I know there is no such thing as a bad hunt, being out there with friends and family is an adventure we will never forget, successfull or not.
WTS, tell us about the worst big game hunt you ever been on.

Mine was last season...
I'll start by saying, I think one of the most important factors for any hunt is knowing the terrain your entering. If you don't, you better go on a scouting trip. Here's a little proof..............................

Last year we had 3 bull moose tags for the Chinchaga area and we basically went in there blind. It was pretty much an 8 hr drive from home so there was no scouting done previous to the trip. After talking to a few friends, that hunted that particular zone in the past, for bears, we went to Map Town and purchased a couple of topo maps to study the areas they suggested. It was easy to see that most of the zone was muskeg, big muskeg. It didn't matter, we were still looking forward and somewhat excited for the trip.
Knowing what we know today, we should of put in for late moose season when the muskeg is froze over, instead we put in for the early season with the intention of calling in some BIG bulls. BIG MISTAKE!

After finally setting up camp and able to get out hunting, we soon discovered we were restricted to where we could go. Everywhere we went we'd run into muskeg(just as the map said  ) and spent more time hauling quads out of the muskeg than we did hunting.

One morning I was on a trail and seen 2 moose way off in the distance. I put my binos on them and one looked like a bull (I wasn't 100% sure) so I decided to go in for a closer look. My excitement in seeing our first bull was peaking and I didn't pay the keg much attention. I seldom took my eyes off the moose as I drove along the edge of the keg. I was probably in there a km or so and down I went. When I finally stopped sinking (what a feeling, what a rush  ) the quad was all but buried and when I stepped off I was up to my ass in cold, cold water. The moose could now see me and decided to stroll off into the bush, was I choked. After walking nearly a click through swamp (and almost took a couple of nose dives head first) up to my ass one of the guys started coming up the trail towards me, thank God! I jumped on his quad and we went to find our 3rd party so we could haul my machine out of the swamp. At one time or another all 3 of us were stuck. (not at the same time) I was soaked but my partners were trying to stay on dry ground at least only up too our knees. They were not impressed where I decided to go moose hunting and the one feller was getting a little ignorant and starting to show his displeasure as to my situation. Finally I had to walk back out to my quad and get wet all over again.  Instead of taking the end of the tow rope (Dauh!)with me the guys were trying to throw it out and they kept missing me.  Standing in that cold water, almost up to my waist, in October, was not what I call fun. Finally we got tied up with a very long piece of rope and we managed to get my quad out of the hole from hell I was able to get back to camp and change my clothing and start a rip roaring fire in the tent stove to warm up. Didn't matter, the next day I felt a cold coming on that stayed with me me for the rest of the hunt.
 
After that episode none of us guys decided to go anywhere near a swamp again and we felt our chances for success slowly slipping away. There were lots of roads in there, and we explored many of them but they all lead to big muskeg, so now our hunting area was basically the back roads or a couple 100 yds or so off of them. Nearing the last days of our hunt I think we all were a little down hearted and more and more we could see that big fat goose egg getting closer.

 Other than that we seen a few cows and calves, and got to enjoy our tag soup. I will never hunt an area again without scouting it first, a lesson well learned!

On a further note:
I talked with Walleyes (on forum) shortly after we came home and he works up in that area and knows it well. Of course I did'nt know that before we left. He said we went in too far for that time of year and said we should have stayed out around the 50-60 km mark and probably would have been successful.....I think we went in around 120 klicks.

Beware if you go into the Chinchaga for moose in the early season. There lurks a creature bigger and more terrifying than the Saskquatch, he's called the BoggyKeg!  And I seen em up close and personal! lol

 Probably would have been my first bear hunt. That was about 7 years ago now. I went with two guys I barely knew to a camp I didn't know at all, on a hunt i had never done before. We were hunting over bait, on a 3 day trip. I sat on stand for 6 hours the first night, full of anticipation and excitement. Nothing more than a damn squirrel to look at.

 Night 2,  repeat performance of the night before, except on a different stand. A ladder stand that had nothing more than a flat spot to put your ass, and your feet rested on the top rung of the ladder.  The shittiest stand I have ever seen. When I plunked my 260 lb arse down on it, the ladder stabbed deeper into the sandy ground, and the platform tipped down about 10 degrees. I could feel myself slipping forward and had to hold on to stay up there. I decided that I wasn't going to be injured and helpless 30 feet from a known food source to bears, and scurried down to the ground, posted up behind a log, and waited for mr bear. He may have come that night, but I was not used to stand hunting for extended periods at the time, and passed out cold. The quad coming in to get me woke me up, about a half hour after dark. One of the guys I had met that weekend arrowed a 5' boar that night, so that gave me some hope for the next night.

  Night 3 Sitting on stand in a light drizzle. This time I brought a book with me to stay entertained enough to stay conscious. 3 hours into the sit, and I am thinking "right on, everything is going to go right tonight, and any bear that shows himself is getting plugged" I hear some branches breaking, and see something coming in to the bait. Then it whistles at me. It is numbnuts, the camp help. He has already grated my nerves for the last 3 days, and now he has decided he is going to walk in during primetime to tell me what I am doing wrong. He tells me he has been watching me for a half hour, and that I fidget too much, and that the material my jacket is made of makes some noise. He offers to leave, but I tell him to stay, and not spook any more game than he already has. Suprise suprise, nothing comes in.

 The next morning, I left my first bear hunt empty handed and didn't even have a bear sighting to my credit.


 On the bright side, I did make 2 good hunting buddies out of the deal,  one of them even ended up officiating my wedding.

I'm still waiting for my worst hunt...