Jump to content

nateNAU

Members
  • Content Count

    418
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    16

Posts posted by nateNAU


  1. Well the shed hunting has slightly tapered off for a bit. The warm weather and opening of forest roads has produced the yearly influx of campers and hikers and our success rate has dramatically fallen. We did glass up a shed over a mile away though 15x binoculars. I couldn't tell if it was a small elk or big deer. Well after a tough hike up a treacherous cinder cone we discovered it wall a small deer shed but our first brown deer of the year. We have a place in Montana are headed up for the summer and plan to do a bunch of shed hunting up there. It will be a fun challenge. We are in the area where the show Yellowstone is filmed. In the last season where the old cowboy died sleeping on his bedroll under the stars was actually filmed in our front yard. The area is abundant with whitetails, muleys and moose. My son is dead set on finding some moose sheds. 

    PXL_20240510_135048360.jpg

    PXL_20240510_135048360~2.jpg

    PXL_20240510_142902113.jpg

    • Like 3

  2. 2 minutes ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

    Sheesh $2.50/week? Ever heard of inflation?! 

    Haha. That's just a baseline for the bare minimum, bedroom, laundry, dishes. I always give them ways to make more if they put more effort in. My 6 year old daughter made $5 yesterday scrubbing toilets and showers. Weeding the front yard completely always pays $5. 


  3. 2 hours ago, Non-Typical Solutions said:

    Few years back, my kid thinking he wanted some money too😂😂😂

    IMG_0642.thumb.jpeg.c8149e0c199aaec28e7258803bd70f08.jpeg

    That's awesome! I feel grateful that for my son we have had a steady rate of finding them. About 1 every other day. It keeps the attention span of an 8 year old engaged enough. I keep telling him that if you keep at it long enough you will hit the jackpot on occasion. My best day ever pre kids was a $2000 day. I have also done 150 miles in a row with only a chalk deer shed to show for it. Awesome work by your son!


  4. 1 minute ago, jdown said:

    I would think Chargers would be easy drive and best price for tkts but like you I don't follow. Just thinking not a great team and heavy competition for fan base with all the other teams so prices can't be terrible?  But then again who knows it is the NFL and it is Ca. 

    Good point, and ya, probably only a 6 hour drive or so. I'm just waiting for tickets to go on sale so I can shop around. Some places have some for sale now but I think that's just season ticket holders trying to sell their tickets. 

    • Like 1

  5. Just now, Little Creek Calls said:

    Are you taking him to Arrowhead or are they playing the Cardinals next year? 

    He wants to go to Arrowhead. The only close game in the division however would be the Raiders in Vegas. Cardinals would have to be a playoff game and I don't have high hopes of the Cardinals making the playoffs. We could take an Amtrak from Flagstaff to Kansas city but that's a 24 hour train ride with a good chance of sitting in an open air stadium during a snow storm. Broncos would be the only other close option but with their diehard fan base I don't think we would get any break on prices going there. An opinions are welcome, like I said, I am no expert on the NFL and have never been to a game. I never knew going into this year how hard it was to follow a team not in your area or division.  


  6. I have never been much into professional sports. I have to admit, super bowl Sunday is normally my favorite day to javelina hunt as there is normally not another soul in the woods. My 8 year old son however fell far from the tree, especially with football. My dad's regaling stories of wining Kansas state highschool state titles and college career has had him enamoured. K state and K U have long been admired in our family as we still have quite a bit of family back there and nearly everyone has come from one of those two alma maters. Well being a young kid, anything Kansas and sports is good, so he began to root for the chiefs about 3 years ago. I don't have the heart still to this day to tell him that the chiefs aren't actually in Kansas. Much to the dismay of my Arizona family and my wife's family who are die hard Steelers fans, he has stuck to his guns and had bragging rights over us for 3 years. He is so passionate he asked if there was some way he could go see the chiefs in person next year. I thought this could be an excellent learning opportunity for him and agreed as long as he can figure out how to pay for his own ticket. The wheels in his head began to strip when he tried to figure out how he could buy a $500+ ticket on $2.50 weekly allowance. I told him to get creative. About a week later he came and asked if he could go shed hunting with me to earn some money. I agreed and told him any morning he wanted to go shed hunting just come and wake me up early and I would take him. Well after about 6 weeks of my daily 5am wake up call by him, he sold his first batch of antlers. Total profit $703. Enough for a bottom level ticket. 

    PXL_20240323_193428892.jpg

    • Like 8
    • Love 1

  7. He is alive and well. I parted ways with Gary last year but worked for him for 18 years. 41 gnr is a great round and Gary's personal favorite. I've seen him take many animals with a revolver in 41 gnr.

    • Like 4

  8. On 3/11/2024 at 4:47 PM, CatfishKev said:

    Hot dang hope your buddy is gonna be ok.  But I'm with Casey, you saw pigs and decided to kill one while your buddy is waiting for the evac, lol hard.  I don't want to hunt with you ever.  Congrats on the pig though.  Hope you guys are still friends.  

    Haha. I think my telling of the story may have come across a little more intense than I meant. I was more shook after the fact just thinking how quickly things can go bad and how lucky it wasn't a time sensitive injury like blood loss or something. After the first few minutes, he was fine pain wise as long as he didn't try and walk. We weren't under a time crunch and had plenty of daylight. We sat, drank some water and came up with a plan. I headed back to the gator at an easy pace as to not hurt myself with no intention of hunting and only shot the javelina because I was in view of the side by side when I came across it. The whole thing didn't add more than a minute or 2 of getting back to my friend. I guess the shot echoed down the canyon and his first words when I got back were "tell me that was your shot". We are still friends.

    • Like 5

  9. I was able to fill my tag on day 4 in 19b this year. Typically I apply for a tag for ham and always pickup a leftover rifle tag. With my kids schedule this year, I opted for just one hunt so I decided on the rifle hunt. I had a good buddy from Prescott also apply and was drawn. On day 4 of the hunt, we were struggling and not seeing much sign. We decided to walk a long canyon that ended in a tank close to a road. After walking almost 2 miles up the canyon we had discovered pig caves, fresh bedding areas and hidden water with sign. We knew we were getting close. My buddy was in the bottom of the canyon and I was on the rim. I pointed out another hole which I thought was a pig cave and my buddy, in the bottom investigated. As he was climbing the side of the canyon  a rock slipped and he went tumbling down. His leg caught another rock and bent a way no leg should go and I heard a loud crack. After his initial panic, he scrambled and straitened his leg back to its natural position. I scaled down to him. Only a 15 foot deep canyon with deep walls. After a while we decided to try and see if we could at least get him out of the canyon. It was a struggle but we finally did it. He could not put any weight on it without completely crumpling. He was trying to use his emptied gun as a support but it was not working so well so I decided to try and use my saw and make a crutch out of some deadwood near by. It actually worked pretty good and were able to get up and out of the canyon the rest of the way. I told him to stay put and I would try and get my side by side as close to him as possible. Of course we were in an area that zero cell service. I dropped everything except my rifle and a water bottle and headed back to the vehicle. As I got to within 200 yards of the side by side I came across a javi herd working their way up the canyon. I aimed on the lead pig and dropped it in its tracks. I quickly threw it over my shoulder and got back to the gator. I was able to find a small 2 track that got me close to my friend and off roaded another couple hundred yards to get to within about 100 yards of him. By this time, a lot of pain had subsided and we were able to get him to the gator with the aid of the crutch. A heck of a hunt and a humbling experience. My friend is a combat marine who did 2 tours in Afghanistan and a loose rock turned a short hike in gentle terrain into quite an ordeal. I learned his leg didn't break but dislocated and tore tendons and ligaments which need to be repaired. After this hunt I have decided to buy a spot gps. 

    PXL_20240226_194739832.PORTRAIT.jpg

    PXL_20240226_190533744.jpg

    • Like 12
    • Wow! 4

  10. On 2/13/2024 at 8:19 AM, maximus said:

    i see a lot of high end cars with Montana plates around.

    I met a man in lake Havasu with a Ferrari with Montana plates. I asked him where in Montana he was from as I have family in the Bitterroot. He said he has never even been to the state. He said he formed an LLC in Montana and had a dealer up there order the car for him and bought it under the LLC . Said he saved 30k in sales tax plus much cheaper registration.

    • Like 1

  11. On 10/16/2023 at 9:52 PM, wildwoody said:

    Awesome can't wait until my mule deer and antilope hunt by Sundance next fall. Impressive packer you have there. Memories

    Best of luck to you! The north east corner is so underrated! Most of the out of staters here are from the east, and complain about bad luck but never get more than half a mile from an easy access point. 


  12. Well today is the last day of our hunt here in Wyoming. Missed a whitetail doe a couple nights ago, and had the opportunity at a muley buck and whitetail buck on public, but we didn't have a buck tag. Spent much of the mid-day hours fishing and having fun. I always try and keep it fun with my son and not burn him out. Today after fishing, we were driving back into the ranch we stay at and saw one lone yearling doe on the property. We were able to sneak around the horse barn without her seeing us and made a 100 yard shot. 3 for 3 on antelope tags this year. 

    PXL_20231020_174155705.jpg

    PXL_20231020_173650083.jpg

    PXL_20231018_141719181.jpg

    PXL_20231018_165350017.jpg

    • Like 11

  13. Well Wyoming provided again this year on my annual hunt with my son. Shot a pretty decent buck opening morning about 9 am. I have found a few places that hold antelope in this northeast poverty unit and have been slowly gaining knowledge as to their behavior when pressured. My son an I hiked in 4 miles before the sun rose and sat a fence line that backed private. I knew this was a popular escape route when the shooting starts. Well at about 9 am, an outfitter with a client on the private bumped a herd right across the fence in front of us. I drew two additional doe tags and as soon as I shot the buck, I turned to my son and asked if I should shoot a doe. He say heck ya so I shot a doe as well. Probably not the smartest move 4 miles from the truck but it was good to have 2 tags filled opening morning. We took some pics and I began cutting them up. I considered bringing my pack frame but just opted for my lighter badlands super day. Well I pushed that pack to the absolute max and was able to get both boned antelope and my rifle strapped on. My son had to carry every other thing we had in his pack. We arrived back at the truck right at sun down. Today was cutting and grinding meat. Snuck out this evening looking for a whitetail doe but no luck. 

    PXL_20231015_213202016.jpg

    PXL_20231015_160256237.jpg

    PXL_20231015_194352831.jpg

    • Like 19

  14. I was able to take this absolute behemoth of a bear this morning. I typically hunt the spring but due to the shortened season, late winter moisture and cool temps, I was not able to turn a bear up. I had hesitations about hunting higher elevations in the oaks due the great crop of prickly pear not far away at lower elevation. Well I'm glad I stuck with my original plan. 

    PXL_20231007_173056500.jpg

    • Like 25
    • Love 1
    • Wow! 4
×