Quest for the bigger one....
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Sept. 26th
This morning found me at the same lookout point where I had last seen the "lookout" buck a month earlier. I saw about 6 or 7 smaller bucks feeding below me but not the big guy. Tom tried to push the timber for me but nothing but a few does appeared. John, Tom and I tried to push another canyon but nothing again, nothing but a few more does. In the afternoon, we tried glassing a few more canyons and with about an hour left of light. Tom spotted a nice buck about a mile away. So Tom and John went after it. Tom tried to push the buck towards John but it ended up going a little too high on the hill and John never could see it from his angle. So at that point, darkness was coming fast and John met me back at camp and Tom headed for home.
This morning found me at the same lookout point where I had last seen the "lookout" buck a month earlier. I saw about 6 or 7 smaller bucks feeding below me but not the big guy. Tom tried to push the timber for me but nothing but a few does appeared. John, Tom and I tried to push another canyon but nothing again, nothing but a few more does. In the afternoon, we tried glassing a few more canyons and with about an hour left of light. Tom spotted a nice buck about a mile away. So Tom and John went after it. Tom tried to push the buck towards John but it ended up going a little too high on the hill and John never could see it from his angle. So at that point, darkness was coming fast and John met me back at camp and Tom headed for home.
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
sept. 27th
John and I hit all the usual glassing spots today but nothing but a couple small bucks.
In the afternoon, I decided to hike down into the bottom of a canyon where I had a trail cam set up and take it back to camp. I had checked on it during opening weekend of the archery hunt, nothing but a couple small bucks and a lot of does. What I found this time, I just could not believe. On the same morning that Tom had shot his great buck "forky". I had trail cam pictures of both "forky" and "lookout"from this camera. The pictures started at 1:00 am and the last one was at 4:30am. They had fed in that meadow most of the night but for some reason "forky" moved a little more than a mile away, where I found him bedded a couple canyons away at 8:00am,but "lookout" was not with him. So many questions. Why did the two bucks split up? Why did forky end up in a canyon that we've never seen him in before a mile away from where he was feeding just hours before? Was it the lion that chased them off?
The weather has been very hot and dry the last few days but the bucks are just not were they have been in the past. I'm not sure if it's the lion that has displaced them somewhere else or what? Maybe too much pressure from us hunters? I don't know.
John and I hit all the usual glassing spots today but nothing but a couple small bucks.
In the afternoon, I decided to hike down into the bottom of a canyon where I had a trail cam set up and take it back to camp. I had checked on it during opening weekend of the archery hunt, nothing but a couple small bucks and a lot of does. What I found this time, I just could not believe. On the same morning that Tom had shot his great buck "forky". I had trail cam pictures of both "forky" and "lookout"from this camera. The pictures started at 1:00 am and the last one was at 4:30am. They had fed in that meadow most of the night but for some reason "forky" moved a little more than a mile away, where I found him bedded a couple canyons away at 8:00am,but "lookout" was not with him. So many questions. Why did the two bucks split up? Why did forky end up in a canyon that we've never seen him in before a mile away from where he was feeding just hours before? Was it the lion that chased them off?
The weather has been very hot and dry the last few days but the bucks are just not were they have been in the past. I'm not sure if it's the lion that has displaced them somewhere else or what? Maybe too much pressure from us hunters? I don't know.
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Sept. 28th
John and I decided to check out the canyon that I just took the trail cam out of and see if we could locate "lookout". We did spot several smaller to medium sized four points already bedded in the trees at first light. We then went to check another area for a couple hours. After spotting more small bucks. We decided to push the trees where we saw the 4 points bedded, in hopes there was a bigger buck that we had missed. When the bucks came out into the open, John had about an 80 yard shot on the best buck in the group but decided to pass.
Here's a picture of it.
After that, we decided to head back to camp and pack up our stuff. It was time for a change in scenery. It was time to head for town, get a good meal, shower and sleep in a soft bed and regroup for the next day, on a different mountain.
John and I decided to check out the canyon that I just took the trail cam out of and see if we could locate "lookout". We did spot several smaller to medium sized four points already bedded in the trees at first light. We then went to check another area for a couple hours. After spotting more small bucks. We decided to push the trees where we saw the 4 points bedded, in hopes there was a bigger buck that we had missed. When the bucks came out into the open, John had about an 80 yard shot on the best buck in the group but decided to pass.
Here's a picture of it.
After that, we decided to head back to camp and pack up our stuff. It was time for a change in scenery. It was time to head for town, get a good meal, shower and sleep in a soft bed and regroup for the next day, on a different mountain.
- Attachments
-
- Ethans Oct..JPG (88.45 KiB) Viewed 4011 times
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Sept. 28th
continued...
After we did some laundry and showered, we headed back out to a new area. We ended up getting there about an hour before dark, so we went for a qiuck drive to figure out where we would hiking from in the morning darkness. We didn't see too much for deer but still were looking forward to a fresh start to a new day in a new area John had never been in before. We decided to sleep at the truck and get up early and hike up the mountain before light.
continued...
After we did some laundry and showered, we headed back out to a new area. We ended up getting there about an hour before dark, so we went for a qiuck drive to figure out where we would hiking from in the morning darkness. We didn't see too much for deer but still were looking forward to a fresh start to a new day in a new area John had never been in before. We decided to sleep at the truck and get up early and hike up the mountain before light.
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Sept. 29th
We got up about 1 1/2 hours before light and put our sleeping gear away. Then hoped on the atvs for a short ride before the long steep hike up the mountain. Just after it got light enough to see and we were only half way up the mountain by then. We spotted some bucks bedded across a big canyon about 1/2 mile away. We could see that one of the bucks was a good one but I really couldn't tell how good because of the angle it was laying. John wanted to go after it, so off he went. I watch from my current location with my spotting scope. John was only able to get within 265 yards of the bedded buck before he ran out of cover. So he waited for it to get up and feed towards him. After about an hour, the buck finally got up but started feeding downhill away from John. It finally went over the ridge with 3 other smaller bucks. Here's some pictures of the buck I took off of video through my spotting scope.
After seeing the buck get up and go over the ridge, I knew I had seen this buck before and it was a keeper. I hurried over to where I last saw the bucks go over the ridge but John or myself could not locate them again. In the process, I lost my rangefinder somewhere up on the mountain. Bummer.
Here's video of this same buck in July but it was over 3 miles away at that time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U93pExFqBPw
John nicknamed him "potbelly" because he was the fattest buck John had ever seen.
We got up about 1 1/2 hours before light and put our sleeping gear away. Then hoped on the atvs for a short ride before the long steep hike up the mountain. Just after it got light enough to see and we were only half way up the mountain by then. We spotted some bucks bedded across a big canyon about 1/2 mile away. We could see that one of the bucks was a good one but I really couldn't tell how good because of the angle it was laying. John wanted to go after it, so off he went. I watch from my current location with my spotting scope. John was only able to get within 265 yards of the bedded buck before he ran out of cover. So he waited for it to get up and feed towards him. After about an hour, the buck finally got up but started feeding downhill away from John. It finally went over the ridge with 3 other smaller bucks. Here's some pictures of the buck I took off of video through my spotting scope.
- potbelly.JPG (166.65 KiB) Viewed 3977 times
Here's video of this same buck in July but it was over 3 miles away at that time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U93pExFqBPw
John nicknamed him "potbelly" because he was the fattest buck John had ever seen.
There's always next year
-
one hunting fool
- Monster
- Posts: 843
- Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:18 am
- Location: home
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
sucks about your range finder. great buck though
Genesis 27:3
Now take your hunting equipment, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open country and hunt some wild game for me.
Now take your hunting equipment, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open country and hunt some wild game for me.
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Aug. 29th
I need to step back a month and talk a little about my friend Toms (johnnyutah5) Idaho moose hunt. After work that afternoon, I met up with Tom and Corby, to ride up to Idaho with them and help spot and hopefully pack one out. We arrived at our other friend Pauls (Idhunter) house that night and made plans for the next day before hitting the sack. Tom will be sharing his hunt in an upcoming magizine, so I'll just share some of my thoughts about the hunt from my view point. As you can see, I have had quite the active year and there's still several days in the field to go.
I need to step back a month and talk a little about my friend Toms (johnnyutah5) Idaho moose hunt. After work that afternoon, I met up with Tom and Corby, to ride up to Idaho with them and help spot and hopefully pack one out. We arrived at our other friend Pauls (Idhunter) house that night and made plans for the next day before hitting the sack. Tom will be sharing his hunt in an upcoming magizine, so I'll just share some of my thoughts about the hunt from my view point. As you can see, I have had quite the active year and there's still several days in the field to go.
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Aug. 30th
We headed out about an hour before light and hiked in about a mile before we arrived to a spot we could glass from. Within minutes we were able to see a pretty good bull about a mile away. Here's some video of it. Sorry for the poor quality but it was still pretty dark, it gets a little better at the 1 minute mark. Also, change the quality to 480 for a better picture. I thought it looked like a good one but Tom assured me that he had seen a much better one while scouting.
Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_vQ2qqqGSc
About an hour later, we spotted three more bulls and a cow and calf. One of the bulls looked real good with really big, wide palms.
We only saw them for a few minutes before they disappeared into the thick willows. It was freezing cold that morning, so after a few hours, we decided to go check out another area where Paul had some trail cams set up. Hoping to see some good bulls on his cameras. Here's some video of the country Tom was hunting while we were out checking on the cameras.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPmqh3YBzzU
After finding nothing but whitetail deer on Pauls cameras. We decided to head back to where we had seen the bulls earlier in the morning. It was amazing how hot it got by mid-afternoon. We were all in t shirts. On our way back to the spot we were at that morning, we spotted 3 bulls from the road that were about 1/2 mile away and moving away from us. After gaining accesss from a land owner to cross their property, which saved us hours in time from going clear around from the other side that was public land.
One of the bulls was a keeper and the hunt was on.
Here's a picture of the bulls.
to be continued.....
We headed out about an hour before light and hiked in about a mile before we arrived to a spot we could glass from. Within minutes we were able to see a pretty good bull about a mile away. Here's some video of it. Sorry for the poor quality but it was still pretty dark, it gets a little better at the 1 minute mark. Also, change the quality to 480 for a better picture. I thought it looked like a good one but Tom assured me that he had seen a much better one while scouting.
Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_vQ2qqqGSc
About an hour later, we spotted three more bulls and a cow and calf. One of the bulls looked real good with really big, wide palms.
We only saw them for a few minutes before they disappeared into the thick willows. It was freezing cold that morning, so after a few hours, we decided to go check out another area where Paul had some trail cams set up. Hoping to see some good bulls on his cameras. Here's some video of the country Tom was hunting while we were out checking on the cameras.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPmqh3YBzzU
After finding nothing but whitetail deer on Pauls cameras. We decided to head back to where we had seen the bulls earlier in the morning. It was amazing how hot it got by mid-afternoon. We were all in t shirts. On our way back to the spot we were at that morning, we spotted 3 bulls from the road that were about 1/2 mile away and moving away from us. After gaining accesss from a land owner to cross their property, which saved us hours in time from going clear around from the other side that was public land.
One of the bulls was a keeper and the hunt was on.
Here's a picture of the bulls.
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Aug. 30th continued....
As Tom and Paul worked their way through the thick willows, Corby and I hiked to a high spot about a mile away, to keep an eye on the bulls from above. After a lot of cat and mouse with these bulls. One of the smaller bulls came within 10 yards of Tom and Paul and feed on a small tree. About 1/2 hour before dark ( around 8:30 pm) Tom finally got the shot he was hoping for on the biggest bull and the bull only ran less than 100 yards before going down. It was about 10:00 pm when Corby and I arrived at the spot were the bull was and after 3 trips back and forth to the truck, it was about 6:30 am when we all finally got our trucks loaded with everything and we were headed back to Pauls house. Once we got back to Pauls house and slept for about 3 hours. We went and checked the bull in with the Idaho F&G. Then packed a lot of ice around the moose quarters and headed for home. It was about 7:00 pm when I finally got back home. WOW, what an amazing 48 hours. In 6 days, Tom was able to kill both, a 190" P&Y buck and a mid 150" B&C bull Moose with his bow.
As Tom and Paul worked their way through the thick willows, Corby and I hiked to a high spot about a mile away, to keep an eye on the bulls from above. After a lot of cat and mouse with these bulls. One of the smaller bulls came within 10 yards of Tom and Paul and feed on a small tree. About 1/2 hour before dark ( around 8:30 pm) Tom finally got the shot he was hoping for on the biggest bull and the bull only ran less than 100 yards before going down. It was about 10:00 pm when Corby and I arrived at the spot were the bull was and after 3 trips back and forth to the truck, it was about 6:30 am when we all finally got our trucks loaded with everything and we were headed back to Pauls house. Once we got back to Pauls house and slept for about 3 hours. We went and checked the bull in with the Idaho F&G. Then packed a lot of ice around the moose quarters and headed for home. It was about 7:00 pm when I finally got back home. WOW, what an amazing 48 hours. In 6 days, Tom was able to kill both, a 190" P&Y buck and a mid 150" B&C bull Moose with his bow.
There's always next year
-
MuleyMadness
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9997
- Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2002 9:34 pm
- Location: St. George, UT
- Contact:
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Tom had quite the 2012, impressive!