Good luck. Look forward to the pics and story.
NV Muzzleloader 072-074 First For Everything
- Thread starter Antcap
- Start date
Thanks Fin and yes I will be glad to pass along any info that I can. I've heard that the area becomes very different the later it gets in the season. I guess this will mean that I'm going to have to learn how to post pictures here on the forum. Hopefully it's a biggin!!
YoungNVHunter
New member
Good luck Ant, a good friend is up there in that area for the same tag. Hope you both come back with monsters. Also good luck with the muley tag, I hope you have to clear an entire wall for your mounts after this year.
NVLongbow
Active member
Got a text from Antcap. They arrived and started setting up camp a little before noon.
Temporary home is lower mountain in the bottom end of an aspen patch.
Saw 30ish elk during an evening scout. Seven bulls. One six point is nice but not what Antcap wants.
His season starts on Tuesday.
Temporary home is lower mountain in the bottom end of an aspen patch.
Saw 30ish elk during an evening scout. Seven bulls. One six point is nice but not what Antcap wants.
His season starts on Tuesday.
NVLongbow
Active member
More text messages from Antcap.
The bulls are really fired up. Today was the first time Ant has ever used a mouth call and he got a bull to come almost 1/2 mile. He is pretty stoked with this being his first time hunting the elk rut and also being a muzzle loader virgin.
They saw a bunch of elk this morning and over 40 this evening. He is tickled with how the scouting has gone.
Nevada muzzle loader regulations do not allow the use of a scope so the shooting will be at close range and it starts tomorrow.
The bulls are really fired up. Today was the first time Ant has ever used a mouth call and he got a bull to come almost 1/2 mile. He is pretty stoked with this being his first time hunting the elk rut and also being a muzzle loader virgin.
They saw a bunch of elk this morning and over 40 this evening. He is tickled with how the scouting has gone.
Nevada muzzle loader regulations do not allow the use of a scope so the shooting will be at close range and it starts tomorrow.
NVLongbow
Active member
More text from Antcap last night.
Yesterday they started real early and got into a vocal herd 45 minutes before shooting time. Too dark to see size but three different bulls within 75 yards were ripping up the neighboring trees. One bull came 30 yards from them but just too early for good identification or shot.
Then the wind started blowing extremely hard and that put a damper on calling and hearing. What started out as a great morning hunt had fizzled out.
Antcap and crew decided to check out some new areas up higher as they have not seen Mr. Big yet. Most mature bulls seen so far have great bottom tines but peter-out towards the top.
By evening they had gained several thousand vertical feet and found a nice 6 X 7 with good lower and upper tines. The 6th tine on the 7 side is well over a foot long.
Not enough time to close the gap last night but they may try and get back on him this evening. Antcap has a little heart trouble. His pacemaker helps but this bull is 2 miles away and 2500 vertical feet above the nearest road. Those cardiovascular health conditions make long, tall hikes pretty challenging.
Hope to have more info tonight or tomorrow.
Yesterday they started real early and got into a vocal herd 45 minutes before shooting time. Too dark to see size but three different bulls within 75 yards were ripping up the neighboring trees. One bull came 30 yards from them but just too early for good identification or shot.
Then the wind started blowing extremely hard and that put a damper on calling and hearing. What started out as a great morning hunt had fizzled out.
Antcap and crew decided to check out some new areas up higher as they have not seen Mr. Big yet. Most mature bulls seen so far have great bottom tines but peter-out towards the top.
By evening they had gained several thousand vertical feet and found a nice 6 X 7 with good lower and upper tines. The 6th tine on the 7 side is well over a foot long.
Not enough time to close the gap last night but they may try and get back on him this evening. Antcap has a little heart trouble. His pacemaker helps but this bull is 2 miles away and 2500 vertical feet above the nearest road. Those cardiovascular health conditions make long, tall hikes pretty challenging.
Hope to have more info tonight or tomorrow.
prmulligan
New member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2013
- Messages
- 3
Any updates here? I'm hunting the area next week (planning on hunting the Mary's River Basin on a backpack hunt accessing from Draw Creek) and am wondering what was seen as far as # of hunters.
I once saw 30 bulls in the draw cr area scouting a deer hunt in Aug.
Hiked up the trail out of mary's river and didn't see a hole lot. A few smaller bulls.
One mixed in with 500 sheep outside the wilderness. If the peruvian sheep hearders are around, talk to them if you speak a little spanish...
Good luck on your upcoming hunt...
Hiked up the trail out of mary's river and didn't see a hole lot. A few smaller bulls.
One mixed in with 500 sheep outside the wilderness. If the peruvian sheep hearders are around, talk to them if you speak a little spanish...
Good luck on your upcoming hunt...
prmulligan
New member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2013
- Messages
- 3
Thanks for the info howdy. I'm looking forward to it.
Hey all,
I'm back early from my hunt with nothing to show for it
. Everybody was right about this hunt being the hunt of a lifetime. Personally seeing this many elk doing what they do during the rut was just amazing! Just to hear the almighty bugle in person was worth the trip. To see bulls fighting and an absolute frenzy on the mountain with a half dozen herd bulls trying to compete for about 30 cows was just jaw dropping. To be able to see my bull and cow calling pay off was just priceless. All of that hard work paid off with me pulling a herd bull away from his 15 cows from about a 1/2 mile away. Little did I know that the bull was standing 20 yds to my right with a tree in between us. When we noticed him, he took off running behind a slight hillside and stopped again about 50 yds with another tree in between us. Needless to say I didn't get a shot and after getting a closer look once he got back to his cows, I wouldn't have taken him anyways. Not quit what I was looking for on my third day of hunting. This hunt was very difficult with the amount of bull, cow, deer, bird hunters and even people scouting for their upcoming hunts.I have no respect for the outfitters in that area due to me being on a stalk down in the creek and some guys thinking that it's funny to unload six shots from a handgun for no reason above me. The reason that I think that it was an outfitter is that there were to many times that trucks would just park at the top of Wildcat Mt. and just glass from their trucks. Two days later they were on their pack horses on top of the mountain where the big 7x6 had been seen for the last two days. I don't want to throw out any names but no one on that whole mountain had anything kind to say about those guys. Anyone heading to that area should be ready for some extreme hikes and should be in very good shape. The main reason that my hunt didn't work out was because two of my buddies that were supposed to show up, didn't. It was only me and my "Great" brother in law trying to do everything. We needed to get to the top of the mountains to get a great bull, but I was not willing to make three trips up there to get him down. It wouldn't be fair to the animal to have any spoilage due to me not being able to get up there fast enough. I've had heart problems since the age of 14 and have a pacemaker because of it. I honestly can say that I gave it my all and it still wasn't enough. This hunt was amazing and I hold no grudges against anyone for not showing up. I have a 6 yr wait now until I can put in again and I'm just happy it's not 10 yrs. I cannot wait to do it again and I hope that each and every one of you guys get a chance to experience what I got to experience. Maybe with a little better outcome !! Thank you everyone for your help especially you NVLONGBOW. You're a great guy and I hope to meet you in person some day. I have my 194-196 deer hunt to look forward to now and I promise you guys that this hunt "Will" be successful! Good luck to all of you on your upcoming hunts this year. If any of you want to talk to me about this hunt, just PM me and I'll get back to you. Thanks again!!
I'm back early from my hunt with nothing to show for it
. Everybody was right about this hunt being the hunt of a lifetime. Personally seeing this many elk doing what they do during the rut was just amazing! Just to hear the almighty bugle in person was worth the trip. To see bulls fighting and an absolute frenzy on the mountain with a half dozen herd bulls trying to compete for about 30 cows was just jaw dropping. To be able to see my bull and cow calling pay off was just priceless. All of that hard work paid off with me pulling a herd bull away from his 15 cows from about a 1/2 mile away. Little did I know that the bull was standing 20 yds to my right with a tree in between us. When we noticed him, he took off running behind a slight hillside and stopped again about 50 yds with another tree in between us. Needless to say I didn't get a shot and after getting a closer look once he got back to his cows, I wouldn't have taken him anyways. Not quit what I was looking for on my third day of hunting. This hunt was very difficult with the amount of bull, cow, deer, bird hunters and even people scouting for their upcoming hunts.I have no respect for the outfitters in that area due to me being on a stalk down in the creek and some guys thinking that it's funny to unload six shots from a handgun for no reason above me. The reason that I think that it was an outfitter is that there were to many times that trucks would just park at the top of Wildcat Mt. and just glass from their trucks. Two days later they were on their pack horses on top of the mountain where the big 7x6 had been seen for the last two days. I don't want to throw out any names but no one on that whole mountain had anything kind to say about those guys. Anyone heading to that area should be ready for some extreme hikes and should be in very good shape. The main reason that my hunt didn't work out was because two of my buddies that were supposed to show up, didn't. It was only me and my "Great" brother in law trying to do everything. We needed to get to the top of the mountains to get a great bull, but I was not willing to make three trips up there to get him down. It wouldn't be fair to the animal to have any spoilage due to me not being able to get up there fast enough. I've had heart problems since the age of 14 and have a pacemaker because of it. I honestly can say that I gave it my all and it still wasn't enough. This hunt was amazing and I hold no grudges against anyone for not showing up. I have a 6 yr wait now until I can put in again and I'm just happy it's not 10 yrs. I cannot wait to do it again and I hope that each and every one of you guys get a chance to experience what I got to experience. Maybe with a little better outcome !! Thank you everyone for your help especially you NVLONGBOW. You're a great guy and I hope to meet you in person some day. I have my 194-196 deer hunt to look forward to now and I promise you guys that this hunt "Will" be successful! Good luck to all of you on your upcoming hunts this year. If any of you want to talk to me about this hunt, just PM me and I'll get back to you. Thanks again!! prmulligan
New member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2013
- Messages
- 3
I'm in a similar situation Antcap. I've had two of three back out already and the third hasn't returned my call this week. We're supposed to meet up in Deeth on Sunday. Oh well, sometimes that how the cookie crumbles. I'm going to be sore after this one
Sounds like you got to a see a lot of elk on your hunt. It is a great zone in Nevada to put in for if you are lucky enough to draw. I drew one year too early. Last year the elk just didn't move in to 073 and this year they combined all the zones. Looking forward to my buddies late rifle hunt in the same area this year.
