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CORN 2020 Colorado/Wyoming season

CORN

CORN

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May 22, 2019
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East coast for now
Bored at work and can't stop thinking about getting out there, figured I'd throw up a thread. Adult onset hunter, 2020 will be my third year at it.

The plan:
First weekend in Oct I'm gonna be chasing pronghorn in CO units 120/121/125/126. I've got low hopes for this one as there's not much public land and I've not had any luck getting permission to hunt private. Planning on being on a patch of public come first light on opening day and seeing if I can have one in my sights before the shots start ringing out and the antelope scatter to private. I'll probably bring a little cash in case I see some antelope on private with a house nearby - doesn't hurt to sweeten the offer.

Midway through the next week I'm gonna be picking up my pops and a family friend who have never hunted before and heading up to Wyoming. Got an either sex tag that's drawable with 0 points. Hunted it last year, didn't see anything the first 3 days, so I took a doe when she popped up on the last morning we had to hunt. That evening I took a buddy back to where I took my doe and we 4 or 5 decent bucks all in the same area. My buddy blew a shot at one, but I promised myself I'd be back again this year to see if they're still in the honey hole. Neither my dad nor our friend have hunted big game before, so I'm looking forward to helping them out and hopefully come away with a couple bucks and a doe. Maybe tag a modest 4x4.

On the way back from WY we're gonna spend a few days in Eagle County CO as I've got a bear tag. Never hunted bear, no idea how to approach it other than to get in the woods and start glassing - tips welcome! Only gonna spend 2 maybe 3 days looking for bear, then heading home to process whatever deer we get.

Fast forward to 2nd rifle in CO, got an OTC elk and antlered deer tag for unit 47. A buddy from the east is coming out, we're planning on backpacking in hoping to get away from the crowds. Fingers crossed for some snow, never gotten an elk but it's gonna happen one of these days.

All in all I'm hoping for one animal with antlers, last year was a great year for meat - 4 does between 3 states, but no bucks/bull.

My last hunt will be home in NC on family property. Pretty easy meat hunt. If the freezers are full from the Wyoming/Colorado hunts, I'll be hunting to fill my folks freezer. My little sister has expressed an interest in hunting so hopefully I'll be able to help her get her first deer.
 
Sounds like an awesome plan, and good luck!

Re CO bear, if you’ve only got a few days and it’s during the designated rifle bear season a good tactic can be to glass and locate a gut pile, looking for crows, coyotes, etc. In CO you can’t bait bears, but hunting them over a gut pile is legal. They tend to be packing on the weight in feed this time of year, and this can be a very successful option!
 
Orion’s Breath said:
Sounds like an awesome plan, and good luck!

Re CO bear, if you’ve only got a few days and it’s during the designated rifle bear season a good tactic can be to glass and locate a gut pile, looking for crows, coyotes, etc. In CO you can’t bait bears, but hunting them over a gut pile is legal. They tend to be packing on the weight in feed this time of year, and this can be a very successful option!
Click to expand...
Good advice!!! I appreciate it.
 
Hunt day one didn't end with a grip n grin, but was a solid day regardless. Had low expectations, a 1 point unit with limited public land. Started off the day driving through private land (whoops!). Lost 40 minutes and missed being ready at first light, but don't think that affected me significantly. Was pleasantly surprised to only see maybe 10 trucks all day. Stopped to chat with a CPW officer who gave me some recommendations, then set out on a 6 or 7 mile loop. Not a ton of topography, was debating keeping a half decent pace vs a crawl with lots of glassing. Ended up scaring up 5 pronghorn (probably 3/4 mile away), I let them run then circled around an hour and a half later and found them again. Terrain was flat plains with some tufts of field grass, nothing over 12". Couldn't find any terrain worth hiding behind so I started crawling their way. Think they saw me, because although they never really spooked, they started grazing away from me. I was never able to gain any ground. My range finder was giving me hell, I'm guessing due to the narrow angle between my head peaking up through the grass to target, struggled to find something sufficient enough to bounce off and the field grass wasn't cutting it. After 45 minutes of trying close the distance unsuccessfully, tried the white flag trick out of desperation. Surprisingly, a small buck started heading my way. He got to within 340 yards, then slowly started grazing away again. I had a decent shot so I took it, but missed under his belly, and they scattered.

After heading in to town to grab a coke, I glassed another buck over a mile out. Dropped down from my glassing hill to hike across a flood plain towards him. Lost him pretty quickly but finally saw his just his horns on the horizon. Walked a good ways towards him and had almost convinced myself he was a bush when I saw his horns move. Started on another long crawl towards the bedded buck. Once again I was having range finder issues and couldn't for the life of me get a reading. He finally lazily stood up, and offered me a shot. I had 300 yards dialed and I took it off my pack, but once again was low. In hindsight, that was stupid to shoot at him without having a range, but the moment got the best of me.

Called it a day ago that, got some good miles under me, saw some animals and had a couple decent stalks. Today confirmed for me that I'll never be a bow hunter. How y'all get within 40 yards of an antelope blows my mind.

Don't feel good about the misses, learning day for me. Gonna head home and hit the range tomorrow, my rifle got banged around a lot on the crawls and I wanna confirm zero. Leave for Wyoming on Tuesday!
 
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Decided I was gonna cancel some stuff I had planned for today (getting a bed liner can wait), and chase goats again. Left the house before 4 and was pulling into my unit around sunrise. Headed to an area I'd seen goats in on Saturday, and started glassing. Saw what was a pretty big buck in my eyes, but he was on a ridge and I didn't think I'd have any decent way to approach him. Eventually saw a smaller buck and doe a mile and a half away, but with better topography to approach. Used a creek bed then crawled (brought knee pads and gloves this time) to get within 1000 yards, but the little rise I thought I could hide behind didn't turn out to be what it looked and I thought I could get closer approaching from the other side, so I backed out and headed back to the creek bed. Got pretty mucky but I was thankful to not be crawling, and was able to circle part way around the buck and his doe. I'm sure they saw me quite a few times, but I was far enough away, only partly visable and not moving directly towards them, so the goats didn't seem to care.

Was able to find an unexpected little draw (maybe only 2 feet or so lower than the ground around it, but that was enough). Cautiously crept up the draw, peaking up over the horizon with my binoculars to make sure I was staying low enough and the goats weren't on the move. The draw ended and I crawled my way up to the top of a rise. For the first time I could see the pronghorn with my naked eye, on a slight hill across from me with the smallest of draws between my rise and theirs. I knew they'd spot me if I started crawling down the draw that separated us, and there was no other way to get to them. My rangefinder said 460 yards.

I've shot out to 1000 before but my local range that I'm routinely practicing on only goes to 300. My phone's ballistic calculator told me 3.6 mils, I dialed it, steadied my rifle on my pack, and took my shot...nothing....

My crosshairs were still on the buck though, and he was frozen for that half a second trying to figure out which direction to run. Squeezed the trigger once more and watched him drop. I grabbed my pack and ran down the draw and up to him. He wasn't quite gone - I'd shot him father back than I wanted due to underestimating my wind hold. Finished the job and sat down to take the moment in.

Was so thankful to have harvested my first pronghorn, and done it with such a fun stalk. My 3rd year hunting and only second male animal I've taken. The buck was pretty small, no real cutters to speak of, but I wasn't leaving empty handed and I couldn't have been happier.

By this time it was getting hot, temps in the low 80s. I'm really good at packing for whatever trip I've most recently completed. Saturday had been much cooler and even though I'd hiked around 6-7 miles on my biggest loop, I hadn't needed much water. Since I didn't need much water last time, why would I need it this time - right? And who checks the forecast before they go out? Ain't nobody got time for that! Pounded the sole water bottle I'd brought, stripped out of my jacket and got to cutting. By the time I was done I was baking. Was thankful to only have a mile and a half to pack out. Tried to savor the success on the hike out but couldn't get past - 'I need water'.

It really sunk in on the truck ride home. A celebratory Sonic Slush was in order and I smiled the whole ride home.
 
Tuesday my pops and a family friend flew into DIA, I picked them up and we made the 7 hour drive up to unit 164 (near Worland WY). Their flight was delayed so unfortunately we were not able get in with hunting light on the first day. I'd been to this unit before and on the last day of the season last year had seen some pretty decent bucks.

The unit is mostly badlands - some very arid terrain with some small canyons and rock outcroppings. There is a good amount of agricultural lands bordering the Bighorn River (mostly sugar beets), and the deer fed on the irrigated fields by river overnight before heading back into the badlands to hide out during the day. Many of them travel through a small valley with a creek bed running through it, with a long bluff that parallels the creek bed for over a mile. The bluff forms a great position to set up on and glass, as well as providing decent line of sight for shooting over the sage brush in the valley.

PXL_20201008_232632825.jpg

Neither my dad or friend had ever hunted before so the first morning we set out together and I got them set up in decent shooting positions looking down into the creek bed. As soon as the sun came up we saw deer moving. All does, but within an easy 150 yards of my ridge. I had an anterless tag but knew that my dad was set up in a position that he'd have a shot at them, so I held off on shooting. Several minutes go by with nothing, and the deer start grazing away. I backed out of my position to see if I could get to my dad and point the deer out. When I crawled up to him he told me he'd seen them but hadn't been able to figure out how to steady his rifle from the position he was in, and that they moved out of sight when he tried to adjust to get his rifle supported. I kicked myself for not taking the shot when I had it, but figured another opportunity would present itself.

The deer are gone by this point and it's past the early morning prime time, but we stay out glassing the low lying land around the creek. Patience paid off as I saw an ear exposed from behind a Sage bush. I was by myself on the bluff at this point, and was able to move down the bluff to get a view of the doe's other ear and the very crest of her head from behind her sage bush. I've never taken an animal with a headshot before but she was only 100 yards away, not moving and I had plenty of time and a great position to support my rifle in. Took the shot and although I couldn't see her drop, I was confident she was down. A second after I pulled the trigger another doe hopped up and bounded 20 yards then looked around confused trying to figure out where the sound had come from. If I don't have to tote my rifle far, I'll usually hunt with a suppressor as it's more pleasant for me, and it seems the animals have a harder time figuring out where the sound came from and are less likely to scatter as quickly. The second doe disappeared out of sight, but it seemed like she had come to a stop after her initial few bounds so I backtracked off the bluff and then hustled down to where my pops was set up farther down the bluff.

I got him back to my position and pointed out where I'd last seen doe #2 standing, then crawled down the bluff a few yards to get a different angle to glass from. I think she heard us because just as I got down, the doe stood up from behind a bush. I found her in my binoculars and realized she was a small one, likely the fawn of the doe I'd just shot. I was about to call out to let my dad know, but he already had her in his crosshairs and I watched her drop as my dad pulled the trigger on his first deer.

We high fived and dropped down off the bluff to get to work. Within 15 minutes of each other on our first morning out we'd taken a pair of deer. Our friend joined us in the valley, and I had him quarter my deer while dad cut on his, and I bounced back and forth between them showing where to make cuts to get the meat off the animals. Dad came out here with a doe tag and had told me that his main concern was that he wanted to be able to make a good shot and make a clean kill. He was surprised when he saw her size (think she looked bigger to him through the scope at 100 yards), but he'd got her through both lungs and she dropped immediately, so he was happy to have made a clean kill.
PXL_20201007_171239952.jpg

Quartering the meat was slow work as it was a first for both of them, but it was a good way to learn. By the time we were finished it was 12:30 and 85 degrees. Thankful for the short packout, we headed back to the truck.

We hadn't planned on heading into town but our tent felt like a sauna and the heat got the best of us so we drove into town for more ice and a pizza.

That evening we split up and hunted two walk in areas without any luck. I still had an either sex tag and my buddy did as well.
 
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