Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Greatest Hunts

So for those who've been there; done that, what have been your greatest spot-and-stalk, fair-chase, free-range hunts?

Anywhere in the world, but no hunts over bait, out of trees or man-made stands.

I shot my first buck ever last year 3x3 muley we were going from tank to tank stopping and glassing"1500 barrel oil tanks" we got on a 13 point but a little 2x2 kept giving us away. So we walked prob a mile then saw the 3x3 solo feeding out of nowhere 150 yds broadside so I took him o man it was awesome. I posted his pic on the deer hunting section. Love your style though I love spot and stalk hunting.

Hunting for large mule deer bucks throughout the west.....

1- Over the counter, DIY, public land, bull elk with a muzzleloader in Utah.

2- Over the counter, DIY, public land, spot and stalk bears in Idaho.

We had permission to hunt a private ranch near Ringling, MT. I went up to the area the night before and had a Swarovaki spotting scope and with what moonlight there was, I could see at least 100 head of elk.

He told me there were nearly 300 head every morning and they would cross back to the timber on the other side of the road in the morning. Dave and I spent a night in an abandoned house with about 3 inches of rat crap on the floor. We had never heard of Hantavirus, and if we had, we would have still spent the night there.

The next morning we approached the field under the cover of darkness and snuck out into the hayfield, doing everything we could to not startle any elk. We stayed in a good spot with a view in all directions anticipating the exodus through our gauntlet.

We waited till well past shooting light to see we had successfully snuck up on a field of haybails, and not a one flushed.

So far mule deer are my favorite too, most of mine have been taken on foot in the sand, and I'm guessing that's what cummins is doing also.

that's for sure I only hunt the sands in New Mexico deer aren't so bad but you give a blue quail an inch in the sand and they'll take a mile.

Great story!

Blue quail in the sand, now that is a challenging hunt. I've had a lot of days with sore, blistered feet from doing about 10 miles of sprints up and down sandhills chasing them.

All combinations of good tags and great friends. In 2001, two buddies of mine and I all drew hard-to-draw buck tags for the same season. We all connected with great bucks.

Then in 2006 two of us drew long-wait bull tags. I connected but my buddy didn't after holding out for a monster he'd been chasing. Still a great hunt.

Both hunts had us camped back in the bush for the whole season. Both in Colorado, public land.

Same buddy and I did a drop camp moose hunt in AK. Dropped off by float plane, two weeks in a tent, hunting moose and bear on our own...truly awesome. Buddy got a 51" bull and I got a good black bear. We saw moose every day, including some real hogs that we just couldn't get a shot on. Absolutely a blast.

All were some of the most fun I've had in my adult life!

sd

Each of the Colorado public land DIY elk hunts my elk hunting buddy and I have done. Always great trips and successful each time short of one, that due to a missed shot. We should be heading back next year assuming I am in the country and, for the first time, we should both have tags.

The recent family trip to Africa with my wife and three son's. Wonderful time.

My fly-in horseback NE BC moose/elk/mt caribou hunt. A complete experience.

Probably my most memorable is shooting my first, and still best, whitetail. The look of pride and happiness on my dad's (who is now gone) face is something I will never forget. I guess that it doesn't count though since it was out of a tree stand that I helped him build in a white oak. Anywho, good times for an 11 year old...

Mule deer, pronghorn and black bears here in Montana (where bears can't be baited or run with dogs) are all great. Have had some good spot-and-stalk elk hunts too, though in the area where I live the elk are usually spotted the evening before, then the same area still-hunted the next morning. Got my biggest bull that way, and a few others as well.

Have had some great spot-and-stalk hunts for Cape kudu in southern South Africa as well, as well as springbok in RSA's Karoo country, which looks exactly like the sagebrush areas of eastern Montana and Wyoming. Feral goats and red stag in New Zealand are also fun! Have also had good hunts spot-and-stalking whitetails in Sonora, the hillier parts Texas and even eastern Montana. Oh, and have spot-and-stalked wild pigs in California and Texas too, and warthogs in a couple countries in Africa.

It's always fun to see 'em then stalk 'em, no matter what the animal or setting.

I'm with MD on this one, but I'd add Antelope to the mix. They are a true rifleman's game and when you hunt them on your hind legs...its big time fun!

Otherwise I love Mule Deer Hunting, and Gemsbok in Africa.

Are antelope different than pronghorn?

Yes! The ones Ive been shooting and getting tags for lately don't have any prongs on their itty bitty horns...

Sheesh...there you go...expecting me to read the whole post again!

We all do that from time to time!

I might added my lone grizzly to my list, though there can be so much glassing involved that boredom can be a factor, even in beautiful mountain country. But finally see a grizzly tends to compensate for the boredom. Mountain sheep are also fun to spot and stalk, especially when the stalk takes half a day.

Elk in MT is my favorite by a large margin followed by Dall sheep in the Brooks range.

Never hunted them, but just seeing one is a hoot. They skeer me....

I have been skeered by grizzlies a few times, though only when encountering them unexpectedly up close. Glassing and stalking with a rifle in your hands isn't so scary--not, at least, before you shoot one in long grass and then after the bear disappears wonder if it's dead or not, even though you know the shot was good!