Average Joe's 2018

[Lostinthewoods]

I’m on the road for New Mexico! I should be in the mountains tomorrow evening or Wednesday morning!

I cannot wait!!!

Elk season is a few days away!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sn.outdoors]

I made it to New Mexico.

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.

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.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[Lostinthewoods]

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.

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

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.

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.

It’s been a great trip so far. I can’t wait to see what else is in store.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ceng]

Awesome updates. Keep up the good work!!

 

[Lostinthewoods]

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.

CJ found a monster shed

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lostinthewoods]

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.

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....

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


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lostinthewoods]

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

More stories later....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lostinthewoods]

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.

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.

The first thing we found was a very nice mule deer

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.

Another great day!





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lostinthewoods]

CJ has a bull down!

 

[sn.outdoors]

Lots of driving to do, so I'll wait to post the full story. But I will say it was a great culmination to a fun hunt.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[WhiteOak]

congratulations to all of you! So awesome to see the oaks are changing up there already. Looking foward to the read

 

[sn.outdoors]

As Dan said in his last post, we found ourselves in the middle of a bugle-fest and had a close encounter with a nice bull Monday morning. As the bull followed his cows across the drainage, I was able to get a few pictures of him.

After the packing Rob's bull off the hill, we headed back to where we'd last heard the bull bugle, but he never showed himself. Since it was covered in elk sign, and because we'd heard a ton of different bugles in the are decided to hunt the same spot the next morning.

----------

I admit that I am absolutely not a morning person, and if given the chance, I'd start hunting around 9 every morning. That said, after the previous day's encounter and a dream filled with bugles and rut crazed bulls, I had no problem pulling myself out of bed Tuesday morning.

I was so excited to hunt that morning (and full from the moose burgers) that I had a hard time eating my breakfast. Even though the weather was warm, we felt positive about the day. We were confident we'd at least have an encounter. There were just too many elk in this spot.

After closing the truck doors, our morning constitutions were encouraged out by that morning's coffee. We had to take care of some paperwork before we could figure out which bugle we were going to chase after. Once the paperwork was sorted, we quickly discussed the plan. The raspiest bugle with the most favorable wind just do happened to be in the same place we walked the day before. So the plan was easy; wait for the sun to rise enough to see any nearby elk before they saw us, walk toward the bugling bull with the wind in our faces, and keep the bull bugling with calls if needed. Simple.

As the sun rose, the raspy bugle made its way to the top of the ridge, so we followed him. He would bugle regularly enough that we had no difficulty knowing his location. We moved quickly, and didn't pay much attention to being quiet, but we kept our eyes alert and scanning. We knew from the previous morning that there was a series of small meadows on top of the ridge which were connect by a well used trail, so we made our way to those meadows. When I noticed we were almost to the first meadow, I slowed down to get a better look.

As I was stopping to glass the meadow with my binos, an elk trotted out to the center of the meadow and stared directly at us. It was a bull! I nocked an arrow, hooked my release on the loop and asked Dan for a range. I adjusted my sight, set my feet, exhaled, and drew my bow…..

I could not, for the life of me, get my pin settled, but when I did I executed my shot sequence, and the arrow was away. I was sure that I pulled the shot a little left. I have no recollection of seeing the arrow in flight, just the distinct “popping” sound of a chest impact and the shock in realising that the elk wasn't just a bull, but that he was a nice bull. The first feeling I had was solid lump in my stomach. I felt sick. Dan said the shot was good, but it just didn't feel great about it.

The bull and his cows ran up the ridge and stopped 150 yards away from us. The bull was perfectly silhouetted on the horizon. His rack was perfectly visible contrasted against rising sun. He was beautiful, and not at all what I thought I was shooting. I honestly didn't think he was anything more than a raghorn. But he was magnificent.

We watched him stand there for nearly ten minutes, tilting his head side to side and looking hurt, before he laid down. I did like seeing him stand their for so long, and the whole situation did not settle my stomach. I had to lay down. It was 0648

Thankfully Dan was much more optimistic than I was. After all, he did see the arrow hit the bull. In my doubt, I chose to wait until 10:00 before we would go after him.

About 15 minutes later we heard a rustle in the oaks coming to our left and what sounded like dogs panting. A few seconds later, 2 cow elk ran across the meadow 20 yards away from us. 10 seconds later a small raghorn trotted by and stopped in the meadow, mouth wide open, tongue hanging out, and panting like a dog.

At 730 a herd of beef cows fed across the meadow and straight to where the bull was bedded. I thought, “perfect… those cows are going to bump that bull, and it's going to be a pain to find him again.” When the cattle got to about 15 yards of the bull, they all stopped in their tracks and stared in the direction of the bull. After a minute long staredown, the cattle did a sharp about face, and fed away from the elk. This helped ease my stress, and when the cow elk stood up and walked away a couple minutes later, I was feeling pretty good about the situation.

A few minutes after the cow elk left, we decided to go look for the arrow and then we'd go back to the truck to wait until 10. I walked out into the meadow and found a few large drops of blood where he was standing at the shot, but no arrow. I waived Dan over. We followed a small, but increasing blood trail to the edge of the meadow.

The oak scrub where he exited the meadow was covered in blood head high. Dan said, “you should go get your bow.”

“Ah, yep.” I replied.

It wasn't a challenge to follow the red path to the bull.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

My doubt and anxiety was unwarranted. Though the arrow impacted slightly left of perfect, it still hit the right lung and the main arteries and veins in the liver. He died shortly, if not immediately, after laying down.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

There aren't many moments in my life where I struggle to come up with the words to describe what I'm thinking, but walking up on an animal I killed is one of those times. I don't think I'll ever be be able to fully explain the strange mix of emotions I feel in that moment. Some of the feelings could be described as remorse for the death of the animal, joy in the sense of accomplishment the harvest brings, and gratefulness for the animal's life and for everything that brought our lives together. Hunting and killing exposes us to a primal set of feelings and emotions that cannot be experienced through any other activity, and those experiences are what keep me up at night and ultimately keep me going back into the woods every year.

The meat is also what keeps me and my family alive and healthy. It also helps convince my wife that this crazy addiction of mine is worth it.

I couldn't be more thankful to have spent the hunt with great friends. This was the first elk I'd ever killed with someone else. And I couldn't be more thankful for all of the help on the pack out (even if it was the shortest one I've ever done. )

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

After looking at the photos a little closer, I realized that the bull we called in on Monday was the same bull I killed. If you look really closely at the heavily cropped pics of the bull on the hoof, you'll see the small extra point on his left sword and the wound from another hunter's arrow which was lodged in the bull's right shoulder.

The toughness of these animals is impressive. The bull seemed no worse for wear, and had no issue running around the oak scrub to watch ward off any satellite bulls that attempted to get near his cows.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[MadDawg]

thats so awesome!! what state was the last bull killed in?

 

[sn.outdoors]

We were hunting in New Mexico. That specific unit doesn't have very good genetics when it comes to antler size, but there are plenty of big bodied bulls, and the draw odds are decent enough to be able to hunt it regularly.

thats so awesome!! what state was the last bull killed in?

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

I made it to Oregon with about an hour and a half of light left. So I went straight to the bottom of spike meadow.

Since it was so late, I creapt in slowly and ended up bumping into the back of the herd. It sounded like one herd bull, and 5 or 6 cows. The bull would bugle barely loud enough to hear it

I tried to coax them out of the new growth, but they just never came out. Oh well, I'll be back in there tomorrow morning to give it another shot.

It's pretty cold up here, so I'm really hoping the bulls are bugling in the morning.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[Ray P]

Awesome stuff! Your writing and pics make me feel like im in the hunt with you!

 

[tntrker]

Great read, Congrats!!