2024 review with my clan
General Topic
Final night of league and you can see the kidsran from Baseball and Softball practices to make it in time!
Final night of league and you can see the kidsran from Baseball and Softball practices to make it in time!
With all of the hunting recaps getting back going, I was gonna do a couple of my hunts from the past year, but then after seeing Treeman's year end recap, I figured I'd take a twist on that and blend my trips with my family's outdoor adventures.
I'll start off where we start our January's after winter break. Just down the road a mile at our local sportsman club shooting a low key indoor archery league. Somedays it's about impossible to get down there and shoot with all of the kids activities, but we try to attend each week.
Nothing fancy, no big stabilizers, just good old fashion bowhunting setups getting reps in.
And at the end of the season, the clan did pretty well!
The boy shoots a lot year round with me, but the girls are spotty. I actually bought the wife a new bow just days before the league started because she has been wanting to hunt with the kids, so I figured no better time to get her all setup. I knew she could shoot, but she came out of the blocks for her first time as a champ. The two oldest swept the kids divisions and left their little sister behind. But she'll be back to get them!!
As the pond goes from hard water to soft, the boy turns into a fishing fool!! He spends every free night on the pond either solo or with some buddies fishing for bass and perch.
Now we talking. Scott gonna make me look bad I have a feeling…
—Jim
We cut the plywood to fit on the seat and the bow of the boat. Then added all weather carpet.
We cut the plywood to fit on the seat and the bow of the boat. Then added all weather carpet.
Not sure if the electronics are good or not, but the boy comes up with some neat stuff watching fishing videos. He can out fish me all day, so much knowledge gained in a hurry.
He saw a video putting a platform on the front of his boat. I gave him a few pointers and away we went.
And just like that, we have a bass boat!
All finished up and looks good!!
All finished up and looks good!!
Well, he didn't want to stop there!! His boat needed a fresh coat of paint!! His grandpa that gave him the boat said just go get some rattle cans and get after it. Nah, why do that, lets do it right. So, out comes the grinding wheels and the boy wanted the high gloss paint. Wasn't sure about that part at first, but now that it's done, it looks great in the water!
Well, Dad had to help test out the new setup!!
Well, Dad had to help test out the new setup!!
Now here's a good one he caught from shore!!
Now here's a good one he caught from shore!!
The kids want to do spring turkey, but between me being the worst turkey hunter in the woods and a spring full of softball and baseball games, I didn't get the kids out at all this past spring.
However, I snuck away for a Spring hunt for myself!
You never know who you will run into on a hunt!
Been there! It’s not actually the Arctic Circle, that’s back down the lane by the Haul road. They’re afraid some tourists would step out in front of a truck.
The haul road for Grizzly. My first time up on the haul road and first time hunting grizzly! Tom and I are hunting with Stan and the hunt is a little non-traditional in the sense that its basically a road hunt. Just cruise up and down the road trying to spot a good bear and then see if it makes sense putting a stalk on him.
Looking forward to this. Bring it on, Scott!
Oh boy, this is gonna be good!!!
Good times with the Fam-Fam are great.
Keep it coming,
Robb
Great thread...looking forward to more!
After a long drive from Fairbanks, we make it to an old gravel pit where we setup the camper that will be home for the next week. This time of year, we have 24 hours of daylight, but the bear movement is better at night, so we start to transition our sleep schedule to a midnight shift.
On this hunt, Tom and his guide Carl would head one direction down the road glassing for bears and then Stan and I would head the other. We would travel several hours/miles and then turn around and do it again. Bear hunting is always the test of patience!
We would spot bears pretty much every day. We saw one sow and 3 cubs several times throughout the hunt. We would see moose daily and a few caribou every now and again.
Sukapak Mountain! Great stuff.
Since you are just driving up and down the same road looking for bears, its hard to take a crazy amount of pictures, but I tried my best to grab some good shots. The truck traffic was really heavy until probably Midnight or so and then we'd get one an hour or so until 8 am.
It's like groundhog day!! Wake up, grab breakfast, and spend the night cruising and glassing for bears!!
On the third night of hunting, we finally spotted a mature boar feeding out in the flats of the river. Stan and I switch over into our wading boots and make our way down into the flats. The boar is on the far side of the flats, so we have to use the terrain for cover as we approach him. We cover 3/4 of a mile fairly quickly and get to 200 yards or so and the bear is still head down feeding along the edge of a alder thicket. Now that we have crossed all of the water, we switch into stalking boots and try to close the distance the rest of the way. We get to about 150 yards and he feeds into the alder thicket and we never see him again. We spent the next couple hours looking to see where he went, but he just vanished....
Thanks for putting this story and pics together. Following along.
Over the next four days, we see nothing but sows and cubs when it comes to bears, but the moose population looks good. We saw several moose and caribou over that span.
On the last day of hunting, I spot a small boar running down the hill in a flash early on, but nothing to see there. We push the night as long as we could, knowing that we have a long drive back to Fairbanks when we wake up. And wouldn't you know it, I spotted a big boar probably a mile away heading up a far drainage. We watch him lumber away and I keep thinking...Let's go get him....then Stan's last words. Say Good bye Scott, Say good bye!! Lol!
Taking bear hunts the distance are a common theme for me! This hunt concludes my 4th attempt at a brown/grizzly and I'm still out there looking to tag my first one!
Summer reverts back to ball and fishing for the kids.
I was able to sign the boy up for a two day fishing camp with a college bass team and that was a pretty cool experience for him!
The youngest has been the slowest to join in the hunting game, but she got her hunters safety done over the summer.
The last couple years, I've been having the boy workup and cultipack the food plots at the house while he's home during the summer. Haven't had him spread the seed yet, but I guess that next on the agenda.
Oh, let's not forget this interesting letter I got in the mail back around my bear hunt....
Before we get to that Colorado Moose tag, we have a previously scheduled trip out in Northern California...
I had the opportunity to hunt a really special ranch for Tule elk. There have been several other Bowsiter's who have also hunted elk here as well. It's a pretty wide open ranch with limited cover to bowhunt, but the elk are regular.
Great recap so far! Thank you!!
Already a wonderful year! Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us common folk!
The first morning, there are elk out feeding, but we don't have any blinds setup to get to them, so we set up where we think they are going to go to bed for the afternoon, but they decided to head to the other end of the ranch and go off ranch to bed.
This is one of those places, either the elk are here and you can hunt them or they are not and you can't go after them. So we would hunt the mornings and evenings, then retreat back to the outfitters ranch and catch a nap and I could get some work done mid-day.
After the elk left the first day, we setup a couple of ground blinds over water. There wasn't any water where the elk bed, so they hit the water on the ranch pretty regularly, so we are hoping they come to one of the spots where we have a blind setup. This is a working cattle ranch, so there is quite a bit of water available on the ranch, but the elk seem to hit a few on the water locations more than others.
He looks pretty, but can't hunt him off the ranch!
He looks pretty, but can't hunt him off the ranch!
We played cat and mouse with several herds of elk. It was a new herd on the ranch each day. Pretty much every herd bull was a shooter for me, some were bigger than others, but every morning I'd see a new bull and would be like. Yup, he's a shooter... I wasn't being super picky or passing bulls up, just every time we Zigged, they would Zag. It was really fun watching the herd bulls do their thing though! So what I thought was gonna be a super slam dunk of a hunt, turned into a hunt! Lol! It was almost like a whitetail hunt around town vs an elk hunt and the more I watched the herds do their thing, the more I knew it was just a matter of time until something would break and we'd make the right decision.
Close on day 3, but to far for my liking!
Let's move one of the blinds a little closer to the fence crossing and see how that goes... Day 4, we swing and miss, they cross close to the horse pens, well out of range.
Day 5 was more of the same, but the sunset was pretty listening to elk bugle in the background.
Day 6, we watch this guy leave the property we can't hunt, come over to our side, get a drink and turn right back around and go back to his herd on the neighbors.
Well, I'm now going into day 7 of a slam dunk hunt and I'm only a few days away from the moose opener back in Colorado. I'm getting really close to telling the bride that I'm just gonna rent a car and drive to Colorado from this hunt. I only brought light clothes for the elk hunt because day time temps are pretty warm, but I checked with my guide in Colorado to see if he had something to borrow a bit heavier or if I was gonna have to hit a Cabela's... Because I wasn't leaving California until the last minute if it comes down to that.
Day 7 starts out like every other day. A breakfast burrito for the hour truck ride over to the ranch. Unlock the ranch gate 30 minutes before the sun cracks the sky. Stop and listen for bugles and elk sounds. Yup, they are back out front again, right like they were the past couple days. They were heading out the North end the past couple days and I had been hunting the water pipe blind that I setup on day 4. They would always cross just out of comfortable range, so I decided to try something different today. I went and got inside the horse pen and just leaned up against a big tree and used some blind cloth for a screen on the gate. The elk calmly fed out in the pasture as the sun rose.
As the elk started to move and the bull would round up the cows, I could see that this herd was much bigger than most of the other herds. The herd bull was a shooter and there were several satellites giving him fits, but I never really paid much attention to the size of the herd bull. Just watched him rounding up the cows, then the cows coming up to the fence to cross and head up to bed for the afternoon like they have many times. Some of the cows hop the fence and then the majority follow, but they are all out at 65-75 yards again.
In the mean time, the herd bull is getting the last of the straggling cows from the pasture and the satellite bulls decide to cross the fence not 20 yards from me. This would be a perfect spot for the herd bull to follow, but he doesn't....He comes up to the fence and stands broadside at 65 yards for 2 minutes! Why does there have to be 3 or 4 cows and calves right behind him!?!?
I stay restrained and wait for them to clear. The bull then hops the fence and heads to the main herd. He stops in the open at 55 yards. I dial, draw, settle and the shot breaks clean. The arch of an arrow in flight is the second most beautiful thing in bowhunting, the #1 is watching it hit right where you were aiming!!
The bull spins around and retreats back to the fence he just jumped. He starts to wobble a bit and doesn't jump the fence, he heads over to the water line in the corner and lays down.
This herd was a little bigger than most! The cows are calling back to the bull before they head for cover for the day.
Surprisingly, he gets up and moves forward a little and lays back down for the last time. He dies 10 yards in front of the blind I set on day 4!
While I was watching the bull, Richard my outfitter and the Ranch owner were working their way over to me from their lookout by the ranch house. They both had been watching from afar the entire time. By the time they get to me, the bull is now expired. So, the three of us walk the 100 yards or so over to the bull. With every step closer, the bull grew in my eyes. As I said, I had mentally checked the shooter box and never really looked at the antlers again. That might've been a good thing!! Never did I ever believe I'd shoot the next World Record, ever!!
Richard and the ranch owner both said it when we walked up to him, but I didn't believe them until I taped it the next day.
Great post thanks for sharing Lewis
Good write up Scottie keep it rolling!
I had to get some work done in between hunts Jason!! Literally!
Since I killed early in the am on Labor day, I was able to get a flight on Tuesday night heading back to Detroit to repack and be ready to fly out to Denver on Friday with the moose opener on Saturday.
As soon as I drew the tag, I knew my schedule was going to be busy! I didn't hesitate and called Mark Turner right away and hired his team to help me with my shiras hunt. I got lucky in 2017 and drew a random moose tag where Ron and I were able to get a good bull for the unit on the second day. So, this hunt I was going to shoot a big one or nothing.
I came prepared to bring everything back home with me though! Flew a cooler out as checked baggage, rented a minivan to drive to camp and one way back to MI! I was ready!
Good stuff so far! I know there's more though :)
After arriving in camp and checking the bow out, we head up for last light to check in on a bull they had located to see if it was something I'd be happy with. The target bull and his buddy wasn't out when we made it to the glassing point, so we went for a little cruise and saw this guy feeding right along the road.
After getting back to the glassing point, the target bull and his buddy were out feeding. When I first looked thru the spotter, I kinda thought they were joking when they were asking if I'd be happy with him. It took me a bit to get them to commit to a spread. Not because I was after a certain number really, just that I needed a frame of reference when looking thru the spotter and also trying to get a gauge of what size bulls they typically kill. After watching until we couldn't see anymore, we make our way back to camp and talk this bull over some more. It was a good sign that it didn't appear that anyone else was on that bull and after our discussions, I was ready to go give it a whirl in the morning.
We are at the glassing point well before daylight and setup waiting to see if they are still out feeding. It didn't take long for the horizon to lighten and the glowing paddles were a dead give away that they were still out feeding.
The bulls had been leaving the willows and heading down in the big timber to bed, but today, they lay down right in the middle of the willows. So, we mark our spots and head around to get the wind in our favor to make a move.
We start to work our way over to where they are bedded and we actually bump into them in the wide open. They must've got up and moved while we were moving down in on them. They buggered pretty good and circled the high valley and then headed down to where they had normally been bedding. We talk the situation over a bit and all agree that we should just leave them alone for the day and give it a go again tomorrow morning.
So, we head off this mountain and go look at some other areas that hold moose. They knew where a couple smaller ones were, but it was way to early to go after one of them. We just cruise the two tracks for the rest of the morning and then do the same in the evening. We see several cows and calves and a couple small bulls, but nothing that really peeks our interest.
Day two finds us at the same glassing point we were at on day one. And just like yesterday, we spot the big paddles glowing in real low light.
Today, the bulls decide to move to bedding much sooner, so we get after it right away and make a quick move on them. It doesn't take long and we are in position and the bull gives me a hard quartering to shot. I hesitate, but my guide coaxes me into the shot, so I send one and its in him good. But as the saying goes, if they are still on their feet, keep sending arrows! 2nd arrow hits home, 3rd arrow is in him...and then I work around to him as he's a bit wobbly and put a 4th arrow in him and turn back around and head over to Brandon my guide. I tell Brandon that its over, nothing lives from the last shot.
Come to find out that my first arrow actually penetrate the heart, lungs and made it all the way back to the guts, so he was a dead bull walking with the first shot.
And by 7:30 am on day two, I have my second Shiras moose on the ground. And he is a good one for sure! Not a bad week!!
Ron knows how far (short) I packed out my first bull, since he helped me carry it off the mountain, but I actually think this pack out might've been a little shorter!! It was definitely all down hill though!
Just before I left for the tule hunt, my commercial freezer died and I lost all of my meat in that freezer, so before I drove home, I ordered two stand up freezers and had them delivered while I was driving home with the bounty!
Great stuff so far Scott!!
Amazing season so far! Keep it coming!
I had couple buddies in college from Adrian so I was thinking I might like you. Nope. Two shiras puts me in the jealous mode. Congrats and nice write ups.
Outstanding recap. Keep it coming. I now know where the golden horseshoe resides!! ;-)
Good stuff! Keep it coming!
That elk is just plain majestic!
Put me on the jealous train as well.
Great recap.
What a great thread. Drawing two Colorado moose tags.....I hope that you went and bought a lottery ticket on those days as well!
Sorry about the delay today, I had a bunch of meetings all day. I'll be back on it in the morning!
Jake, I only drew one Colorado moose tag. The first one was a Wyoming moose tag. Both were pure random draws though!!
2 Shiras bulls and a huge Tule bull. I hate you! Just kidding.
Congrats, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing the stories and photos here.
Make every hunt count. Good stuff.
After my drive back home, there was one weekend before I was to head off to BC for Canadian moose with a buddy from home. It was our youth weekend where the kids can hunt before the normal season opens. Most years, we have headed to our cabin, but this year my oldest had a softball tournament and homecoming, so she was out. The youngest didn't want to go out yet, but the boy rarely misses an opportunity to get out in the woods early in the season.
So, he heads out behind the house the first morning and I tell him he can shoot whatever he wants really, but I'd give it a bit before I'd shoot a doe. Well, patience is still something he's working on.... Doe number one is down for him and the youth season is over that quick! Lol!
A few days later, I'm on a plane heading to BC for my third try at Canadian moose! With my recent success, spirits are high and its always an awesome sight flying into camp in the fall!
The first couple days the action was slow and we did hear a little bit of moose rutting action, but never really could see any of the cows or the bulls in the thick timber. We didn't venture far from camp the first few days, they wanted to work this area around the lake first before we ventured to far off.
The cows are bellowing every day, but its either real early or real late and we don't get a chance to lay eyes on anything yet. But it's really hard to beat the scenery this time of year!
On day four, we wake up to a dusting of snow on the ground and we head out the atv trail to where we heard them last night right at last light. We call for a couple hours and don't get any responses.
Around 840, we decide to follow the atv trail to higher elevation. With every step, the snow was getting deeper, we make it a half mile or so and stop to make some calls. 1st stop, nothing. Move to the next ridge, let out a cow call. And a bull responds, a faint grunt in the distance. It's super thick, but there's an opening and the atv trail. Connor backs down the trail while Logan and I set up on the edge of the opening. The grunts are getting louder, they sound like they are coming down the trail, so we adjust so the bull doesn't run us over. Another cow call, more grunts closing in. After 10 minutes, finally a tree moves, but we still can't see the bull and he's only 30 yards from us. The bull stands at the edge for what feels like an eternity and then decides to turn and circle the opening. We still don't have any idea how big or small this bull is. We give it time and then it sounds like he's gonna leave, so Connor starts to rake the trees and that circles him back. This time, we adjust our position a little to see if we can get something thru to him, but he stays in the edge of the cover and barely even gives us a view. After another 10 minutes, he breaks the edge for a split second and then is back in cover. My initial reaction is he is a decent bull, but not great. Logan is trying to glass him, but it's to thick to get a great read. We continue to wait him out as he works the edge of the opening. Another 10 minutes or so and he decides to leave. We don't feel like he's worth chasing anymore, but it was a fun encounter and our first bull called in.
After talking it over, we work our way back to camp calling on every ridge. Once back in camp, the snow turns to big snow flakes and makes a pretty scene, right before a solid mid-day nap. We depart camp after with the plan to head back up towards where we called the bull in this am. We stop a couple times along the way to call with no response. We reach the top where we called the bull in and notice that a big grizzly had walked down the trail sometime this morning. Likely after we left the moose behind... We go another 1/4 mile and basically back track the bears tracks to grizzly meadow. We are setup on the edge of several little openings up high and call repeatedly until darkness settles in. Unfortunately, no response.
The Kyle Hudgins Meadow
The Kyle Hudgins Meadow
A look back towards camp
A look back towards camp
On day five, we headed back to the meadow we sat day one that was up the valley right behind camp. We called along the way, with no response. We reached the end of the trail and sat and called. It wasn't long and Logan spotted a spike bull high on the ridge line just slowly walking along. A little while later, I spot a cow and calf that were along the same ridge line, but moving in the opposite direction. We tried calling to see if a bigger bull was around, but never saw one if there was. We sat and called until 1015 am, then began the slow walk back making a couple calls along the way. In camp at 11am and it's a nice quiet mid-day in camp with good weather. For the evening, we headed down to the South end of the lake where The Kyle Hudgins killed his bull a few years prior and called, no response all night.
Just thought these were some neat shots I took along the way.
Thick timber on the way up
Thick timber on the way up
Day 6, we departed camp with intentions of following the drainage back to our day one meadow and then climbing an old Argo trail to the top of the mountain. We make our way down the trail and call every so often and wait for a response. If no response, we continue down the trail. We make it to the back meadow with no response, so we head to the Argo trail and start our 1,000' climb. It doesn't take long to see what they meant by old trail.... However, we do the same thing, call, wait and hike. We make it to our 3rd or 4th stop or about half way and while we are just sitting resting, we hear a bull grunt. We all scramble to get our gear, calls and bow ready. He is below us and the wind is pushing down hill, so we make a mad dash back down the trail and get even with him. I struggle to find any opening in the trees for a shooting lane and Connor runs back and starts calling. It doesn't take long and the bull is coming in. He makes it to the edge of the cover which is only 25-30 yards and Logan sees that he's a small bull, so we let it play out and the bull decides to leave.
After a bit of a rest, we make our way back up the hill again. We continue our climb and don't have any more responses as we break timber line and get to our high glassing point around 11 am. We spend the entire afternoon/evening glassing from the vantage point. We end up spotting 6 cows and one small bull in the more open terrain up on top. As darkness approaches, Connor and I head over to Puddles for the evening as Logan returned to base camp for a four wheeler and supplies for a couple days.
Great pics and fun trip! Just love that time of year with the Aspen turned yellow.
Is it really a moose hunt without a fire to warm up next to?
Is it really a moose hunt without a fire to warm up next to?
Outstanding... thanks for taking us along. Ed F
Great thread thanks for sharing
The big black moose stick out a little better up here!
The big black moose stick out a little better up here!
Rumor has it Loosehillsarcher killed his bull from the steps of this cabin... :)
Rumor has it Loosehillsarcher killed his bull from the steps of this cabin... :)
Day 7 - Slept well at Puddles last night, we headed out right at first light. We headed straight for the top to glass. Connor spots a small bull and two cows on the windy side, I spot a couple cows on my side. We then spot a good bull, small bull and a couple cows down in front of us. We start to head down and and see Logan 50 yards from the bull on the 4 wheeler. He spotted them driving up the trail and just stopped to watch and try not to spook them. We work our way to within 75 yards of the cows, but can't get the bull to show or move closer. After a bit, they head off and we can't get any closer, so we bailed back up top. Back on top by 10 am....we continued to glass until 1pm only seeing a handful of cows. With the bush settled down, we decided to head down to the cabin for a snack and a nap. We head back out around 430 and we don't get far from the cabin and Logan spots a bull all the way across the canyon. We watch him for quite awhile and he is definitely a shooter. Likely a mid 50's bull with long points and good fronts. Only problem is he's two miles away and better than 2.5 hours of hiking to get to him. That's if he stays put. But we keep an eye on him all evening.
We work our way to the top of the mountain to glass all around us. I spot two small forky bulls and a small bull down one side. Then another OK'ish bull that is in the same area I chased the bull this am. Never got a great look at him, but he's decent. On the other side of the knob, Connor spots a good bull late with 2 or 3 cows. He tries calling to it, but he only shows light interest since he has cows already. Logan mostly stayed with the big bull on the far side and he watched that one work it's way towards us slightly, but he's still a long ways away. We will try getting eyes on the closer bull first thing in the am and then look for the far bull. Both are shooters and plenty big enough for my tag. They both are bigger than the one we went after this am.
Day 8 - Started right at first light on the glassing knob and it didn't take long to turn up the big bull from last night. I also spotted a good bull way across the valley and a small bull by our first day glassing point. Since the best bull is closest, we watched for an hour or so to see where he was headed. We then decided to switch glassing knobs and move a little closer as he was moving in our direction, but he turned and went back up hill to his cows. Once we were at the new knob, he bedded in a meadow across the valley, so Connor and I took off after him. It was a little after 9 when we departed and we didn't ever get in a position to see him again. While we were crossing the valley, he got up with a cow and went in the timber with her, Logan stayed back to glass and to help guide us to the bull. After getting in the vicinity of where we last saw the bull, we started raking and calling from 200 yards of his last known position, no response as of 4pm. We continued to call and move around this edge of the valley until almost dark. We never heard him and Logan never saw him move out of the timber from above.
Just great, keep it coming Scott.
The bull was across the valley in the yellow timber pockets when we took off after him. He disappeared in the timber.
The bull was across the valley in the yellow timber pockets when we took off after him. He disappeared in the timber.
Day 9 - We hiked to the glassing point before sunrise and didn't have as much activity close by today, a cow not far from camp was all that was close as of 930. Two bulls and a couple cows on the far ridge side. A cow and calf on the big bull valley but no sign of the big bull this morning. Around 11am, I spot a nice up and comer down by the big bull valley. Fair amount of points and decent pans, just not big enough yet. A few minutes later Logan spots a grizzly bear on the same mountain side, but higher.
We head back to the cabin around Noon as all activity has stopped. On our way down, we spot a nice mature chocolate black bear. He has a beautiful coat and is a good boar, but no tag to pursue him today. We head back to glass around 4pm and don't spot anything all evening. We do hear a cow and bull making ruckus down on the main camp side of the mountain as darkness settled in. We had been talking earlier in the day that it's probably time to drop down into the timber and see if the bulls down low are ready to talk some more.
Day 10 - Only today and tomorrow left to get it done, but we aren't slowing down any! We decided to head down into the timber since the high ground had slowed down a bit. So, we hiked the four wheeler trail at first light from puddle down to the small cabin with no name next to this little frozen pond. We called a bunch of times with no luck. So we continued down hill calling every couple hundred yards or at each new meadow. We kept calling until Noon and never heard a response. After a snack, we hiked back up to puddle and as soon as we got there Connor spots moose on the far mountain.... about a mile and half away. Fortunately for my legs, we don't see a shooter bull, just a couple cows and a spike. We grab lunch at the puddles with a plan of heading down to the timber again this evening unless we turn up a big bull high. After a quick glassing session, no big bulls high, so we take the atv for the first time down to the junction. We then head over to a meadow that's not far down hill of where we spotted the big bull a few days ago. These boys are trying to dig him up, but we called from several different setups and never got a response or heard cows bawling at all today.
Day 11 - Looking for some last day heroics at this point!
We start the morning out at puddles and head to the junction by ATV and then call our way all the way across the valley back to the meadows where we spotted the big bull a few days ago. You can tell these boys really want to turn that bull up again, but once again it's radio silence. While we are hunting, Logan was talking about running back up to puddle mid-day while Connor and I stayed and hunted these meadows and then we'd meet up at the junction and ride back down to camp. I suggested that Connor and I just hunt our way back to the main camp mid-day and they agree. So around 10 am, we work our way back to the ATV. Logan heads up and Connor and I start to work our way down hill to camp. As we are working our way down, we hear a cow bawling, so we work our way towards the calls. Connor stops and rakes or cow calls every 100 yards or so trying to call them in. It doesn't do any good and I'm starting to wonder if it actually causes the bull to push the cows more and chase them away. So, as we are trying to figure out where the cows are, I feel like they are close to the grizzly track meadow, so we beat feet down the quad trail to get ahead of them. We don't, they beat us, so we head into the bush and give chase. I convince Connor to just bust ass and get in close, so we drop our packs and start moving in closer. The cow continues to move away...it actually sounds like there are two cows at times and we are struggling gaining any ground.
While we are waiting for the next crying session, I check to see how far we are from our packs and we are over a quarter mile at this point. No sense in going back to get them from here....the bush is thick and the hiking sucks if you aren't on the quad trail, so they'll be there when we are done. The next bawling session happens, and again it is moving away from us. So, we start pushing the pace and I've now convinced Connor that we are going to just chase these bulls down and get in the middle of this rut fest. Even if it means we bust them out of the country.
So, we keep moving in the direction they are headed, some times we hear them and others we don't. After an hour plus of covering ground, it feels like the bull and cows have now slowed down and we are gaining ground. We are all the way back to a meadow we hunted the night before and never heard a thing, but this time a cow goes crazy not 100 yards from us. I run straight at her and get in this thick patch of cover. I find two shooting lanes and stop to wait. The brush in front of us explodes as the cow runs by and the bull is right on her tail not more than 20 yards from me, but no shot there. So we got in undetected, but didn't get a shot....Let's try this again!
We head over to where they ran to and it wasn't long that another cow lights up back where we were just at. There were two cows and two bulls in this mess! We run back 100 yards or so to try and get on those and we never did see them! We follow the trail of cows for a bit more and don't get any more sound on their location, so after another hour or so, we decide to go back to our packs, grab a late lunch at camp and then come back for the last hour or two of daylight to see if we can make something happen.
We head back out from camp on the ATV and approach the meadow from a different angle. We call occasionally and listen in a nice calm evening, but don't hear a thing. We push it pretty late knowing that it's our last day, but I finally tell Connor lets just call our way back to the quad and see what happens. We make our way back ripping off a couple cow calls along the way and wouldn't you know it we get a bull grunt up the mountain, but towards the quad. We move in that direction since we are losing shooting light quickly. The bull is still grunting and coming our way, only 100 yards or so at this point. I find a couple openings in the cover and settle back in. Connor calls one last time and the bull comes inside 20 yards, I can see the halo of his body but we can't get a good look at him and the light has now faded to a close. So close on the last day, but that's the way it goes sometimes!!
Guides Cabin
Guides Cabin
Hunters cabin!
Hunters cabin!
Hunt #3 in the books for Canadian moose!! Some come easy while others are a grind. Scheduled to be back with the same outfitter in 25 to give it a go again!
Oh, and a quick note, the daughter of a very successful bowhunter flew in as I was flying out and she was successful in arrowing a nice bull the next week.
Keep it coming bud! Great recap so far!
I make it back home from Canada just in time for our archery deer opener! The boy wanted to take his buddy out the first weekend and hopefully guide him to his first archery deer. Oldest daughter heads out with them for her first sit of the year.
Well, that didn't take them long at all! 1st night out for the boys and we have one more archery deer down!
We put our pup Fletcher on every track whether we know its a short one or not. Makes great training for him and he's found a couple deer that we would've lost no doubt.
Holy moly!!!! Near lifetime of achievements in one year! Great stuff!
Opening weekend was filled with softball for the girls, but Monday night after school the youngest wanted to get out. Well we made short work of he first deer of the year that night!
Over the summer, I had work meetings in Denver, so while in town, I scheduled a training session with Tom Clum to learn how to shoot a recurve. My neighbor gifted me this old bear recurve and it has been fun learning how to shoot it.
The next monthish we spend our weekends at the cabin trying to kill one of the several good bucks we have up there. The oldest had the best opportunity where she shoulder shot a nice two year old and not five minutes later she had a wide 8pt 3 yo walk right under her. She just videoed him even though she had a second buck tag in her pocket. We didn't recover the first buck, she got a good memory and reminder to stay back a little bit more.
After some time guiding his cousins in their first year of archery hunting, I green light the boy to shoot another "doe" with his bow.
A few more unsuccessful bow hunts bring us up to our opening day of gun season. We normally don't let our kids skip school for the opener since they have plenty of opportunity to hunt outside of school, but this year the opener was on a Friday and we had several friends coming to camp. Here's a bunch of them checking game cameras the night before the opener.
Our girls are hunters too!
Our girls are hunters too!
When you have ample supply of deer and a willing group of teenage kids, you put these born killers to work when the boom sticks come out!
The boy had been hunting with a bow or his cousins during the last few days and he was itching to join the fun. So, I went out in the blind with him so he could hunt with his late grandpa's gun. It's so fun watching them do their thing, he's hunted so much and learned so well. Granted it was from a blind and a gun, but just watching him work way onto this doe and get a quick shot off that was perfectly placed makes it so fun to watch.
Back to the cabin for Thanksgiving and the kids finally goated Mom into getting out in the field!
Dad decided to try the ground attack for one of the mature bucks that was still daylighting on our farm in the middle of our gun season.
Last one for the boy for the year, was tough tracking after the snow and being a bit back, but we persevered and found it.
The boy got a new to him bow for Christmas, so I set it up midday and got in one last sit on Christmas Eve.
The boy got a new to him bow for Christmas, so I set it up midday and got in one last sit on Christmas Eve.
It was my last run with the recurve as well.
It was my last run with the recurve as well.
I was able to arrow a couple does with my compound, but never had an opportunity close enough when I had the recurve with me. I do want to post a picture that is a first for me. On my second doe, I shot a little high combined with her dropping a little, I hit her directly in the spine. In the past, they usually just drop and you have to shoot them again. This one took off and I heard her crash a couple times within 100 yards. Went back out after giving her an hour or so and come up on her still alive. Finished her off and then examined her when we butchered her up. I was shooting the Evolution WT Fury and the head cut the entire spine and backstrap in half when it went thru. I have a video that shows it better, but never seen that clean of a spine cut/break before. I have to go recover the head yet, but I should be able to see how it held up this spring.
And that is a wrap for my families 2024 season! Thanks for following along!!
We are starting 2025 off the same way in the archery league, but I'm using it to learn my new DAS recurve and my scores aren't gonna win it this year, but its fun learning something new!
Great recap. Fun watching the whole family! Best of luck to you all in 2025.
A really enjoyable read....thank you for sharing!
Excellent recap of a great year with family and friends, Scott! Thanks for taking us along.
Some real hunting adventures, and you're raisin'm right, thanks for taking us along!
Great year! Congrats and thanks for sharing!!
Awesome recap! Congratulations on a great year
Outstanding recap! Thanks for sharing.
Great thread! You are still going to fill out my shiras apps this year right?
Fantastic recap and year Scott. Everyone involved sure look like they had a great time.
What a great year! Thanks for taking us along.
Thanks for the recap, Scott!
Another great year Scott. Great recap…
Awesome all the way around!
Congrats and thanks for sharing with us.
Looks like a great year with a great family, well done sir!
What a year! Made me smile from top to bottom. Thanks for taking the time to do this thread.
Great read! Thanks for sharing and thanks for passing it on to all those young hunters!
Great thread Scott. Thanks for taking the time to post it all up.
Great year Scott. Thanks for sharing it.
What a life. Congrats to you and your family
Thanks guys! Fun putting the write up together and relive the season over again.
Bill, I'll gladly fill out those apps, I can't draw another one in Colorado anyways!! Lol!
Great read, buddy! Really enjoyed it. And thanks for taking the time to put it together. I know it's a chore!
