What trophy are you most proud of?

[double rifle newbie]

1) the brunette my sophomore year in college.

close second is my brooks range interior grizzly.

 

[Sabre]

The animal that means the most to me is one of the least impressive to others.

I was convinced that this specific day was going to be the perfect chance to get a buck during bow season. I had never gotten a bow season buck before, and I could feel with every fiber that tomorrow was going to be the best day this season. The rut was in full swing, the weather was going to be perfect, with a nice cold snap moving in overnight and mild NW wind. I was just absolutely convinced this would be the day.

The only problem was that I had obligations that I couldn't shirk that day in order to go hunting and they would take all day. I was lamenting about this to my girlfriend (she may have been my fiancé by then) the night before and she said, "You go hunting, I'll take the day off work and cover for you." For anyone to do this for me would have meant a lot, but at this point in time she didn't have very many vacation days to "burn" per year. So, I told her that it was a really sweet gesture, but it was a bad idea and she shouldn't waste one of her very few vacation days like that. She told me that she wasn't going to accept no to the offer and I needed to go hunting the next day.

So the next day I was in the woods before dawn. I didn't see anything all morning. I was really glad to be out hunting on such a beautiful day, but I was also feeling guilty about my girlfriend taking off work to cover for me while I was hunting and not even seeing anything.

I decided to focus on the opposite end of the property for the afternoon. As soon as I got to the other side of the property I started seeing deer all over. None of them were close enough to me, but deer were running all over the place. Bucks chasing does, bucks chasing off smaller bucks. I could hear two bucks fighting out of sight in some thick cover. Being new to bow season back then, this was the first time I had really seen full on "rutting behavior" to this level. Late in the afternoon I did a grunting and doe bleat sequence and a very nice (to me), very symmetrical, darker antlered (for the area), good mass for his size (and young age), 8 point buck came running in like he was going to kick some ass and chase some tail. This was also a first for me to experience a buck responding like that.

Now, if you saw this buck today, many people would say, "that's a nice looking little buck". But to me, he was awesome! Not like I had thought he was some record book buck. I didn't. But I hadn't experienced such cool rutting behavior like that, before this day. And I hadn't had many experiences with bucks at all at this point, only a few fleeting moments during prior gun seasons. And definitely no experiences up close like that.

When moving through the woods in front of me, he was moving through very thick brush. His head was above it, but his body was blocked. I got very lucky and he stopped to look around for the buck and doe he thought he heard earlier. When he stopped, he stopped in what was likely the only opening in the brush at the height of his vitals. I took the shot and he went about 30 yards and bedded down and expired in sight.

I was very excited, called my girlfriend and told her about it. I called my friends, it was their land I was hunting on. My friends came over to help me drag out the deer. And my girlfriend made the long drive over to the property to check it out and congratulate me. Then we all went out for dinner to celebrate.

We are now married and have been together a long time now. Although most people would look at all the different animals I have hunted and see that deer as towards the bottom, for me, it will always be at the top.

My wife made what was, at the time, a big sacrifice that most girlfriends wouldn't make, just for the chance that I might have a cool meaningful experience.

 

[Rifleman97]

Buckshot is highly capable out of the right choke. I put 15 pellets in a 25” circle at 40 yards with my gun. I have probably killed 50-60 deer with dogs and that’s a drop in the bucket compared to many people around here. Our deer season lasts 4.5 months. Use any weapon and all weapons. Rifle, bow, shotgun, whatever. lol.

That’s wild to me. In Iowa, 1st gun deer season is 4, maybe 5 days, and I personally often take up to 6 deer in a single season, with no bait, no stand, no tent/shack, just walking out in the woods with my 350 legend XPR. I don’t even wear camo or bother with scent blockers. If deer season was that long here there wouldn’t be any deer left after 1 season!

 

[3chunter]

That’s wild to me. In Iowa, 1st gun deer season is 4, maybe 5 days, and I personally often take up to 6 deer in a single season, with no bait, no stand, no tent/shack, just walking out in the woods with my 350 legend XPR. I don’t even wear camo or bother with scent blockers. If deer season was that long here there wouldn’t be any deer left after 1 season!

Topography is everything. We don’t have cwd and it’s so thick that deer can hide anywhere. Much of our woods it’s very difficult to access between swamps, thickets, cutovers, etc. most rifle shots are 80 yards or closer. Very dense brush here.

 

[Rifleman97]

Topography is everything. We don’t have cwd and it’s so thick that deer can hide anywhere. Much of our woods it’s very difficult to access between swamps, thickets, cutovers, etc. most rifle shots are 80 yards or closer. Very dense brush here.

Yeah we have pretty thick woods in Iowa but since deer season isn’t until mid December there’s no leaves or anything to block your view shots range (for me at least) from tripping on the deer as it gets up from its bedding (happened to me twice) up to potential shot opportunities I have not taken at 600 yards. Furthest I’ve taken a shot at a deer in Iowa was 300-350, and it took under 10 paces and collapsed. But I’d say 80% of shots for me are around 50 to 120 yards. Since I’m actively walking around constantly they tend to get spooked up a short ways away and you shoot before they rapidly get out of sight

 

[Wade J VanGinkel]

My wolves,
It's was never the most extreme or difficult hunting but took far more time than anything else to finally connect. 3 dedicated trips and several tags on other trips just in case.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

I have two.
My second African animal ever in 2018. This monster Kudu, and from my last hunt Rhino Dart.

 

[Bighorn191]

Without a doubt, the 4 sheep in my Grand Slam have been the most memorable and greatest days outdoors! I will remember almost every detail of each hunt the rest of my life! Met a lot of great people along the way and had some grueling climbs to get these rams! Of these 4, the Bighorn hunt will still be the single best hunt of my life!

It's pretty awesome to see the great trophies taken and displayed here - some remarkable hunts!

 

[ftrovato]

Without a doubt, the 4 sheep in my Grand Slam have been the most memorable and greatest days outdoors! I will remember almost every detail of each hunt the rest of my life! Met a lot of great people along the way and had some grueling climbs to get these rams! Of these 4, the Bighorn hunt will still be the single best hunt of my life!

It's pretty awesome to see the great trophies taken and displayed here - some remarkable hunts!

Impressive accomplishment for many reasons! Congrats!!

 

[358 Norma]

Right now it's this one! Now it's just finding help.to get him into the house!

 

[Osama Mahdi]

Right now it's this one! Now it's just finding help.to get him into the house!View attachment 717482

Who was your taxidermy for the buffalo?
It is impressive...

 

[358 Norma]

Who was your taxidermy for the buffalo?
It is impressive...

Bullseye Taxidermy in South Africa.

 

[Osama Mahdi]

Bullseye Taxidermy in South Africa.

Thank you for the kind reply. Sent you DM follow up question.

 

[hornhunter!]

Congratulations to everyone who has posted their trophies!
Mine so far would have to be my klipspringer taken this August.

 

[Hunt27]

mid Asian ibex. its a smaller one just over the legal size but i don't care its my ibex. given a chance to do that hunt over again I would shoot the same one.

 

[jcs271]

My first black wolf.....

 

[revturbo9967]

Monster bushbuck

 

[mark-hunter]

What trophy are you most proud of?

Ele and buff for me.

I love and am proud on all my trophies and memories, but dangerous game stands out from all others.
Adrenaline, big guns, anticipation, the tense, everything. Dangerous game.

 

[Ryan]

Well, the short answer is all of them. Each has a story, and I appreciate them all.

But my first caribou, which we jokingly named Bou-Bou is pretty high on the list. It wouldn't make B&C but something special with something like 40 points depending on what you call a point. And the hunt was just one of those 'Everything fell into place' kinda trips you can't plan for.
Our transporter had just figured out a safe spot to land in the valley we hunted the day or two prior, so we had a pretty much untouched area. We had hundreds of animals around at that time we landed. You can't hunt on the day you land in Alaska so we just soaked it in and looked around. We got up on a hill and I actually spotted this bull easily a mile upstream of our location. I hoped it would stick around, but knew it could pass us by easily if it decided to pick up speed that evening. With all the animals coming through I figured I'd see something respectable and didn't worry about him. Well, the next morning we had animals around camp but when I looked across the creek next to camp, low and behold there he was with a couple other respectable bulls. I wanted this one of course , my hunting partner wanted another,and we wanted to to take them at once. So we set up and waited. One would have a good shot, the other not and back and forth for a couple minutes. It was frustrating. Finally things lined up and we counted down "3 2 1" Bam! We dropped our two at the same time before we even had breakfast. We ate a granola bar for breakfast as we worked them up and had them back in camp in a couple/few hours. Took the rest of the day off watching caribou and even a grizzly in the valley. We took our second 'bou each the next morning to fill the freezer for that year.
Never had another hunt line up quite like that.

 

[Elkeater]

I’ve been hunting for 24 years (since I was 12 and nowhere near as long or as experienced as many of you on here). I’ve been fortunate to hunt many places from cold wet Alaskan coastlines when it never really gets dark, the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains where the air seems to be sucked out of your lungs, the hot dry Sonoran desert while the sun bakes you into something like biltong, and the Waterburg mountains of South Africa with its seemingly infinite display of fauna. It’s so hard to pick a favorite. So many have amazing memories. First deer with a bow? I was 13. I shot a small doe at 8 yards. First buck? I was 14 with grandpa and a .30-06 rifle. That little 3 point got me so spun up I could hardly stand up after I shot him. Black bear in Alaska with my best friend? Never thought I’d be paddling an inflatable raft across an ocean bay in the dark. How about my biggest bull elk? Killed on a 13,000’ ridgeline in an over the counter tag unit in the Colorado Rockies. A kudu with my brother in Limpopo? Taken the first night of our Safari in a land I never thought I’d ever hunt as a kid. And then there’s the predators and waterfowl. And what about the random squirrel hunts and pheasants? And now as a parent I’m more proud of my kids than I ever have been of any parent f my trophies. I don’t think I can pick just one, But here’s a few of my favorites.