Nephew Perma’s 100 Day Challenge

[perma]

I thought I would shake things up a bit this year by doing my hunt journal and intermix it with my New Year’s resolution of spending 100 days outdoors this year either. I’m chalking up credit for target shooting, hunting, fishing, hiking, conservation work, etc. While I’m at it, I’ll still keep score of what I’m hunting.

For a fun twist this year, my wife has also verbally committed to doing a backcountry fishing trip in the Snowies. More to come on that, once I figure out what the hell to do.

The goal this year is to bag a turkey and bag an elk. I still have yet to notch those tags even though I had great success and chances last year. That’s my focus for this year. If I get a deer and pronghorn tag, I’ll hunt those too. Also, this is my first year of WY residency of applying. So even if I don’t draw the one I applied for, I still got a general tag. I just hope what I put in for pans out. I just need one on the board….

Sweet rifle pics to be included. Hopefully one of those is after a connected shot at a bull.

Oh yeah, going black bear hunting for the first time too. I saw one fat bear when I was archery deer hunting last year. I’m gonna go find him.

Here’s to another season of firsts!

WY spring turkey - unsuccessful
WY spring black bear - unsuccessful
WY general elk - ?
WY general deer - unsuccessful
WY unlimited cow elk - ?
WY mountain lion - ?
CO OTC archery pronghorn - unsuccessful
CO limited entry elk - unsuccessful
ID controlled hunt mule deer - successful
WY leftover limited quota pronghorn - successful

 

[nrpate05]

As a WY resident, the world is your oyster. The general elk tag is really good, especially if you have the drive to put in some time which it sounds like you do. Good luck!

 

[perma]

As a WY resident, the world is your oyster. The general elk tag is really good, especially if you have the drive to put in some time which it sounds like you do. Good luck!

At this point, yeah I’m ready to do something dumb. Let’s see if the draw prevents that part of the process though, or at least numbs the dumb a little.

 

[Deleted member 52098]

Following!

 

[Sheltowee]

 

[perma]

I lost count, but I’m on day something-teen on being outside. Second fish outing.

 

[duckhunt]

I love these live threads.

 

[Stifler]

I love these live threads.

Me too, good luck @perma !

 

[perma]

I havent been very loyal on updating but there’s not much to update.

Struck out on AZ draw, didn’t put in for NM but I’m in for CO and UT. Will put in for NV and ID. I should draw in CO but time will tell.

I did scout that unit in CO with some help from some folks and got onto two different herds of cows. Knowing that and the summer range I’m comfortable enough to put in. Should be promising.

I’ve done some other outdoors stuff like an off road expo with a Ford Bronco in Moab. That was amazing and would recommend. Wife and I are going back to do it again and do some fishing in the Colorado River.

The last fish outing and this one didn’t yield any catch. We haven’t been very good at getting to the lake early and the fishing is slow. I’m getting back into fly fishing and ordered some new strings for my reel. Might plan a trip to the Laramie River this weekend.

Nothing on the conservation work yet. My chapter is banquet focused this month so hopefully we’ll be looking for work soon. I also signed up for a goat count for the Rocky Mountain Goat alliance. If anyone has any leads on conservation projects in WY or CO, shoot em my way. I don’t really know how to look for these opportunities.



Here’s some random out of order photos.

 

[JLDemo]

Good luck this year for all, especially the LQ tags. Those bastards have proven elusive.

 

[perma]

The kids would call this thriving ong rn frfr but truthfully I suck at fly fishing.

 

[perma]

Two more days under my belt. Did some fly fishing in Southern CO this weekend with my niece for her birthday. Today, she landed her first fish on a “big girl” pond while my wife hooked two on power bait. I managed to get one with power bait and hooked my first fish with a fly. Thankful to say I won’t be golfing anymore now that I know how to fly fish.

And before I knew it, bear and turkey season start tomorrow! Bear is going to be pushed back a bit and I’m going out turkey hunting this weekend. I got a spot I had called in two Toms on and will hopefully be going back to finish that task from last year. If that plan fails, I have a 5 day turkey hunt the following weekend. My hope is that I fill the tag this weekend and then I can bear hunt while my dad turkey hunts.

She wanted me to use her dollar store net to land the fish, and who am I to say no to my niece?

 

[perma]

Well this weekend was full of anticipation and motivation until today.

My year started with a turkey hunt in SE WY. I knew of a good spot from last year where I got within 69 yards of two hot headed toms, so one would believe that you should keep going to that spot.

I woke up at 2 AM yesterday and struggled to stay awake but made the trek to the spot. To my surprise, my parking spot was vacant so I had this cluster of hills to myself. Perfect.

Well it was until the weather turned on me. The forecast the day before told me a calm overcast and getting up to 50. That didn’t happen. Snow, wind and a high of 25 was what I dealt with. Not one bird was chirping that day. I tried to tough it out but ended up freezing because of poor gear choices. I decided to go back to the truck to warm up and drive the land to scout a bit. To my surprise, I did bump two hens on the side of the road coming out of a stream carved into the ground.

I didn’t pack a lunch so I opted to head home early and come back the next day. This is where I screw up. Because I didn’t pack a lunch, I decided to go to a fast food chain off the side of the road. Lunch was okay but it later started to creep back and rebel. I thought an afternoon nap would do the trick. Ate dinner and went back to sleep.

I woke up at 3 disoriented and in pain. When I say disoriented, I actually forgot where I was for a bit until I reached for my water. Once I sat up, I couldn’t keep my feet underneath me. I struggled to the bathroom and pretty much spent the rest of my morning in there until first light. I struggled to do anything today, barely was able to make dinner for Mrs Perma.

I look outside all day in agony. Not because of how I was feeling, but because of how stupid I was to make such a poor choice to eat bad food (that I knew was bad for me) and suffered the repercussions. Today was the day to fill my first turkey tag and I blew it. Envy is setting in by all these posts on filling the tag opening day.

Season is far from over though. I have a 5 day hunt this weekend, and I’m staying pretty optimistic. Going on a diet of crackers and water until I get home though.

 

[duckhunt]

Lol bad food on a hunting trip, we have all been there.

 

[perma]

Camp is all set up, waiting for dad to come and gonna scout tonight. Four days to get it done, with a big wind storm coming in half way through the trip. Here goes nothing.

 

[duckhunt]

Good luck

 

[perma]

Well I dreaded updating this thread, but it's time to face reality.

I had began my trek to the spot early Saturday morning. There was a pretty good overcast but remained dry. The days leading up had rain so I felt good about my odds. The term 'madder than a wet hen' came to mind so if the birds were hunkered down all week, they'd be ready to party come the evening or the next day.

Once my dad arrived, we started to drive around a bit to see who's camped where. No one was in the lowlands so they may have been in the migration back upward. We decided to scout a logging road that looked promising from my last year's hunt. We set up in a felled tree blind and didnt hear a peep but there was a ton of tracks near the logging road. We felt that they may roost on the top of the gulch so we decided that this was the morning plan.

It wasn't until that night is when the plans changed. at 8 PM, it was completely dark out, but the song birds were still singing full swing. In the midst of all of that, a tom decided to let loose and was gobbling his head off for a good 30 minutes. More importantly, he was in the same gulch we were in, no more than a half mile away from camp. Screw that original plan, that bird is being chased.

We woke up the next morning. 5 AM is when we departed, still fully dark and the tom made it clear where he was. I decided to set up a few hundred yards away from him to see if I can reel him in closer. All was going well until i heard a hen yelp. I've been turkey hunting for a handful of years and have developed a good ear between human and hens, and this was a small flock of needy hens. They must have roosted with him and not said a peep the night before, which ultimately led to my demise. I tried my full bags of tricks between aggressive yelps and fighting the hen, but the tom was happy with his ladies and the hen had no interest in fighting. That being said, I did call in a small flock of hens from the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, that was the only action we witnessed. That same night, the tom roosted back in the same exact gulch. We tried to sneak in closer this time but he went silent. Once the afternoon hit, the wind was extremely ripe which prompted me to check the weather. We were due for snow that evening and tomorrow. With that, and some problems at home, I opted to call it for that unit.

The day I got back, I made a plan to go back to a spot that I call 'ol reliable', where I called in turkeys in the past. I did a run and gun style hunt but but came up empty handed again. The rain came in the afternoon and was a downpour.

What I learned about this hunt is that I clearly don't know how to hunt turkeys, and the way I hunt them is not fun to me. I like to be on the move more often but I learned that even if i move, I dont find turkeys because I don't know what to look for. Case in point, I dont feel that I respected the bird and the tag enough (even though OTC) to bag one. Maybe a bit harsh but it's my fault why I didnt fill it.

While disappointed, I opted to join the NWTF and have committed to buying a book on turkey ecology. I'll likely call it a season unless I get ambitious enough to try again, but I'm into fly fishing right now and would rather do that with my wife instead.

 

[perma]

From another thread on here. I'm on day 30 something of being outside.

I don’t have pictures but I got my big break this weekend. For some reason, I couldn’t not catch fish this weekend.

I’m in my favorite place in the world in SW Colorado. I decided to make a short fishing trip to some alpine lakes and the great Rio Grande river. I got in late last night and decided that I’d fish until sunset. I got behind some deadfall because there was a slow current under a pine tree. It took two horsefly casts and I caught my first rio grande rainbow.

The next day was lake day. One of the lakes was still inaccessible so we decided to go to a small reservoir off the main road. I tried a prince nymph and lost it on the third cast. I decided to switch to a double bead San Juan worm. I’m telling ya, I couldn’t stop catching fish. I was using a bobber and it took a few casts to get the right depth. I hit my personal best of 11 fish today, 9 rainbow and 2 brownies. It was amazing.

Well when it's sweet, it's sweet. I finally got one of those fishing stories that no one would believe.

We decided to go back to the same reservoir and spend the rest of the morning there. My final count for that trip was 30 on the dot. So far, I'm at 34 fish for the entire year. One in particular was so fat, that he bent my 9.5' rod into the lake. Very heavy rainbow. I got bored and tried to use a caddis fly and elk hair, didnt bite. Switched back to the San Juan and immediately started catching. It was the most obscene thing i've ever witnesed.

Total count between my mother, wife and I over 1.5 days of fishing - 61.

I wouldn't believe me either.

 

[perma]

I'm in for the RMGA goat count!

 

[perma]

Well I got some great news from IDFG today. I pulled my first controlled hunt mule deer tag in a 2.8% draw chance unit, so that’s the final hunt of the year for me. Struck out in WY but did manage to pull my first ever drawn elk tag on 2 points. Top that with a general WY elk tag and this mule deer tag and I’m all set for the year on hunts.

This will probably be the best mule deer tag I’ll ever draw in my life so we’re looking for a freak in November.