Your Shortest hunt

[Gunner46]

Tell us about the one that went off so fast it was over before it even had a chance to begin.

I've had a couple, but the one that was so ridiculously short was a pig hunt in Fla.

I wasn't even up to the seat of my tree stand and a good 'eater' just saunters in, pretty as you please, from no where. Maybe 30 yds.

NOW WHAT ???

Well, he's still facing away, nose in the dirt, so what the he!!. Not too many choices here as it is anyways. I ease up the last rung and sit my tukus down, do a miserable job of trying to be 'stealth-full' while loading the rifle, yet piggy still has his nose tearing up the dirt at 30 yds away.

7mm08, Nosler 150gr BT, Bang, Flop........

Time from truck, back to truck (includes dragging a 120# pig).........ummm, maybe 15 minutes.

 

[Speeddmn]

Pretty much the same as yours Gunner. I had a Texas deer lease when I was stationed in Wichita Falls. When I wanted some pork for the smoker/grill I would drive down around sun up and just park 100 yards from a feeder that the hogs loved. I'd walk out to it and open the panel to press the test button. Walk back a few yards and just wait. Usually with in 3-4 mins from the feeder going off the sow's and her piglets would come rushing in. Get a good bead on 2 or 3 and let the AR rip, 3- 30 lb'ers down! I would spend more time cleaning and driving to and from the lease then actual hunting.

 

[duckhunt]

I was in the stand well before light but once I looked at my watch and it was legal shooting time I litteraly looked up and here comes a deer right to me. From legal time to when I pulled the trigger on my smoke pole was about 60 seconds. That was on opening morning. Waited all year and it was over in one minute.

 

[hank4elk]

Does shooting a turkey a step off the front porch count? Damn yard birds.

My 1st bull was with a group of local hunters in MT. Newbie me and the Basin boys. I had said I wanted to go hunt elk,and Mike said we need to get tags,as Hank here has a hankering to go elk hunting.That's where my name came from,Mike and Hankerin....
So I bought a OTC tag the next day and we made a plan for a hunt the next weekend.
We had just driven into the camp site,and I was to stay and help set up camp with the old pro while two guys went up the trail and the other two went up the opposite ridge to see what was going on.
I had just got out of the truck with my new old Win-30-30 and Mike said is it loaded? I racked a round and said now it is. I had just leaned it against a tree while we got to work, when what sounded like a cow running down the hill,crashing through the brush away from the guys on the trail, all the way to edge of camp clearing. I just instinctively reach for the gun as a nice small 5x5 walks into camp.
Bam , tag filled ,1st 5 min in camp, 50 yrds from the truck.

 

[406LIFE]

10 Minutes. Mine happened to be Antelope here in Montana last year. First time I have ever shot a big game animal on opening day. I knew the area well, but antelope move quite a bit, so I wasn't sure where they would be on opening day. I pulled my truck to the top of a hill, and immediately saw white butts moving slowly away about 500 yards. About 20 were on the opposite side of the hill, so I dropped down and sprinted towards the face of the hill, closing the distance. I was able to see the first goat come out over the crest and I had just setup my shooting sticks. I ranged her at 142 yards. I waited for the biggest doe to walk out (only had a doe tag that year) and when she did I squeezed the trigger and she just dropped where she was. I was ten minutes into shooting time.

The aftermath might be the real story. That herd rand a semi circle around me, I assume they didn't know where I was, and stopped about 80 yards away. That's when a volley of at least 4 shots from the road 300 yards away came my way. I had my orange on and stood up with my rifle in my hand and screamed at them. I've never seen anyone get in a truck and drive off faster. (This is certainly the biggest fall of public land.) It wasn't a few minutes later but from the direction where the antelope had come, walked an old man and his son. They were on the big buck that was in the herd. It was an unfortunate event, me busting their hunt unknowingly.

 

[genesis273]

A friend invited me to go to a small piece of property to deer hunt, which he had no luck on in a few years. I took a climber stand at daylight down a creek. Climbed the tree, pulled rifle up with rope. Before I could untie the rope, a pile of does walked towards me. I shot two with the rope still tied to the rifle, and went ahead and lower the rifle. Called my buddy while he was still going up the tree, which he decided to come down when he almost reached to top!

 

[Southwind]

I had lost quite a bit of private land just prior to a mule deer hunt in western Kansas but had decided to drive out anyway and hit as much Walk in Hunting as possible. I drove past a few potential locations when I got a call from a friend back home around 9 a.m. He gave me a shoe string relatives phone number who ranched in the area I was hunting so I called him. The Rancher had a piece of ground he said I could hunt but rarely saw mule deer there but it was worth a look.

I parked and walked in on the property around 10 am, on top was corn stubble which gave way to wheat stubble falling off to cottonwood dry creek bottoms. As I approached the bottom I saw quite a bit of whitetail just leaving the property and some really nice animals so I decided to back out because of the time and direction of the deer were heading and come back that evening to hunt. My tag is an either species tag and while I prefer a mule deer on this hunt I wouldn't pass up a nice whitetail.

Anyway, with a plan in place I start easing out and when I come back by the corn stubble about 8 mule deer does stand up. I quickly but easily law down and get ready thinking there has to be a buck in the mix. Sure enough a 5 x 6 and a smaller buck stand up as well a few yards from the does, I line up on the buck and let it fly.

10:45 am my hunt is over and just a couple hours earlier I really had nothing lined up to hunt.

 

[Ben Long]

Two Novembers ago, I slipped to my ground blind in a pea-soup fog. The set was a quarter mile from where I parked my truck. "Real" shooting light was well past legal shooting light, on account of the fog. I rattled when it was clear enough to see 75 yards. A big 5X5 stepped out of the gloaming like The Great Prince of the Forest. He crumpled in his tracks when I shot. When I loaded him in the truck, the coffee was still warm in the cup-holder. When I got home, my wife asked "Why are you home so soon? Did you forget your bullets?"

 

[noharleyyet]

2nd afternoon of Colorado's first rifle combined..Muley buck and bull 45 minutes apart. Short hunt long night.

 

[2rocky]

2012. Had a herd of Elk the night before opening day, in the meadow outside of camp. All the bugling and cows chirping kept us awake from 2 am on. Couldn't leave camp in the dark because of all the commotion that morning.

Shot a 6 point 1/2 mile from camp at first shooting light on opening morning. My best bull yet. Spent the rest of the hunt as the packer and put 100 miles on my horse in 7 days...

 

[Tufrthnails]

Walked out of the cabin at camp to go to my stand and a doe was standing in the yard 30 yards away eating the bushes! shot her turned back around went inside and asked papa if he wanted to help process my doe. He said yeah I'll help after you shoot one I said get your boots on!!!

 

[JDH]

First morning of whitetail firearms season a few years ago I was planning on hunting an area where we hadn't been seeing much sign but that was close to home. I got out there a few minutes late and climbed the tree and was quietly setting my climber up when I noticed a deer walking behind my stand. I had to pull my gun up from the ground and made a good shot. It was lucky that he came in behind me so he never could quite see all the movement that I was doing bringing my gun up and putting in a primer.

 

[zachthebowhunter]

My mule deer hunt here in Montana last year. First time to my spot with the rifle and about two and a half hours later I was digging into my pack for my knife to start the field dressing process. Just couldn't pass up a deep forked 160" deer.... Just couldn't do it!

 

[Steelhead]

My buddy and I were tagged out by 0930 opening morning last year for deer rifle season. His hunt was done 4 min after legal light.

 

[Bambistew]

Picked up a buddy after work, headed south to check out a new spot to hunt black bears... spotted a brownie about a 1/2 mile off the road, after doing a double take due to location. Pulled over, walked out and shot it, back to the truck 2 hours later and hit the road to look for black bears.

 

[hornart]

I was just walking to my favorite elk hunting spot, opening morning of the season 2012 in New Mexico, heard a bull bugle, saw 2 cows feeding, up the hill into my view comes a 6x6 bull, he turns to take his cows, stops to bugle at another bull, and I let him have my bullet from my 50 cal muzzleloader, he runs out of my view as I reload, walked just over the rise and there he was. 7:15 opening morning

 

[Reeder]

When I was 15 years old. I had my first cow elk tag in my home state of Utah. My dad couldn't go with me hunting because he was on call at the hospital. My grandpa agreed to take me elk hunting. I remember my mom was not very happy that i could be hunting on Sunday. I prayed like hell the day before the opening that i would get an elk. Opening morning rolled around, Grandpa and I went up the canyon as far as we could without getting stuck in the snow. We literally hiked less than 30 minutes and we came across a heard of elk. Grandpa told me to which Cow elk to shoot. Shot the elk got her cleaned and back to the truck before 10 a.m.

 

[bigdonniebrasco]

Tell us about the one that went off so fast it was over before it even had a chance to begin.

Do NOT ask my wife that question!!


My only experience with this has been with turkey. Bought a tiny piece of land several years ago, and went on my first ever turkey hunt with NO clue what I was doing! I just walked out and laid in the prone position under a tree (in some water no less), just as I began to reposition, several turkey flew down 15 yards in front of me! BLAMMO ... 2-fer! When I got home my wife was just making coffee ans cinnamon rolls.

 

[MTGomer]

Took the wife (girlfriend at that time) for her first elk hunt. Night before opener we were kept up all night by bugles.
Within 5 minutes of legal light we had a raghorn that she wouldn't shoot. I told her it was a fine first elk, but she was adamant to look for something else. I figured that was probably our one chance and she turned it down. We started walking and not half an hour later spot a 6 point walking right at us. Within 5 minutes he was dead, boned out by mid morning, made a few phone calls to get help packing and were having dinner at the Deer Lodge 4B's by dark.
At that time in my life I had never killed a six point. So she got a lot of mileage out of doing something in an hour that I hadn't managed to accomplish in 10 years.

 

[wolfpup]

My first deer tag I had. I was tired from working all week and up early the day of opening morning and we rolled into camp at about 3:00 pm and quickly set up camp .. I hiked up to a meadow to watch for the evening and fell asleep .. Woke up with 30 minutes of shooting light left and headed back to camp. Spooked a nice 4x4 walking back and the hunt was over with a 60 yard shot from the .30-06. Hunting time 30 minutes. Total time lapse .. 2 hours !