Montana 2021

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We had another good day yesterday.

Curtis at 11:30:




Me at 3:30

 

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Just a little background. Curtis was my pastor for a little while back in IL before being called to active duty as a chaplain at Fort Benning and Fort Stewart during the start of Afghanistan. I've not seen him in years but we've kept in touch occasionally and he and his wife came out for a visit and a hunt this year for his first Merriam's. When he first left for Fort Benning I took his son on his first turkey hunt on land they had permission to to hunt in KY and he killed his first gobbler right after fly down.

After Curtis killed his first on Wednesday, we went to another region to looking for his second on Thursday. He killed a bird at 11:30 AM for his second Merriam's. It was a stud that weighed 20.5 lbs and had 1 1/4" and 1 5/16" spurs.

 

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We went for a good burger for lunch then headed back out without any high hopes. It would have been a great day without me killing a bird, but you better take them when you can.

We struck this bird around 2:45 to 3 PM then I killed him at 3:30 after he tried to slip in on my right.

 

[timbrhuntr]

Man you are having one heck of a year but cut it out and save some for me next year hopefully lol

 

[hobbes]

Man you are having one heck of a year but cut it out and save some for me next year hopefully lol

I hope you fill every tag between here and Florida next year.

 

[timbrhuntr]

Ha I'd be happy to just sit in the woods and hear one lol
Are you still trying for the single season grand slam ?

 

[hobbes]

Ha I'd be happy to just sit in the woods and hear one lol
Are you still trying for the single season grand slam ?

I'm probably going to go to KS starting next weekend but have been second guessing that. I'm really low on time off and will have to work remotely some. I should probably be happy with how successful I've been in MT and not push my luck.

 

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Went to Yellowstone yesterday.

 

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Old Faithful

 

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I took my buddy trout fishing this morning. It wasn't the pristine mountain stream fly fishing that a lot of folks think of. I call it redneck trout fishing but it was at least artificial bait.

Curtis caught a fat rainbow:


I caught a decent brown:

 

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No luck fishing this evening. Nice views though.

 

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Last day of fishing license for Curtis. He caught 4 and I caught 3. I hooked two other fish and lost them. Curtis had two small ones, and two nice fat ones (16" and 17"). My best was a 19" and two that were in the 16 to 17" range that I released. I would have released them all because trout aren't on the top of my list for table fare, but he wanted to try them. We ate them tonight and they weren't bad but they also weren't crappie, perch, or walleye.




I told him real fisherman know how to long arm a fish for a photo, so he gave me this.

 

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Driving across MT now.

 

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5:50 AM this morning

 

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We made a dash east to try to fill one of my two remaining tags and my buddy's/Pastor's other tag. We planned to hunt yesterday afternoon and most of today but everything held us up yesterday and we didn't arrive until late. We got lucky and spotted a tom and two hens going to roost so we were on them right at fly down this morning. He wanted to follow the hens but after a little back and forth and a position change, he split the difference between the hens and I and got to 40 yards. I almost always let whoever I hunt with shoot first but he insisted that I shoot first this time and hadn't even set up to shoot. I thanked him for letting me do the shooting especially after we couldn't drag a gobble from another bird.





On the way home tonight:

A bull and a cow moose that were kneeling to eat grass before we stopped.


Dusk


I'm taking our assistant pastor and his son tomorrow morning. I really don't deserve anymore good fortune this turkey season but I'd love to get them on some birds. I may make a run west for my last tag on Sunday since it's the last day.

I've had a crazy good season even if the weekend is a bust. Ive burned through all my vacation and comp time and driven more miles than I should have. MT is one big state and to get multiple tags you have to cover a lot of it. I'm currently at roughly 3,000 road miles all within the state.

 

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No bird today. We had one gobbling some but he wouldn't commit to coming in. It's started getting pretty warm by mid day now so birds seem to be done if you don't kill them early. However,Isaac almost got a bird mid day today for a buddy. I don't know the story yet but he said "We were so close."

Elk from this morning.

 

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I hate that it's over but Spring 2021 was a good one.

 

[timbrhuntr]

Congrats on a fine season !