How has Everyone’s Hunting Season at Home been?

A lady who had a question for me was surprised to discover I was bear hunting. She noted the last time she drove through Pennsylvania, a bear crossed the road In front of her carrying a deer in its mouth. Not quite the cuddly little animals some think they are! Glad you and your daughter did not witness the blind destruction first hand, @JakeH.

The unnerving thing of it all is that I carried my daughter out that afternoon because I could tell we were being followed by something. It was always out of sight, but I’d see movement or hear something just in the brush. I gave it up to being a dog of some sort, but I have my doubts now.

There will now be a pistol on my side to go with the rifle in my hands when I go down there.
 
At the moment, trying to walk and stalk a damn Bushpig with the Bow. Been at it for 2 months. Closest I got was 22 yds, but the 5 seconds it took me to find my pin in the moon and get back on him again, the boar turned from broadside to facing away. Had to let down, and had to wait for 4-5 minutes. In that time, a Kudu bull was raking his horns in a bush, roughly 200yds behind me, which the pigs heard, and trotted off.

Soon.
 
At the moment, trying to walk and stalk a damn Bushpig with the Bow. Been at it for 2 months. Closest I got was 22 yds, but the 5 seconds it took me to find my pin in the moon and get back on him again, the boar turned from broadside to facing away. Had to let down, and had to wait for 4-5 minutes. In that time, a Kudu bull was raking his horns in a bush, roughly 200yds behind me, which the pigs heard, and trotted off.

Soon.
You might want to consider getting rid of the sight and shooting traditional/ instinctive. It's faster. To each his own, but when your tools interfere ...
Good luck, anyway.
 
At the moment, trying to walk and stalk a damn Bushpig with the Bow. Been at it for 2 months. Closest I got was 22 yds, but the 5 seconds it took me to find my pin in the moon and get back on him again, the boar turned from broadside to facing away. Had to let down, and had to wait for 4-5 minutes. In that time, a Kudu bull was raking his horns in a bush, roughly 200yds behind me, which the pigs heard, and trotted off.

Soon.
Shoulda gone after that kudu! I know the frustration. It took me years of stalking mule deer with a bow to get one. But once I got that figured out, it became easier. Good luck with your pig....if you get him, you gotta do a hunt report!
 
Shoulda gone after that kudu! I know the frustration. It took me years of stalking mule deer with a bow to get one. But once I got that figured out, it became easier. Good luck with your pig....if you get him, you gotta do a hunt report!

If I could see him in the dark, I would have flung one in his direction.
 
This year we were allowed to hunt turkeys in the fall for the first time and myself and the better half tagged out right at the beginning of the fall season.

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I was talking to one of my Army buddies at work about the hunt and as is typical of guys in the service who move around a lot it can be tough to find a place to hunt, so I invited him to join me ... he asked if could take his twelve year old daughter out with us as this was her first season of hunting. We got her out in the spring and couldn't connect but we made up for it in the fall season! After her hunt I asked her to write up the story ... so here it is in her own words:)


It all started with the most important thing… preparation. I practiced shooting with my dad whenever we had the chance and we always prepared all our clothes and equipment properly to make sure that we were comfortable. Even before I got my license I went out turkey hunting with my dad to watch him and practice. The first season where I got my license it was spring and we saw two jakes. Not giant ones, but not smalls ones either. We waited for fifteen minutes to see if they would come into shooting range. They didn’t. And that was the end of my first turkey hunt.

The next time I went it was the fall season. The weekend before I shot my first turkey, I went turkey hunting in a blind. I woke up around 4:30 in the morning and when I and a friend of my dad’s were finally ready it was the very beginning of legal hunting time. We waited and waited then we heard turkey calls. They were calling each other and then a couple minutes later three hens came in. I put my gun in place, I aimed, I shot and... I missed. They flew away and never came back.

A week after that I went hunting again. We had prepared everything the night before and we were all ready to go in minutes. We went out and waited. And nothing happened. No calls, no turkeys, no nothing. After that we went back home and decided we’d go out a bit later. When it was time to go we got ready and set up in a different spot. We waited for at most an hour and a half. And then a turkey showed up. It was a small hen, but then right behind came another hen. And another. In all there were about 5 to 6 hens, and we think there was still a couple more farther behind. I slowly took aim and shot. Right on target. All the other turkeys flew away and all that was left was the one. I was so excited. We quickly went over to make sure it was dead. It was. It was so exciting. We waited for our other hunting friends to come. We took some pictures and went home early. No better way to end a hunt. (;



P.S. Thank you very much for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. It was a moment of a lifetime and I’m extremely grateful. You are both very kind. Thank you very much.



Abigail is a 12-year old hunter from Ontario, Canada

I am pretty impressed with this young lady, makes me think there is hope for the future yet:) She definitely has an open invitation for next season!

Here she is with her dad who also managed to connect that day!

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Abby and her dad invited myself and my better half out on a goose hunt just after the turkey hunt as a way of saying thanks. Not something I normally do and certainly the first time in a layout blind for me. We had a great time and I look forward to trying it again sometime!

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Our PA bear hunting group closed out the season today with one wounded and lost, one found dead bear, and a 120 pound bear.
 
Well the season is over for me. Deer - 3. Moose - 0. Elk - 0. Anything else 0. At least there is meat in the freezer. Will hunt varmits a bit later. It's warmed up, so I want to wait till the hides are at their best.
 
My youngest son Jonathan has hunted in Africa twice. He has taken Impala, Blesbuck, Wildebeest, Warthog, Gemsbuck and a Genet Cat but not a whitetail. He was fired up last weekend in Ky when he took a doe and a 8 pointer on the 2nd day of modern gun. He made a great shot and dropped both deer in their tracks. I was more nervous than him when it all went down.

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Just got in from two days hunting out of state. Took a fat doe with my new Ruger .275 Rigby. She came out right at 5:00 and was about 100 yards from the blind I was sitting.
 
Well, I finally broke the curse. Last night I scored on a big body white tail spike. Not proud of my success, but I'll take it. I was watching two does, and was about to take one of them, when they turn around and looked my way. I looked, and there he was standing at about 75 yds. I looked through my binoculars, and didn't see any horns. I shot, and when I went to retrieve the deer, I saw the 4" spikes on him. The guy at the processing was surprise of the body size and made a comment that the small spike on him didn't match. I am sure he will eat well.
 
At the moment, trying to walk and stalk a damn Bushpig with the Bow. Been at it for 2 months. Closest I got was 22 yds, but the 5 seconds it took me to find my pin in the moon and get back on him again, the boar turned from broadside to facing away. Had to let down, and had to wait for 4-5 minutes. In that time, a Kudu bull was raking his horns in a bush, roughly 200yds behind me, which the pigs heard, and trotted off.

Sounds like you should hire a guide, two months?! You must be losing your touch :whistle:
 
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Idaho 5x5 taken with 300 WSM and 180gr Swift Scirocco
I think he’s a 3 1/2 year old buck. Would have been a pig in another year or two.
 
So far so good for me this year. I took a nice little 9 pt on a rare cold morning after a cold front came through
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Then last weekend I had an opportunity to go hunt a ranch in the Hill Country. Managed to connect on a gorgeous buck.
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Two nice bucks! Not a lot of main frame 12 pts out there...at least where I hunt in Texas.
 
Very nice. My hunting is over for the year after my moose then I went and got my caribou during the winter hunt. The next hunt for me will be Africa since I leave the day after bear baiting season starts I won't even try to hunt bear until I get back.
 

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