Shot this morning some with slick tricks and field points. Seventy two yards. I like shooting the bow Way more than working out but plan on hitting the situp bench after lunch for a bit.
I'm relaxing through Christmas. Home gym is in the garage and it's cold. Snow is starting to hit the ground, so I'm minimizing the amount I'm shooting. I am planning next season, as far as where I want to put in, what to put in for, which season/sex (NV only allows one per species), reading the forums. After the beginning of the year, I'll start getting back into shape. We'll be changing our diets a little and that should help.
We already had a water line freeze up on the house so we decided to stick around until it was above zero and try to go down there tomorrow morning after this snow stops. I'm curious how deep the snow will be there. It was pretty deep in spots last week. (we're hunting the Plateau unit)
Sorry about the pipes that can be a pain. I think you may have a little snow. Becareful and have fun.
Merino wool. Picked up (rather ordered) the 260 full bottom base and two pair of mid weight socks from Icebreaker. .. They all swear by it so when in Rome right!
I hiked a bit in sub zero temps today. Got the truck buried in the snow. Drove the atv around a bit. Didn't see any pronghorns but we did shoot 3 jackrabbits and 5 mountain cottontails. A cow elk kind of scared me on the drive home. She was standing right off the shoulder of the road. You can see my truck in this pic. There were goat tracks here but I never did spot any. They must have moved a few more ravines over. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Got the food set out and sectioned off, clothes are ready and washed with scent free, picked up a bladder for the pack, need to fletch some arrows with the new tool and glue, picked up two packs of slick tricks as the ones I shot practicing are not sharp enough for my taste, loading out tomorrow and should make camp. Plan is in motion and I am done getting ready. Hunt Hard and Enjoy the Journey!!!
Story isn't that great. I wish I had some more noble story... but it is what it is. We went back out there Friday afternoon. Spent time fighting snow drifts and then shooting rabbits. I figure, if nothing else, we'd have some good rabbit dinners. We finally spotted a small herd of 'lopes right before the end of shooting light and then we went back to town and rented a motel room. (it's 106 miles back to the house so the motel was cheaper and easier than driving all that way) Next morning we headed back to where we saw the goats. They weren't there so we drove farther up and drove up onto a big knoll. The altitude there, according to the map, is just over 9400 ft. Truck on the knoll. My truck sure is getting a work out since I moved here. My hubby Kendall glassing. We could see several groups of goats from here. One big herd of about 300 and a few small groups here and there. None were in a spot that looked like we could approach with out them watching us. In fact, we watched a hunter on foot try to get close but the goats just nonchalantly moved out about a thousand yards from him and went back to eating. There's a long string of about 300 goats in this picture. Really. I tried to take some pictures with my real camera but the battery was dead from being frozen. We decided we'd see if there was some way to get closer to the antelope so we drove down off then knoll and got back onto a trail. Once on the trail I could see four speed goats running to the south of me, about 800 yards away. I floored the truck (as much as you can on a snow packed trail) and went to cut them off. This is the run-and-gun way of 'hunting' that the locals told me was about the only successful way of getting within range. The goats ran parallel to the truck for a bit and then switched directions. I came to a sliding halt and we jumped out of the truck, grabbed rifles, ramped rounds and tried to shoot the speed demons as they ran behind us at about 200 yards. I misjudged the yardage and shot over them, my husband hit his goat and dropped it in it's tracks. In fact we weren't quite sure he hit it, it went down so fast. Sure enough tho', when he walked over to where they had run by us, there was his first goat, laying dead. Neither of us had ever killed an antelope before so we were plenty excited. We snapped a few pics and then we skinned and gutted the antelope right away. I should mention that while my husband was walking over to where he shot his antelope another truck came up. I told them we had just seen four antelope and the direction they ran. (minus the one) I also told them about the big herd that we hadn't gone after yet. I pointed out where they were, wished those guys luck and watched them head that direction. Well, as we were getting back to our truck, I see about 50 antelope come running from where that other truck had driven. We jumped into the truck and sped toward them. I stopped short and jumped out, loaded the gun and picked out a doe that was only going about 50mph instead of 60 like all the others. Still, I screwed up and didn't lead enough. I hit her in the back leg, right about at the knee. She ran over a rise and I couldn't see her but started off after her right away. Dang, a three legged antelope still can move pretty fast. I followed as fast as I could go and after about a mile and a half I got within 250 yards and was able to put her down. My husband had caught up to me at one point with the ATV so we didn't have to drag her back out all that way. It's not 'hunting' like I'm used to. (but it certainly was challenging in it's own way) I'd like to pull an early season tag and hunt out there when the antelope aren't so skittish. (read that: I don't want to shoot at running antelope anymore) I'm not sure I'd bowhunt them because my arrows are only going about 205fps... I think even from a waterhole ground blind at 20 yards, an antelope would swap ends before my arrow got to it. Neat notes: We saw at least 60 rabbits, dozens of bald and golden eagles, several sage hens and lots of mule deer. I'm not sore from walking after the goat or climbing around in the rocks after rabbits so I must be getting into better shape. (tho' I seem to be just as fat as ever) Not-so-neat notes: We bought cheapo ramps from harbor freight for our ATV. When my husband tried to drive the ATV back into the truck, the one ramp bent, causing the ATV to slide off sideways and fall on it's side. Moral.... don't buy cheap ramps. I think our next big game adventure will be helping my husband's co-worker on his upcoming buffalo hunt.
Christine did he get a late Henry's Buffalo tag? Thanks for sharing your story. Your almost broke into being a westerner All you need to do now is shot an elk with your bow.
