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mp_moody

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Everything posted by mp_moody

  1. mp_moody

    Montana mule deer hunt

    My buddies and I decided to change things up this year. We applied and were successfully drawn for Montana's general deer hunt, whitetail or mule deer. Our party had a total of six tags. We were told upon arrival that it would be a hard hunt due to high whitetail mortality rates from "blue tongue." Four of us, including myself, wanted mule deer while the other two wanted whitetail. We spent the week hunting private land, primarily cattle ranches, near Cascade in the central part of Montana. I came into this hunt thinking it would be a turkey shoot...my buddy and his father hunted this same property last November and got a tall 3x4 mule deer and an 11 point whitetail...never again will I be that naive. Here's Cody's whitetail taken on Saturday morning at 400 yards: He was with at least a pair of eight points. Two of our party tagged out with fork mulies (no pics) on Monday and Tuesday morning. On Monday morning I had a stalk on a nice eight point whitetail spoiled by a doe, then later had a 4x4 mulie stop at 300 yards before ending up in the adjacent property. Monday evening I had a tall ten point whitetail at 500 yards, silhouted on a ridgeline for at least twenty minutes. He got spooked when a herd of ~25 pronghorn fed onto my position. I never saw him again. Tuesday morning we got to my spot late after signing in with another land owner. I had two good eight point whitetail feeding within 450 yards of my position, but I was unsure of my ability and did not pull the trigger. Aaron's mulie, taken Tuesday evening: The genetics for this property aren't the greatest. Cody's buck last year was taller but just as narrow; a few hundred yards across the property line and on a steep ridge we did spot a nasty toad that would rival a Kaibab buck. However, this mature beast doesn't ever leave the area. Only the younger bucks wander across the barbed wire fence and get whacked. Wednesday morning the weather was much warmer but it was miserably windy. Cody and I sat on the waterhole I'd seen all of my whitetail deer on until well after sunrise. It was during this time I began to realize that I might have to eat an out of state Montana deer tag. Minutes from me thinking about packing up, out of nowhere a buck rose up from his bed not 400 yards below us. I decided with two days left on this hunt I needed to pull the trigger: He turned out to be a mule deer with giant fork antlers! I was shocked when we finally got to him, I was sure he was an eight point whitetail! The shot that counted ended up being textbook, just behind the shoulder at a cool 700 yards. Regardless, I am absolutely thrilled with this trophy. Later that afternoon the last guy with a tag got his mulie: 3x3 with an eyeguard. Did I mention that this was Matt's first deer, and that he shot him on his own on a brand new part of the property no one else had hunted yet? Here are four of our racks, looking out of our cabin's window which overlooks the Missouri River: I'd probably do it again. The cost was substantial for me, who is used to purchasing left over tags for southern AZ coues hunts and living off of cheap camp food and beer for a week at a time, but the hunting experience I gained and the good times had can't be beat. I participated in five deer drags (instead of quartering out a deer you just gut it and drag), got stepped on by a pronghorn, saw a wolverine, and caught some giant brown trout out of the Missouri at 30 degrees. Next year I'm going to apply for the antelope draw as well. I saw at least a couple hundred of those white goats. Now to prepare for my desert archery next month...I have no idea what I'm doing but I know it will be just as fun.
  2. mp_moody

    46 Rail Camo

    All of your posts are shilling for this company? Hmm...
  3. mp_moody

    Unit 29 forcast

    There are none in 29... ;-) The last time I hunted 29 we had thunderstorms roll in on the Monday following the early rifle opener. My rain gear was back at camp because it had been 90 degrees and sunny the whole weekend. It was a long two miles back down the mountain to my truck.
  4. mp_moody

    FLORIDA MOUNTAINS IBEX HUNT (VIDEO)

    Great video, but I'm not sure if I can wait a week for the next video. Too much suspense!
  5. mp_moody

    .223 reloads gone bad Help

    Interesting. Can you give us a lot code for those primers? I use Wolf small rifle primers exclusively with my 5.56 loads and have never had any issues with them. Currently have ~2000 rounds loaded up and am sitting on another ~3000 primers.
  6. mp_moody

    Florida Mountains Ibex Hunt!!!!

    I watched both videos. What an incredibly awesome yet heartbreaking hunt! Can't wait for video and pics from the next one.
  7. mp_moody

    Camping in Unit 29

    I've hunted and camped in Horseshoe Canyon in 29 three or four times now and have never had any issues. Nothing at night, nothing disturbed in camp while we are out. Only time we ever saw BP is in the first mile of the canyon.
  8. mp_moody

    5BS Bull...Lost? or Found?

    What part of 5BS (PM if necessary)? I'll probably be up there tomorrow checking my trail cams.
  9. mp_moody

    heard alot of bugles in Unit 1 this weekend

    Heard a lone bugle in 5BN a few weeks ago and one bugle yesterday in 5BS.
  10. mp_moody

    Opening weekend Flagstaff area

    I was up in 5BS from Saturday evening until Monday night scouting some elk. Jumped a really nice 4x4 midday Sunday. This is the best buck I've seen in that unit, but the sample size is four. Saw a kid headed home on the 17 just south of flag with a wide 4x4 in the back of his pickup. Makes me want to pick up a bow.
  11. mp_moody

    20b bear

    Game and Fish captured a bear at about 83rd and Jomax in Peoria (directly south of 20B) two years ago that had wandered down from the Bradshaws. Your best bet is probably hunting up around Crown King/Horsethief Basin like Game and Fish's website suggests. Good luck though, that sounds like a rough hunt.
  12. mp_moody

    whats the best flashlight to carry in your pack

    I use a Surefire G2 with LED head and Princeton Tech headlamp.
  13. mp_moody

    Finally found some bulls

    My buddy has a late bull hunt in 5B. We're not even sure if this spot will be open in December due to the weather, and I'm not even sure I'll be able to make it up there to help him on opening morning. I've been up there at least half a dozen times, and after three hundred pictures of cow elk and their calves we have some antlers! Thoughts?
  14. mp_moody

    Alcohol stove and GSI minimalist cookset

    I have a similar setup but use an MSR Pocket Rocket. This means I need to carry a small fuel canister (extra few ounces). Boils water much faster than alcohol stoves. Not quite as compact as your setup, but gets the job done as well.
  15. mp_moody

    Ever mess up someone's hunt?

    I was out scouting for javelina on Jan 1 a few years ago for my upcoming rifle hunt. Sat down in a good spot on a ridge and started glassing. Had a herd of stink pigs jump in front of me and run into the valley below, a few minutes later a pair of archery hunters came from the same direction the pigs had come from. I had set up maybe fifty yards from where they were beginning their stalk. Back at the truck I apologized and let them know where I'd seen other javelina in the area.
  16. mp_moody

    Revised left over tags

    I am tempted to buy a unit 29 tag. Haven't hunted down there since 2011, but dang it's tempting. My buddies and I are out of vacation time so we would be weekend warriors...
  17. mp_moody

    Suppressors allowed for hunting in Az

    Waiting on an AAC SDN6. The plan is to use it on the ARs and get my 700 threaded. I still have a few more weeks before it goes pending, then I'll be lucky to have it in time for the spring rifle javelina hunt.
  18. Got this guy at 5pm on Monday afternoon. Saw him on Saturday afternoon but didn't get a shot because he never stopped moving. This is the only pig we saw in four days of hunting. I slapped a different upper and optic on my AR (I normally don't hunt with a rifle equipped for combat), knowing I'd probably be making a helluva shot on a running pig. Jumped him out of a bedding area at twenty yards. Took one shot and he crumbled.
  19. mp_moody

    Desert Muley 29" 3x3 for my Boy!!

    Very nice buck! Dwarfs mine and is still wider than my buddy's Kaibab 4x4!
  20. mp_moody

    20B last day success!

    I realized this once I found blood. I'd hate to have to call Operation Game Thief on myself. It's a 10 power Super Sniper from SWFA (swfa.com). This rifle is my tactical paper puncher that also pulls double duty as a hunting rifle. I will most likely be going towards a lightweight sporter type in the near future. Perhaps a 4-12x scope and get the barrel turned down to a lightweight profile or fluted.
  21. mp_moody

    20B last day success!

    I headed out this morning for my old hail mary spot. I set up my trail cam in this area and got nothing but pigs and burros. It worked out for me back in February when I shot my pig on the last day of the season. I hiked about 1/4 mile down the wash before I ran out of darkness. Within five minutes of glassing, I found six does on the opposite hillside. Great success considering I hadn't seen anything in this area for the past few months. After twenty minutes, I set on down the wash to where I shot my pig. Along the way I noticed a lot more deer sign than previously. Found an old three point shed on the hillside. Jumped six pigs and messed with them for a bit. I will be back in February to tag another. Around 930 I sat down to have a snack and glass. I set up my tripod, dropped the binoculars on top, and panned to my left. The first thing I saw was a doe looking right at me not a hundred yards away. I turned my glass away, then came back to have another look. Her ears seemed longer than usual. All of a sudden it dawned on me: those aren't ears, those are antlers!!!! I tossed my binoculars aside and got my rifle set up on my pack. The next few minutes I laid there paralyzed by buck fever. In the four years I've been deer hunting I've never had a shot at a buck!!! The buck was still looking directly at me. Not the most ideal shot, but I figured at a hundred yards if I put my crosshairs on his chest the game is over. I squeezed the trigger, the rifle went off, and nothing happened. He turned around, took a few steps, then looked back at me and vanished. I gathered all my gear and sprinted over to where he was. Somewhere along the way I threw everything under a bush and ejected my brass. I crept up to where he had been standing and saw nothing. No blood, no dead deer. Further down the hillside movement caught my eye: another buck! This one was a fork. I knelt down to take a shot but the brush was too thick. He reappeared with yet another buck a hundred yards away. The fork took one look at me and bolted, the other buck stopped for a perfect broadside shot. I brought my rifle up, found him in the scope, and "click." My rifle had failed to chamber the next round from the magazine. This isn't the first time this has happened and one of my biggest complaints about the Remington 700 platform. I poked my sausage fingers into the action and got another round to feed. The next shot went just under him and kicked up a cloud of dust. Two shots and two misses. I wandered around for the next half hour looking for my gear. A coyote brown pack does a dang good job blending into the desert! I found my pack and crept to where I had last seen the bucks run off. Where I had seen them last was a huge pool of blood. That first shot had connected afterall! My worst fears were realized in the next three hours as I tracked my wounded deer for at least a mile and a half. I had failed to make a clean shot and this poor thing was suffering. It was a long process going from drop to drop. I used my water bottle to mark where the last blood was as I scouted ahead to find newer blood. It got to the point where there was blood only every dozen steps or so. I was quickly losing hope. I made my way down a steep hillside, through a small drainage, and under a tree lay my buck. He was still breathing. I had gut shot him. I put the poor guy out of his misery and got to work. It took me a few hours but I eventually got the legs in one pile and the torso in another. The first trip back to my truck was to offload my rifle and everything in my pack. I moved my truck a half mile closer. Next the torso was crammed into my tiny Kelty pack and I made the painful mile treck back down the rocky wash/canyon nightmare. I made another trip for the legs and then another for the head. This took absolutely everything I had and pushed me to my physical limit. I didn't make it back to my truck with everything until 700pm. Tomorrow I have to figure out where I'm taking the meat to be processed. For now it is sitting on ice in my garage. This is my first deer. It didn't go exactly as planned but I made sure I followed through to the end. Quick synopsis of the week: Fri-Sun in the Bumblebee/Cleator area. Saw thirty does. If there are bucks out there they are pretty well hidden. Cold. Mon: Cleator/Crown King. Cold. Tues: Humbug Creek area of Lake Pleasant. Lots of sign, some pigs, but no deer. Wed: Cleator again. Six does and three hunters. Thurs: Secret spot. Six pigs and two bucks. Success!
  22. mp_moody

    20B last day success!

    You were right. Bump for story.
  23. mp_moody

    Has anybody else had a dry spell?

    At least you are getting shots at big game animals. I killed my first big game, a javelina, back in January. I've been hunting deer and javelina for the past four years. In fact, that was the first big game animal I've taken a shot at...have yet to have a buck in my scope.
  24. mp_moody

    Toyota info needed

    Tacomaworld.com. There are some knowledgable members on there, just beware of the teenagers who think they know something.
  25. mp_moody

    20B last day success!

    Bumped to top with first report. There weren't too many hunters out there, not nearly as bad as the rifle javelina hunts.
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