bugling bulls screaming insults at each other, is an experience I wish every true hunter could have.

How about your magical days afield?

[Tominator]

Too many to post about.

The day I killed my first BBB. Dead calm 45 degrees, gray sky in December. Very uneventful hunt until all of a sudden I got swarmed by tons of birds. All kinds of birds. Probably a dozen or so different species, when they left, the big boy showed up and I arrowed him.

Sitting in a blind with my daughter for the first time. Mr. 7 pt showed up as if on cue. I was clearly more excited than she was. I told her to poke her head out and look. She sat back, unimpressed. I asked if she saw the buck, she said "YEAH, HE'S RIGHT THERE!" calm voice, but kinda loud. Buck didn't like that and bounded away. lol.

[Rhino]

Magical days...maybe I consider magical days different for different reasons. With that said, I've had a lot of what I consider to be magical days.

The day my son shot his 1st deer was a magical day. Even though it was a doe we both got the shakes real bad after he shot her. I had it as bad as the day I shot my booner bowhunting in Kansas.

The day I killed my booner sure was another magical day. So was the day I didn't have a shot at another one in Iowa.

Before my son was old enough to hunt I carried him with me bowhunting out of ground blinds. We shared one very memorable afternoon having 10 rack bucks in front of us. One buck in particuar went around challenging the others to sparring matches. That was until a big one came out and put him in his place. The big one never got inside the 60 yard line though.

Another time in Iowa all I had was a video camera. I didn't see much until 10:00 when I switched postions. As I was easing into another spot around 11:00 there were 2 bucks after a doe. I finally managed to get in my stand and videoed a 170 class buck that afternoon along with a 140. Saw a lot of other bucks too but those were the best. It was virtually non stop action from the time I got in the stand until 3:30. It slacked off after that but I was still seeing deer every now and then until 5:00.

Another time in Iowa I didn't draw a tag but went along with a buddy that did. I was on one side of the tree with my video camera while he was on the other. It was still dark when we climbed into the stand and had chases going through right under us before we could see. It was another non stop action morning. At 10:10 here comes the 14th chase of the morning...a 150 class buck on a doe. He choked on the shot.

Another magical day in MS was when a good friend of mine choked and missed a buck. I helped him look and there was no sign of a hit. We did find where he'd cut a limb down. He left his rifle at his stand. I never walk in the woods without mine especially during the rut. We were having a quiet moment after he had accepted it as a miss. Wouldn't you know it here comes 3 bucks chasing a doe. I handed him my rifle & told him to shoot the trailing buck. It wasn't a monster but certainly legal by our criteria. I had failed to turn the scope down to 3.5...it was still on 6X. He couldn't get on him. They passed about 25 yards from us. He handed my rifle back to me and that's when I realized I hadn't turned it down. I did then but I was kicking my own butt for the error. Not a minute later here comes 2 more bucks chasing a doe. The trailing buck was a 140 class 8 point. They all stop, I scope the big one out, as soon as he moved I handed my rifle back to my buddy and just said "Shoot that buck!" It was that buck's day to die. He stopped again just inside 25 yards looking away from us toward where the doe went. Game over...DRT. In case you don't know, that means dead right there! While we're standing over his buck here comes another buck on the same trail. He stops maybe 15 yards from us to stare us down. My buddy looks at me and says "nobody is going to believe this...this was just like a TV show!" All that happened in less than 5 minutes. This was his 1st and only so far, wall hanger. It was certainly a magical experience. He insisted I get in the kill pic with him. Here it is.

That's a few of those magical days.

[Adjam5]

The best times in my life afield have been turkey hunting with my sons.

They have been brought up in the outdoor life.

The oldest Joe is a wicked turkey caller. He was working two toms in front of us and I had no intention whatsoever of shooting. It was all Joe. The toms were about 60 yards in front of us when out of nowhere, a big ole tom let out a thunderous gobble not 10' feet behind us. The bird was coming down on my side of the hill, Joe was on my left. The Tom walked down the hill turning his back to us when my son whispered and said "Dad I can't shoot across you, you take him". I raised the gun and the Tom was just about assassinated by me. The shotgun barrel was about 2' from the toms head when I shot. He went right down and Joe and I were crazy happy.

The other is with my youngest son Mike this past April. Joe was calling, Mike was shootin. It was the youth hunt here in NY. I had the vid cam. Last Sept. I tore my ACL( had surgery and fixed it) so I was a bit slow and behind on the run n gun that they were doing on these Catskill mountain hills. I was back about 100 yards when Joe waved for me to get down, stay still and be quiet. I just got the cam turned on and was watching a Tom come to Joe's calling. I raised the cam and was mesmerized by the show that bird was putting on and forgot to hit record(duh). Mike picked up his gun, waited for the Tom to get in range and POW! One really big mature turkey down. 22 lbs 9" beard 1 1/4" spurs

I wonder if it gets any better?

Well maybe this deer season when I'll have all 3 of my boys out there in the woods this fall...all hunting;).

[Dakota]

I'll never forget last fall, sitting in a treestand in a far southeastern South Dakota riverbottom (I could have shot my bow across the river and hit Iowa) during a nice cold, crisp and beautiful early November morning. I rattled in a giant 140 class 5x5 not 20 yards behind my stand. Didn't get a shot at him considering, because of a v in the tree I couldn't draw, there were branches blocking his vitals, he was quartering towards me and...to top it off...he had me pinned 20 feet up a tree! He snorted and busted out of there, but that was certainly an awesome memory.

Dakota