Getting time to unwind. Just spent the weekend cutting, grinding and dehydrating. First was a good buck with my archery tag in WI. It has been a couple years since I have taken a bow buck and now the deer are starting to rebound after a bad winter . Not much of a story, deer came, deer left, deer came back after I grunted, deer died.
Then off to Montana for a deer hunt for a couple days before I met Randy for a WY elk hunt. I hit some new areas this year and it paid off. I managed to find a good buck bedded in a sage flat and after looking him over with the spotter i started the mad dash towards him and his does now walking away. After a couple hundred yards I popped out of a big dry creek bed and there was 3 guys standing there looking at me! I figured they did not see the deer as he would be now way off to the side of them and kept going on the mad dash. They looked at me and waved me on but I did not know if they were just motioning me to keep going on my way or that they knew I was after a deer. I caught up to the buck and now at 100 yards and very tall sage and weeds I had to try an offhand shot. It worked out and he dropped. The 3 guys came walking up and I apologized for not stopping to say hi and figured they had not seen the deer. It turns out they saw me looking at it with my spotter and knew I had seen it first and was on a stalk already. I have to give those guys mucho credit because a lot of a-holes I have seen in the past would have done the opposite. Those guys were true sportsman.
So the next day I slipped across the state line to meet Randy for a wild ride of an elk hunt. Never have I been in such a hunt that had ups and downs like this. Literally saw over 500 elk the first day, passed on a couple 310 class bulls hoping the 340 class bull would wander our way before dark. We waited, watched and plotted only to see them go the other way. We did get good video that day though that's for sure. Then the next day we saw 1, yes one elk. Then ZERO the next. Then the 4th day we knew it was the last day because of a blizzard warning for the 5th day. 3 bulls were spotted off a few miles away on top of a ridge and we reversed directions and made a stalk. Things got crazy and long story short I blew it and the now 6 bulls headed for the next county. Well, we thought so and after we drove 3 miles to try and relocate the fresh tracks in the snow we got out of the truck, got our gear ready, and ran a little video explaining what our next plan was. Mid-interview I looked over Randy's shoulder and started stuttering...... Right F'in there!!! we got photo bombed by elk. But as luck goes the bigger of the 6 bulls that were in the group had already made it past. Randy called out the 330 yards, I threw down my pack and dialed in the CDS on the Leupold. so I took the bigger of the 2 that were kind enough to feel sorry for me at this point and made a perfect shot. We took care of my bull and glassed the rest of the day for Randy but could not come up with any elk.
Now, back to Montana to pick up my 14 year old Son Garrett at the airport for his first Montana deer hunt. After seeing a huge muley the first night that gave us the slip I now proceeded to do what I told myself I wouldn't do and walked my poor kid nearly to death. At noon we saw 3 dinks pushing a doe and headed back to the truck. The next day I promised a much shorter walk. We walked 3/4 mile into an area to set up for Mule deer coming into bedding hills and I spotted a different kind of deer pushing some doe. I had Garrett look in the spotter and he said "oh yeah I will shoot him" The rest is history. Garrett got a great first whitey. could it get better?? Yes, it did. A few hours later he not only got his first pheasant but he got a limit of them. Then a little while later he got his first duck! Life is good. I do a lot of solo hunts but this year most of my hunts were spent with friends and family and I want to keep it that way as I get older.
Then off to Montana for a deer hunt for a couple days before I met Randy for a WY elk hunt. I hit some new areas this year and it paid off. I managed to find a good buck bedded in a sage flat and after looking him over with the spotter i started the mad dash towards him and his does now walking away. After a couple hundred yards I popped out of a big dry creek bed and there was 3 guys standing there looking at me! I figured they did not see the deer as he would be now way off to the side of them and kept going on the mad dash. They looked at me and waved me on but I did not know if they were just motioning me to keep going on my way or that they knew I was after a deer. I caught up to the buck and now at 100 yards and very tall sage and weeds I had to try an offhand shot. It worked out and he dropped. The 3 guys came walking up and I apologized for not stopping to say hi and figured they had not seen the deer. It turns out they saw me looking at it with my spotter and knew I had seen it first and was on a stalk already. I have to give those guys mucho credit because a lot of a-holes I have seen in the past would have done the opposite. Those guys were true sportsman.
So the next day I slipped across the state line to meet Randy for a wild ride of an elk hunt. Never have I been in such a hunt that had ups and downs like this. Literally saw over 500 elk the first day, passed on a couple 310 class bulls hoping the 340 class bull would wander our way before dark. We waited, watched and plotted only to see them go the other way. We did get good video that day though that's for sure. Then the next day we saw 1, yes one elk. Then ZERO the next. Then the 4th day we knew it was the last day because of a blizzard warning for the 5th day. 3 bulls were spotted off a few miles away on top of a ridge and we reversed directions and made a stalk. Things got crazy and long story short I blew it and the now 6 bulls headed for the next county. Well, we thought so and after we drove 3 miles to try and relocate the fresh tracks in the snow we got out of the truck, got our gear ready, and ran a little video explaining what our next plan was. Mid-interview I looked over Randy's shoulder and started stuttering...... Right F'in there!!! we got photo bombed by elk. But as luck goes the bigger of the 6 bulls that were in the group had already made it past. Randy called out the 330 yards, I threw down my pack and dialed in the CDS on the Leupold. so I took the bigger of the 2 that were kind enough to feel sorry for me at this point and made a perfect shot. We took care of my bull and glassed the rest of the day for Randy but could not come up with any elk.
Now, back to Montana to pick up my 14 year old Son Garrett at the airport for his first Montana deer hunt. After seeing a huge muley the first night that gave us the slip I now proceeded to do what I told myself I wouldn't do and walked my poor kid nearly to death. At noon we saw 3 dinks pushing a doe and headed back to the truck. The next day I promised a much shorter walk. We walked 3/4 mile into an area to set up for Mule deer coming into bedding hills and I spotted a different kind of deer pushing some doe. I had Garrett look in the spotter and he said "oh yeah I will shoot him" The rest is history. Garrett got a great first whitey. could it get better?? Yes, it did. A few hours later he not only got his first pheasant but he got a limit of them. Then a little while later he got his first duck! Life is good. I do a lot of solo hunts but this year most of my hunts were spent with friends and family and I want to keep it that way as I get older.
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If I came home empty handed It still would have been a darn good hunt. The experience of that first day made the hunt well worth it. I wish audio would do it justice to share what we heard. I heard noises come from elk I never knew were possible. I will never forget when we started laughing after that one bull made a noise that can best be described as a bugle with his head in a toilet bowl drowning
