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Western States Draw Deadlines: 2017

177,506 Views | 1605 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by AgEng06
Lungblood
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Give it hell.
dragons06
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AG
Lungblood said:


Quote:

Headed out tomorrow for Colorado! I'll be tagging along with two buddies since I just got my bow this year and am learning the craft of elk hunting (emptied my pockets after all the gear too ha, so a tag is out of my budget this season). We'll be in unit 78 with OTC tags. Might pickup a small game license for some grouse on the tail end of the 10 day trek.
I see how this is gonna play out.

No faith?
AgEng06
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I think he's saying odds are you will be standing face to face with a bull... and no tag, and no buddies around.
dragons06
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Ha yeah let's hope not! But probably right, then never see one again when I have a tag.
shaynew1
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I'll be up there all week no matter what...loading cattle in western ks next Friday. So I can whack one Saturday, go on a three day whisky bender, and still have time to volunteer to pack some meat out for lung.
Sean98
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One. Week. Away.
cupofjoe04
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Headed out early in the morning for one last scouting trip back in the Wimenuche Wilderness. If I don't see anything promising, then Saturday morning will find me watching a drainage and water hole I've been scoping out for 2 months. If I don't have any success the first two weeks of archery, I'll go spend a couple nights WAY back in Poison Park or somewhere as the temps start to drop a little.

I have E/S Deer & E/S Elk tags in my pockets for archery, so I'm just looking for meat to go in my (empty) freezer.

Will also be helping a buddy up here on a die-hard sheep hunt in a couple weeks. Trying to get him a bear first- to0 bad I don't know where any bears happen to be recently.............. ha ha
Lungblood
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Good luck Joe.

Truck's loaded. Ready to hit the road around noon. I'm so tired of prep, packing and talking. Ready to get it on.

AgEng06
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Between the 5 or 6 of you that regularly post, I feel good about our odds to get some dead animals on this thread in the next few months.


Sean98
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Gif working on this end
AgEng06
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Weird. Must have been my desktop. It works on my phone so I fixed it there.

Thanks,
Lungblood
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Quote:

I'll be up there all week no matter what...loading cattle in western ks next Friday. So I can whack one Saturday, go on a three day whisky bender, and still have time to volunteer to pack some meat out for lung.
Oh God, before I die, please let me see Shaynew stumblin into my backcountry camp covered in cow sheet and JD. Amen.
AgEng06
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And all the people say... Amen.
AgLA06
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Lungblood said:

Quote:

I'll be up there all week no matter what...loading cattle in western ks next Friday. So I can whack one Saturday, go on a three day whisky bender, and still have time to volunteer to pack some meat out for lung.
Oh God, before I die, please let me see Shaynew stumblin into my backcountry camp covered in cow sheet and JD. Amen.


Wait.... This isn't normal!?!
Lungblood
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Lloyd at the Sportsman's Campground, where I'm staying tonight, said it was 39 early this morning. Niiice.
shaynew1
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Game face and game beard on. Hilarious amount of groceries loaded. Got a couple things work wise before I head up the hill.

cupofjoe04
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Had a pretty good morning, figured I would drop a couple pics to wet some of your whistles.

Scouted about 3-4 miles of new (to me) trail. Found lots of good parks and benches, and two promising food/water funnels. Didn't see any elk, but I'm sure there will be some there at some point. Saw about 8-10 deer. Put a stalk on a couple of them just to practice. I was able to get within 20-30 yards of 4 different does as well as 3 different bucks. Granted the bucks were all little fellers, but still worth while practice! I saw two pretty decent bucks laying up high against some cliffs, but I decided to leave them alone until I had a bow in hand. All in all, a great morning.

I would love for her to be on my grill... ohhhh so tender!


20 yards from a little forked horn

then got up on his running buddy, just slightly bigger, still a baby

60 yards from this guy, and the sun finally heated the hillside up enough for thermal to shift... so he split


There IS a buck in this picture. It is as decent little 4x4, thought I doubt you can see his horns because I didn't zoom in. See if you can spot him, its not that hard


Lungblood
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How much empty freezer space Ya got?
cupofjoe04
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Once my wife makes this cake/dessert delivery today, it will be totally empty except for a few measly pounds of ground elk.

If you need some space, my storage fees are very affordable... ha ha ha
Lungblood
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There's a lotta green between here and your freezer but imma bust my hump to make it happen
cupofjoe04
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Just hit me up if you need some help. I'll be out hunting somewhere the am for the opener, but I'll be back around 11 or so. I'm sure that you will probably have a 250" monster down, quartered, packed, and ready to chill by then...
Sean98
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Lung isn't picky. He'll probably settle for something in the 220" range.
cupofjoe04
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Sean98 said:

Lung isn't picky. He'll probably settle for something in the 220" range.


Well, I'm sure not gonna tell him where I found those massive 50"ers this morning...
Lungblood
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If I kill either one of those you'll never hear from or see me again. I'll plant my flag on that mountain and stay there til I die, or til I run outta meat... Whichever comes first.
AgLA06
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Lungblood said:

If I kill either one of those you'll never hear from or see me again. I'll plant my flag on that mountain and stay there til I die, or til I run outta meat... Whichever comes first.


Potato, patato.
cupofjoe04
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Bummed that I didn't get to go hunt opening morning... one of the kids woke up sick at midnight, and my wife followed suit shortly thereafter. One of the downfalls to living where you hunt/fish is that life can often get in the way. Sometimes its nice to travel for hunting/fishing, because then you are just plain GONE. Nothing else to do.

Full day of work tomorrow, then hoping I can slip up the mounting Monday morning. I guess this means I won't get one before Lungblood does.... ha ha ha
AgEng06
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Got word from Lungblood that he glassed up a few bucks today.

No word on stalks or shots taken yet.
stdeb11
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Back from the opening weekend hunt and didn't kill anything. Found a nice 5x5 (I think) opening morning. Long story short, we had the wind, he didn't like that we had that advantage, and we couldn't coax him out of the timber despite our best efforts.

Got him to within 60yds; 40yds of that was meadow, 20yds of it was the nastiest and steepest stuff known to man. After the initial sighting (all of 10 seconds in the binos as he walked into the timber), I could only catch a glimpse of a leg or him darting around trying to get a look at us. Went back and forth for about an hour before we gave up and tried to come back that evening with no luck.

Other than that it was quiet and hot. Couldn't find that grouse either...2 weeks and I'll be back in there for 8 days. Hopefully a little cooler and some more talking. Good luck to those still out there.
stdeb11
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Bonus is a few "pump up" game cam pics for those still awaiting their trip...





And finally...I'll hope he's back in legal shooting light in a couple weeks
Sean98
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stdeb11 said:

...and some more talking.

No such thing.
Sean98
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Here's a text photo I got this morning from my friends that have been on the mountain. I haven't gotten the full story yet but I know it didn't end up in a kill or this would be on the meat pole thread. I have no unearthly idea why they tried a 2 man stalk, but you can see them working down a ditch in the right side of the spotting scope photo and the deer on the left at the base of the tree.
AgLA06
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That's a big damn deer!
AgEng06
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An update from Lungblood shows that he's in hot pursuit. Glassed up a lot of bucks yesterday, but watched 2 other hunters blow them out. Bucks seem to be filtering back in, so he's planning a spike/bivy camp for a few days to try and get on them.
cupofjoe04
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Got out for a quick hunt this morning before work. Sat a water hole at sunup, no action. So I walked an old logging road. Found a pretty nice 3x3 about 2 miles back in, he was really tall and decently wide, just no forks. He was with 8 does, not really sure why. They were feeding in a consistent direction, so I worked way ahead of them, and found a spot to set up and let them come to me. They were going to pass just downhill from me, and I was set up for a potential shot when one of the does started feeding uphill from the group. She fed right up to me, about 15 yards away. I was pinned with the buck at 45 yards.

I had the wind, and she never saw me, but after a few minutes she definitely sensed something was up. She very slowly backed off, and was on edge. She reversed direction and resumed feeding, and all the other deer followed suit. I stayed about 60 yards behind them, just moving along as they did. But the buck never broke rank, never game me a chance to move in for a shot.

After and hour of coat-tailing them, I backed off, made a WIDE circle and got back ahead of them. They didn't quite make it to me, when they turned and started moving uphill.. I paralleled them at about 100 yards, had a small ridge between us. I no longer had the wind, and knew this was likely a short lived endeavor. Sure enough, one of the does popped her head over the ridge and busted me.

It was my first time to stalk a mule deer, and I absolutely loved it!

Here is a pic of him. He's not a monster, but I don't really care. He would have been a delicious trophy for me! I've never killed a muley before, much less with a bow.


Only other deer I saw, a pair of does with a fawn.


I did make a new friend this morning!
Sean98
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He was apparently a really big, ancient 2x3. Nothing special but mature/past-mature. Hanging out with the does because the bucks had ostracized him.

This was a short hunt/mostly scout trip for them. No deer on the ground. They're headed back middle of next week for 5 days.
 
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