MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

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killerbee
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MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by killerbee » Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:55 pm

talk about a busy last month!
It was a great year in hunting memories. First, i killed my 6x7 bull in bow season, then My cousin drew a very tuff, once-in-a-lifetime sheep tag for one of the best units in oregon for california big horn sheep. On top of that, another buddy of mine drew an elk that we had always wanted to try out. The problem was that they slightly over ran each other but i had to go on both hunt right?

So i'll try and tell you what it was like-

First off was my wifes yearly muzzleloader deer hunt. Her and the kids took the whole week off, but i could only go on 2- 3 day weekends to help. This hunt usually hits right at the beginning of the muley rut, sometimes they are in the rut but this year was slow.

We spent the first 2 days glassing off of every lookout we could get to while packing the 2 kids with us. we were a little limited, but my kids really like being out there and do fairly well at being quite and content.
We seen a couple of little bucks, but wanted to at least shoot a buck that wasn't a yearling. Well on the second night we seen this buck about 300 yrds from some does. my wife was able to get to 70 yrds and let the smoke burn.

If you have ever been around a muzzleloader, you already know- as soon as you shoot, you cant see anything! But after the smoke cleared you could see the bucks staggering back and forth. She reloaded franticly, but it wasn't needed, the buck went down seconds later. THE KIDS GOT TO WATCH IT ALL GO DOWN!!

We walked up the the buck and the kids were so excited that mommy killed a HUGE buck;) well he isn't a monster, but the experiance was awsome, it it was a great kickoff to my hunts that i was getting ready for.



!
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joannes buck.jpg
Last edited by killerbee on Sat Nov 20, 2010 3:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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killerbee
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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by killerbee » Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:57 pm

NEXT WAS THE ELK HUNT!
I have a couple buddies who know this area great. problem is we have always been set on hunting the east side, where we live, but this would be a new one for us.

It was the biggest camp for 3 guys ever. We had 2 12x16 wall tents set up. 1 for cooking, the other for sleeping. My buddy justin showed up early for his hunt to scout and prepare camp.

This hunt was a succsess because of the great people we had that took the time to show us the different areas we needed to be in. But they couldn't be there for the hunt, so when it came time to hunt it was Justin ( the guy with the tag), Colby( knows the unti very well), and me( just some dummy who likes hunting) I was ready to start 2 weeks in a row of once in a lifetime hunts, but i got to do 2 of them:)

Opening morning found us looking over a hillside that was supposed to hold this bull that was a 7x8 and score around 375". All along my buddy had said he'd be absolutly happy with a 320" bull, the guys that showed us the area said" you aint shooting a 320" bull opening day:)

AS luck would have it we didn't see the big bull that morning, but we did have to decide weather to shoot this nice 300" 5x6. Well that one was kind of easy to pass. We sat all day on that ridge hopeing to find the big boy. That night, with 45 minuts of light left, we had a bull that was just a perfect 6x6 walk out below us, in great shooting range, that would have been right at that 320" mark. NOW we had to decide. My buddy was back and forth on shooting this bull, he was pretty , long main beams, nothing broking, just a great bull. We were trying to get colby to be able and glass the bull to help us decide, but from his position he just couldn't see him. Finally justing turns his hat around and tells me " you tell colby, if i dont hear from him in 1 minute, this gun is crackin!" I relayed it to colby and soon after he comes back on the radio "DONT SHOOT! DONT SHOOT! DONT SHOOT!" Well at least someone made a call, we didn't know if it was the right one but we let him walk.

Little did we know the reason he had us not shoot was because he was looking at the 7x8 in his spotter, this bull was a toad! But the local outfitter was on him to, so we had are work cut out for us.

We had this bull located for the next 2 days, while everyone else had lost him. He would only come out at first and last light. Sunday night we had 2 plans on how to kill this bull. Unfortunatly we picked the wrong one. I was in the position we all was going to be in, and had that bull at 500 yrds for 30 minuts that morning.grrrrr

We set up all day waiting for him to come out. Through wind, hail,snow and rain. But we knew he'd come out 20 minuts before dark. but at 1:00, chit hit the fan!

2 other guys came up and shot a little 5x5 that was feeing right below me, the big bull busted out of his timber patch, ran up the draw and right by where the outfitter and client was set up. BOOM BOOM!! it was over.

We were pretty down, the bull we had commited the first 3 days to was killed, and we were back to starting over. ( I have a cell phone picture of this bull i'll post)

The amazing part of hunting is how you can go from being so high, down to so low, back to being on top in such a short time.

The next morning we split up, me and Justin one way and Colby the other. We had to find a bull to hunt! That morning was amazing, we seen so many elk, mostly small bulls and cows, nothing but action all morning. Finally i spotted a bull 2 miles away that was a pig. I told just "big bull", he said "how big" i told him "justin, you would have gladly shot this bull opening morning!" then we started running! Finally we got to a ridge that was 1200 yrds away from the bull.
I sat on top to keep an eye out on the bull, while justin moved in. I set my video camera up on the bull and recorded it all!

He shot the bull 3 times but i couldn't tell how good the shots were, so he went over while i kept an eye on the bull, once he got over there, as luck would have it, he walked right up on the bull ,at 2 yrds and shot him again. It was over! I waited for colby and we started are way over there. We still weren't sure how big he was, i told colby i knew he was at least 340"
Once we got there we were absolutly shocked to see this giant 362 3/8 6x6 laying there! There was so much hooping and hollering going on, just like back when we all grew up together. It was awsome!!!

The things that made this all happen were:
1: the family that helped us out so much, this family knows that unit very well! they went abouve and beyond to help us out. ( i'd write their names, but not unless i ask first, but they dang sure deserve it!)
2: Colby, he also know that unit very well and was there the whole hunt to help out
3: Justins absolute commitment to put 100% of everything he had into physically killing the bull. we ran together the first mile 1/2, but from there he had some of the steepest, brushiest hills to litterally run up untill he killed this bull!

WHAT A GREAT HUNT GUYS!
Attachments
justins bull phone.jpg
justins bull phone.jpg (17.88 KiB) Viewed 8113 times
justins bull packout.jpg
justins bull tent.jpg
Last edited by killerbee on Sat Nov 20, 2010 3:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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killerbee
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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by killerbee » Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:59 pm

NOW THE SHEEP HUNT!

We got back to colby house with 4 hrs to do are laundry and head out for the sheep hunt.
The sheep hunt was on a 48 mile river float trip. Colby could not make this one, but me and justing joined my cousin, his nephew and older brother, and 2 buddies of his.

This was a whole different hunt, there is no getting out once you put in. If you forget something well, that to bad.

The first day we just floated about 2 miled down and set up a quik camp and started glassing. 5 guys behing spotting scopes and we didn't see anything. We knew we were up river from the majority of the sheep but absolutly didn't want to float past anything, remember- once you float past it, there is no going back!

The next morning we packed are camp and floated down river. After a couple miles we started seeing sheep. We came around one corner and seen the only other guy with a tag up on the hill. Next we seen some sheep and knew he was making a stalk. Not wanting to ruin someone elses hunt we just floated on and left that entire canyon to him. Later we heard 3 gun shots and glassed the guy and his 2 buddies packing out his sheep. It was a nice mid 160's ram with alot of mass. The great new was from this point on, there was still 40 miles of river that we had absolutly to areselves!

We didn't do a great job at keeping track of how many sheep we saw, but that first day of hunting we probably saw 15+ rams. Lots of Rams that a guy would be proud of. But it was early and we really wanted to try and kill of great ram.
That first night was my cousins first hard decition...
We found a ram that we believed would score in the upper 160's, we had him at 300 yrds, with the video camera rolling, and his young nephew with us watching. Very similer to the elk hunt, it was a struggle to decide weather to shoot or pass. finally after 45 minuts+/- , he dicided to pass on this ram, take the tap back to the other guys and see what they thought.

After watching it we decided he was a really nice ram and if givin the chance we MIGHT shoot him in the morning.

The next morning we got up extra early to get to the top of the mtn before light. we had guys in alot of areas trying to find them with no luck. It seemed as if nothing was moving at all. The morning seemed to be a wash when we wer finally able to spot up that group 2 canyons down river. We moved in on them and got another great look at the ram. He was really heavy, but was just broomed way to much, probably 5/8 curl. Once again, Josh decided to pass. It's always a tuff decition, you just never know whats going to happen if you pass. But he did, and it turned out to be a great choice.

We were a few miles down river from the rafts and camp so luckly are GREAT crew of guys went down , loaded their camp AND ARE's, and floated down to meet us.

Again, it's always tuff when floating, you dont want to pass up any canyons, but then when you know there is sheep down river, you have to go on.

That night Ryan and Josh , 2 guys that were just there to help also, spotted a really good ram, but he was over 2 miles away on a gps and probably 3-4 river miles. Although we were pasiing some great looking canyons we had to go!

The next morning we floated early, as luck we floated right up on 2 really nice rams. (Remember this is day 4 now so the thoughts are crossing are mind that we need to be trying to kill a nice ram.) These weren't the ram we had seen, but deffinatly rams that would fit the bill if we couldn't find are ram. We had ryan and josh cross the river and go see if they could spot the group of sheep with are ram in it. They weren't gone for 15 minuts and they had found them!

Me, my cousin Josh, and Justin hopped in the raft and justin ored his butt off to get us down there. We finally made it to where we needed to be and josh and I got out, ran acroos the flat untill we could spot the sheep. This hillside was loaded with sheep, and this was OBVIOUSLY the dominent ram of the mtn!

At are angle we couldn't really tell how big he was, just that he had good mass and carried it very well. Everything else we had to trust are guys who had got a better look at him.
We set up my spotting scope for a rest and my cousin made a couple great shot that put the ram down! The hooping and hollering started again!
We all walked up to the ram together, and was absolutly happy with the ram. It's the first Ram that any of us had accually watched get killed and put are hands on.
He is really heavy horned, and does carry it well. In between 3/4 and 7/8 curl, and just a killer looking ram!

The things that made this hunt a succsess were:
1: all the help- again! Ryan and Josh Hagle were awsome! great glassers and great hunters!
Tony and luke- great camp guys and river rafters, luke even did quit well on the mtn for being 15 yrs old
Justin- again, physically ored with all his might to get us where we needed to be to shot the ram, also awsome with the spotting scope!

2: and again- shear determination on josh's part to make sure to get up every mtn needed to kill his once-in-a-lifetime ram

To think i never even fired a shot and still had the best couple of weeks i've ever had hunting. What a blast!
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josh sheep with him.jpg
josh sheep group.jpg
josh sheep group river.jpg

backpacker
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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by backpacker » Sat Nov 20, 2010 4:29 pm

"MAN, that was alot of hunting:)"
Sounds like it! Good to see everyones was successful. Some of the best hunts I've been on have not been my success either.

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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by pistelme » Sat Nov 20, 2010 6:56 pm

That is a ton of hunting with a lot of success! Congrats 10sign: great stories and pictures.

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182BC...4Now!
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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by 182BC...4Now! » Sat Nov 20, 2010 9:19 pm

Awesome stuff! Not only did you get to hunt a lot, but they were all successful too! Thanks for taking the time to share! 10sign: 10sign:

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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by BIG R » Sun Nov 21, 2010 1:36 am

What a month is an understatement 10sign: Congrats to all the hunters and huntress :thumb

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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by a_bow_nut » Sun Nov 21, 2010 2:01 am

Great stories, great animals, great times had by all.

Thanks for sharing.
Live to hunt, hunt to live.

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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by bonehead » Sun Nov 21, 2010 3:12 pm

10sign: 10sign: 10sign: WOW :not-worthy

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Re: MAN, that was alot of hunting:)

Post by MuleyMadness » Sun Nov 21, 2010 5:52 pm

10sign: 10sign: 10sign: WOW :not-worthy

+1

I would have guessed that bull bigger than even your score, what a beauty. The wife pic is awesome and yea that ram is one ole brute.

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