Excited for this year how’d yall season go

[Krcooke92]

Colorado muzzleloader

 

[.204smokechaser]

Nice buck!

My fall went pretty terrible. Have about 500 lbs of game meat and 30 lbs of fish in the freezers.

Is it October yet?

 

[Roadrunner1]

Went pretty good, got antelope buck, huge Whitetail buck but didn't get an elk, didn't even see one. Oh well, there's always next year Lord willing.

 

[Rich M]

Very nice!

We went antelope hunting and got 3. My fil died so rest of season was shot.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Season was ok. Goat hunt got cancelled, helped 2 friends get their first moose so I ended up with plenty of meat even though I didn’t shoot my own. Shot a decent aoudad and called it a year.

Looking forward to caribou and bear this spring, moose in the fall and probably one other hunt for goat or blacktail, not sure yet on the last one.

 

[turbobrick]

I didn't draw anything, and the only tag we filled was my BIL's deer tag. My dad let his deer and pronghorn tags go, niece wasn't able to fill her deer tag, and the BIL and my wife were unable to get on any cows late season. My wife and I had a great time on her cow hunt though, we learned a ton about the area for future hunts. Looking forward to next year for sure.

 

[rodney482]

Had a great season , ducks, geese, hogs, turkey, salmon, walleye, elk and deer

 

[Northpark]

Didn’t have a season. Drew 0 tags so didn’t hunt at all for myself. Helped a buddy fill a mule deer tag but that was it. Freezer is completely empty. But I’m leaving Tuesday for my annual Texas freezer filler trip. Hogs, axis deer, Aoudad maybe something else random if the opportunity presents itself. Then my daughter has a javelina youth rifle tag at the end of the month and a youth turkey tag in April. Then off to Africa for 10 days in June. We’ll see what tags we draw this year. Daughter and I should both draw deer tags for the fall and maybe she’ll draw a cow elk tag. Should be a better year than 2023.

 

[butcherboy]

Sorry for your loss Rich.

Had a really fun season but didn’t kill a thing except my pride. Lost my archery bull due to target panic and a bad shot. My son didn’t kill a cow on his rifle hunt right after Christmas. He had the crosshairs on two and finger on the trigger till I told him not to shoot. They were both spikes. Only elk we saw and the area we hunted is a good wintering ground but didn’t have the elk on it yet.

 

[Blacktocomm]

Got skunked but only got out twice. Planning an international move and a new job got in the way of hunting.

No going to be a few years without hunting and just fishing/skeet shooting to pass the time til I get back to the states.

 

[tkhuntsman]

Overall it was mediocre unfortunately. I started well 3 spring gobblers the weather was decent. I didn't get a bear it was a bit slow on that front. Fishing over the summer was great lots of salmon and walleye for the freezer. Cought several large lake trout as well all released cause they just don't eat as well but lots of fun. This fall I struck out on Archery elk and CO. muzzleloader deer. I did manage to get 2 nice whitetail does with my bow. Rifle I also struck out on elk but my kids both killed nice whitetail bucks and a couple of does. Upland birds and waterfowl have been kinda bland but that's expected for this area. Predator calling has been slow with the warm dry winter but managed a few coyotes, no wolves or cats so far. Again delightfully mediocre and I loved it.

 

[Dcoryn]

2023 was good to me

 

[Dcoryn]

2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 were good to me too... fortunate to have had all the opportunities I have had.

 

[ArcherAnthony]

As an outdoorsman 2023 was a blast. As a whitetail hunter 2023 was unsuccessful. I went to the white river and caught some nice brownies in July. Did some striper fishing on Texoma in October. Archery hunted in October and November. No shooter bucks for me. My dad did get his first crossbow buck. I went to PA for thanksgiving and to hunt opening week with my step dad and brother. They each got a doe. No bucks to be seen for me. First week of December went on a 2 day duck hunt in Oklahoma. More ducks than I have ever seen.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Worst in many years. I got five days in on recon in an attempt to figure where they were hiding. Saw some really nice country.

Reconned some country in the middle of the first week with my son that is usually good early. We had snow cover but no elk. On the last leg of the sweep on a FS trail, I was crossing a creek. My horse fell three times going up a bank. When she stayed down, I stepped off to give her room. I tripped on a boulder and fell on a boulder. I broke 5 ribs and partially deflated a lung. My son got the horses up and then pulled me out of the creek. I got back on and rode the last 2 miles to the truck. It took me longer to get in the passenger seat than the ride out.

I spent the next two days using all the leftover pain pills I had before my wife took me to the emergency room.

They got me on drugs, inflated my lung over three days and when my guts worked again I was released followed by two more days of doctor visits.

By the time I finished with them the spasms had subsided and I got back on the horse and hunted the next three weeks.

The middle of the third week we were working our way over a series of parks at nearly 8000 ft in the pouring rain. That night it froze hard and turned all the high country to ice.

The elk moved to the creek bottoms in the jungles and with all the dry frozen ground, started migrating back to the summer range. I turned into a taxi driver for my son and hunting partner while I struggled to get a nights sleep in a chair.

We tried a differant district but the roads were glaze ice. The trip out pulling a stock trailer downhill on glaze ice left me breathless to say the least. The south sides were bare and frozen while the north sides were polished ice. We were searching for only deaf and retarded elk. Slim pickens.

End of the fourth week we road into a herd of cows and calves on an old FS skid road. My partner knocked down a cow and then we had to scramble when the remainder of the herd charged us in their attempt to escape.

The last week I hunted with my son and daughter in what places had some potential for elk. Even with no snow but cold, I was leading my horse down a steep frozen hill wearing airbobs. My payback for being stupid when my feet went out from under me and I slid down the hill. A breath- taking experience. If I had been wearing corks I wouldn't have gotten to experience that.

The last two days I admitted defeat and we stayed home. I didn't have any place left that my stock wouldn't fall.

For a season total I saw one muley doe. The first in five years. We got a cow elk and ate another cow tag and ate 5 bull tags.

Another two weeks and I could sleep in bed all night. I'm down to random jabs of pain at strange moments. We heard a total of 5 shots in those 3 1/2 weeks in the field.

I would class the season on par with living with my first wife's mother. It didn't kill me be left me wondering if that wouldn't have been a better option.

 

[49ereric]

I got a dog that was chasing a doe but that was it. lot of hunters Complaining and blaming wolves but the way I saw it no ground scrapes where they usually are before season so wasn’t expecting a lot of movement. Seen it before during warm falls.
i saw scrapes well after season though.

 

[jtevanMT]

Tough start with a slow archery elk season but finished strong with a 6 pt bull and decent WT Buck towards the end of rifle season in MT. Freezer was nearly empty until the last couple weeks of the season and now it is full again and planning for spring turkey and bear.

 

[Krcooke92]

2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 were good to me too... fortunate to have had all the opportunities I have had.

did the whitetail come from Colorado?

 

[Dcoryn]

did the whitetail come from Colorado?

All wyoming whitetails except for one from new york

 

[Robobiss]

Pretty slow, but no complaints. Neither me or dad drew a moose tag at home (again, big surprise). Didn’t head west either because my best friend had a wedding 1,000 miles away first week of September that I had to burn vacation for (best man, according to him at least) so I didn’t have the time to go elk hunting.

Shot a doe in early archery with my bow. Hunted hard but didn’t see a single deer with antlers until second week of rifle. Shot him with my rifle. Spent the rest of rifle and muzzleloader looking for another doe that I never found (big big woods, very low deer density).

Would have liked to have more meat in the freezer with a baby on the way. With me and my woman, two deer doesn’t quite make it through to next deer season and with a newborn (first one) I’m sure I won’t be able to hunt as much. Certainly not heading west in ‘24.

With my luck both dad and I will draw bull moose tags this year at home the one year that I would rather not go because of the newborn.


C’est la via.