What is your best ever "Trophy" animal?

[The Hedgehog]

Is it some huge buck you hunted for 3 years, a great big elaphant you shot in Africa, a forked horn deer you shot when you were 12, or a doe that you took on the perfect day out with your kid. Maybe it was a giant racked bull elk chained to a tree in a steroid induced coma at the local game farm.

So what is it? What's so special about it? A photo or two would be nice.

 

[danr55]

My best trophy animal is a little 3X2 Muley buck that my stepson Brian took in 1990.
Sorry, no picture.. He has them all.

 

[Erik in AK]

Total package...my 98 mountain goat. Everything came together--beautiful day, amazing place. My plan actually worked--good stalk, good shot, easily recovered goat...oh, and I almost died (but thats another story)

 

[Whiskers]

A black bear I killed in 1998 he wasn't huge, dressed at 251 lbs.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-20-2004 06:24: Message edited by: Whiskers ]</font>

 

[Elkhunter]

My best ever would have to be my first deer, a whitetail spike. No pictures of it though. My second best would have to be my first elk back in 1990, a cow and a real learning experience that I will never forget.

Now as I look back at it, I think every animal I have gotten is my best trophy. I don't think I can put one above the other. They were all special in one way or another, some were luck and some were because of determination and hard work. The ones taken easily by luck are just as much of a trophy to me as the others. Some were cows, some were bulls, some does and some bucks, and all were trophies.

 

[beardown]

My little Black Bear would have to be mine, made an awesome shot and had to tie ourselves and the bear off the side of a cliff to get it out.......sorry I dont have a way to post the pictures.

 

[Bambistew]

It’s hard for me to pick just one, most all of my kills have been very memorable to me, so I’ll start with the deer... One of the most was my first deer when I was twelve; it was pretty special since my granddad took me out… It was the last day of the general season in MT and I had been hunting elk every weekend of the season up in our camp. I did get a small bull, also memorable… But we drove out to a part of our neighbor’s pasture that is swamp and cotton woods and waited in the truck

A nice 120” whitetail stepped out of the woods after about a half an hour. We slid out of the truck and made it around the front with out the buck seeing us. My grandfather told me to steadier her up on his “slats” and lett’r fly. I said “what are slats?” “The ribs”, he says The shot was about 100 yards or so, I lined it up right behind his shoulder and squeezed it off, but I missed… so I cocked another in and steadied up as best I could, by this time I was really shaking, touched it off and he dropped like a rock. My granddad, said “Uh oh, I think you hit him in the ass cause the way his butt dropped down first”. So we walk up to the buck and he isn’t even kicking, dead as can be… I pick up his head and there was a bullet hole right in his eye…

Talk about dumb luck. I will never forget the look on my granddads face when I told him that’s where I was aiming…

Just the next year, also hunting deer with my granddad, I shot about a 140” whitetail on a dead run at about 35 yards and hit him right behind the ear… He said it was ok to try for easier shots, I said they were plenty easy… To this day they are two of the most lucky shots I have ever taken and made.

I have taken a decent buck every year since, but it would be about 8 years later when I finally connected with a decent mule deer. The it was election day, I had the day off from school (I know slacker collage). The rut was just kicking in. It was colder than hell (well for you southern boys, it was only about -10) there was about 6” of snow on the ground… Prime buck hunting weather… We took off from our house about 3 hours before shooting light, we had a 1.5 hour drive to the trial head and then another hour hike to get to where we wanted to be at first light. Everything went as planed… We got to the spot just right and when the sun finally came up there was literally deer behind every bush. I know we easily saw 300 deer from our vantage point… My roommate and his little brother were along, the little brother had never killed a mule deer, or much of a buck for that mater. So I figured the first decent buck we see he should take first crack at him… Well he did just that a nice little 24” 4pt came chasing a doe to within about 200 yards of us. He steadied it up and missed… and then missed again… then hit him… He was pretty happy to say the least. So we dressed his out and pulled it under some brush so we could keep hunting.

We walked up the hill to another escape route that the deer will use if anyone is coming up the main trail. Well I no sooner topped out and I spotted this guy at about 400-450 yards standing on an outcropping watching over about 75 does… I could see his forks, and could tell he was a decent buck from where we were and I immediately ducked down before he saw us… I crept back to the two guys and told them that I just saw a nice one and that it was too bad for him that he just shot a buck and was going to try to get a little closer for a shot. I crept down the hill through a little bowl, and ended up about 75 yards closer… It was here or not at all, I dropped down and pulled my bipod down, steadied it up on the top of his shoulder and squeezed the trigger… When I shot I immediately lost all vision though my scope. The powered snow on the ground totally filled my scope. I grabbed my binoculars just in time to see him leap down off his rock and out of site… I was trying to replay the shot in my head, and couldn’t figure out how I could have missed… Sure it was a long shot but I had a dead rest and no wind, it felt like a good shot… my mind was racing. Then the guys come racing down to say that they were pretty sure I had hit him. That relieved me a little! So the hike over there I was thinking, is he dead, what happened? Anyway we get to the outcropping and I see blood, shweew! I at least hit him, I took two more steps and he jumped up from under a bush at about 25 yards. I threw the gun up and fired one into his neck… He was down for good then, but he was tumbling down the hill side through a rock slide… He finally stopped after about a 150 yard skid. Everything was just perfect, I wish all hunts could be just like that one…

http://www.hunt101.com/img/020827.jpg

He’s not a monster, but is 30” wide and scores about 175. As far as I know he’s the biggest muley to come out of the valley that year.

 

[gar man]

Mine would have to be the elk from last year. I put in seven months of research for that elk hunt, looked at dozens of maps and spent hours on the phone and it payed off. Its nice to look up on the wall and know all the work that went into it.

 

[schmalts]

I nailed a 200 pounder in a hick bar in northern Wisconsin 15 years ago. It was the worst "pack in" i ever did for an animal of that caliber. She was big, proud, and had no limits what you could do to her.

But i am sure she wont compare to any of the sheep Miller and Greenhorn nailed out in the west country.

 

[Big Sky]

The most honest truth to this question is that I'm still looking. Been close a time or two, but still looking for that extra special trophy.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Mine would be my elk. It's on the small side for a 6x6, but it came after several years of out of state hunts and a lot of miles walked. Now I'm focused on a decent mule deer buck...although I will probably end up hunting elk again next year in New Mexico.

 

[Tom]

That's an interesting question that I want to respond to. Its not the biggest buck I've shot, as I didn't hunt him to hard, pretty much, it was just being at the right place at the right time, pointed in the right direction on him. Its not the elk I hiked for miles and days to get although that was a very enjoyable hunt. Its not the biggest Russian boar hog I got, but he's real memorable and that was a highlight that took many weeks of night hunting. It might be the most recent memorable one with something special in the hunt as different "trophies" each have their memorable hightlights. Its not the big one to come, as I haven't got him yet. Its either the axis I got last year or the painted desert ram I got a few years before. The axis was real special because he represented a lot of history over many years at the ranch and with the outfitter I worked for where I got him and he was a decent axis. He represents many, many hunts with lots of people that are all great memories. The painted desert ram is real memorable, because it was my best all time archery shot, a Texas heart shot, and he represents an award that was named after me. I think its the axis because of more history going into getting him and him being such a nice animal and he's more recent, so he has lots more memories to go with him.

 

[imported_Smitty]

Does an ex-husband count?

 

[Doug]

The trophy I'm most proud of is this house cat I shot on a high fence ranch in Idaho. I waited in the truck until this big fella approached the bait pile and then I carefully rolled down my window and blasted him. I have this pussy mounted and hanging on the wall in my den. It makes me smile everytime I think about that hunt.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-20-2004 16:29: Message edited by: Doug ]</font>

 

[Hunterman]

Doug

ROTFLMAO

Is that the one that cost you $8000???

Hunterman(Tony)

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-20-2004 16:40: Message edited by: Hunterman ]</font>

 

[Gunner46]

A tad on the lighter side for a Black Panther, but... ya take 'em as they come....

 

[pawclaws]

My first squirrel; which turned out to be a "chipmunk!"

 

[RogueWarrior1957]

Guess mine would be the 4X5 non-typical mule deer I got a while back in Valencia Canyon, Rio Arriba County, NM.

Sorry the picture is so small...I don't have my stuff uploaded to Image Station yet.

-RW-

P.S. This is my centenniel post! Hmmm! That's 100 posts in about a month's time...sounds a bit excessive, huh?

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-20-2004 20:20: Message edited by: RogueWarrior1957 ]</font>

 

[Quick Draw]

My best trophy would have to be either my first deer, a 130 pound field dressed black tail doe, or my first buck, a black tail spike. I have pics of both of them.
Quick Draw

 

[The Hedgehog]

[ 03-03-2004, 07:30: Message edited by: Greenhorn ]