Last week my good Ag father in law managed to get us a last minute invite to a private land ranch in unit 62. We're leaving on Sunday!

JFABNRGR said:

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14 days and a wake up. Until then its squats, lunges, & other forms of pain that cannot substitute hiking up the mtn under load.

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Not sure how old you are, but just a word of caution, now is not the time to push it and tweak something. Sounds like you have done the work. I would start scaling back on heavy weights and reps under duress. Not worth the risk this close to game time.

Most important thing right now is time in boots and backpack on.

I should have put in more work this offseason. I'm struggling and the deer just seem to go higher every year. Or it's harder for me to get there. These deer think they are mountain goats. They beat me to my glassing spot. This first buck isn't as big as he looks. I wish he was. Sky lighted makes them look a lot bigger of course.

Got it done in AZ. 2nd morning called this in to 25 yards. He piled up about 30 yards away. Pack out sucked but wasn't too long.

The area we started in seemed perfect. Mixed burns, old timber, water, etc. but we covered a ton of ground through a full day of scouting and the first day of hunting but we didn't see, hear, smell, or spook an elk. So the 2nd morning we drove about 10 miles down the road and hiked in real early in the dark so we could listen. Started getting bugles about a mile in and then proceeded to have them start piping off in all directions. We kind of just sat tight and listened until it was light enough to shoot then picked the one with the best wind and slow played him all morning just listening to them bugle and staying close. Once he was bedded we made a move in and he half heartedly responded and then moved off a bit. We moved in closer and did it again. He responded but moved off. During this calling session we had a small satellite come in silent to about 20 yards. We played it slow and moved in one more time. This time he responded once, then got up, but he had reached the end of the dark timber so didn't really have an easy place to go. All the sudden things changed. He let out a ticked off bugle, I responded and he was in sight in about 20 seconds. I stayed back in the brush raking a tree and he came in on a rope. My brother hit him at 25 yards and we heard him crashing around immediately.

We were probably 4 miles in and about a mile back to the trail, and the trail was crappy to begin with. We decided to pack him out directly to the nearest road, then walk the road back to the truck. It was not too far, but down a steep thousand feet. First trip down we got stuck down in a creek bottom and it was a very miserable last half mile. 2nd trip out we went out one ridge over, it still sucked but was better. Amazing how much subtle differences can matter with a 100 lbs on your back.

Had an awesome trip with an Aggie buddy in Alaska the first week of the month, finally. We planned and booked a caribou trip. Unfortunately for our caribou hunt, federal lands were temporarily closed to Non-qualified Subsistence hunters for caribou for through the fall of 2023.

About July of this year, our air transporter (one of the best in the business) and we agreed on a plan to make the hunt happen this year. We stay flexible and awaited a call to let us know when a good spot and time was head for the North Country. On a Friday night a few weeks ago, that call came. We needed to be there on the following Sunday morning.
I'll fast forward through more drama (thanks to American Airlines). We got into the field on Wednesday afternoon. Setting up camp, we had 6 bulls within 500 yards. Pic of live bull below is the best one of those. If we could have legally, he would have been shot. Next day, saw a few cows, several Grizzlies, a Wolverine, some sheep, and lots of ptarmigan. On Friday, we spotted two bulls way up high from about 1.5 miles away and studied/videoed them. Eventually, we made our way closer and the decision was made to go after one. (Bull with the velvet hanging).
On a trip back to camp, found two kore and buddy was able to get his. (His pic was taken at 10:30pm). Got all we could to camp then finished the next morning. While leaving camp that morning to go get the rest, two Muskox walked almost into camp. Got everything back to camp in time to get picked up before weather sticks there for 2-3 more days.
It happened so fast, it hardly seems real but we are so blessed and thankful to finally have this one in our memories.

Leaving tomorrow AM for CO with an archery bear tag in hand.