Maura, 16, has shot a deer every year since she was 10 years old. In October, she took this 5×5 muley in Montana. Field & Stream Online EditorsThis 10-point whitetail was chasing two does on a snowy December evening near Marquand, Mo., when Kim Patterson took him with her bow at 20 yards. It was her first buck. Field & Stream Online EditorsBob Johnson cut the track of this 6 1/2-year-old buck on November 20, the first day of snow in the New Hampshire season. He killed the 9-point in the late afternoon. Now he wonders how common it is to see two white patches on a deer’s throat. We would appreciate any feedback from readers on this point! Field & Stream Online EditorsRussell and Merlin Anderson with two bucks, circa 1948! Field & Stream Online EditorsSixty years later, Ryan Anderson, Russell’s son, poses with his own deer in Hand County, S.D. He shot the buck during the last hour of light with a Ruger .300 WSSM. Field & Stream Online EditorsAfter bowhunting for nearly 13 years, Jared Baschke of Albuquerque, N.M., finally shot this 10-point in New Mexico last September. Field & Stream Online EditorsIn early January, Derrick Hanson, his father-in-law, and a buddy went duck hunting on the Snake River near Hagerman, Idaho. Within 4 hours, they had filled their limits¿one pintail and the rest mallards. It was the area’s first heavy snowfall of 2008. Field & Stream Online EditorsElaine K. Allestad and her son Billy, residents of Big Timber, Mont., love hunting mountain goats in Montana’s Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness, where the mountains plateau between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, and the peaks reach over 12,000. Field & Stream Online EditorsWade Olsen of Idaho Falls, Idaho, poses with his first antelope buck, which he killed in Wyoming and which bested his father’s largest antelope to date. He expects the pronghorn to make the Wyoming B&C.; Field & Stream Online EditorsJohn Love with an impressive pike. Field & Stream Online EditorsEric McClure holds a lake-run steelhead that he tricked with a white wooly bugger in early January. He was fishing the Sixteen Mile Creek, east of Erie, Pa. Field & Stream Online EditorsEarlier in December, Eric’s friend Mike Anthony caught this steelhead on the same fly. Field & Stream Online EditorsDanny Caponigro gets his first good look at his first largemouth, held by his father Ron. Field & Stream Online Editorsile fishing in San Francisco Bay with mud shrimp, Brent Barnes hooked into this 7-foot, 100-plus-pound sturgeon (white sturgeon can grow over twice that length and weigh over 1,500 pounds). The beast towed Barnes and his boat for an hour and a half before he and his fishing buddy could release it. Field & Stream Online EditorsDave Starzec of Greer, S.C., caught this 20-pound Striper on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina in late January. Field & Stream Online EditorsBrothers Scott and Steve Zagrodnik Jr. show their catches on the Chicago lakefront last summer. The prize fish inspired them to tell their father, Steven, that were going to quit their day jobs. Field & Stream Online EditorsAnthony Zuber of Pueblo West, Colo., caught this brown trout while ice fishing on the Blue Mesa Reservoir near Gunnison, Colo., in January. Field & Stream Online EditorsJason Cisco of Lakewood, Wash., and his father Glenn of Tacoma, Wash., pose with Jason¿s 4×4 Montana muley, which he shot near Broadus in November with a .300 WSM Browning A-bolt. Field & Stream Online EditorsIn December of 2007, 14-year-old Cole Pennell of Charlotte, N.C., shot this 8-point in southwestern Texas while hunting with his father. Field & Stream Online EditorsKurt Walters of Madera, Calif., caught this rainbow at the Wishon Reservoir in Fresno County, Calif., last summer. Field & Stream Online EditorsJacob Ehlert shot this 17-point on opening day of the Wisconsin gun season. He was hunting public land, and the deer walked unnoticed past another hunter before he got his shot. It scored 192 6/8. Field & Stream Online EditorsJoshua and Felicia Smith of Phoenix, Ariz., pose with Felicia¿s first buck, a nice Coues deer with a 13-inch spread. She shot it at 365 yards in Arizona unit 33. Field & Stream Online EditorsRoss Bennett shot this 6 1/2-foot black bear boar on a foggy day in the Alaska Range of the Alaska Interior last fall. Says Bennett, “He is excellent eating because he’d been foraging blueberries.” Field & Stream Online EditorsDuring the ’07 youth season, Taylor Farrar of Logan, Ohio, shot this 250-pound 8-point while hunting with her father, Chuck. The deer had a 25-inch spread. Field & Stream Online EditorsMark Chief Torrez hoists two monster largemouths, which he caught in Lake Casitas in California. The lake is currently threatened by Quagga mussels, an invasive species that reproduces rapidly, plugs-up water supply pipelines, and hurts the ecosystems of the U.S. rivers and lakes. Because Lake Casitas provides water to residents of Ventura County, a debate has arisen over whether or not boats (which can carry the mussels from place to place if not properly cleaned) and fisherman should continue to be allowed on the water. Field & Stream Online EditorsVinnie Biondo and his friend Alex stand with their pheasants, which they shot in New Jersey. Field & Stream Online EditorsZane Moore of Arlington, Texas, shot this buck in November near Sterling City, Texas. The 14-point dressed out at 160 pounds. Field & Stream Online EditorsFour-year-old Aiden Lowe of Noble, La., an experienced bream fisherman, shows off his first bass, which he caught in “Maw-maw” Patton’s pond. Field & Stream Online EditorsT.J. Turner of Winterset, Iowa, shot this mule deer near Sheridan, Wyo., in October of 2007 using a 7mm Ruger. Field & Stream Online EditorsStephen Hall shot this 11-point in St. Clair County, Ala., on the morning of Christmas Eve. The buck weighed 180 pounds, and was Hall¿s second trophy of the season. Field & Stream Online EditorsNelson Cannon of Germantown, Tenn., was climbing to get into his tree stand last November when he saw half the rack of this monster buck and nearly fell. He shot the whitetail with a muzzleloader. It had 52 points, 37 scorable, and brought in 227 2/8 B&C;. Field & Stream Online EditorsJared Julian, 15, caught this 29 1/2-inch, 4-lb. 5-oz. rainbow near his Michigan home last spring. Field & Stream Online EditorsScott Davis caught this large brown trout on the Soque River in Georgia. Field & Stream Online EditorsKinsey Keeling of Springfield, Mo., is 2 1/2 years old. Here, she holds up a fish from her first fishing trip. Field & Stream Online EditorsJustin Andrews of Long Island, N.Y., shot this woodchuck with his air rifle at the eastern end of his family’s farm. Field & Stream Online EditorsShirley Hitchens of Middletown, Del., shot this 10-point in Maryland in her first year of hunting. The buck scored 154 3/8 inches. Field & Stream Online EditorsChristian Barganier, 4, of Grove Hill, Ala., caught his first fish last September: this 3-pound cat. Field & Stream Online EditorsTimothy Socha caught his first sailfish while fishing with his brothers and father in Key West, Fla. Field & Stream Online EditorsThe second time she went fishing, six-year-old Carmella Casabella of Lakewood, Calif., caught this panfish. Though thrilled by her catch, she was reluctant to hold it. She is pictured here with her twin sister and father. Field & Stream Online EditorsHyde Carby of Birmingham, Ala. went fishing with his father and brother-in-law father in the Chandeleur Islands off the Mississippi Gulf Coast in December. As the sun set, Hyde made a final cast with a chartreuse grub. “This copper whopper hit it like a thunderbolt,” Hyde says. The fish made three runs before Hyde reeled it in, the sole catch of the day. Field & Stream Online EditorsMarty Sauceda caught this giant 12 1/2-pound rainbow in the Santiago Flats of Irivine Lake in California earlier this year. He was using chartreuse Gulp bait. Field & Stream Online EditorsCaptain Brad Petzke of Marquette, Mich., caught this 20-pound lake-run brown trout by swinging streamers off a spey rod in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula last November. He’d taken the day off from guiding to go out with friends, and says that this is the largest brown he’s ever seen. Field & Stream Online EditorsThirteen-year-old Dillon Padilla of Hayden, Idaho, caught this 23-pound stealhead in the Clearwater River near Orifino, Idaho. Field & Stream Online Editorsn Barstys caught this big king in the Lower Niagara River near Lewiston, N.Y.. He was fishing with Captain Lloyd Schrack. Field & Stream Online EditorsEthan Broussard and his dad Jeremey, of Lafayette, La., spent three days hunting around Freer, Texas, before finding this buck. Says Jeremy, “I now have the world’s best hunter my roof!” Field & Stream Online EditorsJohn Migliori of Pleasant Hill, Calif., holds his first rainbow trout of the 2008 season. He caught the fish at Lafayette Reservoir in California. Field & Stream Online EditorsTammy Dalton of Lynchburg, Va., took off work on the last day of her first season hunting, and headed into the field. The day happened to be her birthday and was indeed lucky: this fine buck walked right under her stand. Field & Stream Online EditorsTwo-year-old August Wicklund of Clitherall, Minn., reeled in this sunfish in rural Minnesota during Labor Day Weekend last year. Field & Stream Online Editorsine-year-old Basil Boyd of Martinsville, Va., has been hunting and fishing since the age of three, when he caught his first bream. Here he is at age 8 with a couple of ducks he bagged along the South Carolina coast. Field & Stream Online EditorsTrent Drobnick, 28, of Saint Michael, Pa., and his best friend Jeff Turgeon, 29, of North Huntington, Pa., show off their bounty after a successful lateseason hunt. According to Trent, the F&S; November issue helped them “fool more ducks.” Field & Stream Online Editors
From big bucks to big smiles, these are our favorites from the reader photos you’ve sent in to our Game Faces contest so far this month. Send us yours and you could win a $99 flashlight from SureFire.
