elks96
Long Time Member
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Lets get this started... My first ever Hunting Adventures Thread.
So this winter was not the typical predator hunting I have done for years past. Simply put things did not go as planned and in the end I spent a total of 5 days since January calling for predators. In that time I called 2 coyotes. 1 shot by my greedy friend, the other missed by a high school student. The season was eventful however...
The first pic is from a 2 day (3 night) hunting adventure in Baggs, WY. I arrived in town to stay at the Drifter INN with a good buddy. Since I arrived before dark, we decided to take a quick ride near town and see some country. The wind was blowing and snow was falling. That added with flat light and ample drifting resulting in missing a slight turn and getting the blazer in deep... Funny we never take pics or at least remember to take pics until after the majority of digging has been completed...
The next day we managed to call in yote in 14 stands. the fresh snow and overnight drifting made the travel hard. Around 4:00 with the wind blowing we dropped a front u-joint. Luckily it did it right before we hit a plowed road. We used the last of day light to secure the Driveline and head into town. At dinner we were in the Cafe and luckily one of the oil field guys gave us access to their truck for the u-joint replacement. At 7:30 that night I dug my tools out put on my insulated bibs and crawled under the blazer... It was by far the coldest and longest 3 hours of my life. The u bolt that holds the u joint in got all wedged up and needless to say at -19 degrees you cant have your fingers exposed long and hold a nut in your mouth (never a good idea) is a really bad idea at that temp. Long story short we had the blazer fixed up and back on the road around 10:30 that night.
Fast forward to mid April. With a failed predator season behind me, I looked forward to OTC turkey here in western CO. I have only hunted turkeys for the last 3 years. this year I was hoping to hold out for a mature bird. The first year we hunted, my dad took a good bird on opening day, and after that I never got a shot. Last year we both took jokes on the first day, so this year was the year that we were really going to hunt!
Opening morning found us in our area at first light. We have a large area void of other hunters and as a result we can really run and gun looking for aggressive birds.
Our plan was simple, call from high points near the road, listen and make a move. At first light I called into a large canyon and immediately got a response. We grabbed the decoy and dove off the rim. the turkey sounded like it was 800 to 1000 yards down the canyon. We covered around 150 yards saw a great looking bench below us. Before making the final run to the bench I made one little hen cluck and the tom exploded into a gobble right under us. My dad and I both dropped. I put juicy (my slutty hens name) to my left about 4 feet away and made one more little cluck. In second The tom came over the little rise in front of me on a dead run. Before I could get him to stop, he made it to 4 yards in front of me and went full strut. I squeezed off the shot and hammered him. He was a good bird with a 8 3/4" beard. Best of all I love the country and love the hunt with my dad.
After a few quick pictures and getting the guts pulled out and packing the bird with ice. We hit the road again for dads bird. We went about 1/2 a mile before we found a second tom. He was henned up and not going to come to a call so we went spot and stalk (no we did not need HECS to spot and stalk our turkey). We took our time and an hour into the stalk the tom peeked his head over a sage brush at 9 yards before getting taken out. My dad bird was just slightly smaller but still have a 7" beard and also tasted great!
Usually turkey season is my shed hunting, but this year 1 day of hunting did not produce any sheds. I have since went hunting 2 times. First trip out I found a solid set of 6x6 bull antlers and the second trip out I took my dog out and picked up 8 mule deer sheds. Nothing Big. Here are some pics of the shed hunting. Unfortunately my old bird dog is not a very good shed dog. I was sitting down glass for sheds when she went around a tree and laid down. This is where she laid and shows her lack of concern for sheds!!!! To her credit she did put up 2 separate groups of grouse!
We also found this guy at a break point so I decided to play around with the micro settings on my camera... I had hoped it turned out a little better..
Then this grouse was out at last light puffed up, but I did not catch a full puff!!!
Stay tuned for more!!!
So this winter was not the typical predator hunting I have done for years past. Simply put things did not go as planned and in the end I spent a total of 5 days since January calling for predators. In that time I called 2 coyotes. 1 shot by my greedy friend, the other missed by a high school student. The season was eventful however...
The first pic is from a 2 day (3 night) hunting adventure in Baggs, WY. I arrived in town to stay at the Drifter INN with a good buddy. Since I arrived before dark, we decided to take a quick ride near town and see some country. The wind was blowing and snow was falling. That added with flat light and ample drifting resulting in missing a slight turn and getting the blazer in deep... Funny we never take pics or at least remember to take pics until after the majority of digging has been completed...
The next day we managed to call in yote in 14 stands. the fresh snow and overnight drifting made the travel hard. Around 4:00 with the wind blowing we dropped a front u-joint. Luckily it did it right before we hit a plowed road. We used the last of day light to secure the Driveline and head into town. At dinner we were in the Cafe and luckily one of the oil field guys gave us access to their truck for the u-joint replacement. At 7:30 that night I dug my tools out put on my insulated bibs and crawled under the blazer... It was by far the coldest and longest 3 hours of my life. The u bolt that holds the u joint in got all wedged up and needless to say at -19 degrees you cant have your fingers exposed long and hold a nut in your mouth (never a good idea) is a really bad idea at that temp. Long story short we had the blazer fixed up and back on the road around 10:30 that night.
Fast forward to mid April. With a failed predator season behind me, I looked forward to OTC turkey here in western CO. I have only hunted turkeys for the last 3 years. this year I was hoping to hold out for a mature bird. The first year we hunted, my dad took a good bird on opening day, and after that I never got a shot. Last year we both took jokes on the first day, so this year was the year that we were really going to hunt!
Opening morning found us in our area at first light. We have a large area void of other hunters and as a result we can really run and gun looking for aggressive birds.
Our plan was simple, call from high points near the road, listen and make a move. At first light I called into a large canyon and immediately got a response. We grabbed the decoy and dove off the rim. the turkey sounded like it was 800 to 1000 yards down the canyon. We covered around 150 yards saw a great looking bench below us. Before making the final run to the bench I made one little hen cluck and the tom exploded into a gobble right under us. My dad and I both dropped. I put juicy (my slutty hens name) to my left about 4 feet away and made one more little cluck. In second The tom came over the little rise in front of me on a dead run. Before I could get him to stop, he made it to 4 yards in front of me and went full strut. I squeezed off the shot and hammered him. He was a good bird with a 8 3/4" beard. Best of all I love the country and love the hunt with my dad.
After a few quick pictures and getting the guts pulled out and packing the bird with ice. We hit the road again for dads bird. We went about 1/2 a mile before we found a second tom. He was henned up and not going to come to a call so we went spot and stalk (no we did not need HECS to spot and stalk our turkey). We took our time and an hour into the stalk the tom peeked his head over a sage brush at 9 yards before getting taken out. My dad bird was just slightly smaller but still have a 7" beard and also tasted great!
Usually turkey season is my shed hunting, but this year 1 day of hunting did not produce any sheds. I have since went hunting 2 times. First trip out I found a solid set of 6x6 bull antlers and the second trip out I took my dog out and picked up 8 mule deer sheds. Nothing Big. Here are some pics of the shed hunting. Unfortunately my old bird dog is not a very good shed dog. I was sitting down glass for sheds when she went around a tree and laid down. This is where she laid and shows her lack of concern for sheds!!!! To her credit she did put up 2 separate groups of grouse!
We also found this guy at a break point so I decided to play around with the micro settings on my camera... I had hoped it turned out a little better..
Then this grouse was out at last light puffed up, but I did not catch a full puff!!!
Stay tuned for more!!!