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Pretty sure he means Rock Springs, TX

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...perhaps, but Tommy Gun was speaking of area 100 (WY) and that would include Rock Springs, WY......so if he was talking about R/S, TX, he fooled me.

Last Friday morning shoot with my buddy. 60yds on a pretty decent downward slope...Red vanes are mine

*serious target envy*

Where does that target reside?

I wish at my house...

But it's 15min away at the local archery club range/3D course

Well, I'm focused on the background scenery. Are you in Colorado?

Ah, yeah...That's in Longmont, CO just north of Boulder

I'm shooting a tiny, 8 year old doofus whitetail 3D with no ears and only one antler. I think it cost $70 back then so I'm pretty sure it's fully depreciated at this point.

I'm sure they stick just the same...before I just had a block in the yard. One disadvantage of Boulder is I had to convince my roommate to loosen the slackline in our backyard so I could shoot across the full yard

Here's a full pic of that particular target at distance

What do you think the downward slope was to the target?

About 10 -15 degrees. It ranged at 58yds and shot around 55yds with my setup as I do not have one of those fancy compensating range finders. Picture makes it kind of hard to tell.

Angles like that are something that I wish I had a better feel for. I see a compensating range finder in my future...

It's actually worn out enough that it won't stop am store from my bow from less than 50ish. But I use it at 85 to 120. It's way too small to shoot at that distance but I have hay bales as a safety net.

Cool. I've been doing some trig refreshing to work on my quick judgment.

Target practice with broadheads at 70 yards and a stiff 16mph breeze will humble a cocky archer. I've got enough time to settle into it so I'm not worried about the adjustment... but....Today i started the "freak out" phase I always find myself in when a highly anticipated hunt is right around the corner.

Elk Horny

Got back this morning from a three day scouting trip w my wife. Saw a few bulls but not much else (full moon I figure). Found lots of sign where I was hoping to after staring at maps all summer, and was able to rule a lot of county out. We were at ~10,500 and I felt good. Altitude or weight didn't bug me, but I could not freaking sleep. Going to be my biggest hurdle going back up. I guess I just need to pack some drugs to knock me out at night. Any of you guys prefer something specific?

I am pumped because after seeing everything I imagine I'll be whacking one face to face in the timber.

If I ever just need a little help a Benadryl or melatonin does nicely.

I'll def bring some. Need to con a partner into packing some whiskey too.

Do NOT forget the pepto pills. This is a reminder to myself! The squirts and mountain hunting do not mix well.

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Pretty sure he means Rock Springs, TX

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...perhaps, but Tommy Gun was speaking of area 100 (WY) and that would include Rock Springs, WY......so if he was talking about R/S, TX, he fooled me.

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Rock Springs, TX.

From what I was told, the initial herd was brought in but it has been essentially wild from that point on. Not a deep in the mointains at 10k feet hunt, no doubt - but it is a free exptic hunt not far from home with the prospect of a decent bull. No,complaints on my end.

Plus, I still have my CO hunt in October as well.

There are a decent amount of elk in west Texas - most are imported, but i have a hard time saying that herds of elk that are self sufficient and have been living wild and reproducing on hundreds of thousands of acres being anything less than wild. You will put as much work in for them as any in AZ, NM, CO, etc. Even on game ranches, when you are talking about 20k acres, hard to say it is much less than a wild hunt. Again, assuming what my vendor told me holds true anyway.

If not, meh - outdoors, guns, good food and good company - yeah, still no complaints.

No judgement here. Go whack one and eat him.

Forgot to mention. Tried the onXmap app on my phone and I'm sold. Airplane mode over 3 days took my battery down to 35%. I think it would have lasted longer had I just used it for maps and marking waypoints. I noticed the track feature burns a little more battery and I played with it some knowing I was on a short trip. I've got a portable charger and I'm good to go. I think the Colorado map was ~$40 and you just download and save the portion you want access to when the data is off.

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Target practice with broadheads at 70 yards and a stiff 16mph breeze will humble a cocky archer. I've got enough time to settle into it so I'm not worried about the adjustment... but....Today i started the "freak out" phase I always find myself in when a highly anticipated hunt is right around the corner.

Elk Horny

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I am in a different kind of freak out mode right now...I went out shooting again today. 20-80 yards with my broad heads. I have a new string on my bow. I let a custom string maker talk me into trying his strings out (I figured it's free so what the heck). The string is still stretching, but it's stretching A LOT. From beginning to end of my shooting session today my peep spun almost 360 degrees and my 30 yard pin is now my 20 yard pin. I checked everything else over and over so I have to believe it's the string since nothing else changed. I got a new one ordered from Vapor Trail, on the phone they promised it would only take them 3-4 days, but it still freaks me out screwing with things so close to the opener!!

Dang man that making me lose sleep just reading about it

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Dang man that making me lose sleep just reading about it

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Yeah giving me heartburn too...I'll be needing the pepto and benedryl mentioned earlier to get me through until that string shows up!

That's why you try new stuff in the spring! Free stuff can be super costly!

That's what Aron Synder (gritty bowmen) refers to as the GIF... Good Idea Fairy. He recommends you slap that beetch in her mouth next time. I concur.

It'll work out... But yeah, no more GIFs.

Talk to your doctor about getting some Diamox. Though you may not have had classic AMS this go around, it is slight red flag in the future. Basically you have a neat battle between the brain and lungs over oxygen and CO2, the result being you literally stop breathing for several second and the resulting gasp tends to at least slightly wake people up.

I just spent the last two hours sorting my food and working on my pack configuration. 8 days with 2500-3000 calories a day just seems to explode on me. I have in my mind this nice sleek pack, but it never seems to happen. I'll figure it out this weekend.

Or y'all could suck it up, do the most intense HIIT session of your lives the first 1.5 days in the mountains, hate life for that last half day and night, then go the rest of the trip as a rockstar cardio king since you'll be past the AS.

Not speaking from experience or anything.

Pain. It's good.

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Do NOT forget the pepto pills. This is a reminder to myself! The squirts and mountain hunting do not mix well.

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if you feel the squirts coming on, take imodium. personally i can only take 1/2 pill or else i wont be able to poop at all for 3 days.

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Talk to your doctor about getting some Diamox. Though you may not have had classic AMS this go around, it is slight red flag in the future. Basically you have a neat battle between the brain and lungs over oxygen and CO2, the result being you literally stop breathing for several second and the resulting gasp tends to at least slightly wake people up.

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Welcome to life with sleep apnea. Before my Darth Vader mask I woke up every 18 seconds on average. Every night. All night.

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Pretty sure he means Rock Springs, TX

---

...perhaps, but Tommy Gun was speaking of area 100 (WY) and that would include Rock Springs, WY......so if he was talking about R/S, TX, he fooled me.

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Rock Springs, TX.

From what I was told, the initial herd was brought in but it has been essentially wild from that point on. Not a deep in the mointains at 10k feet hunt, no doubt - but it is a free exptic hunt not far from home with the prospect of a decent bull. No,complaints on my end.

Plus, I still have my CO hunt in October as well.

There are a decent amount of elk in west Texas - most are imported, but i have a hard time saying that herds of elk that are self sufficient and have been living wild and reproducing on hundreds of thousands of acres being anything less than wild. You will put as much work in for them as any in AZ, NM, CO, etc. Even on game ranches, when you are talking about 20k acres, hard to say it is much less than a wild hunt. Again, assuming what my vendor told me holds true anyway.

If not, meh - outdoors, guns, good food and good company - yeah, still no complaints.

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Nice!

Probably won't be too different from a Rock Springs, WY hunt anyway. Area 100 is home to one of the few remaining desert elk herds and the terrain is pretty similar to what you'll see in west Texas (except you'll be way warmer).

Anyone dusky grouse hunt during September archery season? My buddy has some land in co that he hunts elk on and he always keeps 2-3 arrows knocked with judo points for grouse to keep him occupied while he's hunting elk.

I saw quite a few of them in the high country on my scouting trip over memorial day weekend, so I bought a small game license along with my elk tag with every intention of killing 1 or 2.