This hunt started out, for me, in the usual way: Hunterbug calling me to remind me of the impending deadlines for applying for drawing permits to hunt deer and elk in Colorado. After considerable 'analysis' to figure out "who, what, when, and where", we decided that I would put in for some tough-to-draw hunts for trophy deer and elk as my first choices, and some not-so-tough-to-draw hunts for buck deer and cow elk in Unit 18 as second choices. As I reported in an earlier post, as expected, I did not get drawn for the trophy hunts but did get drawn for both the buck deer and cow elk. Because of the area we would be hunting, I decided to give the elk tag back ($496) and just pay for the doe tag ($396). By design, if I got drawn for either the deer or elk, I would be hunting with THL members Hunterbug, JaDub, and crackalope, as well as hunterbug's youngest daughter. I made the necessary travel reservations.

There was of course some thought given to what rifle I would take. Among those being considered was the 8mm SLT (http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12857&page=2), the .416x348 Win Ruger "No. 2" I am currently working on (http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19959), and my old stand-by 7mmx300 Weatherby (http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20150&highlight=7x300). After talking about the ranges anticipated, I decided on the 7x300. In light of the "ranges anticipated", I worked up some new loads for the 7x300 - 140-grain Nosler Accubonds - http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20150&highlight=7x300.

The morning I was flying out I got to the airport in plenty of time to take care of the 'extra stuff' one has to deal with when transporting firearms. However, as soon as I got in line to check my bags, I was asked "Are you going to Seattle on flight ***?" To which I responded "Yes". To which 'they' responded, "It's been delayed, and you are being rescheduled." The reason I put delayed in italics is that when a flight gets "delayed", they don't reschedule EVERYONE on the flight, you just wait for the the plane to arrive. The TRUTH was that the flight had been CANCELLED. Anyway, so as not to belabor an unpleasant part of the trip, the bottom line was that I was delayed about an hour and a half, meaning that instead of arriving in Denver at 5:30 PM, I arrived at 7:10 PM. Nevertheless, that has some bearing on the outcome of this hunt that I will get to later. Hunterbug met me at the airport and we got out without mishap.

We spent the rest of the evening looking at firearms and archery equipment, and making sure we had all the 'pieces' we needed in order to leave the following morning. The drive was about 2 hours, and JaDub and crackalope would already be onsite and have crackalope's trailer set up by the time we arrived.

Upon arrival at the huntin' grounds, we spent a few minutes getting acquainted, and then started setting up Hunterbug's new tent. We decided it would be called the Taj Mahal. I'm pretty sure you could park a small car inside it! It was practically palatial for just HB and I. (HB's daughter would be sleeping in the trailer with crackalope and JaDub.) With camp all set up, we sat around enjoying the settings and discussed the following morning's plans. Once the sun went down, it got pretty cool pretty quick so we went into the trailer and had dinner. If I remember correctly, that first night we had venison stew that HB had prepared in advance. It was excellent! (HB had promised me not to bring "chili". ).

That's the background. Next post will be the "opening morning" complete with dead deer pictures.

Paul

PS - We don't have any pictures of the tent from this trip, but here's a picture of it from an earlier trip:

Paul

I'm sitting on the edge of my chair waiting. :D.......Paul H

Quote from: Paul HoskinsI'm sitting on the edge of my chair waiting. :D.......Paul H

Me too. :D

I spent the day processing meat. And... I still have quite a bit to do tomorrow. Had elk steaks (thanks to HB!) for dinner.

I should get back to this story tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Paul

The anxiety is killing me. ......Paul H

Sorry everyone. The only excuse I have is that I have been 'hard at it'. I'll post some more later today.

Paul

Opening morning dawned cold. More cold for some of us than others! My sleeping bag was 'insufficient to the task', and when I walked into the trailer and JaDub asked, "How'd you sleep?", I replied honestly, "I didn't." Was too cold. Didn't sleep a minute all night. However, after standing in front of the trailer's heater for a bit and getting some hot tea in me, my core temp was raised somewhere north of 'critically low'.

HB, JaDub, and Crackalope, had hunted this place multiple times, and they had a plan.
This is the general area we hunted.

This is a close-up of the area we hunted.

Plan "A" was that Jeff, Karl, and I would start where you see the yellow line labeled "Unknown Hunter", and Pat and Payton would come up the ridge following the black line. Unfortunately, the Unknown Hunter got to that spot before us, and we had to go to plan "B". Plan B had Jeff, Karl, and I following the black path, and Pat and Payton following the red path.

Everything went pretty much as planned, and while we saw some deer, none of them were 'shootable'. Either they were poor shots, or wrong gender. (Pat and I had buck tags, everyone else had doe tags.) I saw two does, one within 50 yards, and one about 30 yards. Jeff saw a doe, but she never offered a good shot. Another hunter came up behind me, and then went on up the ridge to the top. He stayed up there all day.

After a while, we all gathered on the ridge a little above where you see "Paul" written. It was decided that Karl, Pat and Payton would go back to camp, (I can't remember why right now), and Jeff and I would stay on the mountain for a while longer. I went a bit further up the ridge, and Jeff went farther down.

Karl and Jeff saw a couple of does on their way out, but couldn't "make it happen", so Karl, Pat and Payton went back to camp for lunch and Jeff and I stayed 'out'. When Karl, Pat and Payton came back, they parked at the 'crook in the road' and get ready to head back up the ridge. While Payton and Karl were getting ready, Pat saw two does about 100 yards up the ridge-side. After what was apparently some Keystone Cops antics, Karl and Payton were 'locked on and tracking' and got both does down. Jeff and I heard the shooting, and since we weren't 'on' any deer, we walked down to investigate all the shooting. Smiling faces all around.

A quick field-dress, drag DOWNHILL to the vehicles, and in no time at all, those two deer were back in camp.


Pat apparently had to wrestle Payton a little to get her face painted with the blood of her deer. You can see in her face how she felt about her success!

Fundamentally, there's nothing much more to opening day. Pat and I didn't see any shootable bucks for the rest of the day. This night, we had fresh liver with onions for dinner. It was good!

I'll post more when I get the pictures from Pat.

Paul

While "the boys" and Payton went to check their deer in with the local constabulary, I spent part of the next day exploring the small canyon behind the camp. It was a cloudless day, (the whole trip was blessed with excellent weather), and my rifle looked particularly good in the midday sunlight, so I took a picture of it.



Paul

Here is the "dead deer" picture of Karl and Payton's does.



And here are pictures of Payton skinning her deer:




And some of the "supervisors" standing around offering free advice while Payton skins her deer.




Payton actually did the lion's share of skinning of her deer. You'll also note the skookum hanging device JaDub fabricated to fit in the receiver hitch on his truck, including winch that hooks to the gambrel making the skinning job MUCH easier, AND keeping the meat clean!

Paul

Here's a series of moon-rise over the hill just across the road from camp.






Paul

We saw antelope every day, and sometimes multiple times a day. Here are the only pictures I took of one of the herds. There's only one good buck in this herd, but he IS a good one!











Paul

Great pictures, Paul.

Thanks, HB.

There's still a lot more to the story: JaDub's doe and Pat's buck. (Need the pics you have of your doe, Jeff.) Plus some of the inevitable 'scenery' pictures I take.

Paul

"Skookum" ………  couldn`t find that one in my Funk and Wagnel………  ?????

Quote from: JaDub;151984"Skookum" .........  couldn`t find that one in my Funk and Wagnel.........  ?????

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=skookum

Paul