Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Favorite Hunting?

What’s your favorite hunt that you’ve been on? Also, I don’t mean because you were hunting with family or friends to make it more special- nor a hunt that you killed your biggest buck, bull, etc (both family/friends and the potential to take big trophies mean a lot, but that’s not what I’m asking here). I’m just looking for fun hunts to plan in the future, so was wondering what kind of plain old hunting gave you the most enjoyment from just the hunting aspect.

For me, the most fun hunt I’ve been on so far was a horseback elk hunt in WY, just riding around in that country was enough to keep me happy for the week I was fortunate enough to spend doing it.

By far, every coues hunt. But i haven't expanded my horizons much.

Rut archery bull is probably the best, but it only lasted a couple days and those tags are few and far between. I get to spend 2-3 weeks a year chasing coues.

Probably antelope, for me.

You'll almost always at least see some.
They're relatively easy to pack out.
Tags are not hard to draw (in some states).
You don't have to get up hours before dawn or get back to camp well after dark.


No stress, at all. Just fun.

Big mule deer in remote,rugged country.

A pack in full wall tent camp elk hunt in Wilderness area when I was using my own string of mules. Punched tag or not, didn't matter.

Can't decide between 3:

- Archery elk in Idaho with an outfitter. First time we heard an elk bugle, the smile on my wife's face was priceless. Add in the beauty of hiking in the Idaho Mountains for a week and it's hard to beat.

- This fall, our first in WY, chasing antelope with my wife. As someone said, easy to see, of all the time we hunted together, my favorite was her first antelope, spotted ,stalked in, but watching my wife belly crawl through a mud puddle to the sage ridge, pick out one and drop it at 187 yards, then help take it apart and she packed it out. Priceless.

- for sheer fun and smile on my face, youth waterfowl weekend with my two sons, 12, 13 at the time. Calling in ducks, chatting during slow periods and calling in a goose for them that the both hit and it almost landed in the blind with us. Sheer joy, that may be the winner. GREAT morning.

It would have to be my archery bear hunt in Utah. It took me 7 years of applying to draw a tag, but well worth it. I baited in a number of bears and ended up shooting an absolute toad of a boar. His skull measured 20 2/16" and made the top 10 all time for Utah archery kills. A super enjoyable hunt with a chance to see a number of different bears hitting the bait. An early September hunt with beautiful weather, listened to a number of bugling elk and even took the bear with a recurve and cedar arrows I made myself. The memory of a lifetime.

Caribou hunt just north of the Arctic Circle in Northern Quebec. Two bulls, northern lights, fantastic scenery, great camp, excellent price.

Well, they sure ruined that, didn't they.

My favorite hunt for all time is chasing the big desert muleys in Kalifornia's low desert. Very challenging hunting. Something like 5-6000 deer spread over 6000 to 6600 square miles. Very high buck to doe ratio. And the bucks live far longer than they anywhere else.
The hunting requires a different hunting method. One must look for tracks and then track the buck. No other method works anywhere near as well.
And then there is the changing desert. Rainfall varies a lot. As in an "average of 3.5 inches that varies from almost nothing to three or more times that amount. That means in wet years, the bucks are much more scattered. Frankly, you gotta love the desert to do this. Not many do. Which is fine with me. I rarely see another hunter when I'm out of my Jeep. E

Red stag in the Patagonia Andes on horseback. Sneaking over a rise on your belly with stags roaring and fighting all around you.

Agreed!!

Big mule deer really turn my crank, and have done so since 1971.

Mine was a 2015 elk hunt in southwest CO near the Continental Divide. With the help of an outfitter, my hunting buddy and I packed in by horseback 6 miles into a wilderness area and was dropped off along with all our gear including teepee and stove. It was a week long hunt and we had a blast. It was warmer than normal and we only saw a couple of cows and one very young bull. But our disappointment was short-lived as the area was just an incredible place to hunt and hike. We never saw another hunter.

The worst hunt I've ever been on was backpack elk hunt in CO. It was a week long hunt from hell. Carry and climbing with a 60 lb. pack was too much for me even though I was only 62 years old and in decent shape at the time. After the hunt, I was pretty sure this was the reason God made horses.

I miss quail hunting, plenty of shooting!

I think the hunts I enjoyed the most was grouse hunting in the mountains above Salmon Idaho...We would drive the ridge road in the evening and stop occasionally to walk the old fire/logging roads...

My absolutely favorite hunt was hunting dove at my friends grandparents farm South of San Antonio at Charlotte Texas. There were dove everywhere. I used my dad's old 12 gauge Remington Model 31 Pump with modified choke. That was one dove assassin. It knocked 'em out of the sky. Loved that and the dove were everywhere. I made some great shots with that old gun. Also, we each got a limit of doves every day.The sky was black with doves.

I've also had some great deer and pig hunts. We used to get invited to a ranch between Junction and Menard Texas North of Interstate 10 about half way between Junction and Menard. I killed a beautiful 8 point one year with my .270. I've still got his head mounted which is right over to the right of my head as I type this.

I miss South Texas dove hunts also! We had some dame fine dove hunts in Coleman county too!

That would be it for me, except for the mules, I don't own any. My son and I are doing one in '21.

When I was a kid ( we didn't have any deer ) I would grab the Ithaca 20 gauge and start walking trough the woods and fields. Some days I would come home with squirrel, rabbit, dove, and quail. I think I enjoyed that hunting as much as any thing I have ever done.

I think my favorite is hunting chukars and staying in a wall tent camp. It can be as tough or as easy as you want to make it, you get to see some great country that a lot of folks don't get to play in, and you get to try and knock those little SOBs out of the sky. Then at the end of the day, you come back to a warm tent, relax, eat good food, and live like kings.

For big game, there's nothing that can top a Dall sheep hunt for me. Its all fun though, just in different ways.