SPDSpappy
Active member
Meat for the freezer, congrats!!
Average Joe's 2018
- Thread starter sn.outdoors
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2016
- Messages
- 948
Game time!
Bowhuntrben
Well-known member
Hey..congrats on making it into the magazine! I turned to that page and was like "I've seen him on hunttalk!" Very cool man.
SPDSpappy
Active member
Which magazine??
sn.outdoors
Well-known member
Thanks Ben! It's really weird to see my face in a magazine.
It's in the Nov/Dec issue of Eastman's Bowhunting Journal. The full, unabbreviated version is still in last year's thread on here.
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2016
- Messages
- 948
So today I had the pleasure of going on a hunt with my buddy as his guest. A local likes to do a random drawing to let active duty military or veterans come hunt his private property for the day.
We hit the road early and met up with the landowner. He set both my buddy and in our shooting houses and let us be.
This was my first time ever hunting anything other than a climber or a ground, so I had no idea what I was in for.
As the sun came up deer started coming in to the feeders that the land owner has set up.
In my morning sit I passed on a young doe, two button bucks, and a spike.
We sat until 9 and then went to a local breakfast spot for some delicious biscuits and gravy. Then it was off to a different property. One that got me excited!
These shooting houses were nothing like ive ever experienced. I’m used to a tiny climber or on the ground. Not a comfy recliner chair...
At last light the does poured into the field. I picked one of the mature ones and let the tikka rip.
Another wonderful hunt! I had such a great time hanging out with the land owner and my buddy today.
I’m going to make a bunch of summer sausage and brats with this doe and split it with my buddy.
We hit the road early and met up with the landowner. He set both my buddy and in our shooting houses and let us be.
This was my first time ever hunting anything other than a climber or a ground, so I had no idea what I was in for.
As the sun came up deer started coming in to the feeders that the land owner has set up.
In my morning sit I passed on a young doe, two button bucks, and a spike.
We sat until 9 and then went to a local breakfast spot for some delicious biscuits and gravy. Then it was off to a different property. One that got me excited!
These shooting houses were nothing like ive ever experienced. I’m used to a tiny climber or on the ground. Not a comfy recliner chair...
At last light the does poured into the field. I picked one of the mature ones and let the tikka rip.
Another wonderful hunt! I had such a great time hanging out with the land owner and my buddy today.
I’m going to make a bunch of summer sausage and brats with this doe and split it with my buddy.
SPDSpappy
Active member
Very cool, congrats!!!
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2016
- Messages
- 948
Thank you!
sn.outdoors
Well-known member
I finally found myself sitting down with nothing to do that can't be done tomorrow....
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I almost didn't hunt Thanksgiving afternoon. We were socializing, telling old stories I've heard far too many times to still be as funny as they are, and eating all of the foods. But the weather was changing and the winds were perfect to sit my favorite spot. Who knows how many more chances I'll get to hunt that spot with perfect conditions.
With just 90 minutes of light left I walked the back line-fence of our property like I'd done hundreds, possibly thousands, of times as a kid.
It was as if I had never left. There were still rubs on a few trees made by bucks we chased over a decade ago, and new ones from bucks currently roaming the woods. I walked through an area my dad and I did some timber stand improvement 15 years ago, and the spot was full of fresh beds but no deer at the moment.
On my way back to my favorite stand I stopped for a moment in a gap we made in the line-fence a long, long time ago. The deer were still using it, just like they were when I'd sit in the backyard with my grandpa all those summer nights we shared together.
When I got to the stand I saw that it was the same one I put in the tree 10 years ago and it didn't look like it had been removed since then... I opted to stay on the ground.
The first doe came out about 45 minutes before dark, but it was across the road and in the middle of a wide open field... She was eating alfalfa, seemingly unafraid of being in plain sight. That's something that NEVER happened back in the day. It was obvious that the area doesn't get as much hunting pressure as it did when I was a kid.
I was starting to get a bit cold, the winds were picking up, and the sun was almost gone when I looked out into the neighbor's hay field and saw a greyish figure standing there... It was a deer! A buck! Heading straight for me!
I couldn't believe it. Maybe my expectations were too low. I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. After all, a lot deer have been killed in this spot over the years.
I had to wait for him to cross the property line before I could shoot him, and sure enough, he crossed through the same gap in the photo above and stopped when he heard my go-to deer stopping phrase, "hey deer."
And that was all she wrote.
On my way back to the house to grab the tractor, my uncle texted me to see if it was me that shot, and pretty soon almost the entire family was gathered again to celebrate the luck. It was just like old times.
I almost didn't make the trip home for Thanksgiving. With everything else going on at work, preparing the house, and getting things ready to move, I had a hard time justifying the trip, but my wife basically told me to go. I'm glad she encouraged me to go. Sometimes I get so caught up in getting stuff done that I overlook or ignore the more important things in life. Life is short, and there's no telling how many more Thanksgivings our family will have together. So this trip home means a lot more to me than just a nice buck and some meat in the freezer.
--------
I almost didn't hunt Thanksgiving afternoon. We were socializing, telling old stories I've heard far too many times to still be as funny as they are, and eating all of the foods. But the weather was changing and the winds were perfect to sit my favorite spot. Who knows how many more chances I'll get to hunt that spot with perfect conditions.
With just 90 minutes of light left I walked the back line-fence of our property like I'd done hundreds, possibly thousands, of times as a kid.
It was as if I had never left. There were still rubs on a few trees made by bucks we chased over a decade ago, and new ones from bucks currently roaming the woods. I walked through an area my dad and I did some timber stand improvement 15 years ago, and the spot was full of fresh beds but no deer at the moment.
On my way back to my favorite stand I stopped for a moment in a gap we made in the line-fence a long, long time ago. The deer were still using it, just like they were when I'd sit in the backyard with my grandpa all those summer nights we shared together.
When I got to the stand I saw that it was the same one I put in the tree 10 years ago and it didn't look like it had been removed since then... I opted to stay on the ground.
The first doe came out about 45 minutes before dark, but it was across the road and in the middle of a wide open field... She was eating alfalfa, seemingly unafraid of being in plain sight. That's something that NEVER happened back in the day. It was obvious that the area doesn't get as much hunting pressure as it did when I was a kid.
I was starting to get a bit cold, the winds were picking up, and the sun was almost gone when I looked out into the neighbor's hay field and saw a greyish figure standing there... It was a deer! A buck! Heading straight for me!
I couldn't believe it. Maybe my expectations were too low. I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. After all, a lot deer have been killed in this spot over the years.
I had to wait for him to cross the property line before I could shoot him, and sure enough, he crossed through the same gap in the photo above and stopped when he heard my go-to deer stopping phrase, "hey deer."
And that was all she wrote.
On my way back to the house to grab the tractor, my uncle texted me to see if it was me that shot, and pretty soon almost the entire family was gathered again to celebrate the luck. It was just like old times.
I almost didn't make the trip home for Thanksgiving. With everything else going on at work, preparing the house, and getting things ready to move, I had a hard time justifying the trip, but my wife basically told me to go. I'm glad she encouraged me to go. Sometimes I get so caught up in getting stuff done that I overlook or ignore the more important things in life. Life is short, and there's no telling how many more Thanksgivings our family will have together. So this trip home means a lot more to me than just a nice buck and some meat in the freezer.
dirtclod Az.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2018
- Messages
- 2,776
Great Buck,Great story.
Crossbowguy
Well-known member
Awesome Story! It is always great when you get together with family and have a successful hunt and can share it with all of them. Makes for new stories around the table, and puts that seed in the next generation to want to follow in your footsteps.
That is an awesome buck anywhere in the country and to do it on your old stomping ground is even better!
That is an awesome buck anywhere in the country and to do it on your old stomping ground is even better!
duckhunt
Well-known member
Great story. I still hunt some properties from when I was a kid. Theres a ton of memories in those woods.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I love that story. Makes me want to get my own place so someday my grandkids can come home for the holidays and have a hunt like that.
sn.outdoors
Well-known member
It's been way too long since I've been in the hills and life's been much busier than I prefer, but I was able to get out and look for some elk today with my wife and sister who's visiting.
The plan was to drive around, cover as much ground as possible, check for fresh tracks, and hopefully find some elk. We'd only have half a day to get it done.
The first hour of morning was pretty uneventful. I checked a few spots I'd seen elk before but each of them were dry holes. As I expected, there were trucks and UTV's driving everywhere. We heard quite a bit of shooting, and I assumed it would only be a matter of time before we spotted a group of elk running for cover. We'd drive a bit, get out, walk a few hundred yards, glass, repeat.
On the way to our 1 millionth spot, I saw 5 elk paralleling us, running full speed. I instructed my wife on what was about to take place... It would be a race. I drove to get ahead of where I thought the elk would go, and I figured we'd have to walk/run/jog about a half mile to catch them. So I went over our shot sequence, reminded her make sure it was a cow, and that we needed to move as fast as possible to catch them.
The race was on.
The terrain dipped down in front of us, and I assumed the elk would be in the bottom of that drainage. So we walked as quickly as possible to the end of the drainage. The elk came out at 500 yards. While my wife got setup on the rifle and I setup on the glass, I noticed one of the cows was obviously wounded. My wife was ready to shoot one of the other cows, but I said she should shoot the last cow (the wounded one). Unfortunately, that cow never gave us a broadside shot and the herd made it behind the next hill. They weren't running anymore, but they were moving quickly.
The chase was on.
I took off after them to make sure we didn't lose them. As I got to the top of the ridge, I spotted the herd walking away at only 350yds. They saw me too, and took off running again. I looked back and saw my wife a few hundred yards behind me... This is when I realized my style of hunting is not for everyone. By the time she caught up, the herd was outside of her range.
Since they were still moving steadily, I had my wife and sister stay there to watch the elk while I went back to bring the truck closer and get some more gear for a longer hike if needed. If the elk walked out of sight they would walk back to the road and we'd relocate.
The elk calmed down and started feeding again while I was gone, but still walked over the hill and out of sight. As I was pulling up to my wife, another truck pulled up to me and we chatted a bit. The other hunter hit the cow earlier and was trying to find them again. I explained our encounter and it didn't sound encouraging. The last I'd seen, there were still 5 elk walking over the hill.
When my wife got back to the truck she said she only saw 4 elk walk over the hill. So we shared what we knew and he took up the trail while we attempted a flanking maneuver.
It didn't take long to find them again.
The 4 remaining elk had moved only half a mile before we relocated them. They were bedded when I spotted them, but I heard several gunshots from where the other hunter took up the trail. The elk weren't too keen on sticking around to see what all the commotion was about.
We loaded back up in the truck and made another move to try to cut them off. We got out and started walking... And walking... And walking... But we never spotted them again. We got back in the truck to check the roads for tracks and found a UTV parked where the elk crossed and 2 sets of boot prints following them. As we were getting back in the truck we heard 2 almost simultaneous shots, then silence.
We drove to the next road and glassed the 2 lucky hunters processing their trophies.
Well... That was about as close as we could get without getting it done.
We burned another quarter tank of gas before calling it a day.
Sadly, I believe this will be the last opportunity to hunt this year, and also my last hunting trip in Idaho as a "local." We have a lot of work to do and not much time to get it done. I hate leaving tags unfilled, but the chances of getting back or there are small.
The plan was to drive around, cover as much ground as possible, check for fresh tracks, and hopefully find some elk. We'd only have half a day to get it done.
The first hour of morning was pretty uneventful. I checked a few spots I'd seen elk before but each of them were dry holes. As I expected, there were trucks and UTV's driving everywhere. We heard quite a bit of shooting, and I assumed it would only be a matter of time before we spotted a group of elk running for cover. We'd drive a bit, get out, walk a few hundred yards, glass, repeat.
On the way to our 1 millionth spot, I saw 5 elk paralleling us, running full speed. I instructed my wife on what was about to take place... It would be a race. I drove to get ahead of where I thought the elk would go, and I figured we'd have to walk/run/jog about a half mile to catch them. So I went over our shot sequence, reminded her make sure it was a cow, and that we needed to move as fast as possible to catch them.
The race was on.
The terrain dipped down in front of us, and I assumed the elk would be in the bottom of that drainage. So we walked as quickly as possible to the end of the drainage. The elk came out at 500 yards. While my wife got setup on the rifle and I setup on the glass, I noticed one of the cows was obviously wounded. My wife was ready to shoot one of the other cows, but I said she should shoot the last cow (the wounded one). Unfortunately, that cow never gave us a broadside shot and the herd made it behind the next hill. They weren't running anymore, but they were moving quickly.
The chase was on.
I took off after them to make sure we didn't lose them. As I got to the top of the ridge, I spotted the herd walking away at only 350yds. They saw me too, and took off running again. I looked back and saw my wife a few hundred yards behind me... This is when I realized my style of hunting is not for everyone. By the time she caught up, the herd was outside of her range.
Since they were still moving steadily, I had my wife and sister stay there to watch the elk while I went back to bring the truck closer and get some more gear for a longer hike if needed. If the elk walked out of sight they would walk back to the road and we'd relocate.
The elk calmed down and started feeding again while I was gone, but still walked over the hill and out of sight. As I was pulling up to my wife, another truck pulled up to me and we chatted a bit. The other hunter hit the cow earlier and was trying to find them again. I explained our encounter and it didn't sound encouraging. The last I'd seen, there were still 5 elk walking over the hill.
When my wife got back to the truck she said she only saw 4 elk walk over the hill. So we shared what we knew and he took up the trail while we attempted a flanking maneuver.
It didn't take long to find them again.
The 4 remaining elk had moved only half a mile before we relocated them. They were bedded when I spotted them, but I heard several gunshots from where the other hunter took up the trail. The elk weren't too keen on sticking around to see what all the commotion was about.
We loaded back up in the truck and made another move to try to cut them off. We got out and started walking... And walking... And walking... But we never spotted them again. We got back in the truck to check the roads for tracks and found a UTV parked where the elk crossed and 2 sets of boot prints following them. As we were getting back in the truck we heard 2 almost simultaneous shots, then silence.
We drove to the next road and glassed the 2 lucky hunters processing their trophies.
Well... That was about as close as we could get without getting it done.
We burned another quarter tank of gas before calling it a day.
Sadly, I believe this will be the last opportunity to hunt this year, and also my last hunting trip in Idaho as a "local." We have a lot of work to do and not much time to get it done. I hate leaving tags unfilled, but the chances of getting back or there are small.
Crossbowguy
Well-known member
Sounds like you tired out your wife and sister! Great hunt and time with family!!!
sn.outdoors
Well-known member
It was a lot of fun. I think my wife might have finally realized a practical reason to improve her cardio.
My sister runs half marathons and marathons regularly, so she wasn't doing too bad. They both struggled with the uneven and rocky terrain. It's too bad that the hunting pressure was so bad. I know we could have killed one of those elk if they hadn't been bumped out of there by the other hunters, but that's just part of the game.
sn.outdoors
Well-known member
"Flexibility is the key to air power." ~ Gen. Giulio Douhet (also every wing commander in the air force since the beginning of time)
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I have never really considered myself to be a normal person, and I do not aspire to live a normal life. Some of my co-workers use to call me "six-shooter" because I'm always shooting from the hip and almost always winging it, and somehow when the dust settles at the end I'm still standing and the job is done. They call it chaos, but I call it flexibility.
Why am I ranting about this nonsense? Well, I'm currently tucked into my sleeping bag in the bed of my truck, parked in the middle of the Nevada desert, on my way to Arizona for a deer hunt that I planned out a few days ago. In actuality I had this hunt on my tentative calendar for a few months, but the odds of making it happen didn't look very good. Luckily for me, all of the pieces fell into place at the last minute and I got clearance from Kitchen6 (aka The Wife) to execute.
If you remember the javelina hunt from last year's thread, I'll be hunting the same area with the same people. Except this year we're going to focus on finding some mule deer. Each of us have 2018 and 2019 OTC deer tags that we're trying to fill. Ryan, Steve, and Jeff have leftover javelina tags, but I don't since they were all sold out before I knew I could make it.
Last year, we talked about trying our best to make it an annual, or at least regular, event, and I'm glad we could make it happen.
Since all of my stuff is in storage and the family is temporarily living out of suitcases before we move to NM, I'm sure I forgot some important piece of gear. But whatever. It'll buff out. I have my bow, boots, pack, binos, and rangefinder. I can get by with that.
The weather looks like it's going to be great, and word on the street is the bucks are chasing hard in the area we're hunting. Ryan was supposed to be there this morning, but he's stuck on the highway in NM thanks to the snowstorm that blew through yesterday. But if he makes it out of there, and we don't experience any more hiccups, we could be hunting tomorrow afternoon. I'll post updates as often as possible.
-------
I have never really considered myself to be a normal person, and I do not aspire to live a normal life. Some of my co-workers use to call me "six-shooter" because I'm always shooting from the hip and almost always winging it, and somehow when the dust settles at the end I'm still standing and the job is done. They call it chaos, but I call it flexibility.
Why am I ranting about this nonsense? Well, I'm currently tucked into my sleeping bag in the bed of my truck, parked in the middle of the Nevada desert, on my way to Arizona for a deer hunt that I planned out a few days ago. In actuality I had this hunt on my tentative calendar for a few months, but the odds of making it happen didn't look very good. Luckily for me, all of the pieces fell into place at the last minute and I got clearance from Kitchen6 (aka The Wife) to execute.
If you remember the javelina hunt from last year's thread, I'll be hunting the same area with the same people. Except this year we're going to focus on finding some mule deer. Each of us have 2018 and 2019 OTC deer tags that we're trying to fill. Ryan, Steve, and Jeff have leftover javelina tags, but I don't since they were all sold out before I knew I could make it.
Last year, we talked about trying our best to make it an annual, or at least regular, event, and I'm glad we could make it happen.
Since all of my stuff is in storage and the family is temporarily living out of suitcases before we move to NM, I'm sure I forgot some important piece of gear. But whatever. It'll buff out. I have my bow, boots, pack, binos, and rangefinder. I can get by with that.
The weather looks like it's going to be great, and word on the street is the bucks are chasing hard in the area we're hunting. Ryan was supposed to be there this morning, but he's stuck on the highway in NM thanks to the snowstorm that blew through yesterday. But if he makes it out of there, and we don't experience any more hiccups, we could be hunting tomorrow afternoon. I'll post updates as often as possible.
duckhunt
Well-known member
Good luck
SPDSpappy
Active member
Good luck out there!!
sn.outdoors
Well-known member
Sorry for the radio silence over the last few days. The cell service just wasn't reliable enough to deal with the frustrations of uploading photos and stories. I will edit the photos and my journal entries from the week and get them posted once I get done with this drive home.
The trip was a success.
The trip was a success.
