The best laid palns of mice and men are still subject to divine intervention......2024 edition

[SFC B]

This is my some what late start documenting my yearly exercise in in futility. In reference to my title ....well here we go. I had made preliminary but firms plans to travel to the UK after a 4 year absence to chase Mr Red again with the assistance of Lee. Had a time frame set up to work with his schedule and that of my wonderful friends who lodge me and indulge my excess while on Blighty. Last full week of SEP and FIrst of OCT were to be the trip. This summer has dragged on to beat the band (although I did spend an all time high amount of days lounging and drinking by the pool-see below for stock photo) and I have been dying for fall to arrive. Fast forward to a conversation out of nowhere that derailed my plans.....but for something much more important. As the summer drew to a close I was at the pool one of the final days and set my mate and his wife in JOE a message with a pic from the pool (they have stayed with us and love the place) and note saying how much I was looking forward to hanging out with them for more than a week this time. Uncharacteristically a response took more than a day. I got a note back from Nettie telling me that Ian's best friend (who has no family) had come down extremely ill, been diagnosed aggresive end-stage cancer and was not long for the world. Ian was (and still is) his full time carer through this and then will be responsible for clearing his estate. She apologized for him as he couldn't get through letting me know himself. I told her the truth that I understand this would NOT be the time for my visit and to please assure him to not worry in any way about me but to enjoy the time he has with his mate. Most of us know that pain of losing someone close and it hurts me to know Ian is dealing with that.
Once the shock and sadness toned down a bit I realized that now I was sitting with time scheduled off from work, the inability to get back on track with a request around 2nd season here in CO and a loooooong wait until what would be my first shot this year in November back home. Feeling a bit sorry for myself (while knowing it was small potatoes cosmically) I moped about for several days. Then, one night after work I retreived my cell from my locker (we aren't allowed to have them on the sales floor) to find a message from the leader of a group that does outdoor stuff for vets and had been associated with a couple of my old army buds. He asked that I call him back, but it was too late that night so I called first thing in the morning. He asked if I had availibility short notice for 27-29 SEP? I said "As a matter of fact I DO!!" LSS.....I will be heading up to a location North of Baggs WY to chase a pronghorn buck and attempt to fill a landowner cow elk tag along with it!!! My birthday will be a couple days before that so it will be a good way to usher in 55.
As for the rest of the season.......CPO, Redman and Cush will be heading up for 2nd season here with a few tags between them. I will be headed to IN for the last week of archery (crossbow) and the first week of firearms with Redman and Casey. CPO will come at the start of firearms and then he and I will head to WI for firearms opener and a few days as well. Nice that Thanksgiving is late this year giving me plenty of time before the "you BETTER be home" date. If anything else comes up (hopefully some waterfowl this year) I will be adding that in willy-nilly. On a side note, I got to shoot with the folks from Burris Optics last week through work. I have one Burris scope on my son's 44 handi rifle which has served well, but admit I have not been the biggewt proponent of theirs. This outing was a chance to see and shoot their current line out to 1000yds, see some of the Steiner optics included under their umbrella (as they are both owned by Beretta), shoot one of my all time lusted-after rifles...a SAKO TRG 22.... and get an early look at and shoot the new updated Fullfield line of scopes (great fetures coming for the money). I found their stuff to be easy to use, the Eliminator 6 and Veracity PH intuitive to use (I don't want to listen to anyone beeeotch about wether they should be used in hunting.....I won't and don't care). Most of all what I took away was that this was a leadership group that actually cares about what they are doing, their products and getting their partners information along with hands on opportunities. They brought 3 senior execs (including the head of product developement), the German Steiner rep, their regional sales guy, one of their competitive shooters/coaches and a sales assistant (just to cook us lunch and help set up) down from Greely. They came early, had everything ready to go BEFORE SP, had a full classroom set up in the field for prior to shooting learing, generally cared and were very excited. I can honestly say that this was by FAR the most amount of effort ANY vendor has put forth and I greatly appreciated it. As a cherry on top they are building a new facility here in CO and are looking to INSOURCE more of their product assembly back here to CO (similar to what Leupold does but without the cloak and dagger about where the components come from....currently only the XTR and a line of Steiners are assembled in Greely). A bit long winded, but now we are off......BTW, just read currently 110 deer have been checked in in IN

 

[SFC B]

Got an unexpected text from my buddy Kory (WI) last night that he is flying into the Springs tonight.....I think on the way to his hunt in Western CO. So I will get a couple of beers with him before night night, spin some tales and talk about the upcoming WI gun opener (the REAL Christmas!!!).

 

[SFC B]

Turns out he is in town for a WORK conference of all things Good talking and drinking for a few hours.....

 

[SFC B]

Well, I MAY have cursed myself....buuuuut......it was time, it was on sale, and well f$%k it. Just picked up this guy today. NO MORE DEFROSTING!!!!! https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigida...ge-Ready-Upright-Freezer-FFFU13F2VW/310534496

 

[WNC2500]

Well, I MAY have cursed myself....buuuuut......it was time, it was on sale, and well f$%k it. Just picked up this guy today. NO MORE DEFROSTING!!!!! https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigida...ge-Ready-Upright-Freezer-FFFU13F2VW/310534496

You will like that freezer. I have had good luck with them. I own (2) of the 20 cu ft Frigidaires. Good luck on filling it up!

 

[SFC B]

I'm sacking out now in FOCO at a finr gentleman named Doc's house after a few rum drinks. 0515 will have up and raring to go. I'll be happy to see WY again....it has treated me well. Time to cowboy up!!

 

[SFC B]

Very busy last 2 days.....HOT IN HEEERRRRR (Southern Wyoming)!! Details tomorrow....I'm a little bushed. Hint - Big Fin may approve of the outcome

 

[SFC B]

Finally took a break and here goes.

Friday the 27th: Up about 0515 for some coffee and so Doc (my host) can let his retreiver burn off a little early morning steam. A few minutes before 0600 Brandin (the other vet) pulled up as he was local to FoCo. We consolidated our goods into Doc's truck and were on the road. Doc had made us some breakfast Burritos for the road so our first stop was Laramie for some fuel and a pee break. A beautiful morning opened up with almost no traffic and excellent progress. We called Caleb (the local who had coordinated access to a few ranches for us) when we were a bit outside of Baggs so he would be ready when we showed at his house. We were out on the look for antelope well before eleven. The afternoon had us out among the sage flats of ranches and some BLM land, all the while driving around the ever present oil and gas infrastructure. I would be up first to shoot as Brandin and I picked numbers for it first thing. We had seen a good amount of antelope (especially considering the winter kill a couple of years ago) but no bucks that inspired me or Caleb, the resident expert. Caleb's dad Ray came out to help as well and was driving myself, Doc, and Caleb's son Turner (almost 5), while Caleb and Brandin were in Caleb's Ranger. After a couple of hours we came around a corner and were watching a medium sized buck and his harem when Ray saw a buck quite a ways off down the valley. I looked as well and even though it was a long way off I could see antlers...good sign. We showed Caleb and made a plan to get close to it. We drove around until we reached the closest spot where we could park near the buck. We were lucky in that, although the rut was obviously going and there was chasing all around, this guy was by himself. It was just shy of 600 meters to him with a 4 strand fence at about 400. He bedded under some sage and we decided to make a move through the sage straight at him. Using a borrowed rifle I wanted to get as close as possible. We kept moving and got to about 250. A decent seated postion and a tripod and was willing to take a shot. It struck him in the brisket (the POI was definitely where my POA was) and he reared up. It hit him hard enough that he was moving slow, not running, and I was set to take another shot. Just as I was pulling the trigger he turned abruptly....clean miss. Showing how hurt he was he bedded. We decided to move closer and got to 170. Standing off the sticks I put one through his ticker and that was the end. As we got closer his head gear kept getting bigger. By far my biggest buck and I think he will score pretty well as his thickness on the cutters goes way up. As a bonus he has plenty of junk as well.

 

[SFC B]

After field dressing him we headed back to our place (Caleb and his wife have a nice little AirBnB in Dixon) to skin, quarter and get him in the freezer ASAP as it was pretty hot.....like the mid 80s.....and stayed that way. Then we made some sandwiches and listened to some more wisdom from Turner. That kid is a well manner hoot!! While riding in the truck and sitting around he uses ALL the words....non stop. When the animals are about.....it is all business with him. After chow we got back in the rides to look for a Brandin a buck prior to heading to the elk area (a pretty much evening only hunt) we spent about and hour and a half looking at antelope without laying eyes on a shooter. A couple of "ok" guys but nothing Caleb thought was worth a second look. We followed the plan and got to the ranch with the "elk problem". The tags we had were landowner damage tags due to this herd taking up residence along the Little Snake and gorging themselves on the alfalfa fields.
We were split up on the north side facing south looking at near fields, the river bottom with a BIG patch of willows, cottonwoods and some ditches and then fileds on the south side. There were already a lot of elk in the south fields but there was NO way to get close enough to them for a shot. Caleb had been watching the elk for a few days and was sure the elk on the side of the river we were on would be coming up out of the ditches and willows and into the fields on our side as the afternoon progressed.
About 1630 the first head popped up through the willows, a raghorn. He was followed by 3 cows and a spike. the came out into the field nearest me and were feeding. It was still about 600 yards and in order for them to be in range they would have to move toward where Brandin was set up. This was good since he was next on the gun. About half hour -45 min later things changed. A bugle rang out from the willows and cows starting coming out with Mr Kinda Big behind them. They came out a bit NW of the first group and were headed slowly in Brandin's direction. After maybe 50 yards the smaller group headed that way to join up with them. This led to the inevitiable scuffle with the raghorn.....didn't last more than a few minutes. The now bigger herd still headed NW was approaching the end of a pivot. It would put them just about 300 yards from me and mark the end of where I could shoot for safety. From there they would have to get to Brandin to be in danger. We were going to try and let them go for his shot. They stalled and were meandering around the pivot end. The sun was sinking and we had about 30 minutes of light left. The decision was made for me to go ahead and shoot if a cow got clear of the group due to time. We waited, we waited and a cow finally drifted off the back....facing away ;/ She turned broadside and IMMEDIATELY bedded down behind a freaking bush. I was set to wait when the field exploded and the entire herd took off on a dead run back to where they came from for no apparent reason. At first we thought we had somehow missed a shot from Brandin (that rifle was suppressed) but soon realized that wasn't the case. Wind was perfect for us too. Never could figure out what happened and that sealed the end of day 1. Here is a view to the north.

 

[SFC B]

Saturday 28th:

At dinner the night before the decision was made to get up and head out at 0600 to go back to the elk property. There was no intention of a shot opportunity, it was more to see what they were doing in the morning and figure out where to position for the evening. We got to a vantage point on the south side of the river above a big alfalfa field just before sunrise and started picking out elk a light drifted over the valley. Right at sunrise the show started. One deep, raspy, throaty bugle ripped out and we picked out Mr Actually Big......probably at least 330-340. From that point on more and more elk showed out. There were at least 5-6 bulls going off, we were privy to a few scuffles out in the open and a few of the guys "getting lucky". We watched for about 2 hours and it was pretty magical. It was the first time Brandin had ever heard an full on bugle. We eased out and made a plan which would get us much closer to the fields the elk from the night before came out into initially.
We headed out to another area to chase goats for Brandin again. This spot was closer to Dixon, which was nice since we needed to swing back and pick up Turner. Caleb made the call to let him sleep in and knew the little guy would be RARING to go. We got him and moved into a hilly section of sage. We spent the morning running ranch roads up and down and around. Looking at one group of goats then moving on....repeat. Caleb knew of a nice goat in the area but we could not find him. Then we headed out to the area where I had shot my goat. Again, nothing interesting except, we finally saw another hunter out and about. We went back in for lunch with the plan to get back to elk earlier (about 1500) in order to make the move into closer positions while the elk shoudl still be tucked in. The drive to the elk area took us right past the hilly area we had been in earlier. As we approached Ray said "Betcha that goat Caleb was looking for earlier is up here sitting right off the road".....no more than 10 seconds later......there he was about 100 off the road on a hillside. Caleb and Brandin were behind us and stopped to get a good look. Brandin said that since was the last good chance at elk he would leave the buck (we still had the next morning to hunt) and move toward the elk. I was a little surprised as it was a good buck but also got it.
We got to the ranch and split up. Caleb and Brandin would come in from the north toward the west edge of where we thought the elk would show and myself, Ray and Turner would follow a ditch (dry, over head depth so perfect cover) from the southeast to the east edge. We set up behind a clump of trees and sage which gave us concealment while still letting us have a good view. The afternoon was hot (about 85) and we were glad to have some shade. Caleb and Brandin had move to a large tree clump right next to a hay rack so they were shaded too. Turner played in the dirt but knew it was business time and kept quiet. The time we were expecting elk to move came and went and by about 1715 we were getting a little antsy. Then Ray whispers "head" I move my binoculars to where he was looking and see a cow's head poking out of the bright yellow willows. After what seemed like forever she and two calves eased into the field. This was almost 600 yards from us and we watched and waited. More cows flowed into the field followed by a surprisingly small "herd" bull (small 5x6). All total there were about 12-15 cows/calves and their guy. He pushed them around a little and started moving toward Brandin's position. A couple of minutes after he bred one of the cows we heard the snap of a suppressed shot. Brandin was shooting Doc's suppressed 300 wm and I would be shooting Ray's Weatherby Mark V suppressed 6.5. The herd didn't panic but started moving back toward us and were now on edge. When they stalled Ray said that was as close as they would get. He told Turner to tuck behind a bush and we moved to a gap in the bushes. In order to get clearance I would have to shoot from one knee with my trekking poles as a bipod-ish rest. I set up and wasn't crazy comfortable but got a good sight picture and asked for a range. "320" he said. I shot and nothing. I chambered another and shot....this I saw the shot splash low right below the boiler room. He reranged and said "Shit, 380". I moved up and shot. Still low but took a chunk out of here belly. Moved up again and put one in her shoulder. Still standing so I put one high shoulder and she flopped. Turns out Brandin had shot a cow with the first shot at about 250, we just couldn't see it. They in turn, couldn't see what we had shot. Ray and Turner headed back to the truck to get the side by side he had brought out. Elation turned tooint unpleasantness really quickly. We walked out into the field to go to our cows and were absolutely overwhelmed with mosquitos. I have been around a lot of skeeters in my day but NOTHING (not even norther Wisconsin) like this. Just swarming to the point of obscurring what you could even see. We field dressed both cows and Ray arrived with the sxs. It has a head rack winch so we got the girls in the bed ASAFP and took off out of the little bit of hell. We got back to Dixon and the temp had already dropped into the 50s. We hung and skinned the elk using Ray's skid steer had some chow headed back to the cabin very tired and chewed up. The shower I took was a huge relief...nearly as good as knowing we had elk hanging. I headed to bed and was out like a light.

 

[SFC B]

Sunday 29th:

Since the only tag left was Brandin's antelope there was no hurry to be up too early so SP was set at 0645 and I was not going so they could consolidate to one truck. I got up right as they were leaving and had a cup of coffee ( I AM actually drinking coffee now) and a granola bar. About an hour later I get a text letting me know they located and shot the buck from the night before!! Brandin got himself a nice goat. They field dressed him, got back and we had to move to get him skinned and in a cooler, the cows halved and in the truck iced down (NOT my choice but that is just another lesson I learned on this trip), and moving while it was fairly cool. We were on the road a little after 0900. Once in FoCo I wasted zero time getting the animals in my truck (antelope had been frozen and was in a cooler), to a Maverick for more ice to keep the elk cold (tarped) and moving home. Weather has been waaaaaaay too hot this "fall" and as soon as I got home I had to butcher the rear half, that would fit at all in a cooler for icing, immediately. Thankfully the wife pitched in (unexpected and welcome first) and I got that in the freezer. Yesterday I got the front half done and in the freezer. Waiting for the antelope to thaw enough in the cooler to cut and it will go. The new freezer is working out well and I am bushed.......here are a few pics from the trip toward Encampment on the way home.