Dear Bull Elk on Manuel Garcia Ranch in Chama New Mexico, Please eat heartily for the next 12 months, you were lucky last week that is was so hot and that your bitches were not in heat, otherwise I would have smoked one of your asses. You have a beautiful home and I promise I will not bother you until next year. On a side note one of the hunters in our camp did you a favor and killed that jerk Mr. Blackbear so you are welcome for that. Sincerely, Dewercs
Getting pretty stoked.... heading off to Northern Ontario for the yearly deer hunt next week. It's fucked up, though... hunters are fewer than ever. We've only got 5 guys coming into camp this year, where we'd top out at 25 some years. Needless to say, it's going to be a nice week of relaxation more than anything. Anyone else have any hunting plans coming up?
Good luck on your hunt have some fun and shoot a big one. It seems that the fewer hunter thing is not uncommon, we had real problems this year filling tags for New Mexico this year, it is a money thing for most people. I have a 8 day offshore hunting trip on the pacific coming up in November, we are doing the San Diego to Cedros Island run again and are short 2 people as well. We will be looking for whatever we can find from grouper to dolphin to tuna, more of an ocean camping trip.
Sounds like (yet another) awesome time you've got planned. Good luck to you too. The only thing that's worrying me this year is my dad, as he's had a reoccurrence of cellulitis in his leg and has been on IV antibiotics for just over 2 weeks now. Its not that bad, as he's got a quad to get around on, and our camp is lacking no luxuries, but we're still an hour from a hospital. I'm sure it'll still be a lot of fun.
November 6 is deer opener in my zone. Good news is that it's an intensive harvest zone and I'm allowed 5 deer max. Bad news is that it's also a trophy management zone, so all bucks must have a minimum of at least 4 points on one side. My brother in law has seen a bunch of 4 and 6 pointers in our area. Hopefully we see a couple of shooters.
Weekend/part of the week after Thanksgiving. I'll drive down to the Chesapeake Bay area in Eastern Shore, MD Thanksgiving night. We'll hunt goose and duck on Black Friday and deer season opens on Saturday. I'll head back home Wednesday morning. Since I found out last season (my first hunting trip) that I can't shoot at deer with a bead sight to save my life, I bought myself a rifled barrel with a cantilever scope mount and put some nice glass on it. Can't wait to put that to the test. Bag limit is 2 bucks and 10 doe.
That is a very valid concern you have and it is a good reminder for all of us who go to the middle of nowhere to hunt and fish. There would be nothing worse than being in the middle of nowhere and having something happen to someone who you care about and not being able to help. I hunt with a guy who has had a stroke and a few other guys who are older so I am always concerned someone going to fall over dead in the middle of the woods or in the middle of the ocean and you CAN NOT quarter them up and carry them out. If you have any health concerns let your guys know, bring extra medication, be realistic about what you can and can't do, if you don't feel well make sure someone knows and if you think you may need medical attention sooner is better than later. If you hunt at elevation keep an eye out for others who are not used to it, lack of oxygen will make people crazy and not take care of themselves.
Yeah, we're about as prepared as you can be for this, really. Basically, the Dr. dealing with this for my dad is a member of the CDC at University Hospital, in London, ON. He's provided us with all sorts of documentation and "priority codes" to get it sorted out, and we've got instructions from him that if something comes up (as in any kind of a fever), there's a pack of killer antibiotics we're to give him immediately, and then we're to get him airlifted to London, ASAP. He's given us all sorts of "quote this case number to them" type info that is supposed to cut through a ton of red tape and stuff. We've got the lat/long of the clearing beside the cabin, as well as a series of instructions to be followed for the bulletin board in the camp. The guys in camp are all good with this stuff, and we generally have an initial sit-down to brief everyone on what's going on so we're all informed of shit like that (one guy has diabetes, the other has had a stroke, etc). We've also got 2 vehicles with OnStar (a lifesaver when out of cel range). So yeah, probably way overboard for what's needed, but I'm not one for fucking around with stuff like this. I've also got a couple of air horns for the old man to signal for help.
Had a Code Brown last night when I was BBQ'ing some chicken. It was dark (9pm or so), and the lighting around the place wasn't the best. Was on the phone with a friend of mine, and we were bitching and ranting about some shit at work, and I was pacing around with a beer in my hand, and 8 feet away from me, around the corner of the garage, came a black bear, nose in the air, zoning in on the chicken. Pretty big, too, I'll tell you. No, really. Anyway, I screamed like a little girl, threw my beer at it, and ran back into the garage and into the house. I heard it run off through the woods like it'd been shot, so I guess it was a little freaked out too. Serious adrenalin rush though. I swear, I'm going to bait that fucking thing and take it out with my crossbow this week.
Maybe next year will be the year I finally get to go deer hunting. No one in my family has ever been into the outdoors so I've never had anyone take me. It will be my graduation gift to myself. Fuck it, I've earned it. I'm taking a week (maybe two) long vacation, buying that Remington XCRII chambered in a thirty-aught-six I've wanted since earlier this year, a nice Leupold and coming home with a nice deer from East Texas.
I hate to say it, but since moving up to Minneapolis from south-central MN in 2007 my hunting and fishing has been pretty limited. I used to be able to hunt every weekend and drive less than a half hour, but now I'm limited to maybe going deer hunting with my brother on public land this year and possibly doing some waterfowling back home. I am beyond eager to get outside and get my hands dirty, but work and classes have been consuming me this fall and I simply have zero time. I missed two trips to the Boundary Waters this summer because of work and it pains me to write that. Because I'll no longer have to work on the weekends after Halloween (oh yeah that's another complication... working from 6 am to the early afternoon every Saturday and Sunday kinda fucks over my chances of doing anything) I will make it a priority to hunt something, even if it means chasing squirrels.
Muzzleloader starts tomorrow in my zone. I have two different three day hunts to go to this weekend. I am excited. In the first place I am going to a thirteen pointer has been seen twice in the area where my stand is going to be. The second place where my stand is going to be is covered in scrapes and rubs. There is a lot of promise. Hopefully I will bag one this weekend!
Un. Fucking. Believable. Just ran across this story and some absolutely mind-blowing pics. I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it. Grizzly bear chasing down a buffalo that had been burned a bit. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.krtv.com/news/grizzly-versus-bison-the-rest-of-the-story/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.krtv.com/news/grizzly-versus ... the-story/</a>
Got a chance to go fly fishing in Silver Creek near Showlow Arizona on Friday, cool creek that is strictly catch and release on barbless artificial single hooks. I hooked 3 fish in 8 hours, the first one just busted my shit off in about 1 second, I fought the second one for 5 minutes and it came unbuttoned and I landed this one after a 10 minute fight and a few 40 yard sprints up and down the bank it ate a san juan worm on 6x tippett and weighed about 5 pounds and was quickly released.
Well it looks like I'll be deer hunting on private land in northern Minnesota in two weeks and pheasant hunting in eastern South Dakota in three. I couldn't ask for a better lineup. The deer hunting is in a managed zone, so I'll just shoot the first good looking deer I'll see... and then the next one too. It's been a few years since I've shot (and ate) a deer so I won't waste an opportunity. I haven't been out in the woods yet due to work, so it'll be exhilarating to be out in a stand one weekend and tromp through a 40-acre the next. My girlfriend will be up here this coming weekend. She wants to go hunting, so I'll likely just try and find a chunk of public land that'll be suitable for wandering around with a .22 and claiming to be squirrel hunting. Should be fun anyways.
My father in law saw 9 bucks this morning on our land while out bowhunting. Gun season starts tomorrow. Hopefully I have some good pics on Monday.
I was rather disappointed to call the landowner of the place I was planning on deer hunting this coming weekend and hear that they saw nothing but wolves up around the property this year. Last year one guy saw 8-10 deer over two days before taking one and this year... none. They were taken off the list in 2007 but in 2009 were re-instated as "threatened." There's a fair deal of coyote hunting (calling and driving) near my hometown in south-central MN and we keep the population in check, but the wolves have multiplied rapidly up north. Looks like I'm making a call today to see if I can go deer hunting with a friend down in southwest MN. Has anyone else had issues with wolves, or other predators for that matter?
We had a bunch of coyotes and wolves in our area this year... more so than usual, anyway. They're considered a pest/vermin up here, and don't require any licenses. There's a $100 bounty on coyotes even. This year was the first time I've ever taken a wolf: