Last year, BOY and I had a pretty good 8 day run in ID and MT. We harvest two four point muleys, one spike elk, one buck pronghorn, a mountain lion, as well as 8 sage grouse. This year was similar except that I didn't have an elk tag |oo and wasn't able to hunt deer in the 'deer' area, but we didn't do too bad.
We hiked 7.5 miles into a basin where we (BOY, BOY's dad & uncle, Bill and I) spiked out for 3 days chasing elk. While I was chasin' them for the other folks I was looking for a buck. Opening day was sorta uneventful with no shots fired, but we did have 6 bulls bugling in the basin. Day two brought a few inches of snow and two spike bulls harvested.
Here's BOY's uncle with his spike ready to be thrown on Smokey the mule:
Here's a shot of Bill's spike; he's camera shy:
Day three dawned COLD with a bit more snow. I headed to the side of the basin were we'd spotted a few bucks the previous two days, but I couldn't get a shot. I heard a bugle below the trail! As ease along I see a decent bull looking at me at about 175yds!! Did I post the part about not having an elk tag!!!! :BLEEP: The bull and his six cows then bail off down through the timber, so I ease along the trail. About 5 minutes later I hear 3 shots coming from the direction that BOY had headed that morning. BULL DOWN!
Here's BOY and I with his 6pt bull:
As I posted previously, we went back to 'town' for a shower where I found a suicidal 4X3 buck that tried REAL hard to be a two pt:
We spend another 1.5 days trying to get BOY's dad and elk to no avail, then we hopped over to MT where we met Shorty and Parve to try to fill 3 buck pronhorn tags. The antelope were quite skittish having been hunted for sometime as well as being a weekend. Not to mention the father/son combo that proceeded to chase all the antelope up and out of the valley one day! Son would ride the ATV cross country chasing them towards Dad who would them chase them with shots from his AR15 with a 30 rd clip! This activity coupled with some fog made for a tougher than expected hunt, we ended up filling all three tags. I didn't apply for a tag because I expected to be getting a buck tag in WY (93% draw odds last year), but didn't.
Here's Parve, Me, BOY , and Shorty with the 3 bucks:
All in all it was a great 9 days with LOTS of butchering. Next week I'm heading to ID to help BOY fill his Mountain Goat tag! With my first young one on the way I'm not positive I'll be able to keep this yearly tradition, but I sure hope so as the last two have been a blast...hump
We hiked 7.5 miles into a basin where we (BOY, BOY's dad & uncle, Bill and I) spiked out for 3 days chasing elk. While I was chasin' them for the other folks I was looking for a buck. Opening day was sorta uneventful with no shots fired, but we did have 6 bulls bugling in the basin. Day two brought a few inches of snow and two spike bulls harvested.
Here's BOY's uncle with his spike ready to be thrown on Smokey the mule:
Here's a shot of Bill's spike; he's camera shy:
Day three dawned COLD with a bit more snow. I headed to the side of the basin were we'd spotted a few bucks the previous two days, but I couldn't get a shot. I heard a bugle below the trail! As ease along I see a decent bull looking at me at about 175yds!! Did I post the part about not having an elk tag!!!! :BLEEP: The bull and his six cows then bail off down through the timber, so I ease along the trail. About 5 minutes later I hear 3 shots coming from the direction that BOY had headed that morning. BULL DOWN!
Here's BOY and I with his 6pt bull:
As I posted previously, we went back to 'town' for a shower where I found a suicidal 4X3 buck that tried REAL hard to be a two pt:
We spend another 1.5 days trying to get BOY's dad and elk to no avail, then we hopped over to MT where we met Shorty and Parve to try to fill 3 buck pronhorn tags. The antelope were quite skittish having been hunted for sometime as well as being a weekend. Not to mention the father/son combo that proceeded to chase all the antelope up and out of the valley one day! Son would ride the ATV cross country chasing them towards Dad who would them chase them with shots from his AR15 with a 30 rd clip! This activity coupled with some fog made for a tougher than expected hunt, we ended up filling all three tags. I didn't apply for a tag because I expected to be getting a buck tag in WY (93% draw odds last year), but didn't.
Here's Parve, Me, BOY , and Shorty with the 3 bucks:
All in all it was a great 9 days with LOTS of butchering. Next week I'm heading to ID to help BOY fill his Mountain Goat tag! With my first young one on the way I'm not positive I'll be able to keep this yearly tradition, but I sure hope so as the last two have been a blast...hump
Congratulations!
