Congratulations you Hunt Talkers

[Gerald Martin]

I haven't posted the story yet. My boss drew a goat tag and a sheep tag this year. I got the goat on video and spent five days with him sheep hunting. The first day I missed going with him he shot a 165" ram with his bow. I then spent two days hunting with a friend who had a sheep tag in the adjacent unit. He connected on a very nice 175 6/8" ram with his rifle.

 

[mdunc8]

Gerald, does that happen to be a Big Sky ram? I have a friend who knows someone who also drew a goat AND sheep tag this year.

 

[buglum]

Gerald, does that happen to be a Big Sky ram? I have a friend who knows someone who also drew a goat AND sheep tag this year.

mdunc, that is not the guy your thinking of, the person who you are talking about is my roommate and he did get his big sky sheep and goat. Both were very respectable.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Here's some grip & grin hero/humor shots taken on my hunting trips in 2010..

 

[The Hedgehog]

 

[DreaminofMT6X6s]

Who's the one guy in almost every photo? Buddy, you're awesome and I almost forgot, when do we leave for the next hunt?

 

[highmountian]

Man Greenhorn, great year for ya! Congrats on all the kills!

 

[nmtaxi]

A little late to the party, but my season just ended.

Started off 2010 with a barbary sheep hunt on public land. My son and I saw a lot of sheep but never closed the deal.

 

[nmtaxi]

Next was my sons off-range oryx hunt in August. Quick hunt. Couldn't get him to pass up this old warror.

 

[nmtaxi]

Then, Jr's early October muzzie elk hunt...

 

[nmtaxi]

My deer hunt only produced this set of elk sheds..

 

[nmtaxi]

Then finished up last Friday on a lion hunt. My buddy Nate invited me up to Fort Collins, CO to go chase some lions. Got really lucky right away with this big tom.

 

[noharleyyet]

Ah man!...that red eye pic is a killer.

 

[Oak]

Nice cat Taxi. There are some BIG ones in that neck of the woods...

 

[mdunc8]

Thought I would try and get this thread going again with a couple of my mediocre animals. First bull elk, which was also my first animal taken with a bow, first antelope, biggest muley, and biggest turkey. Also found my first morrels, caught my biggest brown, and found some of my best agates. Given my hunting prowess, it'll be tough to beat 2010.

 

[Oak]

Good year, Dunc.

nmtaxi, a hound friend of mine was showing me pictures of his dogs and cats on his camera last month, and low and behold, I scrolled to your photos.

 

[BOHNTR]

Some CA Stuff:

Son's Blacktail (Hybrid)

His coyote with his bow

A small Blacktail (hybrid) on my first CA tag

My first CA bobcat

Some CA coyotes

Some AZ stuff:

 

[mdunc8]

Great pictures. Looks like you had a great year. What did you end up doing with the bobcat?

 

[npaden]

Very neat thread! My stuff isn't worthy compared to most of you, but I think it was my best hunting year so far. I try to keep a blog on most of my hunts and some other stuff, so I'll post a link to the story from my blog if you are interested in reading all the details. I'm typically very wordy so there are usually lots of details in the posts.

My biggest pig so far. Shot him the end of February, 2010. Was nice that it was a spot and stalk instead of the standard shoot them when they come into the feeder.

http://padens.blogspot.com/2010/02/2nd-pig-of-2010-big-one.html

Okay, I'm just going through my photo gallery and this technically wasn't shot in 2010, but I got the mount back in 2010 so maybe that counts? Here's the bobcat that I trapped over Christmas holiday in 2009.

http://padens.blogspot.com/2009/12/trapped-my-first-bobcat.html

Finally was able to get my friend from Wyoming on a pig on my place here in Texas. It sure is fun to watch someone else get their first animal of any species. Several pictures in the blog post including one with the pig on a scale. I posted that on several forums and confirmed that most folks guess way high on the weight.

http://padens.blogspot.com/2010/05/hog-hunting.html

First big game hunt of 2010 was a New Mexico antelope hunt. The previous years have had 95%+ success rates, but I struck out. Saw this buck the day before the opener, but he didn't cooperate once the season opened.

http://padens.blogspot.com/2010/09/strike-one.html

Next up was Wyoming elk. We decided that any legal bull was fair game on this hunt and I was tagged out first thing opening morning. Not a monster, but he tastes really good!

http://padens.blogspot.com/2010/09/wyoming-elk-hunt-part-1.html

I hunt with a friend up there so I stuck around to help him work on his tag. This is another case where helping someone else get their animal is as rewarding as shooting your own. He's shot plenty of elk but I really felt like I was an integral part of him being able to get this one.

http://padens.blogspot.com/2010/09/wyoming-elk-hunt-part-2.html

This is one of my favorite pictures of the year. Both of our elk back at camp with my son.

My New Mexico elk. Scored right at 310" and netted over 300". I could have probably held out for a bigger bull, but was very happy with the end result. This was really my first elk that was truly an OYOA where I scouted an area that I had never hunted before and was able to close the deal on a nice animal. Of course it was a super great area with a very high success rate so that for sure helped!

http://padens.blogspot.com/2010/11/successful-new-mexico-elk-hunt-novel.html

Last big game hunt for 2010 for me was my New Mexico mule deer hunt. I shot a 180"er there last year and wasn't expecting a repeat but didn't really know what I wanted, or expected to shoot. I passed on a few bucks and then saw this old guy with a younger buck. The younger buck would have scored better, but this guy was the one I wanted.

http://padens.blogspot.com/2010/11/2010-new-mexico-mule-deer.html

It seems crazy that with all the work I do on my own property here in Texas that the other thing I was unsuccessful at was my whitetail tag. I did pass on this buck several times and based on several years of trail camera pictures I think he is at least a 6 1/2 year old buck so that should make him a trophy in anyone's book, but I was holding out for "the big one" and never did punch my whitetail tag.

Here's "the big one" that I never did see and haven't gotten any more pictures of in a long time.

It seems crazy that when it was all said and done I was successful on what most would consider to be the more difficult hunts and I was unsuccessful on the hunts that many consider to be a slam dunk and some don't even consider hunting at all. I'm learning more and more not to be judgemental over how others may choose to hunt and am hoping more and more hunters will do the same.

Oh well, that's my year in review.

Nathan

 

[JCS]

My dad did very well for being in his 70's. I was with him for all his animals. Sorry about the elk pic. We didnt dare get the elk off the branch or the elk would have rolled to the bottom.