Thought i would share how my 2017 big game season went. It began with antelope, now i am the kind of guy that goes out in may before the draw has even been done and the bucks are half grown and try to find the buck i want. That is the case with this guy as soon as i saw him i knew that was tho one i wanted. I know there probably could have been bigger ones around the unit but he looked plenty big to me and just had that look. Where he lived there was just a small piece of public land that bordered private that included a hay field where he spent 90% of his time. As the weeks went by and i found out i actually had the tag i began watching him and figured out that almost every night the herd would move up onto the public land in the dark and after the first couple hours of sunlight they would head down to the field for the day. When archery season opened i tried to intercept him on his travels a couple times but with little cover and soo many eyes i was unable to seal the deal. Opening day of rifle season found me walking in before sunrise to get into my ambush spot where i hoped to intercept him and hoped he was on the public land. After an hour or so i saw his unmistakeable silhouette in front of me. YES he was on the public and i was between him and his hay field. as the does started feeding my way i began to realize that maybe i put myself in too good of a spot. They fed to within 70yds and noticed me, the buck was still hidden over a slight hill and could only see a few of the does head and necks and they were getting nervous. my only chance was to raise up and shoot. When i came up they stood just long enough for me to get a shot off. Hammered Him!
Now that i got my pronghorn i had an elk tag that needed filled. I Spent most of my archery season just setting and checking cameras and trying to get an inventory of what was around. Now this is a limited quota tag that i have been more than luck enough to draw 6 times in the last 7 years at around 23% draw odds so i had a pretty good idea where the elk like to be. As the Archery season ended and rifle season rolled around i found myself out among the elk every chance i got. I passed up countless bulls looking for one of the giants i knew roamed those hills, but the days went by and nothing materialized. I often found myself getting frustrated with running into other hunters no matter how far i hiked it seemed like i couldn't out hike anyone but so goes public land hunting. The season was coming to a close and i knew it was crunch time i took friday off work which happened to be the day before the season ended. i knew where i could find an elk and i knew it was going to be a hike so off i went! After getting there and seeing that the herd was on private land i dropped my head and started back for the truck. As i was walking back i saw this little finger that looked promising so i started up it. I only made it a couple hundred yards into it and as soon as i could see the bottom i saw a bull jogging up the middle headed for timber. i quickly got set up and stopped him and sent one down range. it hit home! I was so excited! he was not the giant i set out for but a solid bull none the less.When i walked up to him it hit home just how far i was from the truck. Luckily i was able to get some good friends to help me get him out. It took all day and ended up being 11.9 miles round trip but we got him out of there.
Now i got my antelope and my elk, only a general deer tag left in my pocket with 1 day left in the season for me to hunt. During my search for an elk i had been seeing some decent mule deer so i knew where to spend the one day i had. While hiking in to where i wanted to be i looked across the draw on the opposite hill and saw a buck staring at me. I could tell he wasn't as big as some i had been seeing but he was a lot closer to the truck. As i sat there i knew he wasn't gonna give me a whole lot of time to decide and as he was about to blow out i decided to put him down.
This was the first year i found out how to take a picture using the 10 second timer on my phone boy is that a challenge! but i think they turned out alright!
Now that i got my pronghorn i had an elk tag that needed filled. I Spent most of my archery season just setting and checking cameras and trying to get an inventory of what was around. Now this is a limited quota tag that i have been more than luck enough to draw 6 times in the last 7 years at around 23% draw odds so i had a pretty good idea where the elk like to be. As the Archery season ended and rifle season rolled around i found myself out among the elk every chance i got. I passed up countless bulls looking for one of the giants i knew roamed those hills, but the days went by and nothing materialized. I often found myself getting frustrated with running into other hunters no matter how far i hiked it seemed like i couldn't out hike anyone but so goes public land hunting. The season was coming to a close and i knew it was crunch time i took friday off work which happened to be the day before the season ended. i knew where i could find an elk and i knew it was going to be a hike so off i went! After getting there and seeing that the herd was on private land i dropped my head and started back for the truck. As i was walking back i saw this little finger that looked promising so i started up it. I only made it a couple hundred yards into it and as soon as i could see the bottom i saw a bull jogging up the middle headed for timber. i quickly got set up and stopped him and sent one down range. it hit home! I was so excited! he was not the giant i set out for but a solid bull none the less.When i walked up to him it hit home just how far i was from the truck. Luckily i was able to get some good friends to help me get him out. It took all day and ended up being 11.9 miles round trip but we got him out of there.
Now i got my antelope and my elk, only a general deer tag left in my pocket with 1 day left in the season for me to hunt. During my search for an elk i had been seeing some decent mule deer so i knew where to spend the one day i had. While hiking in to where i wanted to be i looked across the draw on the opposite hill and saw a buck staring at me. I could tell he wasn't as big as some i had been seeing but he was a lot closer to the truck. As i sat there i knew he wasn't gonna give me a whole lot of time to decide and as he was about to blow out i decided to put him down.
This was the first year i found out how to take a picture using the 10 second timer on my phone boy is that a challenge! but i think they turned out alright!
