chevy_dog
FNG
Hey Roksliders,
I am new to the forum, so I decided to do my part by sharing my 2013 blacktail story.
I wish I had more pictures to show for, but it was a helluva trip, and I did not have much time to bother with pictures, but I will include pictures from past hunts in the area, to give you an idea. I will make this a long story, so that you guys can re-live what I did and how I got to hunting the Trinities.
I have been hunting B-Zone in the trinities for about three years. Now, I don't want to say that I am in the best shape of my life, but I can hold my own with the best of them, and you won't hear any complaints from me on the trail. I have in fact been hunting my whole life in California. Shot my first deer when i was 13 in Ukiah, and have taken respectable bucks from then on. My problem with hunting is that when I go hunting, I want to do just that, I don't go to drink beers, I don't go for the scenery, I don't go for the camaraderie, I go hunting to HUNT. In the past, I have found multiple hunting partners that say they are hunting, but they don't put in the level of effort that I require in a hunting partner. Most will get out of the truck and look at the mountain that I wanted to scout, and say "you are out of your mind!" or make little comments on the way up about how far it is, etc..., which is fine, but this is not what I want in a hunting partner. I don't want to come off sounding like a pompous jerk, but I take hunting seriously, especially if I have to take time off of work. I have spent my fair share with fair weather hunters, and noticed that most of them have tended to rely on me to put them on the deer. I am kind of over that at this point now.
Well, I think that I finally found a hunting partner. I met my friend on a hunt with my father back in Wyoming a few years ago. He is actually a friend of my father's friend, and when we met at deer camp that year, we exchanged stories over the campfire and hit it off. My father is 56 years old, and I love hunting with him. He got me into the outdoors as a small kid and I took to it like flies on $hit. However, he is a smoker, in relatively good shape, but being a smoker will not get you to the places that I wanted to hunt as I got older. Well, over the campfire, I got a good idea of how my new friend hunts, and what he is after, and it was different than most people that I hunted with in the fact that he is very persistent and always goes the extra mile, and he is really a pack horse as well. No complaints from him. I am 30 year old and spend most of my work day behind a computer, and about 15% of my time on a drill rig. This guy is 56 years old, and a carpenter, and is 140 pounds soaking wet. Nevertheless, my new hunting partner fit the bill, friends of his know that he can out-hike and out-haul most everyone - this was my kinda partner!
We had a good hunt that year in Wyoming. I took a 30.5" 4x3, a buddy took a 25" 5x4, and the rest were all smaller 4x4's I believe. We all got two doe antelope as well, but no elk - they had moved out of our hunt area the week before. At the end of the hunt, I had mentioned to my new hunting partner that I was planning on a solo trip into the trinities, to get away from everyone. My new partner said that he had the right hunt in mind, and all his other partners declined to ever go back up into that hell hole (honey hole) ever again, but if I was interested we could do it together, so I accepted. Now we had the whole winter and summer leading up to the hunt to plan for this hunt, but really, there was not much planning to do. He knew where to go, when, and how it is hunted, so I was really just along for the ride. But let me tell you, it was a looong off-season, and since this was my first hunt that year, I was really looking forward to it.
To be continued...
Here is a pic of me and my kids: Bella-11, Gwenyth-5, and Hunter-2 (yes, his is a really big 2! My wife is 5'10", and I am 6'3.5").
Here is a glimpse of the terrain we hunt (pic from last year's hunt)
I am new to the forum, so I decided to do my part by sharing my 2013 blacktail story.
I wish I had more pictures to show for, but it was a helluva trip, and I did not have much time to bother with pictures, but I will include pictures from past hunts in the area, to give you an idea. I will make this a long story, so that you guys can re-live what I did and how I got to hunting the Trinities.
I have been hunting B-Zone in the trinities for about three years. Now, I don't want to say that I am in the best shape of my life, but I can hold my own with the best of them, and you won't hear any complaints from me on the trail. I have in fact been hunting my whole life in California. Shot my first deer when i was 13 in Ukiah, and have taken respectable bucks from then on. My problem with hunting is that when I go hunting, I want to do just that, I don't go to drink beers, I don't go for the scenery, I don't go for the camaraderie, I go hunting to HUNT. In the past, I have found multiple hunting partners that say they are hunting, but they don't put in the level of effort that I require in a hunting partner. Most will get out of the truck and look at the mountain that I wanted to scout, and say "you are out of your mind!" or make little comments on the way up about how far it is, etc..., which is fine, but this is not what I want in a hunting partner. I don't want to come off sounding like a pompous jerk, but I take hunting seriously, especially if I have to take time off of work. I have spent my fair share with fair weather hunters, and noticed that most of them have tended to rely on me to put them on the deer. I am kind of over that at this point now.
Well, I think that I finally found a hunting partner. I met my friend on a hunt with my father back in Wyoming a few years ago. He is actually a friend of my father's friend, and when we met at deer camp that year, we exchanged stories over the campfire and hit it off. My father is 56 years old, and I love hunting with him. He got me into the outdoors as a small kid and I took to it like flies on $hit. However, he is a smoker, in relatively good shape, but being a smoker will not get you to the places that I wanted to hunt as I got older. Well, over the campfire, I got a good idea of how my new friend hunts, and what he is after, and it was different than most people that I hunted with in the fact that he is very persistent and always goes the extra mile, and he is really a pack horse as well. No complaints from him. I am 30 year old and spend most of my work day behind a computer, and about 15% of my time on a drill rig. This guy is 56 years old, and a carpenter, and is 140 pounds soaking wet. Nevertheless, my new hunting partner fit the bill, friends of his know that he can out-hike and out-haul most everyone - this was my kinda partner!
We had a good hunt that year in Wyoming. I took a 30.5" 4x3, a buddy took a 25" 5x4, and the rest were all smaller 4x4's I believe. We all got two doe antelope as well, but no elk - they had moved out of our hunt area the week before. At the end of the hunt, I had mentioned to my new hunting partner that I was planning on a solo trip into the trinities, to get away from everyone. My new partner said that he had the right hunt in mind, and all his other partners declined to ever go back up into that hell hole (honey hole) ever again, but if I was interested we could do it together, so I accepted. Now we had the whole winter and summer leading up to the hunt to plan for this hunt, but really, there was not much planning to do. He knew where to go, when, and how it is hunted, so I was really just along for the ride. But let me tell you, it was a looong off-season, and since this was my first hunt that year, I was really looking forward to it.
To be continued...
Here is a pic of me and my kids: Bella-11, Gwenyth-5, and Hunter-2 (yes, his is a really big 2! My wife is 5'10", and I am 6'3.5").
Here is a glimpse of the terrain we hunt (pic from last year's hunt)
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