What shooting/hunting sports have you enjoyed over the years

[xlter]

Welcome Oregon Viking . Yep , lots of great down to earth folks and very interesting subjects on firearms .

I tried Duck one time in a restaraunt . Kinda tough greasy dark meat . Different , but not something I'd pay to eat again .

[unclebuck257]

I've hunted and eaten eaten duck, pheasant, quail, goose, and dove, and I like them all, IF they're made right. Xlter, with ducks it depends alot on what kind of duck they are and what they've been feeding on. I really don't like duck that's been feeding primarily on fish, as they tend to taste that way. Now, ducks and geese out of grain fields is some very good eating to me. I'm a big fan of dark meat and made right, you don't have a lot of grease. Of course, they are more greasy than say, a domestic turkey or chicken.

[Oregon Viking]

Yes sir you hit the nail on the head. if you get a bear that has been eating salmon......IKK!

[unclebuck257]

OV,

I've never eaten bear that I can recall. Probably one of the only game meats that I haven't eaten. It makes sense what you're saying about them eating Salmon though too. I think Moose is about the finest red meat/game meat you can eat. Next to that is Elk, which I tend to eat a lot of and then it's venison.

[Limitool]

Before moving to TN. in 94' because of work all my hunt'in buddies would meet at my large house the night before archery deer season began. There was usually 6-7 of us. We always had a huge wildlife dinner. We all saved some meat from last years hunts and we had quite a different variety. Squirrel, rabbit, deer, elk, bear, geese, pheasant, quail and duck. And I always disliked the duck the most. I can take or leave bear also. But for everything else it's every man for himself. Boy... those were the days. We had so much fun beer drinkin', cookin', beer drinkin', setting up equipment, a little beer drinkin', watching deer hunting videos, and did I mention a little beer drinkin'.

It just doesn't get much better than those days. And when we shot deer it just added to the fun. We all wore small radios and keep each other posted on what was going on. I really miss those days a lot.

[Limitool]

After each indoor bow hunting league during winter we always had a "fun night" after business hours. Fun night starts out with shooting balloon's and then smaller one's. Everybody "bets" something from a candy bar, a dollar and then later it gets real serious but the "players" get smaller but the audience stays. Later we put round 3" x 1/4" metal plates up at 60 ft. and see who comes closest without hitting it! Then we put up 1/4" plate steel targets like a squirrel, deer, hog, pheasant and others with real life hearts cut out of the steel figures. This usually weeded out the want-a-be's. But after a few drinks during these activities we always got those who suddenly "got better" or just didn't care. During this time with just one miss a arrow is shattered upon impact and cheered. A arrow going into center of the small steel target is booed. "Fun night" was great for business though.

It was all in fun.... and damn I miss teaching and running that business.

[unclebuck257]

Jan 28, 2014 12:48:52 GMT -5 Limitool said:

Before moving to TN. in 94' because of work all my hunt'in buddies would meet at my large house the night before archery deer season began. There was usually 6-7 of us. We always had a huge wildlife dinner. We all saved some meat from last years hunts and we had quite a different variety. Squirrel, rabbit, deer, elk, bear, geese, pheasant, quail and duck. And I always disliked the duck the most. I can take or leave bear also. But for everything else it's every man for himself. Boy... those were the days. We had so much fun beer drinkin', cookin', beer drinkin', setting up equipment, a little beer drinkin', watching deer hunting videos, and did I mention a little beer drinkin'.

It just doesn't get much better than those days. And when we shot deer it just added to the fun. We all wore small radios and keep each other posted on what was going on. I really miss those days a lot.

Limitool,

As you know I think, for 25 or so years, I was second in command of my outfitter buddy's Elk and Mule Deer hunting camp up in Colorado. I would be in camp for first and second rifle seasons, guiding first and hunting second season. It remained that way for me until 2010 when for no reason, I got High Altitude Pulmonary Edema and now I can't go back up into the altitude again or I could stroke out. BTW, our cabin is at 10,200 ft and the top of the ranch we lease is at 11,500 ft. I miss so badly the days I'd spend in hunting camp, the situations that would come up, the BS stories, the BS in general,  the card games, and of course, being told how we should hunt Elk by whitetail hunters who never hunted an Elk before in their lives!! LMBO!! Those were the days my friend and although it doesn't look like I'll be able to repeat them ever again, YOU and i BOTH have some tremendous memories that are PRICELESS and I wouldn't trade them for any amount of money! There have been guys pass away that were regulars almost every year and friendships made that just can't be valued by any method that I'm aware of! You and I are some VERY LUCKY and FORTUNATE men buddy. Damn, I miss those days so badly!! 

[Limitool]

"You and I are some VERY LUCKY and FORTUNATE men buddy."

Yes we are... Sounds like you helped a lot of people realize there dream of bagging an elk and helping hunters "learn" to shoot (our PM's). I started a GM archery league at my plant in Kalamazoo MI. and it took off like wildfire. I had the privilege of teaching MANY people what it takes and how to shoot a perfect 300 NFAA round and then we'd start to learn to shoot how to shoot professionally at that point (another story). But it SO FUN to watch those people "cross over" and go for a 300-60 spot round. I do miss that badly.

And taking a newcomer archer out into the woods, setting up their tree stand and then hear on the radio... "Brad, I hit one... or I got ONE"!!!!! Game on at that point. I was more excited for them than I was for myself when I got mine. I tracked and followed many deer into the swamp and around the woods and found them for my friends... and it was always a great moment watching them tag the deer and be so excited. I put my son East of me into a 12' tree stand with a radio only when he was 11. We could see each other and were only about 40 yds. apart. Right at dusk a small 4 pt. showed walking up to me from the West. I called Ben on radio and said watch I have a buck coming. It walked about 10 yds. in front of me broadside. I shot and the deer and it ran directly toward my son and dropped right UNDER his tree stand. HE WAS GEEKED UP.... INSTANTLY!!!!! I'll never forget how excited he was... It was priceless.

[unclebuck257]

Limitool,

Like you my friend, I have shot so dang many horns at this point in my life that when I did hunt Elk, I'd always go for a cow tag simply because they were cheaper in Colorado and all I was after was the meat anyway. I have tried to boil, mocrowave, bake, fry, deep fry, and broil those horns but they never got any softer so I could eat them! LMBO!! My greatest thrill was ALWAYS guiding a hunter who had never hunted Elk before and watching the excitement, and yes, the absolute "buck fever" at first, of seeing that hunter see that Bull Elk and the realization of actually how big they really are, and then trying to calm him down and get steady for the shot. Then the shot comes, and maybe a second, and the bull goes down! The jumping up and down and the look on their faces was fantastic!!

Tell you a little story. Remember the story about the older gentleman I guided who was in Elk camp with his son and who used to rag on his son pretty good? Well, I guided this 76 yr old man for several years in a row, and this one year we were at one of my favorite spots, waiting for the bull I just knew would come through there. We were in a natural 3 pine tree blind, about 2/3s up in a meadow, surrounded by dark timber. We had gotten there before dawn of course, and from about 8AM had heard a bull bugeling from a long distance away to our right.

It's now 930AM, and the bull had gotten to about where we were, bugeling the entire way. I turned to the man and told him to get ready, but be quiet, because that bull was going to break into the open meadow in about two minutes. By get ready I meant get his shooting stix set up and rifle on them and for HIM to get in a comfortable shooting position for HIM.. He did, and all the while the bugeling continues! From dark timber to dark timber again, this meadow was about 175 yds across too.

The bull breaks into the open meadow exactly where I knew he would and he is a BIG 6X6, BUT then I see antlers behind him too and I told the hunter NOT to shoot yet! Hell, there was a second, BIGGER bull tagging along with the first, right behind him and both a just grazing along in no big hurry, bugeling as they go. The second one was a BIGGER 6X7 bull. The hunter, whose name is "Popeye" is as nervous as can be, but he calms down and I told him to shoot the second bull, just after they both clear the timber. I told him to shoot again but he still didn't.

Now these two bulls are walking across the top of the meadow and are about now 1/2 across that meadow and Popeye hasn't shot yet. I said, OK Popeye, calm down, and shoot that second bull now! Then I hear him finally shoot and that second bull drops like a rock in one shot and his antlers are sticking up and glissening in the morning sun like you wouldn't believe. Seeing the bull drop, Popeye has a smile on his face as big as from ear to ear! The first bull never moved when the second bull went down, and just stood there looking at his buddy, as if to say, "Ok Fred get the hell up, this is no place to take a nap"!! I waited a minute to make sure the shot bull stayed down and then got up and started to walk up the 169 yds to where the bull was latying.

At this point then, the other bull sees me and takes off. I walked about 20-25 yds towards the downed bull and realize that Popeye isn't behind me. I turn around to see where he is and LITERALLY, there is Popeye, standing just out of the blind, like a cartoon character with BOTH his legs literally shaking so badly that he can't walk. He says, "Commandant just give me a minute please!" I went back and helped him and in a couple of minutes we then walked together up to that huge bull laying there on the ground! BTW, "Commandant" is what I was called up in camp and by most from camp any other time of the year too if we talked. Anyhow, I was more excited for Popeye for shooting that bull than anything else that ever could have been that year. The whole hunt is Priceless in my memories too!

[Limitool]

Unclebuck257 and All.... Great story guy. Yea after shooting your share of bucks and bulls helping someone else get theirs (especially 1st one) was almost like getting your 1st one all over again. I helped a lot of my target archery students cross-over into hunting and took many out for their 1st deer. Men, women and kids alike. It was always a blast helping them and/or being a part of their success.

[unclebuck257]

Limitool,

And now my friend, I'll get to teach my granddaughters what I know and take them out for their first deer or "piggy". That is something I'm really looking forward to.