I will be out in a hour. All spot and stalk and deer drives today. Just going to have fun with it! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
4-6 inches or so now, supposed to get up to a foot more. Didn't see any cars in the ditch on the way to work, which I found odd. Was still able to do 45 the whole way, roads weren't horrible but definitely snowpacked.
I miss deer hunting. Hope it warms up soon so I can get out shed hunting. So hard to get anywhere without a machine with tracks now though.
I hope you draw, IMO there is nothing that even comes close to elk hunting during the rut. I am fortunate enough to live around them, I get to buy an OTC tag and drive 1.5 hours to elk camp every season. I first went archery elk hunting when I was 19, now 48 and I can say I've never missed a season since. Highly addictive! Hunting whitetail during the chase phase is outstanding, but it is a distant second to bugling bulls. I say that just to try to drive home how freaking awesome it is to hunt vocal elk. It can be very frustrating, staying optimistic can be a real struggle. Hot weather for the whole week you go...making them completely nocturnal, pouring rain for the whole week, elk being non-vocal, other hunters ruining a hunt, tons of hiking...mostly uphill, etc. etc. But persistence is key. You love to fish, it can be like fishing a spot known to have 8 lbs smallies but they rarely hit. Cast after cast of nothing, over and over and over, but then one hit changes the whole trip. I hunt public land OTC elk though; action can be very fast and frequent in a unit that is draw only with limited hunters running around. @cantexian offered a couple great resources. Elk101 and Born and Raised Outdoors on youtube are very good. I'd also add in Elknut, his Wapiti forum link has a lot of good info, as well as his youtube videos demonstrating the different sounds they make and what they mean. Don't let it intimidate you, you don't have to be able to lip bawl and do all the sounds he demonstrates. Learn to cow call, bugle (& chuckle), and to do Elknut's "nervous grunt". Nervous grunt is outstanding for stopping them for a shot if you happen to spook them a bit, otherwise just a simple and very soft cow call often works. Early season wallows can be very good to sit on. In arid places waterholes are good (here in Idaho there is a water seep/spring around every corner, they can get water most anywhere). If wanting to call them in, I feel far and away that the best tactic is to "run and gun" them like turkey. Born and Raised outdoors calls it the cat track shuffle. You cover a lot of ground and throw out a lot of prospecting bugles, looking for a bull in the mood to play. It can be the full blown rut but many bulls still won't respond, you have to find the one in the mood.
I'm sitting here waiting for the bad weather to start. I'm really hoping that the last two days of unseasonably warm weather has the roads warm enough that they don't get too bad down here. I'm somewhat rested up from the last trip and I'm itching to hit the road for Arkansas again and see if I can kill one of the big bucks I have patterned there or maybe even one more big doe. If the roads are drivable this weekend then I'll hit the road for Wattensaw WMA once again.
My regret, waiting to add the elk addiction till I was 50. There are so many other resources out there. Elk collective, roe hunting resources additional online courses. Other youtube content I think is good : the bugler (now part of phelps game calls), Argali (beautiful vid, occasional elk), Hushin, Randy Newberg, elk101) Podcasts : early GRITTY Bowman podcasts especially those with Aron Snyder, elk 101, older rich outdoors episodes, some western contours, some Blue collar elk hunting, some western Huntsman (esp his September series-es), some Exo Hunt Backcountry episodes... Blasphemy - There are a few other forums too Rokslide especially...
It was 53 degrees here yesterday, just shoveled a bit and driveway is a solid glaze of ice underneath the snow. Probably a bit of both freezing rain and snow melt amd refreezing. Roads were already snow covered this morning but sure they are the same way. Was pretty bumpy, assuming frozen slush from tire tracks when it first started.
I'd say we got a 10-12" here so far, I am just north of I-80. Supposed to keep snowing until 6pm then start again tomorrow AM around 6. I am probably just going to let it go until tomorrow AM, the west winds will just drift me back in if I get the snowblower out today. Got meat, veggies, beer, and whiskey. Don't see any reason to leave the house for a couple days at least.
Fun little mid day hunt. 2 of us went out. I set the guy up on a funnel were deer go to escape the property. I then walked about a mile around him to lightly push all the bedding. Didn't take long and he had deer coming in. After 30 minutes I heard him shoot. He ended up missing a big doe at 50 yards with the muzzle loader. Hit some brush. Pulled the bullet out of tree that was behind the deer also. Complete miss. Tracked deer in snow for 200 yards or so and zero blood. Plan worked perfect. As he was reloading he had 9 more deer come past him. Which 2 stopped 30 yards away in the complete open. After that he was to tired to keep walking to next spot, so we called it a season. That close to having 1 last deer. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Well was supposed to go to NJ again this weekend, though I'm limited to Doe till the end of the season, but we are getting 12-18" of snow here in VT. I dont mind coming home to plow 6", but 12-18" is a bunch to push with the plow at once. So hopefully I'll get down for the closer February 17-19. Good luck late season archers!
I want to walk some small archery only public pieces and try and find some new ground for next season. Always need to have alternatives when the farm is slow or I'm just burned out on it. I also need to walk some old public ground and see how its changed and pin point where deer are crossing streams.
Stuck at home with the kids on a snow day. I could get out, but, my wife wouldn’t forgive me. So, 40 yards and 22F.
Heading back to Arkansas tomorrow morning and barring any travel problems I should be back in a tree tomorrow afternoon.
I’ll have to set up someplace else tomorrow afternoon. The wind is supposed to be out of the south to tomorrow and that is totally wrong. It’s supposed to shift back to north Monday. I’ll move in then.
