Elk Hunt Day 3

Put on lots of miles both on foot and in the truck today and never saw an elk. Heard that a 421 was killed opening day and there are three hunters tagged out in our camp but my search continues. Seeing elk in this terrain is tough enough and getting on them can be impossible sometimes. I never imagined that the hunting would be this tough here.....but tomorrow is another day.

Sheep Season Day 10

The final day is here. When you draw such a tag you never envision it taking the entire 10 day season to find a good ram. This is my 12th trip up a mountain in as many days and my butt is dragging. One heel is held together with camo duct tape and the opposite knee is kept in the game by fortification with a brace. The brace eats a bigger hole out of the back of the knee every day.

Matt and I hit the Hot Rocks before light again and while we wait for the light to come up we speculate on what we have done wrong. When we could finally glass, low and behold the band of 50 sheep we had left there at last light were still there, no twister rams but at least there was some decoys. We worked around the Rocks and scoped Slaughter, nothing there anywhere. Well that made the decision easy anyway and we went up Hot Rocks. Unbelievably minutes after we climbed up and then back down to our watching point a ewe took offence to a young rams attentions and headed up the hill at us. We were astounded to watch every ram (5) in the band turn and follow. The rest is history when this 8 1/2 year old the biggest in the group crossed out of the mine and stopped to stare at us.

I want to thank Pat Garret for coming along for 3 days, the camaraderie picked up our spirits when they were flagging. Matt my son and camera man deserves special thanks for his grit and determination and sticking it out to the bitter end with the old man no matter the outcome. I told you Matt if nothing else we would have a helluva story and I kept my promise not to part out the old body on the mountain!

Elk Hunt Day 2

We spotted a great bull this morning about a mile and a half away. He would have easily been in the360 range had he not broken his top point off but we still decided to make a play on him. Unfortunately, the steep rim rock and heavy cover prevented us from finding him. We saw two other bulls today....a 5x5 and a small 6x6 but neither was big enough to interest us. There's lots of hunting pressure in our area but there are lots of elk too so hopefully luck is on our side tomorrow!

Sheep season Day 9

There were zero sheep on the Hot Rocks or the mountain behind when the sun came up. So we climbed Slaughter for the 8th time in 11 days. The wind roared hard enough to move rocks again today, this is the 9th straight day of horrendous winds. One small ram was all that came by today and worse we never even saw a decent ram. Another brutally miserable day on the mountain. One last mountain to climb tomorrow.

Elk Hunt Day 1

The rain finally stopped and the roads are drying up quickly so we should be able to get around better tomorrow. This is definitely a unique landscape to hunt elk in with Pinyon pine, juniper and cactus dominating the arid landscape. The day was pretty slow but we ended up seeing three bulls right at last light that we'll try a play on tomorrow. They were over a mile away so not sure if the one is a shooter but he had a big frame so he's definitely worth taking a look at. Getting close in the thick cover will prove challenging!

There was one nice 6x6 killed in camp but it appeared to be slow for just about everyone today.

Sheep Season day 8

Today Matt, Pat and I shot up Slaughter in 45 minutes, the impetuous was a band of sheep out in the bowl. The biggest ram was a legal 6 1/2 year old but I didn't come this far to kill that. We spent the entire day within 40 yards of him and his girls. The little band of sheep attracted 4 banana heads through out the day and there were a couple of real twisters that started up to leave the mine but each time ewes got in the way and they never made it up.
The wind howled again and it snowed some more a real pleasant day.
On a side note the hotel room is getting so funky from sweated up synthetics that the staff is leaving the window open in the room. Two days left.

Sheep Season day 7

Plenty of movement today but all on the mine. It is terribly frustrating to watch rams run back and forth from the Hot Rocks and the base of Slaughter.
A brother of the remaining hunter told us the F&W told them Ministers tags are filled, both rams are in the 190's. There was one successful hunter in the first season and two in the second.
Time grows short!

It's Wet Out There

We arrived in Seligman, Arizona today to begin my Unit 10 elk hunt tomorrow. We were greeted with snow and rain and by the looks of the guides' trucks, it's going to be muddy out there tomorrow but the forecast is for better weather later in the week. This is my third hunt with United States Outfitters and USO applies for all of my U.S. draws for me. These draw tags are the working man's chance to hunt world-class animals at a very afforable price.

I'm not going to be in a big hurry to pull the trigger this week and really hope to find a bull in the 350+ range........

http://www.unitedstatesoutfitters.com/

To add a bit of triva to this post, Seligman is the birthplace of the famous Route 66 and there are a plenty of quaint little shops, restaurants and hotels desgned around that theme!

Sheep Season Day 6

Today there was a little fresh snow on the mountains. On our way up Slaughter we crossed fresh wolverine tracks. Today Pat Garret (Gunslinger to AO folks) joined Matt and I. Up on Slaughter we saw some small rams and ewes but nothing left the mine. The 10 wolves we saw yesterday finished off an old ram to the east, ravens were all over the remains.

Over on Hot Rocks we glassed the young fellow as he filled his tag and as we watched them packing down we saw several rams start to move up so we spooled our rags down Slaughter and up Hot Rocks. We passed within 100 yards of a young ram at the top of the pass and another the one in the picture came up and checked us out while we sat and watched a nice ram bedded below. The ram was 90 yards on the mine but when he got up the ewe with him took him down the mountain. Dang! Tomorrow is another day.

Sheep Season Day 5

Today there were lots of sheep working their way up Slaughter as the light first hit, so Matt and I headed up it, yet again. The wind was low until noon when the snow started. We glassed a pack of 10 wolves and bult some rock walls to get out of the wind. A couple of different legal sheep came within 300 yards of leaving the mine but all failed to complete the journey.

Sheep Season Day 4

I put the truck in park and shut it off in the access parking lot. From the dark outside I could hear the rocks driven by the wind ricocheting off the side of the Ford. Great! A crappy start to the day and it only got worse. It usually takes Matt and I 30 minutes to get across the Hot Rocks to the top of the Gregg River. Today it took an hour, fighting the insane wind all the way. Matt and I climbed Slaughter anyway and never saw an animal that wasn't a tiny speck at 10x. There are no sheep on Slaughter or the Hot rocks right now.

Sheep Season Day 3

The Patriarch of the Hot Rocks still reigns. In 2006 TJ and got several minutes of video tape of this old boy. He was wider and taller then but much heavier and gnarly now.

The sheep are moving more today, mostly little rams and the only one we saw of the mine was over on Luscar. We climbed Slaughter again and probably will again tomorrow as we left a ewe bedded near the peak.

Funny story: Matt peaked out at the pass before me today and the next thing I heard was "Dad there is a cougar here!" The cat had started coming at him until he yelled and then it took off. Meanwhile Matt was trying to get his pepper spray off his belt and the damn thing came apart. I laughed and said it was lucky it didn't blow up in his hands - that cougar would have been eating Mexican!

Sheep Season Day 2

Today we went up Slaughter and discovered that one of the other hunters, (a fellow from Wainwright) had got his sheep on the east side. I'd entered the corner coordinates for the mine in my GPS and was amazed at how much of the east side can be hunted.

The wind blew again today and instead of getting pelted by any rock smaller than an inch it snowed. great day any way!

Sheep Season Day 1

Today we were headed to the Tower and got there just minutes after one of the other lucky hunters, so off to the Hot Rocks for Matt and I. The Hot Rocks were covered in elk and very few sheep. Up the ridge we went and sat for the day. we saw a nice ram out on Slaughter but he was booking it for the mine and was back safe in less then 10 minutes. By 2:30 the wind was blowing hard enough to spray us with rocks so we worked our way down to the truck and called it a day.

sheep picture for Day 2

Day 2 Scouting Sheep

Here is a ram that is just below the tower on the mine. I would shoot this fellow on opening day or any other day. You can click any of the pictures to enjoy them full size. Today I headed through Cadomin and out to the Tower Trail. Lots of sheep out here, even some off the mine.
It is a bit of a tug up the last pitch into the hidden basin nestled just under the pass. Far above me, well into slip-and-die country a high country romanced was taking place. Ewes when pushed make sure their suitor is determined and she had him up in the snow covered cliffs. Several times I watched both of them go spraddle legged just to cling to the tenuous ledges. At one point the ram attempted to breed no matter how precarious the situation was. Poor bugger fell off the mountain! It took him 10 minutes to get back up to her and he was still there with her when I left. He is a nice ram but the nearest I can get to him is about 800 or 900 yards and the shot would be straight up!

Tomorrow is opener!

Day 1 Sheep scouting

Today I worked my way across the Hot Rocks and over to Slaughter. From atop of Slaughter I glassed about 300 sheep on the mine to the east. There was the usual mob of 180's ram and one big black monster. From over a mile away he made me blink when he lifted his head while lip curling. Great huge flaring horns that must stretch mid 40's or better absolutely dwarfed the rams around him. I don't know what short of an aneurysm would make him leave 200 ewes and run up a mountain to me but, hey a guy can dream can't he?

This beauty walked up to me as I crossed the mine on the way back to the truck. I'm no expert and TJ might want to jump in here but I figure this fellow at the low 180's.

Hmmmmm.....

I snuck out for a couple hours this afternoon and the whitetails were really rutting. I had a great looking 5x5 at 20 yards and decided not to pull the trigger on him despite the fact that I'm headed to Arizona on Monday for my elk hunt and the Alberta season will be over upon my return. I somehow have a nagging feeling I made a mistake......

November 18, 2008

Tonight I'm sitting in my hotel room in Hinton. Tomorrow is my first day of 2 that I'll spend scouting for my late season WMU 438 Bighorn Ram hunt. I've drawn one of 3 tags available for the 10 day season that runs Nov 21-30. The hunt is limited to the 438C part of WMU 438.
I hunted here successfully in 2006 and saw rams that were the stuff dreams are made of. It'll be hard sleeping tonight!
P.S. T.J. The fridge in the hotel room actually has a door on it this time. The hotel we stayed in in 2006 had most of the wall around the air conditioning unit covered in ice. We referred to it as the fridge.

Southern Alberta Mule Deer

We just got in the door from fantastic mule deer hunt in Southern Alberta. Vanessa took this great buck on day two with her trusty ProHunter 7mm shooting 139-grain Hornady InterBonds at 265.5 yards.

TJ was anxious to give the Icon a test and took this great looking 4x4 on the last day of the hunt. He took the buck at 279 yards with a 165-grain Hornady SST. Watch for both these great hunts on the 2009 series of Outdoor Quest TV.

More Success at Buck Paradise

Well, Lady Luck smiled on us yesterday afternoon and I killed a big 5x6 whitetail at 3:00 in the afternoon. We saw 16 bucks in total yesterday and the rut is really starting to heat up. Bucks were chasing does, grunting, rubbing and scraping. Just got in the door so it's time to unpack and get ready to chase some whitetails around home!

Check out Buck Paradise Outfitters