Think back to all the times you've gone hunting, even if you were just accompanying someone. Odds are you won't remember every single one of them, but I'm willing to bet there are a few that stand out. You know, those paricularly good and memorable ones that you hope to have every time you head out. The ones that you'll absolutely never forget. They don't even necessarily have to be handgun hunts, although considering what site we're on, there will probably be a few.

OK, I'll play. My most memorable was really my first handgun hunt for big game. It may have been my first gun hunt period, after only using a bow. It was for antelope in Colorado, on public land.

Hunt started at the shooting range, before. Never been to a range during the fall. Yup, it was a mess. Folks lined up at each station, taking turns sighting. That sure stuck in my mind, never to do it again.

Had to sleep in my jeep on the opener, at the gate into the unit. The mud was a foot deep in places, from pouring rain. Wiggling into my sleeping bag with muddy boots in the drivers seat of my Wrangler sure stuck in my mind.

In the morning I drove in. Me and about a zillion other hunters. This was going to be a mess, as well. I noted that everyone else seemed to be just driving around. I parked the Jeep, checked the map for the largest area of no roads, and hiked out. A couple of miles in, I eased up to the rim of a big basin, and bingo, antelope. Having not heard a shot all morning, I knew that they were all mine. I eased my 7-30 Contender onto my pack, and watched them feed in my scope. I had all the time in the world. I picked out the biggest buck, lined up, and bang. Clean miss. Antelope were gone.

It was a combination of steep downhill, and not practicing from a pack rest, but it seared a few things in my mind as I laid there in the mud on my belly, that stick to this day. Gun hunting can be a mess, unless you work harder than the other folks. A handgun is doable, but you gotta commit. Commit to practice. I had always practiced with a bow, but it was easy to pick up each summer and be back on. A rifle is pretty easy to hit with, even with little practice. this handgun thing was gonna have to be a year round, life long commitment to get good.

Driving home with an unpunched tag, I was happy. Not a lot for what I had done, but more reflecting on what could be done. The things I did right, the things I did wrong, and that herd of antelope all to myself. I can see that clear as a bell, in my mind today.

Craig

Two hunts come to mind.
Both with my daughters and their first deer. I'll never forget those.

I took my grandson on his first deer hunt when he was 12. He was using a T/C Encore rifle in .454 Casull and killed a doe. His reaction to seeing the deer was priceless. That afternoon he watched me kill a doe with my Contender 7-30 Waters. During the drive home he talked incessantly about the hunt. I would not trade that day for anything.

I will never forget my first hunt with my oldest son. It was a unsuccessful turkey hunt, but unforgettable none the less.

Very grateful for a number of memorable hunts with my dad...waterfowl, upland and western big game. Great times with a godly man...miss ya dad! Several years ago with my eldest son on a road trip for pronghorn to Buffalo, WY. It was his first big game hunt and was rewarded with a nice buck. As a newly licensed driver he logged most of the round-trip miles from Michigan. Yes we stopped at Wall Drug.

Nothing flashy for me. About 13 years ago my family and I were celebrating Thanksgiving in Roanoke, Va on my uncles mountain. Some how I talked my dad to sit that evening with my then 7yo son. My dad had never been hunting before and my son was just starting to hunt with me. We sat on a ridge looking down on a small grassy field. Just before dark I spotted a small buck and squeezed the trigger. The buck dropped in his tracks and my son and father couldn't believe that it just happened. We couldn't take the dear back to the main house because my uncle's Rottweilers would have probably taken the deer away from us. So we cleaned the dear and quartered it right there in the field. My son holding the flashlight and plastic bags while my dad held a leg and followed my instructions. I was amazed how my father handled the sight of killing and cleaning a deer because he had never been exposed to anything like that before. My son did great and studied my every movement as we cleaned the deer. My father passed away about a year later and my oldest son is off at college now and my youngest child has become my hunting buddy. Spending the time with my dad and my first born son in that magical place and sharing that successful hunt with them is a day I remember well and often.

my next hunt....

All my firsts where with my dad. I remember my first deer..back then big game wasnt until 16--shotgun only area. We were in stand togeyher he had built, shot a spike buck within an hr or so of sunlight. Never a man to share much feelings but i remember he was just so proud of me. Hes still around and i cherish ever yr i get to hunt with him...squirrels, ducks and deer.

4 years ago I went to Ohio on my first guided deer hunt,preparation for this hunt started in febuary. I needed the months to practice and come up with good handloads for my 2 460"s, a Encore, and a Smith from the performance center, people told me that I was crazy for taking a pistol to Ohio on this hunt, that I was going to see the buck of a lifetime and miss, or F-up,they told me it COULD"NT BE DONE, my mindset changed, I stayed with my game plan, I developed a confidence that was not going to be broken. Opening day in Ohio had me in a ladder stand overlooking a cut bean field, the rail on the stand had a carpenters touch, I added some plywood on it for my bags.When I first saw him he was at 110 yards, he was crossing the inside corner of the field, I let him come to 80 yards and squeezed, he went 30 yards and dropped.I did it,the buck was my 1st 10 pointer, he scored 140. Practice, determination, and confidence make a handgun hunter.

There were several with my late father that will be forever remembered but lately they've all been with neighborhood kids. Over the past few years I have been with 3 for there first deer and 3 others while taking their first buck. Helping and watching the future generations is always rememberable

African or alaska the first time, Cow elk with the 454rb for my first handgun kill, but really the most memorable was my oldest son's blackbear hunt. He hunted hard all week, disappointment after disappointment and finally the laaaast night he gets his bear covering over 9 miles of mountains at a pace i could not keep. He ended with a drt there shot with his 454 bfr at 55 yards in fading light in the rain offhand timing it bw dogs and the bear fighting. Guide was blown away. I havent been that proud on a hunt in a long time. Iron sights too btw

My father hunted only once in his life.... i was 4. Things didnt end well for him and he never hunted again . He only hunted out of family pressure . My grandfather on my moms side and uncles were the hunters. I remember my first deer kill till the day i die.. and to be honest i can remember all of the deer kiils in my life sat some point or another. Cant remember them all at one time, probly should right them down some day. I remeber my grandsons first kill pretty much played out same as my first hunt with my grandpa. " Jake prop the gun up on the sticks and just watch him in the scope.... can you see him Jake ? Just watch him.... are you steady?... I reach over and push the safety off and Jake gives me a shocked look... and wjispers " really ?" I give him the knod and tell him breath slow and squease even slower. Deer dropped at the shot 90 yds. Pop up blined couldnt contain him..... He is 16 this november and i have lost him to girls cars and video games...damn ny and there liberal thinking i could have hooked him sooner had the age to hunt been left to the parents. Shouldnt have to sneak a child into the hunting blind to kill his first deer. Shouldnt have to tell him he cant tell anybody. Thats the hunt i will remember.

Nytracker, isn't New York's minimum age to hunt 12?

trademark,
sorry to hijack this post but I've been considering a BFR in .454. Pros and cons?

For me, 2011 was the best year in my relatively brief hunting career. June 1st through the 3rd, my dad and I hunted red stag and fallow deer in New Zealand. Then, November 5th, I made my first muzzleloader kill, which remains my only 10-point buck. On Thanksgiving morning, I heard the distinctive sound of my dad's 300 Weatherby going off. I hiked that way and discovered that he killed the largest buck any of us has ever seen on the farm. Finally, I spent the last three days if the year on my first waterfowl hunt on Reelfoot Lake and in the cypress swamps near the Mississippi River.

I couldn't choose any one of those moments over the other.

It is 12 now with the bow... 14 gun..... i think kids should be introduced earlier ... when parents... family thinks a child is mature enough. . Not some arbitrary age a politician pulls out of there arse.

Man, that stinks. I agree completely that it should be up to the parent. My home state doesn't even have a minimum age, only requiring a hunter safety course after they turn ten.