Hoss50

Awesomeness! Great work to all involved, and I am sure it was an amazing experience for the ladies. I am headed to 23 on Thursday for the next cow hunt. I hope to have some success like you had.

The nipple on the YouTube video for the 209 primer looks larger. Sound like you need a different nipple possibly.

The Traditions® Tracker™ 209 Muzzleloader offers accuracy and performance at an affordable price. Built to be compatible with both 209 primers and percussion musket caps, for https://www.muzzle-loaders.com/rifles/traditions-tracker-209-muzzleloader-r44003470.html

The Traditions® Tracker™ 209 Muzzleloader offers accuracy and performance at an affordable price. Built to be compatible with both 209 primers and percussion musket caps, for

209 primer?

Last year the squirrels were hanging out in the pines mostly, and you would get into pockets of them. You would see 1 or 2 here or there, and then see multiple all in 1 area.

It's bad timing, and maybe a little better planning on their part would be nice. That is what can happen when hunting public, mixed use land. It is a small price to pay for having public land to access. Hopefully they take hunting into account after your email for next year, but the land belongs to everyone, not just hunters.

Kill switch is pretty easy on most things. Or a valve on the fuel line to kill the fuel.

Call Randall's and Legendary and see. They seem to have a wide variety of different hard to find stuff.

For your late hunt dont worry to much about scouting early other than to get the lay of the land. Spend as much time up there though as you can the 2 weeks before the season. That will be way more beneficial. Find the water, the food, and travel routes. Get away from the roads, and get some elevation to glass.

I should have worded it better. I know they still have a peaks hunt or 2, but they used to have like 5 or something silly because they were trying to reduce the elk herds up there for awhile. They also lowered the number of tags on the late rifle hunts which will help a little. I like 7E, but the last hunt up there a few years ago was tough, and opportunity was pretty was scarce for us. If they keep the tags lowered and the herds start coming back I might start putting in for it again.

Be prepared to hike. Some of those cones are tall.

The late rifle can be very different than the October hunt. Weather and water have alot to do with what to expect on the December hunt. In December you won't have any bugles to chase. It will be more spot and stalk, ambush, or sit water kind of a hunt. 7E holds elk from top to bottom depending on the weather, water, pressure etc. 7E isn't an easy hunt. In fact it can be quite challenging, so don't expect an easy hunt, especially if the weather sucks. I stopped hunting 7E because the amount of elk seemed to be dropping alot. They have stopped issuing all the peaks tags though and reduced the overall amount of tags so hopefully it will pick back up.

Listen for bugles. Chase the bugles. That time of year I would expect most elk to still be up in the middle to high elevations. I would personally start my hunt up near the base of the peaks and chase bugles. Bugles will lead you to bulls who are still chasing cows.

Blackovis.com had some nice bags. I used them last year for my deer and they worked great. I bought the XL size. https://www.blackovis.com/ovis-sacks-lightweight-game-bags