SFC is putting forth some effort this year......

[elkduds]

Thank you for standing up against stupidity/indifference on trails closed to motor vehicles.

 

[SFC B]

Saturday night it snowed in earnest (about 6") and I was excited to get out to it. I love snow in generally but ESPECIALLY when hunting. I love the scenery, the ability to see brown moving against white and the feel of actual weather Along with the snow came a strong, continuous wind blowing in from the Flat Tops. The stmorning was rough, still NO tracks or sign to be found and cold. I came into came for lunch and then headed out to another spot to glass early afternoon. The weather never loosened up but I was determined to be out until dark. I am stubborn if nothing else.

As the light faded I rose to put on the MR pack and insert my rifle into the gun bearer. I could tell instantly something wasn't right. Thankfully I only had about a mile to camp. As I arrived at the tent and put my stuff down I almost fell. I have lower back and hip issues and the combination of the cold and how I was sitting tweaked me badly. My back went into spasm and it was a long, mostly sleepless night. Laying down all night had eased the back some but there was no way I could go out on Monday.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Take a day and re-group,the snow will tell you the skinny on Tues. morning.

 

[SFC B]

Monday I nursed myself and hung at camp as CPO and our buddies headed out. The weather continued to blow and snow shower. The absolute lack of animals or sign continued all day. We ate and sat by the stove continuing to be in remarkably good spirits given what was going on. I went to bed early and hoped for a reprieve come morning.

Tuesday morning both CPO and his boy woke sickly. I was feeling a good deal better and CPO agreed to head out with me. We glassed and moved a couple of times throughout the day and the snow let up for the most part. Still nothing to see. Toward the end of the day CPO regrettably let me know that he just couldn't keep the boy out there sick anymore and with more weather predicted we were going to have to break camp the next day. I have to admit that my back is still not good and I would not have been able to haul an elk if we had found one.

On the way back to camp we saw our only tracks of the week, a cow and calf headed into the deepest darkest blowdown black hole. Neither of us had a cow tag anyway.....just one final poke from the hunting gods

Back at camp that night I broke out the dutch oven and cooked up a peach cobbler for CPO (it was his birthday). We stayed up talking before drifting off.

In the morning we rose, broke camp and headed out by late morning. As we got to the trail head you could see what was now coming off the Flat Tops. We took of the chains we had put on to get out and made tracks.

Up to Walden and all the through to Laramie we were getting bits of weather here and there. We made Wellington before dark and that was the end of the official trips.

*** a couple of side notes
-Doug once again performed like a champ doing everything I asked and chugging along at MPG that makes me smile. The only NEAR hiccup was when one of the rubber tensioners on one of my tire chains broke during installation. Looked like I was going to be on 3 until CPO broke out mad 550 cord skills!!! That joker last the whole trail and the pics are just as I was about to take them off.
-To put in perspective the lack of animals, the piece of public land we hunt is kind of a finger surrounded by private on 3 sides that is all outfitter-ed up and even if we aren't having luck you can generally hear the "shooting parties" down on the ranches.......we heard as many shots total (last day of 1st season through leaving ) as we would usually hear on opening morning. Maybe less.
-As for the be careful what you dream of line......I dream of snow and a lack of hunting pressure. I got it this year but no animals to go with it


Next up for me........IL whitetails in 3 weeks!!! Time to reset and prep

 

[Addicting]

550 is the duck tape of the military, it can fix anything, while also being a fashion accessory.

Too bad on your elk hunt, you should have some fun on the IL hunt. Are your shotgun skills all tuned up?

 

[SFC B]

550 is the duck tape of the military, it can fix anything, while also being a fashion accessory.

Too bad on your elk hunt, you should have some fun on the IL hunt. Are your shotgun skills all tuned up?

I installed a ghost ring sight on it and went through 5 different slugs to find the ones it liked best. I was getting about 2in groups at 50m (smoothbore) so I am pretty confident out to about 100.

 

[SFC B]

Got my instruction packet from from the Corps of Engineers yesterday. Looks like they will be feeding us as well as putting us up on the property. Scent killed all of my hunting clothes and putting them in vacuum bags with cover scent and packed them up. I got some great news last week as well. One of my old bosses has settled outside the KC, KS area and I will be making my stop in transit to visit he and his wife. This is the guy that got me into the SOF arena and got me assigned to 10th GRP and CO. I owe him BIG

 

[SFC B]

Just returned to the house after my welding class (new class started a couple of weeks ago and I will be working it until June this time) to a nice surprise. I ordered some Vortex Diamaondback HDs in 12x50 (great price through the VIP program) and they are already here!!! They also came with a pretty decent case.....not better than the MR I have but still a nice surprise. First view through them made me happy. I didn't know if they would get here in time but now they will definitely be making the trip east with me

 

[SFC B]

A little bit of a downer today......I am allowed to bring an "assistant"/buddy with me on the upcoming hunt in IL and had my fraternity brother from IN scheduled to come. He is an LEO in IN and just found out he has been put on a detail for that weekend and can't make it. Crap.....hadn't seen him in a few years and was definitely looking forward to some buddy hang out time in conjunction with the hunt. :/

 

[SFC B]

Finishing up my prep today for the trip east!!! Last of the laundry is in the dryer now, hunting equipment is out in the garage and the tank on the VW is full. I am stopping in KC,KS tomorrow night and I can make it all the way on a tank full. Looks like I will miss the rain here and then catch it in KS. Long drive with good company

 

[SFC B]

Up and out early. Just ed stopped for chow in Abilene, KS. Car is getting 42mpg and gas is 2.15 a gallon here......

 

[SFC B]

All settled in at the lodge. Ready for 0430 wake up and head out to the blind. A few more solid vets here and a LOT of older gentlemen Got briefed at dinner and all set. More details and hopefully some pics tomorrow.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Good luck. Hope it is a good hunt. Looking forward to the story.

 

[SFC B]

Well my updates are going to be a little disjointed as today.....1000 miles from home......while hunting......my phone crapped out. Seriously Oh well.
Out this morning to a custom built box blind on a small food plot a couple of hundred yards from the lake. About 30 degree and a bit windy. The morning was uneventful for me but everyone around me had shots. I saw a total of ONE MANAGEMENT squirrel Guy about 200 yards from me pulled a very nice 9 (eastern pointer) and the other shots were folks slinging lead but missing Came in for lunch and a group picture before heading back out.

The afternoon found me in a different blind that was my vision of Midwest hunting. On top of a small ridge with a ravine creek bead in front of me and hardwoods all around. Shades of brown, yellow and gold everywhere. One of my favorite setting on earth. Until I get the phone sorted out no photos Was surrounded by squirrels and birds of all description. It was hard to try to discern noise from deer but it was how it should be. About 30 minutes left of light there was a shot on some private close by and within a couple I hear foot steps. I reached for the Benelli and flipped off the safety. Down in the ravine I see a doe and had thoughts of drawing down but the fawn chasing behind her ended that thought. They played around in front of me at +- 40 yards until dark and another doe ran across the ridge just after light was gone.

We got back to the lodge and I quickly changed clothes to head into Sullivan and try to get a new phone at the Verizon store. I pull in, get out and pull on the door to a "thud". The guy inside won't even look up I get back in the car....1803 and this jokers closed at 1800.....milth mlarn milth!!!!!

Now I am back at the lodge, have eaten dinner and doing this

Weather is calling for a little mix snow/rain in the morning so....again....wish me luck. I am gonna TRY to get a phone at lunch and hopefully some pics!!!

 

[SFC B]

Update for the day First, ran in at lunch and got the phone so that is done

This morning got me out to the other side of the lake to an area called Wolf Creek. The blind I was in today had some thick bedding area behind me and a large grass area in front of me with tall prairie grass across from it. I settled in and about 20 minutes before shooting light I could just make out a deer by a tree at 50 yds. Of course (whatever it was) scooted away about 10 minutes before light. Not a bad start. 30-45 minutes later a doe came out and ended up walking within 20m of me. I know the "don't wait if you would shoot it on the last day" but with about half of my sitting time left I wasn't ready to tag here. About a half hour later, in the middle of a pretty stout rain, a fawn comes hauling ass through the field. He stops, runs in circles, back and forth......that goes on for about 30 minutes until he heads into the prairie grass. Later on in the morning another doe and a decent eastern 6pt came back out, but at 150m. With a smoothbore 12ga it might as well have been a mile. Saw one more fawn before I had to run into town for the phone.

Got back in the blind about 1330, all the rain had passed and it turned into a nice afternoon. Nothing moved until 30 minutes left of light. From the prairie grass out slips a spike. He walks directly in front of me and stops 50m in front of me. In a couple years he will be nice as he was already good sized but I just won't shoot a spike. Took him about 15 minutes before he buggered off. At 10min left another doe walks...but again at 150m I sat and was waiting for my ride and another deer (too dark to tell what) cruised the edge of the prairie grass.

So now I am down to the sit tomorrow morning and I will now shoot a buck above a spike or a doe. I need something to make jerky with

I'll have some pics once I get good internet service.

 

[SFC B]

Looooong day today......update to follow......I DO have some meat

 

[SFC B]

Sorry for the delay. Yesterday was hectic. I got out to the stand at +- 0540 and settled in. This was a new stand that overlooked some more glorious hardwoods with a bit of a ravine falling off in front of me down to the lakefront. The morning was a few degrees warmer than the previous 2 at about 35. As official shooting light came it was still pretty dark in the woods. About 10-15 minutes later I see movement down in the ravine come up toward me. It is obscured totally but then stops for about 5 seconds at about 80yds down. Everything is obscured but the head. I can tell it is a definite shooter buck but can't see points in the light. Right at that point in the ravine there is a another drainage that runs to my left......yep he heads that way and is gone behind an embankment forever. Bummer but exciting at least. The rest of the morning is beautiful but uneventful except for squirrels. COPIOUS amounts of them. I could only sit Sunday until 1100 as I had to get on the road to Indiana to pick up my boy from grad school, do a turn and burn back to CO. As it got to 1030 I had pretty much settled on tag soup. Alas there was movement off in the woods. I picked out a doe through limbs but AGAIN she was obscured. However, SHE was moving TOWARD me. It was agony waiting was probably only a couple of minutes but she finally presented a shot at what I THOUGHT was the tree I had ranged at 50m. I squeezed and she never felt a twinge. A 12ga 3in slug is a pretty devastating thing in general. I walked out of the blind after calling the volunteers to tell them I had connected. The walk was shorter than I thought.....only 35m......and what I thought was a fairly small doe turned into a pretty small yearling. Not what I was really looking for but I DID need meat for jerky after all. I got the "honor" of smallest deer.....uggh. You'll understand why no "glory" shot.

Bonus coverage: When I left I took one of the best drives of my LIFE down to get the boy. I took state highways and county roads (except for about 15 miles on I70). I was treated to waves of the Midwest in fall. Golds and yellows and browns and greens. Lakes and rivers and streams. Sunlight dappled through trees. Almost no traffic and a steady stream of good tunes on Pandora. And at the end got the boy as company for the trip home. Made the 700 plus miles I drove yesterday great. I'll upload some pics with explanations

 

[SFC B]

These pics were from the stand I was in on Saturday. Woods behind me and the grass and prairie grass in front.......and of course squirrels.

 

[SFC B]

These pics are from the stand I was in on the final day. The one of me was actually a mistake, have no idea how it snapped but it is ok. One the way to the check station with the deer we saw this group in the field. First time I have ever seen an albino deer in the wild. Pretty cool. Final pics is of the volunteer Blake and his son Carter who were responsible for getting me around and Taylor the Corps of Engineers ranger who is the lead on this hunt. Altogether there were 26 people (IL disabled resident and a few of us disabled vets) who were put up in nice cabins with bunk rooms, fed and given this wonderful opportunity. When I left about 75% of us had harvested and there was still 3 people out hunting. The Corps employees and the army of volunteers from the local community do a hell of a job. This was the 30th year for the hunt and some of the volunteers have been involved over 20 of those!!!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Congrats on a good trip and bringing home some venison. Thanks for sharing.