Best 2012 Memory

[glass eye]

Hunted NZ DIY and Hawaii for Mouflon and Axis.....and celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary just a few days ago.......but that pales in comparison to my son coming home from Afghanistan.

Fort Carson, CO homecoming.

 

[MHMT]

Helping my girlfriend get her first big game animal.

 

[live free or die]

2012 One of my best seasons in a long time! After killing a two hundred pound bear the second time out I got lucky enough to take a 140 l;b doe and awesome buck with the bow the next week. After 4 long weeks on the sidelines waiting for gun season to start I took a 200 lb buck with my rifle! I told my boys when they left for school in Sept. it was going to be a banner year for me as I would no longer have to give up all the good spots to them! Ever since they have been walking it was all about them and my successes have been secondary. I have allways tried to make it fun and enjoyable no matter how frustrating it was to me.Well, with only a couple days left in the season, my oldest son Sam came home from school and scouted out a new spot on Friday. Saturday found him still hunting thru the thick NE timber and he finally stalked and killed his first mature whitetail buck all by his self! Better still, his ten pointer sported a larger rack than either of his dad;s two eight's Thats how I define a good year!

 

[pa mt man]

Best and only hunting trip 2012. My Colorado elk hunt. My soninlaw shot it at 12,600.

 

[Devil Diver Down]

I was hoping it would be my oldest boy's first big game animal, but we struck out on his cow hunt and he informed me that he is probably done hunting. Hopefully he will get the bug at a later age and come back to it.

So it has to go to tagging my first archery animal and first bull elk. After I watching him drop and waiting, I touched an arrow to his eye to make sure then sprinted up a hill to call my dad who was at camp and my wife who was at work. Then I headed back downhill and just sat and admired him for a while, and appreciated my good fortune.

 

[Sytes]

No antlers or antlerless bodies to share - maybe next year... HOWEVER, 2012 will be a year never to forget! Very grateful for a wonderful wife and with her support, 2012 will be a year hard to beat!!! To go from where I was to where I am makes a great challenge for 2013.

A reminder to myself, cherish life.

 

[1_pointer]

Though I kind of wish mine was hunting related, but its not. Mine would have to be watching my wife graduate from graduate school! The amount of work and dedication it took to finsih her degree while working full time and with two kids is more than I have in me. Congrats to The Mail Order Bride (for those that have been around here a long time)!!

PS- I'm not sure who was more relieved for her to be done, me or her...

 

[Baerman]

Mine was seeing my wife close to many big bulls and then having her cap off her season at 10 yds and being able to share that with our future hunter.

 

[----]

I'm going to go with two different ones.

First up for me was bumping into this truly awesome whitetail last winter.

(click to watch)


I spent a lot of time watching this buck only to have him disappear on me right before he shed. I had all but given up on him when I finally found his right side in March.

I never did find the other side, or find him this fall. Have my fingers crossed he shows up again this winter at some point.


Second has got to be rattling in this buck for my wife. Definitely one that I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

 

[6speed]

Easily the day my son was born.

 

[----]

Oh man... did I miss the rest of the pictures of that giant?

 

[oldman357]

My son was born, my wife and daughter are both healthy and happy. except for a turkey I completely missed hunting 2012 but i'm not sad about it at all.

 

[putm2sleep]

Awesome thread right here!!!!
Best memory does not compare to most on here, but mine was watching my son jump, then spot and stalk, then shoot his 1st rabbit. I was 100 yards directly above him as we worked down in this little canyon, and had a fabulous bird's eye view. Engrained in the brain forever!

 

[Dinkshooter]

Oh man... did I miss the rest of the pictures of that giant?

Just your average Montana Muley buck Randall

 

[Gerald Martin]

To condense it to one pic and one event would be too hard. My personal hunting was toned down a bit but I made some great memories with my kids and friends. Elise Margaret was born in Sept.

 

[JLS]

Watching my oldest daughter become her own person and learn to stand up to bullies.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Mine was probably watching over my sons shoulder as he tipped his first whitetail over.

Coming in a close second was fall chinook season with the family. Best two days we had.....

 

[Selkirk]

Only made it out a few days hunting and didn't punch any tags as our 2nd child (son) was born on 11/2/12.

Thought as I got older that I'd have more time to hunt, but not finding that to be true at all.

 

[LuckyMike]

My best memory is of my wife Judy finishing nearly a year of chemo and radiation and recovering from her third bout of cancer in the past 25-years. And, to top that off: her 3-year old philly, Scarlet O'mae made the finals of the Reined Cow Horse, Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nevada! Ended up 18th out of more than 250 entries from all over North America! - "Unbelievable" for all of us, especially Judy.

First picture - Judy with her horse, Scarlet


All this excitement was shared with family and friends. Judy is surrounded by our two daughter's, Monica and Amy and our son Tyler.


Next three pictures are of Scarlet in the finals, ridden by Zane Davis of Whitehall, Montana. The first of the Reined Cow Horse events was "herd work" or cutting.


Then comes "rein work" very similar to Reining.


Last of the three is "Cow work" where horse and rider take a cow down the fence at full tilt and turn it. Unique to Reined Cow Horse.

 

[DANGLER]

Easy one for me...... Had lots of luck hunting this year and tons of fun with a bunch of good friends, but like others I have a favorite hunting partner that means a little more than that rest of the crew