Bowsite.com

It’s been a couple years since I last did a recap on Bowsite in 2017-

https://forums.bowsite.com/TF/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=470149&forum=12

And once again there was plenty of bow hunting but some rifles thrown in if it offends anyone.

I do have to say I am glad I moved to Alaska pre Covid!

To start the year off I had a hunt for Coues deer in Mexico. It was originally going to be in December but lots of rain postponed it to January. I went with my buddy Brady and we had a good price on a new ranch out of Hermosillo. I have unsuccessfully bowhunted spot and stalk for coues deer in Arizona a few times. I had killed a small 2pt buck with a rifle in AZ about 20 years ago.

Well, the weather didn't cooperate and it rained the first few days there. Makes for long boring sits at water holes! The other hunters were super slow as well. The Second to last day we set up a new ground blind at a small water hole that was getting hit. We brushed in the front we thought the deer would come from, then Brady said don't worry about the other side. I wanted to take the time but he was hungry!

The last day I sat the blind, and I see a monster buck circle around the waterhole and walk to the far side of the blind that wasn't brushed in. It came down the bank and at 45 yards facing straight at me locked onto the new blind! I had no shot as he took a step backwards and disappeared. Ugg, after a week of nothing i lost a chance at the biggest Coues I have ever seen.

Luckily not long afterwards 2 other bucks came in, a smaller 6pt and a 7pt. I had decided to shoot the first legal deer, being the last day. These young deer come into water and I pick the one broadside. I go through the draw process and settle the pin and release- I watch in horror as by arrow goes right under the buck! I used the wrong pin.

Luck was on my side. The 6pt buck that I didn't shoot at came back about 15 minutes later by himself. I took my time and made a good shot for my first Coues deer with a bow! I knew the ranch had extra deer tags so I stayed in the blind. Needless to say another small basket 8 came in about an hour later. It was at the far side of the water hole and spooky coming in. I waited it out and decided to try the shot. Not meant to be as the longer shot and jumpy buck completely jumped the string.

A coyote showed up later, and I put an arrow through it- a little back but solid hit. Pretty enjoyable for my first trip to hunt Mexico. The food is great and warm weather and Sunshine sure is a nice break from the Alaska winter!

I dropped down and dialed for the distance and hoped I was holding enough for the wind. My shot dropped her! The rest of the goats turned back momentarily not knowing what to do. My buddy was then able to connect with another. 2 goats down! The third friend was having a tough time with the snow since he weighed more and would break through. We started working on field dressing in the weather.

45 minutes later we see the 3 buddy crest the ridge. As luck would have a few new goats had feed over the top of the mountain. After a wind correction, there were 3 goats down! plenty of fun skinning out goats on a windswept hillside with 3' of snow!

Thanks for sharing,

Robb

We flew into a different spot this time and the weather forecast was much better. Once again we found some Goats from camp.

was hoping He would be back so I could get him for crashing my barrel.

I didn’t know who scary that could be til the 3rd night the bears finally showed up together right before dark. If there ever was a time I wished I had the biggest rifle in my hands that was it!

the sow came in first while the boar warily circled. They took a piece of fresh bait and quickly left. 5 minutes later they come back. It took everything I had to calm my nerves and wait for the boar to present a shot.

Finally he came into to the bait mostly broadside, slight quarter to me. I drew and settled on a spot, But then told my self Middle of the Middle is better than shoulder! I released and saw my arrow hit dead center! The boar circled and ran down hill, the sow busted out thankfully straight away from me and I started shaking!!

It was getting close to midnight and a light drizzle was falling. There was no way I was going to spend another night solo in that blind or go after a bow shot Brown bear by myself in the dark ??. So I quickly bailed out the blind and made it to my truck and home.

I was relieved when my friend found some evidence- the back 6” of my arrow witch was crunched

Not more than 20 yards I hear my buddies shout There it is! The bear had rolled up under a log dead! I can’t describe my emotions at finding the bear. I’m sure many bow hunters have spent a night not knowing if they would recover such a great animal. Also all the time over the past several years to finally get the chance to arrow a big boar. On top of that the sleep deprivation over the past several days and the emotional release of it being successfully over!!

I recall at the shot it appeared the arrow went all the way in- the bear did a 180 and we found the vanes about 20 yds down the trail. The arrow must have pushed back out enough for the boar to bite it. then the bear took off again and this time the rest of the shaft and Broadhead worked its way in deeper to the opposite ham with every move until it came to the far hide. That’s like 3-4’ of penetration and the bear died close. Pretty good hemorrhage all along the path of the Broadhead- still very sharp!

you can see where we found the arrow in this pic

The two new baits were looking good for bears and Caleb was very patient as a good friend to not let anyone hunt them until his friends got their bears first. It did make for a lot of dog food runs til they came ??

First up was Braden with his 1st bear ever!

He made a great shot and also got his first bear! A nice boar. Justus is my son’s best friend and was like another son when we lived back in Colorado. Great kid an I’m glad I let Caleb bring him along hunting with us that first time. (They doubled up on cow elk )

His first opportunity came and missed low. pretty nerve racking for him

This is what happened next- shot high!

2 days before opener we get to the area in the evening and start glassing. We unexpectedly turned up two rams on a mountain the opposite way we were planning to go. From the distance we couldn’t tell if they were legal or not, so decided to sleep on it and see if they were still there in the morning

I’m not that confident so prefer obviously legal to a Squeaker!

The challenge is always keeping track of the sheep while trying to circle around or above. We would loose sight of them for at least a few hours while packing in.

Luckily we relocated them on the climb, but also spotted other hunters on the mountain. That’s sheep opener in Alaska! OTC crowds like the L48.

we watched the sheep all day trying to make a call. By that evening I couldn’t say it was legal to me but Caleb and Justus were saying they were confident it was 8! One ram was bigger and more mass than the other

Needless to say we packed up and decided to head down and go to the original area to hunt. On the way down we spotted a black bear. The year before I had my camp destroyed by a bear during midday- so I shot it. Having 5 bear tags each and no meat salvage required in the fall I prefer to shoot the bears. Caleb was up to make the long shot ranged at 580. I sort of look at these black bears like coyotes, and we get plenty of tags every year and season open year round.

This time weather didn’t want to cooperate. It’s mid August and we get snow, fog and wet. Have to set up the tents to get out of the blowing freezing rain and snow. We give it a couple of days hiking over ridges looking for a legal ram. With the added freezing wet conditions some of these ridges are sketchy dangerous! We also would see other hunters on most other ridges - OTC public walk-in sheep is just like any other Western hunt! Part of it is dealing with the pressure!

But I did get extremely lucky and the last evening found some sheep. They were a ways off but looked like a couple mature rams. It would take at least a day and lots of prep to get to them. Oh well what are the chances they would even be there when I finally had time to hunt them?

I once read a quote - "When your kids turn out well the rest of your problems will fit into a thimble." It looks like yall have done well with your boys.

I went back to where I had spotted the band of sheep with my family two weeks earlier- and of all miracles they were still there!!! I can prepared this time to cross the River and work out an access plan depending on winds. It would take a lot of work but sheep usually don’t come easy. I had to back track a bunch to a spot I could launch my inflatable, float down the River .

Half a day later I relocated the rams and now how to bushwhack up and around the mountain. Uphill against alders is the worst! Always sketchy crossing rockslides in the cold shadows, and as evening came I finally reached the summit with my legs cramping. Finding Water is a limiting factor staying up high, but I got lucky with a good spring. With the sun setting I looked over the ridge where I had last seen the rams.... and they were gone. After changing angles I found the band of sheep in the opposite slope feeding away into the sun set about 600 yds. I got my spotter on them hoping to be able to tell if there was a legal ram- two were close on length, and one was broomed. On one side and short on the other. Stressful call to make at this distance and low light, so I would half to wait til morning to get closer and a better look.

I set up my solo tent and heated some food, light snow was in the forecast. I was exhausted after the full day exertion and slept ok, just the whole legal/Sub legal debate going on in my head.

It took almost an hour for them to move the few hundred yards back into view- the first four popped over, including a mature one. I could only get 7-8 rings.... not enough confidence to pull the trigger. I needed 8-9 for margin of error! I had to wait and hope the wind held, that these rams didn’t spook.

They bedded about 200 yds below, then I made out 3 other rams. The other mature ram was 7/8 curl and unfortunately the same on rings 7-8? Then the heavier one broomed ram came up. I couldn’t believe it when I finally saw the bases- 9-10 rings!! Every time I counted I would get 9-10! The ram was feeding up to me and was 150 yds.

Something clicked and I went into Kill Mode- my rifle was on the bipod locked and loaded, no adjustments need for the shot, the second the crosshairs were on the vitals I touched the trigger and the ram dropped! Then slid out of sight.

I was shaking with excitement. I packed up my gear and and made my way down the slope. There was a an obvious blood trail down the slide, showing every rock and drop the ram hit, this is what I saw at the bottom of the ravine!

What a great animal, broomer and 10 rings for my first Dall’s Sheep

In 2020 the bull tag was good for all seasons. I came out for the end of archery to hopefully get a bull before rifle season started.

I drew a tag on the Grand Mesa, mainly because I knew the area and had a lot of friends in the area from living in GJ for 10 years.

I looked at the harvest stats over the last few years and most of the bulls killed were average to smaller sized for Colorado in the 20-30” range.

Being that I didn’t have all summer to scout, and was limited on my time there , I wasn’t going to be too picky! I really wanted to kill one with my bow more than anything. The odds of me ever drawing another Bull Shiras Moose tag would be slim to none. (I also knew I could hunt big Alaska moose every year I want to)

What better way to get on elk than to not have a tag ! This guy walked right up to me. I do love elk hunting but would have to be another year.

One afternoon we split up to cover more ground. I had some intel from elk hunters on a nice valley full of beaver ponds. We had spotted a cow moose in the area the day before.

I hike the mile in and keep thinking this looks great! Awesome moose habit. Maybe I should give out a Moose call?

Without thinking too much I make a cow call- instantly a bull grunts! I see the Willow thrash and a bull pokes his head out 80 yards away!

The problem is I’m out in the open! Standing in the middle of a big clearing I do exactly the wrong thing. I panicked and tried to run for cover.

Rutting bulls aren’t the smartest animals but a hunter running around in the wide open is pretty obviously not a cow. I tried to get closer and call again but the bull knew something was up and left .

I’m my experience Moose hunting can be a grind! Low density animal and is surprising how they can hide

As we passed a trail on a creek I had checked out the week before with Steve I saw another black body. Thinking it was another beef, I didn't say anything until we came clear of brush and I saw antlers! A mad scramble occurred, the Bull watched a bit confused. He knew something was up, and started to head out. I took a long shot with Phil and Justus watching, neither of them had time to video :(

The arrow hit a bit high and went half way in. The bull headed towards the timber as I tried to get another shot. He never stopped long enough to get a range and draw. Phil and Justus thought the shot was ok, not great, may may be good enough. We decided to go to camp, get lunch then come back on the blood trail.

An hour later we picked up some blood and my broken arrow. We slowly followed the trail into the timber. Phil is a great tracker and I really appreciated having him there with his optimism. It was slow going but we didn't want to loose it.

a 100 yards into the timber we sense something... then we jump the bull out of its bed! Dang its not dead, but we could tell it was moving slow. Phil and I move after the bull in the chest high brush and trees to see if I could get another shot. Justus stays back to not cause too much distraction. After a little chase I see the bull in the shadows- its amazing how a black animal that big just disappears in the trees!! I make a hasty shot through the only window I see and hear the thump of a good hit. Phil watches as the bull runs to our right and we loose sight, but think we hear it hit some trees.

We slowly work our way over and see it bedded down head still up. Not wanting it to suffer any longer I send the final arrow and let out a yell to Justus!

Look at Justus’s shirt, he thinks it’s funny

So I set him up on a new rifle- his 243 wasn’t going to cut it for this hunt. I got a great deal on a Remington model Seven in 300 SAUM and loaded some 175 LRX bullets. He has always been a good shot at the range, and put in his practice.

Luckily this tag was close to home, one of the rare chances in AK. We networked with friends and had a couple close calls on getting a moose but they would always gave us the slip.

Halfway through the season we were talking to my wife (who doesn’t hunt) and she casually says - “Oh, we saw a few moose the other day while driving home from cc skiing “.

The area she mentioned was all public And I said “why didn’t you tell us sooner!”

Of course the answer was “I didn’t know you guys wanted a moose? Is that in your area?” Well, she is a good sport and lets us hunt wherever we want, just not dialed into the pursuit ??

We headed first thing Saturday and quickly spot 3 bedded moose! Exciting! We get a spotter on them and see a cow, a fork, and a little paddle horn bull.

We spend some time planning the stalk. The area has restrictions against shooting near roads, buildings, etc so we had to plan accordingly to be legal. Caleb would stay back and glass for us while Jack and I moved in.

It almost went as planned, But the moose saw us, the deep snow made it hard going! I had set up the video in a good spot, but the cow moved before the shot. I had to give Jack the better angle and quickly reset the camera. This is how kids learn!

Here is a great picture of my two boys. I love it when they get along and work together and help each other out.

To document it I made a point to start self filming this year. It was a blast to set up my phone on a little holder and capture all my shots. Definitely not professional quality but I had fun and saw that the Southern Whitetail are triggered! A couple shots they completely ducked the arrow!

I Here is one stand to show my problems- I had shot high on a doe the night before on a long shot at last light. This stand was set up better but my shooting wasn't much better-

This management buck makes it to the same spot as that doe and the same thing happens! But watch the end of the video......

Made me ready for 2021!

They both had lots of personal growth in 2020 and will be fine men when they get back. For 2021 I get to focus on my youngest to teach him the ways of hunting and fishing (and a lot of skiing, and surfing)