Best hunting memory thread
- Thread starter Alan
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2025
- Messages
- 4
I’m surprised there aren’t hundreds of stories here, but perhaps like me, coming up with just 1 is difficult? Anyway, I’ll start it off with one of my favorites:
September of 2020… the Covid year! I had an Alaskan moose & grizzly hunt booked, with opening day of the moose season on September 5th. Just getting there with all the covid test, rules, regulations, and masks, was an adventure in & of itself! I arrived at my spike came via float plane the day before the season opener for moose. Long story short, during the early afternoon of the next day (opening day), my expert & experienced guide called in an absolute shooter bull!
After some positioning to make sure we’d be downwind of him when he got into range, we got set up. Before long he comes swaying out of the alders 160 yards below our position. One shot from my .33 Nosler stagger him for a few seconds before he went down. Lots of memories immediately following that moment, but now fast-forward 5 days. We’ve been stuck in camp for the past 4 days with snow, fog, rain, and wind. This day however breaks clear, cold, and relatively still. So our plan is to hike the 2 miles back up the mountain to watch over the moose’s gut pile, with hopes of maybe catching a bear that perhaps has taken possession of it? Two hours later while I’m sitting in the exact spot where I had shot the moose from, my guide (Billy) whispers over my shoulder; “I just saw something move down near the gut pile.” (At this point I should add, my license also included several wolf tags. We had previously discussed the possibility of seeing a wolf, with Billy telling me, if we do see one, we’ll have about 10 seconds before it disappears.) With my attention now focused on the area around the sizable gut pile, I picked up movement just to the right. As I adjusted my scope and rifle in that direction, a big gray wolf placed its front feet on the top of a large clump of tundra grass, apparently to get a better view of the gut pile. With Billy’s “you’ll have 10 seconds” advice in the front of my mind, I quickly settled the crosshair just in front of his shoulder (due to the angle he was standing) and sent the 225 grain Accubond on its way.
When I recovered from the recoil, the only sign of the wolf was a puff of hair floating through the air. That’s a memory that will forever stay in my mind, and laying 160 yards below me was my wolf! I’ve learned since that getting a wolf is very high on the “wishlist” of many hunters. While a wolf wasn’t really part of my dreams, this adventure is now a huge part of my most memorable hunt! Thanks for helping me recall the details of this experience once again.
September of 2020… the Covid year! I had an Alaskan moose & grizzly hunt booked, with opening day of the moose season on September 5th. Just getting there with all the covid test, rules, regulations, and masks, was an adventure in & of itself! I arrived at my spike came via float plane the day before the season opener for moose. Long story short, during the early afternoon of the next day (opening day), my expert & experienced guide called in an absolute shooter bull!
After some positioning to make sure we’d be downwind of him when he got into range, we got set up. Before long he comes swaying out of the alders 160 yards below our position. One shot from my .33 Nosler stagger him for a few seconds before he went down. Lots of memories immediately following that moment, but now fast-forward 5 days. We’ve been stuck in camp for the past 4 days with snow, fog, rain, and wind. This day however breaks clear, cold, and relatively still. So our plan is to hike the 2 miles back up the mountain to watch over the moose’s gut pile, with hopes of maybe catching a bear that perhaps has taken possession of it? Two hours later while I’m sitting in the exact spot where I had shot the moose from, my guide (Billy) whispers over my shoulder; “I just saw something move down near the gut pile.” (At this point I should add, my license also included several wolf tags. We had previously discussed the possibility of seeing a wolf, with Billy telling me, if we do see one, we’ll have about 10 seconds before it disappears.) With my attention now focused on the area around the sizable gut pile, I picked up movement just to the right. As I adjusted my scope and rifle in that direction, a big gray wolf placed its front feet on the top of a large clump of tundra grass, apparently to get a better view of the gut pile. With Billy’s “you’ll have 10 seconds” advice in the front of my mind, I quickly settled the crosshair just in front of his shoulder (due to the angle he was standing) and sent the 225 grain Accubond on its way.
When I recovered from the recoil, the only sign of the wolf was a puff of hair floating through the air. That’s a memory that will forever stay in my mind, and laying 160 yards below me was my wolf! I’ve learned since that getting a wolf is very high on the “wishlist” of many hunters. While a wolf wasn’t really part of my dreams, this adventure is now a huge part of my most memorable hunt! Thanks for helping me recall the details of this experience once again.
