*( I know this is a lame post and I can't help it.)

As hunting season approaches, and I am out on the trail occasionally, now, I see some wildlife, and I can't help dreaming about it, a little bit. Anyhow, this is what I see out there, photos courtesy of the Wichita Wildlife Refuge, where I often run. 

These guys run. Saw 6 last week. Also saw 4 bulls in one place, at evening, come down to graze.

These guys (below) mean "end of run." I will not run up. They will not turn away, and they do not give ground. Slowly back away. I wonder about the thrill of bow-hunting bison.

I think I stopped facebook almost two years ago now.

I was surprised at how the elk thrive around here. I mean, it is HOT! but they don't seem to care. They just need some rocky terrain, and hills to climb.

they do have a hunting lottery here, too. I did not apply. Might go out and shoot some helpless birds just to see what I can see.

Spaniel - when did you shoot that beast in your fb banner?  Mighty impressive.

 

Obsessor - if you and Andreia (and/or family) get over to the Uk in the right season I can get you some decent pheasant shooting.  I seem to remember that Andy and I ran through about a hundred of the things.

I was drooling over all those pheasants.  I'm just hoping I get drawn for a put-and-take hunt here, that's about the only way to shoot pheasants in Indiana.

The banner photo was shot in 2008 in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, about an hour south of Glacier National Park:

683 yards with a 300 Winchester Magnum, I shot him fromt he bottom of the valley off to the left of the photo.  He's up at just under 8000ft altitude.  Trip out was almost 10 miles, one way.  I paid some cowboys with horses a bottle of whiskey to pick up some of the meat for me.  We posed this shot for the view, but I always tell people that I snapped it right before I knifed him from behind and see if they buy it.

The other was from last September, a bowhunt in the Missouri Breaks of eastern Montana.  30 yards with a bow.  I wish I could say I called him in but the hunting pressure was heavy and they were running away from calls; we positioned ourselves where we thought the elk would run to get away from some other hunters in the area and I got lucky.

The hike out was only 2 miles but it was 85 degrees and he'd already lain overnight (shot him right at dark) so we were hauling ass trying to get all the meat on ice before it went bad.

Both elk scored 243.X inches, the first a 6X6 the second a 6X5.  Not trophy class but they are trophies to me.  Do-it-yourself hunts on public land, the hard way (the way it is supposed to be).

 

683 yards

nice

I don't think that is a shot I'd attempt! 

Yeah it's not the sort of thing you just decide to do.  When you are dealing with 9 FEET of bullet drop (and having your range off by 50 yards means you have plus/minus another 2-3 feet) and 2-3 feet of wind drift, you had to know what you are doing.  I would have shot him at 750 yards because he hung out there a long time, but my laser rangefinder would not pick him up until he got within 700 yards.  I had to shoot then because at 650 yards he'd be inside the treeline and impossible to shoot.

The funny thing was I was hunting with my local contact, who had called the bull in from over the mountain.  By the time we realized he was there he was standing over us looking at us, so we were essentially pinned down.  The local guy wanted to try and back out, climb the next mountain, and come at him from above.  Besides the possibility that the bull would see us and spook or that he'd just disappear in the half hour that it took us to make the manuever, I'd tried to chase that mountain goat of a guy up that same mountain manuevering on the same bull the day before (got within 70 yards but no shot) and no way in hell did I want to go through that pain again.

I said "nah, I think I'll just shoot him from here."  He looked at me like I was insane.  I told him to get the spotting scope set up and ready to call where my shots hit.  I was shooting from a very steady position, prone with the gun pointing about 20-30 degrees up angle on a bipod towards the elk.  He did not see where the first shot went (it went through the elk's chest and into the dirt on the other side), nor the second.  But I heard the second hit so I knew he was wounded and I had to keep shooting.  I fired four, of which 3 hit home and one missed, and the elk stood there like nothing was happening.  I doubted my wind call and held off less, and he called "aw, you just shot him in the nose!" as it just tipped the end of his nose and sent up dirt.  Now I knew my initial hold had been right and I swung back over and put a final one into him....he finally shook his shoulders like a fly bit him and started to walk away; we lost him behind a tree.  We started hauling ass up the mountain parallel to the one he was on; a good 5 minutes later we heard the crash and rocks falling as he rolled into a deadfall. 

My confidence to do that was up as I'd practiced to 860 yards and had shot a mule deer at altitude earlier that same day at 438 yards.

Since we have this thread, here's what I want for an early Christmas:

If not, he keeps some impressive company:

If you look over the ear of the closest buck you will notice there is a third one behind him:

Good, and fat, those! We are lucky to get a 120# buck, here, and then around san antonio we've seen them 85# 10 pt. Bucks! One step above Key Deer.

That's what thousands of acres of corn and soybeans will do.  That and a one-buck rule.  I think they get so big here as noone really hunts around me.  Mostly open 300 acre fields with few woodlots and cover.  Even I hunt 90min drive away.  The freeway 1/2 mile behind the camera probably kills more deer than hunters around here.

Michigan deer stunk; I think we had bad genetics up there, but also a two-buck rule and too many hunters so any deer that made 2.5 years was unusual.

The only issue will be getting them here during daylight (this is why I have not hunted it much even though it is out my back door).  I have 15 acres of open grass, though I'm trying to get trees and brush growing to hold them here.  In the meantime they appear to be bedding 300 yards away in a tiny woodlot between two neighbors houses (can't hunt it) then jumping the fence after dark.  I have to move a camera tomorrow to verify but I think I know where they are coming across and where to set up a blind.  As the rut approaches I plan to try a fake scrape to get them to bed down in my grass to stay close to it and check at first light.