Well my 2014 season officially came to close yesterday. Defintley some ups and downs thru out the year. The waterfowl hunting was pretty much a bust this year and Ruger my lab/ chessie x is still ticked at me. I did get out to bow hunt some this year but not as much as intended .Getting that young bull elk with a bow was a highlight no doubt. I was hoping to close the distance and arrow a good mule buck , the opportunity never arose.
. . In the third week of October and just after thanksgiving my Father In-Law passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. This event tipped my family's and those of my wife's siblings upside down. My wife's younger brother and the baby in the family still had plenty of farm work ( farmed together) to do. Although harvest was complete there was alot of stuff to do such as getting the grain to market as it was under contract. Then more bad news my brother in law spun a bearing on the main grain haul semi/ super bees and was down a tractor / trailer. Thru all this hunting was the last thing on my mind there was nothing I could do about my FIL's death , but I sure could call in a few Favors and relieve the pressure off my BIL. So three of my real good customer dropped what they were doing and hauled grain for us for 4 days in that time we got just over 40,000 bushels of wheat to the elevator.
It felt good to actually do something as you all know standing around after a sudden death you feel useless. My BIL is 30 and although he has farmed since he got out of college at 22 he was left with a lot of weight and stress on his shoulders.
Now I here you ask " hey what's all this got to do with hunting?"
Well I'm getting there... Lol. By the time this was all sorted out bow season was done, and rifle opened up. I had gotten some permission on a new parcel of land 6 quarters of real good habitat. On opening day I gotten a glimpse of a real nice WT buck he was at distance. With the spotting scope he looked real good with a 6" drop tine on his left beam. I figured he would net in that 160-170" B&C range . Between work and life in general I spent every opportunity I had to try and find this buck . Like most big boys he eluded me , I seem him once more at last light and again unable to get in position for a shot.
Mother Nature had to make her presence known in these parts over the last week with heavy snow and bone chilling temperatures. I spent all day Friday on the tractor digging out from the 18" of snow that fell overnight, all day the temps dropped to an overnight low of -32*C and the winds picked up to bring the wind chills into the -40's. I woke up early on sat took one look at the temps and settled for putting a log on the fire and enjoying a coffee.
Sunday , the last day of rifle season and exactly 2 months since I got my elk, I resolved to go out regardless of weather. This was prompted by some texts and pics from a buddy that said the deer were really moving. -28*C and a 15 mph wind set the tone for the morning and as I hiked in the wind cutting my face thru my balcalva and hood of my coat. My normal easy going demeanour quickly changed to somewhat hostile and my own sanity came into question more then once. I crested the first big hill and worked my way into a gully I knew I'd be out of the wind and hole fully the deer were out and about down below. Well about 10 steps away from my vantage point and where I'd have shelter from the wind I jumped a good 160 class muley . I thought oh great busted already but 300 yrds away in the bottom of the gully out came a juvenile WT buck nose down and looking for Does. A good sign , I got to my vantage point and plunked down in the knee deep snow and watched and caught my breath. Pretty soon a doe ran out of some scrub brush and the young buck was hot on her. I watched for a few minutes like I had said earlier my demeanour had changed and I was at the point of I didn't come out here for nothing. As if on cue a much larger mature buck showed up after the doe and he put the run on the young one in short order. As they ran in circles and back and forth down at the bottom I made up my mind to take this buck given an opportunity . The doe turned and headed up and slightly east on trail that quartered closer to me but also would be down wind. I got set up from a sitting position and followed the doe deciding where when to shoot if the buck turned to follow. Well he did and about the time the doe caught my wind it was to late for him and at just over 250 yrds the 243 spoke and I sent an 80 gr GMX thru both front shoulders and he dropped on the spot. He was still kicking and trying to push ahead with his back legs so I put a follow up shot tight behind his shoulder and that quelled all motion .
Now the realization that I just harvested a good sized down a steep gully in knee deep snow!!!!
I walked down and tagged him and rolled the guts out of him while he was still warm . Then I made the 1/2 mile walk back to the truck, again the wind was howling although it didn't seem to cut quite as bad as on the way in. Home I went for a snowmobile and some rope I managed to dragg him out to where I could load him. So my season is done , an old buck past his prime was harvested I had him on trail cam a couple times . And ol drop tine? Haven't seen him since the 2 nd week of Nov.
I never got any field pics with the weather, but will get a pic of him up here. Now it's time to organize Dads cow elk hunt. It's open till the 3 rd week of Jan. so we have sometime.
. . In the third week of October and just after thanksgiving my Father In-Law passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. This event tipped my family's and those of my wife's siblings upside down. My wife's younger brother and the baby in the family still had plenty of farm work ( farmed together) to do. Although harvest was complete there was alot of stuff to do such as getting the grain to market as it was under contract. Then more bad news my brother in law spun a bearing on the main grain haul semi/ super bees and was down a tractor / trailer. Thru all this hunting was the last thing on my mind there was nothing I could do about my FIL's death , but I sure could call in a few Favors and relieve the pressure off my BIL. So three of my real good customer dropped what they were doing and hauled grain for us for 4 days in that time we got just over 40,000 bushels of wheat to the elevator.
It felt good to actually do something as you all know standing around after a sudden death you feel useless. My BIL is 30 and although he has farmed since he got out of college at 22 he was left with a lot of weight and stress on his shoulders.
Now I here you ask " hey what's all this got to do with hunting?"
Well I'm getting there... Lol. By the time this was all sorted out bow season was done, and rifle opened up. I had gotten some permission on a new parcel of land 6 quarters of real good habitat. On opening day I gotten a glimpse of a real nice WT buck he was at distance. With the spotting scope he looked real good with a 6" drop tine on his left beam. I figured he would net in that 160-170" B&C range . Between work and life in general I spent every opportunity I had to try and find this buck . Like most big boys he eluded me , I seem him once more at last light and again unable to get in position for a shot.
Mother Nature had to make her presence known in these parts over the last week with heavy snow and bone chilling temperatures. I spent all day Friday on the tractor digging out from the 18" of snow that fell overnight, all day the temps dropped to an overnight low of -32*C and the winds picked up to bring the wind chills into the -40's. I woke up early on sat took one look at the temps and settled for putting a log on the fire and enjoying a coffee.
Sunday , the last day of rifle season and exactly 2 months since I got my elk, I resolved to go out regardless of weather. This was prompted by some texts and pics from a buddy that said the deer were really moving. -28*C and a 15 mph wind set the tone for the morning and as I hiked in the wind cutting my face thru my balcalva and hood of my coat. My normal easy going demeanour quickly changed to somewhat hostile and my own sanity came into question more then once. I crested the first big hill and worked my way into a gully I knew I'd be out of the wind and hole fully the deer were out and about down below. Well about 10 steps away from my vantage point and where I'd have shelter from the wind I jumped a good 160 class muley . I thought oh great busted already but 300 yrds away in the bottom of the gully out came a juvenile WT buck nose down and looking for Does. A good sign , I got to my vantage point and plunked down in the knee deep snow and watched and caught my breath. Pretty soon a doe ran out of some scrub brush and the young buck was hot on her. I watched for a few minutes like I had said earlier my demeanour had changed and I was at the point of I didn't come out here for nothing. As if on cue a much larger mature buck showed up after the doe and he put the run on the young one in short order. As they ran in circles and back and forth down at the bottom I made up my mind to take this buck given an opportunity . The doe turned and headed up and slightly east on trail that quartered closer to me but also would be down wind. I got set up from a sitting position and followed the doe deciding where when to shoot if the buck turned to follow. Well he did and about the time the doe caught my wind it was to late for him and at just over 250 yrds the 243 spoke and I sent an 80 gr GMX thru both front shoulders and he dropped on the spot. He was still kicking and trying to push ahead with his back legs so I put a follow up shot tight behind his shoulder and that quelled all motion .
Now the realization that I just harvested a good sized down a steep gully in knee deep snow!!!!
I walked down and tagged him and rolled the guts out of him while he was still warm . Then I made the 1/2 mile walk back to the truck, again the wind was howling although it didn't seem to cut quite as bad as on the way in. Home I went for a snowmobile and some rope I managed to dragg him out to where I could load him. So my season is done , an old buck past his prime was harvested I had him on trail cam a couple times . And ol drop tine? Haven't seen him since the 2 nd week of Nov.
I never got any field pics with the weather, but will get a pic of him up here. Now it's time to organize Dads cow elk hunt. It's open till the 3 rd week of Jan. so we have sometime.
