Most memorable hunt with Dad or as a Dad

[H380]

Happy fathers day to all you lucky Dads out there .. As stated in the title what's your most memorable hunt with your Father or as a Dad yourself ?Got so many myself I don't know where to start .

[sureshot]

My best was last year when both my boys were with me, my youngest was 3 at the time and he enjoyed the whole experience. I wouldn't trade that do for anything.

Andy

[Rackmastr]

Some of my most memorable with Dad would be from when I was just a young little guy. We werent always successful but that never mattered. From my first mulie buck to the first time in the mountains, to hunting pheasants and ducks down south. Lots of great fun.

In the last few years I've had some great hunts with Dad and made some great memories. We've also been lucky enough to fill a few tags in the meantime!

Cant wait to hunt with my daughter down the road or maybe get all 3 of us out sometime for a hunt!

[KBF]

Perhaps when heading into the trees to retrieve my downed bear, and having another woof at us that we did not see, and the quick sprint to the truck. Inexperienced bear hunters we were.

[freestyle]

My most memorable hunt with dad was a Cariboo hunt in NWT with Fred Webb Outfitters. Since my dad lives in Swift Current (where I grew up and started hunting Whitetail, mulies, antelop, waterfowl and upland birds) he had a bit of a drive to meet me in Edmonton and pick me up after my flight from Kelowna. We drove his pick-up to Yellowknife and then took a float-plane to Courageous Lake, NWT.

We were the only Canadians is our camp, as the majority of US hunters were from New York and Texas. We each had tags for two Cariboo bulls. My dad, being a meat hunter that would prefer to shoot a cow over a bull, was an oddity in our camp. Since I was picking up the tab on this trip I insisted that he at least take a bull for the first animal. The morning on the first day he took a huge Cariboo bull, still in full velvet! Turned out that dad's bull was the largest taken by anyone in the camp for the 3-4 days we hunted, and the best scoring in that outfit for the season. After seeing dad's bull our US friends all joked that they were now committed meat hunters!

Turns out that dad may like antlers more than he let on, as his picture with that huge bull found itself on the front page of the local newspaper under the headline: Hunt of a Lifetime.

In any event, we both got two cariboo bulls. I had both our best bulls mounted and it brings back special memories when I go to the trophy room.

[Flyfisher87]

Every hunt with my Dad is memorable.

[buckbrushoutdoors]

My dad is one of my best friends we do alot together. He's a busy man nowadays with a growing buisness so we don't get to hunt together as much as we used to but we still make time to meet in sask for a deer hunt every year




Now I have my own Son to take hunting

[H380]

Thanx for the replies and photos .. as was mentioned , all hunts with family are great , no kill is neccesary, just time together. And yes the bear hunts are some of the best .

[catnthehat]

With my father, it was the first bird I put up and killed over the first dog I ever trained by myself - a terrific lab named Shane.
It was Dad's first hunt over that dog as well, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.
For my son and i , it was the first bird I shot with my new gun over the his first pointer, his first self trained dog as well- it was also the first bird Louie had ever pointed on a hunt.

Cat

[Hoopi]

Hi: My Dad and i went to his old homestead in the sand hills near Buck Lake. It was the beginning of November back the in 1979.

We planned to hunt Friday and was given the rare opportunity to take off school. I was in grade nine at the time. I was 14. We decided to check the alfalfa field just at before sun down. Drove to the gate, walked around the corner and there he was...my first buck.

We hung him up in a tree at Hope Lake campground and slept in the back of the truck. It was cold, the cap was not well insulated. We did not have good camping equipment so we had to sleep back to back in the truck. It is one of the most treasured memories of my Dad.

Dad left us in 2002...I wish he was still on this side of the sunset.

Hoopi

[ksteed17]

My dad doesnt hunt but supports me and likes to come along bird hunting sometimes to watch the dogs. I've got a 2.5 year old daughter and a boy on the way. I can't wait to get them out with me!

[jhyatt01]

I was 15 and my dad and I decided to hunt a year old cutover that was a 3 mile hike in, there was a bridge to get an ATV over but we decided to walk in so as not to frighten any deer with the sound. We hunted the whole way in and saw a few does. We made a few walks through cutover by ourselves but didn't kick anything up. Later we met up and my dad suggested that we hunt a ridge in the cutover, he would walk down near the cutline and once he got to where I could parallel him I would walk along the ridge and see if we spotted anything.

Well once he got to where I could parallel him I proceeded north along the ridge, before we got 100 yards a 10-point jumped up between the two of us and proceeded to run southeast, I pulled up and at 150 yards on a full run I pulled the trigger. My dad pulled up to give him a finishing shot if he needed it, but he saw that the buck was pumping out a lot of blood and he fell 25 yards from where he had been shot. I was excited, but I honestly think that he was more excited then I was. I gutted the deer and we proceeded to start to our 3 mile drag out, we made it about a 100 yards through the cutover before we decided it was likely better that we got the ATV. It is currently the greatest hunt I've ever gone on. And will always be a memorable hunt for me.

[gonewest]

I had quite a few great times hunting and fishing with my dad. But one of the most memorable ones was when I was 17 yrs old I shot my first buck of my lifetime a spike horn and he shot a 4 pt the day before. Back in those days horns weren't passed. We hunted my grandmas farm about a 4 hr ride from our house. The next day we put both those bucks on top of the ole station wagon and paraded them all the way home. I was on a cloud the whole trip home. Sad thing was we never killed another deer together he passed away a few yrs later unexpectedly. But I do believe I have gotten deer since that he had something to do with somehow or another. I consider myself lucky to have had a dad that was never to tired to take me hunting or fishing.

[jimbo1]

Loving these pics and stories guys !

my dad isnt a hunter or fisherman, however he took me fishing as a kid even though he had no interest in it so for that in my eyes he will always be a top class guy! we caught a 2 pound perch on our first trip to a little pond and ive been hooked since! he also made arrangements for me to go hunting with his friend for rabbits the first time when i was 6 !
Thank you dad

[Duk Dog]

There have been a ton of great hunting adventures over the years with my dad. Without a question one of the most memorable was a number of years back when he had a bull elk tag in Wyoming. We saw some amazing country, got up close with a bunch of elk as they came up out of the black timber and past us and over the top of the ridge we were on. The bull was screaming like crazy. We also got to experience our first hunt with horses and got to pack his bull down off the mountain with them. I'll never forget his bull stepping out of the timber across the valley from us and my dad making a great shot. Simply an amazing adventure. Many of our pictures are from the predigital camera era, but here are a couple.

Dad was there for my first big game animal.



One of our many bird hunts. Tough to see but my then lab is in the middle of us, and it was her first season hunting. Not quite a year old in the picture. Grew up with black labs and followed in my dad's foot steps hunting with them and running field trials etc..



My dad's more recent bull elk.

[duffy4]

My Dad never hunted but we fished together a few times. He encouraged me to fish and hunt as he knew it was a passion for me.

I hunt with my daughter and my son and the times we have spent together are some of the most special hunting memories for me.



My daughter with a nice buck.




Son with a pronghorn doe.

I reckon one of my happiest moments was when Ben shot a buck from one of my tree stands and when I went to dress it out he said "Give me that knife, I have watched you do this enough that I want to do my own deer." And he did and then drug it out to the truck himself too.

[Tundra Monkey]

You guys are very lucky.....my Pop fished but didn't hunt

Sure wish he did a it turned out to be a passion of mine I'd have loved to share with him.

When my kidz are a little older they will head into the mts with me.....my 8yr old daughter wants to do a moose hunt with me this year so that is on the agenda as long as I don't see a 60"+ one in the mts this year!!!!

[Hagalaz]

For me it was a simple gopher hunt in the summer of 1992, near Alix.

My father with his Ruger 10/22 & myself with my low-end Lakefield Model 64B that I had recieved for Christmas in 1991. We put on quite a few kilometers and must have fired 500+ rounds each that day. One of the reasons that it sticks in my mind is the ridiculous amount of gophers, it was like the prairie was moving.

[DanJ]

Dad was my only hunting partner for a long time. We hunted the plentiful partridge on our property between Dog Lake and Cranberry Lake on Burnt Hills Road about twenty miles from Seeley's Bay, Ontario and we jumped ducks in the marsh. That was almost forty years ago. I basted the partridge breasts in beer and sprinkled them with Rosemary and oh, Heavenly Father they were delicious. Alberta would be perfect if it had bass, more ruffed grouse and maple trees.

The first time I really felt like a man was when Dad and I hunted together, me holding a real shotgun. His name was Jack and in his prime he could kill ducks better than anyone here. He flew air missions against Hitler, he built a steel mill in Contrecouer Quebec, and he was a son of Joe Jarrell - a Kingston character who you all unknowingly wish could be part of this forum.
My uncle Joe was a fishing guide in the golden days.

Seriously cool bunch of guys .

Oh my dear God I miss Dad, and Mom too. I wish I could hunt partridge in Ontario with Dad just once more and I wish I could play cribbage and knock back Scotch and soda with my mother just once more.


Dan

[prairiecustom]

The most memorable hunts I had with my dad were actually not hunts at all.Just the stories he shared about how they harvested a few deer back in the day.To say there techniques were normal would be pushing the limits but back in the day it was their main source of meat.It was not an option to not get a "couple" deer to make sure the family had some meat for the winter
Unfortunately my dad passed a quite a few years back.The one hunt I really remember with my dad,I let him shoot 3 times and then.........
To this day I wish we could do it again

[220swifty]

My Dad was never a hunter, but when i got into it at around 14 years old, he humoured me and took me out when he could. He watched me fling a couple arrows past animals, and taught me that road hunting with a bow is generally pretty tough. He did this by refusing to get out of the truck, and if we did, he had to have a smoke hanging out of his beak. It's funny, but those are fond memories.

Back in 2010, i drew for non trophy antelope, and invited him along for the company. No pics of the two of us, but i managed to put down this doe.



My fatherhood is still very young, but i have taken my little girl out for both the seasons she has been on earth. The first year we took her out for a deer hunt in the eastern part of the province. The early part of the season i managed to put down a whitetail buck, and i am pretty sure my best field photo to date came out of that one. She is 6 months old in this one.




Last season probably counts for the best memory. I only really got out twice last season, and once with the family on a short day trip out west. I managed to fill a supplemental tag with my 375 Ruger, and took my little girl out with me for the retrieval. When we got there, she squatted down and pet it on the nose, said 'cute', then busted into a ridiculous little victory dance all around the deer.

Even tonight, as i was sitting at my reloading press, the little turd walked in, and asked what i was doing. I told her 'building ammo'. She hopped up on my lap and watched me charge a case and seat a bullet. When i did the next one, she 'helped' pull the lever on the press. I could see she was into it, so i put a case on the press that hadn't been resized yet, and handed her a bullet. She put the bullet in the neck and pulled the lever, i had to help finish the stroke, but she did most of it. I pulled that dummy round off the press and watched her run, proud as can be, to her mom and grandmother (who is staying here this week). She yelled, "look, a bullet i built it mommy!"

I am proud to say i anticipate a shooter in that one. (not to mention that her response to most of the animals in the zoo was "shoot it" when my folks took her there a couple weeks ago)

[H380]

Thanx for the photos Swifty .. quite the unique color phase on that bear !!I'm sure she'll be a real hunter like Dad . Got 3 daughters of my own and they and even tho they are grown they still come back and hunt with me each fall . Some great memories there .

[SugarCreek]

My dad never hunted or fished and growing up I was the only one in our family that had an interest in hunting and fishing. Never really ran into anyone that did hunt until I finished high school so that is when I started hunting. I have taken 2 of my daughters out hunting over the years and Emily is the one that has continued in that direction and as a dad, I have never had so much pride then the day that she took her first animal....a bear. My wife was adopted and a year and a half ago, we met her birth dad...what an experience for her and myself. He is an avid hunter and fisher and has been to Africa and New Zealand over the years hunting. Last year he shared in Emily's first hunt and this year, both Emily and myself were able to share in our first hunt with him when he took a beautiful bear. Funny how life works out some times but these moments, I wouldn't trade them for the world. The three of us hope to share in a dream hunt to Africa in the not to distant future. What an adventure that would be.

While my dad never had an interest in hunting or fishing, he always supported my interests in taxidermy and humoured me in the first mounts that I started doing when I was 8 years old to where I know he is truely proud of the accomplishments in the field of taxidermy that he is now seeing. I wouldn't be where I am today without parents that have supported that side of my life.

My father in laws bear



Emily's first ever animal.....a bear taken with Cody Robbins of Live 2 Hunt



Emily on my cougar hunt



And my passion that my parents supported over the years.



Marco

[alpineguy]

My most memorable would be last year. I was able to take my youngest daughter for the first night of my elk hunt.

[H380]

Hope this is the first of many for you and your daughter alpine guy .Unlike a number of posters here I have been fortunate to have been born to a father who hunted .. He's still with us and tho he doesn't get out with me as much as he used to I still enjoy taking him every chance I get .. Kids make up the largest part of my hunts now , a son and 3 daughters as well as their spouses.. Not much room in the truck lots of days .lol..

[nekred]

Had many memorable hunts with my Dad. We had many successful hunts in northern BC. Too many to recount here even with my ability to type fast!...

When I was 11 I shot a grizzly in self defense when we were moose hunting then shot a moose!. I had many other hunts with him and often he would send me through the bush to stalk and animal and he would stand post. many times while I was going through the bush I would hear a bang and he would have an animal down.... Figured it out after a few years what he was doing!..but it kept meat on the table. I learned to be quieter in bush and then it chaged where he would hear a bang and come runnin to see my downed game.

We played many pranks on one another because we were competitive as I got older. I shot a nice Mule Deer (180's) and he wanted one bigger than mine... so all season he passed good bucks. Finally last day of season we see one close which made his antlers look bigger and I told him it was a monster at about 400 yards and in the excitement he shot it...high..but it wnet down. When he saw it was only about a 160 buck he was choked....

We had lots of fun. After I moved out to Alberta we don't hunt together as much but he grew up in Southern Alberta until he left home at 14 and he always told me about gopher shooting. he came to visit and I took him our shooting gophers in a special field that was polluted with them and we shot together for hours and the smile on his face was awesome I lent him a very accurate .22 and he enjoyed it very much.

Now with my boys I have so much fun. Last fall on a great fall day they walked with me for hours and we almost got a whitetail but it just did not quite work out. Wnet for a week with my oldest and he put on 35 miles on foot with me and he kept seeing the game but I could not get a shot away.

I was very fortunbate to spend the hours with my Dad. there was only one hunting trip after I turned 6 that he did not take me on. I cried for the whole week almost in disappointment (I was only 10). I know there were times I was a nuisance but he taught me a lot.

[trapshooter]

Every single hunt with Dad is memorable, you never know no matter how old or young you are what or when you last hunt will be. I treat hunts as treasure. The most memorable hunt would either be my first black bear or spring snow goose when you have 30,000 geese flying over you! My Dad is getting older and there are still many many hunts that I would love to do with him (sheep, caribou, goat etc). I would not even care if I shot an animal, I would just want to watch my Dad and the trill he would have! I would 100% be there filming it. My Dads goal since he was a kid was to get a sheep grand slam, that dream is sadly fading from him I wish I could do something to make it possible but not likely. Treat every hunt with your father or (whoever) as your last hunt and remember it!

Trap

[gonewest]

Very well said trapshooter.

[SportHuntingHelp]

Every hunt with Dad has been great. The parents moved to Nova Scotia to retire a few years back so have not been able to hunt together lately. Talk to him on fathers day he is planning on a trip out next year to hunt can't wait. I will even put up with his attempts at singing like doctor hook and Johnny cash.

We started talking about a moose hunt one of these years up north somewhere. Ideally somewhere where we could hunt and maybe fish. I am thiking of a guided hunt. So I guess the balls in my court now to start planning this. Any insight from members on great moose hunts let me know.

I hope my son when he's old enough will love hunting the way I do and we will be able to start another father son tradition.

[KegRiver]

I have loads of very fond memories of trapping with my dad, but not a lot of hunting with him. We both preferred to hunt alone.
Besides, dad seldom hunted game, he shot what we needed as it came through our yard. I missed more then a few school days because dad had shot a moose from the house that day.

One special memory, not hunting, but retrieving a Moose dad had shot, does come to mind.
He had shot that Moose across the river from our homestead. A distance of about six miles. We were able to drive to within a couple of miles of the kill, but there are no roads that cross the river so retrieval was a pack out job.
Five of us went over. Dad and our neighbour each loaded a front quarter onto a pack board, my foster brother Dennis got a back quarter to pack and my big brother, 16 years old and I shared the last back quarter. We all had pack boards.
My load was around 30 pounds, a big load for a 12 year old.

The trail from the kill wandered across a natural meadow, through a forest to the river. Then across a mile of jagged river ice and up a 400 foot hill too steep for any motorized machine, and finally to the road where dad had parked his old 54 Ford truck.

What I remember most was that hill. I though I'd never make it to the top.
Of course by the time we reached the hill, I was pretty well played out, but I wasn't about to admit that to anyone. I was a kid doing a man's job and I was going to get it done, even if it killed me.
The upshot is I did make it. I managed to get that load from the kill to the truck, and no one ever knew how much I was hurting.

That night, when the men sat down around the old barrel heater, to tell about their hunting and trapping adventures, liberally embellished stories I'm sure,
I was invited to sit with them. I had a story to tell too.