2015 hunting season

crazeymaez

Very Active Member
Messages
1,513
My nephew was able to get an Oryx on Saturday January 10th.Not to many with double horns.On Friday we spotted a herd with a couple good ones
but they were very spookey and never could get on them.Friday evening we spotted a group of 25 with only 2 double horns.Mikey and I stalked them a mile out.We got 300yrds from them and I got him set up.But he forgot to take the safety off and missed his chance.Looking back I am glad he didn't shoot. I don't think I could have gutted it and got back to the gate.

Saturday morning we spotted a group of 10 and this was the only double horn.We made a stalk I got Mikey set up and he shot at 300.I heard the smack of the bullet hitting and watched them all run off,This one peeled off and bedded.We let it sit for a few minutes.I could see the horns still moving.We started our approach and got 200 yrds and it jumped up.Took off running and dropped again.Mikey was able to put another round in her.As we walked up we were now 50yrds and she is still trying to get up. Another round and it was done.The toughness and the will to live on these animals is amazing.Found all 3 bullets on the hide.All 3 through the shoulder.


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Growing up in NM I've had the priviledge of hunting all my life.
Either with my father or my grandfather.

Now I put in all my family for hunts in 2015 we drew some good tags.Only problem is some of the hunts coincide with each other.
So we will have to split up or catch the last couple days of a season.

So enjoy and hopefully we can put some animals on the ground this year
 
Shed season

This year I didn't get out too much.Only found 1 set of browns.
Competition for antlers has grown.

Gonna try and go scout the Gila and hang some cameras in the next couple weeks.


Oldie


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Big three point

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Never found the match to this one.

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Found this set laying next to each other to bad they are about 10 years old

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The only fresh set for the year


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maps and gear

Been doing some reloading.Reloader 19 62.5 grns and 180grn Accubonds
Seem to work best in my Tikka 300wsm.



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Also one of my buddies printed me some topos these things are huge.Been marking spots I wanna check out when I go down in a couple weeks.


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Got some new bowstrings put on as well.Been shooting different broadheads,to see what performs best.Just picked up some 100 grn wasp drones

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Picked up a new Eberlestock pack and retired my old Eberlestock Gunslinger.What great packs.Should be getting here any day now.
 
antelope pics

My nephew and sister got an upcoming hunt in this unit in August.
The goats in this unit are very skidish and usually on the run once the truck stops.Saw about 14 bucks but most were to quick to set up for pictures.


There was 5 in this group all about the same size.little guys




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The best buck we saw great prongs.He was far out and hard to judge his length.



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Wifes antelope

We went out on my wifes goat hunt this weekend.Friday we scouted only seeing 1 decent buck and a couple very immature bucks.

Saturday morning found us glassing and not turning up much.At about 8 we found the buck from the day before but we could not get close to him,being he was with a group of about 40 does and fawns.

We continued glassing and turned up a few smaller bucks,And another mature buck about a mile off.We drove closer trying to locate him,but he too gave us the slip.NM has had a very wet spring and summer and the sunflowers were 7'tall.So it made some of the areas difficult to relocate the goats we were seeing.

At about 10 I spotted a lone goat.We were able to close the distance and I set up my wife on her Bi pod and told her the distance.344 yrds.At the shot the buck dropped like a sack of rocks.When I got to him I soon found out why.She had headshot him



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Nephews antelope

Went out on Friday kind of just making a game plan for Saturday
Glassed up a few goats but very far away.


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Saturday we headed to an area and I just decided to sit and see what people were pushing around.My partner was already on his first nap.


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After about 3 hours I couldn't take it any more so I decided to go try and stalk.50yards out of our sitting spot I see a buck looking at us.If we would have just stayed put Im sure he would have walked right by us.We ended up spooking him.I saw a draw where he ran and joined up with a few more bucks about a mile away.We headed to the jeep and decided to approach them from a different angle.


We started walking and got to the canyon that they were in but soon ran out of cover.I ranged them and they were 300 yards out a long poke with a muzzy.I set Jacob up prone and made sure he was rock solid.We watched these bucksfor about 20 minutes.The one buck I wanted him to shoot at had not moved a step and seemed to be asleep.He is the buck at the top of the pic


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Jacob took the shot and hit him a little back.He took off with the group and then separated from them.I watched him as he walked 3/4 of a mile then bedded.We were able to sneak in on him and finish him off.


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My first pack out of hopefully many with my new Eberlestock.Felt great.


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Antelope strike out

I took my sister on her antelope hunt and we got blanked.
We never even had a shot.Seemed like when we had them close they would do the opposite.

Sister glassing some bucks on the skyline hoping they come our way.


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Hiking at sunrise


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Found a good shed

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On to the next Gila strike out but not giving up yet.We still got a couple more hunts.
 
Gila strike out

I was anticipating this hunt the most but due to other commitments I was only able to hunt the first 6 days of the season.

I had got info from a fellow MM member on a tank he had killed a great bull on 3 years ago.But due to my lack of scouting.I went to check it out a couple days before the season But the floods 2 years ago devastated all spring and water fed tanks.


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I got into bulls but could never get a shot.Lots of rain .This spot I am sitting this evening had a great bull the evening before.But he never came out for me.


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The feed in there this year was unbelievable.


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We tried to repair the tank the best we could hoping the bull that had made a wallow would return.


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In the end I came home empty saw some good bulls but never got a shot.

camp pics



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Nephews bull

Both my dad and my nephew drew hunts on the exact same timeframe.
My good friend NMwapiti said he would take Jacob on his hunt.

On Friday they set up camp,That evening this bull started sounding off behind camp.They were able to leave camp in the morning and get on him.

As they entered the canyon the cows busted them,and started to leave,With the bull in tow.Louie stoped him with a cow call perfect between a couple cedar trees.Jacob was on his stix and shot the bull at 200 yrds.The bull hunched up and walked a few steps and stopped in another window.Jacob sent another one and dropped him




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dads bull

LAST EDITED ON Oct-19-15 AT 06:10PM (MST)[p]Well after striking out in this unit it was time to return with a rifle to settle the score.We got there a couple days early just to look at some spots we had hunted before.

We saw a group of 8 bulls with 1 good one the day before the season.We were also told of a bull that was hitting a tank with 6 cows.But within a day the bull had left em.


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We also saw this small bull while driving


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We went after one of the 8 bulls on opening morning but while we were set up on the top they were on the bottom.

Sunday found us walking a logging road I heard a very weak bugle at the top of the ridge and started to make our way towards it.We were soon spotted by the cows but the wind was perfect.And they feed over the edge out of sight.

As we climbed the hill I told my pops to chamber a round.Like a dream this bull came walking out of the cedars at 50 yrds.My pops shot him as he walked by.At the shot the bull spun and my dad put another one in him.We walked up the ridge and there he lay.
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Cobra bull down



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headed home


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Brothers bull

LAST EDITED ON Oct-22-15 AT 05:51AM (MST)[p]After 2 years of not hunting together due to my brothers work schedule,We finally got a hunt in.Although it didn't last long.

We got to the unit on Friday and went to a spot I wanted to check out.We spotted a bull while driving and lots of fresh scrapes.

Saturday morning we pulled up and there was someone parked where I was going to park.So I drove to the top when I got to the top the hunter was at the gate.He flashed me with his light and we headed back down the mountain.

As we parked near my original spot I got out and started to put my pack on and was greeted by a distant bugle.I told my bro we need to hustle before they make their way up the mountain.

We made the mile trek and the wind was perfect.We were in a bugling frenzy.We had close to 60 cows surrounding us mewing up a storm.

The worst part of it we couldn't see the bulls.One bull seemed so close but was in a wash.He was bugling non stop and glunking.
I saw a group of cows 40 yrds away and they had us pinned.They actually spooked but the action was so heavy none of the other elk seemed to care.

My bro spotted this bull down to the right of us and we moved as much as we could without being seen.He popped out in a little window and Gabe was set up.I stopped him with some cow calls and Gabe shot.The bull took off running and so did Gabe

Gabe shot 2 more times off hand hitting him both times and putting him down.

When I saw him running I knew he was a good one.

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Double thumbs up.


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headed home


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I like this pic my dads bull ended up at 340"and missing 3" off his front brow.My brothers bull went 367"and missing about 10"


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After the kill

So after the hunts it seems like the work just starts breaking down animals.I help out a lot of people who don't hunt or were awesome hunters and just don't kill very often anymore.It also helps my Father in law was a butcher.

my set up.


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What we do with a lot of our meat is can it.Theres an awesome write up here on MM.This will make any cut tender we've been doing this for about 10 years.Perfect for BBQ sandwiches,tacos,stews you name it.

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Some good stuff right here

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Great tutorial


http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID48/87.html
 
Nephew #2 bull

Both of my nephews drew bull tags this year for the first time.
Only problem is Mikeys hunt was the same time as his uncles.We got lucky and killed Gabes bull opening morning.

I got back on Sunday got unloaded and took care of the meat on Monday.Leaving us a couple days to hunt.

I picked up Mikey at 4am and made the 2 hour drive.As we parked a storm had come through making it super muddy to walk in.

At a mile and a half I top a little hill and start to glass.Mikey spots this bull in front of us.I ask him if he wants to shoot him and he says sure.I get him on the sticks and one shot later he drops him in his tracks.

Not a big guy but a great first bull.


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Steam coming out of the bullet hole


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A few other bulls ran by us as we were taking care of Mikeys bull

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We packed out the front legs and the backstraps.We got the cart from the truck and took out the rest of the meat.The tire kept getting plugged with mud making it very difficult to go more than 50 ft without cleaning it.


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RE: Nephews muzzleloader deer hunt

This hunt actually took place before our elk hunts.I wasn't gonna post.But its hunting and the outcome is not always great.

Ive always been fond of old muzzleloaders.My first muzzleloader was a Hawkens 45 caliber,That I purchased picking up cans at the ripe old age of 12.I spent many hours melting lead and casting bullets.

We have a restricted muzzleloader hunt that we have done good in the past.I guided archery elk in the unit and never saw a buck.But I ran into a guy that was seeing a couple bucks pretty consistently.

So opening morning I parked the Jeep and Mikey and I got ready to make the hike to where he had been seeing these bucks.We hadn't walked 200 yrds and I caught some movement to my left.They actually caught me off guard as I was not expecting to see them so close to where we parked.

At first I saw the small buck which was a 6 point in full velvet.
I looked behind him and the big 10 point was standing there at 20 yrds from us hard horned.I was thinking this cant be this easy.

Mikey primed the gun and found the buck in the peep.He shot and the buck started to take off.But was limping on his front left leg.He made his way around a thicket of brush that I couldn't see thru.I hurried to reload the gun.Mikey felt good about his shot.And I would have bet money he was laying on the other side of the brush.As we made our way to where I last saw him he was not there.

I never found blood and went back several times looking for him
My guess is that he hit him to far forward on his shoulder and the roundball pancaked.I was bummed to lose such an awesome animal.You don't see big bucks that close often.I hope he healed up.

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What the country we were hunting looked like


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I actually recovered a roundball from Mikeys 2014 buck.That was hit in the lungs.So if he hit the shoulder he had no chance of dropping him.

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Wifes CO deer

My wife and brother drew 4th season Colorado tags.My wife needs a double knee replacement.She is usually good for a couple hikes before her knees swell up like softballs.So my buddy lent me his horse.My idea was to lead them in and find deer.

A storm hit on Tuesday on into opening morning.The ground was super icy and I decided not to take out the horse.I walked to a ridge where I could glass.Deer were moving like crazy.And I spotted a buck at 227 yrds but Joselle passed on him.

Where we were glassing from

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After passing that buck I glassed up a great buck with a bunch of does.I crossed 2 canyons and saw where they dropped into a deeper canyon.At this point I was much farther from the truck.What was going to be a short hike to save my wifes knees was now a 2 mile trek and 3 canyons crossed.I glassed for him but couldn't turn him up and decided not to drop down the steep canyon.

That evening We went to another spot and hiked in a short distance.I spotted a buck but Joselle passed on him.I think I have to many Muleycrazy mags laying around :)

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I also saw a great buck this evening but he didn't stick around.


Thursday morning I saddled the horse.I hiked 5 miles in so 10 miles roundtrip only to see 4 does.


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That evening my wife was wearing thin due to the hike and the horse ride.So that evening we went back out and started glassing.My wife spotted this buck bedded and decided to end her
hunt.One shot from her 270 WSM and the buck never left his bed.

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Now I had 3 days to hunt with Gabe and hunt our tails off.He had already passed on some good bucks.But the weather turned warm again and it seemed like those big bucks left the does.We passed on 30 bucks looking for the ONE.In the end he ended up eating his tag.

My bro on one of our hikes.
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A meat hunters dream.These 2 bucks were running with a bull. I first saw them at a half mile out at this point they are 250 yrds.The bull is kinda hard to see that's his head sticking out of the oak.The back buck was chasing them around like he was herding them up.

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A couple other bucks we passed.

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We were after a giant buck my brother had spotted and almost got a shot at on the 2nd evening.But we never found him we had a great hunt.
 
After the kill 2

I was brought up."If you shoot it you eat it".But my dads recipe was fried with salt and pepper.My wife and I always eat game meat and only purchase our chicken from the store.

Any new cooking invention. I'm all about it.This one is called the Cameron stovetop smoker.I found a guy that had went to Alaska
fishing.He wanted to trade Elk meat for Salmon.With lots of elk in the freezer I was very willing.My wife and I did an Alaska trip in 2014 and sure miss Salmon.

This smoker is super easy and can be used to make burgers in the winter. And everything else. Great smokey taste .When you don't want to fire up the grill.And does not smoke out the house.

The trade

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Load the smoker with sawdust and put over flame.


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Add your meat.Times vary.


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Put the cover on,And let smoke.


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15 minutes late a piece of King on the left and some Sockeye on the right.Works great on meat also Get you one.

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Last hunt of the year

LAST EDITED ON Dec-04-15 AT 08:25PM (MST)[p]I was talking to a NR buddy a few years back.He told me he had been killing some good bucks in this unit and showed me some pictures.

I checked the draw statistics and found we had a good chance of drawing this hunt on a 3rd choice.So for the last 2 years Ive been putting my nephew in for this hunt as a 3rd choice and hes drawn it.

One of the problems my buddy was having.Is when he spotted a buck
Was getting close.Alot of elk make it difficult without spooking them.In my head I was like yeah right.But as I saw in 2014 hundreds of elk.

Last year was my first time in the unit.We arrived the day before the hunt and drove to the spot he had told me.I asked my nephews if they wanted to go on a hike.Both said sure.By this time we had already glassed 50 cow elk.

As I got to the top of a ridge I spotted more elk in a canyon
I set up the spotting scope and started to glass them.I saw horns and thought it was a rag bull with them but as I zoomed in I was amazed at what I was looking at.I told my nephews theres a big ole buck by those cows.We all took turns fighting for the spotter:)

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We chased him a few days but never got to see him again
At least I know theres big bucks on this mountain.We passed on lesser bucks but ended up eating the tag


2015

I only had 1 day to hunt.We showed up the day before the season and the elk were out.I think I got a new shed spot.In 2014 I also glassed up a nice 6x6 set.

There were 15 bulls in this group

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Double kickers


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A storm was moving in and the wind picked up gusts of 40 mph on opening day.I wasn't expecting to see anything.We arrived opening morning and started our hike at dark.I was glassing some elk,And decided to go glass a point.I left Jacob taking cover under a tree.As I got to the point I glassed a buck at 550 yrds on a hillside he was to far to see what he had for headgear.I went back and got Jacob.I went to another point that would get us closer.

As I was glassing for him I couldn't find him.Then caught a glimpse of him for a second as he went behind a tree.He was about 200 yrds out.I glassed for 15 minutes more never seeing him.I actually thought he had bedded behind those trees.When I finally saw him he had made it 90 more yards undetected and actually looked better than I first thought.

This is where things went down hill.I got Jacob set up on the gun and told him where he was.He said he found him.I thought I was turning the power up on the scope but tuned it down.Mistake1.
I ranged the buck and thought the reading was 253.I told Jacob
hold high shoulder.At the shot the buck lifted his head and began eating again.I ranged him again and what I thought was 253
was 283.I told Jacob to use his first holdover point.

At the shot he hit a foot left and the buck knew he was getting shot at and was gone.I guess the wind pushed the bullet that much.This was actually the same ridge we saw the buck in 2014 and could of been the same buck.

We walked to the spot where the buck ran just to verify what my eyes saw.Tracked him in the snow no blood nothing.We saw a smaller buck that evening.Soon I will have this unit figured out.

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The canyon Jacob shot across


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Muley Rut

Love this time of year.Seeing the bucks that made it thru the season and wondering where those sneaky bastages were hiding.

By far my favorite animal.

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Lip curling

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This dude was on a mission



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Check out this guy Double main beam.

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Catch you later

As I write this this its 22 degrees outside and 6"of snow on the ground.My HAC challenge has come to an end.

The freezer is full.The wood has been gathered


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The food is super

Antelope green chile stew

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Salmon


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Elk fajitas


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And the stove is cranking.Hope you enjoyed my season.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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