-
2 Attachment(s)
Tag 3 of 3 filled
I had a tag for 2nd rifle season deer tag for private land here in Colorado. The tag just happened to be where the ol' homestead is. Sat morning opened up with a fork horn and a 4 point that had crossed our land a few time with a doe. Unfortunately, the doe was not with them. That usually happens to me for some reason, a tag for something that doesn't show up but the other does.
Sunday morning nothing showed up for the first hour or so, time for breakfast. While eating my wife looked out the window and said there is a deer and it doesn't have antlers. I got up, grabbed the rifle to find there were four deer. Two does, a yearling and a fawn. I took the largest doe and she went down immediately. Normally, I would go down right away, drag the deer up to the hangin' tree, gut and skin. However, I still had half my breakfast to finish.
While I'm finishing my breakfast, she hollers again and tells me to get up NOW!!! So I mosey my way into the kitchen with the last of my breakfast and look out the window. I see a VERY nice buck that I've seen a couple of time over the last week or so. First thing I do when I see it, closest I've seen it, is that this buck is a definite wall hanger. I turn around and head towards my rifle, and my asks if I am going to shoot it. I tell her no, I am going to get a picture. My camera was right next to the rifle.
So I slip out through the back door onto the deck and take a couple of pictures. I didn't shoot because I do not have a buck tag, but my wife does...for 4th season. Here are the couple of pics I took of this bruiser. Notice the sagging belly, a true mark of a mature buck. I would put him between 5 1/2 years old to 7 1/2 years old. The good news he showed up this evening, so hopefully he will be around in about 3 weeks for the wife.
I know this is not hunting, but it is putting meat in the freezer. The state allows this and I am not hunting for antlers, I hunt for meat. I'm just hoping he will still be around for the wife, and if she gets him, he will probably end up on the wall.
As for tags 2 and 3, no. 3 is the wife wife's tag her at the house. No. 2 is a cow elk hunt that starts in about a week and a half on public land. I'll be hunting in a unit we know very well as we have been hunting it for over 20 years. Really look forward to this hunt every year. My wife got a nice cow last year, and I'm hoping to do the same this year.
Anyways, here are the pics of the buck. Oh, and I used my old 1951 Winchester Model 94 in .32 Winchester Special. I mentioned this rifle a few years ago, and it is very special to me. My mom bought it when she was the ripe old age of 17, with money she worked hard for, so she could hunt with her dad, and gave it to me for my 21st birthday. My wife, oldest grandson and myself all shot our first deer with it, along with my mom. It has a few scrapes and scratches from years of hunting, but I wouldn't trade or sale it for the world. I'll post up a pic or two of it if anyone is interested later.
Attachment 17130
Attachment 17131
-
Damn, that is indeed a wall hanger for sure. Don't see nothing like that around my parts.
Cow elk hunt, guess I can't expect no antlers from you huh?
Dang that's a nice deer. my oh my!
-
My wife is thinking about getting an OTC bull tag, but it will be in a different unit from where my cow tag is. Still trying to talk her into it, but she's not liking the idea of sleeping in a tent while I have the camper. Women...huh?
-
1 Attachment(s)
Pretty darn amazing!
Around here the Whitetail aren’t much bigger than a dog. The booming urbanization keeps them thinned out and they don’t survive long with the heavy traffic.
This is in the neighborhood next to ours...
-
1 Attachment(s)
My old place, in the city...........................Deer? What deer????????????????????????
-
That's a chunky one for sure. Extra tall rack. A coat hanger. I've had a momma and her two babies hanging around for about 3 months now. I just put up the trail cam a few days ago. I want to see if any bucks are hanging around and if the coyotes are hanging around too closely.
-
This morning, the buck's twin brother showed up and the two of them decided to put on a bit of a show locking antlers. The wife tried to sneak out and get a picture, but one of them spooked and took off, to be followed by the other. I'm thinking this is a good thing for when her season kicks in.
-
Awesome buck! I just got back from elk hunting north of Steamboat Springs. The elk won this year. I don't know if it is that the DOW pushed the season back a week, the fire or the snow that changed the migration pattern. All we saw were a couple of mulie does. A few in our camp did see some moose though, which is always cool and exciting.
-
Just got back today from the elk hunt. I had a cow tag and saw more bulls this year than I have in the last ten years! My cousin had a buck tag and we saw more does than any year in the past. I don't know what to think about that, still scratching my head over it.
We hunted hard every day, usually elk in the morning and deer in the evening. Finally started seeing a few cows but out of range for my comfort zone. Didn't see any bucks until the last evening hunt, just a bit over four hundred yards away. Way over my cousin's comfort zone. This morning was our last hunt, as it was the last day and we planned on leaving after the hunt.
As I'm in the woods, not seeing anything, I thought about today being Friday the 13th. I was born on the 13th of May and turned 13 on a Friday. That changed my mood a bit as I've always felt it was lucky for me. No more than ten minutes later, I spot a lone cow by herself just in the tree line on a ridge. Luckily, well within my comfort zone. I shot, she fell and all was good in the world. Well, for me at that moment. Best part was she was a yearling. Big enough to get plenty of meat, smaller than a grown cow to make the drag easy-ish. At least it was all down hill...mostly, and less than a mile!
Needless to say, I was ecstatic and the wife was very happy when I came home. More for the elk I brought home with me, I think, but my dog was over the edge to see me at least.
-
Changing your thinking worked! Congrats on the elk!