2023 Talkie Hunt Recaps - by popular demand

[Hunting Wife]

Ok, I almost didn’t do this but I had a lot of folks sending messages in support of the Talkie’s continuation. So here it is- my selection of Best Hunt Recaps for 2023.

Disclaimer: these are stories I personally enjoyed, and hope others didn’t miss. There is no voting, no prizes. I am also not responsible for anyone’s personal feelings of inadequacy.

I also don’t always have time to read every thread on HT. If you know of a great story that I missed, please post a link so the tale can be properly enjoyed by all. This is just a starting point - I’m sure there are many other deserving stories.

Without further ado…

An introspective recap about hunting and pizza by @TOGIE -

My General Tag

So begins the story of my quest to fill a Wyoming General Elk Tag. I want this to be more a story documenting my emotions during a hunt rather than a story documenting a hunt. But, it will undoubtedly be both. It is inherently both. I find for myself that my hunting is often more a struggle...

www.hunttalk.com

Anguish and elation in equal measure, courtesy of @trb -

A Rollercoaster Ride Through The CO Alpine

This past Friday night I backpacked into my favorite CO wilderness area about 7.5 miles with buck, bull, and bear muzzleloader tags in my pocket. I got home about 2 am on Tuesday night, and processed meat all day yesterday while still trying to wrap my head around what was an absolute roller...

www.hunttalk.com

A tale of selflessness shared by @WinkB -

WI ELK, the story of a once in a lifetime hunt

I thought I would share our experience when it came to a one in a lifetime hunt for elk in the state of WI. For those of you who don’t know there has been a reintroduction effort for elk in the state that started back in 1995 and has been significantly funded by the RMEF and private donations...

www.hunttalk.com

Anything posted by @Greenhorn is going to be good -

26 year wait - Utah elk hunt

It’s a long time to wait. One crazy & amazing 4 day scouting trip in, a world record 6 weeks usage of google earth and shameless messages and phone calls to locals and previous hunters. Should be a fun time - supposedly the best public land elk hunt in the US today. I’m excited for some crazy...

www.hunttalk.com

Poor Colorado kid makes good. Who doesn’t love an underdog? @Dinkshooter -

Just a Poor Colorado kid!

It not often for me to remember the one thing that made me want to go someplace, hunt something, buy something etc. But I can clearly remember the one thing I read 38 years ago that made me want to bow hunt elk in Arizona. I’d beg borrow and steal to get this new magazine into the cart when...

www.hunttalk.com

A late entry by @Bluffgruff as voted into existence by HT-

Anybody want to hear this story?

I wasn't even going to post this, but the off season might need a story. What say ye?

www.hunttalk.com

Maximum effort displayed by @GrantK -

Feeding the Rat (AKA GrantK's elk hunting obsession)

There’s a bunch of epic hunts being shared this year, I’m not the storyteller of some of those guys but hopefully there is some knowledge to be gained by my failures and successes, full disclaimer, at this point 2/3 of the way through my tags I have not shanked a tent, pushed the SOS button...

www.hunttalk.com

A short but sweet tale of a boy’s first hunt by @p_ham -

A boy's first big game hunt

My oldest boy turned 6 this year, and finally with an appropriate tag to take a young kid on, he got to go with me. He's been excited about it since we found out in May. We both have been excited. He's been rabbit and bird hunting a few times and enjoyed it. He's always fascinated with the...

www.hunttalk.com

A well told saga of sheep hunting by @JoMo -

My 2023 Colorado Sheep Hunt - details, story and recap

Buckle up – I am trying my best to capture my 2023 Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep experience. I will post the details as I am able to sit down and capture my thoughts. Let’s start this with an email I received April 18, 2023 from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Like always, I only key in on two...

www.hunttalk.com

A tent-friendly mountain goat hunt in Montana, as told by @MTClacka -

MT Mountain Goat

I wasn't sure if I was going to post about my goat hunt, but after reading through the other goat thread thought that this place could use some positive vibes. Just to get it out of the way, my tent remained unshanked for the duration of the hunt... I was fortunate to draw a unit in the...

www.hunttalk.com

Beautiful photos to go along with an epic story about caribou, by photographer/author @Poke 'Em -

Pure hell

I devised a plan to hunt an area I was fairly confident hadn't seen a human in years. The pilot said he had never been able to find a spot to land there so we'd have to climb 2700' from the nearest gravel bar to get to the spot I wanted to be. Somehow I talked my buddy into it. We were supposed...

www.hunttalk.com

Full disclosure: I missed this one the first time around but after scanning the pics I knew it needed to be here. I’ll be reading @YoungGun bison story the rest of today -

Make Bison Hunting Great Again

Okay, so the thread title is a bit tongue in cheek, but Bison hunts don't get the love I feel like they deserve, and maybe rightfully so. Perhaps we envision them as livestock rather than the incredible Pleistocene Bovine holdovers they are. Maybe our perception of this will change in coming...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[rtraverdavis]

Thanks for doing this, @Hunting Wife. There were a bunch of great stories this year, but for me personally, none captured my imagination and took me on a really unique, special journey as @YoungGun ’s buffalo story.

 

[rtraverdavis]

If I may, a few more good ones:

@BackofBeyond trying something different, chasing the interesting rather than what he “should” do:

Wilderness Backpack Pronghorn Hunt

I’ve had the good fortune of drawing a rifle pronghorn tag in my home state. The fun part is a portion of my unit is designated as a wilderness study area which happens to hold a fair population of speed goats. I did some scouting this last weekend, found lots of does and fawns on private and...

www.hunttalk.com

The misfortunes and triumphs of @MtnElk and paternal head-shaking good nature of his hunting partner, @Dsnow9 has been the gift that keeps giving, Clark:

The Season of Stupid (& elk)

“It’s the season of elk bro!” - was the text I got from Mt Muley 😉🤣 Just kidding… and don’t ever call him bro. But that was an actual text I got when I opened my phone from my hunting partner / mentor @Dsnow9, as the tag dust settled on the morning of June 15, when we both woke up to zero WY...

www.hunttalk.com

And the dedication and work put into the Idaho Super Hunt Combo by @TW33 (not to mention the success achieved) was impressive as hell:

Idaho Super Hunt Combo 2023

Hello! I was fortunate enough to draw the Idaho super hunt combo for 2023. I have a moose, elk, deer and antelope tag for any unit in Idaho. I have ALOT of ground I have to cover, so any tips or suggestions would be awesome! Thanks a million

www.hunttalk.com

 

[Nick87]

I need to start bookmarking threads, these are all great. There's so many more as I'm reading them I'm thinking this is one of the best of the year and now I draw a blank.

 

[woods89]

I hadn't seen the Super tag thread until now. Wow!

Tangential, but talking about epic seasons, there's an Alaska resident on Rokslide that killed a stud Dall ram DIY in Alaska in late summer, and then came down and killed a good Unlimited ram in November( if I'm reading between the lines correctly). Nowhere to go but down from that one....

 

[TOGIE]

geez how do i always miss several of these? i'll have some reading to do.

 

[Hunting Wife]

If I may, a few more good ones:

@BackofBeyond trying something different, chasing the interesting rather than what he “should” do:

Wilderness Backpack Pronghorn Hunt

I’ve had the good fortune of drawing a rifle pronghorn tag in my home state. The fun part is a portion of my unit is designated as a wilderness study area which happens to hold a fair population of speed goats. I did some scouting this last weekend, found lots of does and fawns on private and...

www.hunttalk.com

The misfortunes and triumphs of @MtnElk and paternal head-shaking good nature of his hunting partner, @Dsnow9 has been the gift that keeps giving, Clark:

The Season of Stupid (& elk)

“It’s the season of elk bro!” - was the text I got from Mt Muley 😉🤣 Just kidding… and don’t ever call him bro. But that was an actual text I got when I opened my phone from my hunting partner / mentor @Dsnow9, as the tag dust settled on the morning of June 15, when we both woke up to zero WY...

www.hunttalk.com

And the dedication and work put into the Idaho Super Hunt Combo by @TW33 (not to mention the success achieved) was impressive as hell:

Idaho Super Hunt Combo 2023

Hello! I was fortunate enough to draw the Idaho super hunt combo for 2023. I have a moose, elk, deer and antelope tag for any unit in Idaho. I have ALOT of ground I have to cover, so any tips or suggestions would be awesome! Thanks a million

www.hunttalk.com

See? There are just too many for one person to keep track of!

 

[FI460]

See? There are just too many for one person to keep track of!

I always look forward to this thread for this reason.

It helps having fellow HTers remind me of something I may have missed.

 

[perma]

Read them all, they’re all great stories. Fun to read.

 

[Addicting]

I am torn from the super hunt and the Beaver hunt. Both showed great dedication and outstanding results.

 

[kansasdad]

Thanks @Hunting Wife

I believe this is a worthy endeavor on your part and I thank you for starting this thread. And I’m glad that there are no “winners” here, they are all worthy of applause each in their own way.

Your list will allow those who’ve missed stellar stories to find and enjoy

 

[Addicting]

Thanks @Hunting Wife

I believe this is a worthy endeavor on your part and I thank you for starting this thread. And I’m glad that there are no “winners” here, they are all worthy of applause each in their own way.

Your list will allow those who’ve missed stellar stories to find and enjoy

Is yours finished so we can give it a honorable mention?

 

[GrantK]

Once again I missed some good ones... Thanks @Hunting Wife for putting this together, I really look forward to it every year!

 

[BirdManMike]

Missed a couple, but those I read were all great. That bison hunt really stands out!

 

[GrantK]

@BirdManMike deserves to be on this as well, I can't say I've found many season recaps as interesting as the one he has going on...

My birdfriend's back and they're gonna be in trouble (Hey la, hey la, my birdfriend's back)

Why only so few flights? I am taking 2 days off between flights and he is going back to the breeder in the first half of January. He is at a point where he doesn’t need to fly every day unless I want my lift of homers emptied out. It’ll be bittersweet and I’ll miss him.

www.hunttalk.com

 

[Irrelevant]

I'll informally vote for @YoungGun bison hunt. Something I never thought I would enjoy as much as I did.

Also, I gotta give a hat tip to the SE killer himself @SCliving Outdoors the dude is putting more bone on the ground than CWD and nonchalantly documenting it in thread after thread.

 

[BenP]

I Definitely missed some great stories, glad y'all posted so we could all enjoy the tales.

 

[YoungGun]

I've missed @BirdManMike's post over the years, apparently. Mike- what you do is so fascinating to me- the connection with man and dog is one of my favorite parts of bird hunting. You bringing Roach (and others) into the mix, as well as seeing wild falcons get involved, is really something. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Addicting]

@Hunting Wife i think @kansasdad needs to be added to the list. His wrap up of his hunt was a really good read. He was successful in everything even without notching a tag. He took us thru highs and lows, hunting with family, and did it with a great tale.