Iccyman001 2016 Adventure

[iccyman001]

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This year is already panning out to be one of my biggest years ever.


It started off early March when I took my first Barbary sheep. DIY in an OTC unit. The best part is I doubled up with my friend on that hunt..... talk about amazing times!!!


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It was also kind of cool, but I found a barb horn that fell off.

Next I ended up having a VERY successful spring turkey season....


I killed four jakes in three different states.
(Kansas x2, Oklahoma, and New Mexico)
One with a bow and three with my shotgun.

Kansas birds:

Bow bird

Oklahoma:

New Mexico:

So now lets talk about what else we have in store for this year....



New Mexico:
- Archery elk
- Oryx hunt
- OTC Barbary sheep
- Leftover deer take (maybe)

Colorado:
- Archery mule deer

Oklahoma:
- Whitetail & turkey

Then I will be hunting Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky for whitetail....

Im also waiting for a few more states to release results.

So needless to say I will be busy.




I went up two weekends ago and hung 8 cameras in my elk unit.



I also found some treats....

I'll hopefully be setting up another scouting/shed trip here soon.


So other fun facts:
- Bought a new bow this year, so it needs to be broken in properly with some good animals! I already killed my turkey, so that was a good start.

- I am building a new gun to mess around with this year, so I am excited to break that in to.

I'll post pictures of the set up here soon. It's a Tikka T3 lite in .270WSM with a MeoStar 4X16X44 with the McWhorter reticle, Corsetta rail, and seekin rings. I also added a limbsaver pad to save my arm






Anyways, I can promise a lot will be going on this year, so I cannot wait!!!

 

[iccyman001]

I mentioned I put together a new mountain gun for this year.
Well, I finally got it all together yesterday...

Tikka T3 lite, .270wsm, 4x16x44 McWhorter reticle, corsetta rail, seekin low rings, limbsaver buttpad, NOW it's time to shoot it!!!



Barbary sheep, Oryx, and possibly bear all need to watch out.

 

[iccyman001]

This past weekend I went out and did a little fishing and a little scouting.


Fishing was VERY slow, but I did catch some trout.

Then I went up and checked some cameras, shed hunted, and did some exploring. I saw some turkeys, some nice healthy elk, and I am happy with how the cameras are starting to look.

I'm REALLY looking forward to this year. I had over 500 pictures of elk in 10 different spots, plenty of bears, and more....

 

[iccyman001]

I was dying to get back into the mountains so my wife and I rented a cabin in the mountains. I got to see elk, deer, got to hike a bunch, and scout two new New Mexico units that I was always interested in. I also got to fish

Those two spots I checked out were GREAT, so I'm gonna have to head back out there and check them out more in depth.

The new gun gets dialed in next weekend and then I am planning another elk scouting trip for the 4th of July day weekend.

Other than that I've been shooting my bow daily, I've already got all my gear checked over and upgraded what I needed, and IM JUST READY FOR ELK/BEAR SEASON TO START.

Another fun note, I am going to buy a leftover New Mexico deer tag for this year. They have some tags for a unit near me and I plan on putting in some work.

 

[iccyman001]

Well I finally got out to break in the new gun.

The first three out of it were just as Tikka guaranteed...sub 1"

As the gun broke in more, the groups started touching.
(this target was sideways)

Then today I finally dialed her into 200, plugged my bullet into MEOPTA's ballistic calculator, and got my BDC has numbers.
I spent three hours verifying all of the hashes and they were MONEY!
My final shot was 719 yards....

I LOVE THIS THING!!!!!


I'm gonna go check out some elk and bear cameras here soon.... my first hunt is about 60 days away!!! Unless I go hunt OTC Barbary sheep.

 

[iccyman001]

I was able to get out and do some more elk scouting, shed hunting and camera checking.
Looks like it's gonna be a pretty good year!!!



Only two shed:

Elk:

 

[iccyman001]

Did some more scouting in my elk and bear unit.
It was a VERY successful trip.

I've got some neat animals running around so I know it's gonna be a good year.


I also went to one of my whitetail areas and did some scouting.



Oklahoma sheds

T-minus 27 days until the fun begins!!!!

 

[iccyman001]

I came back Sunday evening from another great trip.
Scouting, shed hunting, checking cameras, running into bulls, and hanging out in the mountains with good people....cant it really get any better? Well.. the answer is somewhat... I'll be doing that again here Sept 1st and it'll get better when I shoot another elk!!!!!

I'm heaving into the cows and the bulls are looking very healthy this year. I am very excited to put some in the freezer.

There are also a healthy population of bears too, so who knows... I may draw back and shoot one. We will see!

I had a stellar day of shed hunting too. I found a spike shed and thought that was pretty neat!

I don't know if I cant say this enough.... It's gonna be a GREAT YEAR!

I am leaving in one week for elk camp and will be itching at the bit for Sept 1st legal shooting hours to happen.


Good luck to everyone else going out, it's about to get real!

 

[iccyman001]

Well I am back from an my elk hunt and it was your standard elk hunt....

A few ups, a few downs, happiness, sadness, and so much more.

Here is how it all went down....

The bloody arrow

After I tagged out I sat a honey hole that also has some bears to full my bear tag. Well... I had the pleasure of watching this guy for 10 minutes

All in all it was a successful trip. I can honestly say it was one of the most mentally taxing trips in my life to a certain stressor in camp.

However, I'm so pleased to have taken such a fat cow and fill my freezer. There is nothing better than shelves of elk meat.


So now I have a bear, turkey, mule deer and Barbary sheep tag to fill in NM. Then whitetail season starts up soon too all over!

 

[iccyman001]

I forgot to add this video....

 

[iccyman001]

Now that elk is out of the way I have been trying to fill a leftover NM deer tag. There is definitely a reason it's a leftover, but I am not giving up. I know there are bucks here, I just haven't found them yet.

Plenty of does, but no bucks.... I think in 4 days of hunting I've done over 25 miles of scouting/hunting.

I will hunt this hard until Sept 24th, then I will shift my focus to Oklahoma whitetail!

 

[iccyman001]

This weekend I had the pleasure of going out and chasing OTC Barbary sheep. It was such a beautiful area and I had a great time. Saw 4 really nice rams, but they were too far out and in a point we couldn't have recovered them anyways.

I cant wait to go out again.

 

[iccyman001]

Today I had the pleasure of taking someone on their first big game hunt ever and help them tag out on a fine animal.
Earlier this year my neighbor told me he was interesting in hunting, so I helped him apply for elk, deer, and antelope.

He was SUPER lucky and drew a very nice antelope tag. It's a 40K acre ranch and he was the only hunter.
For those of you who don't know, antelope rifle tags in NM have VERY low draw rates.

We loaded up my trailer and headed out last night. After a sleepless night we hopped in the truck and waited at the ranch gate for the sun to come up. Once we have enough light to see, we started our search. Within 50 minutes we got into them. The sun was directly in my eyes and my neighbor says "STOP" I looked out his window and saw some antelope about 50-60 yards away from the truck. I didn't stop because I didn't want to spook them. We drove a little bit beyond and got out of the truck. We got off the road and I confirmed which antelope he needed to shoot. 70 yards, broadside, BOOM.... he made a really nice shot. It doubled lunged him and he didn't even run.... he just sat there. WOOT! This is where it got silly.

"Great shot Shane! good hit"
"He's bleeding Dan!"
"I know Shane, put the gun down"
"But I am right on him! He is still standing...want me to shoot?"
"Shane, you made a really good shot...he is dead, you don't need to shoot."
"BUT DAN, I AM ON HIM....I CAN TOTALLY MAKE THE SHOT"
"Yes Shane, I know, but you made a good hit and he's going to go down."
"BUT I HAVE A SHOT.....AND MY LEGS WONT STOP SHAKING"

I knew Shane was on an adrenaline overload and I wasn't convincing him any different, so I said "Ok Shane, shoot"

boom.

Another great shot.

"Great shot Shane, same spot! Nice!"
*Looks over and Shane has reracked and is back in his scope*
"DAN, HE IS STILL UP, I AM ON HIM..."
I already knew how this was going to go so I said "send it"

boom..... antelope down.

"GREAT JOB SHANE, HE IS DOWN!!!! CONGRATS!!!!"
I look over and Shane is reracked and back in the glass.

"Shane.... he is down buddy.... put the gun down..."
"I JUST WANNA WATCH AND MAKE SURE HE STAYS DOWN"
"Shane... he's 80 yards in front of us.... you don't need a scope bud haha"


He was on such an emotional overload of joy and happiness!
I had him gut the animal and quarter it with minimal help. He is not hooked.

On the ride back he said "I have no idea why I shot three times" lol

So now that this is out of the way, tomorrow is wide open....

So I may either blitz up north for a bear hunt/shed hunt
or blitz to Oklahoma for a day whitetail hunt.

I love hunting!


What a great day.

 

[iccyman001]

Sorry I've been slacking on the updates, I moved to Florida sadly and had to get settled in.
Anyways, it didn't take me long and I blitzed up to Kentucky for the veterans day weekend.


I spent three days there and saw TONS of deer. I was able to shoot two does and I gave a nice buck a haircut...

The cool thing about the trip was I was able to shoot my first whitetail doe with a bow and I broke my new rifle in on another doe!

Nothing like building a capable long range gun and shooting a doe at 37 yards

My freezer is looking real good right now, but it's not done yet.
I leave for Oklahoma Friday and hunt until the following Saturday.

Then I come back and hunt Florida, Alabama, and Kentucky a little longer!
The interesting thing about Florida and Alabama is their rut is January! So I have so much more hunting I can do now. WOOT WOOT!


Until next time.....

 

[iccyman001]

Well, the fun hasn't ended yet...

I just got back from a few days in Oklahoma.
I was able to put a buck down, got my buddy a buck, and saw tons of deer.
Lots of deer got a pass that usually wouldn't have because my freezer is already looking pretty good and they were just young. That means they will be older and larger next year.


I ended up taking this guy at 30 yards on the ground in a little homemade blind I cut into a cedar tree.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r175/iccyman001/image_zpspwl3rp9o.jpeg
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http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r175/iccyman001/image_zpsaufy6jjm.jpeg


I was so excited! This is my third bow hunting season and this is my 4th buck I've taken with a bow, 6th deer total and 9th big game animal with it. Life is REAL GOOD!


Now I am torn... Im back in Florida and rifle season is now open until mid-February.
Part of me wants to take the bow out and get my 10th bow kill and then the other part of me wants to go get my rifle a buck under it's belt!

Maybe I will just do both

Anyways, more fun to come.... until then!

 

[iccyman001]

Im still out here in Florida trying to put down some whitetail.
I've found some nice archery only areas and found a NICE surprise tonight....


Measured at 67.5"
I need to find him......

 

[iccyman001]

Sorry for the delay everyone. I've been so busy focusing on my wife and baby, so I really haven't been chasing deer too hard.

However we had our baby: Remi Mae Porter born 9 Jan 2017.

Mama and baby are healthy so life is good!

Now that it's over I slowly am getting back out into the woods!
I've still got until Feb 15th to hunt and the rut is going to be picking end of the month and I cannot WAIT!!!!

Instead of filling the remainder of the deer season in here, I'll just save it for the 2017 HAC!

Good luck everyone and see you next year. Oh and cliffhanger.... here's the big FL buck that's been showing up....