What’s your favorite big game hunt ?

Just got a text from my son. Nilgai bull down on King Ranch.

Rick Richard said:

Wilderness elk hunt. Done about a half dozen trips in the Thorofare region. Most remote place in the lower 48. Plenty of elk, wolves and Grizz. Tough mental and physical hunt if a person is not in shape

Click to expand...

I agree. Really hard to beat a wilderness ELK Hunt! IMO

+3 on the wilderness Elk hunt.

To me there is nothing that compares to being on a high mountain where few people have ever been, chasing an incredible trophy in it's own home.
Honestly, that was one of the main reasons that I moved West and also one of the things that I still enjoy the most.

I love hunting big whitetail but being up in the mountains chasing elk is my favorite.

Minnesota. Whitetail

My favorite is hunting the big Northern whitetails.

The most exciting and unforgettable hunt was an African Lion shot in the Chobe area of Botswana about 25 years ago. This particular lion/pride had killed the only cow owned by a native rancher. We picked up the tracks from the kill at the broken fence and caught up with the pride about a day and a half later, held up in the long grass. This guy was shot at 21 yards with a H&H 450 Express Double Rifle made in 1904. I had to hand-load/regulate the cartridges to the rifle because the original Cordite loads were long discontinued. I acquired custom dyes and reformed from 470 brass, with Woodliegh 480grSP, iMR 3031 with Kapoc filler. This load replicated the test target info I acquired from the records still held by H&H in London. I can still remember every detail of this incredible experience as if it were yesterday. The insert in the photo was the taken from a book published by original owner, William Buckley, a famous hunter/adventurer.. It's a crummy photo but he is holding the same H&H over one of his lion kills....90 years earlier!

Black Bear would be top of list for me. I'd use the Browning A Bolt 30/06 with 165 gr. Sierra Game King bullets or my Marlin Guide Gun 45/70 with 300 gr. Nosler Partitions. Where I would hunt the shots are usually 100 yards or less.

My favorite is definitely packing in for elk. Successful in killing or not the hunt is always awesome and worth the effort. Spot and stock mule deer is a very close second.

Whitetail. Our season is five months long. From the first of October to the end of February.

I have hunted most things in the states and a few in Canada.My favorite has to be moose in full rut.While scouting I have been chased up tree's ,under blow down's and one time I called one in and he came in so fast I did not have time to get in my truck so I slid under it.Now here a 1000 lb bull standing at my truck looking for me slobbering and grunting right over me.He broke my mirror off before he left.You never know what they will do that time of the year

As far as pure fun, I'd have to say javalina when I lived in Arizona.

Big Muley bucks. these days it' harder to get a good deer tag than a good elk tag and even harder to find a good public land buck. I had a good tag 2 years ago. first morning after 2 hours of classing I stood up and a great buck took off. he had been hiding in the sagebrush and aspen 300 yards in front of me for 2 hours. I can still see that buck bouncing away.

All my hunting has been DIY or Outfitted, and its hard to pick one out. For me getting out after any species is a great time! The one hunt that I dream of doing again, was a outfitted drift trip for Moose in Alaska..... We were dropped off on a river with CAT raft, and picked up 10 days later at the mouth to the bay. It was a archery hunt, and we saw plenty of moose, including an absolute monster that we were unable to close the deal on. The Moose I ended up shooting came in behind me (I was calling for my partner) and was 10'-12' away but I was unable to shoot due to brush. Thankfully my partner noticed and started callinging and I was able to stick it at 25 yards as it worked its way towards him! I believe the Outfitter went out of business during the last recession, and I'm not sure I'd mention him anyway, as several balls were dropped which lead to my partner not getting a moose......beware, if you do a float trip, there is ALOT of meat on a mature bull moose and you can only fit so much on a raft. . I think the Moose trip ended up costing about $4,500.00 including shipping the meat home....If I could do this again, I would look into a drop camp in a remote area. Alaska is big enough you should be able to get in an area and have it all to yourself! The beauty and harshness of the Alaska wilderness, left a feeling of how insignificant we really are in the grand skeem of things! I grew up listening to stories from two old timers who spent alot of time in the Alaska wilderness, and I really wanted to see a portion of it for myself. One of these men sold my father the rifle he packed in Alaska, and I got it when my father died last year. It's a 1903 Springfield rechambered to 308 Norma mag. It's nothing but a tool compared to the rifles we see nowadays, but the sentimental side of me thinks it would be really cool to bring it back to AK and get it one more moose! Sorry for the ramble of me re living my memories! In short, if you are a DIYer, you would never regret a Alaska Moose hunt!

Hunting above tree line in Alaska where the alders don't slap me in the face, the blood sucking insects aren't bothersome, visibility is good over long distances, and the natural scenery is awesome.
Game could be sheep, goat, caribou, bear, moose, or blacktail deer. The occasional wolf or wolverine...