Average Joe Hunting Adventures with Dan and CJ

[Lostinthewoods]

The scouting was good so far.
I found some nice core areas that I'll focus more on later though this spring and fall.
I only walked the smaller piece of public land, but found some great sign.














It was still a little early for sheds, but I did pick up some other stuff while out there....








I'll be honest with you guys.
I'm probably the worst hunter in the entire world!
The only reason I probably get any kills is because I pick up so much trash.
It's just a way of karma coming back around.

 

[vanish]

Off to a strong start!

 

[duckhunt]

Good for you on picking up the trash. I do some of that myself when im out.

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Good for you on picking up the trash. I do some of that myself when im out.

It drives me nuts that people just throw stuff out their windows while driving, throw stuff in the woods, or walk by it and don't pick it up.
If I see something when I'm hunting, scouting, or hiking then I pick it up.
I'm actually trying to organize a clean up out here of some public land.
You would figure people would be all over making this easy, but to do it right it's an absolute pain in the behind.

Off to a strong start!

Thanks Ryan!
It's going to be such a big year! Especially with those two tags already in my pocket that I told you about.
I cant wait to see you and your wife crush it this year.

 

[publichunter1]

Love seeing all the pictures. Good luck on all of the hunts this year and look forward to hearing all the stories.

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Love seeing all the pictures. Good luck on all of the hunts this year and look forward to hearing all the stories.

Thank you for following along!

 

[sn.outdoors]

I got out off the office to stretch my legs and do some work outside. While checking out a different training area, I stumbled upon some neat stuff.







Idaho coyotes have given me quite the fits. I've spent around ten days trying to call them in. I don't know how many stands I've sat on or miles I've covered, but they've given me the slip. So of course today, when I can't carry a rifle with me, I walk up on 3 of them and they all present shots. But hey, at least I was able to shoot some photos with my new camera. I will kill some of these guys one of these days.



I caught this one mousing. I sat and watched for a few minutes before he winded me. Reminded me of when I was 4 or 5 and my dad took me to watch a fox den with pups in it. It sure makes for an entertaining watch. I hope to be able to do the same with my kids this summer.




I was really surprised when I almost stepped on this busted up shed. Based off of talks with some locals and a few coworkers, I wasn't expecting to find any elk sign in the area. I assume the snowfall has them outside of their normal wintering grounds. Everything about it screams "old tough bull." I figure it fell last night or this morning since it rained pretty hard yesterday afternoon, and you can see the mud where it landed and on the G2. This is actually the first brown elk shed I've ever found. Hopefully there will be many more.











Dan and I debated whether or not the deer shed is a muley or not. It most likely is a mule deer based off the area. So I put it next to a whitetail shed I found with Dan while in OK. If you found this in KS, OK, or NE you probably wouldn't think twice about it being a whitetail or not.




All in all it was a really productive day. I surveyed a new training area for potential use in the future, found some sheds, and got a decent amount of hiking in. Felt good to be alive today. I might go back this weekend to see if I can get ahold of those coyotes on the game call.

 

[Lostinthewoods]

The birds just don't want to play today!
I got set up and about 20 minutes before sunrise I let out a few soft clucks.
A bird fired off right away! About 30 minutes later I saw three hens emerge from the timber at 85 yards. I could see the head of a gobbler sitting in the woods about 80 yards away.

I talked with the hens a little and got them to come within 45 yards of me.
The gobbler came out from the timber and started just feeding. I don't think he could see my decoys.....

After about 30 minutes the hens walked off and he did too.
Now I'm torn if I want to chase him or wait patiently and hope he comes back!

I'm getting closer, this will happen! I will kill my first long beard!

 

[bwcatripper]

I was very fortunate to be stationed in some awesome places, but none will compare to Washington State. Steelhead, salmon, crab, elk, blacktail. Loved every minute of it. You two keep chasing the hunts, I wish I had done more when I lived there. Deployments really put things in perspective, not once did I sit on my rack in Afghan or Iraq and wish I had watched more tv when I was in the States.. It was always regrets about not hiking to the ridge top or casting a line after COB formation.. keep on keeping on.

 

[sn.outdoors]

I was very fortunate to be stationed in some awesome places, but none will compare to Washington State. Steelhead, salmon, crab, elk, blacktail. Loved every minute of it. You two keep chasing the hunts, I wish I had done more when I lived there. Deployments really put things in perspective, not once did I sit on my rack in Afghan or Iraq and wish I had watched more tv when I was in the States.. It was always regrets about not hiking to the ridge top or casting a line after COB formation.. keep on keeping on.

Thanks for the encouragement!

For those who aren't in the know, Washington state is an outdoorsman's paradise. It might be the most diverse state as far as opportunity goes. I was in NE WA for 4 years, and I regret not taking better advantage of the hunting and fishing opportunities that were there. I was fresh out of high school and had never been out west before. I only focused on what I knew, and that was whitetail hunting. I had pretty good success doing that, but I missed out on the tremendous bear and elk hunting.

Like you said, I regret the many weekends I spent in the dorms not doing anything, but I don't regret getting out and exploring a new place. That's one of the big reasons Dan and I are doing this thread. Not only is it encouraging us to get out more, but hopefully it'll show some guys there's no shortage of opportunity to take advantage of the free time you do have.

 

[Lostinthewoods]

I was very fortunate to be stationed in some awesome places, but none will compare to Washington State. Steelhead, salmon, crab, elk, blacktail. Loved every minute of it. You two keep chasing the hunts, I wish I had done more when I lived there. Deployments really put things in perspective, not once did I sit on my rack in Afghan or Iraq and wish I had watched more tv when I was in the States.. It was always regrets about not hiking to the ridge top or casting a line after COB formation.. keep on keeping on.

I really hope I am lucky enough to be stationed there at some point before I retire!
It's amazing how much deployments intensify our thoughts. I can barely contain myself while at home because I'm just thinking about hunting, but being over there makes it 100x worse.

Any chance of you ever going back there?

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Today was a lot of fun.

I really enjoy hunting solo or with someone who hunts similar to me. (Que CJ)
After being burned so many times by other people I've hunted with or "friends", I began shying away from hunting with some people.
When I moved here I met a local who is my age and hunted here his whole life.
He is a great source of knowledge for local habitat questions I have.

Last night he asked me if I wanted to hunt with him today and I couldn't say no.
He's a very experienced and successful turkey hunter and I need to get more experience!
It was a win win.

We went to a couple of his spots and around 1030 it go wild! We were letting out some calls into this freshly burned pine thicket and some birds responded really far away.
We figured it was more than 3 so we decided we'd try to set up for a double.
We sprinted up 100-150 yards and called again... they were less than 100 yards away now and coming in quick.
We set up and waited.... this is when it got crappy!
The two lead birds were older long beards, so instead of coming directly in they flanked is a bit and came in from my buddies side. I couldn't shoot because it was in his direction.
He tried holding out to see if they would split and give us a chance, but once he realized it wasn't going to happen he couldn't shoot because they didn't give him a clear (ethical) shot. Once they realized there wasn't a hen they made their way off....

It was a great time and it's going to happen here SOON! I will shoot my first long beard!!!





We also found a bird left us a teasing message.....(see pic)
I can't wait to get back out!

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Also.... I just realized that NEW MEXICO DRAWS ARE IN 1 MONTH... AHHH!!!

 

[bwcatripper]

Absolutely there is a chance of moving back there, hopefully next summer. I miss that place more than anything. It's so easy to get caught up in the beer when you're a young enlisted soldier and sleep your day and hangover away... only to realize how many salmon you missed...

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Absolutely there is a chance of moving back there, hopefully next summer. I miss that place more than anything. It's so easy to get caught up in the beer when you're a young enlisted soldier and sleep your day and hangover away... only to realize how many salmon you missed...

Well I hope it goes through for you because I can imagine that it's a sportsman's paradise!
Good luck getting back there and let us know how it goes. I want hero pictures!

 

[Lostinthewoods]

i plan on heading out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to do some more turkey hunting!
I cannot wait and I've got a REALLY good feeling about it.

I've been working on another project the last few weeks.
Something I really became fond of since I joined the military is volunteering.
It started small when I first joined and grew stronger every year.
I've also always contributed to hunting conservation efforts. (Generally just small monetary donations)

With recent awareness efforts being pushed out about public land it made me evaluate what I was doing and how effective it was.
So I decided to start trying to do a little more.

I drove around the range I hunt and found a large amount of dump sites.
After I marked them on a gps, I got with the agency who manages the range, and set up a clean up effort.

It worked out great because they already had great connections with waste management and had lists of people who like to volunteer.

So on April 20th (earth day) we will be cleaning up an archery unit that's approximately 1300 acres. I found at least 20 dump sites so far so we will be cleaning up a bunch!

It's been very exciting setting this up and I hope to do a few more this summer.


Some of the dump sites....

 

[Lostinthewoods]

I also forgot to mention I picked up my CO deer PP today, applied for Maine moose, KY elk, and bought a Wyoming supertag.

Next week I have a few more things open that I can apply for!

 

[sn.outdoors]

Give it a few years and those will be "historical sites."

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Give it a few years and those will be "historical sites."

I've got to stop wasting my time and starting picking up some land here and there...


If only I'd stop breaking my truck!

 

[tarheel]

It's refreshing to see that those such as yourself put in the time and effort to help clean up the refuse dumped by so many people who aren't caring and responsible enough to pay the small dump fees set up by most municipalities and counties but opt to just go trash up the countryside to the detriment of all. It really chaps my butt to find such sites and leaves me to wonder just what kind of people would be guilty of such, thinking that nature will eventually reclaim it and no one cares; well, thanks for caring.