Vanish and FireTiger's 2017 Hunt Journal - Season 7

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We made it home Saturday night and I finally got a little rest. It was short lived, however, as we spent all of Sunday butchering and grinding. 208 pounds of meat from my elk and 74 pounds between the two pronghorn. I was keeping my eye on the clock, as I was supposed to drive back to NW CO to meet my Dad for his deer hunt. Well, it took way longer than anticipated, but I was finally able to leave at 9:30 and made it to camp just after midnight. Good thing I had told him not to wait up for me!

5am came early, but I was ready to go. It is interesting how I can get so excited even if I don't have the tag. I'm really trying to learn that I don't need to have every tag I can to enjoy hunting season. Just being out there with somebody, or out there scouting, is enjoyable. We pulled in to our spot just before daylight. One other truck was parked there and was heading in before us. We were headed to a different location so we shouldn't interfere with one another.

I had brought all the big glass, but two hours of moving and scanning edge country did not produce much more than a few does. I know there are lots of bucks in this area, and a few good ones, too, as I've been scouting it for years. We're pretty inexperienced with mule deer ( each with one buck ) but Dad says he's holding out for a mature buck this year, and I'm going to hold him to it.

I had to get to work, so at 8:30 I left him near a large aspen grove and booked it back to my vehicle and made the drive to Kremmling. Still no bucks spotted, which was concerning, but last year we both tagged out in the timber. You may remember me posting from Big Shooter Coffee - this was then. He was supposed to attempt to get signal and text me if he needed help packing. Its spotty in that area, but he should be able to get a text message out.

Well, right at noon I got a text. It read "Have a good one" ... Now I read this and wasn't sure what to think? Was I supposed to have a good something? Was he having a good lunch? Was he teasing me? Did he need me? I sent a flurry of text messages indicating my confusion. The next 40 minutes were killing me slowly as I got no response! Finally I got a response "Yes, nice buck, come pack" - I took the rest of the afternoon off work, grabbed a couple breakfast burritos and probably drove a little too fast.

I blitzed out the three mile hike to meet him. It turned out, due to the spotty cell signal, after his initial message he couldn't manage to get another one to send and he had to hike 1/4 mile to contact me again. He shot this buck less than 200 yards from where we had several encounters the year prior, and where he he had taken his buck last year. This time, he had come upon two bucks sparring while still hunting through the young aspens. It was just a matter of waiting for the larger buck to give him a good shot. He ended up making three good shots before the buck went down. Some tough buggers!

A burrito provided a bit of a rest before we got to work. He had already started on skinning the buck, but I took some more photos as well. It took us about 3 hours to get him into the backpacks and back to our vehicles. I took the 4 quarters, liver and heart and he took the rest.

 

[Crumb]

Wow, very nice buck!

 

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Some photos from Wyoming before we get to the story.

 

[Idahoarcheryhunter]

awesome thread again, really have enjoyed reading it nice animals as well!

 

[publichunter1]

Congrats on everything so far! Definitely a fun year.

 

[BlakeA]

Great stuff. Congrats!

 

[vanish]

awesome thread again, really have enjoyed reading it nice animals as well!

Congrats on everything so far! Definitely a fun year.

Great stuff. Congrats!

Thanks everyone! It has been a blast, and I really appreciate knowing people are reading. While this journal is as much for my memories as it is for everyone else's reading pleasure, sometimes I start to wonder if I did something wrong when all goes quiet.

Last night we finally finished packaging our Wyoming pronghorn, so I should have time to write the story today. My eastern Colorado archery plains deer tag started this week, but I am debating on heading out there for the weekend or, GASP, staying home and catching up on the honey do's. Having a wife who also hunts gets me a lot of slack in that regard, but the house is starting to look like we haven't been giving it the attention it deserves.

 

[el unit]

Good stuff! Thanks for taking us along on the hunt. Good hunt journal.

 

[vanish]

( I might have discussed some of this earlier when FireTiger was up there archery hunting )

Our trip to Wyoming started 3 years ago. After hunting pronghorn in Colorado for a couple of years and experiencing the fun that is hunting the plains, we decided we should probably try hunting the place where there are more pronghorn than people. At first, it was just going to be FireTiger putting in for points, but I just couldn't resist. We didn't really have a plan to go hunt yet, just knew we wanted to try it.

This spring, Wyoming announced it would be raising prices across the board. We discussed this change and determined that, as much as we love hunting pronghorn, we were going to get out of the Wyoming points game. We can hunt pronghorn every year here in Colorado for under $100 factoring in all expenses. With the new Wyoming rules, the cost of the trip was going to add up quickly. Its just not worth it to us to pay over $500 to hunt an animal that yields ~35-40 pounds of meat. Sure, we might take a "trophy" pronghorn, but we might find one here, too. If we're going to spend over $1000 between the two of us, we'd rather hunt something we can't hunt at home. Perhaps NM Aoudad, Hawaiian Axis Deer / Goats or save up a bit more for Alaska.

That meant it was time to find a unit that would be a likely draw with our 2 points each. My research indicated there were only a couple units that required 2 points to draw, and they were still marked as difficult access. Armed with modern technology showed me they still had WAY more access than we are used to hunting in Colorado. After finding out about the HMA and WIA programs, the deal was sealed on the unit we would apply for.

You can read back earlier in the thread to hear how our scouting/archery trip went. FireTiger spent an additional weekend up there archery hunting while I was elk hunting, but as I was not there to witness the events, I left them out. There were no shot opportunities on that trip.

We had conflicts for the opener, but I had put us in for, and we obtained, limited entry access to one of the HMA's for the first week. Our intention was to hunt there Saturday morning before access was opened to the rest of the tag holders. During the archery season we had seen some good looking bucks there, but they were not stalkable with archery equipment due to the wide open terrain. Things would be different with a rifle...

 

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I just got back from an unexpected trip to Wyoming, but more on that later...

Bucks ... so many bucks. We were seeing bucks from the truck as we turned down the mud road they called a county road. It had been raining the night before and it was a mess. Even in 4wd, FireTiger was having trouble keeping the truck on the road, so I took over driving. We'd glass from the vehicle, and then move a bit, hike a bit and glass down into the valley hidden from the road. Everywhere we looked there were animals. It was ridiculous. I'm going to say a lot more on this later, because it messed with my head.

We spent the entire morning just driving around glassing, or hiking to little points with binoculars and the spotting scope to glass. The rifle stayed in the vehicle. If we wanted to be tagged out, at any moment I could just walk back to the truck, grab the gun and shoot one. I had been concerned that the animals would be a bit wary since we had missed the opener, but most of them were far more concerned with other pronghorn than us.

At one point, an interesting buck was on the wrong side of the road. We figured it was worth watching him because all he had to do was cross the road to be legal, and they were running around like they had lost their minds. He was very wide, which made him tough to judge. He didn't look very tall, but that was simply because his horns went out horizontally rather than up vertically. Finally, he chased a doe across the road right in front of our truck and we got a good look at him. Yes, this guy is a shooter. He chased that doe for 3 miles before crossing another road and out of our grasp.

It was just after 2pm when FireTiger spotted a buck she thought I might be interested in. I had said I wanted a buck with nice prongs, since the ones we usually see where we hunt in Colorado just don't have much for prongs. Well, I closed the distance to about 300 yards as I had some good terrain and got a closer look. He didn't excite me, but there were dozens of bucks in the distance behind him and his herd. One of them caught my attention and the stalk was on.

I estimated him at 800 yards but that was very wrong. I think he was more like 1 1/4 miles. No good at judging distance through the spotting scope. There was also a slight depression between us, which was great for me closing the distance, but I would lose visual on him. When I finally popped up, there were bucks pushing each other all over, and I couldn't identify which was which. I lost them over a slight hump, but after climbing up there, a nice looking buck was standing at 330 yards. I sat on that little hump for 20 minutes watching this buck and the nearby does and scanning the surrounding area. With nice hooks and prongs, I decided he should get a ride home in my backpack.

 

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Just as we got my buck back to the truck after 1.5 mile pack out, the rain started. It poured hard, and the already slick road turned into a slog. Eventually, we just pulled it over and made some hot beverages with our little electric heater. There would be no glassing for the next hour or so.

After the rain let up ( it didn't end for the whole rest of the evening ), we decided to scout a different road - the same territory just a different angle. Looking back, I'm not sure if we were on a public road. We didn't mean to break any rules, but things aren't always clear in Wyoming. On one side was all BLM, and to the north there was a square mile section of state land just loaded with pronghorn, but we didn't find any that looked all that large. There was one very flat buck that was kind of interesting. I got a little bit of him on video. ( I broke my digiscope adapter early in the hunt, or I would have taken a LOT of video.)

[video=youtube_share;1JkKJgeieUM]https://youtu.be/1JkKJgeieUM[/video]

We watched these pronghorn rut for awhile before moving on. About three miles from where we had spotted "Big Wide Boy" run a doe across the road in the morning, we found him running a doe again. Unfortunately, he was about 1/2 mile on private. We kept tabs on them as long as we could, then had to move the truck to catch up, and never found him again. They can really move when they want to.

Saturday ended with a butt clenching 10 mph drive back to our little piece of BLM we were calling home.

 

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We took this "weekend off" so we might get this place in order again. The kitchen faucet has been replaced, garage cleaned so we can put the car in again, game bags washed, packs washed and hung, etc, etc, so I finally have some time to continue the story.

Sunday was a lot more of the same. We could not turn up "Big Wide Boy" but another good buck ran a hot doe across the road in front of us. I took the spotter to go get a better look at him as they had dropped over a ridge 1/4 mile away. They had paused just on the other side and I could tell he looked just like my buck, but better in every dimension. FireTiger had seen him through the binos, but I don't think she had as good of a view. Well, she never got a second chance as more bucks pushed in, and the big buck pushed her out. I watched them run a 6 mile circle, eventually crossing the road back the other way again, and out of sight.

I was pretty impressed with FireTiger's resolve to hold out for a big buck. She had made a good point that, hey, we may never do this hunt again. Things changed a bit when we scoped this guy ( originally bedded ).

With a tear, she was determined to not let this guy walk around with a huge hole in his back. He was only about 600 yards from us, so I watched from the truck as she cut the distance. Just as she was getting to range, another buck came running over and pushed the wounded buck away. He wasn't moving very fast, but we would have to regroup and move to get another chance at him. As we drove back down the road, we spotted him again, moving towards the unit boundary. We hit the edge, FireTiger popped out and just before she got a shot he crossed. One again, another buck started pushing him around, and we came up with a plan that might get him back into our unit, but it did not pan out.

I could tell she was upset. Maybe we should have gone home, relaxed and come back again the next weekend. Whatever the case, when we pulled up to the next glassing spot, there were a lot of animals to look at. FireTiger saw one and said he looks pretty good, and was off on the stalk. Her first shot missed due to a wind gust, but the second dropped this buck in his tracks.

After taking care of the buck, we pack him the ~mile or so back to the truck, I could tell she was still a little upset and just threw everything else in the back to drive home. Remember earlier when I said I just got back from an unexpected trip to Wyoming? Yeah, apparently in our haste my binoculars disappeared. I'm not sure where they could have gone, since I was standing at the truck watching her through the binoculars and the buck through the scope, but after we finished butchering I went to put everything back in its place, and my binoculars were not to be found.

On the drive home, I had told myself I wasn't going to glass anything just in case I saw a huge one and started kicking myself, or I probably would have noticed they were missing sooner. We only stopped for gas on the way back, and she never left the truck, so impossible for them to have been stolen. Therefore, our best guess as to where they would have gone would be I managed to leave them on the hood of the truck, and they fell off as I was turning around to leave.

Due to the mud, I had a good feeling I would be able to walk that little two-track and find where we had turned around. So, I made the 150 mile drive back up there. I found the spot. I did not find any binoculars. A few trucks had definitely driven down the two-track since we had been there, as it was much drier now. If anyone found some Vortex Viper HD binoculars 10x42 with red click tabs, can you please send them back my way?

 

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There were a couple of upsides to driving 300 miles through Wyoming in one evening. I was able to knock out a half dozen Gritty Bowmen and Hunt Backcountry podcasts, and I took the telephoto lens to get some more pronghorn pics. I love these guys! They were definitely more cautious than on the weekend, with only the little bucks staying for me to photo them.

 

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I said earlier I wanted to talk about the mental aspect of this hunt. For the majority of you that are applying for tags across the West in premium units, what I am about to say may just make you laugh at me.

In general, we hunt OTC or very easy draw units (0-1 PP) here in CO. We'd rather hunt every year rather than dream about hunting**. On most of those hunts, filling a tag is not a "given." Sometimes even seeing a legal animal doesn't happen. I usually hunt pretty hard and am very excited when I get the chance to take any animal, be it forky whitetail or the nice bull elk I got earlier this year. The whole idea of holding out for a mature animals is just not something I grew up around. My roots are in whitetail hunting in Western New York, where opportunities to fill a buck tag were in small quantities, and size was not something one concerned themselves with. If you wanted venison, you better shoot a deer when you had the chance.

While I have passed on a few animals in the past, this hunt was the first time I have ever had the chance to pass on a LOT of animals. At one point, I really started struggling with enjoying the hunt ( I know, it was only one day... ), because I was so focused on looking for the biggest buck around - I was focused on the wrong aspect of the hunt. I was putting too much pressure on myself to find a big buck and that was taking away from just enjoying these awesome animals doing their thing.

Some of you may laugh and say "it was only a 2 point hunt!" and its true, but for us this may well have been a one time deal - hunting a draw unit as NRs - its just not something we do or intend to do very often. I spent a lot of time thinking about this on the way back home. I still have a hard time putting it into words. We both would have been ecstatic to takes the bucks we did on our usually pronghorn tags; not saying I'm not, I am very happy with my buck. He looks nothing like my CO bucks!

When you're out hunting, regardless of the tag, have a good time! If a hunt is causing you stress, take a step back and remember why you're really there.

** - Sure, we could hunt every year in draw units if we applied all across the West, but that's quite expensive and it just doesn't work within our budget. We'd rather hunt every year for fairly cheap here in CO and spend "extra" money on more exotic trips targeting something we can't hunt or fish for here at home. For example, last year we went to Mexico for big game fishing (tuna, dorado, marlin). This year it was salmon in Alaska.

 

[WildWill]

Congratulations to both of you on the successful hunt love the photos you posted they're great. Can't wait for the next chapter of the season. Sucks about your binos.

 

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Sucks about your binos.

Yeah no kidding! I talk about how NR tags are expensive, then I lose a piece of equipment that cost more than the tag. FAIL! We still have hope it is just hiding in one of our gear bags.

Up next is a Colorado Unit 10 first rifle cow elk hunt. FireTiger picked up this tag off the re-issue list a couple of weeks ago, so this is definitely seat-of-the-pants hunting. I've been putting in for the hybrid draw for the archery tag for this unit, so we're treating it like a scouting trip to learn parts of the unit. They only give out 65 cow elk tags for this hunt, and there is a TON of huntable land, so it should be pretty good. I'm planning on manning the digiscope and hoping to catch some of the big bulls the unit is famous for.

 

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Most of the gear is packed and we'll be driving to New Castle, CO tonight to spend the night at my parents. I'll work from their house in the morning, and then we head to Rangely. I'll help FireTiger for the first two days, and if necessary she will drop me back off at my parents house (about 100 miles) on Sunday night, then return Monday for the remainder of the season. I'm going to really try to get some good photos and video of this hunt.

We had a pile of friends over and made a nearly 8 pound elk roast last night.

 

[Crumb]

Yum that looks tasty!

 

[vanish]

Yum that looks tasty!

We were nervous, but it was pretty darn good. The inner most meat was like prime rib.

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When we were in Wyoming, we hit a ...something... hidden in the "road" with a rear tire. I didn't think much of it at the time. Last night on I-70 someone flashed me, and I started to wonder. When another person honked at me and flash his lights, I pulled over. Sure enough, no taillights. Whatever we hit must have severed the wires just to those lights, as everything else is working fine and the other equipment on that fuse is still operational. Not sure we'll be able to solve this out here, so I'm prepping myself for a lot of flashers ticking for the rest of our night driving. :/

 

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Ghetto? Maybe, but it totally worked.