ishootaRUM300
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LAST EDITED ON Nov-15-11 AT 11:01AM (MST)[p]Now just to start nobody in my group has ever hunted Pinyon Juniper
So we left Minnesota on the 2nd of November. Myself and the "Legend" as we call him looked at our smart phones. We saw that there was to be a storm going down I70 and I80. We ended up taking the route that we will be taking next year when hunting Wyoming and the route I take to see my family in Wyoming down I90. We got to the closet town to our hunt unit. We met up with a friend that we met last year in Colorado. Had breakfast with him and his wife. We drove and just checked out a different area that we didn't like. So we went back up and set up on the top of the mountain. I had checked out this unit in the summer and it looked good. We drove up and started getting nervious because we were not seeing any fresh tracks in the 4 inches of snow. We went up and set up camp anyway. by the time we got up to set up camp it was getting close to dark, but we got it done. Got up in the morning to do a little scouting before the hunting started on Saturday. We met back at camp at noon no new fresh tracks and there was a storm coming in for opener. We went out again t see if we could find some tracks. The last guys back to camp saw a bunch of deer. We started looking at maps and they had left our unit. What is the deal all the deer were off the mountain and down in the winter range? We made the choice to take down camp in the morning and try the area that we looked at the day before that we didn't like because it was pinyon juniper. We were nervous because as I said before nobody in the group had ever hunted it. We went down and man was it a pain the roads were slop. We had not chained up and that was a big mistake. Everybody was getting pissed. We got stuck numerous times. we made the choice that we would not be hunting opening day at all. We went back to the closest town that had a hotel.
The next morning I think we got up at 4am and were headed back out. This time we chained up. still was not the biggest help the trailers kind of pulled the trucks all over the place. We got out and set up camp. By the time we got to our new camp site we were not sure if we would be able to hunt after we set up camp. well we got camp up in record time since we had just done it the other day. I was pretty pissed off and I am sure everyone else was. After camp was up I walked out of camp and found a sage flat to hunt. I found a vantage point.
here is what I was looking at. This picture was take a couple days later.
I am sitting at the bottom of the picture left of center. I was watching to my left. I turned to my right about dark and something didn't look the same. I pulled up my binos. What Bull Elk where is my range finder? got my range finder up and ranged him at about 560. I was thinking my first legal BULL!!!! He ran down into some of the pinyon juniper. Not a big area of the juniper but I was like I lost him. He could have gone up and made it into a bigger area of the juniper and be gone. He didn't he came out and started walking down a ridge. Got the range finder up and ranged him at 346 now. I pulled up my gun and got it on him. I was shaking. The first shot I took didn't fire. Helps to take the safety off. THe bull had stopped at that 346 and was looking to his left. I took that safety off and got behind the scope and squeesed off the round. Down the bull went like a ton of bricks. Straight down the only movement was of him hitting the ground and the chest cavity. I jacked a second round in was waiting for him to move after a minute or two I knew he was gone. I finished out the night in shock looking at him from my vantage pint and glassing to see if I could find a deer. As I walked down to him going up the hills they were like nothing just like walking on a flat surface.
This is what I found. over the counter tag public land.
I was pumped. I got the guys and we got him cut up and up to camp. I was shaking like a crack baby as we cut him up. got back to camp and ate some dinner and went to bed. Got up the next day I stayed in camp to cut up the elk. "Pastor Dusty" left camp late that morning. It was less the an hour after he left I get a call here he put a nice buck down and he wanted field photos. He cam back and got me lets just say it is a nice buck.
I helped him drag him to the fourwheeler trail and the strapped him on and headed back to camp to cut him up. We ran into the other guys.
I took a few pictures off the wheeler on the way back to camp.
we got back to camp and "Pastor Dusty" and I cut our animals and worked on the capes.
I went out for the evening hunt. I walked out of camp and headed the opposite direction that I went to get my bull. I didn't see anything that night. The next day I went out and saw a few does that I watched for the majority of the night was hoping that they would have a few bucks fallowing behind. TO bad that was not the case. I did see a few cows and a nother bull. they were up on this ridge.
We had a guy we met "Tom" come for dinner in our camp that night. I told him I saw some cows that night. I told him that he should cme with me in the morning and we also called our frined from last year to come out in the morning to hunt with us. Tom didn't come with me the next morning. I did hear a bunch of shooting that morning. I got a text from "pastor Dusty" that we had bucks and a bull down. I texted back asking if they needed my help to get the animals out. No responce so I kept hunting. I left my spot and headed for camp about noon hoping to see the animals. Nobody was at camp yet. I took off on the wheeler to find them and this is what I found.
do you see them?
they were working on getting the bull out.
this is our local friend that we met last year and his first bull. This is catmans buck.
This is J's
A few pictues from our last night
The sun setting on our last night of hunting and the moon coming up.
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h350/ishootaRUM300/DSC00616.jpg
We hunted the next day until about 10:00am and then took down camp. Our new friend Tom came down and helped a little and got us our first group picture.
So we left Minnesota on the 2nd of November. Myself and the "Legend" as we call him looked at our smart phones. We saw that there was to be a storm going down I70 and I80. We ended up taking the route that we will be taking next year when hunting Wyoming and the route I take to see my family in Wyoming down I90. We got to the closet town to our hunt unit. We met up with a friend that we met last year in Colorado. Had breakfast with him and his wife. We drove and just checked out a different area that we didn't like. So we went back up and set up on the top of the mountain. I had checked out this unit in the summer and it looked good. We drove up and started getting nervious because we were not seeing any fresh tracks in the 4 inches of snow. We went up and set up camp anyway. by the time we got up to set up camp it was getting close to dark, but we got it done. Got up in the morning to do a little scouting before the hunting started on Saturday. We met back at camp at noon no new fresh tracks and there was a storm coming in for opener. We went out again t see if we could find some tracks. The last guys back to camp saw a bunch of deer. We started looking at maps and they had left our unit. What is the deal all the deer were off the mountain and down in the winter range? We made the choice to take down camp in the morning and try the area that we looked at the day before that we didn't like because it was pinyon juniper. We were nervous because as I said before nobody in the group had ever hunted it. We went down and man was it a pain the roads were slop. We had not chained up and that was a big mistake. Everybody was getting pissed. We got stuck numerous times. we made the choice that we would not be hunting opening day at all. We went back to the closest town that had a hotel.
The next morning I think we got up at 4am and were headed back out. This time we chained up. still was not the biggest help the trailers kind of pulled the trucks all over the place. We got out and set up camp. By the time we got to our new camp site we were not sure if we would be able to hunt after we set up camp. well we got camp up in record time since we had just done it the other day. I was pretty pissed off and I am sure everyone else was. After camp was up I walked out of camp and found a sage flat to hunt. I found a vantage point.
here is what I was looking at. This picture was take a couple days later.
I am sitting at the bottom of the picture left of center. I was watching to my left. I turned to my right about dark and something didn't look the same. I pulled up my binos. What Bull Elk where is my range finder? got my range finder up and ranged him at about 560. I was thinking my first legal BULL!!!! He ran down into some of the pinyon juniper. Not a big area of the juniper but I was like I lost him. He could have gone up and made it into a bigger area of the juniper and be gone. He didn't he came out and started walking down a ridge. Got the range finder up and ranged him at 346 now. I pulled up my gun and got it on him. I was shaking. The first shot I took didn't fire. Helps to take the safety off. THe bull had stopped at that 346 and was looking to his left. I took that safety off and got behind the scope and squeesed off the round. Down the bull went like a ton of bricks. Straight down the only movement was of him hitting the ground and the chest cavity. I jacked a second round in was waiting for him to move after a minute or two I knew he was gone. I finished out the night in shock looking at him from my vantage pint and glassing to see if I could find a deer. As I walked down to him going up the hills they were like nothing just like walking on a flat surface.
This is what I found. over the counter tag public land.
I was pumped. I got the guys and we got him cut up and up to camp. I was shaking like a crack baby as we cut him up. got back to camp and ate some dinner and went to bed. Got up the next day I stayed in camp to cut up the elk. "Pastor Dusty" left camp late that morning. It was less the an hour after he left I get a call here he put a nice buck down and he wanted field photos. He cam back and got me lets just say it is a nice buck.
I helped him drag him to the fourwheeler trail and the strapped him on and headed back to camp to cut him up. We ran into the other guys.
I took a few pictures off the wheeler on the way back to camp.
we got back to camp and "Pastor Dusty" and I cut our animals and worked on the capes.
I went out for the evening hunt. I walked out of camp and headed the opposite direction that I went to get my bull. I didn't see anything that night. The next day I went out and saw a few does that I watched for the majority of the night was hoping that they would have a few bucks fallowing behind. TO bad that was not the case. I did see a few cows and a nother bull. they were up on this ridge.
We had a guy we met "Tom" come for dinner in our camp that night. I told him I saw some cows that night. I told him that he should cme with me in the morning and we also called our frined from last year to come out in the morning to hunt with us. Tom didn't come with me the next morning. I did hear a bunch of shooting that morning. I got a text from "pastor Dusty" that we had bucks and a bull down. I texted back asking if they needed my help to get the animals out. No responce so I kept hunting. I left my spot and headed for camp about noon hoping to see the animals. Nobody was at camp yet. I took off on the wheeler to find them and this is what I found.
do you see them?
they were working on getting the bull out.
this is our local friend that we met last year and his first bull. This is catmans buck.
This is J's
A few pictues from our last night
The sun setting on our last night of hunting and the moon coming up.
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h350/ishootaRUM300/DSC00616.jpg
We hunted the next day until about 10:00am and then took down camp. Our new friend Tom came down and helped a little and got us our first group picture.
