My name is Todd and I, along with my wife and 3 sons, are currently from northwest MN. Grew up hunting local game (whitetail (mostly archery), ducks, pheasants, & ruffed grouse) and fishing (mainly walleye) a good chunk of the MN lakes. Ran FLW walleye fishing circuit a few years but gave that up to spend more time and money out west.
My western hunting experience began in the mid-90's taking a pronghorn and muley in western ND. Wanting to share these experiences with my kids before the time gets away, in 2007 I purchased a WY cow/calf tag for my oldest son (14yo). We drove off to unit 28 and had no idea what we were doing or what to expect. We worked hard, got further from the roads, and managed to bag a nice cow elk at 350 yds after receiving a general tip from a local to try an area further south about 7 miles. Can't thank him enough! My son was elated and we were both hooked on elk and what the great mountain states have to offer.
Since then, we've put in 3 years DIY public archery elk hunts in south-central ID and have had an absolute blast even though not harvesting an animal yet. (Had a 7x7 at 80 yards once but couldn't close the deal.) Tough hunts but great learning experiences. Our new English Setter pup has given us more excuses to head west as well. We had a memorable trip in September to NE MT for sharptail. Wife and two sons shot their 1st-ever game birds over some good dog work from a 7-month-old pup, so that was pretty special.
Anyways, these forums and you folks that are willing to share information to people such as myself is an invaluable resource. We love to hunt and enjoy figuring that part out ourselves; but getting pointed in the right direction, sharing knowledge and experience about units and how things work is sure a great help to those of us coming from a great distance. Thanks for that!
My sons and I have built up 5 PP's in WY and have been reading, watching videos, researching, studying maps, and etc. for many years waiting for the time we would start putting in for a tag. The time is getting close! Our plans are to begin this year on cow tags in an area we have in mind for future archery hunts. Still trying to figure it out on our own but at some point I'll definitely have to ask some questions to more knowledgable folks.
Thanks again!
Todd
My western hunting experience began in the mid-90's taking a pronghorn and muley in western ND. Wanting to share these experiences with my kids before the time gets away, in 2007 I purchased a WY cow/calf tag for my oldest son (14yo). We drove off to unit 28 and had no idea what we were doing or what to expect. We worked hard, got further from the roads, and managed to bag a nice cow elk at 350 yds after receiving a general tip from a local to try an area further south about 7 miles. Can't thank him enough! My son was elated and we were both hooked on elk and what the great mountain states have to offer.
Since then, we've put in 3 years DIY public archery elk hunts in south-central ID and have had an absolute blast even though not harvesting an animal yet. (Had a 7x7 at 80 yards once but couldn't close the deal.) Tough hunts but great learning experiences. Our new English Setter pup has given us more excuses to head west as well. We had a memorable trip in September to NE MT for sharptail. Wife and two sons shot their 1st-ever game birds over some good dog work from a 7-month-old pup, so that was pretty special.
Anyways, these forums and you folks that are willing to share information to people such as myself is an invaluable resource. We love to hunt and enjoy figuring that part out ourselves; but getting pointed in the right direction, sharing knowledge and experience about units and how things work is sure a great help to those of us coming from a great distance. Thanks for that!
My sons and I have built up 5 PP's in WY and have been reading, watching videos, researching, studying maps, and etc. for many years waiting for the time we would start putting in for a tag. The time is getting close! Our plans are to begin this year on cow tags in an area we have in mind for future archery hunts. Still trying to figure it out on our own but at some point I'll definitely have to ask some questions to more knowledgable folks.
Thanks again!
Todd
