Average Joe's 2018

Mike.A mustache is camouflage...Not bad luck.Just keep telling yourself that and the animals will believe.Yea right!I also keep my eyes closed real tight.I can't see them,they can't see me...Sound advice right? Archery Deer ends Today in Az. and I still haven't seen one.:cool:
 
Mike.A mustache is camouflage...Not bad luck.Just keep telling yourself that and the animals will believe.Yea right!I also keep my eyes closed real tight.I can't see them,they can't see me...Sound advice right? Archery Deer ends Today in Az. and I still haven't seen one.:cool:

It's gone. I'm not man enough to grace the world with such majestic beauty. ;)
 
I thought I saw a side view in one of the pics and it was gone...So the Majestic Beauty you speak of is your Wife making you shave?lol!:cool:
 
I made it to New Mexico.

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I've had a decently eventful day so far. I was laying down to to take a nap around 10, after not hearing any bugles around sunrise, when my attempt to get some shut eye was rudely interrupted by 4 bulls bugling all around me.

The wind was swirling really bad, and I think they were just trying to get bedded down for the day, but I tried to make a move on the one with the most favorable wind... It didn't work out. He barked a few times, I barked back, then they all grouped up an moved away while bugling up a storm.

I followed them and ended up bumping into this cow in her bed. I ranged her at 41yds, debated whether or not I wanted to end the hunt, decided not to, and pulled out the camera before she even knew I was there.

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After she busted out, another bull started bugling, so I chased it until I lost it.

I'm currently sitting above where I have seen bulls bed many times in the past, but I'm a little concerned this year. I had A LOT of hunters on my trail cams from the first season. I normally don't have any.

I'm not going to be too aggressive, I think this spot needs to settle down a bit. The elk are still in here (as was evident this morning), so I'm feeling pretty good, just dead tired. Put in a lot of hours at work last week and I'm feeling it.

I'll for sure be back to 100% tomorrow. There's no better medicine for a tired body than sleeping on a 6" memory foam mattress in the elk mountains.

This place is special to me. It's where I killed my first elk ever, a week after a rough deployment. I also killed my first elk with a bow here, 3 years ago. It feels so good to be back.


***Also, Dan's helping a guy pack out an elk***
Things are looking good!
 
I’ve been up here since Monday and it’s been tons of fun.

No shortage of elk on the cameras since I hung them in May.

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Yesterday evening before opener I enjoyed some of Northern New Mexico’s finest pizza, some sour straws, and got to glass bulls.

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After I was done glassing a good buddy of mine came back and said he had shot a bull in the last hour of hunt.
We suited up and went out!

We had good blood, but after a while we noticed that it seemed like he was being pushed. So we backed out and went back in this morning.

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Just another perfect example on why you always need to stick hunts out until the end.


This morning I got into elk. Bulls aren’t overly fired up, but they are talking.

I snuck in on a cow at 35 yards, but decided to pass her because she just was a little too small. Another year older and I would have taken her.

I’ve been hiking my behind off since I got here so this evening I’m taking it easy and sitting over a very active spring.

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It’s been a great trip so far. I can’t wait to see what else is in store.
 
Yesterday was such a great day!
CJ showed up to camp late Saturday night and we went out Sunday morning.

We went to an area that I had scouted before and within the first few minutes of our set up we had a big old bear walk in at 25 yards. It was such a beaut.

As we moved down a little further we got into some cow elk. It was such a beautiful area.

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CJ found a monster shed

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We found some super really cool spots and ended up seeing a total of 5 bears, a good mule deer bucks, tons of turkeys, and some elk.

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Around 4pm we had hiked a good ways and decided it was snack time. We had found this secret spring and figured since we were near it we may as well set up strategically Incase anything came in while we were eating.

We were talking about how neat the spot was while CJ was eating starburst jelly beans and I was eating sour straws when all of a sudden we heard some noise....

I looked over and saw two spikes coming down to us.

The first thing that went through my head was “this is so cool”. We were having such a great day, had tons of fun, and now elk are coming in during snack time.

Unfortunately for the spikes and the situation... I was not going to pass.

I got set up and CJ grabbed his camera to record. The bigger spike came in to about 10 yards and started looking at us.
He wasn’t really sure what we were, but didn’t blow out. So when he turned to leave he gave me a quarter away shot and....

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We were absolutely thrilled. This was one of the first times that CJ and I had actually hunted together, one of the first times I’ve shot something in front of someone else, and just such an amazing time period.

We packed it out and cooked up some tenderloins and eggs for dinner
 
Thanks Ryan!



I mentioned CJ got it all on film. I can’t upload it until later, but I can show you this.

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More stories later....
 
Great story and great pics!Is that your arrow in the last pic just behind the shoulder?:cool:
 
Yesterday morning CJ and I got into some bugling bulls right away.
We found a very mature 6x6 in a drainage, set up, and called.

He came running in across the drainage, but at about 85 yards the winds shifted and he buggered out.

We were going to get into other elk when my other buddy in camp texted “bull down”. So CJ and I backed out and went to my buddy Rob.

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We packed it out, went into town for ice, a sandwich, and then got back into camp!

CJ shot his bow and we headed back out.
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The first thing we found was a very nice mule deer
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Over the next few hours CJ and I got into 10 cows. All of them got the pass, but it was so much fun.

After packing out two elk in 24 hours and tons of hiking, we went home for a hearty meal.

Mac and cheese, naan, and moose burgers.

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Another great hunt
 

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