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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wjschmaltz" data-source="post: 223988" data-attributes="member: 6150">December stand hunting on what would have been my first bow kill probably 2008ish.  A very nice 5x5 stepped out to 20 yards and I didn’t take into account the giant coat I was wearing.  Bow string clipped my coat on the release and that was the end of that hunt.  My first moose hunt we spotted a 46 inch bull on the first legal hunting day.  It wasn’t really what I was looking for so I told my hunting partner it was his if he wanted it.  We spent day 2 packing that bull to camp.  On the morning of day 3, I woke up and started calling from camp at first lite in the fog.  Our hunting technique was calling from camp and then glassing the huge basin we were in from a zodiac that we just floated around the lake.  The zodiac had drifted about 500 yards from shore when we could see a 55-60 inch bull coming in hot towards camp.  I should have started up the motor and headed towards the shore but we thought we would try to go stealthy and paddle to him.  I had him in the cross hairs at 200 yards as he crossed the lake but didn’t shoot because he was in water up to his belly (probably 3-4 feet deep) and about 50 yards from shore.  As he moved towards the shore, he positioned himself behind a mound.  We got to shore and tried to work towards him but he pushed back into the willows and alders.   We spotted him at probably 200 yards and I took the only shot I had.  Standing through the willows.  No idea if I hit him.  As always, it was raining and I found out my hunting partner is color blind; two factors that are not ideal for tracking blood.  That one almost made me puke for several months.  Lost a day on the front of the hunt and two days on the back of the hunt because Obama was visiting the village we were based out of.  Left that hunt empty handed and sick to my stomach.  Thanks Obama.Another was my first mountain goat hunt.  We had 5 days in the chugach that you could see about 50 yards max with nonstop rain.  Had to get a rescue because the lake/river blew out for the first time in 15 years but that’s another story.  Mountain goat hunting is pretty worthless when you can’t put glass on them from long distances.  So we were screwing around and not paying much attention while enjoying some mtn house and just like that we look up and 3 billies were about 40 yards away.  I rushed a shot on the closest goat and smoked him broadside with a 375 Ruger.  He was able to trot off about 30 yards and over a 1,500 foot cliff probably to the ocean below.  Who knows, we couldn't see.  Scaled the side of the cliff best we could.  Couldn't spot anything from above because of the fog and same from below.  Obviously not recovered.  Punched my tag and limped off the mountain to the river shit show below.  I had a hard time with this one for several months as well.  Redeemed my moose the following year with a 64 incher in the arctic as well as a grizzly on that trip.  I was planning on sheep hunting that year but the opportunity to hunt moose arose and I jumped on it.  It was an epic trip and I would not have taken that opportunity if I had shot the bull the year earlier.  Redeemed my goat on a trip to Kodiak in February 2018.  Again, epic trip that I would not have taken if I had shot the goat a couple years earlier.  So, I try not to get bummed out if I screw up a hunt or I am “unsuccessful” on a hunt.  Everything happens for a reason.  It just means you get another shot to take an epic trip!  The stress I have taken off myself allows me to have much more fun while in the field now.</blockquote>

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