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What is your single top hunting season goal this year? I expect updates damn it.

So glad they’re okay!
Me too!

I still have my job. They seem to be hurting for people and I averaged 143% on Saturday, 116% on Sunday and somewhere in between on Monday. I had a manager from another department come up to me and say he see’s the things I do and we talk about corporate culture and such. On Monday my big boss tracked me down, thanked me and told me he told the intermediate managers to leave me alone and let me work.

Still waiting on cooler weather. Haven’t been to my hunting property since January, it was 107 there today according to my weather app.

Did have our first ever tea party today and that’s pretty damn high on my list as father. She picked the tea set and dress.
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Me too!

I still have my job. They seem to be hurting for people and I averaged 143% on Saturday, 116% on Sunday and somewhere in between on Monday. I had a manager from another department come up to me and say he see’s the things I do and we talk about corporate culture and such. On Monday my big boss tracked me down, thanked me and told me he told the intermediate managers to leave me alone and let me work.

Still waiting on cooler weather. Haven’t been to my hunting property since January, it was 107 there today according to my weather app.

Did have our first ever tea party today and that’s pretty damn high on my list as father. She picked the tea set and dress.
View attachment 291504

Now that’s what I’m talking about. I’d give my left nut to go back to my oldest being that age and having some tea party action. She’s 21, at college, and totally disinterested in Dad. Everyone has shit in their life. Some are grossed out, others make manure.
 
Updates as requested:
Took my bow out four days this week. Had this little dork at 20 yards Day 1. Still sporting spots.

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Had a doe at 42 but no shot and a little farther than I’m comfortable with at this point anyway. Had a coyote come by me at 30 yards but there was too much brush. So nothing has died. My strategy thus far is less spot and stalk, more spot and spook 😂

I’m a hell of a spot and spooker! I went out scouting last weekend. No elk… saw a super heavy mature 6x5 whitetail… It makes me ponder. I’m not a whitetail guy, but he lives on a river in a breaky area. I may consider chasing him… or spooking him.
 
Me too!

I still have my job. They seem to be hurting for people and I averaged 143% on Saturday, 116% on Sunday and somewhere in between on Monday. I had a manager from another department come up to me and say he see’s the things I do and we talk about corporate culture and such. On Monday my big boss tracked me down, thanked me and told me he told the intermediate managers to leave me alone and let me work.

Still waiting on cooler weather. Haven’t been to my hunting property since January, it was 107 there today according to my weather app.

Did have our first ever tea party today and that’s pretty damn high on my list as father. She picked the tea set and dress.
View attachment 291504
Glad to hear things worked out at work and your girls are OK. Nothing like a good tea party for perspective on what's truly important.



PS: Is that a photo of Gus McRae on the wall?
 
Glad to hear things worked out at work and your girls are OK. Nothing like a good tea party for perspective on what's truly important.



PS: Is that a photo of Gus McRae on the wall?
Yes it is. My wife bought it. We are big fans, she walked down the aisle at our wedding to the main theme.

I’ve hunted deer on TL’s place a few times but never met him.
 
Main goal is to kill a deer in the state where I live, something I've not done since I moved from WA back in 2005. Icing on the cake would be to kill one while one of my kids is with me.
 
I have an update already! I was just told that I lost my hunting spot for deer season. Family wanted to go and I was in the way. Damn.
One of the dumbest things I ever did involved a situation like this. I had hunted a farm south of Spokane for years, and was the only one. The family didn’t hunt, but then one of the ladies married a guy (let’s call him Fat Mark).

I didn’t need to request permission. I had developed the area and understood the deer. I hunted yotes and did some work for them. One mid-day Fat Mark randomly shows up at my truck at lunch. He is clueless. Teddy and I decide to send him to one of Teddy’s spots that’s easy to get to. Mind you at this point Teddy has never killed a decent buck. I take him to the exact spot I want him and sit him down in cover well before dusk and tell him not to move until 30 minutes after he can’t see.

Of course that evening we hear a boom. We hike over to Fat Mark and he’s shot a nice little 4 point whitetail. I’m jacked. Teddy keeps asking him the story, and Fat Mark keeps saying the same thing, “he just walked right at me.” The buck came in and walked up and turned broadside at 20 yards from what I could tell. I was so happy for him. In the spirit of Randy I gutted and gilled him. Teddy and I packed the buck out. Teddy was frustrated, but I was so happy for him. He killed a great buck for his first hunt. He sent pictures and the story off to his family. Looking back, he never said thank you and was wrapped up in the scene. It didn’t bother me, but it should have.

The next year he started making me get written permission, mind you everyone in the area has watched my truck frequent the area for years. He also tells me I can’t hunt it when he is there and he of course is a shitty planner. He proceeds to walk in when it gets light to the same spot, and right before dusk. He asked me for tips. I gave none. He continues to do the same thing every available day of deer season from what I know, and I only hunt the area for turkey now. No, I don’t help him with turkey. #*^@#* Fat Mark
 
Awesome! The second is a goal for me. I want to start killing more mature animals. Out here in WA they’re hard to find. Well, they are hard to find in general as we know. I want to kill a more mature deer. I saw a toad whitetail this last weekend that would do, and my mule deer spot has a few more mature bucks that usual. I’d love to kill a +4 year old deer. The season is so damn short it activates my anxiety.
 
It’s and orange reflective safety collar I have here where when on the road in the semi.

I can’t find the thing anywhere either and need to find a replacement.

Brown dog disappears at night and this makes her more visible. Truck drivers are idiots. But they seem to get smart when you put reflective safety material on things.

View attachment 291223View attachment 291224

It’s the same material that the IS Army uses in their PT belts.

Looks like the same thing maybe?

 
Leopard hunt with hounds in Botswana. Wheels up tomorrow afternoon. Hunt report and photos upon my return. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.
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Update: Kalahari Desert, Botswana, Africa - leopard with hounds, 9/6/23, Day 5 of 10 day hunt, Part of the Big 5. Blessed, grateful, and ecstatic. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.

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Leopard hunting with hounds is a team effort. Photo of the 11 people (from 4 different countries) who participated including the Professional Hunter(s), houndsmen, bushmen trackers, the Botswana Game Ranger, a few of the numerous hounds, and least importantly, the hunter.

Full Hunt report and more photos forthcoming after I recover from the trip. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider.
 
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