And since you mentioned AZ mule deer, I offer this for motivation...
2018 Western States Draw Deadlines
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Last: 5 yr ago by jetescamilla
Dammit... this isn't a competition. Is it?
Haha, nah man. Just fueling the fire. I 100% wish I could go with you.
Finally scored my first elk. Unit 8 in Colorado this morning. He was legal. That's all I cared about.
Hell yeah! Congrats man!
Awesome! Congrats amigo!!!
Damn right
Sweet! Congrats!
I guess I'll share some details.
I'll start by saying that I've been on 2 elk hunting trips, in 2014 and 2016, all public land DIY in 3rd season. Never saw a single elk on either trip, and it wasn't from a lack of effort. I was beginning to feel like elk were some mythical creature.
My FIL recently bought about 40 acres here in unit 8, just south of the WYO border right next to Bull Mountain. Unit 8 is a draw only unit, and we were able to draw bull tags with our 2nd choice. This area has a lower elk population that much of the rest of the state. Less than a mile from my FIL's place begins the Roosevelt National Forest, and also lots of BLM scattered around. We are staying at his place in a 30' camper trailer, so we ain't exactly roughing it this time.
We got a couple inches of snow right before the seasoned opened. After putting in some miles back into the Roosevelt and never seeing a single track, we ended up focusing on a chunk of BLM. Saw lots of tracks heading into and coming out of private land, and thats where I hunted yesterday morning. First had a herd of 8 or so cows, calves, and spikes come into the meadow I was overlooking. Finally! The mythical wapiti!
About an hr later a herd of about 25 came off the private land and were headed straight toward me. They came to about 100 yards of me and stopped. There were 2 legal bulls that were about same size, but they all stayed tightly huddled together and never offered a shot. Told myself I'd take whichever bull offered a shot first, and that's what I did. 7mm mag 162gr Hornady ELDX dropped him in his tracks.
Obviously this was the first time I had ever field dressed an elk, and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I was envisioning being alone. The only thing that sucked was that it was windy as hell, gusts of up to 50 mph and snowing. The entire time it felt like I was gettind sandblasted in the face while standing out in the open meadow.
Pack out was relatively easy as we weren't that far from a road and only had to cross 1 little somewhat steep canyon. I recently bought a Stone Glacier Evo 40/56 pack, and it performed insanely better than what I had in the past. What an awesome pack. Super lightweight and it handled 100 pounds like it was nothing.
We will still be here all week. The guy with me (HammerStump) is still looking to fill his tag. I've delegated myself to camp cook in the meantime.
I'll start by saying that I've been on 2 elk hunting trips, in 2014 and 2016, all public land DIY in 3rd season. Never saw a single elk on either trip, and it wasn't from a lack of effort. I was beginning to feel like elk were some mythical creature.
My FIL recently bought about 40 acres here in unit 8, just south of the WYO border right next to Bull Mountain. Unit 8 is a draw only unit, and we were able to draw bull tags with our 2nd choice. This area has a lower elk population that much of the rest of the state. Less than a mile from my FIL's place begins the Roosevelt National Forest, and also lots of BLM scattered around. We are staying at his place in a 30' camper trailer, so we ain't exactly roughing it this time.
We got a couple inches of snow right before the seasoned opened. After putting in some miles back into the Roosevelt and never seeing a single track, we ended up focusing on a chunk of BLM. Saw lots of tracks heading into and coming out of private land, and thats where I hunted yesterday morning. First had a herd of 8 or so cows, calves, and spikes come into the meadow I was overlooking. Finally! The mythical wapiti!
About an hr later a herd of about 25 came off the private land and were headed straight toward me. They came to about 100 yards of me and stopped. There were 2 legal bulls that were about same size, but they all stayed tightly huddled together and never offered a shot. Told myself I'd take whichever bull offered a shot first, and that's what I did. 7mm mag 162gr Hornady ELDX dropped him in his tracks.
Obviously this was the first time I had ever field dressed an elk, and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I was envisioning being alone. The only thing that sucked was that it was windy as hell, gusts of up to 50 mph and snowing. The entire time it felt like I was gettind sandblasted in the face while standing out in the open meadow.
Pack out was relatively easy as we weren't that far from a road and only had to cross 1 little somewhat steep canyon. I recently bought a Stone Glacier Evo 40/56 pack, and it performed insanely better than what I had in the past. What an awesome pack. Super lightweight and it handled 100 pounds like it was nothing.
We will still be here all week. The guy with me (HammerStump) is still looking to fill his tag. I've delegated myself to camp cook in the meantime.
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Congrats! What a cool looking rack! Are those upper points nubs or is it just the angle? Think he knocked them off/smooth fighting? Or did he seem injured/malnourished or maybe really old? He doesn't really look old...
Yeah both sides were worn down smooth at the tips. Had a couple other tines broken as well, from fighting I would assume. He wasn't injured and definitely was not malnourished. He appeared very healthy.
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gotta love a brawler!
Thread bump! After a disappointing start to the year for me it ended up finishing pretty dang strong with some fun hunts. Uploading pics now and I'll update since my big game season ended a day early.
Between things going crazy at work and getting sick, I really slacked at putting any updates on here (didn't stop the hunting!) ... I'll fix that with some recaps...
Between things going crazy at work and getting sick, I really slacked at putting any updates on here (didn't stop the hunting!) ... I'll fix that with some recaps...
Antelope season in CO was rough. Weather was strange and it seemed like there was twice as many hunters out in the area we hunt (which isn't big). Didn't see near the numbers in the public land as we did last year.
Still had fun. My buddy filled his doe tag, another buddy passed on a 350yd shot at a buck as the group was headed to my uncle in-law. Unfortunately he never saw them come right by him at less than 100yds.
I had several stalks that ended up against private land boundaries. Also had a frustrating morning trying to get deeper in past a group of hunters who seemed to be "blocking" me by cutting me off as I'd try to slip past (happened like 4 times). Not sure if it was intentional or not but frustrating. Saw tons of mule deer and found 5 or 6 nice sheds which eased the pain of not punching a tag.
Still had fun. My buddy filled his doe tag, another buddy passed on a 350yd shot at a buck as the group was headed to my uncle in-law. Unfortunately he never saw them come right by him at less than 100yds.
I had several stalks that ended up against private land boundaries. Also had a frustrating morning trying to get deeper in past a group of hunters who seemed to be "blocking" me by cutting me off as I'd try to slip past (happened like 4 times). Not sure if it was intentional or not but frustrating. Saw tons of mule deer and found 5 or 6 nice sheds which eased the pain of not punching a tag.
I scooped up a 2nd rifle cow tag off the leftover list for one of the North West corner units the week before season started. Already had skiing plans the first weekend, but was able to duck out of work on a Friday to make the trip up to the WY/Utah/CO border with two friends. One friend had the same tag for 3rd rifle so was interested in a scouting mission while I hunted.
First evening, hiked up to a nice vantage point to glass a hillside. Found about 50 mule deer, no elk. Saturday morning, Hiked back up to look the other direction. Found two different herds. One appeared on private, the other we thought might be on a sliver of BLM. I made the 3 mile trek while they watched over the spotters. Turns out the hillside they were on was indeed public, but unfortunately the elk had vanished and my friends had spent the last 3hrs staring at a rock they thought was a bedded elk.
Saturday evening went to a new spot. Found nothing but bulls. A couple groups of 5 or 6 different bulls. However, it was the most elk we'd seen in one spot. Went back to the same spot Sunday morning. Again, saw about 30 different bulls, no cows. Defeated, we decided to drive a bit before packing up camp. No luck spotting anything other than Antelope or mule deer.
On the way back to pack up camp, we spotted a group on the hillside less than 1/2 mile from camp. One bull and 5 cows. I made one final stalk. About 1.5 mile stalk, climbed up about 400ft, and ended up 70yds right above the herd. Easy shot and had a cow down! Butchered as fast as possible, but was still about 6:30pm by the time we left and didn't get home till around 1am Sunday night/Monday morning.
Fun hunt. Only saw one other group of hunters and saw some really, really nice bulls. Unfortunately, it's a bull tag I'll never have a shot at with my lack of patience and point creep.
First evening, hiked up to a nice vantage point to glass a hillside. Found about 50 mule deer, no elk. Saturday morning, Hiked back up to look the other direction. Found two different herds. One appeared on private, the other we thought might be on a sliver of BLM. I made the 3 mile trek while they watched over the spotters. Turns out the hillside they were on was indeed public, but unfortunately the elk had vanished and my friends had spent the last 3hrs staring at a rock they thought was a bedded elk.
Saturday evening went to a new spot. Found nothing but bulls. A couple groups of 5 or 6 different bulls. However, it was the most elk we'd seen in one spot. Went back to the same spot Sunday morning. Again, saw about 30 different bulls, no cows. Defeated, we decided to drive a bit before packing up camp. No luck spotting anything other than Antelope or mule deer.
On the way back to pack up camp, we spotted a group on the hillside less than 1/2 mile from camp. One bull and 5 cows. I made one final stalk. About 1.5 mile stalk, climbed up about 400ft, and ended up 70yds right above the herd. Easy shot and had a cow down! Butchered as fast as possible, but was still about 6:30pm by the time we left and didn't get home till around 1am Sunday night/Monday morning.
Fun hunt. Only saw one other group of hunters and saw some really, really nice bulls. Unfortunately, it's a bull tag I'll never have a shot at with my lack of patience and point creep.
How do the leftover tags work?
Last big game hunt of the year and by far the quickest. 3rd rifle buck tag. Went out this past Friday. Set up camp Friday morning and left about lunch to start the hunt. I brought the pup along to give the wife some alone downtime (she was sick as well). I thought it may be a disaster taking a 9 month old lab to tag along on a deer hunt, but he did great.
Immediately spotted some does. My buddy had a doe tag and tried to get into position. He shot and missed. But when the group ran I saw there was a really nice buck with them. We had the wind and they didn't seem spooked so followed suit. I ended up getting into a position for a 350yd poke at the real nice buck but was about 5 seconds too slow on the trigger trying to make sure it was horns and not brush.
They moved and we continued to follow. On the way we jumped a doe and my buddy tagged her. While field dressing I spotted the group with the big buck bedded down. Contemplated a stalk, but noticed another hunter less than 100yds away from them. Not sure if he didn't see them or was an idiot, but he attempted the worst stalk I've ever seen and blew them out.
The good news is he also pushed another group of deer up to us. There was a smaller buck with them and they came right up the opposite side of draw, about 250yds away. I got into position and with terrible sun, finally found the buck and dropped him. First CO muley buck!. Long pack out of two deer in the dark. Left half of the buck to get yesterday morning since it was about 10pm and 12 degrees by the time we reached camp with the first load.
Lots of sausage making in the near future and looking forward to planning next years hunts!
Immediately spotted some does. My buddy had a doe tag and tried to get into position. He shot and missed. But when the group ran I saw there was a really nice buck with them. We had the wind and they didn't seem spooked so followed suit. I ended up getting into a position for a 350yd poke at the real nice buck but was about 5 seconds too slow on the trigger trying to make sure it was horns and not brush.
They moved and we continued to follow. On the way we jumped a doe and my buddy tagged her. While field dressing I spotted the group with the big buck bedded down. Contemplated a stalk, but noticed another hunter less than 100yds away from them. Not sure if he didn't see them or was an idiot, but he attempted the worst stalk I've ever seen and blew them out.
The good news is he also pushed another group of deer up to us. There was a smaller buck with them and they came right up the opposite side of draw, about 250yds away. I got into position and with terrible sun, finally found the buck and dropped him. First CO muley buck!. Long pack out of two deer in the dark. Left half of the buck to get yesterday morning since it was about 10pm and 12 degrees by the time we reached camp with the first load.
Lots of sausage making in the near future and looking forward to planning next years hunts!
So CO publishes a list of tags that either were not drawn or people turned back in for whatever reason. At some date they open it up for people to go buy those. It doesn't affect your point balance at all to buy one. Just have to make sure you abide by the CO A/B tag designation (ie. One A, one B. Or two B tags. per year)
It's updated very regularly as people turn tags back in. So one advantage of cube monkey life is I can check it often and have kinda learned what tags to look for. The tag I picked up someone turned in and I picked up the Thursday before the season started shortly after it posted to the list.
It's updated very regularly as people turn tags back in. So one advantage of cube monkey life is I can check it often and have kinda learned what tags to look for. The tag I picked up someone turned in and I picked up the Thursday before the season started shortly after it posted to the list.
Bonus cool picture I took out on the NW corner elk hunt. I logged a lot of miles and days on our public lands here in CO this season. I'll log even more with a couple of duck and pheasant hunts here soon. Coming from TX, the public land system was a bit of a shock and I'm so thankful for them and the opportunities I've had....I'm also very thankful for an understanding wife who let me spend a lot of time in the woods after the wedding (and agreed to a non-hunting season wedding!).
Awesome thread, with some awesome adventures of good people on here. Good luck to everyone else on their hunts....time to get to butchering!
Awesome thread, with some awesome adventures of good people on here. Good luck to everyone else on their hunts....time to get to butchering!
I got my pronghorn mount back today. I'm pleased.
Very nice!!!! Great cutters on that buck
I'm still waiting on mine, maybe another month. Sent it to Montana to get beetle cleaned and metal dipped. Hopefully will be cool
I'm still waiting on mine, maybe another month. Sent it to Montana to get beetle cleaned and metal dipped. Hopefully will be cool
Nice! Looks good
dat Exo tho
Love the Exo. 2nd season with it. Beats the hell out of the old molle rucksack I used for a few deer and a big jump from the Eberlestock I used for a year... Even sold the backpacking pack and just use the Exo for everything.
Not shown is the pup chewed up one of the straps on it when I got home. Didn't get it clean quick enough. Shipped it back to them to be fixed. $10 to repair since dogs chewing the pack aren't part of their lifetime warranty (understandably)
Not shown is the pup chewed up one of the straps on it when I got home. Didn't get it clean quick enough. Shipped it back to them to be fixed. $10 to repair since dogs chewing the pack aren't part of their lifetime warranty (understandably)
Yeah, I love mine as well. I have the K2 frame with a 2000 bag and a 5500 bag.
Nice! How do you like the 2000? Been debating on that as I've just got the 5500 and K2 frame. Packs down nicely, but 2000 still seems nice for daytrips
I've used the 2000 far more than the 5500, but that's because most of my hunts have been truck camping. Since I'm not backpacking in for a few days, I don't need the extra capacity. But I can easily get everything I need for a day (or more) into the 2000 bag. I also added a lid to it (since the 2000 only comes w/ the roll top.), and it helps keep small stuff handy.
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goat mount looks great! Stdeb congrats on the deer and delicious elk. Love that "public lands" picture!
Got some goodies in
And bump cause you beautiful sumbiches are my fav part of Texags
And bump cause you beautiful sumbiches are my fav part of Texags
Very nice! And that is a really wide goat, awesome
Awesome. Looks great!
Right back at ya brother. Idk what is up with everyone else on the OB, but this thread is full of my favorite peoples on the internet
Right back at ya brother. Idk what is up with everyone else on the OB, but this thread is full of my favorite peoples on the internet
Awesome. Looks great.
And great animals, too, stdeb11.
And great animals, too, stdeb11.
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Better than a British soap opera
The only thread that has kept me coming back over the last couple of years.
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