Can ya tell I'm a bit frustrated? :)

[HellsCanyon]

Well last week was my first archery antelope spot n stalk trip to Eastern Idaho! Had a blast and drew back on bucks twice but couldn't make it happen! Soo close it's not even funny... well kind of funny now but as you can tell from the video I'm a bit frustrated and trying to make light of the situation... lol

Here's a video of the last stalking opportunity I had for the trip... these animals are frustrating to say the least! They have bad ADD and a severe case of paranoia which makes them super unpredictable, and flighty as heck! Fun times!

One thing that isn't mentioned in the video was that the buck first bedded down quartering away to the left and was looking straight away from me. He was dead to rights until I got to 120 when for no apparent reason he got up and changed bedding positions to facing directly at me! That last 60 yards going from 120 to 62 was SLOW and work! 90* temps that day and very little wind made the stalk a bit hot as well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTXC_TbFBMw&feature=youtu.be

Mike

 

[Hardstalk]

i share your frustration. I found myself so upset i literally just tried running one down! There fast.... And can go for a long time. If you happen to have access to horses next time they add alot of advantage to the game. With grass that tall i think a bethedecoy hat would help as well. Even if al spots you he may not blow out if he just sees your head bobbing around. Just when your close to range tired and sore your almost in bow range. You look back up and they gained 70 yards in the blink of an eye.

 

[JasonWi]

They are tough, last time I tried spot and stalking it was brutal! It was my 6th stalk of the hunt and I killed mine @ 48 yards.

I left WY with my tail between my legs, they humbled me bigtime.

Good luck!

 

[HellsCanyon]

You mean one of these hats?

And I'll have to apologize to my hunting partner about our secret weapon being revealed... the MVP you see (Most valuable parascope) is irreplaceable for this kind of hunting! Really helps to keep tabs on animals and helps you from busting out animals by 'peeking' over the rise and skylining yourself!

What REALLY sucks about this stalk, was I took off my quiver to make the stalk easier and quieter... Who really expects to get multiple shots off on a goat??? After I slocked him in the horn, he ended up running to my left and then came BACK to me at 65 yards... I of course was OUT OF ARROWS! Talk about cussing yourself... lol

Mike

 

[HellsCanyon]

I'll go ahead and Copy and Paste my hunting story in this post so its near the top....

Most of the time we were up in the foothills and canyons chasing them but tried a few times around the alfalfa fields.

First hike on the first day we killed this rattler. He died shortly after this picture was taken, and as you can tell he was already badly wounded from running his head into a spare broadhead...

Next day I literally stepped on this snake at the edge of the hay field while he was coiled up! Scared the crap out of us and he too soon met his demise at the end of a spare arrow... sorry if ya don't like the "gruesome photos"...

With the aide of a few arrows I'm definitely LONG-ARMING this photo but you get the picture...

Here's the third and final snake we killed on our third day! He'd just got done shedding his skin...

This is about as close we came to cutting hair all weekend...

We did have an amazing opportunity at doubling up on our 3rd day on a group of 4 bucks... We snuck in and they were just over the hill bedded. We snuck a range on 'em through the tree and drew then counted and stood together. I had pins on my goat bedded but ended up waiting for my partner to get his shot lined up before I let 'er fly when they busted out. Should've just let 'er fly and there was some miscommunication between us on the shooting sequence which ended up costing us notched tags that day! VERY frustrating!

Our last full day we found a really nice buck alone in a hay field we had permission to hunt... It was 90* out that day and he ended up bedding down facing away from us so I attempted a stalk. Started at 225 yards and at 120 yards he got up and bedded facing directly at me! At 62 yards he got curious to the moving alfalfa plants in front of him and came to investigate. If only he would've stayed bedded away it would've ended the intense stalk with a bloody arrow... You've already seen this video in my original post!

On our last day we ended up spotting this nice muley bedded in the field! These are some digiscoped pictures from about 200 yards away! Hunting partner walked up to 49 yards without even trying and the buck never knew he was there...

Overall it was a great trip! We saw moose, whitetails (one 155-160" beautiful 5 point!), muleys, turkeys, antelope, coyotes, fox, and lots of other critters! I got pins on bucks twice at full draw and the fault of not notching a tag lies solely with myself! I felt pretty good about the hayfield stalk even though it didn't end in kill! Now just can't wait to chase some elk next month!

Mike

 

[HellsCanyon]

Few more pictures of that muley...

Mike

 

[Hardstalk]

Yep one of those hats! Didnt work for me either. Id imagine once you get some rut activity they may want to play a bit more with the hat. But it definetly gives you that extra confidence to get out there and chase them on hands and knees.

 

[HellsCanyon]

Yeah there was a few times I think where it helped a little...

On the stalk you see in the video... I was flat on my stomach and literally using my toes to push me forward at times. I would move my bow up 12-18" at a time then push myself forward up to it and repeat, over and over! Did that for 160 yards haha it was a lot of fun but dang its tough to get so close and not have it come together!

Mike

 

[Hardstalk]

Every night in bed i would say "eff it!! Im sittin water. Thats the only way" its possible but extremely mentally challenging!

 

[dreamingbig]

Awesome. I love the parascope idea!