So my bighorn hunt starts December 1st and I have been scouting, we saw a few sheep a few miles away but last night we glassed these guys up from 2 miles and got within 200 yards, there are 4 ewes and a ram, the ram is right above the ewe on the right. The picture was taken through binos on a camera phone so not really good. Some very rugged country
Bass fishing is pretty good right now in the desert, we managed about 20 fish this morning, stripers, large mouth and white bass. It helps to have a brother in law who is a guide too. I stuck the large mouth on a bass assassin.
I went pheasant hunting with a couple of buddies on mostly public land yesterday and finally shot something for Buck to retrieve. He flushed seven pheasants on the public land (two hens, five roosters) in two hours, which is the most I've seen yet on public land in Minnesota. We had a great time.
Hunted birds on Black Friday. We shot 52 ducks (4 mallard, the rest teal--of which all but two were drakes) and 13 geese. Best day of hunting I've ever had. I'll attach a picture when I get back, otherwise it'll be fucking enormous.
I checked the ram out yesterday with AZ Game and Fish, they photograph the ram, put a marker in his horns to identify him in case someone steals him, take a tissue sample, age him, check for diseases and measure the horns for a score. This particular ram , according to the biologist, had some kind of infection or disease in his left horn most likely from bot fly larvae that had infected his nasal cavity and there was some blood leaking from where he had broke the chunk out, probably during the rut this fall, they aged him at 8 years which makes him a class 4 ram and his raw score was 168.4 and after deductions he was 166. The average ram for that unit is in the 150-160 range so this was a big guy for the area. While scouting we had not seen a lot of rams, we got close to one that was in the 140 range that I probably would have shot if I got down to the end, the other rams we saw were way to far away to score. You get to shoot one desert bighorn sheep in your lifetime and they give you 31 days to do it in the unit I was in, my unit was about a 20 mile by 20 mile square with the actual habitat being a band of about 5 miles wide and 20 miles long with 2 tags given per year for rams. There were a lot of guide services sending me information with price tags from 3-4k but I could not justify putting out that kind of money. The game warden was very tight lipped when it came to giving information, and that confused me as I would think he would be very helpful in helping with hunters with a very hard to draw tag that they get once but it could just be an age thing with him. Sunday I drove up to the unit with my brother in law and another friend of mine, we started glassing of a mountain around 2, I glassed up the game warden driving around and I texted him that I was watching him and he should come to where I am so I can say hi. It took him a while to get to where I was but once he got there he checked out my license and tag and we talked for a while. We wanted to know the sheep numbers from the survey they take every year where the sheep are counted and we were told there were 80-90 sheep in the unit, he would not give me any information on how many bigger sheep (class 4) there were or the location of sheep he had seen. (dick) He ended with letting me know I should expect to hunt 7-10 days. We made a 4 mile move to look at some area we had seen before and got in there about 4 pm but saw nothing so we started to drive out and my good luck Asian friend Ted who is my good luck charm when hunting says "Stop there is a sheep." I could not see it as it was on the right side of my truck, out of the truck I go with my binos and I can't see it, finally at the top of the mountain I see this big ass ram skylined looking down on me, I don't remember what I said but I am told it was "Fuck that is a big one" and after my bullets I go. It appears to me that the ram is 400 plus yards but Ted puts the range finder on it and says 209. The ram continues to stand where he is on the rock not really moving just checking us out so it gives me enough time to grab my ear muffs and a chair to rest my rifle on, but I could not get steady on the chair for the shot as it was almost straight up, finally I make a move to the bed of my truck and rest the gun on the side of the bed and get on one knee, it took me a few seconds to get comfortable and get the cross hairs on the ram, I almost yanked the trigger once then took a breath and got steady. My only shot was right in the middle of the chest as he was facing me, so when I thought I had my crosshairs where I wanted them I let a 180 grain bullet go out of the 300 WSM. I got the scope back on him after the shot and he turned his head to the left and opened him mouth a little and I was pretty sure I missed but after what seemed like 5 minutes but was 2 seconds the ram reared back like a horse and fell about 10 feet and landed on his back with his legs in the air, he kicked for a second and was dead. 4:37pm on the first day and I am done. When I gutted him the bullet had hit him 1 inch left of center and blew his heart up and exited his rib cage 8 inches back, very clean kill which is what you want. My 2 buddies jumped out of the truck and we were all pretty jacked up, but the next urgent order of business was to go get the ram and bring it down and hopefully get up the mountain in time to get some pics, mature rams weigh 200-240 pounds so the plan was to get up the hill, take some pics, gut him and drag him down. Ted has asthma and after grabbing my gear and starting up the mountain I asked him where his inhaler was and he had left it in his truck 4 miles away, so he was banished to staying at the truck. The climb up was a vertical climb of about 550 feet and it was steep through cactus and all kind of nice sticky plants and boulders after huffing and puffing two fat 40 something guys made it to the sheep and it was more than I expected, way bigger. The hide was a darker chocolate color that rams turn to as the mature and he had flecks of gray in his face, we first noticed the chunks out of them horn but did not know what it was. The smell bothered my brother in law a little but it was not to bad to me, males animals who rut always have a very distinctive smell. A few pics were snapped and it was getting dark so on goes a headlamp and I get to the business of gutting, I use a 4 inch folding gerber knife with a drop point, it retails for 30-40 bucks but I keep it sharp and gutted him out in 10 minutes, there was very little blood as most of it had coagulated in the chest cavity and it was a lot smaller than the elk I am used to doing. Once he was gutted it was time to go down the mountain, in the dark, dragging an ram but I still had a lot of adrenaline so the 30 minutes it took only seemed like 29 and my forearms are still sore from holding on to the horns and dragging. Once we got him to the road we snapped a few more pictures and then skinned and quartered the ram, with the head, back straps and tenderloins cut out the rest of the carcass was left for the dining pleasure of the coyotes we headed for the hotel. Of course being the kind person I am, I was sure to text the gamewarden a picture, he never responded, so I called him yesterday and he wanted lots of details of where, when and how. I of course was very brief with him and asked him what he though it would score, he said maybe 150 so after his guys measured it out I sent him their sheet and he was way off. I have to say I was very fortunate, blessed, lucky or whatever you want to call to be able to do this hunt and draw this tag while I am still young enough to enjoy it. This did not require any real crazy hunting skills, we got very lucky to find a big ram while driving close to the road and in a few hours of the first day and I just had to make a shot and 209 yards was not that hard because I had been practicing a 200 yard shot a lot when I could not figure out why my rifle was shooting right. I am glad I figured that one out though or I would not have been able to live with myself missing. I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and be ready to shoot. I am thankful that I have friends who are way better hunters than I am and will take time off to help me fill a tag. In case you live in Arizona and wonder how much it cost to do this hunt, the resident hunt fish license for 2014 is $57.00 if you get drawn for bighorn the tag fee is $300.00. I spent $70 on hotel rooms as we stayed in Laughlin where rooms are 15-20 per night and $300 in gas driving back and forth scouting. The expensive part for me is going to be the $780.00 for the shoulder mount. As far as the meat goes, I boned it all out last night and ground a lot of it and roasts and backstraps have been vacuum packed, the yield was maybe 40 pounds, the head weighed about 40 pounds on its own so that is a lot of the animal weight. There was no fat on the animal and the taste is a little like mutton/beef but very line and clean tasting.
My hunting story: I was late getting off work and didn't have time to change into my hunting clothes and take my climber out into the field. So I parked my car at the end of my grandpa's driveway, rolled down the window, waited about half and hour before this deer wandered into the path of my .44 mag. The end. I'd like some good suggestion on what to do with the hearth and liver. I usually give them away but this year Im keeping them. Ive never tried liver before. Everyone was going nuts about them in that WDT a few weeks ago. Any suggestions on recipes??
Nice deer, looks tasty. I'm not a liver guy but last year I grilled the heart and all went very well- it seemed like a fat little steak. You could probably slice it and pan fry it too. This year I'll grill it very rare just to flavor it some, then slice it thin and quick sear the pieces on a hot pan with some peppers and onions to make cheesesteak sandwiches. She's willing to try it but probably won't if it remotely resembles a heart.
Start Here and add to the recipes, a great place for the base of a lot of recipes. <a class="postlink" href="http://honest-food.net/wild-game/venison-recipes/heart-liver-recipes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://honest-food.net/wild-game/veniso ... r-recipes/</a>
It was 50 yards off maybe. .44 mag Super Red Hawk. My job has ramped up for the past few months and I have really had no time to get out like I did last year. Working second shift usually allows me much more hunting time. I was only able to get out twice this past gun week. Our deer in Ohio just don't fear people anymore. Maybe because my grand dad's farm is right outside the suburbs. Maybe in the sticks they'd be more jittery and harder to get. Then again my buddy just got his first deer ever by shooting out his back door at his house about 45 minutes into the sticks. I don't follow the DNR news very often but they restricted gun week from the Saturday before to the Sunday after to just Monday to Sunday and instead of a full muzzle loader week it's two days this year. I think the whole deer season is about a week less than last year. I don't know what they are trying to conserve these deer are fucking everywhere….
My dad, a friend, and I squeezed in one last pheasant hunt for the year on Christmas Eve morning. We hunted on some Southern Minnesota public land and temps were hovering around -3F with a 15 mph breeze. Buck flushed one lone hen pheasant in the field, plus a coyote and small deer bedded down in icy sloughs, which is pretty typical of a late season public land hunt. It was still fun and Buck did a great job working the field.
I made it out to a nearby bayou in search of a few redfish before the weather turns to cold to be in my kayak. I fished shallow ponds and a few drop offs with no luck until around 10am. The tide started moving and I ended up hooking into a rather large fish and my drag started to scream. The fish pulled my yak about 100-150 yards down the canal before I was able to land it. The fish was tagged and I'm looking forward to getting the information on it to find where the fish was tagged and how much it has grown. The redfish measured 31" and is the largest fish I've caught in the kayak so far. In my first year of kayak fishing I've been lucky enough to land this redfish and a 26" speckled trout. Hopefully next year will be just as productive! Spoilered for size of the picture.
My brother in law is a fishing guide in AZ and I went out with him and my nephew Fisher on Saturday, Lake Pleasant has a lot of shad in it right now and the largemouth, stripers and white bass are getting fat. This is a 3.5-4 pounder, Fisher is being a pussy and wont hold the fish.
So I got a deer last night and didn't have time/place to gut it until I brought it home today. The temps were in the single digits all night/day with windchill at like -10. Ive known hunters who've left deer in the field until morning so I figured it'd be alright since it was a lung shot and we found it rather quick. Normally I've been out on my grandpas farm and doing this at night with car lights. Tonight, it was a solid 24 hours after the kill, I did it in my closed garage with lights and all. The smell was off enough I turned to google to see what was recommend in these situations. Mostly just turned up survivalist boards were it was downplayed. Some say fears of tainted meat are over blown with modern cleaning and refrigeration. Some say tainted is tainted. Some of the webbed fat around the stomach smelled really off. I cut the tenderloins out and smelled them a while later and it does smell oddly funky. I don't know if Im over thinking it because I was in doors with out proper ventilation and wondered if it was just in my head.... So I turn it over to you guys. Whats your experience with how long a deer could last un field dressed?