AZ402
Well-known member
One of my favorite threads every year, congrats guys.........
Raghorn Express
- Thread starter tjones
- Start date
ThndrChkn
Member
Nice critters guys... All fine bulls in my book... I'm not an antler hunter, but I sure won't pass up a big'un if the opportunity arises... To me, any day afield is an awesome day to say the least. A harvest any kind is just icing on the cake ...
bigskyblueman
Member
I filled my cow tag today and passed up on a raghorn. Forgot about this thread.
smalls
Well-known member
After a long drive Wednesday and into the night. This is the landscape we laid our eyes on as the sun came up Thursday morning.
I spotted a herd in a high meadow several miles away. Unfortunately the snow was so hard and crunchy down in the timber it made being stealthy next to impossible. A brisk four hour hike to kickstart the trip was nice though... it was great to be back in the mountains.
We relocated Friday morning to find an area with less snow. There wasn't much fresh sign as we hiked down the well worn game trail, but I knew from years before that the elk generally hang out somewhere in this drainage pretty much year round. As we eased up to the last meadow on a long spine I was fortunate enough to see the elk before they saw me. It was fairly thick and I could see several elk feeding and milling around about 80 yard ahead. I only got a good look at two of the bulls, one a spike that had some small browtines (I think he was just shy of legal) and the one that ended up feeding to about 50 yards through the only clear lane I had.
It was very steep on either side of the ridge so I am fortunate that the shot dropped him in his tracks. Upon boning him out, I found my bullet had center punched the near scapula and deflected upward and clipped the spine. Interestingly, not a drop of blood on him and there was zero bloodshot meat around the hole in the scapula. Had I not clipped the spine, he would have been very difficult to track on the frozen ground.
I tried the "gutless" method for the first time. The first hind was pretty ugly. Once I figured out how to have my partner hold the leg to cut the meat away from the pelvis, it got much easier. I am not sure it saved me any time on this animal (I was all thumbs to start), but I can see the allure.
For the photo police, I took my orange off for this picture (it clashes with my eyes and exacerbates my receding hairline).
I spotted a herd in a high meadow several miles away. Unfortunately the snow was so hard and crunchy down in the timber it made being stealthy next to impossible. A brisk four hour hike to kickstart the trip was nice though... it was great to be back in the mountains.
We relocated Friday morning to find an area with less snow. There wasn't much fresh sign as we hiked down the well worn game trail, but I knew from years before that the elk generally hang out somewhere in this drainage pretty much year round. As we eased up to the last meadow on a long spine I was fortunate enough to see the elk before they saw me. It was fairly thick and I could see several elk feeding and milling around about 80 yard ahead. I only got a good look at two of the bulls, one a spike that had some small browtines (I think he was just shy of legal) and the one that ended up feeding to about 50 yards through the only clear lane I had.
It was very steep on either side of the ridge so I am fortunate that the shot dropped him in his tracks. Upon boning him out, I found my bullet had center punched the near scapula and deflected upward and clipped the spine. Interestingly, not a drop of blood on him and there was zero bloodshot meat around the hole in the scapula. Had I not clipped the spine, he would have been very difficult to track on the frozen ground.
I tried the "gutless" method for the first time. The first hind was pretty ugly. Once I figured out how to have my partner hold the leg to cut the meat away from the pelvis, it got much easier. I am not sure it saved me any time on this animal (I was all thumbs to start), but I can see the allure.
For the photo police, I took my orange off for this picture (it clashes with my eyes and exacerbates my receding hairline).
MThuntr
Well-known member
mtlion
Active member
I'm running down the platform waving my ticket. Hold up guys!!
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2000
- Messages
- 11,620
You backcountry hunters and anglers are pretty into the horns. I mean if you see a hunting picture they are all packing a big set of antlers out. Carry on.
