Down here in SW Colorado, rut hasn't started yet last evening there were 30+ does were in my yard and 3 young bucks (spike & 2 forkies) with them. No interest in the does yet and no big bucks yet. Still pretty warm. With full moon coming up, things might change any day.
I replaced a .300 Wby that I ruined (I posted about it's demise) with another rifle in the same caliber, so I had plenty of brass, powder, bullets and primers. Pretty lucky as my original load shoots pretty well in the new Ruger.
About 2 months ago I bought a new elk/moose rifle. I bought a Number 1B Ruger in .300 Weatherby. I mounted a 4 x 14 VXIII Leupold on it. It has beautiful wood on it and it shoots really well. Need to get some shooting done, but I'll be using it this year.
Many years ago I shot one like that (he was not as knarly as this one) all in the velvet and points sticking everywhere. He was a stag...no balls.
That is one huge, knarly buck , congrats.
Spent most of the day in the unit Winchester and I are hunting 4th season. Saw a few deer (a couple of bucks) and a few elk. The one thing that struck me is how warm and dry it is. Today the temps were in the 50's, which is really warm for this time of year. Saw a little water in the stock...
Leaving in the morning to scout (again) the units Winchester and I will hunt deer and elk in 4th season. Between seasons and should be pretty calm there now.
Sorry dude, but I have hunted California since 1950 and it used to have great big game hunting. Look at my profile and the pictures I have posted, all of the bucks came from California. I have shot over 50 deer in California. My Dad taught hunter safety for 50 years and I taught with him for 15...
A few suggestions.
I moved to Colorado 21 years ago and faced the same thing you are looking at. As soon as you relocate, get you driver's license. You need to live in Colorado 6 months before you are considered a "resident" for hunting & fishing licenses. They go by when your drivers license...
Colorado's big game are managed by unit. The state is divided up into what are called GMU's (game management units) and the units have their own tags (their are some statewide tags too) and bag limits and tags available. there are some landowner tags, but requirements are pretty strict as to how...
California does not have any requirement for hunter orange. Hunter there for 50 years and never had a problem. When I started hunting Colorado it was hard to get used to the "orange army". Hunted lots in Wyoming too, they only required an orange hat.
I havn't hunted Utah in years and never for elk so I don't have a feel for what currently is happening. I do keep up with the comments here on the Forum. The first thing that strikes me is Utah jumping on the bandwagon and potentially joining the states that SELL points. I f it happens, Utah...