San Juan unsuccess...

B

birdbuster

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I said I'd post good or bad.

You?ve seen no pictures or heard no yells so you know how the hunt went. Had I known in Jan. what I know now I wouldn't have put in for San Juan. The hunt has been jinxed from the beginning with gas going way up, medical bills going way up, IBM changing their conference from Oct. to Sept. etc I lost half my hunt and nearly all scouting. It took me 6 days to find a decent bull. There are no good places to spot and the bulls were really scattered(elk ridge side). Combine that with heavy cover and it was tough. The only bulls talking were with big groups of cows and so you basically got to see one bull per hunt and then move to a different spot and see what that bull looked like. I found a good bull Thursday morning and put him to bed. Thursday evening they came out where expected. I had all his cows but one in a meadow at 30 yards. The cow he was chasing around stayed in the trees just behind the others. After 10 or 15 minutes they got nervous and moved off. Friday morning they beat me to the ambush and there was nothing to do but wait for Friday night. I got to the spot early. This was going to be my last evening. I heard a bugle and he seemed to be going away. I decided to dive into the brush and try and follow. After going a few hundred yards into the brush I heard a bugle behind me. I got back in time to see the herd out in the meadow 15 yards from where I had been but he was now 75 yards away on the other side of the cows. Another bull came and stood on the hill behind him so he went to the other side of the meadow and stood guard until after dark. Saturday morning he never came back through, just cows. And so my hunt ends with a wimper. I had to go to Chicago for work and just can't justify driving 400 miles one way for a one day hunt with marginal chances for a big bull. I could probably get a shot at a bull but who knows what he would be. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but am still very disappointed.
 
Sorry to hear your hunt went as you described, but that is hunting. I just hope you got to enjoy the experience. I believe that it has been hard on archery hunters all over the state this year. The elk just haven't seemed to get going like some other years, but that is the chance you take, especially with archery. There are way too many variables for any hunt to turn out as perfect as we want it to be.
You have to be happy though as you got the opportunity to go and hunt trophy animals, whether you scored or not. I think that there will be a lot more disappointed archery hunters this year than successful ones!
Thanks for the story!
Rick
 
Sorry to hear about your hunt not going quite as well as you'd have anticipated it to go.

That's too bad, because you truly were on a "hunt of a lifetime" being on the San Juan. I know of two giants that came off there a couple weeks ago and have a friend down there now a few days prior to the rifle opener. He's seeing BIG bulls and is not sleeping well in anticipation.
The Juan holds some true monster bulls.









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DIDO!!! Antlerrick. Very well said. Sorry to her that you was not successful in filling your tag, but a few of my msot memorable hunts have not always ended in filling a tag. Sounds like you had a good time considering all of the unexpected troubles and scheduling problems. The rifle hunters are probably licking their chops knowing that the rut is just starting and will be going on in their hunt and not ending or slowing down as usual. Best of luck to you and the rest of your hunts this year birdbuster and thanks for sharing your story!!!
 
LAST EDITED ON Sep-11-08 AT 02:10PM (MST)[p]Birdbuster,

The offer is still good to fill up your truck with gas. I wish I could get away and I'd drive you back down.

It's a real bummer to not take a monster on that hunt but the hunt itself was awesome and like they say "that's archery." Thanks for letting me come along for a few days...it made up for my 2 hour hunt on the San Juan last year.

I'll post a couple of pics from your hunt. I'll drop the discs by later. I tried to post the bear encounter video but it doesn't like my format. Anybody that can help me post video, I'd appreciate some direction. We got some cool bear video and some stalks on bulls.

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I'm having slow server problems and its taking 10 minutes to upload 1 photo so I'll post more later.

Great hunt, buddy. Thanks!
 
Hey if Gas is the hold up then we can fix that. Let us know if you really want to go, and we will come up with a way to get you some gas in that tank.
 
That is a bummer. I love that mountain... but I think it was a tough year all-around for archery elk. That one in the pic looks like a good one!
 
Thanks guys,
Gas in the truck is only part of the deal. More missed work adds up to much more than gas and the wife has had more than enough of me being gone. I have to leave again Saturday to guide someone else on their 'hunt of a lifetime' so it's not like I never get to experience good elk hunting. Just bad timing of everything this year for me to get one for myself. Thanks for posting the pics J. I wish you could have stayed all week with me. I would at least have something to look at with the big bull in it. Maybe that would make me feel worse though. I'll post pics of my rifle hunter's bull.
 
I am going to buy a tag next year and am still debating on whether or not to go san juan. Reading this is starting to make me second guess that but someone else said that the pahvant isn't the bomb like it used to be. The other two choices are pahvant or dutton. Not to be rude to anyone but I almost have the guide thing wrapped up. Just wanted to know where you guys would go. Please don't post here and jack the thread just pm me.

Thanks ahead of time.
 
Here are a few more pics.....

Oh Stinky, you can't go wrong with the San Juan. If you want to hunt archery, I think you always have the chance of having a year like this. When I had my rifle tag last year, I was freaking out because they were killing big bulls all over with bows everytime I was down spotting. This year was different. Rifle hunt should be interresting.
I'm glad you think the bull in the pic is OK. I spotted him before Birdbuster came down and I got all excited. But then he just disappeared......sound familiar?

Is anybody else having trouble uploading pictures today? Oh yeah, NOBODY is posting much this year!!! Come on, already.

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I don't know about everyone else but that first buck really did soemthing for me! Can you get away from people in the san juan. Kinda sounds like utah is one big rat rance and theres no chance of ditching the atv's. Can you get lost in the San Juan or are there ATV's everywhere?
 
Gorgeous pictures hazmat, i can almost smell those wet cedars and junipers.
Your getting me all riled up for MY hunts starting next week!!





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You can definitely get lost on the San Juan. Problem is that when you are trying to pick through a lot of bulls you need to be able to cover the country and so you stay pretty close to the road unless you find one to chase.

I went back country on my tag to get away from people and it worked out for me but you take a chance of not finding the right bull and there goes another day.........
 
Really great photos. Thanks for posting. Just being down in that area is a great experience kill or no kill. Thanks for sharing your story.
 
Forgot to post this one. Sorry its small. Landscape will upload bigger, but portrait format makes it too small.

I took this one just after Birdbuster passed a really nice 5x5. Sorry no pics of him but I was taking video and still can't figure out how to post it. It was surreal when a bugle came through the fog and then the elk started moving through, barely visible. It looked like ghosts moving through the brush...sweet!
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Any day on the San Juan is a day in God's country. Bull or no Bull it's great just to be out. Probably too late, but I'll throw in $50 for the old gas tank if you decide to go HAZMAT will float you my $50

Not a week goes by that I don't look up on my office wall and see a pic of last years hunt and a smile drifts across my face and I forget about work for a few minutes.
 
Hey Toad,

You still got that picture of me on your wall? LOL!

Wish we were going down again tomorrow. Why don't you buy an Idaho tag and I'll be your pack mule.

J
 
Hell lets start a pot for gas money and get birdblaster back down there to kill his bull, i got $50 for ya!!







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LAST EDITED ON Sep-12-08 AT 08:28AM (MST)[p]Thanks guys but here I am at work. I tried to explain to the wife that she just doesn't understand but it's no use. I guess the biggest letdown of it all is that it truly was probably my last chance. I'm 50 now so drawing again while still able to hunt is highly unlikely. I went through my video and pics last night for the first time. There is one glimpse of the bull I was chasing. As far as getting away from people Haz described it pretty well. It took some time but the last 3 days I never saw another hunter and only had a couple vehicles even come through the area. There were plenty of elk there as well and I have no doubt more/better bulls are moving in as we speak. Nothing wrong with the unit just all the bad timing issues that got me. Thanks again all. It helps to vent to those who truly understand the disappointment.
 
Too bad things did'nt work out like you'd wished... I know the feeling with a goat tag a few years ago!

Haz...that aspen pic is REALLY nice!
 
These units all hold great bulls, its just a shame that the archery hunt ends so early in this state. The bulls are going to be served on a platter for the anyweapon hunt, good for them bad for the archery hunters. It sounds like its been a tough year all around, just to early. My buddy and his bros hunted the monroe and found the same thing not alot of action. He was fortunate enough to get a good 343 bull but lots of highs and lows and a tough hunt for sure. Good luck to all those in the field now and heading out through out the season.
 
I was in the unit up until 10 days ago, saw some great bulls and heard of some better ones being shot.
One hunter said that he shot a 400" bull and they spent two days looking for it, without finding it. I figured to take that with a grain of salt, but I also heard of a bull being taken with a split G3 and missing a G5 that still went around 421".

Sorry it didn't work out for you, I can only imagine being in your position.
 
Heading down now to film a hunt in the morning let ya know how it goes when we get back.
 
bird,

That would be depressing. You picked the toughest weapon so it is a gamble. Hopefully you got some good times out of your hunt. God willing you may draw again, you will just have to get lucky...it happens.
 
We talked to that hunter too. I heard later that he found the bull bloated. He showed me video. It looked like a nice bull. A little bit of a freak with a split G2 that was about 30 inches long. I think the rumors of someone killing the "Snake" bull are just rumors. He's off in Cabo with the Spider bull sipping an umbrella drink.
 

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