kazpilot25

I'm sending in an app today. I'm just putting my normal unit (that usually has leftovers) and hoping for the best.

Well I just got back from a weekend of hunting unit 10 with a buddy who had a late archery cow tag. This was my first time hunting in unit 10, so it was a bit of a learning experience. We got up there Thursday evening and headed out to the hills. It was muddy. Thursday I glassed up a total of 13 deer, but no elk. Friday morning at first light we glassed up a herd of elk at just under 1 mile out. There were a total of 2 bulls and 8 cows, which was perfect. We put together a plan and hiked in to them. We got to about 130 yards from where we expected them to be and sure enough they were right there feeding in the open. They were on the edge of some thick cover and working towards it. We decided we would loop out in front of them, and wait for them to pass in the cover. Bad idea. We looped a bit too far and they went behind us. We searched for them the rest of the day, glassing, following their trail, but to no avail. Saturday morning I woke up with a gnarly stomach bug and was down for the count. I was bed ridden for the rest of the weekend and that was the end of the trip for me. In total I glassed up over 50 deer on Friday, which I found funny as I've heard a lot of people say that unit 10 doesn't have very many deer. One herd I glassed up was 13 deer with at least 5 bucks. Interesting. Thanks to everyone who helped me out with some pointers on this one, it was much appreciated.

Apparently this is going to be complicated as they accept applications by mail Monday, but don't have a list of leftovers yet. Sounds about par for the course.

Awesome bulls. And everyone says those late archery hunts are for suckers.

I have the Sitka Jetstream jacket and use Under Armour base layers. It's great because there is no bulk at all and I feel like I can move easily and freely. Depending on which base layer level I choose, I can stay as warm as I want. I have only used the UA 4.0 once, and I got way too hot, and that was in 13 degree weather. I typically run the 2.5 or 3.0 in cold weather.

Get high and glass hard. Lots of good advice here. Make a list and check it twice. Don't forget your tag.

The bulls looked good, a little narrow, but overall pretty good.

Good luck guys. There are some toads out there this year.

Solid. Good job!

That's awesome. Congrats to you and your kids.

Whoa! Those are some awesome bucks. Congrats.

Man that is a great ROBO decoy the G&F has in that video. I'm kind of impressed. I honestly have no problem with this program, if you catch poachers or guys breaking the laws, great!

I went through the same thing you did when I first started out. I started with some cheap bushnell binos, then got the vortex diamondback 10x50, then the Vortex Viper 15x50, then the Vortex Kaibab 15x56 before finally getting the Swarovski 15x56. Comparing the diamondback to the viper is a pretty big difference, but that being said, I did not really like the viper binoculars. They were not nearly as bright or clear or colorful as I'd like. The kaibab's are ok, but at that price you can do better. The clarity around the edges is pretty bad, which is why I upgraded to the swaros. It was driving me nuts. If I were you, I'd get a new pair of the Vortex Razor HD 12x50 or buy those Euro HD 12x50 in the classifieds. If you shop around you can get the Razor HD for around or just under $1000. Good luck.

Congrats.

This pretty much sums it up.

Opening morning… Got up at 4AM, had a breakfast burrito and a cup of orange juice and headed up the mountain. Got to the spot I decided to hunt opening morning well before sunrise. My buddy and I started unloading our gear from the truck and getting ready for the hike in. There was another truck that came in behind us and parked a couple hundred yards back overlooking a big tank. As we started the hike in, a UTV with big led light bar blazing/blinding came and pulled right up to us. I approached them and asked, “what’s going on?”, they proceed to ask “are you guys hunting in this area?” Well of course we are, what else would we be doing? After a little conversation they move on and drive back down the hill to a different area. I found it a bit strange they would even come up and ask, but at least they understood we were there first and moved on. After hiking in and getting setup before sun up, we were ready. As the sun came up, the opportunity for another hunt down in 36B began. Glassing the hill at first light was something I’d been waiting for. As the sun started beaming light on the hillside, little coues deer began to appear. The grass was DEEP, like chest high deep. As the deer walked around you could see their heads, and that’s about it. First we spotted a few spikes and a couple forkies, then a few does. The hill was coming alive. Then from behind the spikes came what looked like a nice big buck. I was setup at 580 yards, and got him in my scope. Just as I setup the shot, he went behind a tree. Waiting for him to come out the other side seemed like it was taking forever. After a few minutes I got back on the binos and saw the spikes, forkies, and does cresting over the top of the hill to the shady side. Big buck was not to be seen. I assumed he bedded down below the tree as I never saw him come out. With that in mind, we moved closer. As we moved closer and over a couple ridges to get a better view and a closer shot if it presented itself, we ranged it at 280 yards. Still not able to see the buck, we waited. He bedded down at about 6:30am and by 10:30am I started having my doubts that he was even there. Without seeing a simple ear flick or any sign of a deer in the shade of the tree, I really had to trust what I saw earlier, and believe that he was there. Then at about 10:45 he stood up, not exactly where I thought he was, but a little lower in the shadow of the tree, right at the base of the trunk. As he stood there, his head came out the left side of the tree and his butt out the right side. His vitals were perfectly blocked by the tree. As quickly as he stood up, he laid back down and disappeared into the grass. Now I knew for a fact he was there, and the waiting game began. Over the next 4 hours he would stand up with the tree blocking his vitals, every hour for about 30 seconds, almost to tease me. It got to the point where I was starting to wonder if he would ever step out from behind the tree, or if I was going to have to try a head shot. At about 2:30 he stood up, and took a half step forward. It seemed like this may be the best chance I’d have, so I lined up the shot and let the 145 grain LRX fly. Hit. Deer down. After hiking up the steep hill to get to him I quickly realized this was going to be A LOT of work getting him out of there. It was either down the steep hill and a half mile uphill back to the truck, or up the hill, then back down and up a couple others to the road behind. We opted for the latter option. Took about 2 hours to hike that bad boy out of there, and was completely exhausting. We got back to camp and skinned him with the truck (Golf ball trick), and butchered him out. We had some excellent back straps for dinner! Nothing quite like the glorious taste of success. The next day we still had to one more tag to fill. Glassed all around all day and spotted about 46 does/fawns. At about sunset I glassed a nice big 4x4 on the top of a hill about 450 yards away. The sun was setting fast and we couldn’t get in on him fast enough. Tried to get back on him the next morning, but he gave us the ‘ole sliparoo. It was time to pack up camp and head back home to the families. What a great trip!

Do it yourself or use Casey's. Casey is awesome.

That is a savage beast! Congrats to the hunter on that one. I'm jealous.

Yes it was. That was a tough hunt with that crazy grass. Even when they were feeding they'd occasionally vanish into it.

Good luck. That's a fun unit.

Thanks! Not a gridspotter. Never heard of that before.

We've got a monster buck bedded down at 280 yards. Bedded him at 550 yards at 6 am. Worked in to this spot. Waiting for him to stand to put him down.

Sorry for the delay guys. Ended up taking forever to get him out of there and then tried to fill another tag for a friend. As you know, service is spotty down there with AT&T. Here's a pic. Wasn't the monster I thought it was, but still pretty good. Story to come.

Nailed him. Had a long him/drag out of there. Pictures coming soon.

Grass is too tall to take him in his bed. He gets up for about 10 seconds every hour but is behind a tree. Just playing a waiting game. Literally when he beds he vanishes.