Iccyman001\'s 2014 hunting journal

Man, today was rough...


Rain, 50 mph winds, and boone and crockett bucks sitting on private land not 500 yards from public land....


I only saw 3 shooters today, but 2 were on private land and the one on public was over 900 yards away and moving quick.


The two bucks that I saw today were definitely alphas. The B&C was walking around with HIS 7 does.... there is no way he was letting anything get near those.

The other one was a beauty too and he was just with one doe.



Other than that I found two spots that I repeatedly find mulie does at. I makes me wonder, WHERE ARE THE BUCKS?????




I did get my cabelas order in today though.
New boots for this antelope hunt and elk season. Also for pre whitetail.
Also, new arrows, socks, zip up camo fleees, a sweater, and a new release!




Tomorrow is another day, I am not giving up!
 
Ok, so today was awesome and frustrating at the same time, but as usual I made the best of it.

I got in with the sun just coming up and on the horizon, I saw a bunch of antelope. They were well beyond my range finder, but I figured I would give them a shot. It was against my best will because the wind was not in my favor. I also had no way to get around them, so I went in with a homemade decoy.

For some reason I thought they saw me get out of the truck, but I wasn\'t sure, so I started using the decoy right away...

Fast forward 57 minutes and I am within 150 yards. I count 7 does and two shooter bucks. So now I am stuck in a rock and a hard place. I see there is still no way I can get around them and cover is disappearing. They were up on this high hill and I was going up to them, so it was tough. I see up ahead this little cover up ahead and decide I am going to stalk up to that. I ranged it at 85 yards and wanted to get up to that and hope they move to me. Well as I got closer the bucks start getting antsy and I think angry at me.
I get to my spot and now I am 68 yards away from them all. I have nothing to hold my decoy up, I have no cover to get me closer and no way I can get my bow drawn even if I was within range.

Anyways, I stopped and the bucks started corralling their does off.
I was beside myself. I took out my GPS and found out... IT WAS A TWO MILE STALK..... AHHHHHH :crazy:

I don\'t know what happened. Here is a picture of the decoy. It\'s homemade, but not spec. Maybe it scared them off?
Or maybe they were just not having any part of a new buck being around. I was hoping one would charge me and I could somehow pull a shot off.





Anyways, I was upset with the decoy after the 2 mile stalk. I was hunched over the entire time, bow in one hand and decoy in the other. I was a bit sore haha.
So I put the decoy pack and did some scouting.

I practiced a stalk on a doe and got within 55. Then I just stopped because I couldn\'t do anything anyways.

Then, while I was scouting I found something awesome.


I am also mule deer hunting this unit and remember I said I found two spots with does. Well I checked one of them today and look....






I was pumped to find this small 3x3. Maybe I can stick him!


Anyways, another day down with no antelope, but I have learning a lot about western style hunting, stalking, use of terrain (even though it\'s minimal) and other great things.





I will note that I tried my new boots out today. They were light as a feather and my feet didn\'t even say boo with todays 10 miles worth of hiking. I am hooked.
 
I AM SO DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I reread the New Mexico regulations and....

\"And you must not:
? Attach blinds to private property, such as windmills, tanks, etc.\"



NOT ANYWHERE DOES IT SAY THAT I CANT USE BLINDS ON PUBLIC LAND.

I was under the impression that I could not have blinds on public land without permission.



WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING....



So I am hunting water tomorrow......
How quickly do they get used to blinds?
 
I will just come out and say it, I missed an antelope today and I am happy about it.
I shoot daily, pour countless hours into scouting, keep my equipment serviceable at all times and I blow it just like that.



I still have two more days of antelope hunting and then it\'s off to elk land. Tomorrow I am making this happen...
 
you are getting there.... I have nothing but your pics to look at. you are actually there....
 
You guys are right!


I already posted the story, but I just wanted to put pictures in here for journal purposes!







Such a great trip!


Now I am counting down the days until October 1st..... Oklahoma whitetails open!!! :thewave:
 
Well, I ate some of the elk tonight and it was FANTASTIC! I am so fired up...


So tomorrow I am pulling more cameras and DOVE HUNTING
 
While out antelope hunting I found this great little treasure. It\'s a small, secluded pond that is big enough for ducks (there were over 30 teal in it)
and it\'s a great spot for dove!


I am eating good tonight!





 
elk sure is tasty, cant wait to get some again. we are leaving on sat..... I can now focus on getting ready, I have been preparing for my interview which is now over as of last night. hopefully I will find out tonight if I will be getting a new job title and rejoicing about the good news on the long trip to Idaho.
on a side note, I used to hunt the hell out of everything. but that was before kids... ;)
 
\"zpd307\" said:
elk sure is tasty, cant wait to get some again. we are leaving on sat..... I can now focus on getting ready, I have been preparing for my interview which is now over as of last night. hopefully I will find out tonight if I will be getting a new job title and rejoicing about the good news on the long trip to Idaho.
on a side note, I used to hunt the hell out of everything. but that was before kids... ;)
Click to expand...


What did you interview for? Best of luck and I hope you get it!
Also, good luck in Idaho. Have you been out there before?
 
This is who I want.....










He would look great on my wall. I hope to see him this year! I am guessing he would be around 135-145 scored
 
He would look great on ANYONE\'S wall!! Hope you get to put a tag on him Dan, that would be a solid one for the meat pole!!
 
I am so glad everything finally cooled down. I have tons of bucks and does moving on camera again in Oklahoma.


I had 7 different bucks hit my honey hole yesterday at different times.

One buck decided to rub my camera :think:












A couple shooters
 
sorry dan, just saw this. my chief is retiring at the end of the year, so I put in for it. I had been preparing for the interview that I was getting so nervous for that I had no time to get amped up for the hunt... which was nice for a change. I didn\'t get the job by the way... and, no I hadn\'t hunted Idaho before, Colorado the last two years with no success. I had so many elk encounters this year that it was unreal. I feel that I really learned a lot more about their behavior now that I had been into them so much. I actually had several encounters a day, instead of maybe 4-5 and entire hunt! plus when I go back, I will all ready know where to find them. and maybe stumble across my bull skeleton, if nobody else finds him first....
 
\"zpd307\" said:
sorry dan, just saw this. my chief is retiring at the end of the year, so I put in for it. I had been preparing for the interview that I was getting so nervous for that I had no time to get amped up for the hunt... which was nice for a change. I didn\'t get the job by the way... and, no I hadn\'t hunted Idaho before, Colorado the last two years with no success. I had so many elk encounters this year that it was unreal. I feel that I really learned a lot more about their behavior now that I had been into them so much. I actually had several encounters a day, instead of maybe 4-5 and entire hunt! plus when I go back, I will all ready know where to find them. and maybe stumble across my bull skeleton, if nobody else finds him first....
Click to expand...
I am sorry to hear about the job Gary, but glad you had a bunch of encounters every day on your hunts! It\'s the stuff like that which will prepare us better for next year! Idaho has always been a place I have wanted to hunt and I guess I honestly didn\'t know they had elk there. Was that a drawn hunt or OTC?




I am getting extremely antsy now. I am down to about 10 days until I am hunting Oklahoma. I am looking forward to accomplishing as many of my goals as I can this year whitetail hunting and turkey hunting.

Most importantly:
- Have fun
- shoot two mature deer over 125\"
- help a friend shoot their first deer with a bow
- and shoot a turkey with my bow!!!!


I cannot wait
 
dan, thanks for the condolences. from what I have heard Idaho used to be the premier elk state, that is until the wolves got out of control. they allocate 12+k nonresident tags each year and they used to sell out right away. now, I was told by a warden, they have not come close to selling out for the past 10 years or so..... they still had 8k left just before we left. they offered me a second tag for half price.....archery tags are otc, that\'s why we went there this year. and I am definitely going back, even though we had a pack of wolves howling each morning, afternoon, and evening not too far from camp!
good luck on your quest for a big buck!
 
\"zpd307\" said:
dan, thanks for the condolences. from what I have heard Idaho used to be the premier elk state, that is until the wolves got out of control. they allocate 12+k nonresident tags each year and they used to sell out right away. now, I was told by a warden, they have not come close to selling out for the past 10 years or so..... they still had 8k left just before we left. they offered me a second tag for half price.....archery tags are otc, that\'s why we went there this year. and I am definitely going back, even though we had a pack of wolves howling each morning, afternoon, and evening not too far from camp!
good luck on your quest for a big buck!
Click to expand...


I am not going to lie, reading Idaho is OTC, that really got me interested. I plan on applying for the NM draw new year, but an Idaho hunt on top of that sounds like a lot of fun! I also have plenty of time to start planning it and researching. I may also pick up a wolf tag or two :think:


Thanks for the luck! I am so ready for this. I have a great feeling about this year.
 
wolf tags are cheap, $31.75.... If I had tagged out on the 3rd or 6th day, I could have chased them around the low land with my rifle. they seemed to stay down low where the cattle were. locals report was a the rancher had lost 8 cattle so far....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 27 (members: 0, guests: 27)

Latest posts

Share this page

Back
Top