Your Favorite Backyard Hunts

[WildWill]

Currently on the hunt.

 

[mtmiller]

Some exotics not far from home as well.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Gosh, other than elk and antelope, it's all backyard for me. I can drive 15 minutes one direction and be on Lake Champlain to fish for salmon, lakers, steelhead, bass, pike, walleye, etc. I can drive 15 min the other direction and be in the mountains, where I love to hunt whitetails. But, I can also just literally walk out my door to hunt deer, grouse, turkeys, rabbits, etc. Not to mention all the trout streams... I wish I didn't have to work...

 

[Deleted member 38069]

After next weekend I'll (hopefully) have some trout and morel pictures!

 

[BuzzH]

Cow elk...no question. Can be standing in a spot with a rifle and tag in hand to see them within 30 minutes to 2 hours max. Very, very rare day when 1-3 don't find their way into the back of the truck. Seasons are long and don't interfere with other hunts. Can do easy solo hunts for myself or help friends and family.

Don't have do any judging to see if a tine is broken or if they're big enough...just sort through them to find the ones without a calf.

Usually require a good stalk, enough exercise packing to keep the blood flowing, and they fill a freezer pretty quickly.

Gives me a chance to justify the need for the 3 guest bedrooms hosting friends and family here in the doublewide...and keeping the whisky in the bar from going bad.

2019:

My 3:

Family:

Few for some friends, old and new:

 

[jvanhoy]

Va has some outstanding spring turkey hunting. Me and my best friend doubled on some jakes yesterday morning. East coast elk hunting to get me by haha

 

[Dave N]

Cow elk...no question. Can be standing in a spot with a rifle and tag in hand to see them within 30 minutes to 2 hours max. Very, very rare day when 1-3 don't find their way into the back of the truck. Seasons are long and don't interfere with other hunts. Can do easy solo hunts for myself or help friends and family.

Don't have do any judging to see if a tine is broken or if they're big enough...just sort through them to find the ones without a calf.

Usually require a good stalk, enough exercise packing to keep the blood flowing, and they fill a freezer pretty quickly.

Gives me a chance to justify the need for the 3 guest bedrooms hosting friends and family here in the doublewide...and keeping the whisky in the bar from going bad.

2019:

My 3:

Family:

Few for some friends, old and new:

Wish I had a backyard like that!

 

[slatebuilder]

The ridge on the horizon line is <3 miles from the house via township dirt road. That ridge opens up 18000 acres of public land.

sons first game....

sons first buck....

wife’s first deer....

a mountain archery buck...

waters falls and native brookies...

and many more fond memories from that network of ridges.

I am looking forward to this spring turkey season quite a bit. There is a long list of places over there that I have always wanted to hunt spring turkeys, but have not headed into because the time needed wasn’t there. School responsibilities, kids sporting events, and life usually make hunting closer to the road the rule of the day on mornings before work. This spring it will happen, 4 of us in the house have 6 turkey tags, and a schedule that is going to let us do it. We plan on enjoying every second of it while making even more memories.

 

[BigHornRam]

A herd of bighorn sheep live minutes from my home and they are usually easy to locate, and the area is mostly accessible year round. I even was lucky enough to draw the tag some years ago. This ram was bedded down with 7 other rams in the timber, the year I had my tag. they are fun to watch whether I'm out for a hike or hunting for elk.

 

[Western Traveler1]

Funny, but I like sitting on my porch with a cup of coffee and a book and shooting gophers (Richardson’s ground squirrels) with my .17HMR. Watch the whitetail pass in the mornings and evenings. Spring through summer fish the local waters or hike (Many trout around here have never seen a dry fly). Cruise over to the game range and checkout the elk in the winter range just to verify the Bob still has huge elk. Most whitetail I’ve killed within 30 minutes of the house. Geese when the BG season closes or they are stacked like cordwood and it becomes impossible to resist...

 

[jt13]

For almost 3 years, my fiancee and I were living in a 3rd floor apartment with street parking in a large Pennsylvania city. It was the only place we could afford that also allowed pets so we dealt with it as best we could. When she finished her masters program we stumbled into the opportunity to move halfway across the state into an old farmhouse in rural farm country. It was one of the best decisions of our life. Rent is cheap, the view is great, closest neighbor is a mile away, and the animals are plentiful. Here's just a few of the critters we have harvested within eyesight of the house:

 

[Deleted member 40728]

I don’t have to venture more than a couple hundred yards to be into some excellent turkey and deer hunting.
2017 rifle buck

2018 archery

2019 flintlock

one of the homestead spring gobbler mounts

 

[BAKPAKR]

Cow elk...no question. Can be standing in a spot with a rifle and tag in hand to see them within 30 minutes to 2 hours max. Very, very rare day when 1-3 don't find their way into the back of the truck. Seasons are long and don't interfere with other hunts. Can do easy solo hunts for myself or help friends and family.

Don't have do any judging to see if a tine is broken or if they're big enough...just sort through them to find the ones without a calf.

Usually require a good stalk, enough exercise packing to keep the blood flowing, and they fill a freezer pretty quickly.

Gives me a chance to justify the need for the 3 guest bedrooms hosting friends and family here in the doublewide...and keeping the whisky in the bar from going bad.

2019:

My 3:

Family:

Few for some friends, old and new:

With that kind of success, does each of your guest bedrooms have its own chest freezer?

 

[rtraverdavis]

If the city wouldn't get on my case I'd have some real backyard hunts with Eurasian collared doves.

Yeah. In a 360* view from my rooftop, I could kill a couple dozen squirrels with a .22 or air rifle, if it wouldn’t promptly result in my arrest.

 

[SFC B]

Having grown up in the city and having no land in the family I have never had the ability to "back yard" hunt. The 2 closest were 1) The spot about 15 minutes from my in laws in IN where my son took his first deer...... leased out now 2) for about 4-5 years when I was about 10-15 (after my parents were divorced) I lived in ATL with my mom. The apartments we lived in Had a good sized retention lake that was FULL of fish. Life at home at the time was not fun so I (and my friends) spent endless hours fishing. Bass, crappie, bream and catfish. I once caught 28 catfish in an afternoon and could catch bream on nearly every cast. Dough bait was all it took for most but for space I would toss a Rapala or RoosterTail chasing bass and crappie

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Literally my back door! Roof of my house.
And the first thing my son shot w a shotgun, in the backyard.
Matt

 

[TheGreek]

Living in Chicago, I’m afforded a fair amount of shore fishing opportunities and some years, hard water too. And the deer was killed on public land within 60 miles of downtown Chicago.

 

[MTelkHuntress]

One of my fishing spots is pretty close. I dont mind fishing for pike and seeing elk sometimes. When I have a day where I cant be in the mountains all day, pike fishing is the go to for me. It's very calming to listen to the river and see the animals come by.

 

[hogcarpy]

I’m fortunate to have a nice little place to waterfowl hunt close to my house. Sometime the hunting is great, sometimes it isn’t. Spending time with friends and my mutt are always great.

 

[Mica Man]

This time of year turkeys.
In the fall deer, elk, and grouse.
All this fun just by walking out my back door.