Unusual Hunts

[truck driver]

April though I have hunted and shot the elusive Snipe but probably missed more of the little fast flying birds then I hit.
The mythical four legged creature we talk green horns into hunting with a gunny sack is a prank well played on an unsuspecting soul while the pranksters sit around a fire sipping good Bourbon or beer waiting for the hunters to return and tell their exploits of the hunt. :mrgreen:

 

[Guy Miner]

Last year was the first time I tried a predator call for black bear. I did my best imitation of a hurt, dying animal, and literally within 10 minutes, we had a hungry, predatory black bear coming out of the forest, about 15 yards from us.

That was pretty danged exciting and unusual.

I didn't shoot the bear, as he was a little smaller than I wanted, and he didn't push the issue. Still, I'd guess he was in the 200 - 250 pound range, and with a beautiful, glossy black coat.

A week or two later I got a bigger bear, by spot & stalk. Very satisfying hunt, but hardly as exciting as suddenly having a bear come in, at 15 yards, looking to kill and eat!

Guy

 

[Blkram]

I have not played with the Sharps or the reproductions, but have a friend who has a few, mostly in 45/70's. I kind of thought the 40/60 or 40/65 would have been more interesting to shoot, but have only heard and read about them, and have not seen one.

 

[Gunner46]

I'm going back FOTIS on a pronghorn. Definitely not all that unusual, but trying to get a Good'un on a DYI/ Public Land hunt is more than an acceptable challenge for any hunter/tress regardless of where you have ever hunted prior !

You'll know when you've done very well if the locals stop to ask you "Where did ya git it"?

 

[muleman]

Maybe not unusual but stalking wild pigs and shooting them close with a bow was always fun. Especially when following them through brush and on trails that you have to crawl on.....keeps the adrenaline levels up pretty high. The biggest rush I've experienced is Elk hunting in the rut with a bow. Been doing it for over 25 years and it never gets old! The mountains get steeper and the trails get longer but the thrill is still there. Had a lot of fun hunting Javelina on horseback with pistols - kinda crazy but fun.

Scott

 

[Teknys]

Muleman is right on track with - taking the "normal" hunts here we have access to and using a different weapon or into a different part of the country where the terrain is different. Some of these can be quite exciting. When armed with a bow and stalking elk can be very challenging - and gets exciting with all the bugles and elk chasing each other around. Seems like an all out UFC-Cage-Match-Circus-etc... going on all around you. If you can hit the peak of elk rut - there is nothing like it. 400lb - 800lb animals screaming and yelling and chasing each other all around you and try as you might you, can't get one to stand still long enough to get a shot. For me it was "How can they not know I'm STANDING RIGHT HERE." ha it is something to experience.
Any short range weapon = Muzzleloader - pistol - bow puts a whole different element into the hunt.

 

[35 Whelen]

April,
This is a great question and certainly as interesting as looking at pictures of a target with a group on it...........
Please continue to post anything about hunting and game in general, as simply posting on here that you may be the greastest shot in the world or some picture of a rifle you would like to own someday will only hold ones interest for so long
This threads that deal with asking for others help or opinions on various subjects outside of tight groupings or which flavors of ammo or rifle that one prefers again seam to be kinda short lived compared to ones that lots of folks dive right into seam to hold peoples interest on here longer
One of the longest threads on here is the one about "Jeeps"!
Anyway some of the most unusual hunting that we did in the past {I was not old enough for Polor Bear in Alaska] Marine Mammal Act was in 1972.............. I was however old enough for sameday Airborne for Wolves in Alaska. Folks showed up after the regular hunting seasons were over . Jan and Feb were short days but COLD and got them moving. 99% of the Clients had never been in a ski plane before . Alaska looks very different in Winter. And zooming around in a Super Cub 10ft of the ground chasing a pack of wolves is pretty darn exciting for the pilot , let alone the hunter in the back seat. I probably had more comments from that hunt over the years than about anything else except bears that charged.
Here in Maine in the middle of winter we offer hunting from Snowmobles for called Coyotes , and although not quite as adrenal pumped as Artic Wolves by air, we forget how many folks have never been around Snowmobles, 3 ft of Ice, Or have ever been in the woods, when there is 3/4ft of snow on the ground , 95% of our clients have never had a pair of snowshoes on in their life. 99.9% of them have never slept out overnite when it was -20 below zero. The calling of the animal out of the woods can get the hunter pretty dam excited; and as Guy mentioned with the bear , it revs folks up, when it pokes its head out and starts coming to the call. Way more so than one coming into a bait. I would say I have seen lots of guys shaking as badly, on a Big called Coyote in the winter, as any Big whitetail buck in the fall. The cold and how we have to dress for it, plus the mode of travel , coupled with the deep snow and beautiful landscape it creates seams to paint an unforgettable image in the mans mind. A similar hunt that is also popular here is we also chase Bobcats with hounds in the same places we hunt Coyotes so lots of folks want to do BOTH. Most hunters I know really love to hunt with dogs as it adds another whole element to hunting , listening to the dogs as the chase the cat.............. lots of times it takes all day and a couple of relocates to get them but we usually do. Great fun if you like dogs and one has always wanted a spotted cat to add to the trophy room. [ Probably the most impressive jacket on an attractive lady of what impresses me is a lynx or bobcat jacket wraped around her, very classy ..........
That's the kinda hunts we call unusual for "most folks" , Or at least that's what they keep telling us!
I have a client that keeps telling me he would rather shoot a big coyote called in the winter than to kill Bull Elk !!!! LoL. :lol:

 

[Thankful Otter]

Earle, we still fly that close to the Grey wolf and the Arctic wolf, as well as the polar bears on occasion. Hunting and tranquilizing both the polar and grolar bears can be interesting. We took some flat landers up to the islands and they were amazed at how beautiful the Arctic wolves are. Watching a pack of Arctic Wolves take down a grown muskox gives one pause. Most folks who have seen a Grey wolf are surprised at how white the Arctic Wolf is. Also flying that low has brought a few anxious moments that were not associated with the animals. As for shooting a coyote or wolf instead of dinner ( elk, deer, caribou, moose ), I would have to respectfully disagree with your client, BUT, I understand his point.

teknys and muleman without a doubt!! I believe the instructions and guidance I received as a child, ( hunting with a bow ) helped me become a better hunter, in general.

 

[hunternyny]

and again I have to say what some of you guys do, literally in your everyday life, is not only foreign to me, but something I had not even thought about.

Gil. Dr Mike, Hodgeman, Bear78, salmon chaser, 35Whelen and others---some of your posts are just way beyond anything I have done or even thought about doing

but would like to

 

[35 Whelen]

Cheyenne,
Life as we know it is certainly getting more unusual by the moment. I often ponder while guiding extremely wealthy clients how totally uninformed most are of nature........ Most of the younger ones have no concept of life without electricity...... A major hardship to them would be a couple of days without a shower........... And it saddens me to think they have no concept of reading a favorite book by lamplight, having to drawn water from the well, needing to get up and get the fire going because since it went out during the nite ;the water in the pail, is now half frozen.
It worrys me to realize if there were no gasoline for a chainsaw, they would likely freeze to death surrounded by forests with an old bucksaw hanging in the shed......... I had a 25 year old college grad ask me what a double bited axe was used for...... I asked him what he thought it might be for,
He replyed " possibly to dig a trench to bury wires"......... So I simply said, well I sopose it could be used for that.
So many things you and I accept as everyday life ;are" highly unusual" to many people in todays world. I was raised in a place were 75% of the homes, had an outhouse behind it. 50% had a hand pump in the old wrought iron sinks. None of the homes were insulated. Most burned 10/15
Cords of seasoned hardwood, to heat them per winter, half the men in town could correctly file and set the teeth of a crosscut saw; (I still have my grandfathers 1899 Raker gauge!)and many were experts with an axe....... Everyone in town could walk in snowshoes ,and most could mend a broken pair. Many could shoe a horse and had the tools to do it. Everyone had a big garden, my mother canned veggies and meat for us for years, she is now nearly 90 and always has a couple of pairs of handknit real wool socks under my Christmas tree every year! We all lived in homes that they, or their fathers built ,with the help of friends, None of the homes, had one sheet of plywood in them anywhere. I had never heard tell of "sueing your neighbor", until I left here. If you got into it with someone ,the nearest cop was ( and still is) 50 miles away,
If you smaked someone up the side of the head, they WOULD hit you back, if you got in over your head, YOU were your only 911, simple as that.
If they knocked a tooth out of you , you spit it out , got up and dusted yourself off, and got over it! No 911, no police, no lawyers, no dentist , no insurance, no facebook.............
So Cheyenne hold your head high, and be mighty thankfull you are who you are; and know what you know, And if ever we meet in NY City ,at the 21 Club, lets pretend we are studying one of the old "Remingtons" on the wall , Because what we are really discussing would be " highly unusual" to most everyone else in the room. ( And I am buying!)
E
My grandad.........

 

[DrMike]

Stop it, E; you're making me homesick.

 

[35 Whelen]

Lol, just sayin.........

 

[Europe]

Earle, Dr Mike

everything you mentioned and so much more. Little things, like I didn't just teach just my daughter how to sew with a needle and a thread but also my son. Just recently a young man was amazed at how a wedge was used to split wood, he was also a little surprised that I sill could still do it. I can not believe how many so called outdoors men and women can not read the weather and/or prepare for it. The lack of simple medical knowledge is unbelievable. The entirety of what some know is to call 911.

As to Cheyenne's post. When my husband and I hunted the far north years ago, before Cheyenne was born, we left having a great deal of respect for the people who live in that part of the world. They "truly" know how to live off the land and sea.

this is my thread and I will hijack it if I want too

 

[DrMike]

Now, April, only a pirate would hijack a thread. :shock: Aargh! You can't hijack what is yours. :mrgreen:

 

[truck driver]

Stop it, E; you're making me homesick.

You, he's bringing memories of my youth and a simpler time in my life I yearn for today.
The out house pumping water from the well cutting wood or carrying coal to heat the house waking up in the mourning dusting the snow off the covers or stepping in snow that had blown in around the windows having the electricity go out and read by oil lamps going out side and getting cold stuff like milk and eggs out of the snow or opening up a jar of canned vegetables.
I still have the cross cut saw my Dad used to cut wood and trees down with and a double bit axe.
How many of you have ice saws? I have 2 in my shed hanging left from days gone by.

How does all this pertain to unusual hunts probably nothing at all but every day was a struggle and hunting was a way of life to put meat on the table.
I can see where living where Cheyenne lives hunting is a way of life since you don't have a Safeway or other grocery store around every corner to get what you need.
Making what you need or fixing things instead of throwing them away and going to a Wallymart to replace them isn't an option. The skills and knowledge she has of life would put most of us to shame.

Sorry April but I got off track, Earle brought back memories of my youth and helped me remember some real good times in my life. :grin:

 

[Thankful Otter]

thanks Rodger and Earle. The funny thing is that when I went to the big city to attend college and had all the modern conviences, I missed our way of life and was happy when I was able to graduate and return.

We dont have t.v available to us when we are in the mountains or on the ice and that is o.k. I can live without knowing what Kim Kadashin is wearing or not wearing. Why Brad and Angie got a divorce, What President Trump had for breakfast and why the liberals are so upset about it and want a special prosecutor to investigate it. The importance of letting all genders use the same outhouse--this one really confuses me, since we have always used the same outhouse----believe me, not getting a t.v. signal is not all bad.

April, Bonne fete des meres. Rodger, Dr Mike, your wives are lucky to have you. My husband ask me which I didn't want to do today. cut firewood, drop the dogs, or shovel snow off the roof---I choose shoveling snow off the roof, happy mothers day to me and we dont even have any children--what a guy!

 

[DrMike]

My goodness, Cheyenne, not shoveling snow! What are you going to do with all your time? My good lady always shovels the snow. Guess she doesn't want to wait for me to generate energy to do the hard tasks. Have a great day resting. Now, back to work for me. I do have to wonder about you, though. Wouldn't have thought you knew who this Kardashian gal is. :? Brad and Angie? Sick puppies for sure.

 

[Europe]

The one thing you have to admit Dr Mike, Kim has a huge-----------diamond ring

Back to unusual hunts. We had an enjoyable time hunting Capercaillie in Sweden. Who else has enjoyed that hunt. I know we have a member here from Denmark. I bet he has hunted them--who else has, or would even want to ?

 

[Anonymous]

Back to unusual hunts. We had an enjoyable time hunting Capercaillie in Sweden. Who else has enjoyed that hunt. I know we have a member here from Denmark. I bet he has hunted them--who else has, or would even want to ?

I would love to- I'm a huge fan of hunting grouse and the capercaillie is the biggest specimen going. The natural science department at UAF has one mounted- in full courting display in the foyer. Impressive.

 

[elkhunternm]

Would hunting jackrabbits with a .460 Wby,be an unusual hunt?