What was the most challenging animal you've ever hunted?

[BRICKBURN]

With a bow? Oh hell no.

Yup. If not for the screaming wind I would have brought home the steaks.

 

[BRICKBURN]

@BRICKBURN love hunting in tornados, I also cant really think of a hunt that was particularly challenging, more or less just a test of patience

Most hunts for me are a test of patience. Especially when I have a Bow in my hands. That is what makes it hardest for me.

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

Yup. If not for the screaming wind I would have brought home the steaks.
View attachment 389103

jeez you have got to be a prodigy to hunt with a bow there

 

[CoElkHunter]

Been there, done that. An elk hunt on horseback put me in the trauma ward for 4 days, two shoulder surgeries and numerous other pains twenty years ago. Ended up getting flown out of the mountains via helicopter. A friend of mine was at a veterinarian conference years ago and one of the attendees asked the question "is elk meat safe to consume considering the possibility of chronic wasting disease?" The guest speaker's answer was epic. "Lets see, you drive through traffic to get to the airport trusting every other motorist's driving, then you get on an airplane and fly across the country and they've been known to crash. Very infrequently but it happens. You then get in a vehicle to drive to your hunting departure point. Mount up on a strange horse (when was the last time you rode one) ride up into the mountains possibly in a snow storm and in the dark and then go hunting. And you're worried about chronic wasting disease? When elk hunting with all these factors, it's not if there will be an accident, it's when will there be an accident."

Adventure awaits! Might be safer hunting DG in Africa? I’ll bet you could hunt off horseback there too? Ha! Ha! Ha!

 

[CoElkHunter]

Yup. If not for the screaming wind I would have brought home the steaks.
View attachment 389103

But no need to wear your Covid mask in the middle of nowhere!

 

[VertigoBE]

Stag in the Scottish Highlands, not so much the animal spooking, but the terrain - they are all at the top of the mountain. Get fit to hunt highland stag.

I know very well what you are speaking of @Kevin Peacocke !
Have done it 5 times now already, but the last time I got to leave with a busted knee and surgery afterwards

 

[VertigoBE]

So far, the most challenging has been Scottish red deer in the Highlands. Climbing up and down mountains for hours at a time, with very little rest, with your achilles heel starting to feel like it might snap and your knees burning, while everything and everywhere is wet and freezing. Then when you are finally up on the mountain after about 4-5 hours of climbing, it's to either descend and reclimb, or to practice laying in the snow/grass/little icy stream, without moving for 30min or more until the right animal is selected and shot can be squeezed off.

then again... I do not have that much to compare to either so maybe it is all just in my mind and I'm just a bit of a wuss

 

[BRICKBURN]

But no need to wear your Covid mask in the middle of nowhere!

Thank you for the morning laugh. .
(Who knew I was so far ahead of the curve.)

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

So far, the most challenging has been Scottish red deer in the Highlands. Climbing up and down mountains for hours at a time, with very little rest, with your achilles heel starting to feel like it might snap and your knees burning, while everything and everywhere is wet and freezing. Then when you are finally up on the mountain after about 4-5 hours of climbing, it's to either descend and reclimb, or to practice laying in the snow/grass/little icy stream, without moving for 30min or more until the right animal is selected and shot can be squeezed off.

then again... I do not have that much to compare to either so maybe it is all just in my mind and I'm just a bit of a wuss

i cant imagine what its like packing out a red deer in those conditions

 

[Uncle Sauce]

I'll agree with the DIY public land elk hunt. Not much success over the years. Lots of country to cover via shoe leather express...makes you think twice before pulling the trigger as your asking yourself "How am I getting this out of here??"

 

[JimP]

I'll agree with the DIY public land elk hunt. Not much success over the years. Lots of country to cover via shoe leather express...makes you think twice before pulling the trigger as your asking yourself "How am I getting this out of here??"


View attachment 389162View attachment 389163View attachment 389164

I have always been the type of person that pulls the trigger first and then wonder how I am going to get it out. I also figure that if I can get into some country then I can get a animal out, even it is in a dozen pieces.

I have hunted with others who just shake their heads when I head into some elk country, but if you want to be a successful elk hunter you have to be willing to go to where the elk are, and a lot of times it isn't pretty. Perhaps that is why myself and others that are successful on public land elk hunting.

 

[almostacowboy77]

Nyssa wildebeest

 

[WAB]

I have always been the type of person that pulls the trigger first and then wonder how I am going to get it out. I also figure that if I can get into some country then I can get a animal out, even it is in a dozen pieces.

I have hunted with others who just shake their heads when I head into some elk country, but if you want to be a successful elk hunter you have to be willing to go to where the elk are, and a lot of times it isn't pretty. Perhaps that is why myself and others that are successful on public land elk hunting.

Agreed. I hunted public land twice when I lived in WY and scored both times. Nothing special, spike and rag horn. Both were epic packs to get them out. Other years I was fortunate to draw limited tags and hunt private ranches where you could hold out for a good 6 pt.

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

I'll agree with the DIY public land elk hunt. Not much success over the years. Lots of country to cover via shoe leather express...makes you think twice before pulling the trigger as your asking yourself "How am I getting this out of here??"


View attachment 389162View attachment 389163View attachment 389164

I'm not very knowledgeable about elk hunting, but what would stop you from hiring a helicopter to come pick up the meat

 

[VertigoBE]

i cant imagine what its like packing out a red deer in those conditions

Actually, that’s the ‘easy’ part (most of the time) because either they can bring the ponies up, or either if it is too steep or the ponies too far away, you drag them down the hill. Just fold the front legs over its head, and they slide quite easily. Sometimes a bit too easy even and they pull you with you...
V.

 

[Alistair]

Actually, that’s the ‘easy’ part (most of the time) because either they can bring the ponies up, or either if it is too steep or the ponies too far away, you drag them down the hill. Just fold the front legs over its head, and they slide quite easily. Sometimes a bit too easy even and they pull you with you...
V.

Hah, you make it sound so easy!

Whenever I have to drag a beast in Scotland it always seems to consist of desperately dragging them out of a gully so steep it's practically a ravine, with their legs catching on every single tussock of heather, every rock and every patch of grass, with your feet slipping on the ice and snow, often knee deep in bogs. You do this for what seems like an eternity, plagued by mozzies, with every step forward being met with one back and your lungs escaping out your mouth.

You then get to the top of the hill and for one glorious moment the struggle is over, the vehicle is in sight and you see a nice little stream to follow on down.

Then it starts... An ominous slithering in the grass behind you, the rope goes slack and the beast slams head first into the back of your legs, tumbling you into the snow and dragging you down hill after it. Gone now is the catching on rocks, no more the bitter struggle to progress over the terrain. It's all you can do to kep upright and grasp the drag line, knowing deep in your heart that if you lose control even for a minute, the recalcitrant anmial will immediately veer back down into another dip and the ordeal starts all over. The trials of Sisyphus have nothing on dragging beasts out of the Scottish highlands I tell you!

 

[IvW]

PAC elephant at night...
PAC hippo in suger cane fields at night...
PAC lions....
Vaal Rhebuck in the Drakensburg
Large Eland bulls on foot...buffalo are easy by comparison...
Leopard in certain areas, attention to detail is most important for success.
Bushpigs on foot in mature maize at night.
Blue duiker.
Tuskless elephant can also be very difficult and dangerous.

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

PAC elephant at night...
PAC hippo in suger cane fields at night...
PAC lions....
Vaal Rhebuck in the Drakensburg
Large Eland bulls on foot...buffalo are easy by comparison...
Leopard in certain areas, attention to detail is most important for success.
Bushpigs on foot in mature maize at night.
Blue duiker.
Tuskless elephant can also be very difficult and dangerous.

i cant imagine what its like hunting a pac hippo at night on land

 

[IvW]

i cant imagine what its like hunting a pac hippo at night on land

Very exciting I can assure you..especially when you need to position yourself between them and the river because as soon as the spotlight goes on and after the first shot they charge straight for the river, they only way to get more than one is getting between them and the escape route....

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

PAC elephant at night...
PAC hippo in suger cane fields at night...
PAC lions....
Vaal Rhebuck in the Drakensburg
Large Eland bulls on foot...buffalo are easy by comparison...
Leopard in certain areas, attention to detail is most important for success.
Bushpigs on foot in mature maize at night.
Blue duiker.
Tuskless elephant can also be very difficult and dangerous.

@IvW
What are PAC animals. Haven't heard of them before.
Bob