Vanish and FireTiger's Journal - Season 6

sbhooper · Oct 23, 2016

vanish said:
We got back home pretty late and definitely slept in! The entire Sunday was spent taking care of meat.

Mule Deer hind quarter (lower leg had been removed because it thawed first)

View attachment 63009

Pronghorn Hind Quarter

View attachment 63010

Got burger?

View attachment 63011

Vanish's Pronghorn Buck
Tenderloin 0.63
Backstrap 2.92
Stew Meat 1.57
Flank 1.11
Roast 7.71
Hamburger 16.73
Total 30.67

FireTiger's Pronghorn Doe
Tenderloin 0.51
Backstrap 3.46
Stew Meat 1.87
Flank 0.72
Roast 8.71
Hamburger 14.41
Total 29.68

FireTiger's Pronghorn Buck
Tenderloin 0.69
Backstrap 3.91
Stew Meat 2.23
Flank 0.86
Roast 7.74
Hamburger 18.81
Total 34.24

Vanish's Mule Deer Buck
Tenderloin 1.13
Backstrap 5.88
Stew Meat 2.89
Flank 1.94
Roast 14.85
Hamburger 27
Total 53.69

Good season. The weights that you list are right on what I have gotten over the years. It is all about the end product, as far as I am concerned. You can think about those hunts every time that you take a bite of jerky or whatever. Great job!

Idahoarcheryhunter · Oct 23, 2016

Very cool thread, congrats on all your success this year

vanish · Oct 24, 2016

That was it for opening day. We scouted some new areas during the midday and only found hunters, not deer. We went back to watch for the Big 3 that evening, but nothing moved through. There were very few shots the whole day, maybe 4 ? Kind of sad for an opener.

FireTiger was set in her decision to hunt that same general area the next morning. With a big buck in the area, she wanted to be where he was. We got in 10 minutes earlier and set up in a bit better glassing position, though the wind was sub-optimal. This is a small parcel, so unfortunately you can't always get the best setup. We glassed and glassed, but I was starting to get nervous that the deer had been pushed out the day before. Then we remembered, we hadn't seen the deer yesterday until the sun was hitting the bottoms, sometime around 8:30-9:00, and hope returned.

Sure enough, as the bottoms started lighting up, FireTiger told me she had a small buck working in our direction down below us. I couldn't see where she was watching. He was at around 200 yards and tempting, but knowing there was a big buck in the area, she waited, hoping he would be following behind. A few minutes later, a second buck stepped out behind the first. This one was bigger, but still nothing like the Big 3 from the day before. They started to move out of her view, but came in to mine. FireTiger was debating the second buck, so I motioned her to come up to me.

As she was working my way, I spotted a third buck right behind the first two. A 4x4 with eyeguards was enough to get FireTiger on the bipod. After a 210 yards shot and a 40 yard tracking job, FireTiger had her new best mule deer.

vanish · Oct 26, 2016

sbhooper said:
Good season. The weights that you list are right on what I have gotten over the years. It is all about the end product, as far as I am concerned. You can think about those hunts every time that you take a bite of jerky or whatever. Great job!

Its good to know the weights are similar. We got more out of FireTiger's mule deer due to better shot placement :W: I'll have the full numbers up on that one soon. MMM, jerky, I need to make some more, as we finished it off during the hunt. I'm into the ground style over the cut strips nowadays. I used a cure packet on the last batch, but I want to learn to make my own. We've got a couple of roasts from her deer corning right now. I also ate the heart this time.

Idahoarcheryhunter said:
Very cool thread, congrats on all your success this year

Thanks! Its harder than one thinks to keep one of these going. This has definitely been our most successful year. We may not have tagged the biggest animals on the mountain, but we're still learning.

bobbydean · Oct 26, 2016

Thank you. Enjoyed it all. Hell of a season for both of you!

vanish · Oct 31, 2016

I joined my buddy for his second season deer tag on Saturday. We explored a new area for both of us, with lots of tags and lots of hunters, but lots of space. With no rain in the forecast, neither of us were prepared for the downpour that came with our drive in Saturday morning. The two track was a muddy mess, and we had to park his vehicle a mile from our intended start point. This also kept lots of other hunters out of the area for the first hour.

We had to climb one ridge, then drop into a canyon and climb up the next ridge, as we knew the easily accessible ridge closest to the road would be crawling with hunters (it was). However, there was nobody on the ridge we were hunting. The clouds hung low for the whole morning, with drizzle coming and going. To me, that's some fair conditions for hunting. A lot better than the bluebird 70 degree in the forecast.

Due to having to stop early on the drive, we didn't make it to our glassing location until at least an hour after shooting light. We stopped to grab a snack, and as I crinkled my wrapped, with a granola bar in my mouth, I looked up and saw a buck staring right at us across the draw. Yay and Crud, as we're not prepared! We range him and he's 100 yards out of my buddy's range. I send him down the hill while I keep tabs on the buck. Having not been there before, we didn't realize that down the hill was a jungle of nearly impossible deadfall and a steep chasm. After about 5 minutes, the buck finally has enough, and the distance had only been cut by about 40 yards. Dang!

We alternated glassing and walking for the rest of the day, and turned up a dozen does with one possible tiny buck. The clouds moved out and the sunshine took over. There was no movement in the evening except for the pile of atvs on the road where we parked. It was still a grand adventure. Unfortunately no photos as my phone slipped out of my pocket on the bumpy ride in.

vanish · Nov 4, 2016

Tomorrow we head out locally as FireTiger has a mule deer doe tag. This is more of an excuse to see some of our local "backcountry" than anything else. I've done a bit of scouting but we're definitely not prepared! Next weekend, Nebraska whitetails!

vanish · Nov 7, 2016

Saturday was a bust, as the highway was closed and we didn't find out until we had driven an hour that way. We tried an even closer spot but no luck spotting deer, and plenty of luck spotting hunters.

Sunday we went around to the original choice for opening day, and started spotted deer before shooting light. It was a lot of fun trying to guide FireTiger to the deer from a mile away. Somehow, we came home empty handed.

vanish · Nov 13, 2016

Currently in Nebraska. It's been the slowest action we've ever had. Now, it's hard to say that since I got a buck immediately opening day, but we've seen by far fewer deer between the 3 of us than usual. My buck is the only one we've seen between us.

I had decided to hunt a new spot and while I would like to say it paid off, in fact my 2 mile hike was in vain. There was an access road that I hadn't seen on the map, and I walked right into several people. Thinking fast, I headed for a pinch point I remembered seeing and a few minutes later he walked right into me at 33 yards.

vanish · Nov 16, 2016

With 1 minute of shooting light left on Monday night, FireTiger found a forky. It was the only buck she saw the whole trip. Dad brought home two does. He saw only one buck, as well, with no shot. It was definitely the least amount of deer we've seen at this public land location in 6 years of hunting there. Since I got a buck opening morning, I spent the time alternating between pushing the brush for them and exploring new territory.

Lots of talk about foregoing the rifle season and trying archery next year.

As he lay.

Ready for packing.

The whole deer, with all my gear, was definitely my limit. Trying to cross the gullies to get back to the lot threatened to flip me over.

Good luck getting a shot here.

Morning wake up.

If you look very closely, you can see my buck carcass and the trail he was following right down the middle.

Impenetrable brush along the lake edge.

A nice overlook. Would have been an interesting place to be opening morning.

Packing up for home!

Mthuntinfool · Nov 17, 2016

heck of a season!

Big Fin · Nov 17, 2016

I regret my travels caused me to miss this thread, but thankful I got caught up. Great stuff. Thanks for sharing here.

vanish · Nov 18, 2016

Mthuntinfool said:
heck of a season!

Big Fin said:
I regret my travels caused me to miss this thread, but thankful I got caught up. Great stuff. Thanks for sharing here.

Thank you both for reading! It has been a great year, and already has us looking at maps and planning for next year.

There is one more big game tag this year: FireTiger has an RFW E/S elk tag that starts in about 10 days. It will be a very different hunt than any we've gone on before.

Lostinthewoods · Nov 27, 2016

Keep it up, Ryan!

vanish · Nov 29, 2016

We made it to Craig about 11:30PM last night and camped on some BLM for the night ( thanks HeavyC! ).

It was an intense drive over Rabbit Ears pass through some crazy blowing snow. The road was invisible! At one point we hit an ice patch and did a few fish tails, which puckered me up for awhile. Figured we weren't in a rush and slowed down.

I'm currently working from the Village Inn while FireTiger is out scouting for the elk. Hoping she can find the majority of the big herds before check in, so we know where the request.

vanish · Nov 29, 2016

Well, the scouting report is no bueno. It appears the elk have not moved down from the mountains yet.

NC2CO · Nov 29, 2016

Good luck up there. We hunted that area 3rd season. We filled out on deer but never did find the elk. Hunt safe.

marksjeep · Nov 30, 2016

Good luck. This latest storm should move them down slowly.

vanish · Dec 2, 2016

Were back home! The scouting report showed where the elk were NOT, so when we left town, we went as high as we dared with the snow rolling in. Full story after we settle in.

Lostinthewoods · Dec 2, 2016

Story story story!!!

Vanish and FireTiger's Journal - Season 6

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