2024 - Bryan's Season of Redemption. A Live Feed

[Prairie Rambler]

HT!

Its been awhile... and by that I mean I haven't been active on here for awhile. My life has had some serious ups and downs over the past two years. My daughter was born in Sept of 2022 and with the ridiculous cost of child care my wife and I elected for her to stay home. This means that I have been the single source of income for almost two years now. We tried to make all the sacrifices we could to save money but we had to sell our house last fall. One of the first things to fall off when my daughter was born was me hunting. For the 2022 and 2023 seasons I only hunted for a total of 6 full days across elk, bear, deer, and turkey. I'm thankful for the time that I had and was able to take a turkey each year, but to be perfectly honest I've been slightly depressed.

Now that I'm done with the back story to this season, my wife and I talked a lot about how I need my time in the woods and outside of hunting season I'll be super-husband. She agreed that as long as trips are planned out then there shouldn't be an issue now that our daughter is approaching two. My younger brother(Sam), who lives in WI, and I were talking around the new year and we made a deal that we are going to meet up to go hunting out of state every year. In this year's line up we are planning a 5 day elk hunt in either Montana or Colorado. On top of that I'm planning a trip for spring turkey in NE Washington and I'm re-attempting the Washington high buck hunt in the Cascades which will be 7 days. I think I finally figured them out last year.

Stay tuned for my new rifle build, spring turkey, and off-season training!

 

[bmt99]

All that is understandable. Choices, consequences, economy, etc. Some are in your control and some are not. Sounds like your wife is supportive and that is incredibly helpful. I can't imagine how hard it would be if she wasn't. Count your blessings. I know I count mine even in bad times...can always be worse. If the depression gets bad, talk here, reach out to someone etc. I took it lightly and that has worse consequences. Good luck this year!

 

[Prairie Rambler]

All that is understandable. Choices, consequences, economy, etc. Some are in your control and some are not. Sounds like your wife is supportive and that is incredibly helpful. I can't imagine how hard it would be if she wasn't. Count your blessings. I know I count mine even in bad times...can always be worse. If the depression gets bad, talk here, reach out to someone etc. I took it lightly and that has worse consequences. Good luck this year!

I think it took some talking it out to make her see that hunting is what I live for after her and my daughter, but she gets it now. Thanks dude! Good luck to you too

 

[nrpate05]

I feel ya. My hunting career has been limping along since my son was born in 2021 and we just had a second last fall. I was able to get out for 5 days of archery elk before he was born, so compared to the two seasons before that, it was a win. Although we didn't punch a tag, it was good to be in the woods with some close buddies. I think we are in a better groove now and have good childcare (although damn expensive) so I'm hopeful 2024 will be a freezer filling year. We shall see. Good luck to you.

 

[Prairie Rambler]

I feel ya. My hunting career has been limping along since my son was born in 2021 and we just had a second last fall. I was able to get out for 5 days of archery elk before he was born, so compared to the two seasons before that, it was a win. Although we didn't punch a tag, it was good to be in the woods with some close buddies. I think we are in a better groove now and have good childcare (although damn expensive) so I'm hopeful 2024 will be a freezer filling year. We shall see. Good luck to you.

Idk about you but it's not something that I saw coming. I'm glad your in a good place now and good luck to you as well!

 

[Prairie Rambler]

3/30 - The Build

I've primarily been a deer and pronghorn hunter since moving out west in 2011 at the young age of 19. I always wanted to get into elk hunting but didn't know how. I've had a few resident muzzleloader tags in Washington but almost never see elk during the season. I somehow seem to see elk everyday during turkeys season, which is my luck. With my newfound commitment of hunting out of state every year I wanted a "do it all" gun vs the .25-06 I normally hunt with. Around the beginning of February I started researching calibers, rifles, scopes, etc. Here's the build I settled on:
- Browning X-Bolt Stalker LR, 26" barrel, 300 win mag
- Vortex Viper PST Gen II 3-15x44 FFP MOA w/ Vortex 30mm medium height matched rings, Leupold Backcountry LA cross slot pic rail 0 MOA, and a 30mm Vortex low profile bubble level
- Rugged Ridge 7-10" bipod w/pic rail and rear rest
- Additional Items: Vortex Diamondback 2000 rangefinder and Kestrel 5700 w/Link

I really wanted a 7mm PRC for the BC and energy retention, but I couldn't justify the price and lack of ammo availability. I'm still really happy about my new gun. The range days over this summer should be fun. Next year I think I'm going to upgrade my muzzleloader. My end goal is to have a dialed in rifle and muzzleloader. I enjoy bow hunting but haven't done it in over 10 years.

 

[Prairie Rambler]

4/18
Well the Montana combo draw was a bust. I've been looking into other possible hunts around the west. I've somewhat come to the conclusion that a post rut or late season elk hunt might not be the best idea for introducing Sam to western hunting. He's starting from square one with gear. Our fall plans might shift to pronghorn or deer while we build points for elk, deer, and pronghorn elsewhere.

On a positive note, it's spring thunder here in eastern WA and I'll be hitting the mountains for turkeys this weekend on an overnight trip. I'm the world's worst turkey hunter but a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again