2009 hunts and pics

[3bigelk]

I have some time tonight to post up some pics from the season. I hunted my home state of Idaho and also Wyoming. I am not quite the word smith Big Fin is so I will post some pics with a little commentary. I want to thank Ernesto for great info on a great hunt in his home state of Wyoming. In fact that was one of three tags Wyoming took my money for this year. I was able to fill the antelope and deer tags with average animals on fun hunts. The elk tag was tough as the elk would not talk and the unit was not conducive for glassing!

Anyway, my home state always treats me right with lots of opportunity with some good animals! The first pic is of a really nice Tom we treed the last day of the Season in March. We let him live (not my choice) in hopes that he will be around this year. He was the 43 rd cat that my dogs were under last season! We had great snow and I had lots of time!

I was able to help a good friend take his first turkey.

Then scouting season started for my favorite time of year. Archery Deer! This was my target deer for the first half of the season.

Here is the biggest deer I watched. This pic was him in June. He finished as a huge 215" giant that only showed up for two days during the archery hunt Next year!

About the tenth of Sept. I took a morning off deer hunting and killed my bull. This years elk hunt lasted 17.5 minutes! I don't think I will ever have a shorter elk season!

After missing a shot at a 180" buck the last week of the bow hunt I ended up with a deer tag unfilled. I did not even go out until the last day of the rifle season and had a buddy talk me into trying to take this little buck at long range! I bought my rifle years ago just for long range, but always seem to shoot my animals close Anyway, since it was the last day and I had perfect conditions for a long shot I decided to give it a go. The rifle worked just like it does on the range with a nice one shot kill on a little buck.

I shot him from the little knoll where I am pointing....

Gotta go.. More later....

 

[3bigelk]

continued

Almost forgot my wifes first turkey this fall!

On to Wyoming!

I spent 5 days in the Bighorns the last few days of Sept. looking for a nice bull. Very few bugles and not many elk. This is all I saw for five days.

Since the elk hunt was a bust I decided to run over and antelope hunt on my second Wyoming tag before my deer tag opened up. I spent a little over two days looking. I looked at just over 200 buck antelope and could not find one that even approached 80". There were fields that literaly had 25 bucks rutting and chasing and the biggest would be 13" It was a disapointing unit in relation to quality bucks but it is antelope hunting so it is always fun! I decided to try and find a lope that had a nice look and found this one.

As you can see the snow was starting to fly during the lope hunt which ment a fresh coat for the opening of the deer hunt! This is how it looked the opening morning at 10,200 ft..

My brother came up for the opening couple of days. We saw a lot of nice bucks. I passed on a couple in the 180-185" range looking for that monster. In the process we got to spend so quality time in some unreal country!

Crazy antelope at 10,000ft

After 3 days with no monsters sighted, I decided to go home and come back for the last 5 days. Well the last five went like the first 3 with a few good bucks but no great bucks. On the eve of the next to last day I called home and told my wife that I probably would be coming home empty handed. She then informed me that I would be filling my tag with a two point before I came home empty. She felt I had put to much time and money into this hunt not to have a full freezer! On the last morning I woke up and drove into the low country trying to talk myself into shooting a two point. Luckly, I didn't have to and I found this old regressed buck that had a huge body! He was far from the 200"er I was looking for but he will always bring back memories of some great time in the most beautiful country you could ever ask to hunt.

Well, the season has come full circle and Lion season is again open. My boy's dog is doing great and in a few short years he will be the one that gets all the kodak moments! Here's to 2010!!:hump:

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Great pics Jake! I love that aspen photo! Man seeing LS mountain sure makes me miss home. Thanks for taking the time to post the pics and be sure to keep us updated on the lion hunting!

-Ernesto

 

[Oak]

Looks like a darn good season. How long was that antelope?

 

[noharleyyet]

Some fine sights and reads 3big, thanks for sharing. I also thought the aspen pic was tops.

 

[elk_hunter]

Wow; incredible season for sure!

How do you like the tracks on your quad? What brand are they and how deep of snow can you operate in?

 

[Big Fin]

Cool stuff Big Elk. Congrats on a great season.

 

[3bigelk]

Thanks for the kind words fella's. It would have been a great year if the wife could have closed the deal on another muley with her bow, but she was packing the same type of luck in her backpack as me

We treed the first lion of the season today so the years not over yet! It was -9 degrees when we turned loose at 9:00 am. BBBRRRRR! Now if we could just cut that big Tom track.

Ernesto, I was really cussing you when I finished up that 11 miles up Water D. trail. That was a long walk. I saw a nice big wolf track walking that trail for about 3/4 of a mile! The elk population going to start to take a hit in there.

Elkhunter, the tracks I run on my Yamaha are Tatou 4S. They were the best on the market 3 years ago and have really been hassel free. I have not had to ride a stupid snowmachine for 2.5 years know. You don't go fast, but I go just about anywhere i want to all winter long. If you want to High Mark mountains buy a sled, if you want zero maintence easy riding these are the way to go.

 

[van franke]

Love the picture of the cat.

 

[1_pointer]

Great year, congrats!!!! So where do I need to buy a cat tag??? I want one of those BAD...

Gotta love a wife that not only goes hunting with you, but wants you to fill the tag!

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Ernesto, I was really cussing you when I finished up that 11 miles up Water D. trail. That was a long walk. I saw a nice big wolf track walking that trail for about 3/4 of a mile! The elk population going to start to take a hit in there.

So I take it you don't want to go bowhunting elk back there??? I saw a lot of wolf tracks when I was back there in 08. Also some grizz tracks too. My buddy has pics of a grizz on his trailcam not far from there.

Did you see any big moose back there? I'm thinking about burning my points and going back there for moose.

Ernesto

PLEASE post lion pics!

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

btw is that aspen pic take on Pinyon?

 

[3bigelk]

I should probably put thes pics in a different forum, but the dogs caught a female yesterday and a nice young Tom today! These pics are of the Tom. We left him in hopes that other houndsman would do the same and he can grow up He is about 120 lbs and needs a couple more years to become a taker.

Ernesto the aspen pic was taken on a very small chunk of BLM accessed along the highway. Those map reading skill Big Fin preaches about can lead to some neat adventures on little pieces of public ground.

 

[justdada]

That cat looks pissed! I would have been forced to give him an attitude adjustment..
Congrats on a great year!! and thanks for sharing the photos