Scott85
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2018
- Messages
- 3,005
On July 27th I was lucky enough to pick up a Nevada FCFS archery cow elk tag. With FCFS you got to be quick to the draw, so when the tag showed up I clicked on it only knowing the species. I kinda freaked out since I didn’t know the weapon, unit, or season. Well it turned out it was archery hunt and I already had so time off and it is close to my archery mule deer unit. I picked out some spots to go to mainly focusing on water. I arrived late in the night Friday so Saturday was my first day hunting. I had an area that had 2 guzzlers somewhat close. Well wouldn’t you know it the 2 gluzzers were for small game. I checked out some more areas and found nothing but horse, horses, and more horses.
At this point I’m not having a lot of faith in the hunt. I decided to go to a different unit where my tag is valid but I didn’t have any offline maps downloaded. I had to run to the nearest town and wait for the maps to download. The town I was in was only 40 minutes from my “new” spot.
First morning was a bust, I went to a spot that was way too thick so glassing was unproductive. That afternoon I went high up on the mountain. The north facing slope looked awesome and there was a nice little saddle that lead right to a guzzler. While I was walking around the ridge line I came across a very grumpy rattlesnake. It started rattling when I was still about 30’ away. I went around him then got closest enough for a photo then left the area. That evening glassing session only turned up moo moo cows. That night I tried to move to a different part of but the road got too rough. On Monday I kinda made it to the spot I wanted to try. I couldn’t make it down road so I parked .4 miles and down a steep hill.
Monday afternoon the wind was blowing the wrong way to hunt a spring that I wanted to sit. Si I went over the ridge to the south east. 3 spike bulls came out and I watched them until they fed out of sight. It was still a little daylight left when I packed up and headed out. When I got to spring I saw the big bull and cow feeding on grass around the spring. I ran out of cover at 247 yards. It kept getting darker and they kept feeding. I was behind a service berry so I shook the crap out of to get them to move but not see me.
I was worried about spooking stuff going in the dark so I waited until midday yesterday. The wind was still wrong but I made a makeshift blind downwind of the spring. About 1900 I look down the road and a lone cow was walking up the road. She went right to water and it was all over at 43 yards. I walked up on her a couple minutes past 2000 and I got the second load to the truck at 0250.
Time to get her in the freezer and head out on my deer hunt!
At this point I’m not having a lot of faith in the hunt. I decided to go to a different unit where my tag is valid but I didn’t have any offline maps downloaded. I had to run to the nearest town and wait for the maps to download. The town I was in was only 40 minutes from my “new” spot.
First morning was a bust, I went to a spot that was way too thick so glassing was unproductive. That afternoon I went high up on the mountain. The north facing slope looked awesome and there was a nice little saddle that lead right to a guzzler. While I was walking around the ridge line I came across a very grumpy rattlesnake. It started rattling when I was still about 30’ away. I went around him then got closest enough for a photo then left the area. That evening glassing session only turned up moo moo cows. That night I tried to move to a different part of but the road got too rough. On Monday I kinda made it to the spot I wanted to try. I couldn’t make it down road so I parked .4 miles and down a steep hill.
Monday afternoon the wind was blowing the wrong way to hunt a spring that I wanted to sit. Si I went over the ridge to the south east. 3 spike bulls came out and I watched them until they fed out of sight. It was still a little daylight left when I packed up and headed out. When I got to spring I saw the big bull and cow feeding on grass around the spring. I ran out of cover at 247 yards. It kept getting darker and they kept feeding. I was behind a service berry so I shook the crap out of to get them to move but not see me.
I was worried about spooking stuff going in the dark so I waited until midday yesterday. The wind was still wrong but I made a makeshift blind downwind of the spring. About 1900 I look down the road and a lone cow was walking up the road. She went right to water and it was all over at 43 yards. I walked up on her a couple minutes past 2000 and I got the second load to the truck at 0250.
Time to get her in the freezer and head out on my deer hunt!
