elkhunter

My son has 4 bps for elk. Last year unit 22 youth cow had a bonus pass of 3 bps and unit 23 had a bonus pass of 4 bps. I put him in for 22 1st choice and 23 second choice (no reason for the second choice as I was sure he would draw 22 in the bonus pass). Draw results were posted and my son drew second choice unit 23 tag #17. I’m in a similar boat, trying to figure out what happened and what to do in the future

We had a tougher than usual day on this hunt. Friday we glassed all day without any breaks, didn't see any pigs early on but found flocks of turkeys, mule deer and coues deer everywhere. About 4:30pm Friday I was able to glass up a herd 3 miles out. I knew there were hunters about 1000 yards from the herd but it didn't look like they have seen em yet. We drove a bit closer and started the mile hike to the herd. We only need to crest one more ridge to see the herd and try to get a shot when we heard 4 gunshots. Guess the hunters did find the pigs or another hunter did. We stood there to check for any pigs running in our direction and no luck. We started the long hike back to the ranger and when we were about 500 yards away we got a strong whiff of the javelina skunk smell. We stopped and I looked around and found a group of 4 trotting up a hill side. It was almost sunset so we started moving quickly to cut them off and we were able to get to 75 yards. I told my wife to shoot the last pig in the group and this guy took the bullet without moving much. Stood for 10 seconds with broken shoulders and lung shot. He was a tank of a javelina, he ate well!

Awesome congrats. That's on my to do list. How accurate is that 50 hawken?

I'm sure no one cares but here's the story 👍. Friday we had no school so my son and I headed out and I'm the last person with a HAM tag. We didn't see any javelina all day and about 80 coues deer and 6 bucks. We covered tons of country and got chased by some angry cows with newborns. We saw a hog nosed skunk in the day time and I'm sure it had rabies the way it was moving around. Sunday I headed out with my sister and pops, same thing as Friday, we didn't see diddly squat in the morning. If we were lucky we would have found 5 herds the way we glassed. About noon we were ready to have lunch and I decided to check out some north facing slopes before eating. I was able to glass up a herd of javelina bedded down. I was able to sneak in above the herd about 80 yards. I wanted to use the pistol but the pigs got up and started moving around and I couldn't find a clear lane to shoot so I used the muzzleloader. I was able to get a 49 yard shot on this nice size male.

Friday my son and I were unable to go out. My dad went out with my mom. After a few hours of not seeing anything, my mom glassed up a herd with her chest binos. She does not hunt she tags along on some hunts and does not glass for anything except for cows and predatory birds. Once the herd was spotted the pigs bedded down and they were able to get in to 120 yards and he took this nice sow. Saturday my son had a flag football game in the snow, he got to play in 2 inches and had a good ole time and his team got beat badly. The weather was not good for us to go out in the sloppy muddy conditions. Sunday Colby and I headed out in the dark and his hunt was similar to his junior hunt. We were glassing far out 1-3 miles and we weren't seeing anything. Right below us at the glassing spot, a herd of javelina popped out feeding at 220 yards. We snuck in to 96 yards and he laid the hammer on this pig. Blew out the right shoulder taking all critical organs out. We were able to cut up the pig and get back home just in time for the super bowl game. I'll be headed out next weekend to try my luck.

Colby had 3 bps going into this draw and drew tag #1 for his multi unit hunt. This week we double checked the rifle and shooting strategies and started putting gear together. I let him choose where he wanted to start opening day, he picked the farthest unit and the farthest part away from home. This morning we left the house, made a lucky superstitious stop at a gas station for his doughnuts and hit the road. When we got to the first glassing spot, we couldn’t see crap. The fog was pretty good this morning. We spent 45 minutes watching funny videos and listening to music while the sun killed the fog. We glassed for an hour, didn’t see any pigs moving but coues were in full rut. We moved to our second glassing spot. After a while we got lucky and spotted pigs below us 300 yards away feeding in the oaks. We grabbed our gear and when we got to 220 yards, Colby said he can make the shot. I’d like him to get 150 or so but he was confident. We got the rifle set up and he got on the larger boar right away. After a few practice squeezes he felt ready and let the rifle bark. The pig hit the ground hard on the quartering to shot (messy gutting job). This boar had some age and stink to him. We took our time, cleaned the pig and took pictures. We picked up some roadside burritos and hit the road on the way home.

My wife and I got tags together this year for the same hunt for the first time. We were real excited for this hunt, more than usual. Opening day I spotted her buck 2100 yards out and figured he was a mid 80’s buck. We kept an eye on him every 5 minutes to see where he beds down. While keeping tabs on him we saw 10 other bucks but nothing worth chasing after. Once her buck bedded down under a tree, we marked the spot and started the stalk. We snuck into 330 yards and the rest is history. The buck had a bigger body than we thought and scored right at 90. We had a long pack-out back to the ranger and feeling the aches and soreness today. Over the next few days we looked over 30 bucks or so. I was looking for a 4+ year old buck (secretly trying to beat my wifes buck!) I didn’t have any luck. Monday morning came and I spotted a big 2x2 buck that we have seen maybe 8 times and never gave chase to him. He bedded down during grey light and the wife and I took off. We snuck into 380 yards and waited about an hour for him to stand up and the hunt was done. My buddy Christian showed up to help out with the morning Monday hunt, he carried out some weight which was nice! Thanks amigo! Overall deer movement was phenomenal even with the full moon. The freezer is full with our bucks and my sons junior buck. We’ll definitely put in together again next year.

Opening day took us a while to find some pigs. We spent most of the morning looking over deer, the muleys were rutting while the coues were not. The first two herds we spotted were no where to be found when we got to where we last saw them. We regrouped after the two failed stalks and hit the spotter for long range glassing. It didn't take long til we spotted a third herd. The third herd stayed around long enough for my 72 year old pops to get within range. His shot was 27 yards and the sow didn't go too far.

*** Binoculars purchased for my son. Thanks to those of you guys that sent me a message!

We were excited to see that my son drew a junior deer hunt again but this time in an area we never been in. We put in some crazy hours scouting google maps and onX maps just to find an area that looks interesting. I hit up some friends that hunted the area before and they gave great advice. We did scout trips and seen 10+ bucks a day and was feeling great before the hunt. Thursday I parked right outside Colby’s school and when his bell rang, he came running out, jumped in the truck and I think I peeled out a little bit. We got to camp, my pops had things already set up and we ate dinner and were ready to roll in the morning. My son decided to go to bed at 7:30 pm which was a new thing. Opening morning was the exact opposite of scouting, basically saw a coati, 4 mule deer does, 2 small coues bucks and 5 coues does. At 10am we decided to move to glass bedding areas. Glassed for a bit and my pops and I told Colby that we have to glass at 11am, we cannot go back to camp for lunch. We told him that’s when bucks change their beds. Sure enough at 11:12 I saw a buck moving from one bed to another. Colby asked if it was bigger than his buck from last year (that’s his only goal, to get something bigger than his last buck)I said yes and he said game on. We waited til the buck bedded down again and made our move. Colby is real confident under 300 yards so we snuck in to 267 yards and the only place we could find a lane to shoot in was out in the open field. No shade, just dirt and sun and no wind. We waited 3 hours and 12 minutes and when the buck was ready he stood up, the buck was quartering towards us and Colby put a bullet behind his shoulder and the bullet went all the way to his opposite side rump. The buck hunched up, went a few steps and rolled down the mountain. Turns out that this buck is real old, can’t imagine how many lions, bears and hunters he evaded the last 9-10 years. Had some giant hooves and teeth were won down pretty good. We hung around the area for a few more days glassing, saw plenty of bucks but nothing in this caliber and headed back home today.

Awesome congrats, especially with a limited time too. I have a couple students prepping for state this Saturday and they are running pretty much whenever they can.

Awesome, congrats!

Good work Grandpa! Congrats the kiddo!

Congrats to both of you guys, stud buck.

Thanks everyone, I had my son read through all the comments and he enjoyed it all.

FYI we are getting him a haircut tomorrow.

Congrats on two great bulls.

Congrats again, well done.

Ribeye and long rice

Congrats Christian!

Last tag for javelina this year. We had some bad winds this week after my wife killed on Friday. I spent the last 4 days wondering if I forgot what a javelina looks like in the binos. My son and I went out everyday after school with no luck. We put on some good miles hiking and glassed til dark each day. Yesterday evening we got an email from the school district that we have a snow day and there’s no school on Thursday. So this morning we booked out for a last day of the season hunt. The morning portion ended up seeing diddly squat. I remembered that last Saturday I spotted a herd 3 miles out but I had no idea how to get there and couldn’t landmark the area. We watched a young lady stalk that herd but couldn’t tell if she harvested anything. When I was running out of options today, We decided to head there and see if we could pick up the herd. I glassed up a single pig moving in a wash bed and we gave chase, got to 30-50 yards but no shots. The pig caught on that he was being chased and eventually ran off. We moved to another glassing spot close by and saw another single pig walking and we gave chase. Snuck in to 85 yards and waited for a broadside shot and got an opportunity and my son (Colby) knocked him down. I’m guessing the young lady got a shot off on Saturday since both pigs were solo and moving. This one is gonna be one of the best snow days Colby’ll have. He was ecstatic with harvesting a pig on the last day of the season. The pig was a nice sized boar 7-8 years old, real stinky. Gotta have been a breeding boar.

Sure do, I joined this site in 2004, long time ago.

The busted levee just adds another cove to the lake, the water level is still good and water is still going over the spillway.

Awesome, congrats.

Friday morning we gave chase to a herd and they totally disappeared when we got to where they were. On our hike back to the glassing spot, my dad called and he had spotted a different herd and we started walking in that direction. We had a tough time getting a clear shot in the tall grass across the canyon, so we decided to stalk the herd like we were archery hunting. A couple pigs popped out but didn’t give us a shot and after following behind the herd for 10 min, one pig decided to stop and feed giving my wife a 49 yard shot. Hopefully the video works! FullSizeRender.MOV