Post up your Hunting pics!

That makes sense. I was out for archery and got a bit of snow at the end of sept. Had a heck of a time trying to decide what elevation to hunt for third with some buddies who had otc tags. Seemed like they were pretty spread out from way high to all the way to on winter range. Looked like an awesome hunt!

 

Nicely done! Looks like a great hunt.
And that's why my first advice to folks about elk hunting is "hunt uphill". I've seen too many folks hunt down off a high trail during archery, only to regret it later. My wife's elk this year took a dive off the edge of the slope closest to a trail, but thankfully it was (almost straight) downhill to an alternate retrieval trail. Then again, with 3500' of vertical and nine miles I'm guessing there were still a few sections where you had to climb getting out.

 

We hunt with camp on our backs, start at almost 12000' to glass for a couple days before the opener, then work our way down onto any herds we identify from up high. We try and stay as high as we can, as long as we can, because the slopes are typically 40-50 degrees or steeper and gaining elevation sucks.... There was about 1500' of up and down in addition to the 3500' base elevation gain on the pack out. Our gps track for the week was roughly 100 miles and almost 20000' of elevation change. Every side drainage was 1000' up, 1000' down... We did get really lucky that he was high on the ridge when he fell, so we just had to gain the ridge top to make it mostly downhill. I've packed elk out of the bottom of these canyons solo and it is BRUTAL... You have to climb 1000's of feet just to get to a trail, as its almost all cliffs. When we came in to get camp out, we did a gps track from the trucks that showed 5000' of total vertical to get back to camp... Which we had dropped on the only flat spot we could find near the bull... Had weather coming in, so we gutted it and hung it on the spot with an empty shell casing sitting on the carcass, along with a few stinky jackets. Packed out the next day, took us from 9:00am until midnight to get down, with packs we estimated at 100+ lbs... I always hunt this way if I can, much easier than hiking up and down going back to camp, even if you have a 45' lb+ pack on all day long while your hunting. It was a great hunt, although the 10 degree night when it dropped 2' of fresh snow had us definitely questioning our resolve to drop into the canyon... Ended up getting the bull that day, tracked it to its bedding area in the fresh snow.

 

[QUOTE="COElkHunter, post: 2506486, member: 58182"
I always hunt this way if I can, much easier than hiking up and down going back to camp, even if you have a 45' lb+ pack on all day long while your hunting. [/QUOTE]

Sounds familiar. I always used a frame pack during archery season, even if it was just a day hunt from camp. It was always just me, and the frame pack let me carry everything I'd need with me, but more importantly, it meant that the first load out carried maximum weight and thus fewer trips overall.

 

True story, once when I was younger and dumber, before I started carrying a frame pack with me everywhere, I packed out an elk hindquarter on my back using a Cabela's fanny pack with shoulder straps and a lot of paracord. Needless to say, I was very, very sore the next day... Also before I knew what the phrase "bone out" meant... Being able to get one load down with what you have always makes it a little easier in the end.

 

Congrats on a successful trip—Awesome pics! What part of CO—that’s a serious snow dump already for the time of year.

 

Southwestern. It was more than we usually see down there...

 

Speaking of rut injuries, my daughter and I walked up on this today. The barb wire is still attached at 1 fence post but they managed to pull maybe 100' free before they pinned and wired themselves together. 16 points between them.

 

Wow. That's a once-in-a-lifetime find right there.

 

Damn shame, old barb wire can be nasty for critters. I've seen an elk calf get hung up on it right in front of me, fortunately we were able to get DOW out to get it free quickly... Pretty wild picture, they were probably not even aware until they got tangled too bad to get loose...

 

Oddly enough the wire wasn't loose. It was part of a current fence. Like 'cattle in the field' current. So they must have broke it loose. Kinda surreal to discover just out of the blue.

 

Damn that's a shame look like a couple nice bucks.

 

Figured this would get more exposure to hunters in this thread rather than the Black Friday thread.

If you're in the market for a Sitka bino harness, they just dropped by 30 bucks (to $119.20) on Amazon. According to camelcamelcamel, they've pretty much always been $149. 20% off not too shabby.

$159 SITKA Gear Mountain Optics Big Game Camo Hunting Harness, Hunt Solids, OSFA

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B086CDX...colid=103LM248Z0WIE&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

 

2nd trip to South Dakota.

 

Yep I would have been happy to get either one.

 

Success on the last morning of regular rifle season.

 

A two for! Great work.

 

Congratulations. Funny part is that buck was in that same position not long ago.

 

Thanks! My 11y/o daughter is still itching for her first, but she says with meat in the freezer she feels like the pressure is off. So we are back out again tonight until sunset.

 

Good luck!

 

LMAO! From what we saw I think she may have had him in the friend zone.

 

16 points between the 2 of them. Probably pretty equally matched. I would have been happy to get a shot at either of them.

 

Despite lots of experience shooting, today was my first time hunting deer. I saw five small does pass by just after sunrise. Got a half-second glimpse of an 8-pt buck through the woods turning away from me. Disappeared like a ghost. He must’ve smelled me. Dang. Then, I got a decent look at this young buck from almost 300yd after sitting in a stand for a couple hours. Clean shot straight through both lungs. My friend who took me out to his lease also helped me field dress him. Dropped him off for processing this morning. Good free-range Tennessee meat for the family. Man, that was fun!!

 

Congratulations on your first deer harvest. Young buck like that is going to be tasty...

 

Congrats! It will be great eating.

 

That’s how they hook you into this sport

 

He's gonna be reeal tasty. Congrats!

 

Congratulations

 

Pretty windy. Only 2 birds flew in shooting distance. Side by side. Got the first, missed the second. Dogs had a blast though. They should nap well today.